GAPS Recipes for Kids: 50+ Delicious Ideas the Whole Family Will Love (2024)

If your child suffers from inflammatory bowel disease, leaky gut syndrome, autism, ADHD, anxiety, or depression, chances are you’ve heard about the GAPS diet. Inspired by The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and develop by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndromeand is intended to remove gut-damaging foods that are difficult to digest and replace them with nutrient-dense foods in order to allow the intestinal lining to heal and seal.

The GAPS diet isnot intended to be a quick fix, and is a much more regimented protocol used to treat leaky gut, gut flora imbalances, and nutrient deficiencies, and if you do a quick search on Google, you’ll read some pretty powerful stories about the gut-brain connection and how the GAPS diet has helped children overcome symptoms of autism, ADD, allergies, and more.

If you’re interested in pursuing the GAPS diet for yourself or your children, there are heaps of delicious GAPS recipes for kids online, but before we share our favorites, let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

What is the GAPS diet?

The GAPS diet is based on the gut-brain connection, and is designed to heal and seal the gut lining, balance the immune system, and restore healthy bacteria within the gastrointestinal tract by focusing on diet, supplementation, and detoxification. There are several different stages of the diet, with new foods being introduced as you progress from one phase to the next. The diet eliminates dairy and sugar, allows minimal fruits and grains, and includes broths and probiotic foods to help the body heal.

Who can benefit from the GAPS diet?

The GAPS diet was designed to help those with food allergies and intolerances, behavioral and emotional challenges like autism, ADHD, anxiety, and depression, as well as other autoimmune disorders, but some would argue it can be beneficial to everyone when followed correctly.

Does the GAPS diet work?

The reviews are mixed. While some report their child was cured of all autism symptoms as a result of the GAPS diet, others question the validity of the diet, and while there shouldn’t be anyharm trying some of the GAPS recipes for kids listed below, it’s important to do your own research before deciding if a full-fledged GAPS diet is right you and your family. Educate yourself on the benefits as well as the potential risks, talk to your family doctor, and enlist the help of a naturopath to ensure you fully understand the ins and outs of the GAPS diet before deciding how to proceed.

What are the best GAPS recipes for kids?

OMG, where do we start?! GAPS for kids can be challenging, especially if your little one is already a picky eater, but thanks to all of the parents who have already done the hard work for us, we’ve found over 50 GAPS recipes for kids that promise to be as delicious as they are healthy.

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Proteins

Superfood Meatballs | The Family that Heals Together
Paleo Three Cup Chicken | How WeFlourish
Pesto Sausage Cakes | Just Take a Bite
GAPS Salmon Cakes | Taste is Trump
Chicken Breasts with Figs and Squash| Real Healthy Recipes
Roast Pork with Onion Apple Gravy| Phoenix Helix
Lemon Basil Shredded Beef| The Paleo Partridge
Balsamic Braised Beef Shanks| The Primordial Table
Simple Tender Pot Roast with Holy Grail Gravy| Phoenix Helix
GAPS Tuna Salad | How We Flourish
GAPS Meat and “Potatoes” | How We Flourish
Chicken with Plums Carrots and Apples| A Squirrel in the Kitchen
Kalua Pig| Nom Nom Paleo
Hawaiian Pork Roast| Beyond the Bite
Beef Brisket| Elana’s Pantry
Cinnamon Chuck Roast and Onions| Whole Life Eating
Italian Pork Roast |The Clothes Make the Girl
Pulled Pork and Roasted Vegetables| Gutsy By Nature
Honey Garlic Chicken| Sweet Potatoes and Social Change

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Breads/Pasta

GAPS Friendly Pizza Crust | The Soft Landing
Garlic Coconut Flour Bagels | Low Carb Yum
Coconut Tortillas | Wholesome Yum
GAPSSpaghetti and Meatballs | How We Flourish

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Side Dishes

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Desserts

FAQs

Does GAPS diet really work? ›

The bottom line. The GAPS diet is a restrictive diet that was created to treat many different medical conditions. But, the current research right now does not offer any convincing evidence that this is true. Also, the diet can be hard to follow and has some health risks.

What food can you eat on the GAPS diet? ›

Acceptable GAPS foods include:

eggs.
meat, fish, and shellfish (fresh or frozen only)
fresh vegetables and fruit.
garlic.
natural fats, such as olive oil, coconut oil, and ghee.
a moderate amount of nuts.
GAPS baked goods made using nut flour.

Apr 26, 2019

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What are the side effects of the GAPS diet? ›

Campbell-McBride states that symptoms such as vomiting, severe stomach pain, distended stomachs, and extreme diarrhea or constipation, as well as increases in the symptoms you're trying to eliminate with the GAPS diet, are totally normal. Given time, the diet will work and your gut will begin to heal.

Can you eat fruit on the GAPS diet? ›

In stage 3, add fermented vegetables, scrambled eggs, avocado, and duck and goose fat. In Stage 4, you are allowed to add to your GAPS Diet food list with meat, vegetable juices, olive oil, and GAPS bread. Stage 5 adds in raw vegetables, fruit juices, and apple puree. In Stage 6, you can add your raw fruit.

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Is cheese OK on the GAPS diet? ›

Other cheeses that are allowed on Full GAPS: Asiago, Blue, Brick, Brie, Camembert, Cheddar, Colby, Edam, Gorgonzola, Gouda, Havarti, Limburger, Monterey Jack, Muenster, Parmesan, Port du Salut, Roquefort, Stilton, Swiss, Romano, un-creamed cottage cheese (dry curd).

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Can you eat sweet potato on the GAPS diet? ›

GAPS diet specifics

The GAPS diet is similar to the customized Paleo diet, with the following distinctions: It restricts all sources of starch (e.g., sweet potatoes, potatoes, plantains, etc.). It emphasizes the use of fermented foods and bone broths to restore healthy gut microbiota and gut barrier integrity.

Is rice allowed on gaps? ›

It's a subset of the Paleo diet with the main distinction of forbidding starchy plants. This means avoiding or significantly restricting potatoes, sweet potatoes, plantains, yuca, taro, and all grains, including white rice. The GAPS diet is not intended as a long-term approach.

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Can you eat bacon on GAPS diet? ›

Selecting the right bacon is important: GAPS does not recommend smoked meats as they normally contain nitrites or other substitutes that are even worse than nitrites with alleged cancer causing agents so store bought bacon is out (including some nitrate free commercial brands).

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Do people lose weight on the GAPS diet? ›

It's possible to lose weight on the GAPS diet, but that's not the aim of the protocol. Instead, it's used to address a variety of autoimmune, digestive and neurological conditions. If you're currently eating a lot of high-sugar or ultra-processed foods, moving to fresh, whole foods can result in weight loss.

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How do I start the GAPS diet? ›

Stage 1: Consume homemade bone broth, juices from probiotic foods and ginger, and drink mint or chamomile tea with honey between meals. People who are not dairy intolerant may eat unpasteurized, homemade yogurt or kefir. Stage 2: Add in raw organic egg yolks, ghee and stews made with vegetables and meat or fish.

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Is honey allowed on GAPS diet? ›

HONEY. The GAPS recommends choosing honey as the sweetener of choice.

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What is Stage 1 of GAPS diet? ›

In Stage 1, you can have:

Soups with well-boiled vegetables and meats. Meats: beef, pork, lamb, goose, pheasant, turkey, shellfish, and chicken, boiled in stock or filtered water. Chopped liver: Liver is a nutritional powerhouse that can be cooked into any soup.

What beans are allowed on gaps? ›

BEANS/LEGUMES

(soaked and properly prepared)
Navy Beans, dried, white.
Lima beans (dried and fresh)
Lentils.

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Is oatmeal allowed on gaps? ›

Foods to Avoid (or Limit)

Grains, including cereal, oats and wheat. Sugar, honey, agave syrup, and molasses. Starchy vegetables such as potatoes, parsnips, yams and sweet potatoes.

Is peanut butter allowed on the GAPS diet? ›

FOOD FOR GAPS DIET STAGE 3

In the original GAPS Book, Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride recommends nut butter at this stage. In recent conversations, she now believes that, for most people, it is a good idea to wait to introduce nuts until Full GAPS.

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Does the GAPS diet help lose weight? ›

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Can you lose weight on the GAPS diet? ›

The GAPS diet is directly linked to weight loss as it promotes the growth of healthy microbiome in the gut. It reduces inflammation, insulin resistance, and unhealthy fats.

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How long does it take to do the GAPS diet? ›

The full GAPS diet can last 1.5–2 years. During this part of the diet, people are advised to base the majority of their eating patterns on the following foods: Fresh meat, preferably hormone-free and grass-fed. Animal fats, such as lard, tallow, lamb fat, duck fat, raw butter, and ghee.

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Which diet program is the most successful? ›

The best overall diets for 2024 are:

Mediterranean.
DASH.
MIND.
Mayo Clinic Diet.
Flexitarian.
WeightWatchers.
Volumetrics.
Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory.

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Jan 3, 2024

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GAPS Recipes for Kids: 50+ Delicious Ideas the Whole Family Will Love (2024)

What is the GAPS diet?

Who can benefit from the GAPS diet?

Does the GAPS diet work?

What are the best GAPS recipes for kids?

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Proteins

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Breads/Pasta

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Side Dishes

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Desserts

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Breakfasts

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Soups/Broths

GAPS Recipes for Kids: Drinks

RECOMMENDED READING:

FAQs

Does GAPS diet really work? ›

Is honey allowed on GAPS diet? ›

References