By Dr. Mercola
The interview above features Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a
Russian-trained neurologist with a full-time medical practice in
the UK.
She treats children and adults with autism, learning
disabilities, neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders,
immune disorders, and digestive problems, using her Gut and
Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) Nutritional Program.
Below, I also interview Caroline Barringer, a Nutritional
Therapy Practitioner (NTP), who is an expert in the preparation
of the foods prescribed in Dr. McBride's GAPS program.
We first met at the November 2011 Weston Price Wise
Traditions event, where we had the opportunity to enjoy some
amazing fermented vegetables that her company prepared for our
dinner.
I started incorporating them into my own diet and after a
little over a month of daily use, was surprised to find that
this minor change has dramatically decreased plaque formation on
my teeth, which has been a chronic problem for me.
Caroline has been involved with nutrition for about 20 years,
and is now one of Dr. McBride's chief training partners, helping
people understand the food preparation process.
The importance of your gut flora, and its influence on your
health cannot be overstated. It's truly profound.
Your gut literally serves as your second brain, and even
produces more of the neurotransmitter serotonin—known to have a
beneficial influence on your mood—than your brain does.
Your gut is also home to countless bacteria, both good and
bad. These bacteria outnumber the cells in your body by at least
10 to one, and maintaining the ideal balance of good and bad
bacteria forms the foundation for good health—physical, mental
and emotional.
The challenge is to identify strategies to optimize that
bacterial population, so that you can live in a beneficial,
symbiotic relationship where they nourish you, help you fight
disease, and optimize your health. This is where the GAPS
Nutritional Program comes in.
"Heal and Seal" Your Gut to Reverse Disease
I have been a strong advocate of nutritional therapies for
many decades. That certainly gets you to a level of health, but
the introduction of fermented foods, and the "heal and seal"
process that Dr. McBride has developed can help take your health
to the next level. So I'm thrilled to announce that we'll be
conducting a series of interviews and videos expounding on these
principles.
I'm firmly convinced that if we can share this information
with enough people and reeducate them about some of the most
important basic processes that have been abandoned over the
years, large amounts of people will start to recapture their
health!
Here, we begin by discussing the basic principles for how to
implement the GAPS program. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology
Syndrome. It also stands for Gut and Physiology Syndrome.
"In terms of Gut and Psychology Syndrome, we are
talking about the functioning of the brain of the person,"
Dr. McBride explains. "Any dysfunction of the brain is
usually connected to what's going on in the digestive
system. In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, we're talking about
the functioning of the rest of the body. Hippocrates… made a
statement that all diseases begin in the gut. The more we
learn now with all our modern scientific tools, the more we
realize just how correct he was."
In terms of Gut and Physiology Syndrome, we're talking about
all forms of autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases and
conditions, such as:
Multiple sclerosis |
Type 1 diabetes |
Rheumatoid arthritis |
Osteoarthritis |
Lupus |
Crohn's disease |
Ulcerative colitis |
Chronic skin conditions |
Kidney problems |
Urinary conditions |
Allergic and atopic conditions |
Degenerative conditions |
Chronic fatigue syndrome |
Fibromyalgia |
Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) |
Inflammatory bowel diseases |
If you're suffering from any of these conditions, or
virtually any other health challenge, you'd be wise to implement
the GAPS program. While Dr. McBride's book is called Gut and
Psychology Syndrome, the nutritional protocol for
addressing physiological and psychological conditions is
identical. She is working on a second book, which will be called
Gut and Physiology Syndrome, but in the meantime;
please refer to her original book, as the practical dietary
information will be the same.
"Once you heal and seal your gut lining, and once you
make your digestive system healthy and working properly
again, you'll be surprised how many various symptoms in your
body originated from your digestive system. Most [symptoms]
start disappearing, because the health and the disease are
usually born inside your digestive system. That's where they
originate from," she explains.
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