The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet by Monica Corrado

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The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet
By Monica Corrado, MA, CNC, CGP
Selene River Press

Monica Corrado is a certified GAPS prac­titioner, a holistic certified nutrition consultant and a teaching chef. She brings her years of ex­perience and knowledge to us in The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet.

Well-known to many WAPF members, Cor­rado walks readers through all the cooking tech­niques needed to successfully follow the GAPS diet, a healing nutritional protocol developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and explained in detail in Campbell-McBride’s books Gut and Psychology Syndrome and Gut and Physiology Syndrome. The GAPS diet removes foods ir­ritating to the gut and then, more importantly, introduces healing foods such as meat stock so that the gut can be “healed and sealed.” This diet has helped thousands of people to heal from all kinds of chronic illnesses.

Corrado provides us with an excellent com­panion volume to Dr. Natasha’s work. The book begins with a general overview of the GAPS diet protocol and its various stages. Corrado then takes readers through crucial elements of the diet, including meat stock, cultured dairy, lacto-fermented foods and properly prepared nuts and seeds.

First and foremost—and foundational to GAPS—is meat stock. Corrado explains the important differences between meat stock and bone broth (among others, the lack of glutamic acid in meat stock) and the basics of making meat stock, discussing ingredients, techniques and tools and providing recipes for several va­rieties of meat stock. She also covers when to introduce and how to prepare bone broth.

In the section on cultured dairy, readers learn both the “how” and the “why,” including how to obtain the best milk. Helpfully, Corrado walks readers through when and how to intro­duce dairy and discusses protocols for those sensitive to dairy. Recipes and techniques cover everything from whey to kefir to sour cream and yogurt.

Another crucial element of the GAPS diet is lacto-fermentation, and homemade lacto-ferments (rather than store-bought) are a must. Again, Corrado reviews not just the “how” but the “why” so that readers can successfully in­tegrate these healing foods into their diet. Her demonstration of various methods, starters and types of ferments makes this section easy for readers to use.

Going without any grains is a requirement of the GAPS diet and, for many, is not an easy task. Have no fear! Corrado helps readers through the proper preparation of nuts, beans and seeds and describes how to gradually in­troduce grain-free baked goods into the diet. As most WAPF members already know, nuts and seeds contain antinutrients and are best soaked or sprouted prior to consumption. This is no different on the GAPS diet. Techniques for soaking, sprouting and fermenting are all covered and Corrado provides recipes for bread, muffins and pancakes.

Once a person has used the GAPS diet to fully heal, he or she can slowly reintroduce different foods again. Corrado covers this transitional diet and helps readers determine exactly which foods to reintroduce and how. After GAPS, she urges readers to move on to the Wise Traditions diet, so she provides some background on the Weston A. Price Foundation and an overview of the Wise Traditions diet.

As someone who is working through GAPS herself, I find this book a fantastic companion to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s work. Exactly what to eat, how to obtain it and how to prepare it are all fully covered in clear and concise detail that leaves readers with no room for confusion. I would heartily recommend this book to any­one following the GAPS diet and give it a full thumbs up!

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2024

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