More-Plant GAPS: Foods, Meal Balance and Getting Started

More-Plant GAPS increases the amount of suitable plant food in your meals while keeping animal foods in the overall diet. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride describes it in Gut and Physiology Syndrome for people who feel better with more carbohydrate and whose digestive systems are ready for more plants. It has no fixed plant percentage, and it is not a vegetarian GAPS protocol.^[1]

The practical change is in the balance of foods you already know you can eat. Cooked vegetables, suitable fruit, properly prepared legumes, nuts and seeds take a larger place. Meat, fish, eggs, stock and fermented dairy still have a role, with individual tolerance guiding the choices. The chapter also recognizes people who do better with lower-fat dairy or no dairy.^[1]

Our family has followed GAPS since July 2024. We have not tried the More-Plant variation. What I can share from our kitchen is the value of having meat stock available and knowing what went into a meal. Our stock varies with the budget, what is available and what is in the fridge. Those ordinary cooking habits are useful when you are comparing food proportions, but they are not a personal More-Plant treatment story.

When to Consider More-Plant GAPS

Campbell-McBride says some people need more carbohydrate to feel well. Even someone who usually prefers animal foods can go through periods of wanting more plant matter. She discusses this alongside the relatively rare carbohydrate-oriented metabolic type and directs readers to “One Man’s Meat Is Another Man’s Poison” for the wider explanation.^[1]

That discussion includes people who prefer low-purine white meats and fish, smaller amounts of animal fat, and lower-fat dairy or no dairy. It describes individual needs rather than assigning the same plate to everyone. The related chapter also warns that cravings for processed carbohydrate can be mistaken for a carbohydrate-oriented constitution.^[1][2]

The More-Plant chapter gives a clear starting limit: if diarrhea, particularly with blood or mucus, or abdominal pain is present, follow the GAPS Introduction Diet first. It does not treat a desire for more plants as a reason to ignore those symptoms.^[1] Our Intro-versus-Full guide explains the difference between those starting approaches.

How the Meal Balance Changes

More-Plant changes proportions within the GAPS framework. It does not give a seventy-thirty rule, a required half-plate of vegetables or one daily carbohydrate target. Campbell-McBride asks readers to find their own balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate by adjusting animal and plant foods in each meal.^[1]

Meat stock stays alongside the cooked vegetables in the book’s instructions, with fermented foods included too. Her 2021 presentation also keeps stock and soups as daily foods. Our plain chicken meat stock recipe is one preparation reference. A vegetable-heavy soup made with meat stock is still an animal-and-plant meal, even when no pieces of meat are visible.^[1][3]

Some individual meals may be vegetarian. The chapter says this plainly while also saying that More-Plant GAPS is not vegetarian overall. A genuinely vegetarian meal would need a base without meat or fish stock. One such meal does not remove animal foods from the whole dietary pattern.^[1]

Start With Cooked Plants

The book favors cooked plants when digestion is sensitive. Vegetables can be cooked in meat stock, baked, stir-fried or steamed. If animal fats are difficult to digest, the More-Plant chapter names olive oil and coconut oil in appealing amounts. The book’s separate fats guidance keeps cold-pressed olive oil for unheated use; coconut oil and suitable animal fats are cooking choices.^[1][4]

For more carbohydrate, it names cooked winter squash, turnips, swede or rutabaga, carrots and celeriac. Watch what happens after eating them. Bloating, diarrhea, constipation or other symptoms mean the book advises stopping that food until digestion recovers, then trying a slow introduction again. Craving starch does not by itself establish readiness.^[1]

If these vegetables are well tolerated and have been introduced over plenty of time, the chapter directs readers to the separate coming-off-GAPS sequence for potatoes and grains. That reference does not add potatoes or grains to the ordinary More-Plant food list.

Fruit, Beans, Nuts and Seeds

Cooked fruit follows the same gentle starting idea. The book names apple purée and stewed berries, plums and pears, with a suitable fat added in an amount that appeals to you. It also allows some honey or dried fruit for sweetness, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, and properly prepared nuts.^[1]

Beans, lentils and dried peas need both the right variety and the right preparation. The general legumes section names white navy or haricot beans, lima beans, string beans, lentils and split peas. Dried beans, lentils and peas soak for at least twelve hours, preferably longer, before draining and rinsing. The book discusses sprouting or fermentation before thorough cooking and waits until diarrhea and other digestive symptoms have cleared completely before introducing this group.^[5]

That legume limit is more specific than the entry guidance for the More-Plant approach as a whole. Being ready for some cooked vegetables does not make every bean ready to introduce. String beans are a fresh vegetable and do not use the dried-bean soaking process.

Properly prepared nuts and oily seeds can be used in breads, pies and desserts. Raw vegetables, fruit and nuts remain dependent on digestion. The More-Plant chapter names bloating, crampy pain or abnormal stool over the following days as reasons to wait with raw forms and return to cooked plants.^[1] The More-Plant preparation guide puts the food forms and preparation details together.

Fermented Foods and Storage

Campbell-McBride recommends fermented vegetables with meals and describes fermentation as a way to make plant matter more digestible. Sandor Ellix Katz’s The Art of Fermentation guides the vegetable-fermentation technique: keep vegetables submerged, allow fermentation gases to escape through the appropriate vessel or pressure-management method, and judge development through the recipe’s conditions and the ferment’s flavor and texture.^[1][6]

Stock storage still depends on the ingredients. Rachael Mamane gives meat and poultry stock a few days in the refrigerator, and seafood and vegetable stocks about two days. For longer storage, she describes freezing stock for up to six months. Cool it promptly and store portions in suitable clean containers.^[7]

Planning Meals for One Household

Begin with a meal you already cook and list its ingredients, including the fat, stock and fermented foods. Then ask which foods are tolerated in that exact form. A vegetable that works in soup is not automatically ready to eat raw, and a nut used in baking is not the same preparation as a handful of raw nuts.

If people at your table need different proportions, the same suitable stock and cooked vegetables can be served in different amounts. If an ingredient does not fit one person, keep a separate preparation. Straining a finished soup does not remove an ingredient that has already cooked into its liquid.

For a genuinely vegetarian meal, choose the base before cooking. A pot made with meat or fish stock cannot become vegetarian by removing the meat afterward. Our vegetarian-eating question guide explains the book’s discussion without inventing another GAPS protocol.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does More-Plant GAPS Remove Animal Foods?

No. The book keeps animal foods in the overall pattern, while allowing individual proportions and some vegetarian meals. It also gives a lower-fat-dairy or no-dairy branch for people whose metabolism and tolerance call for it.^[1]

Can Every Plant Food Fit?

No. More-Plant still uses suitable GAPS foods and their preparation rules. Grains, potatoes, other excluded starches, sugar and packaged substitutes do not become allowed because the plant share increases. The book’s coming-off directions remain a separate sequence.^[1][5]

Do I Need to Know a Fixed Metabolic Type First?

The book asks readers to study its bio-individuality chapter and their own needs. It also describes limitations of metabolic typing and changing needs with activity, weather, stress and age. It does not assign every reader one permanent ratio.^[2]

Your Next Step

Use the food-preparation guide to review one familiar meal before changing its balance. The More-Plant GAPS course and More-Plant GAPS Cookbook are listed in the WFLI Shop.

References

1. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “The More-Plant GAPS Diet,” entry symptoms, food forms, animal foods, individual proportions and coming-off reference.
2. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “One Man’s Meat Is Another Man’s Poison,” metabolic typing, its limits and changing food needs.
3. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. GAPS OnCon 2021, “More-Plant GAPS Diet,” daily stock and soup and the distinction between individual vegetarian meals and the overall diet.
4. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Fats and Oils,” cooking fats and cold-pressed oils used unheated.
5. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Beans, Legumes and Pulses” and Full GAPS food lists, varieties, preparation and symptom-based timing.
6. Katz, Sandor Ellix. The Art of Fermentation, vegetable-fermentation process, submersion, vessels, gas management and maturation.
7. Mamane, Rachael. Mastering Stocks and Broths, “Storing Your Stocks for Later Use,” refrigeration and freezing.