From: drarwingnuttephd@gmail.com   
      
   Why The GAPS Diet Is Such A Profound Experience    
   by LYDIA on JUNE 4, 2014    
      
      
   Are you considering tackling the GAPS diet? I always find it helpful to hear   
   about other people’s experience with it. I’ve had several readers ask me   
   to share more testimonial type posts. Today’s post comes to you from a   
   colleague of mine, Ashley    
   Hathaway, NTP, CGP. She shares why the GAPS diet is such a profound experience   
   (I can totally agree with her on this).    
      
        
      
   Over the last few years, I have heard my fair share of GAPS stories, so I know   
   mine is really not extraordinary, however doing the GAPS diet was one of the   
   more profound experiences of my life, and that is why I want to share it.    
      
   In late 2009 I had a rather acute GI illness that I thought would simply need   
   to “run its course”.  In the couple of years prior I had several bouts of   
   food poisoning and often had GI upset after meals. Looking back, I think this   
   may have been a sign    
   that there had been a breakdown of my gut health overall.    
      
   After several weeks of unbearable symptoms I found myself with my first   
   opportunity to seek help from Dr. Thomas Cowan.    
      
   When Dr. Cowan first moved his practice to my neighborhood in 2006 (San   
   Francisco), I wrote a story about him for our local newspaper.  During my   
   interview with him, he gave me a copy of his book, “The Fourfold Path to   
   Healing” and this sparked my    
   interest about the way he practices medicine.  The information in Dr.   
   Cowan’s book then lead me to discover the work of Weston A. Price and Sally   
   Fallon.    
      
   Not wanting to see my primary care doctor for the conventional medicine route   
   to figure out what was going on in my gut, I called for an appointment with   
   Dr. Cowan and he was able to see me that week.   He examined me, asked a   
   series of questions, and    
   along with ordering a fecal lab test to rule out the possibility of a nasty   
   invasion of bacteria or parasites (Salmonella, Shigella, etc.) he explained   
   and prescribed the GAPS diet.  Walking out of that appointment totally   
   overwhelmed and curious, I    
   began a full-fledged research mission to figure out what the GAPS diet was   
   about and the difference between a disaccharide and a polysaccharide!    
      
   I began the introduction GAPS diet the very next day and followed it through   
   all 6 stages for the next 4 months.  Eight days into the diet I began to feel   
   relief from my horrible symptoms.  After about 40 days, I was feeling 100%   
   better, although not all    
   of my symptoms were gone.    
      
   The GAPS diet was truly one of the most challenging things I have had to do in   
   a long time.  And to make it even more difficult, the first few weeks on the   
   diet just happened to fall over the Thanksgiving holiday and I continued   
   through the GAPS diet    
   stages over Christmas and New Years!  Not easy.    
      
   After about 4 months, I began incorporating some dairy & soaked grains into my   
   diet and after 8 months, I was 100% symptom-free and eating a Nourishing   
   Traditions (Sally Fallon) diet.  I also joined the Weston A. Price Foundation   
   and soon found myself    
   telling my story over and over to all sorts of people with surprising   
   interest.  People always had a lot of questions and were generally very   
   curious about the GAPS diet and what I had been going through.    
      
   To date, those horrible symptoms have never returned.    
      
   After this experience, having already had a fair amount of knowledge about   
   healthy foods and diet, I realized that I had learned much more than I ever   
   would have imagined about the digestive system, and how a nutrient dense whole   
   food diet has the power    
   to heal the body.    This experience was so profound for me that I decided to   
   quit my freelance career of 20 years as a video producer to pursue a   
   certification as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.  I received my NTP   
   certification in June 2011 and in    
   addition, received a GAPS Practitioner Certification in September 2011.   I   
   now have my own practice called “San Francisco Nutritional Therapy”.   
   Through my practice I find great satisfaction in helping others achieve   
   wellness using whole foods,    
   natural supplements and when necessary, the GAPS diet.    
      
   Further Reading About the GAPS Diet    
      
   GAPS Introduction with Melanie Christner    
   Starting GAPS    
   It’s So Easy – GAPS Intro Stage 1    
   It’s So Easy – GAPS Intro Stage 2    
   It’s So Easy – GAPS Intro Stage 3    
   It’s So Easy – GAPS Intro Stage 4    
   It’s So Easy – GAPS Intro Stage 5    
   It’s So Easy – GAPS Intro Stage 6    
   The GAPS Full Diet    
      
   Gut and Psychology Syndrome – by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride (book -Amazon   
   affiliate link)    
   Breaking the Vicious Cycle – by Elaine Gottschall (highly recommended book-   
   Amazon affiliate link)    
   GAPS Stories (book with other’s experience on GAPS- Amazon affiliate link)    
        
      
      
   Ashley Hathaway is a Certified Nutritional Therapist and Certified GAPS   
   Practitioner with a focus on overall GI health: digestion, intestinal health,   
   gallbladder function, blood sugar regulation, liver detoxification and GAPS   
   diet. Prior to this she has    
   over 20 years of experience as a Producer and Production Manager in the film,   
   video, and broadcast television industry.

 She earned her Nutritional   
   Therapy certification through The Nutritional Therapy Association, in June   
   2011.  

Ashley    
   launched her own company “San Francisco Nutritional Therapy” in June of   
   2011.    
      
   http://divinehealthfromtheinsideout.com/2014/06/why-the-gaps-die   
   -is-such-a-profound-experience/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)