If you or someone close to you have an autoimmune condition such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, along with about 195 others, there are a number of steps you can take that reduce, even eliminate the autoimmune inflammation damaging your organs. (Unfortunately, some forms of autoimmune damage cannot be reversed. Autoimmune loss of pancreatic beta cells that lead to type 1 diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis that damages the thyroid gland, or autoimmune hepatitis that can lead to cirrhosis. for example, cannot be reversed even if the autoimmune process is subdued.)
I break down the factors that cause or promote autoimmune diseases into:
- Initiating causes—factors that begin the process
- Permissive factors—factors that allow autoimmune inflammation to proceed after started by an initiating cause
The most important and common initiating causes are the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins of other grains, including the zein protein of corn, and the casein beta A1 protein of dairy. Among the most important permissive factors are vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies.
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, and small intestinal fungal overgrowth, SIFO, also enter the picture, acting as both initiating and permissive factors due to the marked increase in intestinal permeability with these conditions.
The Wheat Belly and Undoctored programs therefore address each and every one of these factors, tipping the scales in favor of minimizing or reversing autoimmune conditions and preventing the emergence of new conditions.
Hi ,
I am going to start the wheat belly, (I have purchased the book) BUT after doing a food diary I think I am reacting to Tyramine in food …. causes high blood pressure and Afib! although my doctor will not listen to me, so frustrating
after limiting tyramine as much as I can (as its natural occurring in plants and meat ) I feel a my body is a lot calmer,
Can you advise me , as I have also have Hashimoto’s if this WOE will limit tyramine reaction?
thank you.
Julie wrote: «I am going to start the wheat belly, (I have purchased the book)…»
Which book? I’d suggest using either Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox (for a quick-start), Wheat Belly Total Health (2014), or Undoctored (2017). The original 2011 book does not include some material program enhancements.
re: «BUT after doing a food diary I think I am reacting to Tyramine in food …. causes high blood pressure and Afib!»
Are you taking an MAO inhibitor? Anyway, tyramine rarely arises as a topic in this program (a few times on the forum, only once on the WB blog). it may or may not be a reaction that subsides on the program. If not, you might need to avoid trigger foods, which might include cheese, for example.
re: «…although my doctor will not listen to me…»
So find a real doctor.
re: «…as I have also have Hashimoto’s…»
What treatment is being used for that, and how are your various thyroid markers?
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Hi Bob ,
The book i bought is the 10 day detox.
No i am not on any MAO inhibitors, i noticed that fermented products vinegar, citrus, cured meats, sparking wine, are triggers, but its cumilitive, so hard to know how much is too much, as its naturally occuring.
also regarding doctors, i live in Australia so the health system is different here
Apparently thyroid markers are in the normal range, and on 50mg of Thyroxine 5 days a week.
I am worried about using probiotics/ prebiotics if they are fermented, due to tyramine, there is no real information available, i asked a heart specialist about the food and he said if you have always eaten those foods there is no reason, they would affect you.
thank you for your help its appreciated.
julie wrote: «Apparently thyroid markers are in the normal range…»
“Normal” is too often hypothyroid. This program seeks optimal. Contemplating the actual numbers for a credible thyroid panel would be necessary for clarity.
re: «…and on 50mg of Thyroxine 5 days a week.»
That’s generic levothyroxine? How is the dose being monitored and adjusted? T4 monotherapy can work, but too often doesn’t.
re: «I am worried about using probiotics/ prebiotics if they are fermented, due to tyramine,…»
I’m wondering if the cause/effect situation is actually upside down here. A dysbiosis could be present, in which your gut harbors bacteria that generate tyramine. This is known to include, for example, the majority of Enterococcus strains, two E.coli strains, a Klebsiella pneumoniae and a Morganella morganii strain. If this is afoot here, it needs to be corrected, and adjusting diet to minimize the cascade, amounts to mere symptom management.
re: «…there is no real information available, i asked a heart specialist about the food…»
We are in the infancy of knowledge about human microbiome. Consensus practitioners are taught virtually nothing about food, and even less about gut flora. How do you react to prebiotic fibers?
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Hi Bob thank you so much for your comments, can I ask how to test for these dysbiosis
most recent thyroid marker are
TSH 1.8 mU/L
Free T$ 14.2pmol/L
Free T3 403 pmol/L
if this helps thank you again , Julie
Julie wrote: «…can I ask how to test for these dysbiosis»
The prebiotic fiber challenge linked above would be an easy test to run. A prompt adverse reaction is presumptive for some form of SIBO.
Being entirely unfamiliar with tyramine presentations, I have no guesses on what to look for next (and consensus practitioners probably don’t either). The Undoctored Inner Circle subscription site has a developing protocol and an advanced topic for some forms of dysbiosis (SIBO, SIFO, for example), which may or may not be in play here.
re: «most recent thyroid marker are…»
What are the Reference Ranges (or intervals) for the fT4 and fT3? Program targets for those are based on where in the ranges the results land (with ‘optimal’ being in the upper half). And I take it that you’ve never obtained an rT3 or any antibody testing?
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With one glaring exception autoimmune diseases are caused by a combination of a food antigen and a mimicking intestinal bacteria. The bacteria cause intestinal permeability. The food antigens mimic natural endogenous proteins and plug into tissue receptors. The body mounts an immune response keyed on specific protein sequences in the food antigen. Bacteria evolve to mimic the tissue receptors. The body mounts an autoimmune response to the tissue.
The glaring exception? Mitochondrial mutation. Cells get overfed carbohydrates, and underfed fats and vitamin D. The Krebs energy cycle gets corrupted, and mitochondrial “D-rings” (mitochondrial DNA) break. The broken mitochondrial gene sequences embed in cell walls. Mitochondria are evolved bacteria. The human immune system recognizes the mt-DNA sequences as a bacterial attack. The immune system mounts an autoimmune attack against the affected tissue.
Studies have shown a correlation between mitochondrial mutation and cases of diseases like Parkinson’s, autism and schizophrenia. It’s real, and it causes human-cell gene coding errors via krebs cycle energy under-supply.
Bob Smith wrote: «The bacteria cause intestinal permeability.»
A bacterial overgrowth might well be on the list of causes (and if so, a full-time moderate to glycemic diet would likely be driving it, aided by a long list of other microbiome distortions). But in this program, more prominent suspects are zonulin (triggered by gluten-bearing grains), particularly nasty lectins (like the WGA of wheat and rice), and other direct gut wall antagonists (mainly in processed food-like substances) that disrupt the mucosal layer.
But yeah, mitochondria are under-appreciated, and being very much like bacteria, have probably been battered by excess use of prescription, OTC, “food”-additive and second-hand anti-microbials.
re: «It’s real, and it causes human-cell gene coding errors via krebs cycle energy under-supply.»
Various fatigue syndromes come to mind.
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Thank you Bob, will take your advise, I do take Vitamin D3 . And will no longer read Prevention.
I’ve been grain free for 5 years now and love this eating plan. But being low income I do not do some things such as make the magnesium water for one example and I hope I am not harming myself. I can’t ask my doctor because he hasn’t wanted to see me for 2 years now, when he told me everything was fine, and he said “everything is fine, you’re perfect.” Of course I know I’m perfect. One other question, I love the coconut oil for everything. Are we still using it or is it off the list? I am starting to read bad things about again, especially in Prevention Magazine. Thank you.
Patti wrote: «…I do not do some things such as make the magnesium water for one example and I hope I am not harming myself.»
You might consider the house brand Mg-malate at Vitacost. It works out to 17¢/day, which is about what I pay for making Mg-water using bulk Mg-hydroxide and a home carbonator.
Any modern person not supplementing magnesium is quite likely to be deficient, and the same is true for the other program core supplements Iodine, Vitamin D₃ and Omega 3 DHA+EPA.
re: «…I love the coconut oil for everything. Are we still using it or is it off the list?»
It’s fine.
re: «I am starting to read bad things about again, especially in Prevention Magazine.»
I haven’t seen an issue in years, but one diet recommended on their web site is assured to get you on the metabolic syndrome treadmill, which will then conveniently deliver you to the tender care of the patented palliative potion providers who advertise in the magazine. Chances are the only thing that magazine prevents is actual health.
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I am curious, does statins raise blood sugar? I was prescribed statins then aid went up so now on Metformin, it just seems to go around and around.
Janet wrote: «I am curious, does statins raise blood sugar?»
Yes, and in doing so, statins also raise the risk of diabetes. This is part of why while they may reduce near-term “cardiovascular event” risk for people (who remain on standard diets), they do little or nothing for all-cause mortality over time (in the vast majority of cases).
In his recent satirical post: The Four Dangers of Stopping a Statin Drug, Dr. Davis listed #3 as “…another ‘danger’ of stopping a statin drug: your blood sugar might go down, and you’ll be protected from diabetes, because statin drugs increase potential for diabetes somewhere between 30 and 55% — huge increase in potential for diabetes. So going off statins — you’re at risk for being healthy.”
See also: How To Get Off Statins
re: «I was prescribed statins then aid went up so now on Metformin, it just seems to go around and around.»
Yep, Standard of Care has you right where they want you. In my personal view, Type II diabetes isn’t even really a “disease”. It’s merely a largely predictable biologic response to a chronic metabolic insult (excess and adverse carbs). T2D is trivially avoided and arrested, and usually reversible, to the extent that any developed complications are themselves reversible. Usually, people just on metformin can unwind this mess surprisingly quickly. See: Hack Your Diabetes (type 2)
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