I now realise that a lot of my eating and lifestyle habits since going gluten and dairy free were making me prone to infestation by the very bugs and parasites that may have caused my food intolerances in the first place… [I actually believe stress and not enough exercise is the single biggest prob - but of course, once you've lost your digestive health these two things become much harder to manage or regulate and so the downward spiral goes!]

Anyway, it turns out I’ve had blastocystis since we don’t know when - but possibly as long as 7 years! This parasite can cause food intolerances and poor digestion - especially of gluten, dairy and hard to digest things like beans, corn and raw nuts (as well as strong sugars etc) - because it leaves the gut lining raw and sometimes with cysts. I’ve been on a course of nasty antibiotics, which I think did quite a good job of killing the parasite (but an even better job of killing me!)

What bugged me about the antibiotic approach is that I know the parasite is now almost as common in the ‘developed’ world as it is in developing nations- especially in ‘traveller’s rests’ like Byron… Research on the bug is poor but they think it is passed on mostly through contaminated water, fruit and veggies and poor personal hygiene. So… what if I kill the parasite only to be exposed the day again? The ‘digestive health’ article in the last Nourished issue has restored my faith in being able to deal with these bugs myself - by supporting my body with the right food to be strong internally. (I think the odd herbal colon cleanse every few months is also key.)

Prior to the antibiotics, I was having terrible IBS symptoms, fatigue, head and joint aches and pains, chronic tongue ulcers, diverticulitis, query ulcerative colitis (although I didn’t show inflammation the day I took a blood test for), gas, bloating, hopelessly irregular bowel function, piles and increasingly persistent blood in stools… but you don’t want me to go on about all that! Most of these symptoms have now abated - although I’m still having to work hard at restoring good floral balance in my gut as well as healing it.

The digestive health article in Nourished has really helped me to get my head around healthy food myths - especially the importance of good saturated fats (coconut oil is yum!) I also started soaking and dehydrating nuts recently and noticed a big improvement. One day I hope to be back tolerating butter, milk and yoghurt fats too!

I’ve also pulled out a great Ayurvedic book about food alchemy called The Ritual of Taste (Great Goona Press, 2005) which has some GREAT info on how to eat (and how not to eat) dairy and other foods. It really helps to explain the alchemy of cooking and how our bodies respond to different types of food. Funnily enough - we were given the book over 2 years ago - but I’ve only just got round to getting stuck into it. I clearly wasn’t ready to take it all on back then - but now it all seems much simpler!

As for the whole gluten thing, I remain convinced that the main cause of the current epidemic in gluten intolerance began when they started pollenating and hybridising wheat back in the late 19th century (when the first recorded case of coeliac was made). I learned yesterday (from ABC’s The Cook and The Chef) that Indian wheat varieties contain less gluten than Australian (even if you grow the same variety in Australia, it contains more gluten for some reason (water / soil type? herb and pesiticides? ). Perhaps the gluten is also more readily broken down by soaking and cooking? I think I was certainly a typical victim of propoganda by wheat producers and governments this century - who convinced us all to eat copious amounts of the whole, untreated grain - in ‘fast’ bread and cereals. Lots of digestive damage over time…”

Many thanks again for your excellent mag!

Julia Hall