Hooray! You made it past your first stage of the Introduction Diet!
You are likely still in the throes of die-off at this stage, and although moving up a stage feels good, stage two is not much different than stage one (however, the things you get to add in this stage are significant, so still be excited!). I will outline the extra changes that you can make to your diet here:
- Homemade meat stock and soups. Continue eating soups with bone marrow, boiled meats or fish and other soft tissues off the bones. Keep drinking meat stock and teas. Continue to add in more probiotic foods and keep increasing the amounts. You should have probiotic foods with every cup of meat or every bowl of soup. The probiotic foods that you can consume at this stage are: juice from sauerkraut, juice from fermented vegetables, and homemade dairy products (starting with whey and sour cream, then adding in yogurt, then homemade kefir). Also, make sure that you are regularly adding organic liver into your meals at least once a week. A child needs a small amount: one to two tablespoons of cooked ground liver every other day, which can be mixed with any meat dish, or a full liver meal once a week. I will be adding in recipes for different ways to prepare liver (and they taste good, I promise!)
- Raw organic egg yolks. Add in raw organic egg yolks that have been separated from the egg white. It is best to have egg yolks added to every bowl of soup and every cup of meat stock. Start with one yolk a day and gradually increase as tolerated. Egg yolks can provoke die-off symptoms for some people, so do not rush to include large amounts of egg yolks. Like every food that can cause detox symptoms, increase it slowly. When egg yolks are tolerated, add soft-boiled eggs to your meat stock and soups (the whites are cooked, the yolks are still runny). Another note: make sure you get your eggs from a source that you know and trust (not the 99 cent eggs you can buy at any grocery store). Make sure they are organic, fresh, and free range. If you are concerned about an egg allergy, separate the whites and the yolks and do a sensitivity test prior to eating them (see stage one article on how to do the sensitivity test). You do not need to limit how many egg yolks you eat in a day, as they are full of nutrition and require almost no digestion.
- Stews and casseroles. Add in stews and casseroles at this stage made from meat and vegetables. The fat content should be quite high. The more fat you can consume, the quicker you can heal. Add in probiotic foods to every meal.
- Fresh herbs. Spices are still not added in until stage five, but you can now add in fresh herbs to your meals to add flavor and nutrition.
- Keep increasing fermented foods. Keep increasing the daily amount of homemade whey, sour cream, yogurt, kefir, and juices from sauerkraut and fermented vegetables. Dr. Natasha recommends a half a cup to a cup of whey per day with meals. These foods are wonderful for your digestive system!
- Fermented fish or Swedish gravlax. Start with one small piece a day and gradually increase. Recipes can be found on page 189 of Gut and Psychology Syndrome.
- Homemade ghee. Start with one teaspoon a day and gradually increase. Ghee is clarified butter (solid part of butter has been removed and the oil is left). Ghee adds a wonderfully buttery flavor to your foods and is easy to make. Dr. Natasha recommends in her book: “Ghee is usually well tolerated by most GAPS people, regardless of diarrhea or constipation and regardless of reactions to other dairy products. So, I recommend that all GAPS people try to introduce it, even if other dairy products have not been introduced yet.” If you have had issues with dairy in the past, do the sensitivity test on your wrist prior to eating ghee.
- Fermented cod liver oil. Dr. Natasha does not recommend many supplements, but cod liver oil is one that is important. It provides an important source of Vitamins A and D (which should always be taken together). For recommend doses, see Gut and Psychology Syndrome page 284.
So, that is stage two! The addition of eggs and ghee adds even more nutrition and flavor to your foods (and the herbs help too!), giving you more variety. As you increase in the amount of probiotics that you consume, adding sour cream to your soups and probiotic juices adds even more flavor. It is possible to stay on stage two of GAPS for some time. In some cases, Dr. Natasha recommends staying on this stage for 6 months or more. Of course, each individual is different and has to judge for themselves when they are ready to move to the next stage. This is also where a GAPS Practitioner comes in helpful, to determine when is the right time to move to the next stage or when further help is needed for an individual to finally tolerate moving to the next stage. Stage two is often a stage where people can get “stuck”; if you find yourself in this situation, ask for help, as there may be other factors involved in your healing.
So add in your egg yolks (and Russian custard – yum!) and your ghee, enjoy your stews as the cold weather sets upon us. And welcome to stage two!
~ Alicia
Information from this post was obtained from the books “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and “The Heal Your Gut Cookbook” by Hilary Boynton and Mary G. Brackett (with a foreword by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride). The information contained in this article is not a substitute for medical advice; feel free to contact your medical professional prior to beginning any new diet program. I am not a medical doctor, nutritionist or dietician and do not claim to be such. I do not diagnose, treat, or offer individualized diet treatment plans. This information is for educational purposes only and serves as a guideline according to the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet as outlined by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, MMedSci (neurology), MMedSci (nutrition).