It all begins in the gut, but it may not be your fault

This is Part 2 of “It All Begins in the Gut.”  I’ve been thinking about this subject, and I wanted to clarify some things. I don’t want to give the impression that if you’re sick, it’s only because of something you did. 

It all begins in the gut, but not necessarily yours…

Like I mentioned before, 80 to 85% of our immune system lives in our gut. It’s passed down from parents to baby. Your immune system was formed by what your parents ate, and by what their parents ate, and by what their parents ate…So your immune system was impacted by generations of poor eating. I don’t believe in “genetic diseases” because primitive people groups who eat only whole foods don’t have them. I believe that what we eat and what we’re exposed to impacts our children and our children’s children and our children’s children’s children.

Just because it’s in your gut, it doesn’t mean it’s all because of food…

There are other environmental toxins we face that end up impacting our immune system. Toxins that may or may not have been introduced by us. Toxins we may have no clue that we’re being exposed to. These toxins mess with our immune system, and when our immune system (the perfect defense that God created for us) is messed up, we’re susceptible to all kinds of things. (I don’t just mean common colds. Many of the chronic diseases we face are due to bacteria and viral and yeast wars going on deep inside of us…the wrong bacteria multiplying in the wrong place in the body can lead to any number of symptoms).

I think that many of our illnesses come down to the sinfulness of man. Maybe your sinfulness, maybe someone else’s, or mankind’s in general.

Many of the toxins we face in our environment are because of men trying to improve upon God’s already perfect design. Or, because men were trying to make a quicker profit with less work. Men thinking that they could “beat the curse” and avoid having to toil for their food. Genesis 3:17 to 20 says:

  “Cursed is the ground because of you;
   through painful toil you will eat food from it
   all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
   and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
   you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
   and to dust you will return.”

Yet if you think about it, most men are not toiling the ground or sweating for their food today. Even modern farmers are not toiling the ground. They sit on a tractor, spraying pesticides on their GMO corn, produced in a laboratory to be “Round Up Ready” and easy to manage. Has man become so smart that he’s beat the curse, or has his desire to be more efficient (or lazy?) led to health implications?

Most people don’t think about it, but sugar has become like a drug in our country. People are literally addicted just like people are addicted to meth or cocaine. Like I showed in Part 1 of The Myth of Moderation, sugar is in many foods now days. I’m not saying it’s a sin to ever eat sugar. But gluttony is a sin–and I believe most Americans are eating sugar in excess. Every time we eat sugar, we effect our body’s pH level. First in our mouth–where our natural bacteria has to work hard to level it again so that our teeth are not decayed. Then, it goes throughout our body. The more sugar we eat, the more acidic of an environment we create. Cancer, among other illnesses, thrive in acidic environments. Eating sugar in excess can lead to all kinds of health problems.

Capitalism has impacted our food in many negative ways. I believe in capitalism, however; capitalism and food are not a good match. When man seeks to cheapen food for his own monetary gain, human health is compromised. So one man’s sinfulness (greediness) impacts the lives of others.

So is perfect health possible, this side of heaven?

Maybe, maybe not. It depends on God’s will for our life. We could eat perfectly our entire life, and then be exposed to something else & get sick. God might allow illness in our life for some reason we don’t understand, but in the end, it’s all for His glory.

So do we eat however we want, knowing that life is short and we might get sick anyways?

No. Our immune system still lives in our gut. We can increase or decrease our own suffering by what we put in our mouth. I firmly believe that. 

In my case; God allowed me to feel better by simply changing the way I eat. (I say “simply” even though most people look at our diet and think it’s difficult to implement–in light of living with an autoimmune disease and being sick so often, this way of eating is really a simple fix! Also–compared to all of the drugs I might have had to take in my lifetime to deal with my illness (and the side effects of those drugs), a diet change is a relatively simple approach!).  I believe that many people (not all, but many) who suffer today could be healed by changing their diet. Because I have seen the GAPS Diet work so wonderfully on my family, I believe that it could help many, many, many people. I don’t know if Dr. Campbell-McBride is a believer, but I know that God is using her, in my life, at least! 

     We are to be good stewards of our body. We can’t eat packaged junk without ever paying attention to the ingredients and call ourselves good stewards. 1 Timothy 4:4 says that everything God created is pure, but today we’re not simply dealing with foods that God created; we are dealing with Frankenstein foods that men created in laboratories. Man has attempted to improve upon (or cheapen) what God called "pure," and we need to stay away from these kinds of "improvements." These "improvements" are what create study after study and studies that contradict previous studies about what is actually healthy to eat. Stick to what God made for you, there is no doubt that the foods He made for us are good. And if you’re dealing with health issues; your gut (immune system) is damaged, and you need a more extreme approach to heal it (like the GAPS Diet).

Note that I don’t want you to walk away from this and play the blame game–it was the farmers and their GMO seeds that did it to you–or the pesticides–or the added sugar–or the capitalists. You may be sick because of outside influences, true. But think about what you can do–pray about what God would have you do….A “simple” change like deciding to eat differently might just be what your body needs to heal itself…

And on a personal note~~

My family had guests over this weekend and we went out to restaurants a couple of times (and I drank a few more teas than I usually would have, and even added in some pasteurized milk at Starbucks…a no-no on GAPS). I am careful at restaurants, but there are always hidden ingredients in salad dressings, dips, marinades, etc., etc. I have been having digestive “issues” all day and this afternoon I crashed and took a long nap. I woke up feeling terrible, achey all over and blah. All evening, I have felt weak and achey. This is how I used to feel all the time….I am so grateful that we changed the way that we eat and I don’t have to feel like this all the time anymore (and I’m determined to stay away from restaurants right now!). I am passionate about this topic because eating well has changed my life in incredible ways!!