Daniel
Forum Replies Created
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Hey @Szilvia Bartalos,
The good news is that this platform is a pretty good resource for acid reflux, GERD and Barret’s Oesophagus! When the oesophagus is exposed to stomach acid on a regular base, the oesophagus gets inflamed. What in some cases can happen is that the tissue of the esophagus changes: they become more like the column-shaped cells in the lining of the stomach and bowel. This is what Barret’s Oesophagus is.
You could view Barret’s Oesophagus as an adaptation from the body to protect the oesophagus against regular exposure to acid from the stomach.
Some foods can trigger acid reflux and are recommended to be avoided. These foods include coffee, citrus fruits, tomato sauce, black tea, alcohol, soda and spicey foods.
When the sphincter is not closing properly, positions in which acid could flow in the oesophagus can cause a burning sensation as well. When your husband goes to sleep, it helps keep his head and upper part of the body a bit higher than the rest of the body. That will help to keep the stomach fluids in the stomach.
Root causes
There are several different causes that can lead to acid reflux:Stress
A little breach in the diaphragm (Hiatus Hernia) can cause the stomach to push through the diaphragm which in turn can cause acid reflux
An overgrowth of H. Pylori (Which can lead to Ulcers, but often not. The absence of ulcers is therefore no proof of the absence of an H. Pylori overgrowth)
Nutrient insufficiencies like zinc, vitamin B1 and magnesium
Insufficient stomach acid
A slow thyroid (which can lead to insufficient stomach acid. If you like to test for a slow thyroid watch this movie)
More information about what you can do to prevent/heal from acid reflux can be found here in this handout!
Finding the root cause becomes important for addressing the problem. What works for a Hiatus Hernia, doesn’t work for a slow thyroid. Always keep in mind: there can be more than 1 root cause!
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Hey @Yasmin atassi,
Are you referring to the brand Sunlighten? Although I’ve no personal experience with these sauna cabins, I know they advertise that their saunas are producing very low amounts of EMF. The brand Clearlight however emits lower amounts of EMF. If EMF is your main concern, I would probably go for them
I’m unsure if Clearlight is available in Dubai since I’m based in Europe. This is probably what I personally would do. If there is a shop there that sells low EMF radiating saunas, you could also ask if they tested their saunas by third independent parties. If they didn’t do that, you can bring your own Gauss meter and see how much EMF the sauna radiates in action.
If you’re looking for a sauna that has a therapeutic effect on the skin, you need to be aware of the difference between full-spectrum light and photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT). PBMT is the effect a lot of people want when they are looking for red light therapy. Most full-spectrum saunas aren’t emitting enough infrared light of a certain wavelength and strength for the PBMT effect. If you’re looking for such a sauna, the Clearlight Sanctuary (a sauna model from the brand Clearlight) has an add-on that gives the light frequencies and strength for PBMT.
If the EMF is your only concern, then forget the last part.
Maybe @Bernadette Abraham has some additional advice for where to look in Dubai.
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Hey @KK,
When I recommend diets, it’s usually based on what that person would work on. For example, suppose someone has a lot of trouble balancing blood sugars (for example, when somebody has Type 2 Diabetes) and the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin is impaired. In that case, I might strategically choose to give the pancreas a break with a ketogenic diet. Not forever, but enough to destress the pancreas to allow it to heal.
If someone likes a ketogenic diet and decides to stick to it, I would say: go for it.
Another discussion is how the ketogenic diet is implemented. For me, a good implementation of a ketogenic diet goes beyond removing carbs and focusing on fats and proteins. The quality of the fats and proteins is equally important. I usually recommend eliminating all sweetened beverages and all-grain flours with a strong focus on vegetables, nuts/seeds, healthy fat sources, and moderate amounts of low-carb organic fruits.
I would recommend eating non-starchy fibre-rich vegetables. Fibres are consumed by the microbiome and are converted to short-chain fatty acids like butyrate. Although technically fibres are carbs (and we used to think they were undigestable), a degree of fibres does get broken down and absorbed as fat. Examples of non-starchy fibre-rich foods that could fit into a ketogenic diet are artichoke, leafy greens and nuts like hazelnuts, pecans and macadamia nuts.
Would I recommend keto to everyone who has insulin resistance? The degree of insulin resistance plays another role. One person might need a more drastic reduction in carbs than the other. For one person it might be enough to reduce the fast digestible carbs and focus more on slower carbs, for the other person such an intervention is not enough.
Supplements peri-menopause
In perimenopause, the female hormone ‘dance’ changes. Progesterone slowly declines, which can make women more sensitive to changes in estrogen. In the B Better library, you can find a protocol that has helped many. You can find it here.I find lifestyle recommendations in this case extremely powerful as well.
The body goes through a change. Other things (besides perimenopause) that throw female hormones out of balance as well can have more impact. For example, in perimenopause production of progesterone slowly goes down. Other stuff that lowers progesterone will have more impact, like:
Stress
Hypothyroidism
Low cholesterol
PCOS (in these cases improving insulin resistance, if there is insulin resistance at play, can help women find more balance in peri-menopause).
Make sure you sleep well! Being deprived is a quick way to stress the body.
Make sure the body can clear estrogen:
Make sure you’re not constipated. After 24 hours, estrogen that was bound and ready to leave the body through the stool can be reabsorbed.
Magnesium helps the enzyme COMT which helps break down estrogen.
Reduce caffeine.
Reduce Alcohol. Detoxification of alcohol uses the same pathway as estrogen detoxification… but alcohol will go first!
There are more tips in this handout. It helps you understand in what ways you can help the body to bring balance to the female hormone ‘dance’.
I hope these tips are of help to you!
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Hey @Naveed Aslam,
Are you referring to the list of fruits and vegetables that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases yearly? The dirty dozen and the clean fifteen?
If so, you can find the list right here!
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Hey @Sara Almansoori,
She could do many things to improve her lifestyle, but perhaps you could help us describe her lifestyle a bit more. For example:
– How would you describe her diet?
How would you describe her diet?
Is she continuously tired? Is she tired after eating food?
How is her sleep? Does she sleep easily? Does she wake up at night? And how many hours does she sleep?
What symptoms does she experience when she has indigestion? Is she easily full? Does she experience bloating? Heartburn? Nausea? Are her symptoms more in the upper GI tract? Or lower GI tract?
Another question which would help me to answer your question:
How do you know your sister suffers from viscosity in the bile fluid?
Regarding these lab values, your sister has indeed high cholesterol. Her HDL is slightly elevated (even if the arrow in the HDL bar has been drawn far to the right, the absolute value is just slightly too high). Her LDL cholesterol is in range. LDL is the type of cholesterol we often see elevated when people have insulin resistance or when people eat a high-calorie/high-fat diet.
Although less seen, HDL can be elevated. HDL cholesterol can for example act as an antioxidant, indicating the body is dealing with oxidative stress. I can’t tell you what the source of the oxidative stress is. It could be a lack of nutrients if she has trouble taking care of herself, something I often see when people are dealing with fatigue.
There could be more exposure to oxidative stress because her body is dealing with for example something inflammatory (like for example a simmering infection in the gut)
If you share a bit more about your sister’s lifestyle, I’ll see if I can give you more targeted tips!
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Happy new year to you too @Naveed Aslam
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Hey @Sara,
Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too! And thank you for sharing the love! The love goes both ways 🙂 We are very happy with this place where like-minded people can find each other! And thank you for all of your questions this year. It creates educational value for everyone
Back to your questions:
1. Heart of Palm Rice: The ingredient list looks pretty simple. Sliced heart of palms, water, sea salt and citric acid. This product fits in a low-carb no-grain diet.
Blue Dragon Spring rolls: Here the ingredient list looks simple as well. Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour, Water, Salt. Depending on where you are in the healing process of rebalancing your blood sugars, you might want to avoid it or eat it only occasionally. The spring rolls are a source of carbs that are also relatively fast digestible. White rice is a fast digestible source of carbs and can raise blood sugar quickly. Tapioca, which is a root, is even more quickly digested then potatoes. Because we aren’t talking about whole foods, but about very fine powdered flour, as a rule of thumb, the body doesn’t need to break down the whole foods and it is even easier for the body to absorb.
Do you have certain lab values that could indicate how well you are balancing your blood sugars? For example, do you know your fasting glucose? Did you measure your HbA1c? Or even better: did you measure your fasting insulin? Just to give us a feeling of how well your body is balancing blood sugars?
When you are trying to heal from leaky gut, avoiding grains can be part of the solution. Some healthcare professionals will ask you to avoid gluten containing grains like wheat, barley and rye. Some will ask you for certain reasons to avoid all grains for a while. Rice is a gluten-free grain, but it is still a grain. I’m just mentioning this since I don’t know what recommendations you had. Just be aware.
Since you mentioned you eat oats: although oats are from themselves gluten-free, often oat products are contaminated with gluten. When you eat oats, always make sure you choose gluten-free oat products.
Have you seen this video about gut healing strategies? You might find it interesting. Supplements like Zinc l-carnosine, quercetine, L-glutamine and Deglycyrrhizinated licorice root have been shown to help heal leaky gut.
Another tip is to make sure your serum vitamin D levels are in the ideal range (50-60 ng/ml). Vitamin D is necessary to keep the ‘tight junctions’(reed ‘doors’) between the cells of the gut lining closed.
Have a beautiful last day of the year and best wishes for you in 2024!
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Hey @Sara,
Great questions! Let’s dive into them!
1. Is Nutritional Yeast okay for someone who is gluten-free and dairy-free?
The short answer is: yes and yes! Nutritional yeast is a species of yeast known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It’s the same type of yeast that’s used to bake bread and brew beer, but it is an inactivated version. It wouldn’t work well if you would try to bake bread of it. It might be used for baking bread, but it doesn’t contain gluten and it is made dairy-free.
I wouldn’t know any brands in the UAE. On iHerb (here in The Netherlands) they sell organic nutritional yeast from the brand Simply Organic. I like it because it’s packed in a glass container (and not in plastic).
2) what is a good miso paste to use that is not processed?
Miso is a fermented soy product. Miso paste contains probiotics. It is however a soy product and could therefore be Genetically Modified. If you like your products GMO-free, choose an organic version or at least a product that has the label GMO-free on it. Do I recommend it? It depends on your personal health. Soy is a common food allergen and some people are sensitive to soy. For those people, I recommend avoiding soy products.
Women who are low in estrogen because of menopause can benefit greatly by adding estrogenic foods like organic soy and flaxseed.
Some people have trouble with digesting soy, for a variety of reasons. Soybeans contain phytates that can bind to minerals (like iron, zinc and calcium) in foods, which prevents those minerals from absorption. The benefit of Miso is that it is fermented, and contains much fewer phytates than soybeans.
3) Do you recommend rice wraps or are they under the “UnJUNK” foods?
I didn’t write UnJUNK and might not be the best person to answer this question. @Bernadette Abraham might want to add her vision, but this is mine. The answer is: it depends:
The less processed the wraps are, the better. The ingredient list can guide you. As a rule of thumb: again, the fewer ingredients, the better. It is also a good sign when the ingredient list contains the names of foods. For example, rice is a food name. Rice extract is not a food name.
If your diet contains a lot of processed foods, minimally processed rice wraps might be a step in the right direction. If your diet is mainly made of homemade fresh vegetables and meats, minimally processed rice wraps might not be a concern, but it moves your food choices in the direction of ‘more processed’.
If you are trying to work on your blood sugar balance, you might want to avoid a certain amount of carbs for the time being. Rice wraps might not be the best product for you.
In short: the answer depends on what is written on the label of your rice wrap product, it depends on where your current diet is at and it depends on your current health. Although I didn’t give you a direct answer to your question, I hope I have provided you with some guidelines.
4) What’s your opinion on Hearts of Palm products like “hearts of palm rice or hearts of palm pasta?”
Again, like the previous question, I will answer with some guidelines. I don’t believe Hearts of Palms products are all bad or all good, but it depends on what is written on the label and your personal health.
As a rule of thumb: again, the fewer ingredients, the better. It is also a good sign when the ingredient list contains the names of foods (see above)
Heart of Palms is also high in fiber. For people who are avoiding grain, this can be a good source of fiber. If you are choosing Heart of Palm products because of their high fiber content, be aware that products like Heart of Palm rice and pasta may contain less fiber, especially if the Heart of Palm was made into a paste first.
It is also considered a product that is low in FODMAP (This is short for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols). and is therefore suited (in moderate amounts) for people with a Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (or SIBO for short).
5) What is a good health “grain-free cereal” other than steel-cut oats? What would not cause inflammation and is 0 sugar?
Many cereal variations can be made at home. Ingredients you can use for example coconut flakes, sliced and chopped nuts like almonds, walnuts and pecans, chia seeds, flaxseeds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I personally never buy cereals from a shop since I’m never happy with the content. I prepare a big batch myself once in a while.
Although all these ingredients are healthy, people who are sensitive to one of those ingredients (or have allergic reactions to one of these ingredients), these foods will cause inflammation. it is therefore good to try these foods and see how your body responds.
Are you choosing grain-free for a certain reason? For example, are you working on your blood sugar balance?
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Hey ,
It’s always hard to assess skin from a picture. It could be Vitiligo, but it is best assessed by a professional who can see the skin closely like a dermatologist.
If there is an autoimmune component to your skin condition, we do have handouts that provide you with some guidance. Many of these tips will sound familiar. You can find the handout right here.
To your personal situation: the gut plays often a factor in autoimmune diseases. Although your last test didn’t show evidence of SIBO, other things can play in the gut (for example mold that has been colonised and candida overgrowth as a way to protect the body from mercury toxicity by amalgam fillings for example)
Digestive fluids like stomach acid influence the gut microbiome as well. Digestive fluids are an important part of the environment that influences the diversity and the balance between species in the microbiome. Other components of that environment are the immune system and of course, the foods you eat.
The foods you eat can change the microbiome quite quickly! Lots of species divide really fast. Some species reproduce even 10-15 minutes! And this quick change is necessary since the microbiome continuously needs to adapt to what you eat.
Unfortunately, some of these microbes can create cravings for foods they need. That’s why I asked you in your previous post how you’re doing at your basics. If you’re making great choices during the day, but in the evening you’re giving in to sugar cravings, you’re going to feed certain species that can cause some havoc in the gut. And also these choices can influence the microbiome quite quickly!
The damage in the gut can cause a cascade of other stuff symptoms in the body. The inflammation in the gut can reduce your ability to deal with dietary histamine, make the immune system hypervigilant to invaders to which it is frequently exposed to, which can lead to autoimmune conditions.
I can only imagine the struggle which you have been through and I empathize greatly! From the labs you’ve been showing us you have done an amazing job and we have seen great improvements. But that’s just labs. Symptoms are what it’s all about of course. This is where autoimmune diseases become a bit confusing as well.
Even if you’re on the right way, with autoimmune diseases we still expect symptoms to flare up once in a while.
This can sometimes create feelings of discouragement which can lead to letting go of the basics, while you might have been on the right track! But these basics are really important for creating balance:
• provide your immune system support
Focus on vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin C, zinc and B vitamins
• provide your body with the right nutrition
Try to avoid giving in to sugar cravings. Try to add in fibre-rich foods that you can handle well. Make sure your environment is as mold-free possible as you can get.
• reduce stress
Stress influences the microbiome and reduces digestive fluids.I know this is a pretty long answer to your question ‘What is this skin condition? Is it autoimmune?’. And to summarize: I don’t know.
But I’m convinced it is all connected.
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Hey ,
I’m so sorry to hear your struggles. From your reply, I think there are things you can try. Pick things you are comfortable doing. You don’t need to address it all at once.
Lifestyle factors you can explore.
It’s great that you are standing. But with moving your body I mean exactly that. From personal experience leg exercises and movement in the core area are more effective. When you explore this option, don’t immediately go from standing to a full workout, but gradually add movement (or workout intensity) to see how your body reacts.Vegetables contain fibre, but vegetables as the only source of fibre won’t provide you the amount you’ll need daily. Oats are a great source of fibre. If you discover your fibre intake is low, you can play with the amounts of oats.
Your medications & constipation
I can only educate you on the side effects of your medications. Almost all of them, besides Prucalopride, can contribute to constipation through different mechanisms of action.Prucalopride was meant to counter constipation. Does the Prucalopride have an effect? This medication works by activating serotonin receptors in the gut.
H2 blockers, like Famotidine, interfere with digestion. Even if it helps you with the heartburn, it can cause side effects like constipation.
The Sucralafate can have a constipating effect (look here). It is also a source of aluminium. Although it is advertised as safe, I’m not the biggest fan of getting any form of aluminium sources in the body. Aluminium can cause damage to nerves. When taken on a regular base, the accumulative effect of aluminium exposure on long-term health is hard to study. The gut is also, just like the brain, extremely rich in nerves. One of the functions of the gut nerves is to create coordinated muscle contractions to cause a bowel movement.
If you and your doctor decide that this is for now the best strategy for dealing with your heartburn, focus on the lifestyle factors first. If you’re going to try different medications, don’t switch them all at once. You won’t be able to tell which medication has the biggest impact.
I hope you can find some relief with these tips!
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Hey ,
With my questions, I am actually trying to find out whether the pain you mean is caused by the intestines or by something around the intestines. However, I realize this is better done by a doctor or other healthcare professional sitting opposite you.
After all this time, taking a fresh look at basic habits is also good!
For example: for a good colon transit time you need sufficient exercise. So if you sit a lot, there is a lot of profit to be made.
If you eat a lot of sugar, this can affect the composition of the bacteria in your intestine.
Do you know how many grams of fibre you eat? A lack of SCFA in the feces may be due to insufficient types of bacteria that produce SCFAs, but the test shows that there are strains present that produce SCFA. The SCFAs may be absorbed by the body due to the long transit time. But it may also be that in the days before the GI Effects test you hadn’t consumed enough fibre.
Being sufficient in magnesium, eating the right types of fats, being sufficiently hydrated and consuming enough food are other basics that influence transit time. Are there things on the list you can feel you can improve on?
Medications (such as antidepressants) can also contribute to constipation. Have any of your doctors looked at all the side effects of your current medications?
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Hey ,
Well, the first step is determining if the pain is really caused by the gut. Unfortunately that’s hard to assess from here. I’m assuming a healthcare professional helped you find out, but if it’s just an assumption, you might want to ask someone first!
Besides the awful pain and the bloated feeling, can you tell me more about what you (don’t) feel?
• Are you gassy?
• How often per day do you poop currently?
• How do you score on the Bristol stool chart? (You’ll find good pictures on google)
• What color is your stool? And is it light or dark?
• Do you also feel pain in the groin? (see pictures attached)[groin.jpg] -
Hey ,
It’s amazing he wants to work on his health and he and that he gets such great support from you!
I think, if he eats meat, it’s easier for him to get in his proteins and because most people who train do not consume enough protein, it is good not to rely solely on shakes for the recovery of their muscles.
I usually recommend my clients consume 1.8 – 2.2 grams of protein per kg of body weight. That’s about 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. So for someone weighing 200 lbs that is about 200 grams.
A shake often contains about 30 grams. So getting him to eat more is important.
I like PurePaleo from Designs for Health. It comes unflavoured (yugh!… but with an excellent recipe it will make a nice smoothy) and it comes in chocolate and vanilla. There is also a vegan version. My guess is you’ll love this product better. The product is called Phytotein and it’s composed of organic pea protein with additional protein from organic sunflower, pumpkin seed, sacha inchi, and rice sources.
Since your husband likes to work on his health, he might like this handout as well. It talks about the root causes of high (and low) blood pressure and what you can do about it!
Let me know if you’ve got any further questions!
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I was just making an example, there can be other contributing factors to slow transit time besides SIBO. I just wanted to raise the awareness that the slow transit time could have other root causes.
Direct SCFA markers are more accurate. Especially if they are more recent. I would give more weight to the stool test since SIBO comes in different varieties.
The results of the smart pill are from 2021. I wouldn’t give too much weight to the results of these tests anymore. The microbiome changes with how you eat and you applied quite a few changes in those 2 years I believe.Even if you still have SIBO (read carefully: I’m not saying you have SIBO right now!), the composition of the bacteria could have changed!
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Hey ,
In this test, they didn’t measure SCFA. What they mentioned in the results they mention that a low caecal pH is suggestive for increased production of SCFA produced by gut bacteria. But they only measured the pH.
The low pH could be indicative of SIBO.
Basically what they say is: it could be you had more bacteria and therefore more SCFA production.
The delayed colonic transit could be caused by other factors as well. If the medication wasn’t working, it would be more likely that other factors might be at play as well. For example, a slow thyroid can also cause a delayed colonic transit time. Linaclotide wouldn’t help with that
