Physical healing reactions when you start this program

What I don't see very much at all is a warning that when you begin this program you will have 'healing reactions'.


Now your body is getting the nutrients it needs, and not having to deal with the food you were putting in and the body had to keep defending itself against, it it now has the possibility of healing.


Lot's of old body issues will be healing and while they are healing you will get some discomfort.
Depending on how sick you have been the reactions will either intense or mild.
Healing reactions are the body retracing of old ( and probably forgotten) problems and is rectifying them.
When the body doesn't have what it needs to deal with a sickness or injury it pushes it down further into the body so that it can get on with dealing with your day to day needs.
What will result from this later in life is life threatening illnesses.
The thing to remember is illness's such as Cancer didn't just happen.  They are an accumulation of your bodies distress over a long period of time.


These are some of the healing reactions people have had Many of these you will think of as a new illness but they are not as long as you are strictly on this program.


Tired:  You will need a lot more sleep when you begin this diet.  Your body is healing and this takes a lot of energy.  When you are all well you will have more energy than you have had for years.


Itchy all over: a very common one.


Itchy rash: another common one.


Just a rash: And inevitably on your face!


Nausea: this happens particularly at the beginning when you eat more coconut oil and fats.


Pains in odd places: these places will often be some problem place you have had from the past.


Lack of appetite:only carbohydrates look appealing!


Odd skin issues: eruptions of all sorts. some people have more skin reaction that others.  This is the way the body eliminates toxins for them.


Breathlessness:  My old friend.  Its helps to slow your breathing down.  Not force the breath but be gentle,  and conscious occasionally throughout you day.


Weight gain: depending on what you body needs to do to get well you will either put on weight initially on lose it.  This is only temporary.  Also you may eat more at the beginning.  This is because your body is finally getting nutrients it needs and is also able to digest those nutrients. As your body becomes nourished you will stop eating so much.


Weight loss: If you lose weight, again, don't be alarmed if you are already thin.  The weight will come back and you will get to be more around your ideal weight.


Being very Emotional:  Yep, this is retracing too.  It's really important to remember this as you might think you are going batty.  Again breathing evenly and gently will help as will a gentle walk and a dip in some cold water.


Diarrhoea:  Very common for maybe the first year.


Constipation:  Initially until your bowel readjusts to your new way of eating. Don't panic and use laxatives this will only prolong it.  The extra fats you are eating will resolve this change in bowel response.  


Getting Angry:  Don't take it out on others, its just retracing.  It could be the boundaries that you never put up and you body has stored the anguish. Of course then put into place some good boundaries if you haven't already.


Feeling deprived: This too shall pass I promise.


Becoming evangelical:  Great! but don't be disappointed when people think you are a weirdo!
This is because you have discovered something that everyone thinks will be the end of their life if they give up carbs up, and just can't believe you are happy without them.


Body ills that you have will often become worse before they get better:  Yup


Fatigue:  This will last until your body becomes a fat burning body not a carb one.  It took me 4 months but my hubby no time at all.


Pseudo Low blood sugar (pseudo hypoglycemia):  You will think what you have is low blood sugar because all the symptoms point to it. If you've had moderate or high blood glucose levels for any length of time, after a couple of days on a  low carb diet, you can feel downright awful. That’s because the body gets used to all of that higher glucose running around. Improving your numbers through healthier food choices causes the body to panic, believing you’re in a dangerous low blood sugar situation. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline swiftly coax the liver to dump more glucose into the bloodstream, even though your blood sugar level might still be above normal.

There isn’t a whole lot you can do about the shakiness, pounding pulse and heat beat, sweatiness, and anxiety – except wait it out.

 Converting stored body fat into fuel isn't as fast as using glycogen, so occasionally the body can find itself in a slightly hypoglycemic condition.

Pain in the liver: Don't be alarmed you body is doing a lot detoxing and yes your liver will perhaps hurt for a while.

Urinating a lot:  This is because the body is no longer retaining water.  It's the carbohydrates in you diet that makes the body retain sodium.  This is why you must eat plenty of good salt.


Cramps:  You will either need more salt (most likely) or you are not drinking enough plain water or may need a potassium supplement like AlkaBalance.


Indigeston: When you begin this program you most probably already have a low stomach acidity. It can be helpful for a few months to take a Betaine Hydrochloric Acid tablet 40-45 minutes after eating until you no longer get indigestion. 


Vaginal Discharge (just like thrush):
This is a way that some women eliminate toxins.  I know I did.  I had it for the first year continuously.  After the year, it stopped and didn't come back.  Don't do anything to stop it as you will stop the healing process.  Sorry you just have to put up with it.  It is a bit sore.  Try a shallow sitz bath for some relief!


more to come........

What a Video!

I am so impressed by this woman. Talk about passion and commitment to helping people with the Low Carb, High Fat diet! I love her. Plus she is an Acupuncture Practitioner and using her knowledge of the meridians to really see how people can and are being helped by the program. Anyway what she says seems great! If you want to view the rest of her talk go  here 

Vitamin C: Ascorbic Acid, it's amazing

Ascorbic Acid for food cravings but wow, it's abilities to detoxify are beyond amazing


I am absolutely sold on Ascorbic Acid powder.  
There are various forms of vitamin C, (e.g. ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate,magnesium ascorbate, etc.) but not all forms are created equal. Long time vitamin C experts such as Linus Pauling, Robert Cathcart and Thomas Levy only recommend two forms of vitamin C orally:ascorbic acid and/or sodium ascorbate.


In large doses I have got rid of the pain in my appendix which I'd had for months.
My doctor told me to take laxatives,  I tried them even though I had sworn off them
because of the way they wreak havoc with my bowel for days. The laxative did not work with the pain in my appendix and caused a lot of problems for a few days.


How to use
Once you have mixed the ascorbic acid it has a 50% half life after 4 hours.  This mean once it is mixed with water it will have lost half of its potency after 4 hours. Keep it in the fridge for longest lasting potency.
Once in the body it has a 30 minute window to do it's job then the body gets rid of it.  This also means you can't take too much as the body just gets rid of what it can't use.
Therefore mix smaller amounts (it will dissolve with mixing) and take about 500 grams every 4 hours keep the blood at high concentrations all day.
Be sure to rinse your mouth out with some water.  It's a very acidic, and not good for your teeth  so using a straw is also a very good idea.
Or you can buy large empty 00 size capsules and fill them yourself.  It's quite easy.


I used it with food cravings when I was addicted to carbs.  Works great!


There is also endless studies and testimonials for the amazing efficacy of this wee vitamin.


Here is a link for eBay for a seller in Germany.  The price and quality are fantastic.


For more serious illness's Sodium Ascorbate needs to be used intravenously.  There is a wonderful video of a middle aged man who not only recovered from Swine Flu but also Leukaemia using intravenous vitamin C.  


Please see my blog entry on Liposomal Vitamin C for new information on encapsulated ascorbic acid that is able to get into the cells 7 times more efficiency than ascorbic acid alone.

What You Can Eat

I think it's best if I just tell you what you can eat that way we don't think about all the things we can't.  More positive!

These are your Healing Foods:

Meat: Pasture fed where possible

Chicken (free range)

Beef- Could be a problem initially if you have milk sensitivities)

Emu

Ostrich

Pork

Duck

Turkey

Offal meats
Liver -  Liver from land mammals is high in vitamin A but low in vitamin D, and should therefore be consumed with other vitamin D-rich foods such as lard or bacon from pasture-raised pigs, egg yolks, and oily fish, or during months in which UV-B light is sufficient to provide one with adequate vitamin D.

Ostrich

Bacon (without nitrates)
Crispy Pork Rind (home made)

Broths and Stocks: home made

(very helpful in keeping up the electrolytes
which are lost with the loss of excess fluids)

Seafood: Fished from Australian waters

All shellfish

Prawns - very good source of iodine

All Fish 

Wild tinned Salmon (Canadian OK)

All Eggs: Organic & free range

Dairy: Unpasteurized where possible. All Grass Fed cows 
Products have vitamin K2.
Please note: Dairy has two things that we can be sensitive to:
the milk protein, casein, and the milk sugar, lactose. You may need to only eat ghee at the beginning of this program

Butter - 

Cream

Cheese

Ghee (no casein or lactose)
Yogurt- Plain (without skim milk powder added and fully fermented with live cultures) 

Oils and Fats: These needs to equate to about 70-80% of your calorie intake.

Coconut Oil (Not refined)

Olive Oil (don't heat, 100% olive oil only ( be aware that some olive oils have been found to be adulterated with other oils)

All animal fats

Cod Liver Oil (non flavoured)
Butter

Only Cooked vegetables until you are better: 

Broccoli

Tomatoes

Avocados (you don't need to cook these)

Spinach/ Silverbeet

Mushrooms

Eggplant

Green Beans

Onions

Leeks

Garlic

All leafy Greens

Capsicums

Cucumber

Celery

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Olives

Asparagus

Snow peas

Brussel sprouts

Chives

Rocket
Zucchini

Turnip

Spring onions

Ginger
Sauerkraut (home made)

All spices and herbs: Where possible use organic

No chilli or hot spices till you have been on the program for a while.

All herbs are OK from the beginning

Drinks
Coffee and Tea are diuretic always drink a glass of water when imbibing.

Decaf Coffee ('Swiss water method' only)

Decaf Tea 

Lemon juice, Stevia, mineral water or filtered water (good drink to use for cravings)


WATER You must drink water as you lose a lot of fluid when you are on this program.

Filtered alkaline water 

Good Mineral Water such as San Pellegrino 

Soda Water (Use with alkaline drops such as AlkaBalance as soda water is a bit acidic)

Condiments

Mayonnaise (made with olive oil, eggs yolks, lemon juice/vinegar)

Lemons 

Limes 

Celtic Sea Salt (very important to have 1 and 1/2 teaspoons a day)

Salad Dressing (made with olive oil, lemon and/or apple cider vinegar, salt)

Tomato Sauce (home made)
Apple cider vinegar

Sweeteners

Stevia only (use sparingly)
Stevia has a bit of a strange after taste but if you use lemon you won't be able to
taste it.

Alcohol
Alcohol is also dehydrating.  Drink a glass of water when imbibing

An occasional glass of dry red or dry white wine on special occasions.

There is NO low carb beer out there despite the advertising.
Alcohol will slow down the rate of healing as it is hard on the liver which is our main detoxing organ.


Nuts:  unroasted  and soaked
Brazil nuts - these are a very good source of selenium
Use sparingly, especially those with stomach issues. Nuts have phytates which make
them hard to digest and soaking them will help.


Fruit (Eat little occasionally and not at all at the beginning)
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries


Special Occasions
Okay, okay I get it there are times that we need something a little special for a birthday for instance?  Well, I made an excellent Lemon Cheesecake where I only used stevia and a tiny bit of maple syrup (maple syrup sugar content is glucose which is better than fructose) as the sweetener and I used ground almonds and coconut oil for the crust. It was very yummy and I will post the recipe separately.


RATIOS of PROTEIN to FAT
This is extremely important.  You must eat enough fat with your protein intake.
Protein can be changed by the body to glucose.  So if you eat too much 
protein and not enough fat you won't have as good effect from this diet.




My experiences of the Food Choices that are in this Blog.
I found eventually that these foods are ample for a great food choice.


Your sweet tooth will go I promise you.  Some people take longer than others.  But eventually you will taste something sweet that you used to eat and it will be so sweet to you it will by yukky.


Try not to have anything sweet, not even stevia for the first 6-12 months, as it will really help that part of your brain to disconnect that sweet reward connection. 
 There will come a day when you won't even have any inclination for anything sweet.


 I found it so hard not eating the grains at first until I was on this program for a while, and then I ate some and found them so boring.  Just stodgy. It felt like I was eating just to fill up my stomach not to eat to give me the best nutrition or flavour!


Try eating rice or bread or potatoes without any fats or meat, just plain, before you start this program.  I don't know about you but I couldn't eat them for long without finding them so boring!
Really good sour dough bread has been my downfall though.  I had some in Italy and wheat is still one of my worst food sensitivities and this can cause some bad cravings.


Remember fats are really important.  They not only are a great carrier of toxins out of the body and balance your hormonal system they also make you feel full.  So eat up your fats.


Generally eat till you are full.  Do not under eat you do not need to and it is not helpful.

"Life Without Bread" & being vegetarian

"I just want to jump up and down
 and tell everyone there
 is an answer"

I  can't get over how difficult and how long it has been for me to get to the realization that I need to be on this Low Carb, High Fat diet.  I  tried so many things and when I found out it was the Carbs 'doing me in'  I just felt really right about it.  Damn it, the Low Carbers have been getting healthy out there for years! 


Life Without Bread
The wonderful book "Life Without Bread" by Dr Wolfgang Lutz, (born in 1913-2010, 97 years!) has been published since 2000.  This book was originally written in German and published in 1967, when a guy called Chris Allan found him and promised to write a book in English.  Dr Lutz had studied low carb, high fat on his many, many patients for over 40 years with quite stunning results.
His obituary is here and describes his work and his life with great regard.  


Giving up being Vegetarian
 Why didn't I get it?  Why was I a vegetarian for so long?  Because I brainwashed myself into believing that a vegetarian diet was the best diet there was.  I brainwashed myself because this is the diet that suited me.  My ideals, my beliefs.


A testimonial from a converted vegetarian now on this program
"I switched because I was so darn sick I could barely move. I was in pain all the time. I had arthritis in my hands, hips and shoulders; I had a broken coccyx (couldn't sit) and lower vertebrae that I was told I'd have to take pain meds for the rest of my life; I had chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia; my bladder was constantly telling me I needed to pee; my brain was in a complete fog that I couldn't finish my own sentences; I'd wake up in the morning needing to take a nap; I constantly craved sugar; so many other things, too. I was a mess!

The stupid thing is that I knew that I had candida since my late teens and I continued eating the way I did anyway and continued getting worse and worse until I couldn't take one more second of it. 

I couldn't stand the thought of meat and had a really strong aversion it. Not only that, but I wanted to be 'right' about a vegetarian diet being the healthiest diet. I'm pretty stubborn that way! :o)

Anyway, I found this diet and started by eating fish every day for a month. Slowly, I felt up to adding poultry and finally red meats. It was really hard in the beginning, but I did it and now, 3 and nearly a half years later, I'm still going strong!

I now see how dangerous a vegetarian diet and when I hear people talking about how much better it is to eat vegetarian, I just want to scream. I'm living proof that it will ruin a person's life. Meat and fats are completely necessary for health; I'm positive of it!


 I forgot to mention that all of those symptoms I had that were so debilitating are all gone. I still have a few symptoms, but for the most part, I feel really good - better than I have my whole entire life!" 

I just want tell everyone there is an answer. Every person I see who's overweight, limping, in pain, has acne, has a nasty rash, has stomach pains, has intolerances to food or chemicals, has headaches.........if only.

What you can expect for a LOW FAT, HIGH CARB diet

The reason for the Low Carb, High Fat Program that I recommend comes from the myriad effects eating a High Carbohydrate and Low Fat diet has on the body. 


Firstly, what are Carbohydrates (Carbs)? 
Although people talk about carbs I have found they don't really know what they are.
When you understand what a carb is you will understand why they are not good for you.


Carbohydrates are classified as either simple or complex.
Examples of simple carbs are sugar and honey.  
Examples of complex carbs are food in many foods including potatoes, bread and grains.  
Simple carbs contain one sugar molecule, or two sugar molecules linked together.
Complex carbs contain many sugar molecules linked together called polysaccharides.
But all carbohydrates act like sugar in our bodies.
Complex carbs will break down more slowly than simple carbs, but they will break down into simple sugars.
Carbs are simply different forms of sugar.
So lets get real about carbs - they are sugar!


What are Fats?
Fats are also called oils. 
Fats protect the body from toxins, they help to balance the hormonal system,
Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they can only be digested, absorbed, and transported in conjunction with fats. Fats are also sources of essential fatty acids, an important dietary requirement.

There are two types of fats: saturated and unsaturated.
Examples of unsaturated fats are soybean and canola oil. They incorporate polyunsaturated oils. We are told these are 'healthy' oils.  These oils are highly unstable especially when extracted and easily go rancid.  With rancidity they become free radicals in the body.


Examples of saturated fats are coconut oil and lard from animals. We are told these a dangerous oils.  Some saturated fats provide medium chain triglyceride's (MCT oil) which some experts are starting to believe are actually an essential fatty acid in some people.  For example, people with metabolic syndrome, diabetes and Alzheimers disease (type 3 diabetes).
Formula fed to babies now include MCT oils as it has been found essential to babies health.
Mothers manufacture this fat in their breasts for breastfeeding.


There is also a third fat called Transfats 
Examples of Tranfats are margarine,  and any partially or fully hydrogenated oils.
The process of hydrogenation is used to harden vegetable oils for use in processed food, etc and to lengthen shelf life.  Although this process does make vegetable oils stable, unlike polyunsaturated oils, is also becomes a unrecognisable substance to the body and as such becomes very damaging.


We have been told for many years that saturated fats are very bad for us
This was  a ruse begun in the 1970's by a scientist called Ancel Keys who conducted a study using 26 countries for data collection.  His study was to find out the dietary reasons for heart disease. 
The only trouble is he only put his attention on 6 out of the 26 countries, the ones that concurred with his hypothesis.  If he had not been working with and for the soybean industry he would have come to a completely different dietary conclusion.  He would have found that is was a high carb/sugar consumption not a high saturated consumption that was the cause of dietary heart disease.
For reasons of industrial might (Monsanto), he was able to get his flawed message out to the masses and we have been followed his extremely flawed argument about 40 years. 


This is a list of the many health problems associated with a high carb, low fat diet:
Eating low carb, high fat can-

• Suppress the immune system.
• Upset the body’s hormonal balance.
• Cause infertility.
• Cause menopausal hot flushes.
• Contribute to menstruation problems.
• Lead to Alzheimer’s disease
• Lead to Dementia
• Lead to eczema.
• Lead to psoriasis.
• Lead to dermatitis.
• Contribute to Autism.
• Contribute to ADHD.
• Contribute to and acne.
• cause itchy skin rashes.
• Upset the body's mineral balance.
• Cause hyperactivity, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.
• Cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
• Adversely affect children's school grades.
• Produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
• Contribute to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
• Cause kidney damage.
• Cause kidney stones.
• Reduce helpful HDL (high density cholesterol)
• Increase small LDL (low density cholesterol) (Not to be confused with light fluffy LDL’s which are helpful to the body)
• Lead to chromium deficiency.
• Cause zinc deficiency.
• Cause copper deficiency.
• Cause iron deficiency.
• Increase the bodies need for Vitamin B
• Increase the bodies need for Vitamin C
• Interfere with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
• Lead to cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, and rectum (all glucose (sugar) feeding Cancers)
• Can cause colon cancer with an increased risk in women.
• Be a risk factor in gall bladder cancer.
• Increase fasting levels of blood glucose.
• Weaken eyesight.
• Raises the level of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which can narrow blood vessels.
• Cause hypoglycemia.
• Produce acidic stomach.
• Raise adrenaline levels in children.
• Increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
• Speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and gray hair.
• Lead to alcoholism.
• Produce tooth decay
• Increase tartar growth on the teeth.
• Contribute to weight gain and obesity.
• Increase the risk of Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
• Lead to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
• Cause a raw, inflamed intestinal tract in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
• Cause arthritis.
• Cause asthma.
• Cause candidiasis (yeast infection).
• Lead to an unbalanced ratio of bacteria in the intestines.
• Irritate the intestines.
• Lead to the formation of gallstones.
• Lead to the formation of kidney stones.
• Cause ischemic heart disease.
• Cause appendicitis.
• Exacerbate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
• Exacerbate the symptoms of Epilepsy
• Indirectly cause haemorrhoids.
• Cause varicose veins.
• Elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraception users.
• Lead to periodontal disease.
• Contributes to osteoporosis and osteopenia.
• Contributes to saliva acidity.
• Cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
• Leads to a decreased glucose tolerance.
• Lead to decrease growth hormone.
• Can increase total cholesterol.
• Lead to increase in systolic blood pressure.
• Causes the body to retain sodium in the kidneys.
• Change the structure of protein causing interference with protein absorption.
• Cause food allergies.
• Lead to diabetes.
• Cause toxaemia during pregnancy.
• Contribute to eczema in children.
• Can cause cardiovascular disease.
• Impair the structure of DNA.
• Cause cataracts.
• Cause emphysema.
• Cause atherosclerosis.
• Cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.
• Lowers the enzymes' abilities to function.
• Cause the loss of tissue elasticity and function.
• Cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.
• Increase the amount of fat in the liver.
• Increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
• Overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
• Increase the body's fluid retention.
• Cause constipation.
• Cause myopia (near sightedness).
• Compromise the lining of the capillaries.
• Cause hypertension.
• Cause headaches, including migraines.
• Cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind's ability to think clearly.
• Cause depression.
• Increase insulin responses in those consuming high-carb diets compared to low-carb diets.
• Increases bacterial fermentation in the colon.
• Increase blood platelet adhesiveness, which increases risk of blood clots.
• Lead to low hydrochloric acid in the stomach
• Cause hyperinsulinemia
• Cause diabetes.
• Cause an enlarged prostate, BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia)
• Cause less than optimal nutrition.
• Contribute to skin cancers.
• Can lead to age spots.
• Cause brain fog.
• Cause a weak bladder.
• Cause weak rectal muscles.
• Interfere with sexual libido.
• Cause thrush.
• Causes inflammation
• Can cause GERD
• Can cause Hypothyroidism

This list is by no means inclusive of everything that eating carbohydrate foods have been linked to in studies and anecdotally by many peoples testimonials.


So you were saying...about that new bread you found at the bakery....?
__________________

Everything I've tried till now & my 1 1/2 year testimonial

I have had alternating Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)  for about 15 years now. The following story and all I have done has occurred over the last 14 years. I am not telling this story to bore anyone it’s just to show how many different things I have tried to get well, until I finally found the answer, a specialized low carbohydrate, high fat diet. 


Interminable Irritable Bowel Syndrome
 It started at a period of time when I was very stressed in my late 30's.  I had had rather bad unexplained tummy aches from about 11 years old all throughout my teens whenever I was stressed and then disappeared in my 20's.  It was at about 11 years that I started eating a lot more sugar then earlier in my childhood.
 The IBS started with burping huge burps all the time and feeling bloated and a little nauseous. Then  I had a very painful lower and upper back and a very tight, very painful tummy at night in bed. I had a year where I practically had no sleep because of the pain.  I was always exhausted.  At 38 I realised I couldn't really have another child (I wanted one) as I just had no energy.   I still pushed myself around all the time because I had no choice.  
I was diagnosed by a specialist who just said that I had IBS (no tests) and that there was nothing that could be done. 
I didn't believe that nothing could be done because I really do believe there are always answers but boy I didn't know how hard it was going to be!
I had been mostly  vegetarian (one of many mistakes!) since my teens so I started looking at what else I could take out and put into my diet to stop the pain.


Candida?
Was it all from Candida Albicans? Certainly I sometimes had a problem with Thrush.
Tried an assortment of diets over the years.  Used the anti-fungal drug 'Nystatin' via tablet form for a number of months on several occasions along with a low sugar, low yeast diet. This was supposed to kill off the Candida from my system. I didn't get a result. 




Probiotics
Used many and varied and spent enormous amounts of money on them 


Lactose
I first thought it was a lactose (dairy) intolerance but even taking out dairy from my diet, which did alleviate some symptoms, other IBS symptoms just grew worse.


Lactase supplements
These help you digest Lactose when you own system can't product this enzyme
They did seem to work for a little while...but stopped working after a few weeks.


Acupuncture
Because I'm into natural therapies, and the specialist offered me no hope, I decided, after a friend did kinesiology on me and told me I had certain Acupuncture Meridians that were very weak, and to go to the acupuncturist she recommended.  I went for quite awhile and it did help me a lot.  I could now sleep at night and had some good days. The acupuncturist said that I would never really ever get over my tendency as my spleen meridian was a problem.  He also said my tendency to obsess was not helping the situation!  Of course having gut pain does tend to you give you the tendency to obsess and stress. 


About Serotonin
In fact 95% of all serotonin (the relaxation hormone) in the body is in the gut, where it triggers digestion. Nerve cells in the gut also use serotonin to signal back to the brain. This information can train us not to eat certain foods by communicating pain, gas and other terrible feelings but when everything you are eating seems to cause gut pain....well, you can get kind of anxious.


 I still had a lot of pain on some days and still days with just no energy.  Just dragging myself around.
I wanted an answer. Just managing is not good enough.



Threelac
Tried using Threelac,  which is a special formulation made to get rid of Candida from the gut. Seemed to help a little bit for a little while then stopped working.  



St John's Wort 
I took St John's Wort so I could relax but it didn't help and made me feel worse.  More anxiety not less.


Parasites
I read about a parasite called Blastocystis and went to see a doctor who had some knowledge of this parasite. Blastocystis really florishes on a diet high in carbs and sugar  The doctor said all one can do is manage it as it was very hard to get rid of.  I had a stool test and sure enough there was a fair amount of this in my stool. He gave me a herbal anti parasitic, told me not to eat certain foods, and also gave me a blood test for gluten intolerance.  


More Parasites
I also read about a famous professor (he had found the cure for stomach ulcers just recently) doing a study on the link of Blastocystis and IBS. I thought I would try the same antibiotics he was using in his trial.... Some very expensive antibiotics later (I had to get them specially as they were not allowed in Australia)...  I just felt worse.


Gluten intolerance
A gluten intolerance test came up positive, very low on the scale and definitely not a Celiac.  I absolutely hated the idea of going off gluten.  Already having given up dairy I was not keen on this at all.  But as all else had failed I decided to do it. I started having no gluten and nothing much happened to begin with. But the first sign that I really noticed was that all the aches and pains in my back and body disappeared!  This was amazing and when I realized that if I had even the smallest amount of gluten they came back I was sold!   The pain in my bowel didn't go immediately in fact it took a long time but eventually (I can only guess that my small intestine was healing) I started to experience no pain there either. And best of all I had my energy back, consistently.  I was very happy as you can imagine but I was still not happy that I could have no gluten at all.


Hubby gluten sensitive also
I hated not being able to go restaurants and eat what was on the menu.  I'm not Celiac but I am just as sensitive to tiny amounts of gluten and it is not easy. Luckily my friends were fairly supportive although they got kind of impatient with me when we would go out -all my questions about whether a dish has this or that in it.  Also very lucky for me my husband turned out to be Gluten sensitive too and when he went off gluten his long standing back problems all cleared up!!!!  It was great to have him in the same boat!  Not very kind I know but........


Chinese Herbal Medicine
 I decided to try Chinese herbal medicine.  Boy was that a mistake!  I don't know if it was the inept practitioner or what but the remedy he gave me started the pain off in my body again.  I felt angry and frustrated.  He had no answer as to why this had occurred.  After this mistake it took ages to recover.   Many, many months.


Here's a good one: Craniosacral Therapy     
This person gave me a bit of a massage in my stomach and told me it had been
twisted since birth and now I was going to be all better.
He was a bit strange.....took himself very seriously, like a leader of a cult sort of personality.  Megalomaniac, that's the word.
Did it work?  Of course not.
    


Emotional Freedom Technique
Still frustrated with my food restrictions I embarked on Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).  I don't believe that IBS is in my head but I know it is badly affected by stress and I had nothing to lose.  I used it for a quite a few months.  I tapped (EFT technique) a lot on dairy and for a while I could eat it but it didn't last. Probably only worked because I wasn't so intolerant of it as I hadn't had dairy for quite a while.
I did have some gluten as well and had no bad side effects at all the first few times I ate it.  But soon I started burping continuously and became bloated (which  was one of the first symptoms I ever had)  Next came the bad pains in the small intestine and lots of wind that doesn't move. In the next few days pain in the lower bowel and diarrhea and then a few days after that absolutely no energy.  All in all it took about a week to get through that mistake.  As you can imagine there was now a lot of fear around trying gluten again.  I think I was able to eat it because as with the dairy I hadn't had it for quite a while and it took a while for the reaction to occur.


Boy, this really isn't easy!
I now had great respect for IBS.  I had been through a myriad of other remedies I haven't mentioned that initially seemed to help only to stop working after a short time.  So I deeply understand the cynicism for the so called "cures" that comes with this kind of disease. 


Oh Yes, that's right Kinesiology
The Kinesiologist I went to over a course of several sessions did not have any affect. 
So he told me all I needed was one more session and he guaranteed me success or
my money back.
When it didn't work and I asked for my money back, he became quite irate and told me it had worked and I was lying!  Not a good experience.




Gluten
I want to stress how important taking gluten completely out of my diet was.  I do believe my small intestines healed a lot due to this.  But gluten is in wheat glucose, malt, additives and a lot of foods which you wouldn't believe!  And of course oats are a no no and you need to find gluten free beer because of the barley they use to make it -basically I am on a celiac diet even if I not celiac. I really wonder why it's so hard to give up wheat.  I think it might be quite addictive.  I started eating a whole lot less sugar. I found it was also important not to eat too much at one meal.  Really bloated me.


Casein
Okay so I took out casein, lactose (decided it was this and not necessarily the lactose in dairy) and gluten out of my diet but I still got painful episodes.  I was getting really paranoid about my food, this is not good for stress! 
I noticed coffee was really hard on my gut.  I mostly cut it out completely.


Less Grains and Legumes
I started eating less carbohydrates-more veges and meat, less grains etc. Seemed to help.  I had already cut out legumes (beans, lentils) as they gave me painful wind.  Realised later that I had cut out most of the high fibre foods which I believed at the time was what left me constipated.


Deadly Nightshade Family
 Found out that not only was dairy and gluten a problem but so is white potato (which I loved!).  There really seems to be no end to what I can be sensitive to in the way of foods.  I threw up a couple of times after eating Eggplant.  Eggplant and White potato are from the Deadly Nightshade Family.


Spices are gone
I took out spices from my diet as these also were causing me a lot of gut pain.


Allergy Homoeopathy
I went to see the Allergy clinic who said they could use kinesology to find what foods I am sensitive to and fix the intolerances. Sure enough all the familiar intolerances (they used little vials of particular foods etc and used kineseology to ask the body which ones were a problem) and then the practitioner also found I was sensitive to Salcilates which is in so many foods including veges! I got treatment for dairy first.... didn't work. Went back for treatment for gluten... didn't work. Decided not the go back, expensive and useless.


Tolerating less & less foods
Okay, this was not going well.  The amount of foods that I could tolerate were starting to go up not down!


Human Probiotic Infusion
A friend told me about a treatment he had getting Human Probiotics back into the bowel. He said it was worth it. Started to research the correlation between IBS and Gut Flora, in fact any Auto Immune Disease and Gut Flora.   Seems there is a huge connection that is just being found out.  Of course people have said that probiotics have helped them but I never got any help using them.  I can see that Human probiotics infused into the bowel could really work. Plus the excellent part about it is the actually adhere and stay, unlike oral probiotics 
Went to the  clinic that does this and had a colonoscopy and a pandescopy to find out what problems I might have eg parasites, celiac, lactose intolerance etc. 
No problems with my small or large intestine.  Not even a polyp. Not a celiac either according to their test.  No problems with lactose. There was inflammation however in my stomach.  Found out this could be due just to food intolerances.  They tested for parasites (one of which was Blastocystis Hominis) and helicobacter pylorus but nothing showed.
Diagnosis by the clinic was - As there was absolutely nothing wrong with me - IBS.
Decided to go ahead with the Human Probiotic infusion (HPI). Was given a course of Rifamicin antibiotics for 10 days prior to treatment.  Had to travel hundreds of kilometres and spend two weeks away from home for this treatment.  Did the prep that must be done prior which is clearing out the bowels completely by fasting and used a very strong laxative.
Had another colonoscopy in which they put human faeces into the small intestine.  I smelt very different to myself.  They told me this was the new flora in my bowel.  The next day I had more HP but this was just using a enema into my large bowel.  My tongue is coated yellow.  This is strange as I usually have a very clean tongue.  Didn't have a bowel movement for five days.  Finally went on fifth day, smelt very different from my old faeces smell.
I was told to wait for the results of the HPI they say it can take quite a few months for the new bowel flora to grow in my gut.  I have been told to eat lots of Prebiotics (soluable fibre- legumes, vegetable etc) to feed the new flora.
In short let me say that this expensive excursion into HPI did not work.


I keep on going
Continued on eating a gluten, dairy, etc free diet.  Not exactly well but not in agony at least.


Eating Raw
Tried a raw diet.  Got very sick on this diet.  My acupuncturist said it was completely wrong for me.  Really wanted it to work as it seemed such a good idea.


Fasting
Went to do a well documented, special fasting technique in Thailand using special anti-parasitic herbs and clay.
Got really sick on the third night. Couldn't stop retching. I gave up and starting eating.
Was told I had a bad liver by the naturopath in charge.


Eating Meat
At some point in all this I started eating meat again.  Not only did my acupuncturist tell me I needed to my a voice in my head kept telling me I need to also. 
It was hard because it didn’t suit my idea a sustainable planet nor my ingrained ideas of health through being a vegetarian.  I had truly thought meat was bad for most of my life.


Candida Albicans
 Over this very long period of time I kept coming back to maybe all my problems stemmed from Candida Albicans (yeast/fungal infection in the bowel)  No doctors had been able to diagnose this problem as there were not tests available and there still isn’t a reliable test.
 I did go on quite a few different anti-Candida diets none of which seemed to help so I would give them up.  But of course all of the diets I tried still included plenty of Carbs, all be it in their whole food form.
Then I learnt that Candida is only in the bowel because it's been made by the gut to cope with all the carbohydrates that I was ingesting. Candida helps to ferment the carbs thereby allowing some digestion to occur.   The body had found a way of dealing with foods that I was not evolutionarily made for.  Trying to kill Candida off was not going to work as I really needed it while I was eating Carbs.  


Low Carb, High Fat Program!  Yes! 
Finally I have found a special Low Carb, High Fat program.  I embarked on it 18 months ago and haven’t looked back.  It takes 1 month to heal for every year I have been sick so I have a way to go. I started having stomach pains in my early teens. So that makes it 40 months I need to be on this diet.  It’s not a quick fix but look at my quick fixes up to now!  Expensive and pretty useless.


Italy
OK, I do have a confession to make.  I just spent the last 5 months in Italy.  I went berserk on bread in the first few weeks so.......I did get set back a fair bit. But I was able on the whole in the land of pasta to eat mostly a low carb diet.  So I congratulate myself because it was a challenge! I will write more on this wonderful and challenging experience in another blog entry.


My testimonial after being on this Program for 1 1/2 years:
Among the many of my symptoms that are gone or greatly better and which  I didn't even think was connected are:

• Menopausal flushes have gone.  What a relief!
• Periods have became regular and much easier like when I was a teenager.
• White spots on nails since childhood have disappeared.
• Fatigue has gone. I now have really good energy.
• Iron deficiency-tests now read normal.  Contrary to the belief that going off gluten will restore iron levels this never worked for me, even after 8 years on a gluten free diet.  I needed to go on  this program to restore good iron levels.  I had been taking iron supplements for years to no avail.
• Homocysteine levels are now normal. They were in the higher than average range. Higher homocysteine levels show there is inflammation in the body.  
• Stronger bladder - after childbirth my bladder was weak and after 30 years it was getting much worse
• Vaginal thrush all gone.  It was a regular occurrence since my teens.  No reoccurring bouts.
• Weak bladder: I had a weak bladder since giving birth and as I was ageing it was getting much much worse.  I now can run and sneeze without leaking.
• Age spots have disappeared from my hands.  I still have some on my face but they have been there much longer so I except they will take longer to go.
• Itching calves have stopped itching. They were driving me crazy at night.
• Deep ache in thighs when lying on my side in bed at night.  I would have to turn again and again which meant my sleep became very interrupted.
• Sleeplessness is gone
• HDL and LDL Cholesterol ratios are fantastic
• Triglyceride levels are low
• IBS: I no longer have the symptoms of IBS.  
• My bowels are working beautifully regular and easy
• My libido is up.  It has been rather low for the last 5 years.
• No first thing morning eye bags. This is the first time since I was in my 20's
• Foggy brain has gone
• Menopausal spotting has gone
• Lost my back fat common in middle aged women
• I am a lot more calm.  My emotions are a lot more even.
• Pain on intercourse has gone.
• No colds or flu
• The yellow colour has gone from my skin- I know this because I went to use my foundation make up for the first time in about a year.  And the colour of it was far too yellow for me now!
• Breathlessness has gone-this got a lot worse at the beginning of this program (I have had it all my life) and now has become non existent.  
• I used to bruise very easily especially as I got older: I don't bruise now unless I really bump myself hard!

I will just keep adding to this as I go!