Food Allergies

Dear Dr. Keith, I recently purchased and downloaded your book “Diet Wise”. I read and followed your instructions carefully. And I wish to say to you how supremely grateful I am to you for writing this book. I have been suffering for 5-6 years from debilitating exhaustion that comes and goes. I have been overweight about 10kgs for the past 5 years and have been unable to shift the weight due largely in part because of my inability to exercise. There have been times where I have been unable to get out of bed for days on end with debilitating exhaustion for weeks on end! I have been unable to hold down any regular work due to this condition that doctors and naturopaths have been unable to explain. I myself have begun studying nutrition formerly and have spent the past 3-4 years researching everything I can about health. I’ve been on juice fasts, and macrobiotic diets, I’ve been vegetarian, vegan and have tried every diet in between. I’ve taken every miracle potion and supplement the alternative world has to offer, Nothing has worked long term. I have only really begun with searching out what my body can tolerate and what it can’t and I’m sure I have more to learn. I wanted to share with you two important food intolerance’s I have now learned by using the methods you’ve set out in your book. Firstly, every time I eat Thai green curry I get excruciating pain in my stomach about where my gallbladder is. I have had the same sensation at other times and not known why. I had thought perhaps it was MSG but have discovered that peanuts cause this pain as does pistachios.

Dear Dr. Keith, I recently purchased and downloaded your book “Diet Wise”. I read and followed your instructions carefully. And I wish to say to you how supremely grateful I am to you for writing this book. I have been suffering for 5-6 years from debilitating exhaustion that comes and goes. I have been overweight about 10kgs for the past 5 years and have been unable to shift the weight due largely in part because of my inability to exercise. There have been times where I have been unable to get out of bed for days on end with debilitating exhaustion for weeks on end! I have been unable to hold down any regular work due to this condition that doctors and naturopaths have been unable to explain. I myself have begun studying nutrition formerly and have spent the past 3-4 years researching everything I can about health. I’ve been on juice fasts, and macrobiotic diets, I’ve been vegetarian, vegan and have tried every diet in between. I’ve taken every miracle potion and supplement the alternative world has to offer, Nothing has worked long term. I have only really begun with searching out what my body can tolerate and what it can’t and I’m sure I have more to learn. I wanted to share with you two important food intolerance’s I have now learned by using the methods you’ve set out in your book. Firstly, every time I eat Thai green curry I get excruciating pain in my stomach about where my gallbladder is. I have had the same sensation at other times and not known why. I had thought perhaps it was MSG but have discovered that peanuts cause this pain as does pistachios.

The article in “New Scientist” started out OK, pointing out how Mum’s breast milk enhances the child’s immunity. No argument from me. It’s the ultimate “raw milk” argument, actually. Nothing in cow’s milk junk (raw or cooked) matches the magic of human breast milk for babies. It contains lactoferrin, a protein that inhibits the growth of bacteria, and special sugars that stick up pathogens so they can’t flourish. There are also lots of juicy Momma’s antibodies, to get the child started with immunity to a wide range of pathogens. This is easily monitored in the fact that breast-fed babies get far fewer infections than those fed on cow’s milk. So far so good. There’s nice semi-erotic picture of a delicious warm globe of a breast, filling a contented baby’s face as it suckles. Then the NEXT LINE, it says, “There is another way of furnishing a child’s immune system with first-class defenses that is quick, relatively cheap and arguably one of medicine’s greatest achievements: vaccinations against a dozen or more fatal diseases” Wait a minute! Grab the remote, hit REWIND; let’s back up here…

The article in “New Scientist” started out OK, pointing out how Mum’s breast milk enhances the child’s immunity. No argument from me. It’s the ultimate “raw milk” argument, actually. Nothing in cow’s milk junk (raw or cooked) matches the magic of human breast milk for babies. It contains lactoferrin, a protein that inhibits the growth of bacteria, and special sugars that stick up pathogens so they can’t flourish. There are also lots of juicy Momma’s antibodies, to get the child started with immunity to a wide range of pathogens. This is easily monitored in the fact that breast-fed babies get far fewer infections than those fed on cow’s milk. So far so good. There’s nice semi-erotic picture of a delicious warm globe of a breast, filling a contented baby’s face as it suckles. Then the NEXT LINE, it says, “There is another way of furnishing a child’s immune system with first-class defenses that is quick, relatively cheap and arguably one of medicine’s greatest achievements: vaccinations against a dozen or more fatal diseases” Wait a minute! Grab the remote, hit REWIND; let’s back up here…

While we are on the subject of past exploits, I have an update for you all. In my book Diet Wise, I told the case of Cliff (his real name). He is case #2 in the book and I included his story, because at the time of completing the book, I received an e-mail from him. Cliff had been surfing the Internet and found my website and written to me, full of the delights of life and exploring the new technology. He was by then 88 years old. Cliff first came to see me in 1985, when he was 69 years old, with a tale of woe. All his life he had been sick and debilitated. He suffered frequently from what lay people called “bilious attacks” in those days: headaches and vomiting. Nowadays we would call them migraine attacks or “abdominal migraine” when the stomach is so upset. Cliff’s condition was so bad that on the train ride to the honeymoon destination, he had needed to lie down with his head resting on the lap of his new bride (no, he was not drunk, but certainly reacting to food at the wedding feast, as we shall see). In 1953 he underwent a partial gastrectomy, on the recommendation of a local professor who had diagnosed a stomach ulcer. It didn’t work. Twenty-one years later he was subjected to a vagotomy (severing the important vagus nerve to the gut). Again the procedure didn’t work – wrong diagnosis and wrong therapy. By the time Cliff consulted me, he was so weakened that he had difficulty shaving. He would lather up and then have to rest; then shave a little and would need another rest; and so on. He was a very sick old man and felt ready to die.

While we are on the subject of past exploits, I have an update for you all. In my book Diet Wise, I told the case of Cliff (his real name). He is case #2 in the book and I included his story, because at the time of completing the book, I received an e-mail from him. Cliff had been surfing the Internet and found my website and written to me, full of the delights of life and exploring the new technology. He was by then 88 years old. Cliff first came to see me in 1985, when he was 69 years old, with a tale of woe. All his life he had been sick and debilitated. He suffered frequently from what lay people called “bilious attacks” in those days: headaches and vomiting. Nowadays we would call them migraine attacks or “abdominal migraine” when the stomach is so upset. Cliff’s condition was so bad that on the train ride to the honeymoon destination, he had needed to lie down with his head resting on the lap of his new bride (no, he was not drunk, but certainly reacting to food at the wedding feast, as we shall see). In 1953 he underwent a partial gastrectomy, on the recommendation of a local professor who had diagnosed a stomach ulcer. It didn’t work. Twenty-one years later he was subjected to a vagotomy (severing the important vagus nerve to the gut). Again the procedure didn’t work – wrong diagnosis and wrong therapy. By the time Cliff consulted me, he was so weakened that he had difficulty shaving. He would lather up and then have to rest; then shave a little and would need another rest; and so on. He was a very sick old man and felt ready to die.

Yet another “I Told ‘Em!” (30 years ago). This is starting to get embarrassing. You all know my pivotal place in the history of food allergies and bringing them to public attention. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was one of the easiest things to solve. Just stop eating the allergy foods! Now scientists have “discovered” that if you restrict peoples’ diet, the IBS is much better (if they had done it exactly the way I describe in my Diet Wise book, it would have disappeared altogether!) Their plan was to have patients avoid some fancy sugars. It’s called the FODMAP diet (fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols). These sugars are found in wheat, rye, onion, garlic, leeks, artichokes, mushrooms, cauliflower, snow peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, milk products except hard cheese, honey, apples, pears, watermelon, mangos, stone fruits, high-fructose corn syrup, sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, and xylitol. And more. 

Yet another “I Told ‘Em!” (30 years ago). This is starting to get embarrassing. You all know my pivotal place in the history of food allergies and bringing them to public attention. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was one of the easiest things to solve. Just stop eating the allergy foods! Now scientists have “discovered” that if you restrict peoples’ diet, the IBS is much better (if they had done it exactly the way I describe in my Diet Wise book, it would have disappeared altogether!) Their plan was to have patients avoid some fancy sugars. It’s called the FODMAP diet (fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols). These sugars are found in wheat, rye, onion, garlic, leeks, artichokes, mushrooms, cauliflower, snow peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, milk products except hard cheese, honey, apples, pears, watermelon, mangos, stone fruits, high-fructose corn syrup, sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, and xylitol. And more.