As I shared in a previous post, our daughter has been on the GAPS diet for most of her life for health reasons. We have used it to help heal her gut when we were introducing foods, as well as a proactive measure to ensure that her and her genes have the best environment to interact with. The goal of the GAPS diet is not for it to be a life-long diet (though for some people their bodies may not be able to deviate much), it is meant to be a healing diet that can then be transitioned into a nourishing diet.

Once she had been on the diet for two years, and the fact that she was very healthy, I started to look at introducing other nourishing foods. Just as with introducing foods when she was a baby, I have taken this process very slowly to make sure that her body is accepting new foods and there are no reactions. The first food typically introduced from Full GAPS is potatoes, followed by low starch grains such as buckwheat, quinoa, millet, and amaranth.

Potatoes

When I first introduced potatoes, I made sure to use new potatoes and soak them well so that there was less starch in them. As she has grown more accustomed to eating them, I’m not always great at soaking them, but I do try to when I have the time (especially when making fries!). Our favorite way to make potatoes is to cut them up (diced, strips, circles, wedges, etc.) put them on my stoneware baking pan, with lots of butter and bacon fat, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic granules.

When introducing the new foods, I always try to have a lot of healthy fats with it to help her body digest and process the starches. And let me tell you, potatoes are her absolute favorite food, especially the crunchy ones! This was the main new food that we introduced, along with a few other starchy root veggies in soups. I did also let her try a bite here and there of corn and local maple syrup as well.

Buckwheat

The next thing to introduce was grains. Up until this point, she had never had any grains before. According to the GAPS diet, it is best to wait until a toddler has all of their molar teeth to introduce grains can help to make sure that their digestive system has everything it needs to be able to fully breakdown the grains. It is also important to soak and ferment grains to take some of the digestive work off of our bodies. It is important to start with lower starch grains The first grain introduced was buckwheat. I buy the buckwheat groats bulk at our local co-op.

Sourdough Buckwheat

• Soak 1 cup groats in water for 12-24 hours (or if you’re like me, 36 hours when you forget about it)
• Drain the water from the groats
• Put groats and 1/3-1/2 cup water in a blender
• Blend until smooth
• Leave to rise for 12-24 hours and you will have bubbly buckwheat sourdough!

The first thing that she had was buckwheat pancakes, and she was a big fan! And so was I! Since she still seems to think that she and mom are the same person, she really doesn’t like if I’m able to eat something that she isn’t, so I was very excited to be able to eat some grains with her. These pancakes, turned out more like crepes, which I love, as I grew up eating Swedish Pancakes as a kid and they are my absolute favorite type of pancake.

We love to eat these pancakes with butter melted on top, generous amounts of peanut butter, and sometimes a little bit of maple syrup. I have also used this recipe to make pancake muffins, just pour the batter in lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes at 350F. I also use the sourdough buckwheat to make bread, based off this recipe.

Grains

The next grain I introduced was quinoa, and she was so excited to try it! I make sure to soak the quinoa in water with lemon juice (whey also works) overnight to ferment. She has really enjoyed this with copious amounts of butter.

We have tried little bits of millet, amaranth, oats, and rice as well (all properly soaked and fermented). While rice isn’t a low starch, she has been wanting to try it for around a year now, and she has been able to handle it in small amounts. While introducing new grains I make sure to watch for any physical or behavioral changes and back off if there are any changes.

This journey has really opened our family’s culinary world up. I would have never tried some of these alternative grains before this. I really enjoy eating the different foods and experimenting with alternative breads.

As we strengthen our digestive system we have to know it does indeed take time. Have you been a healing diet and then transitioned by adding more foods back in? How did this go for you? Has your healthy journey improved using a healing-diet protocol?

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