Here I would just say that 
anaemia, even mild, is not something to be taken lightly as it comes with a 
constant feeling of tiredness, lack of energy and stamina, difficulties in 
concentration, completing daily tasks and learning. On the whole, having met many families with GAPS children, I usually 
find that the whole family needs treatment. The most fundamental pur­
pose of treatment has to be normalising the gut flora and addressing nutri­
tional deficiencies. As the whole family gets healthier, the parents have 
more energy and stamina to deal with their child's problems and to bring 
up their other children. Afamily is alivingorganism and has to be seen and 
treated as a whole. In our struggle to help our GAPS children it is very easy 
for us, parents, to neglect ourselves. But, at the end of the day a strong 
healthy family is what we are all about. Isn't it? 8. VACCINATIONS 
DOES MMR CAUSE AUTISM? The human mind is like an umbrella -
it functions best when open. Walter Gropius, 1965 
Talking about autism it is impossible to avoid the issue of the MMR vaccine 
and vaccination in general. In my practice I see some parents of autistic 
children who would link their child's disorder with the MMR (Measles, 
Mumps and Rubella) vaccine where a majority cannot make this connec­
tion. An equal number of families connect their child's regression with DPT 
(Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) vaccination. Following research by Dr 
Wakefield there has been a lot of publicity on this subject. The British gov­
ernment has put a lot of effort and money into convincing the public that 
the MMR vaccine is safe. While the MMR vaccine was in the limelight, 
other vaccines got questioned as well, due to the fact that many of them 
contain a preservative Thimerosal, a Mercury compound, and many other 
toxic and questionable substances. DPT vaccine containing Thimerosal 
has been banned in many countries. However, in Britain a fair amount of 
old stock, containing Thimerosal, may still be injected into babies. Many 
vaccines are new and have not been tested long enough, yet apparently the 
number of complications from these vaccines is much higher than any­
body would expect. On top of all this we have to remember that vaccines 
are commercial products made with profit in mind. Is it true that the £3 
million, which the UK government recently spent on MMR promotion, was 
paid by the companies who have a commercial interest in this vaccine? So, does MMR cause autism? I do not believe that things are that simple. Here we have to look at vac­
cination as a whole. Let us have a look at what is happening to children in our modern society. If you look around, how many healthy children do you see? Childhood 
asthma, eczema, diabetes, allergies, hay fever, digestive disorders, ADHD 
and autistic spectrum disorders have all gained epidemic proportions! The 
majority of siblings of autistic children have eczema, asthma or another 
one of those disorders. And though all these health problems appear 
to be different, they have one thing in common. A very big thing - a compromised immune system. A compromised immune system is not 
going to react to environmental insults in the normal way! Vaccination is a 
huge insult to the immune system. The manufacturers of vaccines produce 
them for children with normal immune systems which will react to these 
vaccines in a predictable way. However, in our modern society with our 
modern way of life, we are rapidly moving to a situation where a growing 
proportion of children do not have a normal immune system and will not 
produce an expected reaction to the vaccine. In some of these children 
vaccination, putting an enormous strain on an already compromised 
immune system, becomes that "last straw which breaks the earners back" 
and brings on the beginning of autism, asthma, eczema, diabetes, etc. In 
other children, whose immune system is compromised to a lesser degree, 
vaccination will not start the disorder, but it will deepen the damage and 
move the child closer to it. So while MMR and othervaccines maynotbe the direct cause of autism, 
in immune-compromised children they can do a lot of harm and in some 
children may well provide the trigger which starts the disorder. Following all the scandals around vaccinations it is no surprise that a lot 
of people around the world express an opinion that we should abandon 
childhood vaccinations altogether. What these people forget is that before 
the vaccination era it was quite normal for every family to loose one, two, 
three and sometimes even more children to childhood infections, like 
measles, rubella, mumps and others. This is the natural selection law, 
which Mother Nature has imposed on all living creatures on Earth. No 
animal would have all of its young survive. In fact in many species most 
babies in the litter die with only the strongest surviving. This law of natural 
selection ensures that the planet is populated by the best and the fittest in 
each species. In our modern world we humans are not prepared to obey 
this law. No mother would allow her child to perish, when there are ways to 
let the child live, despite the fact that this child may not be the best and the 
fittest she can produce. Childhood infections are one of the tools of natural 
selection. Children, who survive them, come out healthier with stronger 
immune systems, weak children are not supposed to survive them. Vaccinations are one of those ways we humans have invented to allow our 
weaklings to survive. So, we cannot abandon vaccinations altogether 
unless we are prepared to obey the laws of Nature. We have to come up 
with a more rational approach to vaccinations. Vaccinations, which saved the lives of millions of children world-wide in 
the last century, are becoming dangerous thanks to changes in our VACCINATIONS. DOES MMR CAUSE AUTISM? 61 
life-styles. The number of immune-compromised children in developed 
countries is enormous and growing every day. It is time for the medical 
profession and governments to review their attitude to vaccinations. The 
rule to vaccinate everybody has to change! In this book I propo se the following procedure : a comprehensive 
immunological survey should be performed with every baby before a 
decision about vaccination be made. This survey should include: 
1. A questionnaire to assess the health history of the parents and the 
infant. 2. A comprehensive stool and urine analysis to assess any risk of gut 
dysbiosis in the baby. 3. Test to assess the infant's immune status. These questionnaires and tests have to be put into an appropriate pre-
vaccination panel for all babies and the results of this survey have to be an 
essential part in the process of deciding which of the following steps to 
take: 
• No vaccinations at all. An infant born to a mother with ME, fibro-
mialgia, digestive problems, asthma, eczema, severe allergies, auto­
immune disorders or neurological problems should not be 
vaccinated. An infant presenting with eczema, asthma, digestive 
problems or any other disorder, which would indicate compromised 
gut flora and immunity, should be a red flag not to vaccinate! Younger 
siblings of autistic children, children with severe eczema, asthma, 
allergies, ADHD, epilepsy and insulin dependant diabetes should not 
be vaccinated. At the age of five years these children can be re-tested 
and in those cases where the child does not have immune deficiencies 
vaccination with single vaccines only may be considered. These single 
vaccines should be spaced by at least six weeks from each other. • Delayed vaccination until the results of the tests are better. This would 
apply to infants who have generally healthy mothers and do not 
present with any particular health problems, but on testing show 
abnormalities in their immune systems. These children should be 
re-tested every six to eight months and vaccinated with single 
vaccines only when they are ready. • Standard vaccination protocol with single vaccines only. This would 
apply to healthy infants who have healthy parents and whose tests 
show normal immune development. These are just initial guidelines, which need to be worked on in order to 
set an appropriate vaccination protocol. Those £3 million which the British 
government spent on promoting MMR might have been just enough to 
develop such a protocol, and, in my opinion, be a much more worthwhile 
investment in the future health of our nation. Concerning our current standard vaccination protocol there is a strong 
argument to administer single vaccines only rather than combined vac­
cines, like MMR and DPT. In a natural situation a child would never be 
exposed to measles, mumps and rubella at the same time. Indeed, in those 
extremely rare occasions in history when two of these infections happened 
at the same time the medical literature describes impaired physical and 
mental development in the child. Of course the proponents of the com­
bined vaccines would say that millions of children around the world were 
vaccinated this way without any ill effects. However, in view of GAPS con­
ditions reaching epidemic proportions we have to review our old policies. It is very likely that combined vaccines will have to be abandoned 
altogether. 9. SCHIZOPHRENIA 
Schizophrenia is that big bag, where psychiatrists put all the patients who 
are difficult to understand. There is a considerable overlap between 
depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dyslexia and 
schizophrenia. Quite often a patient would be diagnosed as bipolar to be 
later re-diagnosed as schizophrenic. Depression is often the only symptom 
present in a patient for years before other symptoms of schizophrenia 
develop. Members of the family of a schizophrenic patient often suffer 
from dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD and 
obsessive-compulsive disorder. Just as it is with childhood learning disabil­
ities we see that psychiatric patients do not fit neatly into our diagnostic 
boxes. Is it because we are missing some underlying problem, which may 
be causing all these different conditions in different people? The only treatment modern psychiatry can offer schizophrenic patients 
are antipsychotic drugs. The use of these drugs is often based on trial and 
error and though in many cases they do control psychotic symptoms, they 
have serious side effects and do not cure the patient. Like most drugs, used 
in modern medicine, they are symptomatic, which means that they only 
reduce the symptoms without treating the disease. On average anti­
psychotic drugs reduce symptoms only by 15-25 %, which means that 
75-85% of symptoms are left unresolved. Before the era of pharmaceuticals ruling medicine, psychiatrists rou­
tinely recorded that psychiatric patients not only have psychiatric prob­
lems, but are also very ill physically. The most common physical problems 
are digestive, cardio-vascular, diabetes, lung and urogenital infections, 
autoimmunity and other signs of immune abnormalities. In an old 
Textbook of Psychiatry by Henderson and Gillespie, published in 1937, it is 
clearly stated: "A thorough physical examination is absolutely essential in 
every case - schizophrenics are commonly poorly nourished". Recent 
research proves it to be correct. Deficiencies in vitamins (such as niacin or 
B3, B6, B12, Bi, folic acid, vitamin C) and many minerals (such as magne­
sium, zinc, manganese, etc) are routinely recorded in schizophrenic 
patients. A Canadian doctor Abram Hoffer has successfully treated thou-sands of schizophrenic patients with supplementation of B3, B12, folic acid 
and vitamin C. An American doctor Carl Pfeiffer has studied more than 
20,000 patients and showed that treating them with nutritional supple­
mentation and diet can be far more effective, than using prescription 
drugs. Why do schizophrenic patients have nutritional deficiencies? We already 
know that the answer will be found only in their digestive systems. A 
French psychiatrist Pinel almost 200 years ago wrote, "the primary seat of 
insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines". US 
Professor Curtis Dohan, MD, devoted many years to researching what con­
nection digestive abnormalities in schizophrenic patients may have with 
their psychological state. It had been noticed previously that there is a con­
siderable overlap between coeliac disease and schizophrenia and Dr 
Dohan found that symptoms of schizophrenia could be dramatically 
relieved by cutting all grains out of the diet. He also found that some cul­
tures in the South Pacific, which never consumed grains, had no 
schizophrenia. Only when they adopted a western diet full of grains did 
they start getting cases of schizophrenia. Another good example is Ireland, 
where people did not consume wheat until the potato famine in 1845. Before then there were no cases of schizophrenia or coeliac disease 
recorded in Ireland. Since adopting wheat as a staple food Irish have one of 
the highest incidences of coeliac disease and schizophrenia in the world. In the late 1970s it was discovered that gluten from grains and casein from 
milk can be turned into opiates in the digestive system, which absorb into 
the blood, cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the brain. These opiates 
were found in the urine of schizophrenic patients and those with depres­
sion and autoimmune conditions. Later on Dr Reichelt in Norway and Dr 
Shattock in the UK found the same compounds in the urine of autistic chil­
dren. That is how schizophrenia and autism found themselves in one com­
pany It became clear that both groups of patients could not digest gluten 
from grains and casein from milk. Schizophrenic patients usually develop psychotic symptoms in their 
teens or early twenties. However, when I talk extensively with the parents 
of these patients, a picture of GAPS emerges. Mothers of these patients 
almost invariably have abnormal gut flora and associated disorders. It 
means that she would pass her abnormal flora to her baby. A large percent 
of schizophrenic patients were not breastfed as babies, which would 
further compromise their digestive flora and immune system. From the 
childhood health history it becomes clear that the patient was physically ill long before developing psychotic symptoms. Digestive problems, 
allergies and reactions to food, eczema, asthmatic episodes, malnourish-
ment, lack of stamina, hyperactivity, attention deficit, dyspraxia, dyslexia, 
fatigue, irritability, poor sleep, night terrors are all common. All these 
symptoms indicate, that the child had abnormalities in gut flora with 
all the usual consequences: malnourishment with multiple nutritional 
deficiencies, compromised immunity and toxicity, coming from the gut. A mixture of these toxins obviously was not right for making the child 
autistic for example, but was enough to cause other problems. In 
these cases schizophrenia does not come from nowhere, it comes out of 
GAPS. Seeing that schizophrenic symptoms usually appear around puberty it is 
reasonable to suspect that puberty plays some role in the onset of 
schizophrenia. It is possible that the hormonal turmoil of puberty in some 
way interacts with the toxins in the child's body and tips the child into a 
psychotic state. It is also possible that the hormones open the blood-brain 
barrier for some of the toxins, which were in the child's body al] his/her life, 
but could not get into the brain before. Another interesting possibility is 
something wrong happening in the maturation processes of the brain. Apparently through different stages of growth the brain prunes its recep­
tors. The most active pruning goes on around two years of age and at 
puberty. It is possible that at puberty opioid peptides and other toxins 
escaping the gut of the youngster interfere with this natural pruning pro­
cess and tip the brain into psychoses. Hopefully, future research 
explain these issues. What is obvious is that psychotic manifestation is only 
a progression of the physical problems in the child's body and not a new 
disease appearing out of nowhere! The toxicity produced by abnormal microbial mass in the patient's 
digestive system affects the brain and causes the symptoms of schizophre­
nia. So, in order to help the patient we need to get rid of this toxicity In 
order to do that we need to treat the patient's digestive system. In my clinical experience the same nutritional management, as I pre­
scribe for GAPS children, works very well for schizophrenic patients. I 
believe this happens because this nutritional management heals the gut 
lining and re-establishes normal gut flora. As a result, the patient starts 
digesting and absorbing food properly. The gut stops being the major 
source of toxins in the body and becomes the major source of nourish­
ment, as it is supposed to be. As the nutritional deficiencies and toxicity go 
away the psychotic symptoms go away with them. What about the medication? This is a very important point that has to be taken into account. It is very 
rare to see a psychiatric patient, who is not taking anti-psychotic medica­
tion. Anti-psychotic drugs change the biochemistry of the brain and, 
according to the latest research, even the structure of the brain. Recent 
publications in the Lancet and the American Journal of Psychiatry suggest 
that long-term use of neuroleptic drugs cause brain atrophy (shrinkage). It 
is not known yet whether these changes are reversible. On top of that, anti­
psychotic drugs have got a long list of unpleasant side effects and in 
essence are toxic. So, it is a logical desire of any patient to come off the 
drugs as soon as possible. However, as we detoxify the patient through 
nutritional management it is important not to change his/her medication 
until the patient is ready for it. I will explain why. When we are sure that 
through diet and supplementation the patient's physical and mental state 
has dramatically improved and is stable, we can consider removing the 
medication. Despite the fact that the pharmacological companies, who 
produce neuroleptics, allow to stop these drugs abruptly, there is a consid­
erable amount of published clinical evidence to show that ami-psychotic  
drugs must be removed very slowly and very carefully . Sudden removal of 
these drugs can cause a severe withdrawal reaction because the brain's bio­
chemistry and structure need time to re-adjust to life without the drug. When the drug is stopped abruptly, unfortunately, the withdrawal reaction 
is very often seen as a relapse of the disease itself and the patient is 
promptly put back on the drugs. It is vitally important to work closely with 
the patient's psychiatrist in order to reduce the dose of the drug very slowly 
and very gradually in order to avoid the withdrawal reaction. Depending 
on the dose of the drug and how long the patient was taking it, this period 
can take months, sometimes years (if the patient was on a cocktail of 
drugs). Typical symptoms of withdrawal are to be expected in this period: 
nausea, vomiting, absence of appetite, headaches, lethargy, lack of energy, 
sleep disturbances and mood swings. One of the side-effects of a lot of 
neuroleptic drugs is weight gain and water retention. So, weight loss is also 
to be expected on withdrawing these drugs. Though the weight loss can be 
quite rapid it usually comes down to the normal range for the person and 
should not cause any particular worry. I would like to emphasise again that it is important to build up the 
patient nutritionally first and remove the cause of the problem - the GAPS 
- before starting the process of drug withdrawal. It is very important for the patient and his/her carers to understand that in this period of drug with­
drawal it is vital to stick to the GAPS Nutritional Programme rigidly! This is 
not a good time to be relaxed with diet and supplementation! After the 
drugs have been safely removed and the patient has been stable for at least 
a year on an occasional basis different foods (not allowed on the GAPS diet) 
can be tried, but not earlier. Pellagra 
There is a certain group of schizophrenics who may be not schizophrenics 
at all but pellagrines. Pellagra is a deficiency of vitamin B3 (niacin or niaci­
namide). The typical symptoms of pellagra can look very much like 
schizophrenia: delusions, hallucinations, confusion, headaches, anxiety, 
depression, irritability with a lot of physical symptoms: dermatitis, chronic 
diarrhoea and inflammation of mucous membranes. It used to affect poor 
populations whose diet was mainly corn-based. Until the real cause of this 
disorder was discovered pellagrines were treated almost like lepers. People 
believed that pellagra was infectious and contagious until it was discov­
ered that a diet rich in vitamin B3 completely cures it, A Canadian psychia­
trist Dr Abram Hoffer has helped thousands of patients with schizophrenia 
by simply supplementing their diet with large doses (2-4 g a day) of vitamin 
B3. Later on he added vitamin C and some other nutrients to his treatment 
protocol. The GAPS nutritional protocol will supply the patient with a lot of vita­
min B3. However, based on Dr Hoffer's research I believe that schizophren­
ics, apart from following the GAPS Nutritional Protocol for the first few 
weeks should supplement vitamin B3: niacin or niacinamide, 1-2 grams 
twice a day. Niacin causes flushing of the skin for 15-25 minutes. This is a 
benign reaction and should not alarm the patient. If it is a problem then 
"non-flush" niacin is available. It is always best to administer treatment 
under professional supervision. On the whole there is a general opinion that schizophrenia is incurable. That is what the patients and their relatives are usually told at the time of 
diagnosis. However, according to the experience of doctors, like Abram 
Hoffer, Curtis Dohan, Carl Pfeiffer and many other medical practitioners, 
who treated their patients with nutrition, schizophrenia is not incurable at 
all. There are thousands of patients around the world who recovered com­
pletely through using appropriate diet and nutritional supplementation. Nutritional treatment is the way forward for these patients and more and more psychiatrists are becoming aware of it. However, the way official psy­
chiatry is presently organised, it is the patients and their families who have 
to administer nutritional treatment. It is not an easy undertaking, but 
extremely rewarding. As one of my patients said recently: "You were right 
about the diet! I feel absolutely normal now. I am going to stick to my diet 
and supplements religiously!" PART TWO: TREATMENT 
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient 
while nature cures the disease. Voltaire 
A human body has an incredible ability to heal itself, given the right help. It 
is particularly true for children. I do not believe, that any child, no matter 
how ill or disabled is beyond improvement. When working in neurosurgery 
it never ceased to amaze me, how remarkably well children's brains recover 
after some serious operations, when large parts of the brain were removed. The child would leave the hospital in a wheelchair and then come back for 
a yearly check-up with hardly any neurological deficit detectable. However, Nature does not work fast. It can be very fast getting ill, but to 
recover always takes much longer. I tell the parents of GAPS children and 
carers of GAPS adults to brace themselves for at least two years of hard 
work. In some GAPS patients it takes longer. The purpose of the treatment 
is to detoxify the person, to lift the toxic fog off the brain to allow it to 
develop and function properly. In order to achieve that we need: 
First; To clean up and heal the digestive tract, so it stops being the major 
source of toxicity in the body and becomes the source of nourishment, as it 
is supposed to be. Second: To remove toxicity, already stored in various tis­
sues of the patient's body 
These two targets are achieved by means of The Nutritional Programme. This programme has evolved through the personal experience with my 
own child and clinical experience with hundreds of GAPS children and 
adults in the UK and other European countries. So, what does this programme involve? The Nutritional Programme for Gut and Psychology Syndrome 
1. Diet. 2. Supplementation. 3. Detoxification and life-style changes. In the next chapters we are going to look in detail at these three points. However, apart from the nutritional programme there is another inter­
vention, which is extremely important to implement, particularly with children. This intervention is an appropriate education. It is beyond the 
scope of this book to discuss education. However, this is an important 
point to make: as the child starts to detoxify with the use of the nutritional 
programme he or she will be more capable of learning. Teachers and 
parents frequently comment on how much faster the child starts to 
progress through his or her educational programme when the GAPS 
nutritional protocol is implemented. DIET 
I. THE DIET - A DISCUSSION 
Nowhere there is so much misunderstanding and confusion, as on the sub­
ject of diet. At one end of the spectrum there are plenty of medical profes­
sionals and other people, involved in caring for people with autism, 
schizophrenia, ADHD and other GAPS conditions, who will tell you that 
diet has nothing to do with these problems. At the other end of the spec­
trum there are a few books, mainly written by parents, about the miracu­
lous effects of dietary changes on their children's condition. In between 
there are many families who have tried various dietary interventions with 
different results: from no effect to some improvement. The amount of different information available on the diet for autism 
alone must be bewildering for the parents. The most heavily promoted is 
the gluten-and casein-free diet. Then there are diets without salicilates and 
phenols. The anti-candida diet has to be taken into account, as GAPS 
people are without doubt affected by this yeast. Food allergies and intoler­
ances are a big issue for many GAPS children and adults. And, as if all that 
is not enough, many parents of GAPS children have to battle with the fact 
that their child will eat hardly anything, as majority of GAPS children are so 
finicky with food. Consequently it is no surprise that many families try dif­
ferent dietary interventions for a while, see no results and drop the whole 
idea, joining the camp of cynics. There is no doubt that appropriate diet is of paramount importance in 
treating any chronic degenerative disorder, including GAPS. But what diet? Before we start talking about what is the appropriate diet for GAP 
Syndrome, we need to clear up some misunderstandings. The Gluten and Casein Free Diet 
In the previous chapter we talked in detail about research, done by Dohan, 
Reichelt, Shattock, Cade and others, where gluten and casein peptides, called gluteomorphins and casomorphins, were detected in the urine of 
autistic children, patients with schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, 
ADHD and some autoimmune disorders. These peptides have a similar 
chemical structure to opiate drugs and are thought to effect the brain in a 
similar fashion. The Gluten Free and Casein Free diet (GFCF diet) is based 
on this research. This diet has been very heavily promoted and has almost 
become the official diet for autism. Let us have a look at it in detail. Gluten is a protein found in grains, mainly wheat, rye, barley and oats. Casein is a protein found in milk and milk products. GFCF diet aims to 
remove all sources of these two proteins. The theory behind this diet is 
sound, the problem is the application. Autistic children due to abnormali­
ties in their gut flora crave processed carbohydrates - the very foods that 
feed pathogens in their gut. The typical pattern of autistic development 
includes the fact that somewhere in the first two years of life the child 
limits his/her diet to processed carbohydrates, dairy and sugar: breads, 
biscuits, cakes, sweets, crisps, breakfast cereals, pasta, milk and sweet 
yoghurts. In the majority of cases it is extremely hard to change the child's 
food preferences: he/she just would not accept any other foods. So, to 
transfer this child to GFCF diet, processed carbohydrates containing 
gluten get replaced with gluten free processed carbohydrates, made with 
rice, sugar, potato starch, tapioca flour, soy, buckwheat flour, etc. This sort 
of foods will feed the abnormal flora in the child's gut just as much as the 
previous diet did, perpetuating the vicious cycle of a damaged leaky gut 
and toxicity escaping from this leaky gut into the blood and brain. Of 
course, the fact that out of dozens of various toxins, flowing from the gut 
into the body, two toxins have been removed: gluteomorphin and caso­
morphin, does some good. In some children it has quite a noticeable effect. But unfortunately in the majority of cases it has very little or no effect at all, 
because the rest of the toxicity is still there, being produced by abnormal 
gut flora. As long as Candida, Clostridia and many other pathogens popu­
late the gut, the inflammation will persist, the gut will stay leaky, allowing 
hundreds of different undigested and toxic substances into the body. The fact that this kind of GFCF diet gained such a world-wide accep­
tance as the diet for autism is very unfortunate, because it addresses only a 
small part of the whole picture of autism: the gluteomorphins and caso­
morphins. As it always happens a lot of commercial companies jumped on 
the bandwagon, ready to supply GFCF pre-prepared foods, full of sugar, 
processed carbohydrates, denatured and altered fats and proteins and 
many other substances, which autistic children must not have. Every pub-lication on autism is full of advertisements for these foods, lulling the par­
ents into a sense of false security: if it is GFCF it must be fine for my autis­
tic child. Books are written full of recipes, based on these processed carbo­
hydrates, sugar, altered fats and proteins. Web-sites and internet chat 
groups have been set up exchanging the same kind of recipe.... This is just another example of what already happened many times in 
our human history: scientific data has been used the wrong way. There is 
no doubt, that gluten and casein are better out of the diet of an autistic 
child. But these two substances are by no means the one and only decisive 
key to autism, schizophrenia and other GAPS conditions. The core issue, 
which we have to deal with, is the unhealthy gut ruled by abnormal 
microbes. An appropriate diet is an absolutely essential part of the treat­
ment. But it is definitely not the GFCF diet, as we know it. Phenols and Salicylates 
There is a theory that GAPS children and adults react to phenols and sali­
cylates (a subgroup of phenols), so foods containing them should be out of 
their diet. Proponents of this theory advise to cut out pretty much all fruit, 
vegetables, nuts, seeds and oils. I don't know why they stop there because 
there is no food on this planet, which does not contain phenolic com­
pounds. All grains, meats, fish, eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables and plant 
matter are full of phenols. Phenols are aromatic substances of small molecular weight. They give 
our foods their colour and flavour. They preserve foods in their natural 
state by protecting them from pathogens. They take an active part in ger­
mination and growth of seeds and attract flower pollinators. They act as 
powerful antioxidants and detoxifiers, when introduced into our bodies. Many nutrients and active substances essential for us to have every day are 
phenols. Let's just look at some of them. • Vitamin C. Nobody can live without it. • Vitamin K. Essential in blood clotting and many other bodily func­
tions. • Vitamin E. Essential for brain development and hundreds other jobs 
in the body. • Vitamins Bi (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B6 (pyridoxine), 
folic acid are phenols. All these vitamins are essential for us to have 
every day if we are to be alive at all. • Amino acids - cholin, phenylalanine, tryptophan and others. Without 
them we would not be able to produce neurotransmitters for our 
brain and the rest of the nervous system. • Some neurotransmitters themselves: dopamine, norepinephrine, 
histmine are also phenols. • Gallic Acid. Cutting out this phenol is the basis of Feingold Diet or low 
salicylate diet. Gallic acid is found in about 70% of all foods including 
food colourings. Though food colourings, E-numbers and other food 
additives should be out of your GAPS patient's diet, cutting out 70% of 
all foods is rather punishing. This list can go on. All natural proteins, fats and carbohydrates contain 
phenolic compounds. If we cut them all out we will have to starve. However, there is no doubt that autistic children, as well as hyperactive, 
dyslexic, asthmatic, diabetic, schizophrenic patients and many other GAPS 
people do react to phenols and many other substances in food. These reactions 
are very different from the classical allergy and can not be described as allergic 
because they do not show the changes in the immune system typical of allergy. There is no clear scientific explanation for these reactions found yet Here I 
would like to propose what I personally believe happens. Many food phenols 
have strong antioxidant and detoxifying abilities. Any naturopath, homeopath 
or a doctor, versed in natural medicine, will tell you that before making you feel 
better any detoxifier initially makes you feel worse. This happens because we all 
have various toxins stored in the tissues of our bodies. When a detoxifying sub­
stance is introduced it washes toxins out of storage sites into the blood stream 
to be conjugated, taken to elimination organs and excreted in urine, sweat or 
bile. For those couple of hours, while these toxins are floating in your blood, 
being dealt with by the body, they cause symptoms. Depending on the nature 
of the toxin and individual susceptibilities these symptoms can be very differ­
ent. They can vary from headaches and behaviour abnormalities to skin rashes 
and sneezing. So, in effect what is happening is that the phenols from the food 
are trying to "clean you up". This phenomenon is called "detox reaction" or 
"Herxheimer reaction" and is typically observed in patients doing any detox 
programme. Stored toxicity does not just sit silenfiy in the tissues of our bodies. It causes symptoms of chronic disease and lays down the ground for cancer for­
mation. So detoxifying is an important thing to do. It has to be an ongoing pro­
cess throughout our lives. Nature provided us with plenty of opportunity to do 
that by placing phenols and other powerful detox substances into all our foods. GAPS children and adults are very toxic. Tests show that they store heavy metals, petrochemicals and other toxic substances in the tissues of their 
bodies sometimes in frightening amounts. Many of these toxins are proba­
bly responsible for various physical and mental symptoms in GAPS 
patients. For example, there are great similarities in the clinical picture of 
acute poisoning with mercury, lead and other toxins, found in these 
patients, and the clinical picture of autism and psychosis. Based on these 
findings recently there has been a lot of attention to heavy metal chelation 
in autism, the purpose of which is to take heavy metals out of the body. Anybody familiar with chelation knows that this process always involves 
the child going through a detox period, when autistic symptoms get worse 
and a lot of unpleasant new physical symptoms occur. Why? Because 
chelation drugs wash out stored heavy metals from the tissues into the 
blood to be taken out of the body. This "cleaning up" process causes symp­
toms, often quite severe. There is no doubt that detoxification or elimination of toxic substances 
has to be an integral part of the treatment for GAPS patients . Natural phe­
nols found in foods are the Nature's way of eliminating toxins from the 
body on a daily basis. So, the last thing we should do is to cut them out of 
the diet. Of course, in the process of "cleaning up" they will cause the 
"detox reaction". Most phenols in the foods will not cause a severe reaction 
(unless the patient has a true allergy to a particular food). The child or 
adult may experience worsening of behaviour and sleep, more self-stimu­
lation, more hyperactivity and mood swings. This period is temporary and 
most patients survive it very well. As the body starts to detoxify, the 
negative reaction usually goes away. If your GAPS child or adult is particu­
larly sensitive to some food, cut it out of the diet for 4-6 weeks and 
then introduce it slowly starting from tiny amounts and gradually in­
creasing them. This way you can keep the detox reaction under control. The important thing is to make sure that the person has not got a true 
allergy to that particular food, which can be tested for in most medical 
facilities. Clinical experience shows that when the patient has been put on the 
appropriate diet for GAPS, his/her sensitivity to phenols changes: foods, 
which the patient used to react to do not cause any reaction any more. The 
diet, which we will be talking about later, has an ability to heal the gut 
lining, so the toxins and maldigested foods, which used to leak through, do 
not leak any more. So, the mixture of toxins, which the body has to deal 
with, gets greatly reduced. And with it change the reactions to detoxifying 
phenols. Generally, as the gut heals, the reactions to many phenolic com-pounds as well as many food intolerances go away. As you "fix the leak" 
there will be less "cleaning up" going on in the body and hence less 
symptoms, associated with it. In the meantime there is an amazingly effective way to deal with sensi­
tivity to phenols and other food compounds. It will also deal with true 
allergies to foods. This way is Neutralisation, The method of neutralisation 
was first discovered in 1979 by Dr Robert Gardner from Brigham Young 
University. He found that just a few drops of small water dilutions of pure 
phenolic compounds would completely neutralise allergic reactions to 
foods. There is no explanation found yet for how this method works, but 
there is data to show that it can work remarkably well. In every individual 
case a particular neutralising dose has to be found, which then will be 
given to the patient as drops under the tongue. Today neutralisation has 
become a well-established method of treating allergies and food sensitivi­
ties and in most developed countries there are allergy specialists who can 
do it. Neutralisation may allow your GAPS child or adult to have the foods, 
he or she used to react badly to, without any limitations. In conclusion, there is no need to deprive children and adults with 
autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. of fruit, vegetables, 
nuts and many other phenol containing foods. They are full of nourish­
ment and will help your GAPS patient to detoxify quicker in order to 
achieve his or her full potential. "We had bad experiences with phenols. Tom used to get red ears, would 
become irritable, basically "off the wall" When we started the diet (she 
means the correct diet for GAPS) we tried the phenol foods again. Now we 
have no phenol problems. Hooray!" Tom's mother, 
Correspondence via e-mail 
The Anti-Candida Diet 
As we discussed before the era of antibiotics and steroids gave yeasts and 
moulds a special opportunity. These ubiquitous micro-organisms always 
lived in our bodies. However, in a healthy body they are controlled by the 
beneficial bacteria and do us no harm. As these good bacteria get 
destroyed by antibiotics and other modern influences, yeasts get out of 
control and turn from a harmless neighbour into a terrible menace. One 
particular family of yeasts called Candidahas received the most attention. It is a large family of fungi which cause a commonly known problem, called 
"thrush" When that happens Candida transforms from its harmless one 
cell state into an invasive active state, when it grows long stringy hyphae 
and puts "roots" through the tissues of the body This sort of growth can 
happen in the digestive system and many other internal organs producing 
a whole host of toxic substances, alcohol and acetaldehyde being some of 
them. Pretty much every chronic degenerative disorder has been con­
nected to Candida overgrowth from arthritis and digestive problems to 
ME, MS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromialgia and neurological dis­
orders. GAPS children and adults almost without exception are seriously 
affected by Candida species and possibly other fungi. As Candidaand other yeasts thrive on sugars, the anti-candida diet aims 
to remove all food sources for these pathogens: sugar and everything, that 
contains it, fructose, maltose, lactose and other sugars, including maple 
syrup and honey. Fruit is excluded as it is viewed as a source of simple 
sugars. As Candida overgrowth can cause an allergy to other fungi and 
moulds, all fungi and fermented foods are also eliminated: yeast and baked 
foods made with yeast (breads, pastries, etc. ), soured milk products, all 
cheeses, all fermented beverages, vinegar, malt, mushrooms, tea and 
coffee, dried fruit and fruit juices. However, grains are not excluded from 
the diet: corn, barley, wheat, rye, millet, oats, rice, etc. and foods, made out 
of them, as long as they do not contain yeast. Starchy vegetables are not 
excluded either: potato, yams, sweet potato and Jerusalem artichoke.... 
And this is where the problem is. Let us see, why? Candida is never alone in the digestive system. It lives in company with 
some other 500 or more different microbes which can cause disease. And 
indeed, when the gut flora of a GAPS patient is tested apart from Candida 
there are many other pathogens detected, Clostridia family being the most 
common one. These pathogens and their toxins damage the gut lining, 
making the enterocytes (major digesting and absorbing cells of the gut) 
unable to perform their duties of splitting up carbohydrates into small 
enough molecules to be absorbed. The result is that complex carbohy­
drates, those found in grains and starchy vegetables, do not get digested 
and become food for the pathogenic flora. They undergo fermentation and 
putrefaction in the gut, instead of proper digestion, and become a source 
of toxins, which would further damage the gut wall and undermine the 
immune system. The majority of pathogens, including different bacteria, 
fungi, protozoa and worms feed on undigested carbohydrates. The anti-Candida diet in combination with GFCF diet and often with phenol free diet is promoted for autistic children. In practise what it boils 
down to is lots of rice and things made out of it, potato, potato crisps, 
gluten free breads, biscuits and other baked goods, as autistic children 
crave processed carbohydrates. Unfortunately these carbohydrates will 
allow their inflamed and damaged gut to stay inflamed and damaged, 
keeping up the toxicity in the body. That very toxicity which makes these 
children autistic. So, what exactly should GAPS people avoid in their diet? To understand that we need to look at how foods are absorbed in our 
human digestive tract The absorption of digested foods happens in the 
small intestine, mainly in its first two parts: the duodenum and jejunum. The walls of these parts of digestive system form tiny finger-like protru­
sions, called villi, to increase the absorptive surface. These villi are lined by 
the cells, called enterocytes. These are the cells, which absorb our food and 
pass it into the blood stream to nourish our bodies (FIG. 3). The importance of these cells in our health simply can not be overesti­
mated. These cells are born at the base of the villi and through the course 
of their short life travel to the top of the villi, slowly getting more mature on 
the way. When they reach the top of the villi they get shed off, because by 
then they have performed so much work that they become old and worn 
out. This process of constant renewal of enterocytes is ruled by the benefi­
cial bacteria, which live on them. As already mentioned in the chapter on 
gut flora, the beneficial bacteria ensure that enterocytes are healthy and 
capable of performing their jobs. When the beneficial bacteria are not 
there and instead of them the absorptive surface of the intestine is popu­
lated by pathogenic microbes, the enterocytes can not be healthy and can 
not perform their duties. The animal research shows that in the absence of 
good bacteria enterocytes change their shape, their travel time to the top of 
the villi becomes too long which can turn them cancerous. But most 
importantly they become unable to perform their jobs of digestion and 
absorption of food. Let us have a look how enterocytes absorb different 
groups of nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Carbohydrates 
All carbohydrates are made of tiny molecules, called monosaccharides. There are many of them. The most common ones are glucose, fructose and FIG. 3 The absorptive surface of intestines. galactose. These monosaccharides or monosugars can easily penetrate the 
gut lining, they do not need digestion. Glucose and fructose are found in 
abundance in fruit and vegetables. Honey is made of fructose and glucose 
and does not require much digestion. Galactose is found in soured milk 
products, like yoghurt. Monosugars from fruit and some vegetables are the 
easiest carbohydrates for us to digest and should be the main form of 
carbohydrate in the diet of any person with a digestive disorder. The next size carbohydrates are disaccharides or double sugars, made 
out of two molecules of monosaccharides. The most common ones are 
sucrose (the common table sugar), lactose (the milk sugar) and maltose 
from digestion of starch. These double sugars can not be absorbed without 
quite a bit of work on the part of enterocytes. The tiny hairs (microvilli) on 
the surface of enterocytes, called the brush border, produce enzymes dis-
accharidases which break down the double sugars into monosaccharides 
to be absorbed. This is where the biggest problem lies for people with 
digestive disorders. The sick enterocytes loose their ability to produce 
brush border enzymes. As a result double sugars, like sucrose, milk sugar 
lactose and products of starch digestion can not be split into monosugars 
and hence can not be absorbed. They stay in the gut becoming major food 
for pathogenic bacteria, viruses, Candida and other fungi, getting con­
verted into a river of toxic substances which damage the gut wall even fur­
ther and poison the whole body. Deficiencies in disaccharidases almost 
always accompany all sorts of digestive disorders. Recent studies per­
formed by Dr K. Horvath in Maryland University and Dr T. Biiie in Harvard 
confirmed these deficiencies in autistic children. So double sugars or dis­
accharides have to be out of the diet for GAPS children and adults in order 
not to feed abnormal flora and to allow the villi time to recover by shedding 
off sick enterocytes and building a layer of healthy ones. We have mentioned maltose - the result of starch digestion. Apart from 
sugar (sucrose) starch is the main form of carbohydrates we consume. All 
grains and some root vegetables (potato, yams, sweet potato, Jerusalem 
artichoke, cassava) are very rich in starch. Starch is made of huge 
molecules with hundreds of monosugars connected into long strands with 
many branches. Digestion of starch requires quite a bit of work on the part 
of the digestive system and apparently even in healthy people, due to its 
complex structure, a lot of starch goes undigested. Undigested starch pro­
vides a perfect food for pathogenic flora in the gut, allowing it to thrive and 
produce its toxins. Whatever starch does get digested, the result of this digestion are molecules of maltose. Maltose is a double sugar which can not be absorbed 
without being split up into monosugars by the enterocytes. In a person 
with abnormal gut flora enterocytes are not able to split double sugars, so 
maltose goes undigested, unabsorbed and falls prey to the abnormal 
microbes. To allow the enterocytes to recover and to stop feeding abnormal 
gut flora, starch has to be out of the diet for GAPS children and adults. It 
means no grains and anything made out of them and no starchy vegeta­
bles. Clinical practice shows that when the gut has been given a long 
enough period without double sugars and starch, it has a good chance to 
recover. Once this recovery takes place, the person can start having grains 
and starchy vegetables again without any ill effects. Of course, nothing in Nature is black and white. Most fruit, particularly 
unripe, contain some sucrose, which is a double sugar. That is why it is very 
important to eat ripe fruit. Most vegetables and some fruit contain a little 
bit of starch. However, the amounts of sucrose and starch in fruit and non-
starch vegetables are tiny compared to grains, starchy vegetables and table 
sugar. In the majority of people with digestive disorders their gut lining can 
cope with these tiny amounts of sugar and starch from fruit and non-
starch vegetables. Proteins 
As a result of digestion in the stomach by an enzyme called Pepsin and in 
the duodenum by pancreatic protein digesting enzymes, proteins arrive to 
enterocytes in the form of peptides. Peptides are small chains of protein, 
made of amino acids and normally should not be absorbed until they are 
broken down into single amino acids. This process is accomplished by 
enterocytes. On their hairy surface (the brush border) healthy enterocytes 
have peptide digesting enzymes, called Peptidases. Each peptidase is 
specific for a certain peptide chain and even for a certain chemical bond in 
this chain. These enzymes brake the peptides down into single amino 
acids, which then get absorbed. In a child or adult with abnormal gut flora 
enterocytes are sick. They are unable to produce many different peptidases 
and to accomplish this last step in protein break down and absorption of 
amino acids. At the same time the pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses 
damage the gut wall, allowing undigested peptides to leak through. We 
already know two proteins which do not get broken down properly and get 
absorbed as peptides: gluten from grains and casein from milk. There may 
be more proteins, which we have not studied yet and which may not be digested properly and absorbed as peptides. Hopefully, future science will 
show. In the meantime, proteins are essential for us to have, particularly for a 
growing child. The best sources of easy to digest and very nourishing pro­
teins are eggs, meats and fish. For GAPS children and adults it is important 
to have easily digestible proteins to make the work as easy as possible for 
their digestive systems. The way we cook meats and fish has an effect on 
their digestibility: boiled, stewed and poached meats and fish are much 
easier to digest, than fried, roasted or grilled. Eggs are one of the nature's 
treasure chests of excellent quality protein, most B vitamins, zinc and 
many other useful nutrients. Unless the patient shows a clear allergy to 
egg, eggs should be an important part of the diet. Fats 
To be absorbed fats require bile. The enterocytes do not have to do much 
work in absorbing fats, as far as we know. That is why the clinical practice 
shows that people with digestive disorders tolerate fats quite well. However, there is a problem in a person with abnormal gut flora. The gut 
lining is a mucous membrane. Any mucous membrane, when under attack 
from pathogens to protect itself produces a lot of mucous. In people with 
digestive disorders mucous production is excessive. These large amounts 
of mucous interfere with digestion of food including fats. Mucous coats 
food particles and does not allow bile and digestive etizymes to get to 
them. As a result a lot of fat goes undigested and often comes out as pale 
greasy stools. This impaired absorption of fats also causes deficiencies in 
fat soluble vitamins: A, D, E and K. Clinical experience shows that when the 
starch and double sugars are out of the diet for long enough period, the 
production of mucous normalises and as a result the absorption of fats 
improves. To summarise: 
A GAPS patient has to avoid: 
• All grains and anything made out of them: wheat, rye, rice, oats, corn, 
maize, sorghum, barley, buckwheat, millet, spelt, triticale, bulgur, 
tapioca, quinoa, cous-cous (some of them are not stricfiy grains, but 
are commonly perceived as such, so we listed them here together with the grains). This will remove a lot of starch and all gluten from the diet. In fact removal of all grains makes the diet truly gluten free. • All starchy vegetables and anything made out of them: potato, yams, 
sweet potato, parsnip, swede, lerusalem artichoke, cassava, arrowroot 
and taro. • Sugar and anything that contains it. • Starchy beans and peas: soybeans, mungbeans, garbanzo beans, bean 
sprouts, chickpeas, fababeans. • Lactose and anything that contains it: fluid or dried milk of any type, 
commercially produced yoghurt, buttermilk and sour cream, pro­
cessed foods with added lactose. For a full list of foods to avoid look in the next chapter. No processed foods, please! "Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It's made of all those little curly wooden shavings 
you find in pencil sharpeners!" Roald Dahl,i964, 
[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) 
We live in an era of convenience foods, which are very processed foods. When Mother Nature made us, humans, she at the same time provided us 
with every food we need to stay healthy, active and full of energy. However, 
we have to eat these foods in the form Nature made them. It is when we 
start tampering with the natural foods we start getting into trouble. Any 
processing that we subject the food to, changes its chemical and biological 
structure. Our bodies were not designed to have these changed foods! The 
more food is processed, the more nutrient depleted and chemically altered 
it becomes. Apart from losing its nutritional value, processed food loses 
most of its other properties: taste, flavour and colour. So, to compensate 
for that various chemicals are added: flavour enhancers, colours, various E 
- numbers, additives and preservatives. Many of these chemicals have 
been conclusively shown to contribute to hyperactivity, learning disabili­
ties, psychiatric disorders and other health problems. Natural foods do not 
keep very well, so the industry has to change them to prolong their shelf-
life. So, natural foods get subjected to extreme heat, pressure, enzymes, 
solvents and countless number of various other chemicals, fats get hydrogenated and proteins get denatured. Natural foods get changed into 
various chemical concoctions, which are then packaged nicely and pre­
sented to us as "food". "Food" made to suit commercial purposes where 
health considerations never enter the calculation. The manufacturers are 
obliged to list all the ingredients on the label. However, if the manufacturer 
uses an ingredient, which has already been processed or made from pro­
cessed substances, this manufacturer is not obliged to list what that ingre­
dient was made from. So, if you are trying to avoid something in particular, 
like sugar or gluten for example, reading an ingredient list may not always 
help you. If we look at the supermarket shelves, we will see that the bulk of pro­
cessed foods are carbohydrates. All those breakfast cereals, crisps, biscuits, 
crackers, breads, pastries, pastas, chocolates, sweets, jams, condiments, 
sugar, preserved fruit and vegetables, frozen pre-cooked meals with 
starches and batter are highly processed carbohydrates. We will examine 
some of them in detail. But first, let's look at them as a group. All carbohydrates in foods get digested and absorbed as glucose. Nature 
provided us with plenty of carbohydrates in the form of fruit, vegetables 
and grains. When we eat them in the natural untampered form, the carbo­
hydrate part of them gets absorbed slowly, producing a gradual increase in 
blood glucose, which our bodies are designed to handle. Processed carbo­
hydrates get absorbed very quickly, producing an unnaturally rapid 
increase in blood glucose. Blood glucose is one of those factors which our 
bodies go to great lengths to keep within certain limits, because both high 
and low values are harmful. A rapid increase in blood glucose, called 
hyperglycaemia, puts the body into a state of shock prompting it to pump 
out lots of insulin very quickly to deal with the excessive glucose. As a result 
of this overproduction of insulin, about an hour later the person has got a 
very low level of blood glucose, called hypoglycaemia. Did any of you 
notice that after eating a sugary breakfast cereal in the morning you feel 
hungry again in an hour. That is hypoglycaemia. What do people usually 
have at that time in the morning to satisfy their hunger? A biscuit, a choco­
late bar, a coffee or something like that, and the whole cycle of hyper -
hypoglycaemia begins again. This up and down blood-glucose roller-
coaster is extremely harmful for anyone, let alone our GAPS children and 
adults. It has been proven that a lot of hyperactivity, inability to concen­
trate and learn, aggression and other behavioural abnormalities in school 
children are a direct result of this glucose roller coaster. The hypergly-
caemic phase produces a feeling of a "high" with hyperactive and manic tendencies and self-stimulation in autistic children, whilst the hypogly-
caemic phase makes them feel unwell, often with a headache, bad mood, 
tantrums, aggression and general fatigue with excessive sweating (FIG. 4}. Another important point about processed carbohydrates is their detri­
mental effect on the gut flora. We have talked in detail about the crucial 
role of the normal gut flora in the health. Processed carbohydrates feed 
pathogenic bacteria and fungi in the gut, promoting their growth and pro­
liferation. Apart from that they make a wonderful glue-like environment in 
the gut for various worms and parasites to take hold and develop. All these 
micro-creatures produce toxic substances going into the bloodstream and 
literally "poisoning" the person. The more processed carbohydrates with or 
without gluten you give your GAPS child or adult, the more "toxic" he or 
she will become and the more autistic, schizophrenic, hyperactive or other 
symptoms you will see. In the previous chapters we have looked in detail at the state of the 
immune system in GAPS patients. Compromised immunity plays an 
important role in GAPS development. By negatively altering the gut flora 
processed carbohydrates will play an important part in damaging the 
person's immune system. However, on top of that there is ample evidence 
showing that processed foods, particularly processed carbohydrates and 
sugar, directly weaken the functioning of macrophages, natural killer cells 
and other white blood cells and undermine systemic resistance to all infec­
tions. An immune-compromised person who has sugary drinks and crisps 
daily, will worsen their immune system's condition by these food choices. Let us have a look at some of the most common forms of those pro­
cessed carbohydrates. Breakfast cereals 
They are supposed to be healthy, aren't they? That is what numerous TV 
advertisements tell us. Unfortunately, the truth is just the opposite. • Breakfast cereals are highly processed carbohydrates, full of sugar, salt 
and other unhealthy substances. A bowl of breakfast cereal will start 
your child's day with the first round of the blood-sugar roller coaster 
with the all too familiar behaviours for you to deal with. • Being a great source of processed carbohydrates, breakfast cereals 
feed abnormal bacteria and fungi in the gut, allowing them to produce 
a new portion of their toxins perpetuating the vicious cycle of GAPS. FIG. 4 Blood-glucose roller coaster. • What about fibre? The manufacturers claim that with a bowl of their 
product you will get all the fibre you need. Unfortunately it is the 
wrong kind of fibre for GAPS patients. The fibre in breakfast cereals 
is full of phytates - substances that bind essential minerals and 
take them out of the system, contributing to a patient's mineral 
deficiencies. • There has been an interesting experiment performed in one of the 
food laboratories. They analysed the nutritional value of some brands 
of breakfast cereals and the paper boxes in which these cereals were 
packaged. The analysis showed that the box, made of wood pulp, had 
more useful nutrients in it, than the cereal inside. Indeed, breakfast 
cereals have got very low nutritional value. To compensate for that the 
manufacturers fortify them with synthetic forms of vitamins, claiming 
that by eating your morning bowl of this cereal you will get all your 
daily requirements of those vitamins. Well, the human body is not that 
simple, it has been designed to recognise and use natural vitamins, 
coming in natural food form. That is why synthetic vitamins have a 
very low absorption rate, which means that most of them go through 
and out of your digestive tract without doing you any good. Then, 
whatever amount of those vitamins does get absorbed is often not 
recognised by the body as food and gets taken straight to the kidneys 
and excreted in urine. We have a new syndrome in our modern pill-
popping society - a syndrome of expensive urine. So, no matter what the advertisements say, there is nothing healthy in 
breakfast cereals for the GAPS child or an adult. Crisps and chips and other starchy snacks 
Crisps, chips and popcorn, a backbone of children's diet nowadays, are 
highly processed carbohydrates with a detrimental effect on the gut flora. But that is not all: they are saturated with vegetable oil, which has been 
heated to a very high temperature. Any oil that has been heated has got 
substances called trans-fatty acids, which are unsaturated fatty acids with 
altered chemical structure. What they do in the body is to replace the vital 
omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in cellular structure, making the cells 
dysfunctional. Consuming trans-fatty acids has a direct damaging effect on 
the immune system. They are known to increase the activity of Th2 and 
weaken Thi immunity. As you remember, the Thi immunity is already sup-pressed in many GAPS patients and Th2 overactive. Cancer, heart disease, 
eczema, asthma, many neurological and psychiatric conditions have been 
linked to trans-fatty acids in the diet. For a full story about fat processing 
please look in the chapter: Fats: the good and the bad. Recently another strong argument appeared against consuming crisps 
and chips: 
TheAcrylamides story 
In the spring of 2002 the Swedish National Food Administration and 
Stockholm University reported that they found highly neurotoxic and car­
cinogenic substances in potato crisps, French fries, bread and other baked 
and fried starchy foods. These substances are acrylamides. Scientists in 
Norway, UK and Switzerland have confirmed this finding. They have also 
found acrylamides in starchy foods, fried or baked at high temperatures. Recently, instant coffee has been added to the list of foods containing these 
highly dangerous substances. The World Health Organisation, United 
Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the US Food and Drug 
Administration have set a plan to identify how acrylamides are formed in 
foods and what can be done to eliminate them, since they can cause 
cancer, neurological damage and infertility. Acrylamides are so harmful to 
health, that there are certain maximum limits set for these substances in 
food packaging materials. For years government agencies paid a lot of 
attention to controlling the amount of acrylamides in the plastic food 
packaging, but nobody looked at the food inside that packaging. Now it has 
been discovered that some foods inside these plastic packets have incredi­
bly high amounts of acrylamides, way above all allowed limits. The acry­
lamides story provides another reason for the GAPS child or adult to avoid 
crisps, chips and other starchy snack foods. Wheat 
Cutting out gluten is recommended for autism, schizophrenia and coeliac 
disease, so gluten-free wheat products become a major part of their diet. But let us have a look at wheat as a whole with gluten or without it. Virtually 
nobody buys wheat as a grain and cooks it at home, we buy foods made of 
wheat flour. The flour arrives at bakeries in pre-packaged mixes for differ­
ent kinds of breads, biscuits and pastries. These mixtures are already pro­
cessed with the best nutrients lost.
Gut_and_Psychology_Syndrome.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Here I would just say that 
anaemia, even mild, is not something to be taken lightly as it comes with a 
constant feeling of tiredness, lack of energy and stamina, difficulties in 
concentration, completing daily tasks and learning. On the whole, having met many families with GAPS children, I usually 
find that the whole family needs treatment. The most fundamental pur­
pose of treatment has to be normalising the gut flora and addressing nutri­
tional deficiencies. As the whole family gets healthier, the parents have 
more energy and stamina to deal with their child's problems and to bring 
up their other children. Afamily is alivingorganism and has to be seen and 
treated as a whole. In our struggle to help our GAPS children it is very easy 
for us, parents, to neglect ourselves. But, at the end of the day a strong 
healthy family is what we are all about. Isn't it. 8. VACCINATIONS 
DOES MMR CAUSE AUTISM. The human mind is like an umbrella -
it functions best when open. Walter Gropius, 1965 
Talking about autism it is impossible to avoid the issue of the MMR vaccine 
and vaccination in general. In my practice I see some parents of autistic 
children who would link their child's disorder with the MMR (Measles, 
Mumps and Rubella) vaccine where a majority cannot make this connec­
tion. An equal number of families connect their child's regression with DPT 
(Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) vaccination. Following research by Dr 
Wakefield there has been a lot of publicity on this subject. The British gov­
ernment has put a lot of effort and money into convincing the public that 
the MMR vaccine is safe. While the MMR vaccine was in the limelight, 
other vaccines got questioned as well, due to the fact that many of them 
contain a preservative Thimerosal, a Mercury compound, and many other 
toxic and questionable substances. DPT vaccine containing Thimerosal 
has been banned in many countries. However, in Britain a fair amount of 
old stock, containing Thimerosal, may still be injected into babies. Many 
vaccines are new and have not been tested long enough, yet apparently the 
number of complications from these vaccines is much higher than any­
body would expect. On top of all this we have to remember that vaccines 
are commercial products made with profit in mind. Is it true that the £3 
million, which the UK government recently spent on MMR promotion, was 
paid by the companies who have a commercial interest in this vaccine. So, does MMR cause autism. I do not believe that things are that simple. Here we have to look at vac­
cination as a whole. Let us have a look at what is happening to children in our modern society. If you look around, how many healthy children do you see. Childhood 
asthma, eczema, diabetes, allergies, hay fever, digestive disorders, ADHD 
and autistic spectrum disorders have all gained epidemic proportions. The 
majority of siblings of autistic children have eczema, asthma or another 
one of those disorders. And though all these health problems appear 
to be different, they have one thing in common. A very big thing - a compromised immune system. A compromised immune system is not 
going to react to environmental insults in the normal way. Vaccination is a 
huge insult to the immune system. The manufacturers of vaccines produce 
them for children with normal immune systems which will react to these 
vaccines in a predictable way. However, in our modern society with our 
modern way of life, we are rapidly moving to a situation where a growing 
proportion of children do not have a normal immune system and will not 
produce an expected reaction to the vaccine. In some of these children 
vaccination, putting an enormous strain on an already compromised 
immune system, becomes that "last straw which breaks the earners back" 
and brings on the beginning of autism, asthma, eczema, diabetes, etc. In 
other children, whose immune system is compromised to a lesser degree, 
vaccination will not start the disorder, but it will deepen the damage and 
move the child closer to it. So while MMR and othervaccines maynotbe the direct cause of autism, 
in immune-compromised children they can do a lot of harm and in some 
children may well provide the trigger which starts the disorder. Following all the scandals around vaccinations it is no surprise that a lot 
of people around the world express an opinion that we should abandon 
childhood vaccinations altogether. What these people forget is that before 
the vaccination era it was quite normal for every family to loose one, two, 
three and sometimes even more children to childhood infections, like 
measles, rubella, mumps and others. This is the natural selection law, 
which Mother Nature has imposed on all living creatures on Earth. No 
animal would have all of its young survive. In fact in many species most 
babies in the litter die with only the strongest surviving. This law of natural 
selection ensures that the planet is populated by the best and the fittest in 
each species. In our modern world we humans are not prepared to obey 
this law. No mother would allow her child to perish, when there are ways to 
let the child live, despite the fact that this child may not be the best and the 
fittest she can produce. Childhood infections are one of the tools of natural 
selection. Children, who survive them, come out healthier with stronger 
immune systems, weak children are not supposed to survive them. Vaccinations are one of those ways we humans have invented to allow our 
weaklings to survive. So, we cannot abandon vaccinations altogether 
unless we are prepared to obey the laws of Nature. We have to come up 
with a more rational approach to vaccinations. Vaccinations, which saved the lives of millions of children world-wide in 
the last century, are becoming dangerous thanks to changes in our VACCINATIONS. DOES MMR CAUSE AUTISM. 61 
life-styles. The number of immune-compromised children in developed 
countries is enormous and growing every day. It is time for the medical 
profession and governments to review their attitude to vaccinations. The 
rule to vaccinate everybody has to change. In this book I propo se the following procedure : a comprehensive 
immunological survey should be performed with every baby before a 
decision about vaccination be made. This survey should include: 
1. A questionnaire to assess the health history of the parents and the 
infant. 2. A comprehensive stool and urine analysis to assess any risk of gut 
dysbiosis in the baby. 3. Test to assess the infant's immune status. These questionnaires and tests have to be put into an appropriate pre-
vaccination panel for all babies and the results of this survey have to be an 
essential part in the process of deciding which of the following steps to 
take: 
• No vaccinations at all. An infant born to a mother with ME, fibro-
mialgia, digestive problems, asthma, eczema, severe allergies, auto­
immune disorders or neurological problems should not be 
vaccinated. An infant presenting with eczema, asthma, digestive 
problems or any other disorder, which would indicate compromised 
gut flora and immunity, should be a red flag not to vaccinate. Younger 
siblings of autistic children, children with severe eczema, asthma, 
allergies, ADHD, epilepsy and insulin dependant diabetes should not 
be vaccinated. At the age of five years these children can be re-tested 
and in those cases where the child does not have immune deficiencies 
vaccination with single vaccines only may be considered. These single 
vaccines should be spaced by at least six weeks from each other. • Delayed vaccination until the results of the tests are better. This would 
apply to infants who have generally healthy mothers and do not 
present with any particular health problems, but on testing show 
abnormalities in their immune systems. These children should be 
re-tested every six to eight months and vaccinated with single 
vaccines only when they are ready. • Standard vaccination protocol with single vaccines only. This would 
apply to healthy infants who have healthy parents and whose tests 
show normal immune development. These are just initial guidelines, which need to be worked on in order to 
set an appropriate vaccination protocol. Those £3 million which the British 
government spent on promoting MMR might have been just enough to 
develop such a protocol, and, in my opinion, be a much more worthwhile 
investment in the future health of our nation. Concerning our current standard vaccination protocol there is a strong 
argument to administer single vaccines only rather than combined vac­
cines, like MMR and DPT. In a natural situation a child would never be 
exposed to measles, mumps and rubella at the same time. Indeed, in those 
extremely rare occasions in history when two of these infections happened 
at the same time the medical literature describes impaired physical and 
mental development in the child. Of course the proponents of the com­
bined vaccines would say that millions of children around the world were 
vaccinated this way without any ill effects. However, in view of GAPS con­
ditions reaching epidemic proportions we have to review our old policies. It is very likely that combined vaccines will have to be abandoned 
altogether. 9. SCHIZOPHRENIA 
Schizophrenia is that big bag, where psychiatrists put all the patients who 
are difficult to understand. There is a considerable overlap between 
depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dyslexia and 
schizophrenia. Quite often a patient would be diagnosed as bipolar to be 
later re-diagnosed as schizophrenic. Depression is often the only symptom 
present in a patient for years before other symptoms of schizophrenia 
develop. Members of the family of a schizophrenic patient often suffer 
from dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD and 
obsessive-compulsive disorder. Just as it is with childhood learning disabil­
ities we see that psychiatric patients do not fit neatly into our diagnostic 
boxes. Is it because we are missing some underlying problem, which may 
be causing all these different conditions in different people. The only treatment modern psychiatry can offer schizophrenic patients 
are antipsychotic drugs. The use of these drugs is often based on trial and 
error and though in many cases they do control psychotic symptoms, they 
have serious side effects and do not cure the patient. Like most drugs, used 
in modern medicine, they are symptomatic, which means that they only 
reduce the symptoms without treating the disease. On average anti­
psychotic drugs reduce symptoms only by 15-25 %, which means that 
75-85% of symptoms are left unresolved. Before the era of pharmaceuticals ruling medicine, psychiatrists rou­
tinely recorded that psychiatric patients not only have psychiatric prob­
lems, but are also very ill physically. The most common physical problems 
are digestive, cardio-vascular, diabetes, lung and urogenital infections, 
autoimmunity and other signs of immune abnormalities. In an old 
Textbook of Psychiatry by Henderson and Gillespie, published in 1937, it is 
clearly stated: "A thorough physical examination is absolutely essential in 
every case - schizophrenics are commonly poorly nourished". Recent 
research proves it to be correct. Deficiencies in vitamins (such as niacin or 
B3, B6, B12, Bi, folic acid, vitamin C) and many minerals (such as magne­
sium, zinc, manganese, etc) are routinely recorded in schizophrenic 
patients. A Canadian doctor Abram Hoffer has successfully treated thou-sands of schizophrenic patients with supplementation of B3, B12, folic acid 
and vitamin C. An American doctor Carl Pfeiffer has studied more than 
20,000 patients and showed that treating them with nutritional supple­
mentation and diet can be far more effective, than using prescription 
drugs. Why do schizophrenic patients have nutritional deficiencies. We already 
know that the answer will be found only in their digestive systems. A 
French psychiatrist Pinel almost 200 years ago wrote, "the primary seat of 
insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines". US 
Professor Curtis Dohan, MD, devoted many years to researching what con­
nection digestive abnormalities in schizophrenic patients may have with 
their psychological state. It had been noticed previously that there is a con­
siderable overlap between coeliac disease and schizophrenia and Dr 
Dohan found that symptoms of schizophrenia could be dramatically 
relieved by cutting all grains out of the diet. He also found that some cul­
tures in the South Pacific, which never consumed grains, had no 
schizophrenia. Only when they adopted a western diet full of grains did 
they start getting cases of schizophrenia. Another good example is Ireland, 
where people did not consume wheat until the potato famine in 1845. Before then there were no cases of schizophrenia or coeliac disease 
recorded in Ireland. Since adopting wheat as a staple food Irish have one of 
the highest incidences of coeliac disease and schizophrenia in the world. In the late 1970s it was discovered that gluten from grains and casein from 
milk can be turned into opiates in the digestive system, which absorb into 
the blood, cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the brain. These opiates 
were found in the urine of schizophrenic patients and those with depres­
sion and autoimmune conditions. Later on Dr Reichelt in Norway and Dr 
Shattock in the UK found the same compounds in the urine of autistic chil­
dren. That is how schizophrenia and autism found themselves in one com­
pany It became clear that both groups of patients could not digest gluten 
from grains and casein from milk. Schizophrenic patients usually develop psychotic symptoms in their 
teens or early twenties. However, when I talk extensively with the parents 
of these patients, a picture of GAPS emerges. Mothers of these patients 
almost invariably have abnormal gut flora and associated disorders. It 
means that she would pass her abnormal flora to her baby. A large percent 
of schizophrenic patients were not breastfed as babies, which would 
further compromise their digestive flora and immune system. From the 
childhood health history it becomes clear that the patient was physically ill long before developing psychotic symptoms. Digestive problems, 
allergies and reactions to food, eczema, asthmatic episodes, malnourish-
ment, lack of stamina, hyperactivity, attention deficit, dyspraxia, dyslexia, 
fatigue, irritability, poor sleep, night terrors are all common. All these 
symptoms indicate, that the child had abnormalities in gut flora with 
all the usual consequences: malnourishment with multiple nutritional 
deficiencies, compromised immunity and toxicity, coming from the gut. A mixture of these toxins obviously was not right for making the child 
autistic for example, but was enough to cause other problems. In 
these cases schizophrenia does not come from nowhere, it comes out of 
GAPS. Seeing that schizophrenic symptoms usually appear around puberty it is 
reasonable to suspect that puberty plays some role in the onset of 
schizophrenia. It is possible that the hormonal turmoil of puberty in some 
way interacts with the toxins in the child's body and tips the child into a 
psychotic state. It is also possible that the hormones open the blood-brain 
barrier for some of the toxins, which were in the child's body al] his/her life, 
but could not get into the brain before. Another interesting possibility is 
something wrong happening in the maturation processes of the brain. Apparently through different stages of growth the brain prunes its recep­
tors. The most active pruning goes on around two years of age and at 
puberty. It is possible that at puberty opioid peptides and other toxins 
escaping the gut of the youngster interfere with this natural pruning pro­
cess and tip the brain into psychoses. Hopefully, future research 
explain these issues. What is obvious is that psychotic manifestation is only 
a progression of the physical problems in the child's body and not a new 
disease appearing out of nowhere. The toxicity produced by abnormal microbial mass in the patient's 
digestive system affects the brain and causes the symptoms of schizophre­
nia. So, in order to help the patient we need to get rid of this toxicity In 
order to do that we need to treat the patient's digestive system. In my clinical experience the same nutritional management, as I pre­
scribe for GAPS children, works very well for schizophrenic patients. I 
believe this happens because this nutritional management heals the gut 
lining and re-establishes normal gut flora. As a result, the patient starts 
digesting and absorbing food properly. The gut stops being the major 
source of toxins in the body and becomes the major source of nourish­
ment, as it is supposed to be. As the nutritional deficiencies and toxicity go 
away the psychotic symptoms go away with them. What about the medication. This is a very important point that has to be taken into account. It is very 
rare to see a psychiatric patient, who is not taking anti-psychotic medica­
tion. Anti-psychotic drugs change the biochemistry of the brain and, 
according to the latest research, even the structure of the brain. Recent 
publications in the Lancet and the American Journal of Psychiatry suggest 
that long-term use of neuroleptic drugs cause brain atrophy (shrinkage). It 
is not known yet whether these changes are reversible. On top of that, anti­
psychotic drugs have got a long list of unpleasant side effects and in 
essence are toxic. So, it is a logical desire of any patient to come off the 
drugs as soon as possible. However, as we detoxify the patient through 
nutritional management it is important not to change his/her medication 
until the patient is ready for it. I will explain why. When we are sure that 
through diet and supplementation the patient's physical and mental state 
has dramatically improved and is stable, we can consider removing the 
medication. Despite the fact that the pharmacological companies, who 
produce neuroleptics, allow to stop these drugs abruptly, there is a consid­
erable amount of published clinical evidence to show that ami-psychotic  
drugs must be removed very slowly and very carefully. Sudden removal of 
these drugs can cause a severe withdrawal reaction because the brain's bio­
chemistry and structure need time to re-adjust to life without the drug. When the drug is stopped abruptly, unfortunately, the withdrawal reaction 
is very often seen as a relapse of the disease itself and the patient is 
promptly put back on the drugs. It is vitally important to work closely with 
the patient's psychiatrist in order to reduce the dose of the drug very slowly 
and very gradually in order to avoid the withdrawal reaction. Depending 
on the dose of the drug and how long the patient was taking it, this period 
can take months, sometimes years (if the patient was on a cocktail of 
drugs). Typical symptoms of withdrawal are to be expected in this period: 
nausea, vomiting, absence of appetite, headaches, lethargy, lack of energy, 
sleep disturbances and mood swings. One of the side-effects of a lot of 
neuroleptic drugs is weight gain and water retention. So, weight loss is also 
to be expected on withdrawing these drugs. Though the weight loss can be 
quite rapid it usually comes down to the normal range for the person and 
should not cause any particular worry. I would like to emphasise again that it is important to build up the 
patient nutritionally first and remove the cause of the problem - the GAPS 
- before starting the process of drug withdrawal. It is very important for the patient and his/her carers to understand that in this period of drug with­
drawal it is vital to stick to the GAPS Nutritional Programme rigidly. This is 
not a good time to be relaxed with diet and supplementation. After the 
drugs have been safely removed and the patient has been stable for at least 
a year on an occasional basis different foods (not allowed on the GAPS diet) 
can be tried, but not earlier. Pellagra 
There is a certain group of schizophrenics who may be not schizophrenics 
at all but pellagrines. Pellagra is a deficiency of vitamin B3 (niacin or niaci­
namide). The typical symptoms of pellagra can look very much like 
schizophrenia: delusions, hallucinations, confusion, headaches, anxiety, 
depression, irritability with a lot of physical symptoms: dermatitis, chronic 
diarrhoea and inflammation of mucous membranes. It used to affect poor 
populations whose diet was mainly corn-based. Until the real cause of this 
disorder was discovered pellagrines were treated almost like lepers. People 
believed that pellagra was infectious and contagious until it was discov­
ered that a diet rich in vitamin B3 completely cures it, A Canadian psychia­
trist Dr Abram Hoffer has helped thousands of patients with schizophrenia 
by simply supplementing their diet with large doses (2-4 g a day) of vitamin 
B3. Later on he added vitamin C and some other nutrients to his treatment 
protocol. The GAPS nutritional protocol will supply the patient with a lot of vita­
min B3. However, based on Dr Hoffer's research I believe that schizophren­
ics, apart from following the GAPS Nutritional Protocol for the first few 
weeks should supplement vitamin B3: niacin or niacinamide, 1-2 grams 
twice a day. Niacin causes flushing of the skin for 15-25 minutes. This is a 
benign reaction and should not alarm the patient. If it is a problem then 
"non-flush" niacin is available. It is always best to administer treatment 
under professional supervision. On the whole there is a general opinion that schizophrenia is incurable. That is what the patients and their relatives are usually told at the time of 
diagnosis. However, according to the experience of doctors, like Abram 
Hoffer, Curtis Dohan, Carl Pfeiffer and many other medical practitioners, 
who treated their patients with nutrition, schizophrenia is not incurable at 
all. There are thousands of patients around the world who recovered com­
pletely through using appropriate diet and nutritional supplementation. Nutritional treatment is the way forward for these patients and more and more psychiatrists are becoming aware of it. However, the way official psy­
chiatry is presently organised, it is the patients and their families who have 
to administer nutritional treatment. It is not an easy undertaking, but 
extremely rewarding. As one of my patients said recently: "You were right 
about the diet. I feel absolutely normal now. I am going to stick to my diet 
and supplements religiously. " PART TWO: TREATMENT 
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient 
while nature cures the disease. Voltaire 
A human body has an incredible ability to heal itself, given the right help. It 
is particularly true for children. I do not believe, that any child, no matter 
how ill or disabled is beyond improvement. When working in neurosurgery 
it never ceased to amaze me, how remarkably well children's brains recover 
after some serious operations, when large parts of the brain were removed. The child would leave the hospital in a wheelchair and then come back for 
a yearly check-up with hardly any neurological deficit detectable. However, Nature does not work fast. It can be very fast getting ill, but to 
recover always takes much longer. I tell the parents of GAPS children and 
carers of GAPS adults to brace themselves for at least two years of hard 
work. In some GAPS patients it takes longer. The purpose of the treatment 
is to detoxify the person, to lift the toxic fog off the brain to allow it to 
develop and function properly. In order to achieve that we need: 
First; To clean up and heal the digestive tract, so it stops being the major 
source of toxicity in the body and becomes the source of nourishment, as it 
is supposed to be. Second: To remove toxicity, already stored in various tis­
sues of the patient's body 
These two targets are achieved by means of The Nutritional Programme. This programme has evolved through the personal experience with my 
own child and clinical experience with hundreds of GAPS children and 
adults in the UK and other European countries. So, what does this programme involve. The Nutritional Programme for Gut and Psychology Syndrome 
1. Diet.
Not mentioned in the text.
What are the symptoms of anaemia?
The author believes that it is not a good idea to abandon childhood vaccinations, but rather to develop a more rational approach to vaccinations.
What is the author's stance on abandoning childhood vaccinations?
The author believes that the gluten-free and casein-free diet is not the complete solution to GAPS conditions, as it does not address the underlying gut flora imbalance.
What is the author's opinion on the gluten-free and casein-free diet?
The author recommends using natural phenols found in food to detoxify the body, rather than cutting out all foods that contain them.
What is the author's recommendation for removing toxins from the body?
The author strongly advises against consuming processed foods, as they can cause harm to the gut flora and immune system.
What is the author's stance on processed foods?