16 Diet Wise
It’s a matter of perception. Several of the people interviewed had
replies such as “I can’t eat celery, it makes my fingers swell,” “Bananas
give me wind,” or “Chocolate gives me a headache.” Most of them never
thought of these reactions as a food allergy, much less a genetic intolerance
to food.
But of course that’s exactly what it is.
Tracking down and uncovering of the hidden allergy effect has
probably been one of the single most important medical discoveries of the
last hundred years, measured simply in terms of the amount of human suffering now
able to be alleviated. Naturally, public interest is high in this new safe approach
to healing. Many people who thought they were destined to be ill for life and
perhaps had been told so by doctors who should know better are waking up
to the fact that recovery may be attained merely through eating and drinking
differently.
Sometimes it happens by chance; you may know stories of this
sort. But it is better to have the knowledge and understanding to make
discoveries to order; in that way you can help yourself or your family and
friends systematically and effectively. I have written this book with that aim
in mind.
The allergy epidemic
Little research has been done in this area and we have no factual data to
establish either the prevalence of this condition or its cause. Nevertheless
a great deal of circumstantial evidence is available from the histories of
patients with proven masked allergies. It is usual to discover that something
other than the mother’s colostrum (first sticky milk) was the first material
to enter the stomach after birth (such as corn syrup in a pacifier). Breast-
feeding, it seems, protects against the onset of allergies and helps ensure a
competent immune system in the infant. The onset of symptoms is very
often triggered by medical treatment. Patients very often recover when
additives and pollutants are carefully eliminated from their food and drink.
It would seem that we have what may fairly be called an allergy
epidemic started by failure of breast feeding, by pollution of the
environment, by the addition of chemicals to our food, air and water and to
the injudicious use of drugs and medicines.
There is one further very significant trigger that has swung into
view: a recent scientific research paper showed the pronounced effects
of childhood vaccination in causing subsequent allergies. Even using
conventional criteria for allergy (which I believe misses more than 90%