Category Archives: Gluten Free Diets and Healing

Through Pain to Victory, A Journey Through Food: The Story of Kathryne Pirtle

Listen to my interview on blogtalk radio with Stephen McCarthy:

Through Pain to Victory
A Journey Through Food: The Story of Kathryne Pirtle

Stephen McCarthy of The McCarthy Project covers a few of the concepts of the book, Deep Nutrition, along with an interview with Kathryne Pirtle, author of Performance Without Pain. She tells her story of overcoming pain to live life and perform her absolute best. Catherine Shananhan’s book covered recent research related to nutrition and traditional gene theory.  Kathryne Pirtle joined Stephen to talk about her journey through pain and struggle with food to gain victory and some ideas on how each of us can improve our performance by eating a non-gmo, organic non-western diet.

Here is a link to the interview:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/themccarthyproject/2014/01/04/epigentics-and-food-choices-story-of-kathryne-pirtle

My Television Interview on Healing with Nutrient-Dense Foods on Deeper Living

My 2007 television interview on healing from 25 years of chronic pain and a life-threatening digestive disorder. It is a great resource for understanding how to permanently solve chronic inflammation and digestive ailments. Press the link below to go to the interview:

Interview

 

Carbohydrate addictions–it’s not all in your head.

Food addictions can be much more than just talk–they can be real biochemical dependencies that may be signs of health issues. Today, many people are addicted to carbohydrates, like breads, chips, cookies, candy, soda pop, etc. From the aisles of “organic” junk food products in our health food stores to literally hundreds of  junk foods that sit on the shelves of grocery, discount and countless other stores, and the billions of dollars that are spent on advertising these products especially to growing children, it is almost unfathomable that these types of “foods” were by-and-large created in the last 60 years. But why do people crave them?

Because there was no refrigeration, our ancestors consumed many foods that were preserved through lacto-fermentation like yogurt and kefir and fermented vegetables, such as traditionally prepared sauerkraut and pickled beets, which contained probiotic bacteria that helped to maintain a healthy digestive system. With refrigeration and the industrialization of our food supply we stopped making these probiotic foods and started consuming more and more new-fangled food creations. These new fascinating “foods” have wreaked havoc on our digestion and the health of our population as they are very nutrient deficient and hard to digest.

When we consume foods that are hard to digest–even organic foods, digestion slows down in our stomach and stomach acid diminishes. Low acid in the stomach can cause an overgrowth of candida . In addition, without adequate stomach acid, the gluteomorphine proteins in gluten containing grains may not to be properly broken down before they reach the small intestine. In the small intestine the resulting byproduct of poorly digested carbohydrates is alcohol and acetaldehyde as well as morphine-like chemicals. We all know that alcohol and morphine are extremely addictive substances. Acetaldehyde is a very toxic chemical that can bind itself to proteins and make them unusable as nutrients. Therefore, carbohydrate addiction is a real chemical problem and without healthy digestion, candida overgrowth and poor gut flora will ultimately cause intestinal damage and malnourishment.

The best way to end the candida cycle and food addictions is to focus on eating a diet of easy-to-digest, nutrient-dense foods. Foods with real nutrients will eventually help you end the cravings as digestion and nutrient absorption improves. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Do you get hungry two hours after eating breakfast?

If you are getting hungry two hours after eating breakfast, you may be choosing the wrong kind of foods for your morning meal and this may be a sign that you have absorption problems as well. Let’s look at both of these important issues.

First, a breakfast of cereal, toast or a bagel with non-fat spreads and a piece of fruit may not be the breakfast of champions! For years before I got deathly ill with a digestive disorder, my favorite breakfast was bagels, no-cholesterol “buttery flavor” spread and a piece of fruit. Another choice was a bowl of cold cereal. However by 10AM, I was very hungry again. This is not good. A healthy breakfast is not one that would leave you hungry in just a few hours.

Instead, a breakfast with higher amounts of protein and fat from traditional foods will literally nourish you until the afternoon and will offer far greater levels of nutrients. In our book we recommend a few great breakfasts that besides being nutrient-dense, will also help improve digestion. Smoothies made with 16 oz. whole fat kefir or yogurt (preferably raw milk from grass-fed animals), 2-4 raw egg yolks (from pastured chickens–not commercial eggs), fruit and 1 T. coconut oil are a fabulous breakfast. Another is old fashioned bacon (organic, no-nitrate) and eggs (from pastured chickens). Nutrient density is the key to building optimal health and maintaining blood sugar meal to meal. Nutrient-dense foods have ample high-quality traditional fats, protein and carbohydrates.

However, another reason that you are hungry just two hours after eating may be that you are suffering from inflammation in your intestinal tract. Inflammation is usually caused from bacterial imbalances in the gut flora like a candida overgrowth. When inflammation is present, nutrient absorption will be hampered and a person will feel hungry very quickly after eating a meal. After years of malabsorption, malnourishment is sure to follow.

For optimal health we need eat foods that are high in nutrients and also those that will support good digestion. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,
Kathryne Pirtle

“All disease comes from malnourishment”–Dr. Weston A. Price

These profound words of Dr. Weston A. Price came as a result of  a 10 year meticulous study of healthy populations worldwide. Dr. Price, a prominent dentist in the 1930’s, was a pioneer on the quest to understand why the majority of  his patients in the United States had crooked and crowded teeth, cavities, facial deformities and degenerative illnesses of all kinds. He did not feel that this was normal and traveled during the summers of a ten year period to see if he could find populations of people with perfect health. He found 14 cultures who had completely different diets that had this perfect health–no cavities, perfect facial structure with plenty of room for the teeth and no degenerative diseases–including TB.

Although their diets were different, Price found certain common key components. First, the diets had 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D from natural sources–like cod liver oil, egg yolks, organ meats, fish eggs and traditional fats–like butter and cream from grass-fed animals–foods that we are largely told to avoid. Next, he found that their diets had ample traditional fats such as butter, cream, lard, coconut oil and meat with its fat. He found that without both adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fats, that a person could not absorb the nutrients from the foods they ate no matter how good the diet. Lastly, he found that their diets consisted of high quality proteins from animals eating their natural diets, and they ate no refined foods whatsoever.

Importantly, Price found that when people from these same cultures moved to areas where they were able to have access to modern foods–white flour, pasteurized milk, refined sugar and vegetable oils–that they developed cavities and degenerative illnesses and in the next generation, the children had crooked and crowded teeth, cavities and poor health as well.

Today, cavities are commonplace, our entire population is exhibiting  crooked and crowded teeth and the percentage of people–adults and children alike–affected by degenerative disease of all kinds, is growing at an exponential rate. Our modern food supply is a large part of the reason this is happening as our foods are highly nutrient-deficient.

If we follow Dr. Price’s work, we will see that the future of the health of our people lies in improving our broken food supply in favor of traditionally raised, nutrient-dense foods. When we correct malnourishment, healing and building optimal health are possible.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Foods from grass fed, pastured animals vs. organic foods–is there a difference? Which has more nutrients?

Deciding what is a healthy diet can be full of conflicting advice. However, if we ask ourselves what foods can offer our bodies the most nutrients, we will begin to understand what foods will best support our health. Unfortunately, the common dietary dictate that we hear over and over—ie. “Eat a lowfat/high-fiber diet and you will be healthy,” does not have nutrient density as an underlying principal.

However, even finding a good source of nutrient-dense foods can be confusing. When it comes to foods with the highest level of nutrients, eating organic meats, poultry, dairy and eggs does not guarantee a nutrient-rich product as organic can mean many things–like feeding the animals an unnatural diet of organic corn and other grains–or even donuts (hard to believe)…etc. It also does not guarantee that the animal has not been raised in a confinement system either. Organic–which often is accompanied by the highest price tag, therefore does not necessarily mean nutrient-dense.

However, we can be assured of the highest level of nutrients in the foods we eat when the animal has been eating its natural diet and is pastured on organic pastureland. It’s almost comical to remind people that cows eat grass and chickens eat bugs and worms. The nutrient levels of the foods from animals eating their natural diets is quite remarkable. In fact the book Pasture Perfect, by Jo Robinson, (pub. Vashon Island Press) compares the level of nutrients from the foods of factory raised animals and pastured animals–and hands down–there is an enormous difference. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that eating corn all day inside a barn would not be a very good idea for a cow….

Pastured foods are becoming more and more available from small family farm coops and in some health food stores. For a good source of pastured foods in your area check out www.realmilk.com. Who’s your farmer?

For more information on a healthy diet see our website at www.performancewithoupain.com.

To your health!

Kathryne Pirtle

A “Healthy” High-Fiber/Lowfat Diet may actually lead to digestive disorders and chronic inflammation

The “healthy” high-fiber/low fat diet diet that has been given the greatest press by doctors, ads and news reports may actually be quite harmful for your digestive system and leave you over time with chronic inflammation, allergies of all kinds and malnourishment.

High fiber foods are quite difficult to digest as they are high in cellulose. First, when we eat a high amount of fiber, it can expand in our stomach and cause digestion to last longer. This can lower the stomach acid in the stomach making it difficult for the food to be broken down. As soon as stomach acid lowers, bacteria, viruses and fungi can thrive in the stomach where they normally will be kept at bay. This can cause over time a candida overgrowth.

A  candida-or yeast-overgrowth-in the stomach will pass into the intestinal tract causing bacterial imbalances and dysbiosis. Some of the symptoms of dysbiosis are acid reflux, flatulence and bowel disorders of all kinds like constipation or diarrhea. With a candida overgrowth, our foods are not broken down properly, we cannot absorb nutrients well, our intestinal tract can become damaged and inflamed and we eventually can become malnourished. This cycle can cause systemic inflammation throughout the body as well as allergies.

Traditional fats are essential for nutrient absorption. Dr. Weston A. Price (www.westonaprice.org) found that the diets of healthy populations worldwide included ample fats, like butter, cream, lard and meat with its fat from pastured animals, coconut oil and eggs from pastured chickens. He determined that without adequate fat in the diet, a person could not absorb the nutrients from the food no matter how good the diet. When the Indians and explorers could only find lean meat, they starved to death. Adequate fat from traditional foods is absolutely necessary to good health and without it, good digestion will not be possible and eventually one will become malnourished and have chronic inflammation.

Following the media’s “healthy” diet may not provide you with a life-time of good health. Building health with traditional nutrient-dense foods can offer healing and protection from digestive disorders and chronic inflammation.

For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Chronic Tendonitis is Often a Warning Sign of Poor Digestion and Malnourishment

New Options for Relieving Chronic Pain and Muscle Weakness

”All diseases begin in the gut.” Hippocrates (460-370 BC)

Imagine: You are a successful professional musician, having spent your entire life mastering your instrument. You however, are fighting a difficult struggle—you have chronic tendonitis, embouchure weakness, or other debilitating problems that make performance a constant struggle. You have researched thoroughly and tried every physical therapy treatment—chiropractic, massage, yoga, Alexander Technique, muscle balancing, Rolfing, etc., etc., etc. You are even eating a very healthy diet—but you continue to have recurring problems that are manageable only with a strict regimen of physical therapy treatments. Is this you? When chronic pain is ongoing, a digestive disorder may be to blame.

This was my story. Although I had been playing professionally and teaching for more than 25 years, I had spent much of that time in pain. Beginning in my late teens and 20s, I experienced musculoskeletal inflammation and early symptoms of digestive troubles such as flatulence—a sign of poor digestion. I relieved my pain through physical therapy-type approaches common to the field of music—you name it; I did it! In my late twenties and throughout my thirties, I was constantly “chasing” pain from practicing and performing. When I would solve the discomfort in one area, another area would become irritated. At 40, I developed acid reflux and in the fall of 2001, at 45, I became chronically ill with an inflammatory condition in my spine that left me with debilitating pain in my shoulders, fingers, arms, and hands. As my illness worsened, my embouchure shook uncontrollably and I suffered from chronic diarrhea and malabsorption. I thought would not survive.

Ultimately, I was diagnosed with a long-term digestive problem, intestinal damage, and malabsorption—all the result of Celiac disease (an intolerance for gluten grains), and surprisingly, following the common low-fat, high-fiber nutritional dictates. I found the answers to healing through a dramatic change in my diet, adopting the principles of Dr. Weston Price, whose research on healthy cultures worldwide during the 1930s led to the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org), a foundation that helps people understand accurate dietary principles of human health and is helping to improve the food supply in our country.

I knew the problems I suffered were common not only to musicians, but to people in all walks of life as our country’s food supply has drastically changed since the 1950s. I decided to help others have access to this life-saving information by writing a book with Dr. John Turner, the chiropractor who helped me recover who is a former national qualifying gymnast, and Sally Fallon, the founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Our book is called Performance Without Pain: Healing Pain, Inflammation, and Chronic Ailments in Musicians, Athletes, Dancers—and Everyone Else (New Trends, 2006).

In my book, we discuss what foods cause digestion problems and chronic ailments. We also discuss the vital necessity of eating traditionally raised foods, adequate amounts of vitamin A and D and traditional fats—fats that people ate for 1000s of years. Without these foods, digestion and nutrient absorption can eventually be severely compromised.

We also cover the importance of traditionally cultured foods that promote healthy intestinal flora, without which our foods are not broken down properly and unhealthy bacteria can thrive in the intestinal tract causing bacterial fermentation and intestinal damage. When the intestinal tract becomes damaged, undigested proteins can “leak” through the intestinal wall, causing an immune system response and inflammatory chemicals to continually circulate throughout the body. For musicians, dancers, or athletes, this can lead to a predisposition to injury and inflammation.

From his research, Dr. Price established a set of dietary requirements necessary for optimal human health that involve nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods with adequate traditional fats from pastured animals and wild-caught fish. These include:

•    High-vitamin A and D foods—for instance cod-liver oil, egg yolks, liver
•    High quality traditional fats—butter, coconut oil, lard
•    Bone-broth soups made from chicken, beef, or fish.
•    Traditionally cultured foods such as kefir, yogurt and homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets.
•    High quality proteins—meats, raw dairy, poultry, eggs, and fish—from animals eating their natural diets.

Through this approach, I reversed my acid reflux and intestinal damage, and provided my body with the nutritional elements necessary for building health. I am now recovered and vibrantly healthy! For the first time in 25 years I have had no pain or inflammation in my body for over four years. My embouchure is completely strong and I have excellent stamina.

Although finding high-quality foods and changing your diet may at first be complicated, your health is your most important asset. The dietary principles that Dr. Price found that supported optimal human health were the permanent answer to healing my digestive tract, and therefore, my long-term pain. The exciting news is there is a growing movement of people across the country that is turning to these same foods to improve chronic illness of all kinds.

For more information about our book and seminars see www.perfoprmancewithoutpain.com or our new ebook on acid reflux diet.

How Effective are Gluten-Free Diets?

Beyond a “Gluten-Free Diet”

Harnessing the Power of Traditional, Nutrient-Dense Foods—
the Keys to Maximizing Treatment Success for Digestive Disorders

Healing from any long term digestive disorder is a very complicated issue. For Celiac disease, eliminating gluten is, of course, the first step to recovery. However, following this protocol alone may not be entirely effective in helping to overcome intestinal damage and the resulting long term malnourishment that ultimately may lead to many more serious health problems. While avoiding gluten is essential, to build optimal health where nutrient absorption has been severely impaired, a nutrient-dense diet is the only approach that will lead to true healing.

This was my experience. I am a professional clarinetist with a national career. Although I had been playing professionally and teaching for more than 25 years, I had spent much of that time in pain. Beginning in my late teens and 20s, I experienced musculoskeletal inflammation and early symptoms of digestive troubles such as flatulence—a sign of poor digestion. I relieved my pain through physical therapy-type approaches common to the field of music—you name it; I did it! In my late twenties and throughout my thirties, I was constantly “chasing” pain from practicing and performing. When I would solve the discomfort in one area, another area would become irritated. At 40, I developed acid reflux and in the fall of 2001, at 45, I became chronically ill with an inflammatory condition in my spine that left me with debilitating pain in my shoulders, fingers, arms, and hands.

Ultimately, I was diagnosed with a long-term digestive problem, intestinal damage, and malabsorption—all the result of Celiac disease. I then strictly followed a gluten-free diet. In fact, after my diagnoses, I ate only meat, eggs, vegetables and salad, fruit and olive oil—I ate no sugar or grains. My pain disappeared within a month, but six months later, my illness worsened and I suffered from chronic diarrhea. I thought would not survive.

What was I going to eat? I had cut out all the offending gluten foods plus sugar and didn’t even eat grains. My diet should have been completely therapeutic for Celiac disease but yet, I was still very ill as my intestinal damage had profoundly affected nutrient absorption.

I found the answers to healing through a dramatic change in my diet, adopting the principles of Dr. Weston Price, whose research on healthy cultures worldwide during the 1930s led to the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org), a foundation that helps people understand accurate dietary principles of human health and is helping to improve the food supply in our country.

I learned that my diet was severely lacking in the foods and nutrients necessary to healing my digestive tract and malnourishment and that many of the foods I ate were difficult to digest—especially the raw vegetables and fruit—and were not healing to the intestinal tract. In fact, my low-fat, high fiber “healthy diet” was actually killing me!

I discovered that in order to maximize the nutrients I ate, that all the meat, eggs, dairy, poultry that I consumed needed to come animals eating their natural diets—ie. the cows had to eat grass, the chickens needed to eat bugs and worms, and the fish needed to be wild caught. I found these foods by locating a farm co-op that delivered these foods to our area through www.realmilk.com. The nutrients in naturally raised foods are immensely higher than even “organically” raised and especially factory farmed foods.

The first powerful food that I learned would help me recover was homemade bone-broth soup—traditional soup that people had made for thousands of years. I have eaten a bone-broth soup every day for the last seven years. There is a South American saying “Good broth raises the dead.” Good bone broth soup is loaded with easy-to-digest nutrients that will give the intestinal tract all the elements needed for repair and improvement of absorption. It is made by taking high quality chicken, beef or lamb bones, skin, tendons and ligaments–and simmering them in water with a little vinegar or wine for 12-36 hours, and then straining it. Soups can then be made by adding meat and vegetables to the broth and the broth can also be used in countless other recipes for added nutrition.

Next, through studying Dr. Price’s work, I found that all healthy cultures ate foods naturally high in vitamin A and D—such as cod liver oil, liver and egg yolks. They also consumed liberal amounts of traditional fats such as raw butter, cream, coconut oil and lard—fats that people had also eaten for thousands of years. Without both adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fat, you will not be able to absorb the nutrients in your food and your digestion can eventually be severely compromised. Thus, without adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fats in my diet, I was literally starving and chronic diarrhea was one of the symptoms. In fact, in historical records of expeditions to Antarctica and the lives of Indian tribes, when only lean meat was available, people starved to death.

I began to consume high-quality cod liver oil and butter oil (see www.greenpasture.org for more information). I also added raw butter, coconut oil, raw cream, egg yolks daily and liver twice a week to my diet for the first time in my life. Little did I know that adding fat and vitamin A and D were also the missing links to recovery.

I then learned the importance of traditionally cultured foods—like whole-fat, raw-milk kefir, homemade sauerkraut and beet kvass—that promote healthy intestinal flora and supply enzymes, without which our foods are not broken down properly and unhealthy bacteria can thrive in the intestinal tract causing bacterial fermentation and intestinal damage. When the intestinal tract becomes damaged, undigested proteins can “leak” through the intestinal wall, causing an immune system response, such as chronic inflammation and food allergies.

From his research, Dr. Price established a set of dietary requirements necessary for optimal human health that involve nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods with adequate traditional fats from pastured animals and wild-caught fish. These include:

• High-vitamin A and D foods—cod-liver oil, egg yolks, liver
• High quality traditional fats—butter, coconut oil, lard
• Bone-broth soups made from chicken, beef, or fish.
• Traditionally cultured foods such as whole-fat kefir, yogurt and homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets.
• High quality proteins—meats, raw dairy, poultry, eggs, and fish—from animals eating their natural diets.

Through this approach, I reversed my intestinal damage, and provided my body with the nutritional elements necessary for building health. I am now recovered and vibrantly healthy! For the first time in 25 years I have had no pain or inflammation in my body for over six years.

Although finding high-quality foods and changing your diet may at first be complicated, your health is your most important asset—your health is your wealth! The dietary principles that Dr. Price found that supported optimal human health were the permanent answer to healing my digestive tract, and therefore, my long-term malnourishment. The exciting news is there is a growing movement of people across the country that is turning to these same foods to improve chronic illness of all kinds.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle