Healing allergies with the GAPS Protocol

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, an estimated 50 million Americans suffer from all types of allergies (1 in 5 Americans) including indoor/outdoor, food & drug, latex, insect, skin and eye allergies. Allergy prevalence overall has been increasing since the early 1980s across all age, sex and racial groups. AND allergy is the 5th leading chronic disease in the U.S. among all ages, and the 3rd most common chronic disease among children under 18 years old.

It is that time of year again, and my inbox is piling up with inquiries regarding alternative treatments for seasonal allergies. There is a lot that we can do dietarily to support the immune system during allergy season and rebalance it for the long haul.

The protocol I use the most in my practice is called GAPS. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology/Physiology Syndrome. The protocol has 3 facets: a dietary plan, a detox protocol, and a supplemental regimen. The protocol is always tailored to the client’s biochemical individuality. Also, type of allergic response, medical and family history, as well as reaction to the GAPS protocol, are taken into consideration.

The diet part of the plan targets the digestive tract and it is rich in healing foods that help heal and seal the gut lining. Allergies are often caused by digestive imbalance and are often accompanied by leaky gut or gastric inflammation. Science tells us that 70% of the immune system resides in the gut, specifically in the Peyer’s patches of the small intestine. For this reason, any therapy that aims to rid the body of allergies, will be futile until digestive dysfunction is addressed.

Back to GAPS now… The supplemental regimen helps re-establish healthy gut flora, and correct nutrient deficiencies. The detox part of the plan uses gentle measures (juicing, epsom salt baths, enamas, etc.) to rid the body of toxins.

Please note that toxins are not just environmental. They are also simply by-products of our metabolism. People affected by allergies either have more toxic by-products and metabolites to deal with, or their bodies are so clogged that they cannot handle “regular” toxic load.

In a nutshell, the GAPS protocol helps the body detoxify gently, while rebuilding good health from the ground up.

Detoxification can seem scary. It is natural to become concerned especially because many of us don’t know what detoxification really is. Detoxification is an ongoing metabolic process. Our bodies are constantly at work to detoxify environmental toxins as well as endotoxins (toxins produced within the body itself). Detoxification is also a nutrient-dependent process. Several amino acids, anti-oxidants, cholesterol and bile are necessary to neutralize toxins and carry them out of the body.

Most people don’t realize that a healthy body detoxifies naturally.

People with seasonal allergies usually deal with environmental substances, that are recognized are toxic by the body. There are also dealing with organs of detoxification that are usually clogged by toxicity produced by a less than optimal digestive tract. In this case we talk about leaky gut, pathogenic organisms inhabiting the gut, and maldigested food that rots, ferments, and rancidifies in the intestines.

GAPS people are usually pretty toxic, that is why the nutritional therapy work is gradual and gentle.
Beware of detox diet fads, fasting regimens, and miracle pills advertised in the media. The GAPS protocol doesn’t use any detox pill or fasting. Only nutrient dense foods, gut healing nutrients, probiotics, epsom salt baths, and when necessary enemas, are used in the beginning. Also, reducing exposure to toxins is as important as detoxifying the body.

The GAPS protocol allows the body to gently detoxify by supporting the organs of elimination, providing precious nutrients necessary to detoxify, and bringing in natural chelators in the form of foods (fats, fat-soluble vitamins, minerals found in bone broths and vegetable juices, etc.) and detoxifying baths.

For more information on GAPS, you can log on to www.gaps.me, or call me at 619.208.8159 to discuss is GAPS is right for you.

Francesca Orlando, NTP, CGP
Lead Instructor for the Nutritional Therapy Association, Inc.

To sprout or to ferment?

To sprout or to ferment? That is the question. In the 1930s, Dr Weston A. Price, a dentist from Cleveland, Ohio, traveled the world in search of the perfect diet. His amazing journeys took him into the wilds to seek out people “who were living in accordance with the tradition of their race and as little affected as might be possible by the influence of the white man”.

Wherever he found them, from the Swiss Alps to the Arctic, from the Polynesian atolls to Australia, they were a “picture of superb health”: they had superb physiques, perfect teeth, no arthritis, no degenerative diseases, and they were cheerful, happy, hardy folk. He also found that when members of these isolated groups changed their dietary traditions for “foods of commerce” a catastrophic health decline would soon arise.

He found it took only one generation of eating industrialized food to destroy health and immunity. The diets of the “primitive people” he studied varied greatly, but they had some commonalities: they all contained no refined or denatured foods; used some type of animal products, with some raw. The diets were four times as high in calcium and other minerals, and encompassed 10 times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins as the modern diet. Every diet included foods with high enzyme content. Seeds, grains, and nuts were soaked, sprouted, fermented, or naturally leavened.

Fat content varied from 30 – 80% of total calories (only four percent from polyunsaturated fatty acids). They all contained nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acid. They contained some salt and made use of bones, usually as broth. I am going to discuss each topic separately. So stay tuned for more articles! Here I want to explain why it is important that we properly prepare our grains, nuts, seeds and beans by soaking them and sprouting them. I also want to explain when one method is preferable to the other.

Nuts, grains, and legumes are all seeds (and here I will refer to them as seeds). Nature has provided seeds with protective mechanisms to keep them safe from predators until conditions are desirable for germination. For example, seeds are difficult to digest in order to facilitate seed dispersal – the animal that eats them carries them away, and then ‘drops’ them right into a pile of ‘fertilizer’. But in order to pass through the gut intact, they must be indigestible.

In addition to this, seeds need to remain secure until they are able to sprout. Enzyme inhibitors and other anti-nutrients maintain this stability keeping the seed dormant until it is time to sprout. Soaking seeds initiates germination, deactivates anti-nutrients, and increases enzymatic activity. Phytic acid is deconstructed and inhibitors are neutralized. The acid medium used in the soaking process breaks the bonds that bind important minerals, making them bioavailable.

We can say that soaking begins to predigest the seeds. The difference between soaking and sprouting is time. Deciding between soaking and sprouting will be based on your digestive fire. Some people do well with soaked seeds, others need to sprout them in order to further reduce anti-nutrients and make them even more digestible. Sprouting increases the seeds’ nutritional profile even more than soaking.

Sprouting still begins with an overnight soak in saltwater or water and other acid medium, but can continue for 1-3 days more (depending on how long that particular seed takes to sprout).  You will know when the time is up when you can see the sprouts growing.

Only truly raw nuts, beans, and seeds will sprout, so check your sources well. In California there is a mandatory pasteurization process for nuts, so even though they are sold “raw”, they are not truly raw and will most likely not sprout.

I buy raw nuts and seeds in bulk from Wilderness Family Naturals.
Wilderness Family Naturals is a great company that sells much more beyond raw seeds. It is a lifesaver for those who cannot dedicate much time to prepping (soaking, sprouting, dehydrating, making mayo, etc).

A Forgotten Superfood at the Heart of the Mediterranean Diet

My accent immediately gives me away as a first generation Italian in the United States. Once new friends find out that I’m a nutritional therapy practitioner, too, the next question is, “What is the magic behind the Mediterranean diet?” While there’s no single trick (just as there’s no single Mediterranean diet as you’ll see in my 3 Mediterranean Diet Myths post), I will say that many Americans often leave out one important part: legumes (often known as beans) and nuts, all of which are seeds. (Since they often get confused, I recommend exploring this List of Legumes.)

The people living in the Mediterranean regions consume legumes regularly, often in the form of a soup main dish. On New Year’s Eve, many serve lentils with pork dishes like cotechino or zampone.  Nuts, too, are often available for free eating in dishes in Mediterranean homes.

Turkey is the third largest producer of nuts after China and the US. Pine nuts and hazelnuts are common in Italy, walnuts in France, almonds in Spain, and pistachios in Greece.

While those with irritable bowel syndrome and blood sugar imbalances or GAPS conditions need to be more cautious, those without those issues can eat prepared legumes once or twice a week.

Why Legumes, Nuts and Seeds?

Legumes provide the best sources of slow-released starches (carbohydrates) in the diet.  Stay tuned for a blog post series on gluten-free sports nutrition, in which I will cover in depth-how non-glutinous sources of carbohydrates power the muscles just as effectively as glutinous sources (grain-based bread, rice, pasta) while keeping inflammation in check. While grains are seeds, just like legumes, they come from grasses rather than legume plants.  Their nutritional potential differs because of their parentage. On the other hand, legumes, despite their high content of carbohydrates, do not spike blood glucose levels as much as refined grains do. When properly prepared and combined, as in the Mediterranean diet, they are a nourishing addition to a healthy diet.

Getting the Most from Beans and Other Legumes

You know those cans of refried beans that are so easy to buy? The processing involved in getting them into that form mute the nutrients the original beans contained. Even canned whole beans aren’t living up to their nutritional potential.

The populations living in the Mediterranean regions traditionally soak stored, dry beans overnight before using them in dishes the next day. In a nutshell (pun intended) soaking and sprouting neutralizes anti-nutrients (phytates and enzyme inhibitors) contained in nuts and seeds. With the anti-nutrients out of the way, nutrients like minerals and amino acids become more bio-available.  Think of it this way, sufficient moisture signals the seed that conditions are safe enough to release the nutrients that will feed the precious sprout.

What About Nuts?

So much for beans. Nuts, another type of seed, are typically sold raw, in bulk, and in shell. Unlike beans, a nut’s protection is in the form of a hard shell. Check my post To Sprout or To Ferment.

Keep nuts and seeds around as a crunchy, salty alternative to potato chips.

Why Give the Mediterraneans All the Credit for Legumes?

In the 1930s, dentist Dr. Weston A. Price, one of the world’s first professional nutritionists, traveled the world in search of the perfect diet. He found the diets of so-called primitive people varied greatly according to climate and food availability. The diets of the healthiest, however, had some common elements. One of these was the practice of soaking and/or sprouting legumes before eating them.

If you want to make sure the calories you consume contain the most beneficial nutrients for your particular stage in life, medical/physical issues or activity level, Healthful Living can help you design a diet and/or weight loss program that fits you to a T. As a nutritional therapy practitioner, I can help you optimize your health, athletic performance and even your mood. I’m happy to provide a free 15-min consultation when you contact me or call at 619-208-8159. Get helpful tips and notification of great healthy events when you like us on our Healthful Living Facebook page as well!

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