Category Archives: GAPS

Diet, Allergies, and Mental Health ** edited

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I found this article to be one of the best I’ve read so far about the connection between diet, allergies, and mental health.

They explore the connection between behavior and diet–something that has been known since the 1940s.   They observed during WWII that schizophrenia cases went down in Germany and Holland because grains were scarce.

It is disgraceful that Big Pharma was allowed to trump diet in the treatment of schizophrenia….especially when one realizes the drugs that they have foisted on the hapless mental patient contained antihistamines–an indicator that they knew brain allergies were at the heart of the problem.

I disagree with the concept of neutralizing doses of allergens…it just doesn’t make sense to me to give the allergens to people to help them overcome it.  The fact that they don’t have symptoms does not mean they aren’t allergic anymore.  In my experience, I didn’t have symptoms of celiac or gluten intolerance that were noticeable–yet I was eating wheat every day.  This didn’t mean I wasn’t allergic–it meant that I wasn’t reacting to it because my immune system was not functioning and could not muster a response in the traditional sense.  My response after beginning the GAPS diet and now when I am accidentally exposed to gluten proves that allergy.

I’m pretty sure I was tested for wheat allergy by an ear, nose, and throat doctor who looked in my nose, and said I had the tell-tale blue veins of allergies.  He knew I was allergic to something…but he couldn’t determine what that allergy was–the traditional tests did not reveal allergies.  And yet, here I am, some twenty years later, figuring it out.  My immune system was compromised and did not respond to allergens appropriately, even though I appeared healthy.  At that point, I had had one dental amalgam in baby teeth, and had been exposed to mercury, lead, and arsenic through coal dust.  I had also had mercury exposure through Rho-Gam shots.  Plus the toxins from pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers in my food–all known to compromise the immune system.

As the article states, I don’t think mental patients should be given drugs until they are put on an elimination diet.  It is nothing short of a miracle how a good diet can restore health and it’s nothing short of criminal to give them drugs that are questionable in their efficacy and many times cause harm.

The article also mentions salicylates.  They have popped up on my radar lately, so I thought I’d post a link to a pretty good website on what they are, what they do, and foods that are high in salicylates.  **edited to add:  here’s the link to the website’s guide to foods that contain salicylates.

10 Foods that are high in Protein…

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…but you wouldn’t have guessed them.

Here’s the nutrition data sheet on:

Peas

Black Beans (not pasta, mind you)

I was looking for the absorption rate of the protein because one of the issues that Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride- (GAPS diet) has with vegetarian diets is that the body does not absorb plant protein as well as animal protein.  And then there’s the debate on how much protein we really need to be healthy.  They make note that athletes and active people need more, but then leave people in the dark about their definition of “active”….is someone active who exercises two days a week?  Three days? Is an athlete someone who exercises an hour every day?  One bodybuilder site mentions that their standard is two hours a day (for bodybuilding).  It would be easier if they could give more definite terms such as body weight, hours exercised, days exercised, and how much protein is required for those levels.

Lastly, what about the effect of GMO’s and food absorption?  What about inflammation?  If you are consuming beef that is fed GMO corn, how is that being absorbed?  Since beef is more slowly absorbed, does it cause more inflammation than if one is eating organic vegetable protein?  All of those factors need to be considered, too.

 

 

Vegetarian diet and heavy metals

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Along my path of change, I was re-examining everything, including eating meat.  I became a vegetarian at about 1997.  My kids thought their mother had lost it.  It’s not easy changing to vegetarian when you’re responsible for cooking for the family.  I had to get everyone’s needs met.  They actually liked a bulgur wheat and lentil burrito I made, plus some other dishes.  But they did not want to convert fully to vegetarian diet, which I understood.

In 2006, I was advised to go back to eating meat due to severe anemia.  I didn’t know at this time that I was heavy metal toxic–that would be another year before my discovery.

I did not want to go back to eating meat, but my body had been craving it, so I knew the advice was sound.  I talked about it with a lady whom had been a vegan, and she too had to go back to eating meat.  Her theory was that some of us are just genetically set up to require meat, while others could do quite well without it.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride said in her book of the GAPS diet, which heals the gut, that she did not recommend vegetarian diets–she saw many in her practice that were not healthy.  She saw a problem with vegetarians eating a lot of soy and grains.  I am guilty of this–I was eating a lot of tofu and pasta.  One of my favorites was eating spaghetti with olive oil and garlic.  Yum.  But eating this is not doable for Celiacs.  (Not to mention non-organic pasta being GMO)

I polled the mercury poisoning group about being vegetarian.  One was a vegetarian all his life until chelation.  He said he felt heavy and sluggish–he felt better and had so much more energy when a vegetarian.  I have to agree to that–I had so much more energy and my skin glowed. It was unfortunate that as I was beginning the vegetarian diet, my body was becoming more toxic from the mercury.

Another group member said it was just too hard on the body and with dietary restrictions, it was impossible to chelate without eating meat.

They were all under the impression that they could not go back to just a vegetarian diet–one said he hoped to go “almost” vegetarian, with eating some meat, but not totally meat-free. 

I don’t know.  Time will tell. 

Back

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Okay, back from a bout of the flu.  Gah, it’s been at least six years and probably ten years since I’ve had the flu.  Seriously. The last time I felt this bad, I had it in the lungs (probably walking pneumonia) and it was one of the times I woke up gasping for breath.

Mercury interferes with your immune system so much that even though we know we are exposed to viruses, we don’t “get sick”.

The theory is that the virus is there, but the immune system cannot muster the usual attack response that shows up as vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, fever, headache.  I think it’s another wonderful testament that my immune system is healing and starting to respond to viruses.  I don’t know if this particular virus was dormant…but I’m kind of leaning that way because it usually takes three days to incubate before symptoms show up…at least that was how it was with my kids and I when they were young.  With this flu, I was only in the public the day before, which would have been the best time to be exposed.  My sis could have brought the virus home, I suppose, but nobody else got sick.

Anyway, I’m actually happy that I had the flu….and I lived to tell about it!  I should alert the CDC.  /just a little snarky

I think the fact that I had a quick recovery is testament to eating good organic non-gluten food….the best medicine, along with proper herbs (dandelion and rose hips tea).

 

Let’s Move…? **edited

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Really?  In ties and hard shoes instead of workout clothes and good sports shoes?  Once a week?

I mean, really, if you’re going to be an example, you might try to act the part. And it is recommended that 30-45 min. at least three times a week for exercise benefits health.

As I posted in the Grain Brain blog, aerobic exercise is best because it not only benefits the body, but the brain, as well.

My favorite tape to workout is by the National Aerobic Champions (NAC) Interval Challenge.  It has been one of the most thorough workouts that I enjoyed doing over and over.  It takes a few workouts before getting coordinated, but then you get in the groove.

They have two instructors on the left of the screen for low impact or you can do the more intense, which is pretty much jumping through all the moves.  Here’s another website review.

They offered this tape in combination with two others —Body Parts, another good toning workout, and Measured Intensity, which personally I found ho-hum and too mild.  I bought them in the 90s, way back in the old days of VHS …so I went to see if they had a DVD out–unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they transferred it to DVD.  Oy.  Tough luck when the VCR eventually breaks (thanks for cheap plastic crap,  Milton Friedman!! /snark)

I found more reviews here...one of them is from a 66 year old woman *still* doing them. Woot!! Go grey hairs! :p

**edited to add:  I wanted to note that as I got sicker with mercury poisoning, it became more difficult to exercise.  I grew tired more easily. I got migraines after exercising.  I also started yawning during exercise–this is a warning sign that you’re not getting enough oxygen, which is what mercury does–deprive your body of oxygen.

Starving in America **edited

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Politicker has this up on Jerry Nadler speaking out on the republican plan of decreasing the surplus population–through even more cuts to food stamps..in a  Depression…oh, wait, we’re not supposed to call it a Depression…my bad.

I’ve debated back and forth whether to write about my situation with the state.  Like so many people on food stamps, it’s humiliating to have to beg for food.  It’s humiliating to go to job interviews and not get that call, even though the interviewers seem to like you….then you are called lazy and unmotivated by these republican (and some Democrats) jackasses….so they’re going to “help you” not be lazy and unmotivated…

Briefly, I did get them reinstated…BUT the state pulled a number out of its arse that isn’t even reflecting of what I am bringing home.

Gah, this is hard talking about, but here goes:  I made a total of $520.00 since September.  The average of those months is $130.00 per month…before taxes.  The state has done some fuzzy math and now deemed me making $260.00 + what my son gives me.  I told them that he only helps me out if I don’t make enough to cover my supplements and vitamins (which keep me healthy until I can get this horrible poison out) and my gas and the basics like laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, etc.   I really hate having to ask him for money, so if he does help out, it’s never over $100, unless the car needs work or some emergency comes up.  He signed a paper stating such.

So…they decided that he helps me out *every* month, regardless, which is a lie.

Even with all the false money that I don’t have coming in, the total they have assigned is…$360.00 per month.

And they cut my food stamps because apparently I’m living high on the hog at their false total of $360. Yep.

This does not take into account taxes taken out, gas to get back and forth to work, and the weather, which has impaired my ability to work.  They don’t take into account that the car needs tires, a transmission fluid change, and other maintenance just so I can make it to work.  Doesn’t matter to them.

According to them, I’m making $360, with no taxes to pay and no other expenditures.

$143 is all they will give me for an entire month’s worth of groceries.  And now they want to cut that even more.  They spend more than that on a month’s worth of coffee.

Oh, and what was that about the automatic pay raises of Congress?  You can’t “make it” on $100,000 per year?

Mitt Romney and his cronies, gutting jobs while raking in the cash….and looking the other way while people go hungry.

My post on being lazy and unmotivated here.

My other posts on food stamps  here, here, and here.

My piece on the media slamming the poor ..I should note that I also saw the South Bend station doing the exact.same.thing within months after this piece aired.

So…you can’t find a job, you’ve got food stamps that don’t last a month, and you’re not supposed to beg for money…vicious, heartless, and punitive.

And when the sociopaths talk about wanting to cut food stamps because of fraud, they neglect to mention  the program is one of the best run with only a 3% error rate!

Meanwhile, they look the other way at rampant fraud with the Dept. of Defense….and the welfare queens of McDonald’s and Walmart.

 

**edited to add:  I just want to make it plain that this is not a pity post.  Like I said in the previous post, we don’t want your stinking charity.  We want jobs with livable wages.

Progress…?

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For those of you who don’t know, I’m recovering from mercury poisoning.  This is just a short post on my progress–

You might recall I’ve written about mercury poisoned folks not getting colds like normal.  I had not had a cold – a sneezing your head off cold – for about five years.

So…I had one last month where I sneezed more in one week than I had the entire past year.  And I have another one now…

I never thought I would be happy that I’m sneezing…but, yeah, I am. :p

The theory is that mercury so damages our immune system that it cannot muster a response, which is what the sneezing, aching muscles, etc., are…

So, while sneezing is no fun, it makes me happy to know that my immune system is still alive and kicking its way back from the cliff.  ::does happy dance::  :;well, okay, doesn’t do happy dance because I feel like crap right now…but the spirit is willing even though the body sez Pfft.::

The right to raw milk

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…is also a right to decide what goes into our bodies.  Apparently, Americans aren’t the only ones battling the bureaucrats who won’t allow us to know what food contains GMO’s…but tell us that good, natural raw milk with natural enzymes and natural Vitamin A and D (not synthetic, which is questionable)  that help us digest that milk…is bad for us.  Riiiight.  Somebody please explain this backward thinking…’cause I don’t get it…

More here.

Additionally, the right to decide what goes into our bodies has a far-reaching aspect–the right not to be vaccinated.  It never ceases to amaze me that abortion advocates will call you a nutjob for being anti-vaccine while saying that you have a right to choose to have an abortion…but not have a right to refuse vaccination.  Unreal.