Whole Food Heals

[Pat Robinson]

Mercury issues can be passed from mother to child, depending upon when mom's amalgam fillings were placed or removed, and whether mom's detox pathways are open or blocked. Nutrient deficiencies create blocked detox pathways. (And 50% of the population has a genetic predisposition to blocked methylation detox pathway with the MTHFR gene polymorphism.)

Most Americans have nutrient deficiencies, even and especially in the presence of multivitamin supplementation. (inflammatory bowel issues could originate from your mom's heavy metal toxicity loads, nutrient deficiencies, blocked detox pathways and microbial imbalances, along with antibiotic or steroid use.)

One can learn more about identifying their own detox pathways at Detox Puzzle.

And Eating Cultures.

Both sites discuss the biochemistry of opening detox pathways safely with nutrients.

There are probiotics specific to infants and children. Bifidum is the dominant microbial in the newborn gut. As our diet includes many artificial preservatives the microbial balance of the gut is damaged. Sugars also feed some microbials such that they overgrow the beneficial microbials, and dysbiosis or an imbalance can develop. Candida albicans is the most commonly opportunistic one. Additionally, our SAD does not include the traditionally fermented foods which help to repopulate, recolonize and rebalance the gut microbials.

Breast milk is the only food which supplies bifidum (except for some raw honey). Formula doesn't. So, an imbalance could be started at birth. Moms who have C-sections are given antibiotics, which impacts the newborn probiotic supply, as mom's microbials are damaged by the antibiotics. Bifidum must be provided consistently in infancy for the beneficial microbials to proliferate in the infant gut. Were you breastfed? Given a lot of antibiotics during childhood?

Mom's own food intolerances affect the infant who receives breastmilk, and baby's gut microbials can be imbalanced due to mom's nutrient deficiencies. (A baby with colic or reflux is a signal of mom's food intolerances.) A prenatal vitamin provides little benefit, as they are generally synthetic chemicals which do not mimic the biochemistry of whole foods.

I keep coming back to detoxification and nutrients, including gut microbials. Not as a 'blame' type issue, but to identify origin and ways to address the underlying cause.

Do you have any heavy metal issues? Aluminum (cooking equipment, antiperspirant, vaccines), Arsenic (treated wood, water supply), Antimony (fire-retardants on furniture, bedding, night clothes), Lead (water, soil, old house paint), Mercury (vaccinations, amalgam "silver" fillings, seafood), are the main metals people seem to have detoxification issues with.

Baby gets a huge dose of heavy metals from mom, in utero and from nursing. Btdt both from my mom, and to my son from me.

Then there are nutrient deficiency issues which could create an imbalance of the microbials in mom's gut/vaginal canal. (plus antibiotics in meats, preservatives in packaged foods, antibiotics, improper ph, poor stomach acid, etc, etc.)

Generally, the microbial imbalance is caused due to insufficient 'good bacteria' unable to keep the candida from overgrowing and inflaming the gut. The more toxins that the body has to rid itself, and the fewer nutrients, the more imbalanced the system becomes.

Often people try to attack or rebalance the gut microbials without addressing the underlying nutrient deficiencies to excrete toxins effectively.

Attacking candida (or other "pathological microbials") doesn't correct the nutrient imbalance, nor open the blocked detox pathways, nor address toxin loads (current or past exposures). The analogy of a garden has been used. If we kill off the weeds, but still have weed seeds and lack of nutrients, the weeds will grow back. Just tossing in some 'good seed' afterward doesn't mean it will proliferate.

Some microbials require continuous repopulating of the colon, as they are transient or require a special gut environment (ph) to survive and thrive. Some microbials can recolonize the gut. Some can actually displace and replace candida albicans.

Our focus is on addressing the underlying cause of the inflammatory bowel issue, by increasing bio-availability of whole food nutrients in their actual food form. Improving stomach acid to enhance nutrient absorption, thus improving nutrients - which are necessary to effectively open detox pathways. The main detoxification pathways are methylation and sulfation.
http://tuberose.com/Liver_Detoxification.html

Then toxins can be effectively excreted. Candida often exists as a means of protecting us from the excess heavy metal toxins. Heavy metals are stored in our organs, brain and gut. Candida binds with the mercury to keep it out of circulation. When we kill off the candida, we release the mercury into blood circulation to resettle in our organs, brain and gut, unless we have nutrients available to help excrete the mercury safely. Vit C, selenium and clays help to neutralize the mercury. Sulfates, magnesium and other nutrients (B6, B12, molybdenum) are necessary to help excrete the toxins effectively. But, when we flood the body with die-off of bacteria or candida, the body must deal with a HUGE load of MORE toxins at once. So, opening the detox pathways first, is suggested.

Skin is a detox pathway. That is why many people with excess toxins and blocked detox pathways have eczema and inflamed guts. Nutrients must be absorbed to be bio-available. Synthetic vitamins are poorly absorbed. Adequate stomach acid is necessary to digest food to make the nutrients bio-available.

Water kefir is dairy-free. Kefir has 56+ beneficial microbials and helps bifidum to repopulate the gut. Many more strains than in ANY bottled probiotics. It is suggested to rotate probiotics as there are few strains of microbials in bottled probiotics. (the gut has 400-600 different microbials.) Unfortunately, most bottled probiotics do not survive stomach acid to reach the lower colon. Also, most do not survive transportation from manufacturer to the grocery shelf. Fermented foods are at the proper ph for surviving the gut, and have millions more microbials per cubic fluid unit (cfu) than bottled probiotics.

The sugar used to feed the kefir microbials is consumed during the fermentation process. Water kefir tastes like lemonade. One tablespoon has more microbials than a whole bottle of expensive probiotics.

We are glad to help you trouble shoot your specific digestion and detoxification issues on our Discussion Forum. If you have questions, please do post and we're glad to facilitate your exploration and learning about healing yourself and your children!

Welcome!



Pat Robinson

[Cathie Crist]

Pat,

Thank you for such a great post. Very h-elpful (Through years/months of research yours is by far the most imformative) and really affirms what my instincts are telling me. I'm excited to be a part of this group (It's taken me long enough to respond-but I'm here now). Mainstream medicine and are just not in agreement these days-not with my son's Crohn's and not with my own health issues. I'm embarking on a new path and realized that the journey is just as important as the destination. Not only is my goal to heal my son, and to heal myself; I'm hoping that others will benefit along the way.

Very truly yours,

Cathie Crist

[Mema]

Ok WHEW....GOOD stuff, but I am getting SO overwhelmed. I know I've asked before about nursing moms not eating "detoxing" foods and avoiding certain things. But I am wanting to overhaul our diet right now for the whole family. I am So overwhelmed with all the information I've been reading these past months...and part of me thinks I should wean my daughter and get us all eating right and figuring out what each of us needs, but I don't WANT to wean her and frankly I don't think she is ready either (17months and really relies on nursing for comfort as much as for her food) but I worry if I'm doing more harm to her not eating as well as I could or by changing my diet and then risking detoxing onto her, would feeding her the same foods as well allow her to detox anything I pass on to her? I'm so confused what to do.

My DH and Son desperately need change, though.

I was going to talk to Sarah at Heart of Cooking to try and get a menu plan for our needs but I'm just so utterly confused and overwhelmed now with all this information in my head.

Also just so I can clarify, I have lots of dental amalgams and one Gold Crown and I know our old house used to have lots of lead and probably asbestos and who knows what else. Not to mention my terrible diet growing up and even until recently I have a very narrow pallet (which caused my teeth crowding) also slight scoliosis so I'm sure I was very nutrient deficient growing up and have a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, I guess I am just really nervous about what is the best option for me as a nursing mom desperately wanting to get healthy but not have my daughter to take on any of my toxins or be deprived of breastfeeding.