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  The GAPS diet was developed by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride based on her many years of clinical experience. The GAPS diet is based on the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) created by Dr Sidney Valentine Haas, in order to treat chronic inflammatory conditions in the digestive tract. The SCD diet was made famous after a mother, Elaine Gottschall, healed her child of ulcerative colitis. Elaine went on to become the author of a book called Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet.

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  As described by Dr Natasha;

The GAPS nutritional protocol was designed in order to drive out pathogens from the digestive tract and to re-establish normal gut flora or more accurately said; individual normal gut flora, as each person is unique. The GAPS protocol is used to heal and seal the gut wall. Abnormal gut flora damages the integrity of the gut wall, making it leaky and porous. Microbes can then enter the body through the damaged gut wall, effecting the organism. Furthermore, the pathogenic gut flora, which feeds off the food in the gut, produce very toxic chemicals which exacerbate the condition. When there is a leaky gut, partially undigested food absorbs into the system creating immune reactions. Food allergies and intolerances occur. If this process goes on for long enough, it can lead to autoimmune disease. The GAPS protocol assists in rebuilding the gut wall of the patient. In order to produce health epithelial cells to rebuild the gut wall, vast amounts of nutrients are required, and the GAPS diet provides ample amounts of these building materials. The GAPS diet reduces inflammation, thus allowing healthy epithelial cells to develop unimpeded and regeneration of the lining of the bowel can occur.

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