Below is the list of FOOD to AVOID for people with GAPS whose gut is dominated by so-called Bad Bacteria.
The truth about the bad bacteria is that the name sounds bad; however, they are not bad AT ALL! They are THE cleaning crew of our body. When toxins contaminate our body, they are activated and begin to repair the damaged parts.
Why are they called BAD? Well…, I think it is because when they are activated, their action causes symptoms that are very inconvenient for us, such as pain, aches, fever, rash, itch, swollen, cannot relax or sleep well, and also causes emotional symptoms such as anger, sadness, grief, fear, anxiety, loneliness, depression, etc. When those symptoms occur with babies and children while their brain development is at its peak, healthy brain development is put on hold until the toxin that interferes is cleared and the damaged part is repaired. As a result, the development is delayed. Those Cleaning Crew bacteria are necessary for maintaining human health, but they cause inconvenience and frustration. So, they got the name.
You must avoid grains, beans, and potatoes (including yam potato) until you heal your gut and immune system. I know many articles by doctors suggest that those foods high in dietary fibers promote good bacteria. Yes, they do. And at the same time, those foods also promote Bad bacteria. Here is the confusion. So-called bad bacteria are also a part of gut microbes. As I wrote, they are a necessary cleaning crew for maintaining human health. So, while the bad bacteria are dominant, whatever you eat feeds them.
Especially if you have an overgrown candida, I strongly recommend you avoid grains, beans, and potatoes (including yam potato)!
The list below is from the GAPS yellow book. Some GAPS people may have more foods to avoid depending on their reaction to foods.
- Acesulphame
- Acidophilus milk
- Agar-agar
- Agave syrup
- Algae
- Aloe vera, once digestive symptoms are gone, you can introduce it
- Amaranth
- Apple juice
- Arrowroot
- Aspartame
- Astragalus
- Baked beans
- Baker’s yeast
- Baking powder and raising agents of all kinds apart from pure bicarbonate of soda
- Balsamic vinegar
- Barley
- Bean flour and sprouts
- Bee pollen
- Beer
- Bhindi or okra
- Bitter gourd
- Black-eye beans
- Bologna
- Bouillon cubes or granules
- Brandy
- Buckwheat
- Bulgur
- Burdock root
- Butter beans
- Buttermilk
- Cannellini beans
- Canned vegetables and fruit
- Carob
- Carrageenan
- Cellulose gum
- Cereals, including all breakfast cereals
- Cheese, processed, and cheese spreads
- Chestnuts and chestnut flour
- Chevre cheese
- Chewing gum
- Chickpeas
- Chickory root
- Chocolate
- Cocoa powder
- Coffee, instant, and coffee substitutes
- Cooking oils
- Cordials
- Corn
- Cornstarch
- Corn syrup
- Cottage cheese
- Cottonseed
- Couscous
- Cream
- Cream of tartar
- Cream cheese
- Dextrose
- Drinks, soft
- Faba beans
- Feta cheese
- Fish, preserved, smoked, salted, breaded, and canned with sauces
- Flour, made out of grains
- FOS (fructooligosaccharides)
- Fructose
- Fruit, canned or preserved
- Garbanzo beans
- Gjetost cheese
- Grains, all
- Gruyere cheese
- Ham
- Hot dogs
- Ice cream, commercial
- Jams
- Jellies
- Jerusalem artichoke
- Ketchup, commercially available
- Lactose
- Liqueurs
- Margarine and butter replacements
- Meats, processed, preserved, smoked, and salted
- Millet
- Milk from any animal, soy, rice, canned coconut milk
- Milk, dried
- Molasses
- Mozzarella cheese
- Mungbeans
- Neufchatel cheese
- Nutra-sweet (aspartame)
- Nuts, salted, roasted, and coated
- Oats
- Okra
- Parsnip
- Pasta of any kind
- Pectin
- Postum
- Potato, white
- Potato, sweet
- Primost cheese
- Quinoa
- Rice
- Ricotta cheese
- Rye
- Saccharin
- Sago
- Sausages, commercially available
- Semolina
- Sherry
- Soda soft drinks
- Sour cream, commercial
- Soy
- Spelt
- Starch
- Sugar or sucrose of any kind
- Tapioca
- Tea, instant
- Triticale
- Turkey loaf
- Vegetables, canned or preserved
- Wheat
- Wheat germ
- Whey, powder, or liquid
- Yams
- Yogurt, commercial
