Questions?

Are the recipes in this class gluten-free?

Yes, the recipes are totally gluten-free and grain-free.

You may find that in time you will be able to reintroduce grains, including wheat and other grains containing gluten. It depends on the individual. Most people can reverse gluten intolerance.

It takes time, however. For me, it took about 2 years before I could reintroduce gluten.

Are the recipes dairy-free?

Yes, all the recipes are dairy-free. There are a few recipes that contain butter or cheese, but I provide you alternate options like coconut oil or duck fat.

Most people find that they can reverse dairy allergies. The goal is to reintroduce dairy products slowly, one at a time (after the elimination intro diet). Dairy is introduced starting with the easiest to digest (ghee, or clarified butter) then butter, then 24-hour fermented yogurt or kefir, then hard cheeses, then soft cheeses, then milk and finally cream. It can take anywhere from a couple months to a couple years to work through these phases, depending on the individual.

Most people have no problems starting out with ghee in the earliest stages of the diet. (Yes! Hollandaise sauce!)

Can I take this class if I’m doing the SCD or GAPS diet?

Yes! GAPS and SCD is what this class is based on. We don’t use any grains or sugar — no sweeteners other than honey. You start out dairy-free and then slowly introduce dairy foods one by one over time.

The GAPS diet recommends eating plenty of soups, roasted meats with broth-based gravies and sauces, wild-caught seafood, and organ meats.

We are including GAPS-legal sweets and desserts made with honey, dates, and date sugar. However, these foods should be eaten in strict moderation. It is best to limit all sweets on this diet.

That said, I did want to include some sweet options so that people feel like they can actually stay on the diet for an extended period of time. Which is why I’m including a GAPS-legal birthday cake (with legal food coloring,) cookies, cheesecake and other sweets.

Can you guarantee that I will reverse my food allergies?

No, I cannot guarantee it. There is no guarantee as to what you may experience or achieve by participating in this class. Please read my full disclaimer.

However, I am very confident that this program can help you regardless of whether or not you are actually able to reverse your allergies. This diet can help to improve digestion and which in turn helps you absorb the nutrients in the food you are eating.

Many people with food allergies have serious nutritional deficiencies due lack of absorption — which can result in all kinds of physical problems from cavities to crooked teeth to osteoporosis, as well as mental and emotional disorders including ADD and ADHD, autism, anxiety and depression.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of The Gut and Psychology Syndrome, elaborates:

“People with food allergies and intolerances should go through the Introduction Diet in order to heal and seal their gut lining. The reason for allergies and food intolerances is a so-called ‘leaky gut,’ when the gut lining is damaged by abnormal micro flora. Foods do not get the chance to be digested properly before they get absorbed through the damaged wall and cause the immune system to react to them.”

Will this diet help me with X (fill in the blank) medical condition?

I am not a doctor or a medical practitioner. This cooking class does not constitute the practice of any medical or other professional health care advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should consult with your personal physician or other healthcare professional if you have any healthcare related questions or before changing your diet. Please read my full disclaimer.

Can I take this class if I am on X (fill in the blank) medication?

Again, I’m not a doctor. I cannot answer those kinds of questions. If you have any existing healthcare issues, you need to consult with your doctor first before you change your diet. You also need to work with your doctor regarding any kind of medication or medical treatment. That is outside of the purview of this cooking class. Please read my full disclaimer.

Are you a GAPS Practitioner?

No, I am not a medical practitioner of any kind. Nor am I a dietician or nutritionist. I am a layperson who is teaching a cooking class to help people who want to learn to prepare foods on the the GAPS (or SCD) diet or something similar. Please read my full disclaimer.

Do I have to do an elimination diet? Can’t I just get tested for food allergies?

Not according to Dr. Campbell-McBride. She explains:

“Testing for food allergies is notoriously unreliable: if they had enough resources to test twice a day for two weeks, they would find that they are “allergic” to everything they eat. As long as the gut wall is damaged and stays damaged, you can be juggling your diet forever, removing different foods and never getting anywhere. From my clinical experience, it is best to concentrate on healing the gut wall with the Introduction Diet. Once the gut wall is healed, the foods will be digested properly before being absorbed, which will remove many food intolerances and allergies.”

What if I have a life-threatening food allergy? Can I still take this class?

Yes! There are some food allergies which might not be able to be reversed. Those foods will need to be avoided indefinitely.

However, participating in this class will teach you how to heal your gut and improve your digestion and nutrient absorption.

What if I’m allergic to eggs?

I have included a number of egg-free recipes and will provide information in the first class about how to substitute eggs in recipes. Many people find that they can reverse egg allergies when they heal their gut.

What if I’m allergic to shellfish or nuts?

Shellfish can easily be avoided in this diet. Nuts can also be avoided.

Instead of making almond bread or almond pancakes, you can make coconut flour bread or pancakes. I am including a variety of recipes to help compensate for people with nut allergies (my daughter is sensitive to nuts).

Many people find that they can reverse nut and shellfish allergies by healing their digestive tract.

What if I’m allergic to soy?

There is no soy included in this class. It is not allowed on the GAPS diet. (Soy is very hard to digest.)

What if I don’t eat pork or shellfish for religious reasons?

Shellfish is very nutrient-dense which is why we include it. However, you can eat an extremely nutrient-dense diet without eating shellfish — just eat more liver and organ meats, and, if you like them, fish eggs (caviar — you can find it kosher online).

I will include substitutes for pork and shellfish wherever possible. There are some recipes I will be demonstrating that you cannot substitute — I don’t know of a substitute for pork carnitas or for calamari unfortunately.

Can I take this class if I travel and eat out a lot?

Yes! I almost always bring snacks and meals on plane trips. You can even bring hot foods such as chicken stock or soup in a thermos, and you can bring a small cooler to keep other foods cold.

When eating out in restaurants, there are lots of things you can eat. Order meat or fish with cooked vegetables — just make sure the food is not cooked in soybean oil.

Salads are also easy to find — just bring your own vinaigrette. Sashimi (sushi without the rice) is something easy to find in most cities — just skip the soy sauce (you can smuggle in your own fermented fish sauce, which is a great substitute for soy sauce).

What if I am a vegetarian?

I think it would be very hard to do this diet as a strict vegetarian. However, you can easily do this diet after the first 4-8 weeks as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I would also include bone broth if possible, and, if you’re willing, also fish.

Bone broth is very important for the healing of the digestive tract. I think you would also find it hard to find enough to eat, especially in the first 4 weeks when you cannot have dairy or nuts.

I was actually a vegetarian when I did my elimination diet and started on my path to healing at age 25 — I decided that it was more important to get healthy and so I went back to eating meat and fish. I figured I could always go back to vegetarianism later. (I never did. I just learned to source meat and dairy from humanely raised animals that live on pasture and only wild-caught or sustainably farmed fish.)

This diet sounds expensive. Can I do this on a budget?

It’s true, eating meat and seafood is more expensive than eating rice and beans, but it’s also an investment in your health. So many of us are deprived of critical nutrients that we need to stay healthy and prevent disease. Meat and seafood are concentrated nutrition.

And those of us with food allergies are already at a nutritional disadvantage. Because we don’t digest and absorb our food fully, we end up with nutritional deficiencies. My father-in-law suffered from GERD for years, and it resulted in osteoporosis. I have also seen many cases of children with abnormal gut flora who end up with lots of cavities. So for people with food allergies, it is even more important to focus on eating the most nutrient-dense foods possible.

There are many ways to save money eating meat and seafood. It turns out, the most inexpensive and most nutrient-dense meat and seafoods are the cheapest ones. For example, liver is very liver and other organ meats are a heck of a lot cheaper than steak — and they are 10 to 100 times more nutrient-dense than muscle meats.

There are many kinds of fish that are very inexpensive — such as cod or sole. You can find inexpensive fish in the freezer section of many grocery stores (just look for “wild caught” — I don’t recommend “farmed” fish.)

You can also save a lot by purchasing a quarter, half or whole cow from a local farmer and storing it in your chest freezer.

We’ll discuss this in greater detail on the online forum.

Isn’t eating a lot of meat bad for the environment?

Quite the contrary. We need animals on the land to save the planet!

Agricultural crops like corn and soy deplete the soil. Unless you’re using lots of petro-chemical fertilizers (derived from fossil fuels), you need manure to fertilize the earth and keep the soil healthy so that food will grow. Without manure from animals, our topsoil will continue to erode, and we’ll see more deserts and floods. (For more information on this, please read The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith.)

Is it true that eating red meat causes cancer?

The studies that show that red meat causes cancer were based on processed meats from animals in factory farms. I advocate using meat from animals raised by farmers you trust — grass-fed and humanely raised. I do have some processed meats in the recipes, such as salami, but I recommend you only buy nitrate-free salami, ideally from pastured pigs.

What about mercury in fish? Shouldn’t we avoid fish?

The benefits of eating fish outweigh the risks of mercury poisoning. Even for pregnant women! Check out this article from the Harvard School of Public Health.

What if I don’t like the class? Can I get a refund?

Absolutely. I have a 100% Money Back Guarantee, valid for 30 days after the first day of class. If you are not happy with the class for any reason, you can get a refund — no questions asked. Just email me within 30 days after the start date to ask for a refund. Please click here to read the refund policy.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions that aren’t covered above, please comment below or email me.

Sign Up Now! Class starts Wednesday, April 6th. Special Launch Discount: $199 $149 Hurry! Enrollment ends Thursday, March 31st.