Ketogenic GAPS: How It Differs From Full GAPS

Ketogenic GAPS is the GAPS approach that deliberately shifts food proportions toward more fat and less carbohydrate and protein to reach physiological ketosis. It still follows the GAPS food lists. In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride gives it a separate transition sequence, beginning with a few weeks on No-Plant GAPS.^[1]

If you are comparing it with ordinary Full GAPS, the difference is more than leaving honey out of a recipe. Full GAPS includes a wider choice of allowed vegetables, fruit, animal foods and ferments. Ketogenic GAPS changes the proportions of those foods for a particular metabolic aim. The book does not give everyone one fixed fat-to-protein ratio.^[1]

Our family has followed GAPS since July 2024, and a pot of meat stock started in the morning has made the daily cooking manageable. That is the household routine I can speak to here. The ketogenic sequence below comes from Campbell-McBride’s book, rather than a ketogenic treatment experience from our family.

What Ketones Are

Ketones are substances the body makes while using fat for energy. The chapter names acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetone. It describes physiological ketosis as a shift toward using fat for energy and explains that ketones can be used for energy too.^[1]

Campbell-McBride distinguishes that state from dangerous diabetic ketoacidosis. Her discussion describes very high blood glucose alongside high ketones, particularly in type one and advanced type two diabetes. These are different metabolic situations. A ketone reading by itself is not a way to diagnose or rule out ketoacidosis.^[1]

Why No-Plant GAPS Does Not Guarantee Ketosis

No-Plant GAPS and Ketogenic GAPS answer different questions. No-Plant changes which foods are eaten and how they are introduced. Ketogenic GAPS deliberately aims for ketosis by changing food proportions. The book says that No-Plant does not necessarily produce ketosis.^[1]

Campbell-McBride points to individual metabolism, gut flora and the body’s ability to make glucose from protein. Removing plant matter therefore does not tell you what a person’s ketone reading will be. Our separate guide explains why ketosis can vary on No-Plant GAPS, without repeating the full food sequence here.

The No-Plant introduction guide gives the actual starting foods, amounts and dairy exceptions. The ketogenic transition later adds foods such as coconut oil, olive oil and, when digestion is ready, nuts and seeds. Those later instructions do not belong on the strict No-Plant starting list.^[1]

When GAPS Discusses Ketosis

For the vast majority of people following GAPS, Campbell-McBride says that reaching ketosis is not necessary. She describes standard GAPS as providing the tools needed for healing. Ketogenic GAPS is a particular approach within the protocol, rather than a more advanced stage everyone must reach.^[1]

Her chapter discusses cancer as a situation where she considers ketosis potentially useful. She explains this through the glucose dependence of many cancer cells and reports success in some people, while saying it does not work for everyone. She also discusses the long-standing use of ketogenic diets for epilepsy, again with variable outcomes. Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, obesity, mental illness and severe autoimmune conditions appear in her broader discussion of ketogenic use.^[1]

The epilepsy review she cites, by Freeman, Kossoff and Hartman, describes ketogenic treatment for difficult-to-control seizures in children. Her cancer reference by Weber and colleagues discusses tumor metabolism and ketogenic diets alongside cancer treatment. These sources help explain the clinical settings behind that part of the chapter.^[4][5]

How to Move Into Ketosis on GAPS

The book gives the following sequence under “How to move into physiological ketosis on the GAPS Nutritional Protocol.” It asks readers to study ketogenic information carefully before beginning and to measure ketones daily once pursuing this approach.^[1]

1. Begin with No-Plant GAPS. Move into that diet and settle into it for a few weeks. Use its own introduction sequence rather than skipping directly to a very high-fat menu.
2. Gradually change the protein and fat balance. The chapter reduces meat, fish and eggs gradually while increasing fat. It focuses on organic raw coconut oil and organic ghee, adding increasing amounts to each cup of meat stock and aiming for five to six cups a day.
3. Keep meals high in fat. Animal fats remain central. The chapter also allows good-quality olive oil, high-fat cheese with butter, and fresh nuts or oily seeds when the digestive system is ready for them. It names sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds and recommends soaking, sprouting or fermenting nuts and seeds for digestibility.
4. Change the fermented dairy. Replace kefir and yogurt with homemade sour cream in this ketogenic sequence. Dairy still needs to fit the person’s tolerance and introduction route.
5. Include natural salt. Campbell-McBride calls for plenty of natural salt in meals because this dietary shift removes water and sodium. The passage does not set a universal salt dose.
6. Follow the chapter’s water instruction. Drink plenty of water. The chapter specifies one tablespoon of cider vinegar or the juice of half a lemon in each cup of water. Campbell-McBride includes this in her discussion of acid-base balance during the transition.
7. Keep the GAPS food foundation. Continue with meat stock, gelatinous and organ meats and fermented foods. The chapter keeps gut health as the priority while food proportions change.

These are the book’s seven connected instructions.^[1] They are useful to read together. Taking only the fat increase would leave out the gradual transfer, food preparation and measurement that surround it.

Choosing the Fats and Dairy

Campbell-McBride particularly favors coconut oil and ghee, explaining their role through medium-chain fatty acids and absorption. She does not recommend highly processed MCT oil for GAPS. That is a distinction between the foods she names and a separately processed oil, rather than permission to substitute any product marketed for keto.^[1]

For a homemade ingredient, our stovetop ghee recipe explains the preparation. Our yogurt-culture sour cream is a separate Full GAPS dairy recipe. Choose the cream and culture that fit your own established dairy route. That recipe does not replace the non-cow dairy instructions at the beginning of No-Plant GAPS.^[3]

We make yogurt, kefir, ghee and sour cream at home in weekly batches. Having the ingredients ready is useful when dinner needs to happen before work. For this particular approach, the extra job is knowing which prepared dairy belongs in the current sequence. A jar of yogurt and a jar of sour cream are both homemade ferments, but the ketogenic chapter gives them different roles.

Measuring Ketones and Food Proportions

The chapter gives a target of 0.5–3 mmol/L in blood. It discusses blood, breath and urine measurement, describing urine as less reliable than blood or breath. Later in the same chapter, the practical instruction is to measure in blood or breath daily and record the measurements carefully.^[1]

The blood range should stay labeled as a blood range. A breath device or urine strip has its own reading system, so its result should not be copied into a blood-mmol/L column. A simple record can keep the date, method, device result and relevant food changes together.

Campbell-McBride says the fat-to-protein proportions needed to remain in ketosis can vary greatly between people. They may also differ from a ratio in a ketogenic cookbook. She connects this variability with gut flora and says reaching stable ketosis can take time. Her chapter gives no fixed number of days for that process.^[1]

A Day of Eating on Ketogenic GAPS

The 2020 book’s stock instruction is five to six cups a day. In her 2021 presentation, Campbell-McBride also describes an hourly cup of stock with sour cream, ghee or coconut oil. That presentation adds a picture of frequent, fat-enriched stock; it does not turn the book’s five-to-six-cup instruction into a requirement to drink a cup every hour all day.^[1][2]

For practical food choices, the presentation names high-fat cheese with butter and fermented vegetables as the preferred plants while in ketosis. The book keeps gelatinous and organ meats and fermented foods in the diet. Nuts and seeds remain conditional on digestive readiness, so a snack that fits one person’s menu may be too early for another.^[1][2]

Our chicken meat stock recipe is a useful preparation reference. It makes plain meat stock, not a complete ketogenic meal or a prescribed fat-to-protein ratio. That difference lets you use an actual kitchen method while keeping the meal proportions tied to this separate approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Everyone on GAPS Need Ketosis?

No. Campbell-McBride says most people do not need ketosis to recover on GAPS. The ketogenic chapter describes a particular option, not a required destination after Full GAPS.^[1]

Can I Use a Standard Keto Cookbook?

The book recommends studying ketogenic resources and finding recipes you enjoy. Each recipe still needs to fit the GAPS allowed-food lists, preparation rules and your current food tolerance. A keto label alone does not answer those questions.^[1]

Does No-Plant GAPS Always Become Ketogenic?

No. The book separates the two approaches and explains why low plant-carbohydrate intake does not guarantee ketosis. The gut-flora and ketosis guide covers that question in more detail.

Does the Book Give a Long-Term Duration?

It does not give everyone a single ketogenic duration or fat ratio. Its emphasis remains on gut health, individual proportions and daily measurement while pursuing ketosis.^[1]

Your Next Step

Start by reading the No-Plant introduction sequence alongside this guide. If you are still comparing approaches, the GAPS dietary approaches comparison keeps their different purposes in one place.

The Ketogenic GAPS Cookbook is listed in the WFLI Shop. The 90-Day Family Food Diary is another option for keeping food changes and observations together.

References

1. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “GAPS Ketogenic Diet” and “How to move into physiological ketosis on the GAPS Nutritional Protocol,” ketones, individual metabolism, clinical contexts, food sequence, fats, salt, water, blood range and daily recording.
2. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. GAPS OnCon 2021, “GAPS Ketogenic Diet,” PDF page 15, stock example, fats, fermented vegetables and measurement.
3. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “How to Implement the No-Plant GAPS Diet” and “Dairy Introduction Structure,” non-cow starting dairy, individual tolerance and progression.
4. Freeman JM, Kossoff EH, Hartman AL. The ketogenic diet: one decade later. Pediatrics. 2007;119(3):535–543. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2447.
5. Weber DD, Aminazdeh-Gohari S, Kofler B. Ketogenic diet in cancer therapy. Aging. 2018;10(2):164–165. doi:10.18632/aging.101382.