The 2020 GAPS book names No-Plant GAPS as its approach for FPIES and describes a gradual food progression, not a single list to start all at once. Fresh meat stock comes first in that chapter; other animal foods and fermented liquids have their own introduction order.[1][2]
When food choices are already narrow, another list can feel like more work. The useful question is what a food is doing in the sequence: what is already tolerated, what the book discusses next, and what your child’s feeding plan actually permits. This guide explains those distinctions without turning a reported case into a feeding prescription.
Where No-Plant Fits
Campbell-McBride describes No-Plant as temporary, not a diet for life, with plant foods reintroduced as the person recovers.[2]
Campbell-McBride says some patients continued to have digestive symptoms even with the cooked vegetables in Intro Stage 1. Babies with FPIES were the first group to follow the resulting No-Plant approach. The chapter recommends a Certified GAPS Practitioner, gradual transfer from the previous feeding pattern, and use at the difficult end of the protocol when other approaches have not worked.[2]
The official FAQ also reports recovery on Intro. The 2020 A–Z FPIES entry specifically directs readers to No-Plant, so it is important to read that chapter’s full use limits and progression rather than treating the two names as identical.[1][3]
What the Book Includes, and When
| Food or Preparation | Its Place in the Chapter |
|---|---|
| Fresh meat stock and gelatinous meats | The opening preparation; soft tissues and meats are added gradually. Beef is introduced later in the chapter’s sequence. |
| Fermented dairy | The early sequence uses milk from animals other than cows. Kefir or yogurt comes before fermented cream, with tolerance guiding progression. |
| Fermented vegetable liquid | Vegetable-medley liquid is included, including as an alternative when kefir is difficult. It is a liquid, not permission to begin eating the vegetable solids. |
| Eggs, organ meats, fish and shellfish | These appear as later introductions, not a declaration that every item is already tolerated. |
| Bone broth | Fresh meat stock is the recommendation. The chapter describes a later individual tolerance exception after stock and the other foods are well tolerated. |
These distinctions come from the implementation section of the No-Plant chapter.[2] The complete No-Plant guide provides the wider route. A child’s known trigger remains relevant even when a food appears on the GAPS list.
No Plant Matter Does Not Mean No Fermented Vegetable Liquid
The chapter’s opening removes plant matter, but its implementation section explicitly includes liquid from a vegetable medley. It describes this as a probiotic drink. Later, plant solids return through a separate sequence. That is why straining a fermented liquid and serving the fermented vegetables are not interchangeable steps.[2]
The same chapter places cow’s milk and beef differently from the early foods and discusses sourcing corn-free and soy-free chicken for some particularly sensitive patients. Its sourcing observation is not a rule that all chicken causes a reaction. Laura’s specific chicken episode is preserved in her published case study.[2]
Fresh Meat Stock and the Historical Lamb-Broth Letter
The No-Plant chapter calls for fresh meat stock and distinguishes it from long-cooked bone broth. Its later bone-broth exception is individual and comes after the other foods are tolerated. It is not an early switch based only on the name of the condition.[2]
Mary K.’s parent letter uses the term lamb broth and describes gradually adding it to formula over three months. That historical wording does not tell us the preparation’s complete formula or establish a universal way to modify infant formula. It belongs to that family’s account.[4]
For the kitchen work, my Stock Pot Course focuses on organizing stock preparation. It does not decide an infant’s milk intake, allergy plan or food-challenge setting. Those details need to remain attached to the child’s existing feeding care.
Pacing Is Specific to the Introduction
The No-Plant chapter gives different examples for stock, fermented dairy, fermented liquid and later plant foods. It describes at least two weeks of stock and gelatinous meats before beginning its kefir example, then observation and a slower response when the reaction is too strong. That is a source-specific sequence, not one rule to apply to every food.[2]
A separate FAQ describes retreating a stage for another week or two when a person working through Intro reacts to a new food. That answer is not permission to retry an FPIES trigger at home after waiting a set number of days.[5]
The book describes a skin sensitivity test, and the cooking-technique source excludes foods that have caused anaphylaxis. A quiet wrist or lip response cannot establish that an FPIES trigger is safe to eat. Reintroduction of known triggers needs the child’s allergy team and its chosen setting; do not use these source descriptions as a home food challenge.[2][6][7]
Breastfeeding and Prescribed Formula
The No-Plant chapter says a breastfed baby should continue breastfeeding during the transfer while the mother follows Full GAPS. It does not say to remove milk first and replace it with stock. Elsewhere, Campbell-McBride discusses a separate group of severe maternal-milk cases and recommends a healthy wet nurse. The wet-nursing and milk-sharing guide holds that wider discussion.[2][8]
Those passages need to be read alongside the child’s current feeding and growth needs. Keep prescribed formula preparation unchanged unless the prescribing team changes it. Stock is not a nutritionally complete infant formula. The breastfeeding and growth guide covers the separate GAPS growth sequence.[7]
How Plant Foods Return
The book describes coming off No-Plant with well-fermented vegetables cooked in stock, then roasted garlic, then one well-cooked non-starchy vegetable at a time. Zucchini without skin or seeds, broccoli and cauliflower are its examples. At each step it describes recording the addition and watching over three to four days. Once those foods are introduced, it places the person in Intro Stage 1.[2]
This describes the wider chapter’s progression, not a new trial schedule for a child with FPIES. The coming-off-No-Plant guide follows the full source sequence. Keep the child’s approved food and reaction plan with your notes when discussing a next introduction.
If you need a short place to begin, use the FPIES reaction record to list what is tolerated now and the exact question about the next food. The FPIES overview connects the food route with the book’s case accounts and the supporting research.
References
- Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), A–Z, FPIES.
- Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), No-Plant GAPS Diet, implementation, coming off and Laura’s case.
- Campbell-McBride, N. Official GAPS FAQs, Diet/Food, question 63.
- Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Immune System, parent letter signed Mary K..
- Campbell-McBride, N. Official GAPS FAQs, Die-off, question 21.
- Corrado, M. The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet, second edition, Intro overview and sensitivity/anaphylaxis distinction.
- AAAAI. International FPIES consensus guidelines (2017), diagnosis, challenge and acute-care sections.
- Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), Breastfeeding and A–Z, Wet nursing.
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