# IBS is cured and I am living again!



## allyjellybelly (Aug 16, 2005)

I had IBS for over 10 years. Mainly D - and usually so bad I was afraid to go out at times.Eventually a year ago my digestion finally collapsed and there was nothing I could eat without experiencing the most awful pain. I had floaty, frothy stools which turned into raging D with everything just running straight through me.As the Medical Profession could find no apparent reason for it (not that they looked very hard!) I had to do my own research and came across a Celiac link to the stools.Putting certain things together and remembering symptoms that my Dad and Mum showed, the Celiac theory made sense so I dropped gluten. Within a few hours the pain had gone and the D had stopped. Relief.But I still had other issues and was determined to find out what else was going on. I dropped dairy and that helped a bit more but I still had problems digesting carbs, loads of gas and bloating, although no longer painful - a sore stomach, I was still very fatigued and kept getting palpitations along with a host of other health issues.After doing a lot more research I came across the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). Knowing that carbs were a problem for me anyway I decided to give the diet a go and have never looked back.Gradually my body has been healing - slowly, but steadily. I no longer have IBS, the awful thrashing about all night with raging restless legs, that I eventually realised was somehow linked to my digestion but didn't know why, has abated and I rarely suffer with it unless I eat something that my digestion can't cope with.I am finally, after being plagued with it for years, waving goodbye to Candida, my Diabetes (that I may not have acquired had I listened to the advice given me 25 years ago by a very wise Naturopath that I should eat low-carb!) is much better controlled, Neuropathy is all but gone, I have more energy - now I can run up the stairs - I could not have done that a year ago! Although gluten-intolerant at present I do not believe that I have Celiac disease, and in fact actually suspect that Celiac like gluten-intolerance, or dairy-intolerance or pretty much any other intolerance is just merely one more manifestation of gut damage that can heal if given the right support.I follow the SCD but I also try and ensure that I have plenty of raw veg and fruit to try and restore my enzyme 'bank'. Most food in our 'Western' diet is absolutely devoid of enzymes and it is those that are needed for digestive aid and support. Whilst 'raw' milk contains enzymes, pasteurised does not - the very things that are present to help us digest the stuff are destroyed! Many people eat most of their food cooked and that destroys the enzymes too.I could not have coped with the raw food a year ago, but now my gut is on its way to complete healing I can cope with raw food fine - in fact my digestion seems to prefer it to cooked food and I am sure that is because of the enzyme activity.We just have this attitude that if it is food it must be good for us. Wrong! Live food is good for us - Dead food isn't. Most high-carb, high-sugar food is absolutely devoid of anything life-giving or supporting. It is full of 'empty' calories. We have an obesity crisis because people are eating food that is not giving them the nutrients their bodies need. The less nutrient-dense the food, the more food people eat as the body is craving the nutrients - and the enzymes, it is not getting. Conversely, the more nutrient-dense the food, the less we need and the leaner, and fitter, we become.Not only does the 'dead' food not supply the nutrients, it is also damaging the digestive tract and rendering it unable to absorb the nutrients it _is_ given so we end up in an endless cycle, getting bigger and bigger and not understanding why! Even though we may go on diets they also do not always provide the nutrients we need, and unfortunately we are rarely disciplined enough to stay on them long enough to allow the digestion to heal properly and let the nutrients in! Also unfortunately the nearest a lot of people get to a vegetable is a tin of baked beans or a portion of fries, and many think that carton or bottled fruit juice gives them one of their '5' portions of fruit and veg. Unless you eat (or drink) the fruit and veg live and fresh, the enzymes and many of the nutrients will die very rapidly and what you buy in a carton is nothing but pure flavored sugar and water.I didn't know much of all this a year ago - I had heard of enzymes but didn't know what they were. I didn't know that most of our 'Western' diseases were unique to our 'Western' lifestyle. I also would, like most people, defer my health to the responsibility of Doctors who are often nothing much more than a glorified 'drug-pusher' (and whose drugs have done me a lot of harm over the years!) - but now I have taken my own body and my own health into my own hands and taken back the responsibility myself. The less drugs I need to take the less damage I am doing to my body. I have already been able, due to the diet, throw the blood pressure tablets away and I now need less insulin too - who knows I might be able to throw that away too once my body has finished the healing process.What I do know is that I never will go back to the 'Western' diet. Most people are suffering because of it in one way or another and I have no desire any longer to add to the statistics...............


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