1990 was the year my body
crashed. Confined to bed, I searched for answers from an alternative
care doctor because the HMO doc said nothing was wrong with me.
And I got answers: chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical
sensitivity, a nightmare combination. Once I purged my home of toxic
cleansers, gas heat, and mold, it was obvious that I reacted with
intense symptoms to any kind of odor, even the laundry detergent
on people's clothes. It was an unbelievable awakening. I was determined
to find a path back to health.
My doctor also told me I had food allergies, and to eliminate common
allergens like wheat, eggs, milk, peanuts, oranges, soy, and of
course artificial ingredients. But I still felt miserable after
every meal, flushing red in the face, breaking out in hives, with
headaches, insomnia, bowel pain and cramping. I needed a diet that
didn't make me sick. So I embarked on the "Elimination Diet,"
which consists of one food per meal. Lettuce for breakfast. Beans
for lunch. Broccoli for dinner. I recorded every food and symptom
in a log in the attempt to see a pattern. Gone was the joy of eating.
This was about survival.
After being a vegetarian since my teens, I felt desperate enough
to bring meat back into my diet. It helped the gnawing hunger, but
the reactions persisted. I graduated to the "Rare Foods Diet,"
stalking the never-before-eaten weird food that might just work
for me. Pigeon, quail eggs, taro root, Jerusalem artichoke, teff,
amaranth, quinoa, carob, rabbit, and kudzu root. I continued to
struggle for nourishment.
Candida was part of the problem according to my doctor. I couldn't
handle any of the antifungal supplements or drugs but I added the
"Candida Diet." No fermented foods, low carbohydrates,
and no simple sugars or fruits. Then I needed to rotate all foods
because food sensitivities become even worse when the same food
is eaten too frequently. Foods in the same family were to be spaced
two days apart, the same food four days apart. The "Rotation
Diet" was the fifth simultaneous diet.
After a year of dutifully transcribing in my food log, I realized
in defeat that no food passed the test. I reacted to everything.
I felt like the Buddhist image of unquenched human desire: the hungry
ghost. With a giant belly and a mouth the size of a pin, the hungry
ghost lives a life of frustration, never satiated. But I didn't
look like a fat ghost. I looked like a skeleton. As my weight dropped
off, I worried about starving to death, and I didn't want to be
thought an anorexic. I was dying to eat.
My first break came from an allergy shot technique specifically
for the chemically sensitive called provocative-neutralization or
end-point titration. It's only available at a few places in the
country, it's expensive and time consuming, but it does reduce reactions.
I think it saved my life after that horrible year, and continued
to help for four years.
I did my share of colonics, gut cleanses, and herbs without any
change. I tried numerous diets for months and years at a time: macrobiotic,
vegan, fresh green juices, specific carbohydrate diet, blood type,
zone, and even fasting. I'd work with an alternative health professional
for a good while, and when that would fail, I'd try a suggestion
from an allopathic doctor, which several times made me worse instead
of better.
A glimmer of light came with the diagnosis of intestinal amebic
parasites. I recalled a serious bout of dysentery eight years before
my crash, and it dawned on me that my gut had never been the same.
Before my crash, I had been prescribed symptomatic medication to
control the pain and cramps. Herein lies the fundamental problem
with Western medicine. When the symptoms are treated without asking
why you have the symptoms, you are digging the hole that may become
your grave. The condition doesn't go away. It just gets worse, but
the drugs are covering it up. I did resort to anti-parasite drugs
after a year of herbs failed to kill the damned amebas. This was
only the start of healing the damage.
Why do I tell you this story? Well, it's a strange one, one not
heard very often. My reactions to food have been a ruling influence
in my life. Hopefully, I've learned a few things. Are my experiences
relevant to a normal, healthy person? I have no idea. But I'll share
them anyway.
The most important, crucial life modification is avoidance. This
means avoiding exposure to toxins in the environment and food. Since
over 100,000 new chemicals have been introduced since the 1940's,
this is no small task. Most people's sense of smell is so blunted
that they do not smell obvious pesticides, formaldehyde, or even
the intensity of the soaps, deodorant and perfume they wear. This
is explained by masking, which means that the body is so constantly
reacting to chemicals that no cause-and -effect relationship is
possible to figure out. Once chemicas are absorbed, the body needs
to do something with these foreign invaders, so it packs them away
in the fat and brain-- to wreak havoc over time. Extra nutrition
is required to detoxify these poisons, so we need to eat a nutrient-rich
diet now more than ever before.
Avoidance of chemicals also relates to food. I am astounded at
what people put in their bodies. I enter a surreal reverie as I
walk through a grocery store: here is an acre of food products,
none of which I can eat. Just read the labels; what is that stuff?
Even the produce is contaminated with pesticides and bio-engineered
genes. Nearly all of us now have pesticides circulating in our blood.
Children were analyzed for pesticide residues by researchers at
the University of Washington. 109 out of 110 children had detectable
levels of pesticides in their systems. The only participant with
no evidence of exposure ate organic food.
So let's look at the positive side. Organic food is delicious,
nutritious, and heartwarming. Supporting organic food may be the
most politically righteous act you can do. You are buying more nutrition
than in the same conventionally grown food item. Blood tests reveal
that most Americans have multiple mineral, vitamin, or fatty acid
deficiencies. Eating a whole-food organic diet goes a long way towards
insuring good health.
I actually cherish my simple diet now, and I'm grateful for the
satisfaction it gives me. I eat wonderfully fresh steamed veggies,
fish or organic poultry, soaked and sprouted seeds and beans, fruit,
organic butter and oils, and nearly zero grains. Growing loquats
and broccoli, winter squash, greens of all kinds provides an existential
gratification. Occasionally, I chomp at the bit for the unconsciousness
of a binge but the price is too high. My body is the ultimate taskmaster;
her messages are crystal clear.
Food is still a matter of survival for me and I'm passionate about
organic food because my life depends on it. But, in fact, all our
lives depend upon a safe, nourishing food supply. Most people are
eating poison: pesticides, novel proteins introduced into our bodies
from genetically engineered organisms, toxins and destroyed enzymes
from irradiated food, as well as ingesting inadequate vitamin and
mineral levels from plants grown in depleted soils or from processed
empty-calorie food. We must support and demand real food, which
means reconnecting with our agrarian roots. Our bodies are tethered
to the soil through the sun's rays streaming upon green plant cells
that catch that energy and fix carbon to create wonderful molecules
of starch, fat, and protein. These molecules give us our life. The
food I eat is my lifeblood. What I eat becomes who I am. I accept
my dependence on this earth.
References:
"Biological Monitoring Survey of Organophosphorus
Pesticide Exposure among Pre-school Children in the Seattle Metropolitan
Area" C. Lu, D.E. Knutson, J. Fisker-Andersen, and R.A. Fenske,
Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 109, Number 3, March 2001,
pp. 299-303.
"Effect of Agricultural Methods on Nutritional
Quality: A Comparison of Organic with Conventional Crops" by
Dr Worthington, Alternative Therapies, Volume 4, 1998, pages 58-
69.
Food and Healing; How What You Eat Determines Your
Health, Your Well-being, and the Quality of Your Life by Annemarie
Colbin
Nourishing Traditions, The cookbook that challenges
politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats by Sally Fallon
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity; A Survival Guide
by Pamela Reed Gibson
Wellness Against All Odds by Sherry Rogers, M.D.
Diet For a Poisoned Planet; How to Choose Safe
Foods For You and Your Family by David Steinman
