When Foods hurt. When Foods Heal.
This mother writes:
…”while researching auto immune disorders & came across The Paleo Mom. I remembered hearing, in the class I’d taken, that if you had one auto immune disorder (which now I knew eczema is considered to be) you were more likely to develop another AI disorder. I knew enough to be able to research further online & my research led me to the GAPS diet. I bought a copy of the book & while I waited, I poured over everything I could find online.
I BELIEVE ARTHUR HAS A LEAKY GUT, WHICH IS WHY A TRADITIONAL ELIMINATION DIET DID NOT WORK FOR HIM. SIMPLY ELIMINATING FOODS WASN’T ENOUGH.
I KNEW THE GAPS DIET WOULD HEAL MY SON.
When my book finally arrived my husband & I sat down (me with my highlighter & pen, him with a glass of whiskey) & we dove right into the book. The information that came out of that book was equally shocking, reaffirming & bittersweet. I will forever wish I could have known what I know now so that I could have helped my other children sooner.
The following are just a few quotes that I highlighted from the book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride, that pertained to Arthur (or my other children).
“GAPS children and adults have digestive problems, sometimes quite severe. Colic, bloating, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, feeding difficulties & malnourishment…”
“Whether we look at a child or an adult with GAPS, in the majority of cases digestive problems start at weaning time…”
“It is also very rare for parents of GAPS children to describe their child’s stool as normal.”
“…in many cases, undigested food is clearly visible in the stool. Very often the stool would have an extremely strong, unpleasant smell…”
“Sometimes the stool would be very acidic and burn the child’s skin…”
“In many of these cases the child would wake up at night screaming, when the parents do not know what is wrong. As the excessive gas gets released or simply moves to a different place in the bowel the pain would disappear and the child would settle down.”
AS I READ MORE IT BECAME EVEN MORE CLEAR WHY A TRADITIONAL ELIMINATION DIET HAD NOT BEEN ENOUGH FOR ARTHUR.
“If the gut flora is damaged, the best foods and supplements in the world may not have a good chance of being broken down and absorbed.”
What I came to understand about Arthur was that, until his gut was healed & sealed, every food would end up being an allergen because his food would not get the chance to be digested properly before it was absorbed, therefore causing the immune system to react to the foods as ‘allergenic’.
“As long as the gut wall is damaged and stays damaged, you can be juggling your diet forever, removing different foods and never getting anywhere.”
