Big Pharm can’t make money off of Greek yogurt and homemade bone broth (from simmering for hours meat and bones until gelatinous, makes awesome noodle soup, is very soothing/healing for the gut). My sis-in-law recently and accidentally discovered and self-diagnosed her gluten intolerance. She had severe back pain and has been seeing specialists, in an effort to avoid back surgery, for almost two years now. She had enough when the pain specialist put her on Cymbalta (some fun side effects there!) and it didn’t work. Not a fan of low carb diets, she went on one as a last resort to lose a few pounds before a family wedding last month. When her back felt great as a result, I reminded her that my arthritis disappears when I eliminate sucrose from my diet. After some research she has gone off gluten and feels great. She’s also been on Nexium for about five years and she just stopped taking it as well. Of all of the docs she’s seen for her pain and acid reflux, none had suggested a change in diet. Now her specialists are frustrated that she is self-treating through diet, instead of being happy that she is cured and accepting the fact that the body can heal itself with proper diet. My son is the same way: ADHD symptoms disappeared when dairy was eliminated from his diet. Expose him to MSG and literally watch him bounce off of his bedroom walls. Why does diet treat/heal a neurological disorder? Maybe it’s something to do with the gut. Our systems work in tandem and if one system has issues it’s logical that this could affect others.
gluten problems are an “in” disease right now, but do exist and probably a lot of people suffer from it.
Since it is hard to diagnose, the way to check it out is elimination diet. Lots of gluten free recipes out there, and using rice instead of wheat products eliminates the problem.
But a lot of the health problems are also from the allergy/immune system problem.
There are good books out there about this, and essentially you start with white rice, green beans, and organic chicken, and then add one food every few days and see if the symptoms come back.
As for milk, it causes allergies and also cannot be eaten by Asians or Africans. Yogurt has lactobacillus, so is good to replace the “good” bacteria (here in Asia, yogurt and “Yokult” are commonly used as health foods).
However, some folks are allergic to milk (and alas to Soy milks) too, so can’t eat yogurt...
The “immune” system is the link between all of this. I know if I eat sulfites (salad bars in restaurants, hot dogs, etc) I get hives and get a restless feeling when I try to sleep. So I am aware of it.
However, usually I avoid these things and just take an anti histamine and get on with my life.
However, the percentage for these problems are low (less than ten percent of patients).
And a lot of the symptoms and their “cure” is placebo in neurotic women, who fixate on the problem and revolve their life around their symptoms, driving their spouses, children and friends nuts....
That’s not a criticism: I am “neurotic” personality too, so sympathize...but being brought up with a “stiff upper lip” German mother, I live with it.
The problem with autism is that it is a wastebasket diagnosis for all types of problems, including what in the past was merely called mental retardation, and the kids put into institutions...
I have no doubt that some autistic kids have these immune problems, but a lot are autistic from viral infections in the womb, or from genetic sydromes like Fragile X syndrome.
And I suspect there is a subset of people sensitive to all the chemicals in the environment. The problem: Without chemicals, people would be starving to death instead..Ditto for vaccines: without vaccines we’d see kids dying of measles, whooping cough, etc.
Can you say “cost benefit ratio”?