Saturday 24 th November 2018
In order to make healthy food more attractive and special for Christmas meals, there are several options of decorating into different pretty wreaths using different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
I suggest to you one sweet option and two savoury Christmas Wreath options.
Friday 9 th November 2018
Has you ever felt a little bit sleepy after eating a salad? Or lightly constipated when you eat a very large salad?Lettuce contains a substance called lactucarium that “is known as lettuce opium because of its curative sedative and analgesic properties”, although it’s not an opium derivative.
“The chemical constituents of lactucarium that have been investigated for biological activity include lactucin and its derivatives lactucopicrin and 11β13-dihydrolactucin. Lactucin and lactucropicrin were found to have sedative activity in measurements of spontaneous movements of the mice.” (Wikipedia)
Not every person will feel the sedative effect of this substance; the sensitivity of every person is very different. But if you are a hyper sensitive person, and you react to food-drugs such as coffee, chocolate, tea, coke, spices, herbs, etc., then I recommend you to be careful with lettuce. Have salads preferably in the evening meals, and avoid lettuce if you have tendency to have constipation. But also, if you are highly sensitive, you may use it as a medicine as an analgesic!
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Saturday 20 th October 2018
Pumpkin is one of the only carbohydrates that are allowed in GAPS diet, so take advantage of this!
Pumpkin may be prepared in very different ways: boiled, baked, fried; and it may be used in both savoury and sweet dishes.
Here are some recipes with pumpkin that I suggest:
Sunday 16 th September 2018
A food intolerance or allergy is a rejection of a certain food that can manifest itself in one or several of many ways, though principally in the form of gastrointestinal and dermatological problems.We perceive these as illnesses, given that the body rejects foods that we consider to be healthy. This happens because the body considers these foods to be harmful. But according to the Natural Hygiene perspective, the human body is wise, and it always generates the most adequate responses towards survival. In that case, why is it that it reacts in such an exaggerated way to regular foods?
A possible answer to this question is that perhaps these foods that people develop intolerances/allergies to are not as healthy as we thought. But why do only some people reject these foods, and not others?
When a harmful food product is ingested, a two-stage elimination process begins to take place. The first is an attempt to neutralize the harmful substances, and the second is through excretion: feces, urine, expired air and transpiration. But, what happens if these elimination routes are overloaded, for example, due to an excess in the amount of food eaten? The way the human body deals with this problem depends on several factors: genetics, the amount of food eaten, the general health of the individual, their personal history with that particular food, etc.
Genetically, we are programmed to deal with inadequate foods in one of two ways: using ‘extraordinary’ routes of elimination or storing harmful substances where they do not cause any immediate harm.
The ‘extraordinary’ route for elimination is the immune system. It cleans our body of the harmful substances that have entered our blood circulation due to overloaded or low-functional routes of elimination. This may be due, for example, to the leaky gut syndrome; constipation; an overloaded liver due to large quantities of ingested toxic products or toxins, stress, depression or any other emotional problem that reduces the energy of our organs; lack of sleep, or rest; etc.
But the immune system’s action creates inflammation, with its consequent effects: pain, mucus or pus, swelling and redness. These are the common symptoms of strong respiratory or dermatological allergies such as Quincke’s Edema.
And when we need urgent elimination due to the dangerousness of these products, the elimination process is accelerated with vomiting and diarrhea.
In the case where the organism opts to store undesirable substances instead of eliminating them, we encounter an increase in weight. The advantage for these individuals is that they do not suffer from illnesses of elimination, but the transport of these substances until the point of storage is not without cost: that’s where cardiovascular diseases appear.
Subsequently, these substances will end up by dirtying the extracellular environment, and harming tissues and organs of the body, forming ulcers, cysts, and even cancer.
In autistic children, for example, it seems their disorder may be due to a deficient detoxification system, which entails an accumulation of heavy metals in the brain.
Most people tend to be a mix of these two types (elimination and storage), such that under certain circumstances, they may suffer from acute or chronic inflammatory elimination illnesses, according to their energetic state and the food ingested, and under other circumstances will tend to store them where it is least harmful.
So to answer to the question of the title (Food Intolerances: do they only affect some people?): everyone has some type of intolerance and/or allergy. What is different is the way that it manifests itself, with gastroenterological, dermatological, respiratory, cardiovascular, or inflammatory illnesses.
In medical jargon, it is considered that those who do not react with elimination, as in, with allergies and/or intolerances, tolerate all foods. Simply, due to being overweight, they are recommended to eat less and do more exercise. But the problem is much more serious, and it must be treated in the same way as with a person who has intolerances/allergies; the solution is much more complex than simply reducing the food intake and doing more exercise.
If, in face of certain foods, the human body either tries to eliminate them or store them where they do not cause any issues, could it not be that certain foods are simply not as healthy as we thought? Instead of blaming the human body for rejecting certain foods, perhaps we should question whether the problem lies in the foods that we eat, and the circumstances that affect digestion, as in, our entire way of life, from exercise to our emotional and spiritual lifestyle.
Genetically, we are programmed to deal with inadequate foods in one of two ways: using ‘extraordinary’ routes of elimination or storing harmful substances where they do not cause any immediate harm.
The ‘extraordinary’ route for elimination is the immune system. It cleans our body of the harmful substances that have entered our blood circulation due to overloaded or low-functional routes of elimination. This may be due, for example, to the leaky gut syndrome; constipation; an overloaded liver due to large quantities of ingested toxic products or toxins, stress, depression or any other emotional problem that reduces the energy of our organs; lack of sleep, or rest; etc.
But the immune system’s action creates inflammation, with its consequent effects: pain, mucus or pus, swelling and redness. These are the common symptoms of strong respiratory or dermatological allergies such as Quincke’s Edema.
And when we need urgent elimination due to the dangerousness of these products, the elimination process is accelerated with vomiting and diarrhea.
In the case where the organism opts to store undesirable substances instead of eliminating them, we encounter an increase in weight. The advantage for these individuals is that they do not suffer from illnesses of elimination, but the transport of these substances until the point of storage is not without cost: that’s where cardiovascular diseases appear.
Subsequently, these substances will end up by dirtying the extracellular environment, and harming tissues and organs of the body, forming ulcers, cysts, and even cancer.
In autistic children, for example, it seems their disorder may be due to a deficient detoxification system, which entails an accumulation of heavy metals in the brain.
Most people tend to be a mix of these two types (elimination and storage), such that under certain circumstances, they may suffer from acute or chronic inflammatory elimination illnesses, according to their energetic state and the food ingested, and under other circumstances will tend to store them where it is least harmful.
So to answer to the question of the title (Food Intolerances: do they only affect some people?): everyone has some type of intolerance and/or allergy. What is different is the way that it manifests itself, with gastroenterological, dermatological, respiratory, cardiovascular, or inflammatory illnesses.
In medical jargon, it is considered that those who do not react with elimination, as in, with allergies and/or intolerances, tolerate all foods. Simply, due to being overweight, they are recommended to eat less and do more exercise. But the problem is much more serious, and it must be treated in the same way as with a person who has intolerances/allergies; the solution is much more complex than simply reducing the food intake and doing more exercise.
If, in face of certain foods, the human body either tries to eliminate them or store them where they do not cause any issues, could it not be that certain foods are simply not as healthy as we thought? Instead of blaming the human body for rejecting certain foods, perhaps we should question whether the problem lies in the foods that we eat, and the circumstances that affect digestion, as in, our entire way of life, from exercise to our emotional and spiritual lifestyle.
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Saturday 16 th June 2018
We already know about the gut microbiome or gut flora - the population of bacteria and other microbes that live in our gut. Recently, Dr. Marco Ruggiero has started to study the brain microbiome - the microbes that live in our brain, and the impact of those microbes on the function of the human brain.Continue reading The Brain Microbiome: a new discovery with important potential implications on brain health?
Dr. Marco Ruggiero gave a very interesting webinar called “The Brain Microbiome” last February 2018. He introduced some very new ideas in the area of medicine; some of which I will explain to you in this post.
First of all he coined the concept of “The Fourth Brain” . The first brain is the one we all know about, which is located inside the skull. The second brain is the Enteric Nervous System, a network of neurons that lines the entire digestive track. It causes the sensation of nervous butterflies or a pit in your stomach for example, as well as performing very important digestive functions. The third brain is the Gut Microbiome, which is responsible for providing 90% of body’s serotonin and 50% of its dopamine. And this new Fourth Brain is the Brain Microbiome, the microbes in our brain.
Up to now, it was thought that our brain was sterile, that there was no kind of microbe inside. But in January 2013 an article was published that attracted the attention of Dr. Ruggiero: “Brain Microbial Populations in HIV/AIDS: α-Proteobacteria Predominate Independent of Host Immune Status” (1), a study of the susceptibility of people suffering from AIDS to develop infections in the brain due to their weakened immune system. In order to do this, the research team analyzed the microbes that were present in the brains of the people who had died from AIDS, and compared them with the microbes from people who had died for other reasons. To their surprise, they found that there were microbes in ALL the people, not only those suffering from AIDS! Of course, they verified that there was not a contamination.
The kind of microbes that were found in the brain are different to the ones that are present in other parts of the body. In the brain the predominant bacteria is α-Proteobacteria, while in the other body parts the ones that dominate are Firmicutes, Bacteriodetes and Actinobacteria.
They also analyzed the microbes in the brains of animals, and found that only the brain of primates contained some microbes, but not any other mammals.
It seems that some microbes that exist in the environment, i.e., soil and water, get into our body through oral consumption or inhalation and they are transported to the brain by our immune system: lymphocytes and macrophages that are trafficking into the brain; probably in purpose, hypothesizes Dr. Ruggiero. The reason why these microbes are transported to the brain would be because it represents an evolutionary advantage. Let’s explain the benefit of these microbes.
The first beneficial function of α-Proteobacteria is detoxification. Dr. Ruggiero says that some research indicates that they may help to keep the brain clean from harmful toxic products that could get into the brain.
The second benefit is the stimulation of neural connections. Dr. Ruggiero conducted an experiment where brain cells were cultivated in a petri-dish with brain microbes. He found that the number and complexity of connections were increased by the presence of microbes. He concluded that “there is experimental evidence that the influence of the microbes on the neurons is immense”.
Dr. Ruggiero found in another research paper (2) that probiotic supplementation promotes calcification, through the stimulation of the expression of key genes involved in ossification. He then extrapolated that research to the time where the skull fontanelles are closed. In humans this time is delayed compared to the other primates, which allows the brain to grow more, and an increased cranial capacity allows the development of a more complex neural system.
He then concludes that “fermented foods (rich in probiotics) were the responsible of us to have a higher craneal capacity, more rich neural network and brain detoxification”.
All these discoveries are quite important in terms of how nutrition, especially fermented foods and probiotic supplementation, can impact the brain function. However, he must also consider:
1) In the first article on the brain microbiome in AIDS patients (1), living patients who had undergone brain surgery for epilepsy were also studied and considered within the control group. The rest of the control group included patients who had died from diseases other than AIDS. Interestingly, the bacteria count was much lower in these living patients than in dead patients (AIDS or control). No actinobacteria, beta-proteobacteria or gamma-proteobacteria were found in the surgical samples, while these was present in the rest of the brains from deceased patients. The amount of α-Proteobacteria was also considerably lower in the living patients.
In the next table, the exact counts of each bacterial class for each case are shown as published in the article (1) , where ‘HIV’ denotes the patients who died of AIDS, ‘SUR’ denotes the patients submitted to surgery for epilepsy, and “Others” are the patients who died for reasons other than AIDS.
This raises the question of whether the development of these microbes is a post-mortem effect (which would explain why the living patients have lower counts of bacteria, perhaps depending on their health). So in my humble point of view, perhaps the presence of microbes in the brain could be a sign of decay, that is, the development starts when there is some kind of disease, especially neurological diseases such as epilepsy, or after death in the case of a person with a healthy brain. It would be necessary to analyse the brain microbiome of a perfectly healthy, living person for this to be confirmed, however this has never been done, or at least published in a scientific journal.
2) Similarly, the experiment showing augmented neural connections when brain cells are in a proteobacteria-rich environment may be interpreted in a different way. It is known that slightly stressful situations, such as challenges, stimulate our intelligence. In nature, it is known that organisms who are submitted to some degree of defiant environment grow better. For example, fruit trees that grow in wild environments submitted to weather inclemencies such as strong winds give much richer fruits than the ones that grow in protected environments without wind. In the same way, an environment full of microbes constitutes a very important challenge for the survival of a cell, stimulating them to grow more and create more connections in order to solve this problem of microbial infection. Again, we cannot know for sure whether the presence of microbes is an advantage for the brain’s development or just a dangerous and stressful situation.
So I think that the conclusions that Dr. Ruggiero states concerning the brain microbiome must be taken with a little caution and more research is required.
One must also take into account the conflict of interests that he himself recognizes. He is the founder of a company dedicated to the development and production of advanced microbiome-based probiotics.
References
(1) Branton WG, Ellestad KK, Maingat F, Wheatley BM, Rud E, Warren RL, et al. (2013) Brain Microbial Populations in HIV/AIDS: α-Proteobacteria Predominate Independent of Host Immune Status. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54673. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054673
(2) Maradonna F, Gioacchini G, Falcinelli S, Bertotto D, Radaelli G, Olivotto I, et al. (2013) Probiotic Supplementation Promotes Calcification in Danio rerio Larvae: A Molecular Study. PLoS ONE 8(12): e83155. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083155
First of all he coined the concept of “The Fourth Brain” . The first brain is the one we all know about, which is located inside the skull. The second brain is the Enteric Nervous System, a network of neurons that lines the entire digestive track. It causes the sensation of nervous butterflies or a pit in your stomach for example, as well as performing very important digestive functions. The third brain is the Gut Microbiome, which is responsible for providing 90% of body’s serotonin and 50% of its dopamine. And this new Fourth Brain is the Brain Microbiome, the microbes in our brain.
Up to now, it was thought that our brain was sterile, that there was no kind of microbe inside. But in January 2013 an article was published that attracted the attention of Dr. Ruggiero: “Brain Microbial Populations in HIV/AIDS: α-Proteobacteria Predominate Independent of Host Immune Status” (1), a study of the susceptibility of people suffering from AIDS to develop infections in the brain due to their weakened immune system. In order to do this, the research team analyzed the microbes that were present in the brains of the people who had died from AIDS, and compared them with the microbes from people who had died for other reasons. To their surprise, they found that there were microbes in ALL the people, not only those suffering from AIDS! Of course, they verified that there was not a contamination.
The kind of microbes that were found in the brain are different to the ones that are present in other parts of the body. In the brain the predominant bacteria is α-Proteobacteria, while in the other body parts the ones that dominate are Firmicutes, Bacteriodetes and Actinobacteria.
They also analyzed the microbes in the brains of animals, and found that only the brain of primates contained some microbes, but not any other mammals.
It seems that some microbes that exist in the environment, i.e., soil and water, get into our body through oral consumption or inhalation and they are transported to the brain by our immune system: lymphocytes and macrophages that are trafficking into the brain; probably in purpose, hypothesizes Dr. Ruggiero. The reason why these microbes are transported to the brain would be because it represents an evolutionary advantage. Let’s explain the benefit of these microbes.
The first beneficial function of α-Proteobacteria is detoxification. Dr. Ruggiero says that some research indicates that they may help to keep the brain clean from harmful toxic products that could get into the brain.
The second benefit is the stimulation of neural connections. Dr. Ruggiero conducted an experiment where brain cells were cultivated in a petri-dish with brain microbes. He found that the number and complexity of connections were increased by the presence of microbes. He concluded that “there is experimental evidence that the influence of the microbes on the neurons is immense”.
Dr. Ruggiero found in another research paper (2) that probiotic supplementation promotes calcification, through the stimulation of the expression of key genes involved in ossification. He then extrapolated that research to the time where the skull fontanelles are closed. In humans this time is delayed compared to the other primates, which allows the brain to grow more, and an increased cranial capacity allows the development of a more complex neural system.
He then concludes that “fermented foods (rich in probiotics) were the responsible of us to have a higher craneal capacity, more rich neural network and brain detoxification”.
All these discoveries are quite important in terms of how nutrition, especially fermented foods and probiotic supplementation, can impact the brain function. However, he must also consider:
1) In the first article on the brain microbiome in AIDS patients (1), living patients who had undergone brain surgery for epilepsy were also studied and considered within the control group. The rest of the control group included patients who had died from diseases other than AIDS. Interestingly, the bacteria count was much lower in these living patients than in dead patients (AIDS or control). No actinobacteria, beta-proteobacteria or gamma-proteobacteria were found in the surgical samples, while these was present in the rest of the brains from deceased patients. The amount of α-Proteobacteria was also considerably lower in the living patients.
In the next table, the exact counts of each bacterial class for each case are shown as published in the article (1) , where ‘HIV’ denotes the patients who died of AIDS, ‘SUR’ denotes the patients submitted to surgery for epilepsy, and “Others” are the patients who died for reasons other than AIDS.
| Clase bacteriana | HIV1 | HIV2 | HIV3 | HIV4 | SUR1 | SUR2 | Others1 | Others2 | Others3 | Others4 |
| α-Proteobacteria | 41 | 49 | 37 | 17 | 3 | 19 | 168 | 39 | 98 | 27 |
| Actinobacteria | 17 | 9 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| ß-Proteobacteria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| γ-Proteobacteria | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20 |
This raises the question of whether the development of these microbes is a post-mortem effect (which would explain why the living patients have lower counts of bacteria, perhaps depending on their health). So in my humble point of view, perhaps the presence of microbes in the brain could be a sign of decay, that is, the development starts when there is some kind of disease, especially neurological diseases such as epilepsy, or after death in the case of a person with a healthy brain. It would be necessary to analyse the brain microbiome of a perfectly healthy, living person for this to be confirmed, however this has never been done, or at least published in a scientific journal.
2) Similarly, the experiment showing augmented neural connections when brain cells are in a proteobacteria-rich environment may be interpreted in a different way. It is known that slightly stressful situations, such as challenges, stimulate our intelligence. In nature, it is known that organisms who are submitted to some degree of defiant environment grow better. For example, fruit trees that grow in wild environments submitted to weather inclemencies such as strong winds give much richer fruits than the ones that grow in protected environments without wind. In the same way, an environment full of microbes constitutes a very important challenge for the survival of a cell, stimulating them to grow more and create more connections in order to solve this problem of microbial infection. Again, we cannot know for sure whether the presence of microbes is an advantage for the brain’s development or just a dangerous and stressful situation.
So I think that the conclusions that Dr. Ruggiero states concerning the brain microbiome must be taken with a little caution and more research is required.
One must also take into account the conflict of interests that he himself recognizes. He is the founder of a company dedicated to the development and production of advanced microbiome-based probiotics.
References
(1) Branton WG, Ellestad KK, Maingat F, Wheatley BM, Rud E, Warren RL, et al. (2013) Brain Microbial Populations in HIV/AIDS: α-Proteobacteria Predominate Independent of Host Immune Status. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54673. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054673
(2) Maradonna F, Gioacchini G, Falcinelli S, Bertotto D, Radaelli G, Olivotto I, et al. (2013) Probiotic Supplementation Promotes Calcification in Danio rerio Larvae: A Molecular Study. PLoS ONE 8(12): e83155. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083155
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