I've learned HEAPS reading this book. I didn't like, though, the way she described vegetarians, my goodness. The majority of children and adults with neurological and psychiatric conditions look pale and pasty. When tested they show various stages of a naemia, which is not surprising. To have a healthy blood we require many different nutrients: vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, K, A, D, etc), minerals (Fe, Ca, Mg, Zn, Co, Se, boron, etc.), essential amino-acids and fats. These patients not only cannot absorb these nutrients from food, but their own production of many of them in the body is damaged. On top of that people with damaged gut flora often have particular groups of pathogenic bacteria growing in their gut, which are iron-loving bacteria (Actinomyces spp., Mycobacterium spp., pathogenic strains of E.Coli, Corynebacterium spp. and many others). They consume whatever iron the person gets from the diet, leaving that person deficient in iron. Unfortunately, supplementing iron only makes these bacteria grow stronger and does not remedy anaemia. To treat anaemia the person requires all the nutrients we have mentioned, many of which healthy gut flora supplies.

The theory that there is a strong gut-brain connection has been mostly overlooked, but now, Dr. Campbell McBride’s work is gaining popularity with people all over the world. Now the research and medical community are considering the possibility of a gut/brain connection.Wakefield AJ and Montgomery SM. Autism, viral infection and measles, mumps, rubella vaccination. Israeli Medical Association Journal 1999;1:183-187. If you are travelling and working away and are not set up to cook, it is easier to start from the Full GAPS Diet. You can eat out on the Full GAPS Diet and the choice of allowed foods is much wider. Lykova EA, Bondarenko VM, Sidorenko SV, Grishina ME, Murashova AD, Minaev VI, Rytikov FM, Korsunski AA (1999). Combined antibacterial and probiotic therapy of Helicobacter - associated disease in children (Russian).Zhurnal Microbiologii, Epidemiologii I Immunobiologii. 1999 Mar-Apr;(2):76-81. After completing the course I have no doubt this is where I need to be. And there is so much room to grow, but also an amazing GAPS community, and more importantly the opportunity and knowledge to change people's lives. I dream of the day I start my own family and apply all that I've learned with the GAPS training. I'm forever grateful, and so excited! Carolina Hashimoto, CGP

When I took the training in October 2015, I was already doing GAPS with my family for 4 years, I have read and studied the gaps book and I was familiar with the gaps diet protocol, but still I learned so much in that training, it was amazing! I felt like I was trying to put together a puzzle for more than 4 years and in the GAPS training I found all the pieces I need to finally accomplish what I want . I LOVED every minute. It was fun, dynamic and easy to understand. All the information presented to to me on the gaps training makes so much sense that I don't need it to memorize I just naturally remember it. I was really impressed with it. Liliane Widmer, CGP, FNTP Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has done an excellent job of explaining how people with GAP have a compromised immune system and how to heal these deficiencies through diet. Although my family seems to have healthy guts, I have learned so much by reading her book that will surely help to keep us all healthy. There is a wealth of information in this book about maintaining gut health through diet. Here are three of the tips I have begun putting into practice that I never thought of before reading her book: adding cabbage to green salads to stimulate the body to produce its own stomach acid; making sure the probiotics I use have soil bacteria; and using unrefined coconut oil for the anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. You will certainly have your own important list of healthy diet improvements if you read this book. Apart of normal digestion and absorption of food healthy gut flora actively synthesises various nutrients: vitamin K, pantothenic acid, folic acid, thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), ciancobalamine (vitamin B12), various amino-acids and proteins. Indeed, when tested people with gut dysbiosis always present with deficiencies of these nutrients. Clinical experience shows that restoring the beneficial bacteria in their gut is the best way to deal with these deficiencies. Singh V. Neuro-immunopathogenesis in autism. 2001. New Foundations of Biology.Berczi I & Gorczynski RM (eds) Elsevier Science B.V. pp 447-458.

I wrote a glowing review of this book two years ago, and since then many people have read my review and commented on it, many of whom I do not know, I feel that I must change my review somewhat at this point so that what I have learned can be helpful to others.

Low Serum Sulphate is a common picture in these patients, which is an indirect indication of toxicity in the body, because sulphates are essential for many detoxification processes and normal metabolism of brain neurotransmitters. In many cases the person may be getting plenty of sulphates through the diet, but they all get consumed by the detox pathways struggling with the river of toxicity, which is constantly coming from the person’s gut. At the same time another large group of bacteria, which commonly overgrow in the gut dysbiosis situation are sulphate-reducing bacteria, which make sulphur unavailable for the body to use. These bacteria metabolise sulphate coming from food into sulphites, many of which are toxic like hydrogen sulphide for example, which is the gas with rotten egg smell. Some parents of autistic, hyperactive and other children tell me that their child’s stool has this characteristic smell. Dr. Campbell McBride developed this healing protocol to help her own son who has now recovered from autism. She has worked with many patients in her Cambridge clinic over the years and has now trained Certified Gaps Practitioners through Europe, USA and Australia to help many others on their Gaps journeyThere are people who need to eat more plants to feel well. And even people, who thrive on mostly animal foods, have periods when their bodies ask for more plant matter. The chapter One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison in the second GAPS book (Gut And Physiology There is no clear way presented to test if someone has a the bacterial imballance. Instead it seems everyone with one of the mental issues is just put on a one size fits all diet that is supposed to solve their problems.