An updated food guide is being developed.
Foods to AVOID |
Foods with little effect |
Foods that may ease AS |
anything fried |
raw vegetables |
raw vegetable juices |
[>=better at some times (can help), <=best in moderation, <<=extreme moderation.]
*=extra caution and extra moderation if Crohn's Disease present.
**=Proscribed by Dr. Campbell until symptoms subside.
The saffron tea will help to clear up any psoriatic complications, especially when used in conjunction with slippery elm bark. The first as a common drink, every day, and the elm about three times every week; a quarter teaspoonful in 6 ounces of warm water-it becomes (good and) slimy.
Beware drinks (as those from Orange Julius) and meats (cold cuts) that contain alum (aluminum). Table salt contains some aluminum as a desiccant. Avoid aluminum cookware, and try and cook vegetables in their own juices, collecting same and adding back to meal.
Never combine vegetable juices with fruit juices, or drink one within nine hours of the other, but they should be combined together, especially lime and orange, or carrot with spinach and watercress juices. Cayce had a strong proscription against carbonated drinks for arthritics and most other people, even to the extent of recommending Coca-Cola syrup be mixed with distilled water for a stomach problem instead of just drinking a Coke. I'm an inveterate caffeine-free Diet Coke drinker, but have tried to change based upon the Cayce material. Dr. Wallach, also does not like sodas for several reasons. I had wondered about this, knowing that much excavation in terrestrial rock (all clays reduce to dirt from the CO2 in rainwater) has been performed by a much weaker solution of carbonic acid than contained in soda pop. If it moves enough calcium carbonate around to make large caverns and build stalactites and stalagmites, perhaps a stronger solution would have some effect upon the calcium in the body. I doubt the mechanism could be this simplistic, but I do believe that both soda pop and acid-forming foods that produce gas in the lower tract can increase pressures locally. Such a pressure might pull apart lesions on the mend and even force bacteria across the mucosa, aside from merely diluting the digestive fluids and promote `dumping,' or unnatural distribution of these acid solutions.
Coffee and teas without any milk product and not too much sugar; artificial sweeteners or honey is much better. Much watermelon seed tea should be taken, especially if kidney stones present. Tea from strawberry tops can be used, also.
Eat early, eat often. See that any one meal does not remain "in process" very long. 12 hours or 14 maximum. This can be tested by using charcoal tablets (about 5) and observing the outcome.
An Approach to Crohn's; Application of Dietary Information (opinion)
I'm very interested in dodging this potential complication of AS, and, fortunately (or not), treatment is similar to that for AS. So, if I had AS, and/or wished to avoid (or even already had) Crohn's Disease, I might begin taking an antibiotic like Cipro brand ciprofloxacin. Then, I might coincidentally stop eating all starches, and become especially mindful of food or drink which could cause a "dumping" (or, premature progression of digesting material from stomach into duodenum). I'm almost certain that those foods, such as the high fat meats, especially hog and beef; are culprits, but fish (especially seafood) and fowl would be edible. Lamb, maybe game meats, could also be taken-if, indeed, I were to eat meats at all. In my opinion, several other important contributors to dumping include the carbonated beverages, hard liquors, and a moderate to excessive amount of dairy-and especially milk (ANY foods in great excess at one time could cause this).
I almost certainly would take some lactobacillus acidophilus, and those key supplements such as we should already be taking for AS, as well as drinking much distilled water. Especially, some of this distilled water would be made into saffron tea (American saffron, or safflower, may be used), and occasionally (thrice weekly) some powdered elm (slippery elm) bark in a glass of the plain water, drinking same before it was well mixed.
I might even consume up to eight small meals daily, several consisting only of green leafy vegetables, and at least one of totally raw vegetables. All of the rest in a ratio of about 80% alkaline-reacting to a maximum of 20% acid-producing foods, such as: High (concentrated) proteins, fats, sugars, nuts, highly refined starches, dairy, and the combination of gluten-bearing foods with citrus fruits.
Food combinations might become important considerations for me, and if I drank coffee or tea, I would absolutely not ever combine either with any milk product, and I should avoid drinking any fruit juices on the same day (well, within about eight hours, at least) as vegetable juices. But of course, I would certainly like to have both, and especially the raw vegetable juices--plenty of them in good combinations with carrot juice as the base, and mixed with beet juice (with tops), watercress, wheatgrass, and even onion and (perhaps especially) garlic juices. Such would serve as very important meals. The absolute worst combination would be heavy meats and starches in the same meal, and although I am presently avoiding both, that combination-in particular-would just be inviting trouble. `Bracketing' the final meal of the day, which should absolutely be devoid of all starches, by eating a small portion of fruit before the meal, followed by the remainder of the portion at the end of the meal, will encourage the more normal peristaltic activity desired.
Further, I would never eat anything fried, and actively avoid such denatured oils, but would rather take a bit (up to a tablespoonful, but not all at once-except as salad dressing...) of `extra virgin' olive oil daily, especially a few drops both before and after breakfast. And between breakfast and lunch I would also take this with borage seed oil along with flaxseed oil providing EFAs. I might go to extremes in avoiding nitrates, nitrites, MSG, BHT, and other preservatives of any sort, and would never drink well water in rural areas. If I were forced (as at gunpoint) to consume bread, I would make sure that it was whole wheat, that is with the whole germ oils (pour on some water, and, if easily shaken off, it is pretty `safe;' that being most hydrophobic is far better than the hydrophilic).
I would also avoid all forms of banana (cooked or raw), and never eat apples that are raw except as a monodiet, especially when they are in season: Three days of apples only, and apple juice or water to drink. End of third day I take four ounces of olive oil in about eight equal doses in 4-6 hours. Some results are predictable, but others-the great benefits from this simple procedure-are inestimable and inexplicable (inexpensive, too).
There should be more supplements-only after about three weeks on such a programme, adding plenty of Jello or Knox brand gelatin, extra vitamin C, lysine, extra beta carotene, extra calcium, and niacin (taking this last one only with breakfast or lunch). Avoid all sources of aluminum.
In my own opinion, although the damage to the intestines occurs often at the terminus of the small, or vestibule of the large intestines, the real problem is likely upstream, even in the duodenum. That is where nearly all of the calcium absorption takes place and between there and the end of the jejunum the pH of the digestate (or, bolus; material being digested) must change from strongly acid (stomach's pH is less than 4) to neutral, at which point most calcium absorption stops. By this stage, adequate amounts of enzymes from the pancreas and liver should be mixed with the digestate, creating an environment that will inhibit the propagation of inappropriate strains of enterobacteriaceae (specifically Klebsiella pneumoniae, the cause, or trigger, of Crohn's Disease). If the pH is suitable, or the substrate is otherwise attractive to the Kp, their presence will cause injury to the colon from the action of the Kp-specific IgA within the mucous. Most likely, this injury will be downstream and in at least two places (segmentation), likely due to 1) wave action (crests and valleys), and 2) distance from origin. Although this is an observation made to fit a theory, there may be something to it.
I also cannot help but consider the connection between Crohn's and autism: The autistic child, Parker Beck, largely cured of the condition by administration of the hormone secretin (London Daily Mail from Monday, 14 September, 1998; story by Emily Wilson about Victoria Beck, of New Hampshire, and her son, Parker). There have been as many as five studies linking autism and Crohn's Disease with MMR inoculations (Wayne Green; "Secret Guide to Health"). The connection between digestive processes and autism might not especially be apparent, but it is obvious that a successful treatment would be noticed first in a person with autism, and not in someone suffering with CD because of the nature of the affliction. I might not be suggesting the continual administration of secretin for CD, but perhaps some pancreatic and other enzymes should be taken along with major meals. Dr. Wallach has suggested betaine HCl and pancreatic enzymes 15 minutes before meals for osteoporosis, and I believe that AS-family, especially and including Crohn's, are calcium deficiency diseases, also; perhaps such a measure would help with the effects of these conditions.