While reading and reading and reading, I have come to the conclusion that the Gut and Psychology Syndrome(GAPS) diet by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride made the most sense.
- What is GAPS?
Here is a great summary of what the GAPS diet is at Sustain Lane‘s The GAPS Diet : The Mother of All Diets?
The basis of the diet as summarised by Dr Cowan in the article above is to :
Restore the gut flora, heal the villi, seal the cracks. We heal the villi with the Nourishing Traditions diet with a particular emphasis on soup broth, the magic gut restoring food. We replant the villi grass with probiotic foods and Biokult (a probiotic developed by Natasha McBride for the GAPS program), and until we are healed we completely avoid all foods which contain disaccharides: grains, most beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, most sweeteners, milk (but not other cultured dairy products), and a few other foods.
GAPS was developed by Dr Natasha based on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to heal her autistic son. There have been many success stories about how the diet has helped many others as well. And not just for autistm but ADD and even mental issues.
The focus is on the gut-brain connection. Heal the gut and the rest of the body will re-balance itself. Remove the pathogenic bacteria and the bad toxins leaves the body and the body can function as it is supposed to.
- Challenges of doing GAPS in Singapore
Now the challenge of doing GAPS here in Singapore is the almost non-availability of organic, grass-fed, pasteured or free range meats and eggs, even if you are willing to pay an arm and leg for them. And, on top of that, even if we could afford the organic meat ($50 chicken anyone???) there is no guarantee that the chickens or cows were not fed corn or soy.
So how?
Well, we do what we can and leave the rest to God. Sounds cliche, eh? 
But seriously what else can one do? We were on a Total Elimintation Diet as those who follow the blog remember. We saw great improvements when we took out grains in the beginning. But after 1 year of eliminating everything that the IgG test said we were allergic too plus all grains, everything regressed. In fact, we seemed to have developed MORE food allergies.
I still blame the start of the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) as the trigger. Our situation deteriorated very quickly once LUP started. Cement dust is lethal. My father developed asthma in his 60s when the school he was teaching in did major renovation works with cement dust flying everywhere.
Back to GAPS 
Therefore I decided that we should at least try GAPS for 6 months. So we started GAPS Intro at end of September 2011. Just before that I put myself on a strictly 2-week vegetable diet. No fruit or nuts even. It was like a cleansing fast of sort now that I think back. But back then, I just wanted the itch to stop ;( And you know what? I was still itching like mad. It pushed me to GAPS. I need a better strategy! I was going mad with the itch that even antihistamines were not relieving.
- Leaky Gut Syndrome
GAPS believes in the leaky gut syndrome where we become seemingly allergic to many foods because the holes in our gut are letting the proteins through into the blood stream causing an allergic-like reaction (simplified version ). In other words, we don’t really have a true allergy but food intolerances. Once the gut is healed, we should be able to eat almost everything we want, though we really shouldn’t of course
- Books and Blogs
For a detailed understanding of what GAPS is and how it works, I ordered the Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr Campbell-McBride book as well as the GAPS Guide by Baden Lashkov. I also browsed many GAPS related blogs such as the GAPS Diet Journey, Keeper of the Home, Tribal Mamas, etc. Google GAPS diet and a whole plethora of blogs and websites will come up. I also joined the GAPS Yahoo forums.
- Candida Overgrowth
After 3 months at the Intro Stage we are ready to move on to full GAPS, sans fruits and nuts because we have major candida overgrowth. We only found out that the candida overgrowth dd had was bad when dd overdosed on grapes and rock melon. She broke out immediately all over her face – red and angry rashes. Kati of Tribal Mamas immediately suspected candida and recommended an OTC anti-fungal cream to confirm it. Her rash cleared in 2 days substaintially but not completely. After 6 weeks of no fruit I gave her 1 tablespoon of carrot juice. Instead of slowly increasing it I rushed to give her 1/2 cup the next day. And again – boom! The redness and rash returned with a vengeance. Sigh. But this time round the anti-fungal cream is not working 
So there must be something else going on.
Anyhow, we should be progressing to full GAPS in the next week or so, once I get my menu planning and grocery shopping sorted out in the midst of life
- GAPS Cooking
GAPS is by no means an easy diet BUT having come from a strict Total Elimination Diet for one whole year, the transition wasn’t as tough as many others have found it. The constant cooking however does wear one down so now I am planning to cook and freeze meals more meals.
- What are we eating?
Now on to the food we eat. GAPS recommends lots of bone and meat broths to heal the gut – all types of meats. But I don’t do lamb or mutton. The smell just makes me want to gag so we stick to chicken, beef and fish. For the moment we are kosher as well because shellfish makes us itch super bad and pork just doesn’t appeal to me at this point in time.
For chicken, we use Sakura chicken which long ago was antibiotic and hormone free but not now I believe Some people recommend Kampung Chicken but then I have no idea what is fed to them too.
For beef marrow and bones, I just buy them from NTUC Finest. I know QB Foods sells Australian Grass Fed Sirloin and Tenderloin but that is all that they have. We need the bones and marrows and tendons to make gelatinous broths, not just the meats. So….
I tend to buy salmon for our fish broth as I find them less fishy smelling. Yes, I know farmed salmon is bad for health but where on earth can we find wild salmon in Singapore?! Sometimes I alternate with white snapper or whatever fish is available except Toman fish. Have you eaten that fish? It is totally tasteless
- Is GAPS working?
I wish I could tell you that GAPS cleared out our skin and we are now happily eczema free. Nope, not by a long shot at all It has been very discouraging to say the least. But I have heard GAPS forum members share that the skin is often the last item to heal. Even mental issues are resolved faster than skin issues. Like really?!
But since I told myself that we will press on for 6 months, we shall indeed press on for another 3 months. Besides, after all I have read, I really can’t see putting ourselves back on the standard average diet most people eat. In fact, when the family eats out (I bring along food for dd and myself) I cringe at the foods they order and eat. I especially feel bad when I allow them to eat MacDonald’s and/or KFC. But one battle at a time.
- Other benefits of GAPS
The great side effect of eating GAPS style is the loss of weight! And also the loss of cravings for sweets and bread! By eliminating all carbs, one basically elimimates all processed foods and all the usual snacks and desserts. It is a guaranteed weight loss programme! However, I am still craving coffee with milk! As for dd, her brain fog is almost all gone except when she has either a die-off effect or something else is triggering the rash and itch.
So there you go, our attempt to do GAPS in Singapore despite all the obstacles. Hopefully I will have a better update come end March
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