Allergies? Heal and seal your gut!

So many people with so many allergies. Allergies, sensitivities and intolerances...to foods, to ingredients, to dust, to plants, trees and pollen, to environmental toxins. How about you? So many times moms have come to work with me in my private practice for help crafting a food plan for their child, having just received their food allergy/sensitivity test results for their child. They have come exasperated, feeling desperate. The previous test may have revealed 5 or 6 "trigger foods"...now the number was 30. What were they going to feed their child? How could we craft a diet or menu that was appealing with all of these restrictions? How could we craft a menu that they would eat? Overwhelming! I have even had some clients with more than 120 foods that had been identified as no good. Funny, every time they went for the next test, the number of trigger foods, or those that were not allowed from that point on, increased.

Why?

It is not that the foods themselves are inherently evil or bad. I have often said that gluten is the current "fall guy". This week you react to wheat, next week it's gluten. The next week, gluten and casein...The next week it's gluten, casein, and eggs. The next week it's gluten, casein, eggs, chicken, and green beans. Or carrots. Or coconut. Or herring. And so on. And so on. And so on, until you or your child seem to be reacting to just about everything. What is going on?

The body, specifically the small intestine, is injured...porous...leaky...and all of the molecules become reactive foods.

All allergies can be traced to the state of health of the gut lining.

When your small intestine lining has holes in it, not only are food molecules not broken down or digested as they need to be in order for the body to utilize them, but they also pass through the holes and into the bloodstream as foreign molecules. Foreign molecules in the blood mean that the body is going to respond with an allergic reaction or sensitivity or intolerance to the food at the least. If this goes on for years, autoimmune disorders may result...

So...what to do?

Surgery isn't going to do it, folks. Nor are pharmaceuticals. The problem is in the gut...so the medicine is food. And while no diet can claim to do everything for all people, I have found one that does a lot to heal and seal the gut. It is the GAPS diet... the Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. (For more information about the GAPS Diet, see www.gaps.me.)

Are you, too, gluten-free? casein-free? wheat-free? dairy-free? Have multiple allergies or sensitivities? Are you tired of it? Check out the GAPS diet.

I will be teaching about how to heal and seal the gut this Saturday, June 8 in Fort Collins, CO. The class is Implementing the Intro Diet.  (aka, HEAL IT AND SEAL IT!)

I will be teaching a GAPS Cooking Weekend in Silver Spring, MD August 9-10. All the cooking techniques you need to implement the diet with confidence.  Dr. Joseph Mercola called these cooking classes "ground-breaking." More information about that weekend here.

The bottom line, folks...heal it and seal it. It all begins with the food.