I just hosted my first family Christmas gathering. I'm sure that during the two weeks my family was visiting they likely grew pretty tired of hearing about "gut bacteria". Beneficial gut bacteria, opportunistic gut bacteria, gut bacteria out of whack, gut bacteria in check, probiotics, kefir, raw sauerkraut, omega 3s... yadda yadda yadda. When pressed by my mother on exactly what I meant by my 'gut', I had to own up to the fact that I'm fascinated to the point of obsession with the foreign objects that live in intestines. The, uh, shit that lives in your shit.
I think about it all the time. What's going on in my intestines, my kids', my husband's, family members'. I have a candida overgrowth, but what about my mom, who has MS? My husband has heart palpitations and an immune system that's seen better days. What opportunistic flora is flourishing in his intestinal tract? I'm FASCINATED that up to 80% of your immune system is in your gut. And it's controlled by living organisms that, among other things, 1. are not part of your body, genetically and 2. were passed down to you from your mother.
Statement #2 prompted a heated discussion about vaginal flora and a resounding "I did NOT get my immune system from my mother's vagina!". Perhaps that was too much to spring on someone raised 60 years on the food pyramid? I should have known how that was going to go over. She's still fighting me on the 'benefits' of whole wheat bread. Indicating that my grandmother's hoo-ha played any part in the myriad immune issues in my family... well, that's a bit of a jump.
In any event, it is my intention to improve my own gut flora and wrangle those opportunistic bastards into submission. I'm using the GAPS method, developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. I'm starting with the "full GAPS diet", but omitting all sugars such as honey and date sugar and fruit. I'm also utilizing some natural anti fungal medicines such as grapefruit seed extract and oil of oregano for good measure, as they were recommended by the thecandidadiet.com people. My plan is to see how this goes over and, if I feel that I need some extra healing, I'll visit the introduction diet and drown myself in bone broth. For now, I'm going to do my little hybrid plan and see what happens.
I'm starting this on December 31st because I know that every New Years Resolution is doomed to fail. So, I'm not waiting for the new year. I've got my yogurt cultures on the way, Santa brought me my yogurt maker, I've got freshly fermented kefir in the fridge, bone broth in the freezer (along with some chicken soups), raw sauerkraut and kim-chi in the fridge and all my probiotics purchased. I've talked my husband into going at least Yeast Free for the next 28 days, so I'll have some support and someone going through miserable die off with me. Won't we be a blast for the next week?!?
I'm also introducing the kids (2 years old and 4 years old) to the full GAPS diet - slowly. Once I'm through a lot of the initial die off and I'm not a miserable bitch, I'm going to take out that last stronghold: bread. Hopefully I'll have the energy to make alternatives and stand my ground about where their favorite cheeses and smoothies and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are. Sigh. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Here's to you, Grandmom, and whatever crazy bacteria you passed to your kids, who passed it to theirs, and so on. The buck stops here. I'm not interested in an autoimmune disorder for me or my girls. No, not even Lupus, but thanks for asking.
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