Heal your gut

For my first informative post this year I have decided to be more inclusive and so this post is likely to be beneficial to anyone and everyone who has a digestive system (about 99.9% of us I would reckon) and not just to those with a thyroid condition (which might only cover about 80-90% of the population (1))

 

The reason I am starting with gut health is because on my own healing journey it was the first thing I managed to do, before I took T3 medication, before I took liver tonic, before I took supplements, before I did anything else I took a huge step to mending my digestive system. And with good reason….

The state of your gastrointestinal tract (or GI tract) could well dictate the state of your health one way or another. They say that around 75% of your immune system resides in your intestine so it’s definitely an area worth looking after, not just if you suffer from an autoimmune thyroid condition where your immune system is impaired and can be tricked into attacking your gland. 

If you're still unsure it’s worth doing, think about this: if your gut aint working right, your body won’t be able to absorb and make use of nutrients quite so well from the food you eat and any supplements you ingest, so I think we can all now resolve to look after our gut in January and beyond.

It’s a two-step process

When you are trying to heal something you want give it nourishment to actively repair it and you also need to prevent any further damage being done. And luckily I can tell you how to do both of those things!

Nourishment: In order to actively repair the gut lining you should start consuming homemade bonebroth/stock/gelatin. (I will post a recipe soon). Make it part of your daily routine, drink a cup of broth before your meal, turn stock into a tasty soup for lunch, make a gelatinous sauce for dinner. There are so many benefits from consuming this stuff it should actually be given out at the doctors surgery to everyone who visits to help people get better.

Damage prevention: You’ve heard it before but I will say it again. A month off the grains will allow your gut to heal no end. Take 4 weeks without wheat, corn, rice, oats etc….instead eat potato latkes, roasted butternut squash, mince and tatties, homemade chips done in coconut oil even! Just lay off the grains and I assure you, your insides will heal noticeably. You will feel better.

Oh yeah – and another thing you should be aware of is legumes and pulses. They are fine in themselves but it’s just that the commercially prepared variety are not likely to have been properly prepared and will contain antinutrients which - as they sound - prevent you from absorbing nutrients! It would be of great benefit if you prepared your own properly. See here for details

Its as easy as that!! Get on it :)

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(1) I reached this conclusion going by increasing numbers of underdiagnosed hypothyroidism according to Dr Broda Barnes who had great success treating thyroid disorders and who wrote several books in the 1970's. I read, 'Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness'. Have a look through a copy if you get a chance!

Introducing Dr Weston Price - a name you will want to remember!

I am excited. 

I am very excited! 

I have purchased a ticket to one of the most interesting health conferences in Europe and the time cannot pass quickly enough till it’s here. In the mean-time however, it allows me an opportunity to introduce you to the man whose research founded the organisation running this event and one of my strongest influences when it comes to nutrition and diet.

Let me introduce you to….Dr Weston A Price

The Man: Dr Weston Price was a dentist working in Ohio, USA in the 1920’s where he noticed a great decline in dental health within his practice. There seemed to be ever increasing numbers of dental decay and crowded teeth  - so being a diligent man, he decided to investigate. Not just locally but worldwide…and his findings are simply incredible.

The Mission: He travelled the world to find groups of people who had been isolated from modern foodstuffs such as white bread, sugars and preservatives. He looked at people who ate traditional foods and discovered that the world over, these people had great facial structure (no crowding) and very healthy teeth. The diets of these people were far higher in minerals and fat soluble vitamin content than the modern diet.  He also found that the groups he studied were resilient with high natural immunity to diseases such as TB. They were happy and healthy – two things that ultimately go hand in hand as he was to discover.

Dr Price compiled his research in a book called NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL DEGENERATION, which is a fascinating read so I would urge you to get a copy and take a look for yourself but for a brief review of his research and some amazing pictures of the people he studied please read here.

The Legacy: In 1999 the Weston A Price Foundation was set up by Sally Fallon Morrell (she is one of the speakers I am very much looking forward to hearing at the event) to share the information from Dr Prices research about nutrition and how it so crucially affects human health. It provides continual research to support what these people instinctively knew so long ago and helps guide people on health issues.

The foundation runs annual conferences worldwide and the one I am attending in London next year gives me two day’s worth of talks and workshops with an array of speakers from Sally Fallon Morrell (founder of the foundation) to Chris Masterjohn PhD (expert on hormones and cholesterol) to Natasha Campbell McBride(creator of the GAPS diet as treatment for autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression and schizophrenia).

So perhaps you can start to see why I am excited. This conference is big and it seems to be getting bigger each year. 

Introduction to the Works of Dr Weston A. Price - Sally Fallon Morell from Wise Traditions London on Vimeo.

 

Want to get involved? For more information and to book tickets, visit: westonaprice.org/london.

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