We all know that living life while on the GAPS diet can be challenging. I want to share GAPS diet tips and tricks I have learned while following the diet.
Explain Only What is Necessary
Only explain the details of the diet when necessary to friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. When I first started eating a traditional food diet, I was so excited with all the new found information that I wanted to share it with as many people as possible.
I like being able to help people improve their health. However, some people take offense to you giving them advice about their health. They may even think you are “loony” or “crazy” by sharing your unconventional health knowledge. I have found the best thing to do is to tell people as needed.
For example, if people notice you are eating differently than them and take interest by asking you questions, have answers ready for them. You don’t need to give them a bunch of details unless they are truly interested. You can even tell them you are eating this way because you feel so much better or healthier when you eat these foods.
Other times when it is appropriate to share the details of your diet is if you are invited over to someone’s house to eat, if you are invited to go to a restaurant, or if you will attend a company or business event. In most of these situations it will be a challenge to find any good options for meals. This is when it is important to share what you can and cannot eat.
GAPS Diet Tips for Eating Out at a Restaurant
- Look on search engines like Yelp to determine where you can eat. Some effective search phrases include: “paleo”, “primal”, “organ meats”, “grass fed”, “seafood”, “burgers”, “duck fat”, and “salad”.
- Look at the restaurant’s online menu to determine if you will have any options.
- Try to stick to restaurants where most of their dishes contain animal proteins and vegetables.
- Ask the restaurant if they cook with vegetable oil. If they do, ask if they can cook in butter or animal fat instead. If this isn’t even an option, you can ask them to steam or grill your food (just make sure to tell them to clean off the grill well).
- Some restaurants like Gordon Biersch allow you to bring your own sauces or dressings. This is one of the main concerns I have when eating out as I am terribly sensitive to vegetable oil.
- As a general rule, order a dish with an animal protein and veggies/salad or fruit. For example, salmon with asparagus or spinach, or a burger with a salad or other vegetable side dish.
GAPS Diet Tips on Snacking
- I have heard about a great way of traveling with broth recently. You can dehydrate the broth to bring with you wherever you go. All you need is hot water and it will be instant broth! Check it out here.
- Pemmican and jerky (salmon or beef) are great snacks for staving off hunger.
- Fresh fruit, nuts and seeds are simple snacks, but not preferred as I find I am still hungry after eating them. Besides, you don’t want to over consume these foods.
I hope these GAPS diet tips help everyone. I will have more information to share later!
