When I mentioned it was my birthday and that I would be spending it alone in an unfamiliar area, a person I just met took me to the beach in San Pedro, CA. We talked all night looking at the ocean, talking about life. At some point they began to tell me about their health problems.
“Well. I have an autoimmune disease.”
“Which one?”, I squinted in the dark.
We both mouthed it at the same time, “Hashimotos Thyroiditis?”
“Yeah. How’d–”
“–Statistical guess.” I smiled, reassuringly, still squinting in the dark.
After some lamentation on their part regarding doctors shoving them on some thyroid medication and being told conclusively there is no link between diet and autoimmune disease (*cough* gluten->zonulin->transglutaminase->molecular mimicry *cough*), I promised to send them an email containing all the information they were looking for. Here it is.
From: Justin Reinhart
To: Sidney
Subject: Diet Vs Autoimmune Disorders
I’m just going to rattle off things that come to mind. [Edit: LOL. One hour later, here is the finished email. That’s OK I am glad I typed this all out in case I run into someone else who needs it.]
Essentially, a large community of scientists/physicians/anthropologists who call themselves “Paleo” have formed a hypothesis that new foods are making us sick, and foods that have been around closer to 2.3 million years are safe, because of how evolution works. It is a pretty intelligent hypothesis and in every sense it seems to pan out.
This has an introduction and a few paragraphs on autoimmunity. Robb is a hero of mine and my fav biochemist.
Dr Terry Wahls just released her Wahls protocol book for treating M.S. with diet, an autoimmune condition that confined her to a tilting wheelchair. She can walk now! She is a clinical researcher and is pushing very, very hard to get her protocol accepted as the number one treatment for M.S. and other autoimmune diseases. I predict that she’s going to do it. You may hear her name a lot in the coming years.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wahls-Protocol-Progressive-Principles/dp/1583335218/?tag=justinreinhart-20
Sarah Ballantyne is very similar to Dr Terry Wahls but based on what I’ve heard Sarah is a bit more approachable for everyday people and I got the impression she fancied herself a good teacher. I hear her book is full of illustrations and explanations to bring everyone up to speed. I only just heard her interview a week ago, so I haven’t had a chance to look at her book personally.
Diane Sanfilippo has a nutritionist background (I believe) and also studies this stuff intently. Her book is sort of the concise version of this stuff, but the information is there and totally accurate. What really sets this book apart is it is a very pretty book with a lot of amazing recipes. I highly recommend the printed version of this book because it is beautiful. Her book has been vetted by Robb Wolf (biochemist). Win.
Chris Kresser is a practiced clinician who personally treats people with autoimmune diseases, including his own wife. He just released his long-awaited book on how to fix almost any problem with diet, including fertility. He describes elimination diets in detail as well as the re-introduction and testing of problem foods. I’ve read about 75% of his book so far, right up until I started my vacation. I already knew everything that was in the book, because I’m been listening to Chris for YEARS.
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Personal-Paleo-Code-Reverse-ebook/dp/B00CO7FLIS/?tag=justinreinhart-20
Robb Wolf is a biochemist, athlete, and one of the most sought after strength and conditioning coaches in the world. He has a book as well and it has been out for a while. While his book is a tad outdated in the Paleo community, it was one of the first, and he takes ample time to describe the entire process of digestion and the what and why of food reactivity. Very educational. This is one of the first Paleo books I read and it taught me a lot about how the body takes in food. He also goes over many of the body’s various hormones in detail. (He is a biochemist after all.) Side note: The guy writes like a child hopped up on sugar, which can be really funny when the material is extremely scientific. Sadly, there are very few illustrations in the book, and the recipes have no photos. The e-book version would be suitable.
http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet-ebook/dp/B00466H5MU/?tag=justinreinhart-20
Here is a free chapter of his book, taken right from the middle:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/09/19/paleo-diet-solution/
Free resources, and what you can get your hands on today:
In short, all though this statement can be viewed as naive, if I could not make decisions on my own (unconscious) I would trust Chris Kresser and Robb Wolf to make the calls for me. It isn’t that they aren’t human–they make mistakes, but these are the best guys in their field that have had the most experience treating real people with real problems. They both started as ordinary people who suddenly found themselves literally dying. They are therefore self-taught and extremely skeptical. These are my favorite kind of people.
Both Chris and Robb have podcasts they they release for free on a weekly basis. You can find them on iTunes.
Chris’ podcast is called Revolution Health Radio. Chris likes to take certain topics and focus on them on a per-episode basis. I’m sure he’s done at least a few episodes on Hashimotos specifically in great detail, and probably a dozen on the thyroid. He is completely up-to-date on the scientific literature, unlike most doctors. Transcripts are available on his website!
Robb’s podcast is called either Paleo Solution or the Robb Wolf podcast. Robb’s podcast half the time is about weight lifting which can be pretty boring, and the other half is him slam dancing reader questions with the most elaborate answers you’ve ever heard in your life. Lmao. The guy does not know how to answer a question concisely. To him, everything is interconnected and summarization is not option. Extremely brilliant guy. Transcripts are available on his website!
Both of these guys have websites.
ChrisKresser.com
RobbWolf.com
Whenever I need to research a topic or I have a question about a food, I use google to scrape their sites looking for answers. For example, you may want to do a google search for “site:chriskresser.com hashimotos”. You will find every mention of it on his website. Prepare to do a lot of reading and a lot of learning. 🙂
Where to go from here:
If you need the assistance of a physician who likes this approach, you want to locate a Functional Medicine doctor. From what I gather they are way more into testing, understanding, and correcting rather than pushing patients in and out like a revolving door. There is a network being formed called the “Paleo Physicians Network”. It is a growing list of Physicians who understand Paleo and believe in it. You can do a search for a physician using their website. http://paleophysiciansnetwork.com/
If you have any questions you can ask me. I’ve been studying this stuff for years now.
Best,
Justin
P.S.
everydaypaleo.com/erika-knows-no-bounds/
Excellent write-up. My g/f has mixed connective tissue disease, and she does best when she eats more Paleo-centric, which she already knew she should be doing based off of personal hell with doctors and finding her own treatment guide as a response to them.
I’m constantly throwing things her way that could benefit her, and this is just another collection of resources I’ll be adding to a list of things she should look deeper into when needed.
Last year I read a book called The Absence of Nothing and nudged it in her direction. I highly recommend it. Essentially its premise is that there is a negative correlation between cleanliness of our environment and autoimmune diseases. Blew my mind. Then later last year, Chris Kresser pumps out a podcast about ringworms and autoimmune diseases. Pretty much the same thing the book starts off with. Fascinating.
Book: http://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allergies-Autoimmune-ebook/dp/B0061P2L5U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397045518&sr=8-1&keywords=the+absence+of+autoimmune
Complete agreement. You have to let your kids put stuff in their mouth when they are young. Let them play in the dirt and whatnot, as it guards them against autoimmunity.
Health is similarly determined in adults. There are examples of people inoculating themselves with hookworm in adulthood and curing their debilitating allergies 100%. (Google “radiolab hookworm”.) My friend Bobby cured his house cat of terrible allergies or asthma by letting it go outside, evidently. The “old friends” hypothesis is pretty amazing stuff.