Cooking Vessels and Utensils, Silicone? Crocks? Stainless? Wooden? What’s GAPS Approved?

At the 2017 Weston A. Price Conference, six Certified GAPS Practitioners, and one layperson, had a meeting with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride regarding many specifics on the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) Protocol. Kombucha, coconut milk, coconut cream, gummies, gelatin, coconut water, coconut meat, as well as many other topics, were discussed to determine more specific parameters on the GAPS Protocol. Certified GAPS Practitioners Monica Corrado, Laura Villanti, Kim Schuette, Amy Mihaly, Lisa Middlecamp-Lowder, Becky Plotner and her husband, Kevin Plotner discussed the topics with Dr. Natasha for four and half hours.

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Welcome to a sneak peak of the meeting and the topic of cookware and cooking utensils. The text below is a conversation between these people, DN indicates Dr. Natasha is talking, M indicates Monica Corrado, the GAPS Chef, is talking, and B indicated Becky Plotner is talking. This gathering is a gathering of friends, girls who all talk at the same time, enjoying the fellowship of each other and doing what many girlfriends do when they gather – discuss cooking. 

Cooking from fresh food is the basis of the GAPS Protocol. However, different articles and blog posts report cooking vessel dangers to the point it can make your head spin. When you’re tackling the task of home food prep, having the proper cookware makes the job easier. It doesn’t have to be a huge investment, in fact most folks probably have what they need already sitting in their cabinets. A general rule of thumb is, while on GAPS, stick with what you have and if healing isn’t happening, tighten up to process. 

New prep and cooking products are introduced to the market every day, finding out which are the best for you is important. 

B Silicone? (Items like this and these or these).

DN No, I don’t like any of this plastic – spatulas or spoons. Use wooden utensils (like these). Even stainless steel (like these) or cast iron (like this which needs to be cleaned and re-seasoned with a traditional animal fat), is fine. None of this silicone.

B The Weston A Price organization has put out how stainless steel is really bad to use because it’s high in nickel. Click here to read more. They say, “There are two main types of stainless steel, magnetic and nonmagnetic. The nonmagnetic form has a very high nickel content, and nickel is allergenic and carcinogenic. You can use a little ‘refrigerator magnet’ to test your pans. The magnet will stick firmly to the safer type of pan.”

They go on to say, “It is wise to use the magnet all over the pan – inside and outside since some have found that the pan contains mixed ingredients and sticks firmly in some places and not in others.”

DN I know, I know, and many people are…

M Freaking out. 

DN …reacting to nickel but it is better than most. It is the best we have and it’s affordable.

M And you can test it.

DN There are some super duper cookware which is astronomically expensive, they make all sorts of claims, and if we wait a few years someone’s research will come up with something that’s wrong with those.

B So, if a magnet doesn’t stick to it, you shouldn’t use that pot, you should get a different one? (If the magnets sticks, you’re OK).

DN Yes.

B Good to know.

M Too much nickel. So you take a magnet to the store and see, 0h, it sticks to it, I’m buying that. Oh, it doesn’t stick to it, that’s not the one.

DN Most of steel, now a days, comes from China. Recycled metal. It’s really poor quality.

M You know, the other thing is, buy old pots. Frankly, you can go to the thrift store, everyone’s always bringing old pots in. If they’ve got a copper bottom (like this one), they’re good.

DN Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most of my kitchen equipment is second hand shops.

B They have copper cups, drinking cups, and copper pots. Is that ok to cook in?

DN I don’t think so, no, no, no, no. If you put anything with any acid into it, it will leach copper into your food. 

B What do you cook in at your home?

DN I buy a lot of clay, a lot of glassware. They are not made in China. I use stainless steel, and I use glazed and traditional clay and earthenware. And glass, glass works well,

B What do you store your leftovers in?

DN Pyrex. Always, always glass.

B Pyrex with a plastic lid is ok?

DN Plastic lid is ok, but better is a glass lid, just glass. I don’t store in stainless steel.

*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, CGP, D.PSc. who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. She works as a Certified GAPS Practitioner who sees clients in her office, Skype and phone. She has been published in Wise Traditions, spoken at two Weston A. Price Conferences, Certified GAPS Practitioner Trainings, has been on many radio shows, television shows and writes for Nourishing Plot. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia, through food, she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. She is a Chapter Leader for The Weston A. Price Foundation. becky.nourishingplot@hotmail.com

“GAPS™ and Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ are the trademark and copyright of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. The right of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Patent and Designs Act 1988.