I clearly remember one of the most pivotal days in my life. I was standing in my small apartment living room in Indiana, screaming, even though no one else was there. I had spent the last several years frequenting doctors’ offices, being injected with different drugs, and having surgeries every six to twelve months. I had had enough, so just a few months earlier I had decided I was going to find the answer on my own. And this was the day I found the biggest piece of the puzzle. Instead of being relieved, I was furious. It was so simple. It was just one little thing. It was such basic biology. And I found myself screaming out loud, “WHY DID NO ONE EVER TEACH ME THIS?!?!?!?!”
That moment was probably the beginning of my passion for learning and teaching, because I experienced firsthand how answers to life-threatening problems can be so simple, and yet we can be kept from them only because they aren’t taught in the “mainstream.” I think somewhere subconsciously I vowed that I wanted to make sure that if people didn’t know this, it was because they chose to ignore it, and not because no one ever bothered to tell them the important truth.
So what is this one, single, most important puzzle piece I learned that day? Your entire immune system is developed and controlled by the bacteria that live in your intestinal system.
This is such a simple truth, but with such complex biology. In one of my online classes we talk about all the fun and fascinating ways this works: from how a baby’s thymus gland (the controller of you immune system) is developed based on what bacteria they receive from their mom during birth and from breastmilk after birth, to how even as adults our immune cells are controlled by the bacteria in our gut. It effects everything! For me it was the key to controlling my endometriosis, IBS, cystitis, depression, and so much more. It is so remarkable how one thing literally controls all the systems of our body, and I would love to teach you all the details.
Learning this one principle allowed me to change how I ate to support the right bacteria, and then something amazing happened. My immune system changed! I went from being constantly sick with colds, flus, and chronic illnesses, to getting off all my prescriptions and having diagnoses literally disappear. This bacteria that lives inside you is controlling your life and your health, whether you know it or not. So boy it pays to understand how to use it to your advantage!
As this fact is finally starting to become more publicized, it has created the rise of a whole market of probiotic pills. But probiotics are expensive (a good one will cost you more than $100/month), many of them die before they make it to your intestines, and they only contain 2-10 strains of bacteria. Your immune system needs over 200 strains of powerful bacteria living in your gut for your immune system to work to its full potential! And the best news of all is that God designed them to be FREE and PLENTIFUL and EASY to get every day, because your health DEPENDS on getting them every day.
You can make probiotic food in your own kitchen that has 100 times more probiotics than any pill. Milk kefir, which is similar in taste and texture to yogurt, has over 50 different strains of immune building bacteria in one swallow. One bite of homemade sauerkraut has more than a TRILLION bacteria. Is it any wonder pregnant women crave pickles (the most common fermented food in all of history)? Is it any wonder nature automatically preserves food by fermenting it if you just let it? It is the mainstay of human health. That is why fermented food was an everyday part of food in every culture across the world until the last century. Is there a correlation between the loss of fermented food in our diets and the rise of chronic disease? Absolutely. Tests have showed correlations in sub-normal concentrations of these essential bacteria in almost every modern disease from kidney stones to autism. That means we have power to reverse disease as soon as we understand what we have been missing and start to reincorporate it into our lives.
There are so many options of “fermented” foods (which simply means the good bacteria have been allowed to grow to naturally preserve the food) that you will never get bored and you can please any palate. Soy sauce, before it was commercialized, was a fermented food. Pickles, before they were commercialized, were a fermented food. You can make them the old fashioned way and change your health. You can feed your kids fermented dill carrots or Mexican salsa or fruit chutney. You can enjoy fermented smoothies and popsicles. The options are endless.
If the idea of fermenting food sounds a little scary, or if you would love to taste a whole bunch of different foods to see what you like, you are in luck! We have a hands-on class coming up next week. You can join us at our retreat, May 5-7, and enjoy our fermenting classes, along with classes on making natural yeast bread, healthy smores, pies, and so much more. Check out the schedule here. Or you can sign up to come just on Saturday for our fermenting day of classes and an entire lunch of fermented foods for you to taste.
Want to watch allergies and eczema disappear? Want to have babies without colic and acid reflux? What to see your mental health improve for the better? Want to go through flu season without the flu? Want to have chronic diseases start to disappear? Want to see symptoms of ADHD and autism fade? ALL of these problems have been linked to lack of good bacteria in the gut. THE ONE, SINGLE, MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR HEALTH IS LEARN HOW TO PROMOTE GOOD BACTERIA AND STARVE THE BAD BACTERIA, and then your immune system goes through an automatic upgrade, no software needed.
Angie
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