Do Food Allergies Cause Gut Problems or Do Gut Problems Cause Food Allergies
I was reading through and approving some comments the other day when a question within a comment on this post stood out to me:
Did leaky gut cause her food allergies or did food allergies cause her leaky gut?
I believe a lot of why our society screws up so many things is because they don’t ask the right questions. And when it comes to digestive health I think this question gets to the heart of the matter.
So here is my I’m-not-a-medical-professional-so-don’t-take-me-for-one thinking on the matter…
We have to look at gut health, and all matters of disease and healing for that matter, holistically. I don’t mean that in a "you were bullied as a child which caused you stress which is why you have gut problems" kind of way.
I mean that the food choices we have made and the lives we have lived directly relate to our health today. You can see this in rapid fire when you eat doughnuts for breakfast and then feel horribly fatigued later.
But it’s not just our own choices that have consequences. How our mothers ate before and during our gestation period matters. How you were birthed matters. Your mother’s gut health at the time of your birth matters. What type of environment you were raised in matters.
And for at least several generations our mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers and so on have been moving away from eating the types of foods we were designed to eat and towards more industrialized ways of eating. And then, along comes you. And you have gut problems or food allergies and the inevitable chicken or the egg question comes up.
It would seem easier to isolate things and say "I have gut and health problems because I am allergic to wheat". But that would also fail to take in the whole picture of things and the fact that we are reaping what we have sown so to speak.
I believe we have food allergies because our guts are messed up.
It started when your grandmother decided to pasteurize her milk and can the crap out of her cabbage instead of using the age-old practice of fermentation, simply because she was told it was "safer and easier". This compromised her gut health which compromised your mother’s gut health.
It continued when your mother took antibiotics which led to you being born from a mother who had no beneficial bacteria lining the birth canal when you were born. Or, you were born via c-section and never breastfed which completely eliminated your first exposure to the bacteria that ought to be inhabiting your gut and building your gut health and immune system.
It then rapidly deteriorated when you were given unnecessary vaccinations, chlorinated water, and antibiotics – all of which can destroy the bacteria that is designed to inhabit your gut and protect you from the onslaught of all sorts of things.
And when you were given a childhood that kept you from digging in the dirt and being in contact with animals, which would further facilitate the colonization of your gut when your pudgy little fingers found their way into your sweet little mouth, you were deprived. Deprived of a much needed means of ensuring your body was able to process food properly and keep you safe from diseases that would otherwise inhabit your body later in life.
It will continue so long as you keep eating dead and inflammation-promoting foods, are bombarded with the chemical *beep* storm that exists in every single cleaning and beauty product on the market (even the natural ones), and live separated from the soil and the animals that God uses to provide your food.
I believe that we have food allergies because our guts are messed up because the way we live our lives is messed up.
If we live industrialized lives then we ought to expect industrialized bodies. Which means that rather than finding the root of the problem and living in accordance with the old paths we continue to put a band-aid on a gushing wound while screaming "fix me, I’m a victim."
But that’s just my theory.
Shannon – well said, I could not agree more!
The more direct answer, from Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride is that you have leaking gut problems because your enterocytes are dying, and they are dying because you have eaten too much sugar and crap that feeds the opportunistic bacterias and the yeasts, and that allows the mucosal lining of the intestine to leak. AFTER it leaks you develop immuno-deficiency problems, or auto immune problems (like allergies). THEN you also have trouble detoxing the environmental hazards you speak of, and all of this contributes to system malfunctions.
But your answer is so much more eloquent and thorough!
Good theory, sounds about right! I’ve been reading a lot lately about how GMOs work, and the way they protect crops from insects. They punch holes in the digestive tract. Since GMOs, the numbers of people with intestinal problems has skyrocketed. Non GMO diets have cured IBS in people, it’s only one part of the big picture, but worth researching to see if it could be something that can help. Is it any coincidence that so many people these days are allergic to peanuts, when peanuts are a rotation crop for cotton, a GMO with huge pesticide use?
Ok…I have been thinking down the same path for the last few weeks! I do buy mostly organic and/or local. We eat simple meals, almost no processed foods (other than the occasional carton of ice-cream). I make everything from scratch. I am working on adding fermented foods to our meals. I have three of six in our family that are allergic to gluten and casein (milk). Do you have any ideas to help heal this ‘gut issue’ ?
I have problems and I know it is because of my gut. I never know how to explain to people why..you gave me the words I did not have. Thanks a ton!!
Great Post! Very well said!
Agree! My little 4 yo girl has an egg allergy. Caught us totally off guard just after her 1st bday. Full on reaction. FD came out and we ended up in the ER. Now we have an epi pen that goes everywhere with us. At first the allergy seemed a little overwhelming but its actually pretty easy to adjust. And most of her close friends and their parents understand it!
My wife breastfed till 14 month, normal delivery, eggs (lots of them) in the diet before birth, we ate mostly healthy (now we are really clean, basic eating), have a grandma allergic to peanuts and a nanna allergic to fish but no history of egg allergies.
Just last week the doc took samples and confirmed I am not celiac. However, I feel better, look better and my body functions better when I eliminate wheat. Is it the GMO/super wheat with high gluten levels?
Doc tells me I have a great healthy looking gut and stomach but cannot explain why I have midnight pains in both organs. Our diet is mostly grass fed beef, free range organic chicken, organic veggies, minimal juices, almost no sugar/wheat stuff and my vice is coffee and scotch but nothing in excess. Just makes no sense.
Sorry for the rambling. Great post! I am amazed by the journey your family is taking. Please keep posting.
Thank you – and I agree 100%. One more thing I’d like to add to the problem is I really do believe some of us are naturally more sensitive to things than others are. Meaning, some might be able to tolerate destructive lifestyles a little bit longer than others. But … the time will come for reaping, regardless of how long your body seems to be holding out.
I guess we could be naturally more sensitive because of the lifestyle and womb environment of our mothers though. That might make the difference right there.
I had a terrible womb environment and a terrible upbringing as far as health goes. Drugs, alcohol, smoking, fast food, etc. from womb till about 25 years old. Started eating whole foods at that time and now 10 years later doctors think I have MS. Is it any wonder? How can a healthy nervous system develop properly with all that abuse?! Also, my youngest (now 15) had all sorts of food allergies and sensitivities when growing up. You’d never know it now. Over the last year we’ve been eating a lot more soaked things, lacto-fermented soda, sourdough bread, pancakes, etc., and sauerkraut. Doing all we know how to eat in a way that nourishes our bodies instead of harms them.
Thanks again.
Amen!
Wonderful post. Very clearly put. Lots to think about in this. Keep writing because it’s all so good. Hope you’re getting some rain.
Blessings Gail
Perhaps instead of focusing on past things that harmed our present health (and we have no control over) we should focus on and be thankful for the things and food God has provided that can heal us.
Totally agree…does any one here watch Know the Cause. He’s been saying it for years! My family all think I’m crazy….it’s funny, because they all have many health issues, but I’m the one who’s crazy
Yes, yes, yes! Amen! Thank you for this post. I agree 100%, and I am a healthcare professional in today’s conventional world (which I struggle with and am looking to leave). I believe you are right on point with this post. I was born in the 70’s, grew up eating organic produce, grass fed beef, and drinking raw milk. (My grandfather is a farmer). I was never fed anything from a box. Snacks were “natures candy”, nuts, seeds, or from scratch baked goods. I played in the dirt. I helped on the farm. I never had health issues. When I was 19, I had my own apartment and purchased processed, conventional foods. Please note, these were “health foods” labeled all natural, low fat, fat free, sugar free. YIKES! It was that year I started having issues with my digestive tract. For years after, I experience pain, fatigue, weight gain, itchy skin, migraines, irritability, depression, weight gain, bloat, IBS, and I’m sure I’m leaving others out. My doctor ran tests, prescribed meds which I didn’t take because I’m anti-meds for most ailments. I started researching, and at this time was already a nurse. I discovered my health issues were more than likely from the SAD diet I was eating. I began losing faith in conventional doctors, and the field in general. For years I felt miserable, yet no one could tell me why. I quickly eliminated the crap from my diet, went back to eating as I did as a child, and I’ve never felt better. My motto is, “God provided all we need to sustain us. Why ingest something which came from a factory or lab. Eat from the earth.”
Thanks again for your post! I’ll be sharing it on my facebook page, The Nourishing Homestead. There will be a link to your website.
Blessings to you 🙂
Oops! I listed weight gain twice. It was obviously something that bothered me greatly 😉
Agree with you wholeheartedly – but there also comes a point where you can’t change the past (my mother smoked while pregnant with me, my daughter had complications that led to a *true* emergency c-section, etc) and you just have to start making changes for the future. No need dwelling on what you can’t change. But I can change how I feed my family from this day forward.
PS- loved the part about playing in the dirt! So true. My kids enjoy all kinds of dirt & free playtime outside. Another reason we homeschool.
you are so right and thankfully more and more people are waking up to this problem. exciting time. what might the future hold?
I am a complex case who acquired a Cow Dairy Allergy from exposure to Pulp Mill Emissions when building a new Air Emissions Project, when the wind was from the SW there were 27 Vents and Chimneys. blowing towards us. Hundreds of TPD, tons per day of methanol, the Chemical Chain is methanol > formaldehyde [which metabolizes to] > Formic acid [in our Liver] which then metabolizes to Lactic acid in ALL our cells. My theory is that our cellular Lactic acid is first cousins with Lactic acid in cow dairy.
My cellular Lactic acid continued to rise because I did NoT know that there was formaldehyde in vehicle exhaust and a year later after the Big X-P when 59 tradesmen were on oxygen at the Hospital my throat, mouth and tongue started burning like my last day of work. A year later in the Fall of 2004 vehicle exhaust started the same sequela of symptoms along with burning throat. One evening when I was eating a yoghurt I suffered MELAS, mitochondrial encephalopathy Stroke-Like symptoms. Because I just ate a yoghurt i stopped all dairy. Within weeks iIwas off my Puffers [Lactic acid can irritate the delicate air sacs in the lungs] and FM, Fibromyalgia free. 1.5 years later my Naturopath suggested I try goat or sheep dairy with no complications. If i eat cow dairy by mistake i suffer the stroke-like symptoms.
The Lord was good to me when Researching at the Library with a Medical Dictionary, because vehicle exhaust was on-setting the same symptoms as the Pulp Mill x-p, I had to stop driving to work. The first article i would read would be a revelation of the causation. Environment Canada listed 72 solvents and chemicals they thought worthy to List because of the tonnage. I only researched about 7, and sometimes was so insulted that they were bullying us to work in the Plume, my spirit was so bruised i would avoid the Library for weeks.
My suggestion is that anyone suffering from FM, Fibromyalgia, that a simple experiment would be to quit drinking or eating cow dairy, and see if the symptoms subside. If they also suffer CF, Chronic Fatigue, their KREB, or Cori Energy Conversion Cycle in their cells may be damaged. I was suffering hypoxia during my last 3 days of work, cell death from the toxic chemicals and solvents. If i eat too many carbohydrates they convert to Lactic acid onsetting FM pain. The Ketone Diet would be worthy of trying to avoid high carbohydrate intake.
Shannon, because fermented foods are by Lactic acid I had avoided sauerkraut, molasses, and even had a bad flare up by drinking 1/3 of a dark Porter Beer, resulting in heavy muscle cramping. The body is complex and had to laugh at myself when a Mr Schmidt in southern Ontario was charged by the Province for supplying raw milk to his Cow Share Clients. He brought in 2 Professional witnesses associated with Dairy. One was from California and the other from Australia who had studied over 1,200 types of Lactic acid! 1,200 hundred types and I only thought there were 2.
Some Commenters mentioned how bad lifestyle choices affected them in the womb, someone close to me after being taken off breast milk and on cow dairy was struggling in the evening, coughing up large balls of mucus. I suggested to her father that he take her off cow dairy. The symptoms went away, and when he started her on goat dairy about 6 weeks later there were no complications. It hit me about a year later that her mother smoked when she was pregnant.
Another lady i talked to after sharing my symptomology with Lactic acid shared how she just reeked of sour milk growing up, which was rather embarrassing in her teenage years. I asked if her mother smoked when she was pregnant with her, she was heartbroken when she realized why she struggled with ill health all her years, and i suspect she was in her 50’s. There is methanol and formaldehyde in cigarette smoke which can onset a dairy allergy to the baby growing in the womb. Our modern society is complicated bt so much manmade material that off-gasses formaldehyde.
Miraculously, you know how it is highly recommended that pregnant woman take Folic acid, it roadblocks the Formic acid in the Liver from metabolizing to Lactic acid cellularly. It is converted to Carbon dioxide which is exhaled or peed out. Amen to that. I have to carry Folic acid with me if I get into heavy vehicle exhaust exposures, although I try and travel down quiet streets and avoid throughs on Freeways.