12 tips and recipes for stage 1 of the GAPS intro diet - The Nourishing Gourmet (2024)

October 28, 2011 by KimiHarris 60 Comments

This grain free chicken noodle soup is GAPS friendly! For the intro diet, leave out the celery.

The intro diet to GAPS can be an effective healing tool for many, but it is quite restrictive. You can read the instructions for the introduction diet here. On stage one, you are basically consuming homemade bone broths, meats cooked in broth, and non-fibrous vegetables, also cooked in broth, with a little bit of sauerkraut juice. It can be hard to get through, get enough calories, especially if you have children on the diet. This is what I learned more recently when we did a test run of the GAPS diet for my daughter after some issues cropped up again after some unavoidable antibiotics.

But before I get to the practical tips, read this amazing GAPS story for encouragement. A mom with very fussy eaters on the GAPS diet with great results. I love it!

1. Make broth every day so you don’t run out.

2. Make very large pots of soup so there are plenty of leftovers.

3. Plan to eat very, very often until you adjust to the new dietary foods. I plan on feeding my daughter every two hours.

4. Everything has to be cooked in broth, but you can pull out hamburger patties, steaks, and other cuts of meat from the broth and eat it with a fork while sipping a cup of broth on the side.

5. If you don’t do well on a low carb diet, or have children doing the diet with you, eat lots of squash and carrot soups for the carbs. (It goes without saying that you should check with your health care provider about dietary changes.)

6. Cut carrots into carrot sticks and cook until soft in broth. Remove, then sprinkle with salt and serve. This is a great way to get some carbohydrates into your diet.

7. Invest in a hand blender. When you can’t even saute onions in oil yet, your soups are going to pretty basic. By blending some of your soups, you will have a more enjoyable soup experience with certain vegetables. A hand blender makes this much easier. I have been happy with my Kitchenaid Hand Blender!

8. My personal favorite soup on the diet: Creamed Cauliflower with Beef. Cut up cauliflower and place in pot with several peeled garlic cloves (I also add oregano which is not technically in stage one). Cover with broth. Cook until soft, blend with hand blender. Bring to a simmer and drop balls of uncooked, salted, ground beef into the soup to create meatballs. Simmer until cooked through. Adjust with salt to taste and serve with chopped cilantro.

9. My daughter’s favorite soup on the intro diet is Ginger Squash Soup. Peel a large butternut squash soup and cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon and dice the squash. Place in a pot with a tablespoon or two of finely grated peeled ginger, and several peeled garlic cloves. Cover with broth. Simmer until the squash is cooked well. Blend until soft and salt to taste.

10. We also really liked Broccoli Beef Soup. Thinly slice one or two well-washed leeks. Add to a pot of salted broth. Simmer for ten minutes. Then add cut up broccoli and salted ground beef shaped into small meatballs. Cook for about 7 minutes, or until cooked through.

11. Make sure you eat plenty of fat. Keep all of the fat in the broth. I found that the pureed soups tasted velvety when they contained lots of fat. This is important for both satiety and for healing.

12. Purchase the ebook, What Can I Eat Now? 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet. You will not be disappointed as she walks you through the intro diet with a variety of tasty recipes. We have not used it strictly, but rather used it as a resource for more recipe ideas. (She also has a lot of other great resources too! Like this GAPS accessible Grain Free Afternoon Freezer Class !)

So there are 12 of my tips and recipes for Stage 1 of the GAPS intro diet. I’d love to hear yours as well!

Thank you so much for supporting this blog by purchasing through any of the above affiliate links. I appreciate you!