… and I’m not talking about strawberries, bananas or grapes! Changing our lifestyle to focus on food for the body has been a process like no other, and I’m sure there’s more to come! It’s taken a lot of patience, perseverance, and will-power to change course.

But I’m happy to say the good fruit is clear. Since starting the GAPS Nutritional Protocol with my son over a year and a half ago, so much has changed that it’s hard to imagine life before it and what he’d be facing today if we hadn’t.

We chose a different path.

Now, he can speak, no longer has irrational responses, uses the toilet normally, engages with the world around him, reads, writes, and loves connecting with the people he knows.

Doors are opening for him every day, like going cycling, climbing, sitting calmly at the table to draw or choosing to learn an instrument. It shows that when the body is given the right tools and support, it can begin to heal itself!

It took over a year to reach the Full GAPS Diet, working through each Introduction stage step by step and wasn’t an easy thing to do, but it’s one of the best decisions I’ll probably ever make as a parent. I now have a food education to last a lifetime and one that I can pass on to him when the time comes.

All areas of life can be examined by their fruit, whether that’s how we learn, what we’re choosing to think about, what the priorities actually are, and learning to make adjustments to cultivate life. Food is just one of them to support the body’s recovery and to stay healthy.

What was once a hope that was only imaginable, is now one that’s on the road to being realised.