Avoiding the path to an Auto-Immune Disease…

We need to be sure our digestive health is working at its best to avoid sleep walking down a path into serious health problems in later life. To achieve that, we need to provide our bodies with the right balance of foods, nutrients and water.

The problem of chronic inflammation in our bodies is also a major health risk, again contributing to a malfunction of our immune systems. This is not to be confused with inflammation following a trauma or injury, which only lasts for a limited time and is part of the bodies normal recovery process.

We are what we eat…and both Chronic Inflammation and poor Gut Health can be improved and often cured by the choice of what we eat. I am going to discuss our food choices today, as the first stage of living in good health. Although these two conditions can be caused by other things, like stress, environmental toxins, medications and lack of exercise. I will discuss those areas in future blogs.

These days the anti-inflammatory diet is becoming more mainstream, but it comes with a caveat, not all red flag elements are applicable to everyone. We are all different and it does require a lot of exclusion testing to discover what your body can tolerate or not.

The red flag elements that can aggravate, contribute towards or even trigger Chronic Inflammation, Digestive problems and Auto-Immune diseases are quite extensive;

Gluten

Dairy

Corn

Soy

Peanuts

Caffeine

Alcohol

Citrus Fruits

Grain fed Intensive Animal Products

Sugar

Processed Foods

Eggs

Nightshade Family

I will cover each of these areas in turn and explain my understanding of why they might be causing you a problem. This list are by no means the only things that could cause digestive problems, but they are the most likely candidates, and the best place to start investigating whether or not they upset you.

In order to see if any of these categories are creating digestive issues for you, an exclusion diet for a specific period of time will help you to understand which are the culprits. The normal period to exclude a food type is between 2 and 8 weeks, depending on your reaction to its omission. Initially, and to establish the problem areas as quickly as possible, I suggest omitting each group for 2 weeks. Then you need to reintroduce the omitted group slowly to see if you have an adverse reaction over the following few weeks, if so, it may be your problem area and something you should always avoid in the future.

In effect this process will take a month per category, which is why some people exclude all of them for a month to detoxify completely and then gradually introduce them back one at a time for 2 weeks each. This however is a far more difficult process, and going “cold turkey” like that is very hard emotionally and really needs to be done under medical supervision, or the very least with the help of a nutritionalist.

Please note; I am not a doctor, and as such cannot give anyone medical advice on their condition. As a Holistic Therapist and Chef I can provide you with general information about diet, supplements and natural treatments. Please do your own homework when taking any supplements or changing your diet, and consult your medical practitioner to be sure you are safe, especially if you are taking any medication, have a medical condition, are pregnant or a nursing mother.

Advertisement