Fellow food-intolerant friends,

As mentioned here recently, I have spent some weeks (months?) of frustration on the food intolerance front, despite some fairly valiant efforts to avoid suspect items.

During this period I started feeling like my food-gut issues were a puzzle, and that there were too many missing pieces for me to (ever) have the big picture of how food was affecting my health.

Now, suddenly, I feel as though I have found the edge pieces of the puzzle – all at once! And, that I now have a much better idea of how to proceed next.

This discovery was Dr. Sarah Ballantyne and the exhaustive, brilliant work she has done turning scientific research into understandable info for those of us with gut related issues.

After spending much time absorbed in her extremely generous website, the Paleo Mom, I decided to buy one of her books.

A huge book, weighing about 5.5 lbs, Paleo Principles is as comprehensive as a text book – and is extremely well-written.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far from reading this tome.

• I had the Paleo diet all wrong. While meat is an essential part of it – fresh, healthy vegetables are just as integral.
• Foods that are avoided on the Paleo diet – grains, pseudograins, and most legumes – are those that tend to cause inflammation – and even moreso if you already have gut issues.
• The reason these foods cause inflammation has to do with botany. More on this in another post!
• Gluten intolerance often comes bundled with other intolerances. The book goes into cross reactivity, FODMAPS, allergies, and other related issues that anyone with gluten intolerance or celiac will definitely want to know about.

And it’s not just about diet. Dr. Ballantyne named her book Paleo Principles to stress that there’s more to what she calls the “Paleo template” than just the diet.

If you’d been a fly on the wall, you would have heard me exclaim “yes!” a few times while reading her advice on biologically appropriate sleep and lifestyle choices.

In fact, I can see that the lifestyle choices I have cultivated over the past several years (and try to tout here on this blog) are very much part of the Paleo template.

I have read too many proponents of gluten free eating that fail to address important related health issues, such as the importance of eating organic. Not so in Paleo Principles – Dr. Ballantyne’s approach is wonderfully thorough.

She has done some serious thinking and research about how food effects the gut and has a lots of honestly healthy recipes available – both in the book and on her website.

Maybe you’re not in the market for a book purchase. It seems you can find most of the info in her book on her website. I appreciate this approach, which shows a generosity of spirit and a sincere effort to help those in need.

If you – like me – are still putting the pieces of the food-gut puzzle together, you might want to check out Dr Ballantyne’s website, or her book.

And if you have found answers to your food-gut problems by going Paleo, please share in the comments! We’d all love to hear about your experiences.