The power of food

Our bodies are remarkable things, and every system in them works together. We forget this constantly. Something goes wrong in one place and we assume that is where it began. Very often it is not.

What the gut flora actually is

The overwhelming majority of the cells associated with the human body live in the gut flora. It is not an exaggeration to say the body is a habitat that houses them. That flora runs digestion and absorption, contributes to immune function, participates in hormone production, and does a great deal else besides.

The base of it is fungal — a structure running the length of the digestive tract. Along it, bacteria build homes out of sticky proteins they secrete around themselves. Every bacterium, fungus and protozoan makes its own, and together they form a film across the surface of the digestive system. That biofilm is the gut flora.

These organisms hold each other in check. Poor diet and antibiotics disturb the balance, and once it is disturbed, absorption fails and deficiency follows.

You can eat the best and most expensive food in the world, and if the gut flora is out of balance you will absorb very little of it.

What happens next

With the balance gone, viruses and fungi overgrow and damage the gut wall. Undigested food particles escape into the bloodstream. The immune system, correctly identifying them as being somewhere they should not be, attaches immune complexes to them — and a stream of toxicity travels through the body.

When that stream reaches the brain, the result is what Dr Natasha named Gut and Psychology Syndrome: mood alterations, memory and cognitive problems, behavioural and social difficulties, sleep problems, panic attacks. When it settles elsewhere in the body, it is Gut and Physiology Syndrome: digestive problems, fatigue, muscular weakness, cramps, pain in bones and joints, skin problems.

Which is where the diet comes in

The GAPS diet is built around meat stock, ferments, organ meats and easily digestible food. These heal the gut wall and increase beneficial microbes while crowding out the pathogenic ones.

As the pathogens die they release toxins, which is why die-off happens — symptoms can worsen temporarily, or bring gas, diarrhoea and pain. Introduced slowly, through stock and small quantities of ferment, it passes.

Three things worth avoiding

Monosodium glutamate

Most processed food contains it, often under other names — natural flavours, glutamate, textured protein, autolysed yeast. MSG is a neurotoxin: it over-stimulates brain cells. Reported effects include headaches, numbness, palpitations, elevated blood pressure, panic attacks, confusion and food cravings. Anyone who suffers from migraine has good reason to cut it out entirely.

Seed oils

Canola, sunflower, palm and the rest are very high in omega-6 fatty acids such as linoleic acid, which drives chronic inflammation. Choose natural fats instead — butter, lard, tallow, fats from wild game. Around eleven per cent of the brain is arachidonic acid, and animal fat is the only place it naturally occurs.

Edible coatings

Newer produce coatings promise long-lasting freshness and cannot be washed off, which raises an obvious question: how do you know the food is still fresh if the coating will not let it spoil? Buying from local farms and markets sidesteps the question.

What to eat instead

There are decent alternatives to almost every processed craving, and the market for them is growing. But the more useful habit is the simpler one: read the ingredients, cook at home, and buy from people you can ask about their farming.

A nourishing, balanced diet is not a complicated idea. It is just an unfashionable one.