Allergies Linked to Gut Health - Is It Possible?
For many years I had allergies to certain pollen during the spring and summer seasons. I was somewhat miserable with sneezing, nose itching, and teary eyes. I thought that was normal because many people such as friends and family members have similar symptoms so it must be normal.
I can either take pharmaceutical drugs or just tough it out for the next several months. I usually choose the latter because personally, I am not a fan of taking pharmaceutical drugs as a first step and definitely not taking them for the long term.
I also had allergies when I drink certain types of wine even though I do my best to buy quality organic wine but still, I would have an allergic reaction or food intolerance such as tummy pain.
After becoming familiar with the Weston A Price Foundation I almost immediately started to follow their common sense of dietary guidelines. Because it made sense to me in every way possible. Some of their recommendations are:
- to eat animal-based food the protein and the fat,
- eat from nose to tail (ex., organs)
- cook from scratch
- Eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kefir
- Eat grain, legumes, nuts but prepare them properly so you don’t irritate your digestive system and get more nutrients at the same time.
- Avoid vegetable/seed oils and artificial flavors, etc.
To me, these guidelines made sense and I was satisfied and not hungry every two or three hours.
Seasonal Allergies and Gut Health
You are maybe asking yourself I do eat healthily and consume organic quality of foods and in a way, you feel great. You have noticed that you are getting less sick and have more energy.
However, you still have this nagging seasonal allergy or still have some food intolerances every now and then. So what gives? I asked myself the same question because I went through the same thing that some of you are still going through even though the quality of meals I consume is much better and I felt great to some degree but still had these persistent seasonal pollen allergies and some food intolerances!
This is what I found out after many months of researching and experimenting with different diets and I hope this will help you too.
Gut Health and Allergies - Are Very Connected
I discovered the work of Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride., by reading an article on the WAPF website and watching her speak in one of the Weston A Price annual conferences. She added a new layer of information that I had never heard before, the importance of the gut flora to our health.
She explained all about it in her first book, Gut and Psychology Syndromes (GAPS). She was mentioning how food can either improve or damage your gut flora and thus help you mentally and physically.
Although her book was focused on the mental health part of the body, her nutritional protocol also effectively addresses the physical chronic diseases such as digestive system disorders, diabetes Type 1, rheumatoid arthritis, seasonal allergies, and food tolerances to mention few.
What intrigued me the most is that she listed several foods in her book that we must avoid and these foods are traditional healthy foods the WAPF recommends! I later came to the understanding is that these health foods are not good choice for GAPS patients because they have leaky gut (Intestinal permeability) and damaged flora (gut dysbiosis) in which can worsen their health.
In her book she explains that individuals with damaged digestive system and imbalanced gut flora need selective and limited food at the beginning where these foods are excellent in healing the gut and restoring the balance of the gut flora.
The GAPS Diet and Food Allergies - Does It Work?
It's very important to understand the context of the GAPS nutritional protocol so you can fully appreciate it. I started following the recommendations in her book and stopped eating all the foods in the “Avoid Food List” chapter and introduced “Foods to eat list”.
In other words, I took a few steps back and followed Dr. Natasha's nutritional protocol for over a year and my body started to heal itself and finally, I got rid of my allergies and other food intolerances. After this important step, I started adding more different foods to my diet and started to assess how my body was responding and if any of these previous symptoms would reappear or not.
Can Leaky Gut Cause Allergies - And More?
Let me explain or summarize how to cure allergies in a simple bulleted list:
Before you do anything else you need to address this problem otherwise you are most likely fixing symptoms and getting down deep to the cause of your health problem. You will find plenty of information here to help you steer into the right direction towards your optimal health.
