This post has been long coming and the subject of my personal research over the span of several years. Today we are deep diving into the underlying causes of discomfort and discord - from joint pains, to neurological problems. We are told that your body is to blame and that anything from genetics to unknown causes is the true culprit behind your suffering. What is never addressed is the vastly different food industry and chemical additive practices we are being exposed to in unprecedented amounts. More children than ever are experiencing food allergies. Is this a sign that our genes are mutating? Or is there something seriously wrong with all the things we put into our systems from birth to death? All of these factors are contributing to the challenges we experience ranging from metabolic disease, autoimmune attacks, severe histamine reactions and buildup of waste products within your body that manifests as mystery symptoms. Gut health is the cutting edge of medical research and holds the solution to many of these devastating modern day ills.
There are a few categories of organisms to take into consideration when discussing gut health: parasites, fungi and bacteria. We all have a mix of these and rarely do these subjects come up in your doctors visits. I am astonished that most primary care physicians stare at you blankly when you ask questions regarding the occupants of your gut and their implications on health. While growing up in Eastern Europe, we brought a stool and urine sample to the doctors office for every single visit and checkup. In the states, I have not been asked for a single time by primary care physicians. Is it because gut health doesn't matter in the US? Are we somehow immune to parasites and dysbiosis that your doctor is not willing to even consider those avenues? The US is known for spending astronomical amounts of money on healthcare, yet we continue to have pooper outcomes than 36 of the developed nations. What are we targeting in our medical care that we are missing the mark by such an extraordinary degree? Many of you know the answer. Management of symptoms and not the root cause of disease. We are in many ways encouraged to ignore our daily actions and then treat the disease once its already too late. Because eating is something we do every day, this should always be the first thing to work on and improve.
From my personal research reading medical texts, following the leading scientists researching the subjects, and unraveling the mysteries of my daughters autoimmune disease, I have learned a great deal. Lets dive in to some of the aggressors of our health. First and foremost, while some foods are labeler organic for their growing practices, they are vastly genetically different from the ancient plants that evolved along side us for millennia. In fact the ancient wheat, known as einkorn only had 14 chromosomes, while the modern wheat that is included in practically every dish has 41 chromosomes! Another example is baby corn that you get in a can at the grocery store- that is the original ancient corn that was raised and grown. Todays variety is a franken-fruit of what it once was. we can see now how the volume of food has increased and so has our waist line. Not all countries have done this to their grains. You can visit many countries and eat their grains and not feel bloated and sore the next day. There is something very special about American agriculture that has changed the very fabric of the food-like products we see today. We have prioritized quantity and presentation over nutrition. Another facet setting us up for failure is the widespread use of antibiotics.
Even if you haven't recently taken antibiotics, you may not be aware that conventional meat and dairy products are concentrated with antibiotics. In fact livestock agriculture comprises 80% of all antibiotics prescribed in the united states. This means that the meat we consume has had its microbiome wiped out long before it makes it to the dinner table and we are likely being affected by the antibiotics within that meat. There are 3 most essential strains (two bacterial and one fungal) that set the stage for the human microbiome and two of them are highly susceptible to antibiotic use and have nearly been wiped out from the biome. In the wake of Rockefeller medicine, we have seen these strains nearly completely extinct within the soil, livestock and our own bodies. Now why are these strains so important? It is found that they create the conditions for all other beneficial biodiversity in your gut. Before refrigeration, a large portion of foods consumed by humans in colder climates were fermented to last the winter. We were very much interdependent with these living strains of microbes for survival and health. We literally evolved in a symbiotic relationship over centuries and our nutrient consumption deeply depends on them. Now that this ecosytem within is is heavily disrupted, we are seeing a vast array of "dis-ease" emerging.
It is estimated that about 4lbs of your digestive tract is made up of foreign bodies and micro organisms. Four pounds! thats enough to make you wonder what all those crazy antibiotic treatments in your youth have done to those creatures. These organisms are known to produce the majority of our neurotransmitters, to mitigate pathogens, to keep guard of the gut lining and provide nutrients by breaking down food. With their decimation we are seeing a large rise in candida, parasite and bacterial infections arising and dominating the gut. What makes these harmful is that they don't break down food to give us nutrients, but instead release neurotoxins and other metabolites that weigh down an already chemically overloaded system. The rise in children's disease from a small percentage to nearly 60% over the last 70 years is the direct result of a disrupted eco system.
Candida is extremely common among us, yet many remain unaware of this pesky hitchhiker. If you have taken a few antibiotic rounds and enjoy your sweets, chances are you have a gut overgrowth of yeast. Candida is likely the cause of many ADHD cases and riding the sugar rollercoaster fluctuation is disrupting our children's minds. In standard medical models attention deficit disorder is caused by a lack of dopamine, so if most of our neurotransmitters are produced by the microbiome, we can deduce that improving the microbiome will restore the imbalance in dopamine. Parasites can be found in all tissue types across the human system and is not localized to the digestive tract. This is why many fecal tests fail to capture the parasite eggs needed for detection. In addition microscopic parasites ie flagellates or protozoa are also a contributing factor to health problems and imbalances. Some of these can disguise themselves as cycts and pocket away from the immune system, but cause joint pain and other symptoms. Regardless of which are colonizing your gut, they all produce neurotoxins and inflammatory compounds that easily rile up any living system. The emergence of allergies, and skin reactions is a telltale sign of a disrupted microbiome.
The solution is 1 strain of yeast and 2 strains of bacteris. Based on the research of Dr William Davis, these strains are the bedrock of every land mammals gut on the planet. The human species have seen these strains wiped out by modern medical and food practices. These strains are L. Reuteri, L. Gasseri and Saccharomyces Boulardii. These species create the habitat for the rest of gut biodiversity to exist, so if you are rebuilding after an illness, focus on these strains first. If these staple strains are not present, the rest cannot exist. For example you may have been taking Lactobacillus species for a long time without getting results and wondering why you're wasting so much money on probiotics without experiencing the promised benefits. This is because without the proper foundation and coating of the base strains, you dont have a substrate for lactobacillus species to exist. L.Reuterii is the only species of bacteris that can inhabit the mouth, stomach, small intestine and large intestine. In fact it has such a wide range of pH environments that it is believed to be able to coat the entire lining of the digestive tract, forming a protective barrier for anything that enters. By making a hospitable environment in the gut, Lactobacillus species can thrive and so can Acidophilus. Many people are know to be suffering from low stomach acid, especially as we age. Why is this the case?
Acidophilus is a gut bacteria that generates acid- as the name suggests. Without the proper substrate on which to latch on to, many of us are unable to maintain the population of acid producing bacteria. As a result we cannot break down nutrients properly or kill the pathogens that constantly bombard us through our food. For example 45% of vegetables tested had parasite eggs on them. Its is a common misconception that only raw fish and meat have parasite eggs that we should be worried about. If the stomach acid is high enough, most of these will be neutralized. However, if we are in a state of dysbiosis and missing what is essentially its own organ - the gut micro system, then we fall prey to a whole set of disturbances and subsequent issues.
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