Help for my husband's health issues.

[Julie]

My husband is having some ongoing health issues and I would appreciate any input as to how to bring healing to his body.

He's almost chronically bloated and gets a lot of gas and pressure in his stomach. He has sores on his scalp that seem to be getting worse; toenail fungus that he's had for at least 10 years. He's had diverticulitis, and kidney stones, joint problems, and chronic sinus problems that he self medicates with yucky, unhealthy nose sprays. He's also having anxiety attacks where he struggles to breath. He was born with a cleft palate and that contributes to the breathing trouble.

I think the sores on his head got much worse after he had some titanium implants put in his mouth. I can't be sure though and don't know how to deal with that. Any advice would be helpful with his health situation.

Thanks,
Julie

[Tiffany Olvera]

Hello,

I am new here, and while I don't wish to offend anyone by just jumping in, I have many questions that cannot wait. There is so much information here that resonates with me; contrary to much of the information out there. I appoligise in advance, but this might be long.

Ok, here is my situation. I am in a nutrition class right now and for my final paper I have to address symptoms I have and the nutrition issue it is related to. I have decided that since I consume a SAD (Standard American Diet) full of nutritional deficiencies that I will address the whole sheebang and center this paper on my nutritional goal of raw food vegan. In addition I want to address Dysbiosis and gluten.

I am focusing on myself, my daughter, and my niece (adopted), because we display symptoms of Disbiosis and gluten intollerance. For my niece she has ADHD (I suspect Aspergers or even just Autism). I have found that behavior and learning issues are linked to Dysbiosis and gluten and casein intollerance. For my daugher and I, we have exczema and allergies; I have asthma (I suspect she might develop it). These are also linked to Dysbiosis and gluten.

So my plan is to heal the Disbiosis, initiate a gluten free diet, and eventually work myself to near 75% raw fruits, vegetable, legumes, and nuts. I have a feeling I can do all this simotaniously, but I am trying to figure out the path to take. My problem is there is a lot of conflicting information out there and almost no information like i have found here. So I figured I would just ask here to see if you can clear some things up for me.

The main area I am having trouble with conflicting information is the Dysbiosis/Leaky Gut/yeast overgrowth. I understand that yeast population explodes when one has taken too many antibiotics (I was given many in childhood), is passed to the child through birth and breastmilk, and then perpetuated when one consumes a diet that feeds the yeast. But, I am confused as to exactly which foods feeds them. In most places the information says you need to cease all sugar consumption including fruits. I have also read you need to cease consumption of fermented foods. However, here it states you need to eat fermented foods, have a blanced diet with pleanty of nutritious foods, and does not expressly disallow fruit or other sugars. My intuition is telling me that fruit sugar is not the problem, but refined sugar and carbohydrates are.

I also read in one place that you had to cease consumption of vinegar. Isn't vinegar a fermented food? I just began consuming 2-3 Tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar; should I stop this? Would the vinegar consumption count as consuming a fermented food? I'm sorry, but this is all comming out very jumbled. Basically I am confused what foods I should eat and which foods to stay away from? I would really appreciate any claification in this area.

Also I am confused as to exactly what to think about yeast. I have heard (from here) it is beneficial in small populations, and most other places that it is something that needs to be destroyed. Most places dictate a search and destroy mission to rid the body of yeast, some purpose a more natural evacuation, and then this site seems to discuss just focusing on balancing the body's nutritional intake. If I focus on balancing my nutrient intake, will the yeast eventually stabalize at acceptable levels? Do I need to take some action to evacuate them from my body? Once again, this is confusing, can someone clairify this for me?

[Pat Robinson]

Welcome Tiffany, you have some difficult questions which have no absolute answers, imo. The severity of diet one embarks upon or embraces has as much to do with "what you feed your skin and your mind and your outlook" as your body.

I don't believe in a 'search and destroy' paradigm about life and living. I believe the world is exactly as it needs to be and is whatever it is, for a reason. Many embrace a paradigm of "one right way" for feeding one's body, skin, mind and outlook. There are many sites which believe differently than I. :-) I am not an absolutist about much of anything.

If I had to select one thing of most concern about your healing plan, it would be related to potential nutrient deficiencies on a raw vegan diet, when starting from years of SAD and antibiotics, etc. 75% raw seems to be an approachable and nourishing goal. Eating some cooked beans and legumes and some ferments could provide some balance, imo.

The main nutrients I've seen of concern are preformed vit A, B1 (raw beans are not healthy, but are key source), Omega 3 fatty acids (specifically ALA conversion to EPA, DHA, especially with any thyroid issues), tryptophan (unless you culture soy), and B12 (especially without any ferments!).

Here is a site which disagrees with me

Food sources of essential nutrients

I'd be sure to include sea vegetables and confirm they are heavy-metal tested.

As far as ferments, here is my Probiotics 101:
http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/whole-food-probiotics-101
http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/probiotics-pusher
http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/everything-probiotics
http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/homemade-probiotics

Candida 101

Nutrients in Herbal Infusions
(scroll down)
Just Say No to Synthetic Vitamins and Processed Foods!

Unfermented vinegar is considered acidifying to the body. Ferments are (controversially) considered alkalizing in small amounts because they help to rebalance the but microbials.

I believe in consuming nutrients in their whole food forms. Others prefer to have concentrated amounts of isolated (synthetic) vitamins and nutrients. I trust our body to process nutrients most effectively in their natural form.

Highly processed and denatured wheat gluten and pasteurized, homogenized, antibiotic and growth hormone laden A1 dairy casein from cows fed GMO and pesticide raised grain---are not an evolutionary food. They are a contemporary processed white liquid/powder that have limited similarity and significantly less nutritional value than raw, 100% grass-fed whole A2 dairy and whole grains which are soaked and naturally fermented.

Nonetheless the damage of food additives, such as HFCS, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, etc.

This was an interesting video posted about the health concerns with processed soy

I believe that fermented soy has health benefits.

So, depending upon how bad your gut is, a raw vegan diet might or might not have adequate nutrients to REBALANCE nutrient deficiencies which have developed over decades of abuse.

Hope that helps to get you started. Only you have the answers for you. Listen to your body and trust that!

Take wonderful care,

Pat