It’s NEVER about Your Symptoms …

By Dietitian Jill Place

I wrote this about 4 years ago … but it’s as true now as it was then. Do you have … pain … maldigestion … exhaustion … I could go on but it’ll take all day. And what doctors won’t tell you is that the first step to healing is DIET!

Because they don’t understand DIET … they understand pills.

I’m really TIRED of it! People call me EVERY DAY saying “I have Fibromyalgia” … “I have salicylate sensitivity” … “It’s  histamine intolerance … I just know it” … “I have (just name it!)”. I’m pleading with you … there’s a ROOT CAUSE for all of your health problems … and it’s NEVER about your symptoms …

And yet I get emails every day like this (my ITALICIZED comments in orange) …

I just found your blog about how to treat salicylate sensitivity which I believe (self-diagnosing and seeking a concrete answer for her problem …) … have developed together with histamine issues while having SIBO (more and MORE diagnoses). I know I need to find my root cause (no, she doesn’t … ).

I know all the theory. But now I’m struggling like never. I’m thinking I have no reason to live anymore. I’m having horrible symptoms all day every day (this is heart-rendering … and I totally feel her pain … but she’s not embracing the root cause idea at all!).

I was devastated by the SIBO diagnosis (there’s that word again … and she’s either a drama queen or not the type of person that rises to a challenge) but it is nothing compared to sals (I hate it when people give a diagnosis a nickname … then it OWNS you!) and histamine. All my symptoms are here only when I eat, once I have a bite all horror starts.

I’m starving myself as I’m currently reacting to everything. I can’t believe I got to this point only in 10 months since I have started to have SIBO symptoms (bloating and sometimes pain, nothing else). In August after one course of antibiotics all histamine has started (my expert take … she still has SIBO … one course of antibiotics cannot eradicate it … and it sounds like it just pissed the SIBO off!) …

I’m not self diagnosing myself (YES … SHE IS!) but I also can put 1+1 together (no … she can’t!) …

The Reality of Embracing Symptoms …

Is there any way you could please help me? Or better give me some hope as right now I’m experiencing a massive mental breakdown and don’t know what to do or where to start if ever (I could really help this gal …  but I’ll bet you $1000 that she never follows through …).

IS THIS WHERE ‘MODERN MEDICINE’ HAS LEFT US? High and dry … clutching for symptoms … at the verge of mental collapse. I think so …

Oh … and by the way … I offered her my free consultation (in the column on the right) a week ago … and haven’t heard from her since … THE THOUSAND IS MINE!

Going Beyond Symptoms … THE FACTS …

An online article on the U.S. Preventive Medicine website states …

Our country is amid a population health transformation. Healthcare is moving from treating symptoms to finding and treating the root cause of disease (oh … if only that were true …).

With healthcare costs on the rise and 51% of all mortality being directly attributable to lifestyle choices, people have more control over their health than they think (but will they act on it?). For example, 85% of all type 2 diabetes diagnoses (and the side effects associated with the disease) are preventable!

Here are some other statistics … from the National Institutes of Health …

They found that ANA (antinuclear antibodies … the most common biomarker of autoimmunity) prevalence for 1988-1991 was 11.0%, while for 1999-2004 it was 11.5%, and for 2011-2012 it was 15.9%. These percentages corresponded to 22, 27, and 41 million affected individuals, respectively.

… findings in the adolescent group were the most worrisome to the research team. Young people, ages 12-19, had the largest ANA increases in the study, going from a two-fold to a three-fold increase over the three timeframes.

So we have a fast-growing condition and life-threatening diseases that CAN be prevented by lifestyle choice and change. But the question is … WILL WE CHANGE?

I think not. Current food sources and systems are set up to deliver extremely unhealthy choices to us.  Remember the movie Supersize Me? 30 days of fast food made the movie-maker gain 25 pounds and teeter on the brink of a heart attack!

Hold that image in your head. Then read these startling pandemic statistics from a recent CNN article …

Chipotle’s second-quarter digital sales grew a whopping 216% year-over-year and made up 61% of total sales. Yum! said digital orders at all of its brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) hit an all-time high, jumping $1 billion to $3.5 billion from the same quarter a year ago.

Turning the Corner on Symptoms …

Autoimmune disease is the fastest-growing medical condition today. But, because of where it comes from … a leaky gut that leads to inflammation, an immune system gone berserk, and eventual symptoms … the medical model can’t cure it.  Even with a mountain of pills.

The autoimmune pandemic is directly caused by the fast food epidemic above and other poor lifestyle choices. And can ONLY be curbed and cured by BETTER choices.

So what corner do we need to turn to do that? A HUGE ONE!

It’s going to take a lot of education. And infrastructures that support better lifestyle changes.

But … even more than that … [click_to_tweet tweet=”it’s going to take a major change in mindset that substitutes a quest for a root cause instead of a search for a pill to treat a symptom. And a desire of people to take responsibility for their own health instead of looking to a doctor-priest to heal them.” quote=”it’s going to take a major change in mindset that substitutes a quest for a root cause instead of a search for a pill to treat a symptom. And a desire of people to take responsibility for their own health instead of looking to a doctor-priest to heal them.” theme=”style2″]

Now that I’ve mapped out what needs to be done to turn the corner on our symptom-obsessed culture, I’d like to share with you an example. A person who actually cured himself of a supposedly incurable disease …

A Startling Root-Cause Success Story …

It says on the internet …

There’s currently no cure for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The main aim of treatment is to relieve the symptoms as much as possible and slow down its progression. As the condition becomes more advanced, end of life (palliative) care will be offered …The average life expectancy of patients with pulmonary fibrosis is three to five years after diagnosis.

Joe called me one day and was eager to book a session. He said he had pulmonary fibrosis from years of handling toxic chemicals in his business.

I warned him at the time that what we did together may not heal him. Because, as you can see from the medical-model description above, pulmonary fibrosis might as well be called a death sentence …

The first time he walked into my office he was on oxygen. I wasn’t surprised!

I found that he and his wife, Mary, were wonderful people! But what was even more wonderful was that they had embraced a major-change-in-mindset, take-responsibility stance. Anything I wanted to do they were all for.

And I could barely believe it! The second time he walked in he was breathing on his own! He hadn’t used oxygen for a week …

And just yesterday he was sharing with me that the swelling in his ankles (and his high uric acid blood test [click here for even more research about the link between it and toxic chemicals])  was now gone (were normal) …

He also shared that he had more energy and was now exercising an hour a day …

WHAT DID HE DO?

 Well … I wish I could take credit for all of it. But he had already done extensive research on alternative ways of healing …

He had gotten an infrared sauna … a terrific healing tool. Here’s some info on it …  It had helped him so much that he became an infrared sauna distributor …

One of the most exciting features of infrared radiation is its effect on the body’s natural healing process. Because it penetrates the body much more completely than a regular sauna.

Infrared supposedly stimulates cells, increases tissue growth, accelerates healing, and helps the skin fight off effects of aging. Since I’m 75, I’M ALL IN!

The second time I saw Joe he had already started on an anti-inflammatory diet. Mary has neatly-labeled jars of good ingredients all over her kitchen.

And a HUGE blackboard where she lists allowed foods …

Doing FOODStrong™

The allowed foods were there because we went one step further … we did FOODStrong™ for food sensitivities. Click on the name if you want to know more about this life-changing test and treatment.

FOODStrong™ tests 170 different foods and chemicals in food for potential sensitivities. With the idea that … once you identify these sensitivities … you can avoid those foods and decrease the inflammation in your body. Inflammation has been well-researched as the root cause for every ill on earth!

So after I get the results back, I can be more specific about food choices for healing. Because you eat only non-sensitive foods for a month … beginning with those that are least sensitive. POWERFUL!

Do I think that these specific choices helped take down the swelling and lab values. YES!

 Not only that … both he and his wife had lost weight …

I had lunch with them last week. Not an oxygen tank it sight.  And we feasted on organic veggies, grains, and fish. As well as a couple of smoothies.

What was amazing was that Joe had to catch his breath a couple of times during the two hours we all spent together. But recovered almost immediately … which to me was nothing short of miraculous! He is definitely on the mend … from a formerly incurable disease. How do you explain that?

So Much for Symptoms …

Joe said that the reason he and Mary were able to do this type of lifestyle change was that they had the time. I disagreed. I’m a very busy person and still have time to do all this myself … it’s definitely doable if you have a plan.

But I think that … even more important … is that “major change in mindset that substitutes a quest for a root cause instead of a search for a pill to treat a symptom”. And reminded Joe that Mary had successfully searched for someone like me who believes exactly that.

We also talked of the many people he had referred to me. None had yet called.

Again I wasn’t surprised. I received two more “I have …” emails this morning. And it’s only 7am.

I explained to Joe that some were still stuck in the “I have (name of disease/intolerance/you name it …)” mindset. And others were just to scared to step into the unknown.

After all, to quote ancient mapmakers, “Beyond this Place Here be Dragons”.  It’s a phrase frequently used today to warn people away from unexplored areas or untried actions.

And … by the way … I never heard back from the woman I talked about at the beginning of this article. I hope she’s not suffering. But I’m pretty sure she is …