Full GAPS Lunch Ideas: A Formula You Can Repeat

GAPS gives three specific Full GAPS lunch formats built from the same staples. My Full GAPS daily meal schedule shows where lunch fits in the day. This article turns the three lunch formats into a repeatable planning pattern.

Use sour cream and other dairy only after the appropriate Dairy Introduction Structure. The other lunch options leave room for fermented vegetables when dairy is not part of your diet.^[5]

The Three Formats

GAPS names lunch this simply: homemade soup or stew with sour cream and meat or fish; meat, fish, or shellfish with raw or cooked vegetables, avocado if you like, dressed with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon, served with a cup of warm homemade meat stock; or any meat or fish dish made with vegetables and probiotic foods.^[1]

Those are the three lunch formats the chapter lists. For planning, treat them as repeatable structures that use the same Full GAPS staples in different combinations.

What to Include With Lunch

Across the three formats, the recurring parts are meat, fish, or shellfish; vegetables; probiotic food; and suitable fat. Soup or stew supplies the stock in the first format, while the meat-and-vegetable plate is served with warm meat stock. The third format names a meat or fish dish with vegetables and probiotic foods. The diet’s 85 percent guidance applies across the day rather than setting a fixed ratio for every lunch.^[1][2]

Once you know the pattern, building lunch is closer to filling in blanks than inventing a new meal. Pick the listed format that matches what is already prepared, then choose the protein, vegetables, probiotic food, and suitable fat it needs. Leftover soup or stew fits the first format when it already contains meat or fish and is served with sour cream.

If Diarrhea Shows Up at Lunch

The same fallback that applies to the rest of Full GAPS applies at lunch: go back to first- or second-stage Intro foods for a few days until diarrhea completely clears. After stools have been normal for a few days, introduce raw vegetables slowly, one at a time and in small amounts. Once vegetables have been introduced, bring back nuts, oily seeds and fruit gradually.^[3] A soup-and-sour-cream lunch can fit that fallback when it uses permitted well-cooked vegetables and fermented dairy that is already tolerated.

The book deals separately with profuse watery diarrhea and temporarily excludes even well-cooked vegetables in that situation. My diarrhea guide explains that advice alongside the other food choices and care signs.^[4]

Lunch Away from Home

For outings, our routine is to pack GAPS food ahead or eat before leaving the house. You can use the three lunch options when deciding what to take.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Have to Serve Meat Stock as a Drink with Every Lunch?

It’s named specifically in the meat-and-vegetable lunch format, served warm alongside the meal, though a soup-based lunch already includes stock as part of the dish itself.^[1]

Can Lunch Be the Exact Same Thing Every Day?

You can repeat a format while changing the food. For example, chicken soup one day and lamb stew another both use the first option. A meat-and-vegetable plate uses a different option without requiring a completely new shopping list. Choose ingredients you have already introduced.^[1]

What Counts as a “Probiotic Food” in the Third Lunch Format?

Use a probiotic food that is already part of your rotation, such as sour cream or fermented vegetables, with the meat or fish dish and vegetables. The book’s third option does not require several ferments at once.^[1]

Is It Okay for Lunch to Be Leftovers from Last Night’s Dinner?

Yes, when the dish fits one of the three lunch options and has been stored for the next meal. Check the recipe’s yield first, then reserve the lunch portions before serving dinner. If the batch only covers dinner, choose another prepared meal rather than counting portions that will not be there.^[1]

Where to Start

Write down the three lunch options and choose the one that fits what you have prepared. Include the accompaniments named for that option.

For the wider meal structure, use my Full GAPS daily meal schedule and two-week Full GAPS meal plan.

For more options at lunchtime, my Lunch Cookbook is listed in the WFLI shop.

References

1. Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Chapter 14, “A Typical Menu on the Full GAPS Diet,” section “Lunch”: the three Full GAPS lunch formats.
2. Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Chapter 14, “The Full GAPS Diet,” page 177: the 85 percent daily food emphasis.
3. Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Chapter 14, “The Full GAPS Diet,” page 179: diarrhea setback route and gradual return of raw vegetables.
4. Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Chapter 13, “GAPS Introduction Diet,” First Stage, probiotic-food temperature and the profuse watery diarrhea exception; Chapter 26, “Bowel Management,” “Diarrhea”.
5. Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Chapter 14, “Dairy Introduction Structure,” its applicable starting groups, sequence and dairy-allergy exceptions.