“All disease begins in the gut,” Hippocrates instructed more than two thousand years ago. Today, more people than ever are struggling with gut-related chronic disease. In this visually stunning cookbook, GAPS Diet experts Hilary Boynton and Mary G. Brackett offer more than 200 straightforward, nutrient-dense, and appealing recipes designed to heal your gut and thereby manage the illnesses that stem from it. 

Developed by pioneering British MD Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) refers to disorders, including ADD/ADHD, autism, addictions, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, stemming from or exacerbated by leaky gut and dysbiosis. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (also GAPS) likewise refers to chronic gut-related physical conditions, including celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes type one, and Crohn’s disease, as well as asthma, eczema, allergies, thyroid disorders, and more. Dr. Campbell-McBride designed the GAPS Diet to restore the balance between beneficial and pathogenic intestinal bacteria and seal the gut through the elimination of grains, processed foods, and refined sugars and the carefully sequenced reintroduction of nutrient-dense foods, including bone broths, raw cultured dairy, certain fermented vegetables, organic pastured eggs, organ meats, and more.

From basic bone broth and broth-based soups, such as maitake mushroom immune boosting soup in the first stage of the GAPS Intro Diet to roasted pork sausage with red onion and butternut squash, marinated cod fish tacos with coconut flour tortillas, and—for the adventurous—chicken livers wrapped in bacon during the full GAPS Diet, readers will discover a great deal of flexibility within this restrictive diet for delicious home-cooked and even kid-friendly meals. Readers will find recipes for salads, fish, poultry, meat, organ meats, vegetables, ferments, snacks, and even desserts, as well as sauces, dressings, and marinades.

The Heal Your Gut Cookbook also walks readers through the key cooking techniques and ingredients that form the backbone of the GAPS Diet: working with stocks and broths, soaking nuts and seeds, using coconut, and culturing raw dairy. And, throughout, Boynton offers an encouraging perspective on the life-changing improvements to her family’s health, as she, her husband, and their five children followed this challenging, but powerful, diet.

An evolution of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, GAPS will appeal to followers of the Paleo Diet, who are still struggling for optimum health. The Heal Your Gut Cookbook is a must-have if you are following the GAPS Diet, considering the GAPS Diet, or simply looking to improve your digestive health and—by extension—your physical and mental well-being.