How going Primal fixed my hayfever - how you can fix it too in threeeasy steps!

Hay fever ruins Spring
Ahh I am writing this blog as some of my friends have lately posted on social media saying how their weekend has been ruined by the dreaded hay fever!  I remember the symptoms well!  On the one hand you were so glad to be having the first spring days and on the other hand wanted to remain inside with the windows closed!  Itchy eyes that you can't stop rubbing, sneezing, runny nose, maybe you blow your nose so much you get a blood nose (that was me), breathing through your mouth, scratchy throat, maybe even skin rashes.  Bloody awful that is for sure.  But it doesn't have to be that way and you are not alone!

Having had hay fever all my life - I no longer get it anymore
I managed to 'cure' my hay fever by going Primal, it was one of those many positive side effects that I experienced like not having such sore feet or not having as many headaches.  For those of you who don't know, I went Primal (or Paleo) to cure chronic nausea.  Changing the way I ate fixed my nausea and my hay fever too.  I want to write this blog to help create awareness that we don't need to suffer with hay fever year in year out and to provide some alternatives to dealing with it, in the hope that this information will empower you to make the changes you need to make in order to start feeling a million dollars!  So  please read on, share with friends who have hay fever and if something isn't clear then please ask me for clarification!

Sciencey bit
It helps to understand that your body (as always) isn't working against you but trying to protect you.  Hay fever is really called "allergic rhinitis" rhinitis means inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose, caused by an allergic reaction. Basically your body is mistaking something harmless (pollen) as a threat and goes over board in it's reaction.  The reaction is inflammatory - think itchy nose, scratchy throat and sore itchy eyes.

The drugs don't work - they just make you worse
(Are you singing that Verve song now?) You can dose yourself up on antihistamines for the whole next six months.  I know I did!  Snort of Becanase every day and a Telfast or similar as well - I won't Google the potential side effects of such drug consumption! The drugs don't work - sure they relieve the symptoms but don't treat the root cause. Anti histamines basically work by tricking the body to misidentify the allergen as a threat.  So next year your hay fever will be back just as it is now.  What if you could treat the root cause and clear up your hay fever for good?  How cool would that be? I have to report that I would much choose to enjoy spring than to have another year with eyes like pee holes in the snow! So let me share with you what I did and how you can do it too - by the way it was easy and I didn't even know I was doing it! So is this the magic secret to potentially ridding yourself of hay fever?

Heal your gut
You gut is your first line of defence.  One way to modify how your gut reacts to things is to modify your gut!  Here is your three step gut healing protocol:

1. removing inflammatory foods
2. soothing the gut with gelatine, bone broth or L Glutamine
3. improving beneficial bacteria by including probiotics such as Kombucha, Kefir, fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut or by taking probiotic supplements

Going Paleo or Primal encompasses all of the three steps.  Even though there haven't been any studies of people on a Paleo diet and their allergic rhinitis there is much anecdotal evidence to show that going Primal can really relieve hay fever symptoms.  My suggestion would be to do your own N=1 and do your own science experiment on YOU!

Going Paleo includes removing seed oils, legumes, grains, gluten and dairy from your diet as well as reducing sugar and alcohol consumption.  Going Primal just means you can keep the dairy - if you can tolerate it, I would suggest an elimination period of at least 21 days before re introducing. Eating a standard Australian diet can cause chronic inflammation - your immune system is already on high alert before hay fever season even starts - it makes sense not to layer inflammation on top of inflammation right?

So there you have it folks, healing your gut can really help with hay fever - any much more too!  If you have kids be sure to let them get as much exposure to dirt as possible!  Studies show that our immune systems grow more robust over time and that farm kids - who have had much exposure to dirt and soil have less allergies than city kids in disinfected houses.

I am in my fourth hay fever season since going Primal and apart from the odd sneeze - it's nothing!  So why don't you give Primal a go?  Set yourself a 21 day challenge and see if you notice any changes? What do you have to lose?  I would love to hear how you go.  Be sure to let us know in the comments below or join our group on Facebook at The Primal Alternative.

Have a great start to your week! Love, H xx

My blood results are in - how the paleo diet is affecting my cholesterol

Before I adopted a primal lifestyle six months ago I was in that horrible fog of not knowing what was wrong with me.  I had numerous blood tests, amongst every other test under the sun, to try and find out what was wrong.  At the time my blood test results were 'unremarkable' to use my Doctor's words. I was fine, there was no sign of inflammation, diabetes, autoimmune, high cholesterol. I think there may have been a quick question regarding depression as there was seemingly nothing wrong with me at all.

Skip forward six months and we now know what I'm dealing with - gut dysbiosis, SIBO and leaky gut. I have turned my food pyramid on it's head.  Gone is the low fat high carb diet of 25 years and in came the high fat low carb paleo primal style of eating.  Ditching the carby grains was easy but I was a little bit more apprehensive about eating the fat.  Fat? Really?  Once I realised how calm eating fat makes you feel, how satisfied you can be for literally hours, none of that jittery 'dothery' mad scramble to eat every couple of hours - it made sense.

How is all this fat affecting my cholesterol?
Although I had read the convincing research that fat doesn't give you heart disease (I am sparing you the research but if this is new to you read more here.) in the back of my mind I was still slightly concerned - 'are you sure all of these tablespoons of butter aren't clogging my arteries?' So I booked in for some more blood tests as an exciting before and after pre primal and primal experiment.

The results?

Cholesterol down 5.6 to 5.4 (<5.5 NHF ideal)

HDL (good) Cholesterol up 1.5 to 1.7 (>1.00)

LDL (bad) Cholesterol down 3.8 to 3.4 (< 3.0 low risk)

Triglycerides same at 0.6 (<2.0 fasting)

Risk for coronary heart disease down 3.7 to 3.2  (3.0 - 5.0 average risk)

 

 

So overall an improvement and a reduction in the risk for coronary heart disease by eating fat and reducing sugar and carbs in my diet.  The thing I was most excited about was that my iron levels.  My iron has always been abysmally low.  On the scale of 30-300 ug/L my last blood test came in at a sorry 9!  Off the scale.  Take an iron supplement the Doctor had advised but this led to constipation so I stopped.  Rae my fab Naturopath said that it was likely that the overgrowth of bacteria in my small intestine were feasting on my nutrients and I wasn't absorbing all the good stuff from my food, so this makes me think that maybe I am on top of the overgrowth situation.  My energy is amazing so maybe this is what it feels like to be running on my own iron wise?  My number now?  It's 35!  It's still pathetic and I am keen to see if it creeps up as I continue to nourish myself with primal food!

 

 

I'm not a sexy example

My Doctor said again that my blood results are 'unremarkable' and this would have been a much more exciting blog post if I had been on Statin medication and could show some amazing turn around, so my apologies.  However for me it is reassuring to know that even though the research is out there that fat doesn't cause heart disease it was nice to know that I am living proof. I explained to my Doctor why I wanted to do the tests and her eyes stood out on stalks - after all she knew I had done my research.  My Doctor said to me,

 

"There has been a shift.  We now know that it's not fat that causes heart disease, it's the carbs and sugar.  That's the death sentence.  All these people walking around stuffing their faces with cakes and pastries.  You add trans fats to that and there is your triple decker death sentence."

 

 

 

I have to say I was more than impressed with my primal aligned Doctor, I was talking to Conventional Wisdom, not my clued up Naturopath who has known this for years!  My Doctor told me to keep doing what I was doing, because it's working.  Sweet as.

 

How has eating primal affected your blood test results?  Have you got a more sexy story to share than mine?  Please share and help me spread the primal word.

Gelatine

 

Up until now the only gelatine I knew was what comes in packet jelly mixes at the supermarket, a sugary chemical cocktail that kids love!  Jellies in our house were a school holiday or birthday party 'treat' (I use that term treat loosely as a sugary chemical bomb isn't really a good way to treat ourselves now is it?).    Gelatine also came in the form of 'natural' lollies for the kids.  But I used to feel grossed out by gelatine, all those bones and hooves, we've all seen the Facebook visual right.  Now I am super excited to have jelly back on the menu and I am going to tell you why I've done the 180 on the gelatine and why you could consider it to...

 

Gelatine used to be part of primal diets and it is basically dehydrated broth powder made up of bones, cartilage, collagen and minerals.  You may have heard of the benefits of bone broths already and I certainly have and I have been trying to incorporate them into my gut healing protocol.  In case you are unsure why it's good to incorporate gelatine into your primal diet here is a list of what gelatine does for you (thanks Grass Fed Girl)

 

Skin Health - as gelatine is a rich source of collagen, which makes the skin strength and firmness

 

Anti aging - as our collagen levels drop after our 20's this helps to top them up, bring on the radiant youthful skin

 

Wrinkles - Proline is an amino acid that is abundant in gelatine and helps keep up youthful skin

 

Teeth, nails and hair - gelatine contains beneficial minerals that are lacking in the Standard Australian Diet. Gelatine delivers loads of calcium, magnesium and phosphorous which build strong nails, teeth and hair

 

Stretch marks - gelatine helps prevent them as it improves the skins elasticity and functioning.

 

Cellulite - is caused by a breakdown in collagen, which can be made worse by nutritional deficiencies. Gelatine helps get rid of cellulite as it contains collagen - did I say that already?

 

Liver detox - gelatine is rich in GLYCINE which the body needs a lot of to help with the detoxification process from exposure to chemicals and our toxic environment. People without enough glycine will not produce enough glutathione which is crucial for the body's Phase II liver detoxification and fat burning ability.

 

Weight loss - this wobbly stuff is full of protein which makes people feel full.

 

Digestion - the amino acid Glycine can help increase hydrochloric acid in the stomach which is essential for digestion and the assimilation of nutrients. Although a lot of people suffer from acid reflux the majority of us are in fact deficient in hydrochloric acid which happens as a result of stress, aging and when we don't eat mindfully (e.g. in front of the television, or driving, you don't do that do you?) As a side note all of you heartburn sufferers may benefit from increasing your hydrochloric acid.  If you suffer from other digestive issues further down the GI tract it may be a result of not chewing enough and lack of hydrochloric acid in your stomach. 

 

Leaky gut - (my reason for eating this stuff but researching the other reasons makes it even more appealing!!) Gelatine helps to heal the gut lining and can even nourish Celiac patients who are malnourished from gluten reactions.

 

Strong bones - forget the milk - bones are living structures that can be built up or broken down daily by our nutritional choices.  Gelatine contains highly bioavailable calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals which helps build a healthy bone matrix.

 

Arthritis Support - gelatine contains Chondroitin which has long been used as a supplement to ease arthritis suffering. Ditching grains as part of your primal lifestyle will also help your arthritis.

 

High metabolism - the amino acids help to build muscle and the glycine also helps regulate insulin sensitivity keeping us from storing abdominal fat.

 

Adrenals - when are bodies are under stress they need more minerals and amino acids, which gelatine delivers and may even help to rejuvenate the renal organs which are the kidneys, adrenals and bladder, which help us deal with the stress hormones such as cortisol.

 

Hormone balance - as mentioned above this wonder stuff contains glutathione which helps remove excess oestrogen which is a risk factor for female cancers.

 

Wound repair - thanks to the glycine and arginine found in connective tissues.

 

Allergies - gelatine can help alleviate allergic reactions and sensitivities because it helps repair inflamed and porous gut linings (see above leaky gut).

 

Lowers inflammation - because of the low fat message of old a lot of people get too much lean protein in their diet, this imbalance can be remedied with gelatine (and healthy fats) if added to meals.  Lean protein in excess can be inflammatory but gelatine provides proline and glycine that balance it out.

 

So now you're sold you are wondering where can I buy this stuff and how can I make some of that good looking Jelly? Well you can buy Buy here and quote code ZVN 935 for a discount off the already doable price of around $21 delivered, and one container makes a lot of jellies and lollies.

 

I have mucked around with various recipes and had my super critical critics be the judges (my kids) and after many disasters I am pleased to bring to you the best recipe so far.  I have adapted this from Pete Evans Family Food book on page 277.

 

Ingredients

 

500g punnet of organic strawberries (hulled)

half a cup of rice malt syrup

juice of one lemon

2 teaspoons of natural strawberry flavouring essence (I used the Queen Brand) - optional but boosts the flavour to rival shop bought jelly

1-2 tablespoons of Great Lakes Gelatine

 

Method

• Place the strawberries, rice malt syrup and lemon juice in a saucepan with 500ml water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Strain.

• Pour 3 tablespoons of water into a small cup, sprinkle in the gelatine, stir until all covered with water and soak for 2 minutes. Stir the gelatine through the strawberry mixture until dissolved. Pour the mixture into individual cups or bowl to set, will take about 4 hours.

 

The best Gummy Bear recipe I have found so far is from Mommypotamus which I have adjusted slightly.

 

Ingredients

 

3 tablespoons Great Lakes Gelatine

1/3 cup of lemon/lime juice

3 tablespoons of rice malt syrup

Teaspoon of Natural Lemon/Lime/Strawberry/Orange Flavouring Extract (optional but if you want them to taste like shop lollies then do it)

Non toxic, vegetable based food colouring (I haven't found any yet but can't wait to try)

 

Method

 

• Whisk lemon/lime juice, rice malt syrup and gelatine in a saucepan until there are no lumps

• Heat over a low heat until melted and smooth, stirring constantly

• Add food colouring and flavouring

• Pour into moulds (or a tin if you don't have moulds and you can chop up later)

• Freeze for 5-10mins

• Pop out of moulds, they come out reassuringly easily!

 

Are you going to try these easy peasy super nutritious recipes?  If so I would love to hear about how it goes in the comments below or at www.facebook.com/primalsoapbox or email me at primalsoapbox@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

How cutting out wheat cured my plantar fasciitis

Plantar what? Plantar fasciitis (pronounced PLAN ter fash ee EYE tus) is one of the most common causes of heel pain. The plantar fascia is a flat band of tissue that connects your heel to the bones of your toe and it supports the arch in your foot.  Plantar fasciitis is, in theory, caused by straining the ligament that supports your arch, this leads to pain and swelling.  They say its caused by too much time on your feet (hmm), common in middle aged people (why?), if you're overweight, or if you have tight muscles in your legs.  If you've got it, you know about it.  Even undiagnosed people are aware if they have sore feet or not.  As a massage therapist I do a lot of reflexology work on the feet and when I squeeze the heel on my clients I find that 99% of people have sore heels.  That's a lot right.  Are your feet sore?

I developed agonising plantar fasciitis when I was pregnant with my two children.  At the time I was told it was because I was heavy from carrying child and that the relaxin in my pregnant body had made my arches relax too much.  I was on my feet a lot running after a then two year old whilst heavily pregnant with my second child, this I was told only exacabated the problem.  To add insult to injury we moved into a 'shouse' with a concrete floor!  I was in so much pain that I could not step more than two steps without shoes on.  The ONLY shoes I could wear comfortably were Birkenstocks. 

My cousin in the UK also suffers from this painful affliction, it causes him so much pain that he had a cortisol injection for it.  My Auntie also suffers from it so I assumed oh well its a family thing, just better live with it.  It was so sore that it would make my shoulders and neck tight just from the wincing I did as I walked around.  I had some orthotics made up which helped but didn't cure.

Ditching the gluten was the first step on my primal diet journey and it was only a matter of weeks, maybe two or three, before I noticed, 'hey, my feet aren't sore'.  I have always loved walking on the beach but until then it was a pretty uncomfortable exercise.  Now I was taking beach walks as therapy and no pain!

How is this so, well I have a couple of theories.  The first is that I have gluten sensitivity.  You don't need to have full blown celiac disease to have adverse reactions to gluten.  Gluten sensitivity, or gluten intolerance basically means having an adverse reaction to consuming gluten which can cause the body to attack it's own tissues.  Other signs of gluten sensitivity include bloating, stomach pain, fatigue, diarrhea and constipation as well as pain in the bones and joints.  Gluten sensitivity is much more common than you would think.  The easiest and cheapest way to see if you have it is to eliminate gluten for 30 days and see if you have relief in any of your nagging health problems.

Theory two gluten causes a leaky gut.  Studies show that gluten can cause inflammation in the intestine and a degeneration in the gut linining allowing unwanted substances to leak through into the blood stream and wreak havoc wherever the invading substances go. Which again comes down to inflamation.

So if you've got similar foot pain and are sick of putting up with it how about trying a gluten elimination plan for 30 days and see if you have any improvement? A reduction in pain may be the first of an avalanche of improvements you experience if you ask me! Did I mention the nigling shoulder pain also miraculously vanished too? 

What are your thoughts? I seem to be having some issues with the comments function below but you can contact me by email primalsoapbox@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

About my primal shift

It all starts with food and this was my starting point.  I found it didn't just end there, I also needed to make some simple but committed lifestyle changes too which mainly helped me chill out and actually digest all this amazing food I was putting in my belly. More about those in blogs to come...

A good place to start is by eliminating foods that commonly cause digestive issues (which leads to a myriad of other common ailments). The major culprits are GRAINS, LEGUMES, ALCOHOL, SUGAR and DAIRY.  Yikes, what's left?

When I first heard about this from my well informed friend Kirsty in the form of the Whole30 (I just did my first links, feeling like a pro!) I absolutely scoffed at the idea, how absurd, no way, pft what next kind of reaction.  I now wonder if it was the colonies of bad bacteria in my gut that were causing my food choices. 

I've always considered myself healthy and have always done what I can to be as healthy as I can, with the information I had available to me at that time.  Unfortunately I now realise that the information to eat LOW FAT and do lots of CHRONIC CARDIO at the gym was probably a recipe for disaster for my gut and adrenals. 

I would have never ever ever in a million years cut out the offending food groups mentioned above if I had not felt so utterly shite.  I was nauseous, it was like a hangover or morning sickness.  For six months very intensively but looking back it was a slow two year build up.  I was exhausted, stressed, constipated, sleep was shocking I was feeling how a lot of people say they felt and I became to think it was probably just normal for a mum of two kids who was approaching forty herself to feel.  I even goggled exhaustion two years ago and smugly posted on Facebook that the search had suggested that giving up caffeine, alcohol and sugar could help alleviate exhaustion and that perhaps being tired wasn't so bad after all. So I had my coffee on a morning and my wine on a night and that's how I coped on my sugar and carbohydrate roller coaster day of ups and downs, feeling hungry every 2-3 hours, and feeling overwhelmed, stressed and losing it around the 'witching hours' 4-7pm.

I used to get HANGRY (hungry and angry, love that word thanks Slips) I used to feel dizzy sometimes my vision would go temporarily for example at the gym when we went from something lying down to something standing up quickly.  But mainly I felt sick, sometimes it was so bad I would get the shakes.  Then my thoughts went weird.  (This is the bit that upsets me now the most).  I started having irrational thoughts, mainly about the kids getting gastro.  I was struggling through the day and I couldn't cope with anymore, plus being 100% nauseous all the time, the last thing I wanted was vomiting kids in the house. It was mental torture.  My thoughts just went down the negative track all the time and I felt I had no control over them.

I went to see my Dr, she ran loads and loads of blood tests, I had a full body ultrasound, stool samples, you name it...the results came back, there is nothing wrong with you everything looks fine, your iron is a bit low, take some supplements, maybe you have got some IBS but there is no drug for that.

In a moment of crisis and desperation I decided to try gluten free, that again is another post worthy story, this caused a massive gluten hangover for about three days followed by massive change and relief most markedly in my thoughts, no more weird obsessive thoughts, that part happened quickly!

Then I went to see my saviour, my Naturopath Rae she quickly diagnosed me as having Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth , a leaky gut and some irritable bowel syndrome.  More on all of these to come. So Rae set about soothing my massively inflamed gut and healing and sealing  as well as some delicious (not) tonics for adrenal nourishment amongst other things. I also started on some excellent probiotics.

So my Whole30 ended up looking more like a Wholeish60ish with some liver detoxing in there.

I ditched gluten in April, started my Wholeish60ish in May and now its beginning of September.  The nausea is all but gone, sometimes if I've overdone it or its cycle related I get a mild nausea.  That's all I wanted, the nausea gone.  But soon I started to feel better, then good, then kin awesome!  I was getting stressed less, I was having more fun with the kids and making up daft songs just cause I felt like it.  My energy started to become constant and steady all day and that aching exhausted feeling was gone.  I started to feel sleepy as soon as the sun went down and sleep changed from a fits and starts light sleep to passing out at 9;15pm and knowing nothing until 6:00am the next day.  (I thought only husbands could sleep like that!)

OK, so I promised myself I'd stop after an hour of chatting with you, thanks for listening.  Next time I want to talk to you about the food I am eating now and what the hell JERF means.

Below is a selfie of Milly and I down at the beach in May this year.  I had started my healing process but I still felt very fragile, but I was out there getting on with it, cos you have to when you're a Mum don't you?  But I can see in my eyes here that I was suffering.