A grown up person contains billions of vital gut microbes; in average 2 kg.
The gut flora consists of  hundreds of types of species of bacteria, fungi and more, living in a finely tuned inter-related hierarchy.

These species can roughly be seperated into 3 types:

• the beneficial (probiotic)
• the opportunistic
• the harmful (dysbiotic) – or transitional

A healthy gut flora is dominated by the beneficial species and supported by the opportunistic.
But if the balance between them is destroyed for instance by medicine and really bad quality processed food plus the lack of fermented food (probiotics), the gut flora can turn harmful.
This can affect the health in all sorts of negative ways.

Leaky Gut
Poisonous gut bacteria can make the gut wall, where most of the immune cells are, leaky.
A leaky gut means that the gut wall has tiny holes like a sief.
This gives admittance for poisonous substances
from the harmful microbes to pass into the blood stream.

As you know, blood also passes the brain.
Therefore not only the gut can be affected by this harmful material,
but also the immune system and the brain.

”All diseases begin in the gut”
The phenomena ill-in-the-gut has been known for millenia.
400 years before Christ, the father of the modern medicine Hippocrates claimed,
that ”all diseases begin in the gut.”
Maybe he was right, maybe it is a bit exaggerated. Who knows?
But it seems that the claim is worth checking out.
I am sure, it is positive and constructive, that it has got a revival.

Fortunately
you can do something yourself to mend a leaky gut, kick out the really ugly microbes
and welcome more of the good ones. You can give the GAPS diet a try!

A once-and-for-all diet
If you choose to start the diet, you will have to realize, that healing takes time.
On the other hand, after the healing journey, you are probably done with all sorts of other diets.

The GAPS protocol doesn´t just relieve symptoms, but it alters you biochemical condition,
which can make you free of illness. However, some don´t recover, they ”only” get better.
This is a very individual matter.
Some people need to be extremely patient and spend several years on the diet – maybe 4 or 5 years.
This applies for instance to people with ME.

The GAPS diet is not a quick-fix!
But you can take it easy. You won´t suffer or starve.
You are going to eat the most delicious, homemade food.
I am sure you can be very creative in the kitchen
and learn to make sugar- and starch free meals.

If you need inspiration, you can find lots of recipes in the Using the GAPS Diet Cookbook