BurgessLau
Feb 4, 05, 11:15
LONG-TERM PROBLEM: For 42 years I suffered a cascading series of inflammation problems; dermatitis (eczema), iritis (a dozen episodes), tendonitis, bursitis, arthritis, and colitis-like symptoms. I am now 60. Thanks to a radical diet change, all of my -itis problems are gone except for perhaps 1% of the eczema (compared to its worst point, about 4 years ago).
BACKGROUND: my -itis problems began with dermatitis a few months after my first lung collapse, at age 18, the first of 14 collapses (ranging from 5% to 100% of a lung) over the following 32 years.
(The arthritis, mostly in my knees and right big toe, faded but didn't disappear until I began strictly following the posture exercises recommended in Pete Egoscue, Pain Free. At one point earlier, I was so crippled I could barely walk. Now I can walk two hours daily, without pain.)
SOLUTION: The solution was to eat strictly from a non-acid-producing diet, as identified on food lists based on Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) estimates, as described by John Berardi, nutritionist. (The conventional lists of the acidity of foods themselves, based on ash tests, were poor predictors.)
(I am greatly indebted to Dr. John A. McDougall, The McDougall Program: 12 Days to Dynamic Health, for suggesting an effective elimination test and for suggesting a big part of the solution: cutting back to a very low protein [amino-acid] diet.)
In practice, this diet means I eat only the roots, stems, leaves, and fruit of plants. I eat no animal products. Among plant foods, I eat no "seeds" in the most general sense of that term: no legumes, no grains, no nuts (with one possible exception, so far, hazelnuts), and no conventional seeds (such as sunflower or sesame). My most recent test, of red wine, brought a reaction. (My skin is my litmus paper. Results show within a few days.)
REMAINING PROBLEM: I have almost completely eliminated my -itis problems. But I still don't understand the nature of the problem and why this diet works so well.
One doctor rightly suggested food acidity was a possible cause, but he did not specify the difference between the acidity of foods and the acidity that the foods might produce in the body. Apparently they are not the same phenomenon.
One explanation suggested by two doctors: Leaky-gut syndrome. Perforations in the intestine allow proteins to enter the bloodstream in a form that triggers an immune system reaction which dumps chemicals into my bloodstream, chemicals that damage by skin, joints, and other parts.
Also, I have recently been wondering if my presumably reduced lung capacity might be adding to the problem. Could that create acidosis, a problem made much worse by eating acidity-producing foods?
Suggestions?
BACKGROUND: my -itis problems began with dermatitis a few months after my first lung collapse, at age 18, the first of 14 collapses (ranging from 5% to 100% of a lung) over the following 32 years.
(The arthritis, mostly in my knees and right big toe, faded but didn't disappear until I began strictly following the posture exercises recommended in Pete Egoscue, Pain Free. At one point earlier, I was so crippled I could barely walk. Now I can walk two hours daily, without pain.)
SOLUTION: The solution was to eat strictly from a non-acid-producing diet, as identified on food lists based on Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) estimates, as described by John Berardi, nutritionist. (The conventional lists of the acidity of foods themselves, based on ash tests, were poor predictors.)
(I am greatly indebted to Dr. John A. McDougall, The McDougall Program: 12 Days to Dynamic Health, for suggesting an effective elimination test and for suggesting a big part of the solution: cutting back to a very low protein [amino-acid] diet.)
In practice, this diet means I eat only the roots, stems, leaves, and fruit of plants. I eat no animal products. Among plant foods, I eat no "seeds" in the most general sense of that term: no legumes, no grains, no nuts (with one possible exception, so far, hazelnuts), and no conventional seeds (such as sunflower or sesame). My most recent test, of red wine, brought a reaction. (My skin is my litmus paper. Results show within a few days.)
REMAINING PROBLEM: I have almost completely eliminated my -itis problems. But I still don't understand the nature of the problem and why this diet works so well.
One doctor rightly suggested food acidity was a possible cause, but he did not specify the difference between the acidity of foods and the acidity that the foods might produce in the body. Apparently they are not the same phenomenon.
One explanation suggested by two doctors: Leaky-gut syndrome. Perforations in the intestine allow proteins to enter the bloodstream in a form that triggers an immune system reaction which dumps chemicals into my bloodstream, chemicals that damage by skin, joints, and other parts.
Also, I have recently been wondering if my presumably reduced lung capacity might be adding to the problem. Could that create acidosis, a problem made much worse by eating acidity-producing foods?
Suggestions?