The Allergy ConnectionAllergies are common. Allergies are common in chronic illness and for the most part allergies have a predictable pattern. The Food and Disease Paradigm attempts to make both doctors and patients aware of the role of food and other allergies in the management of their illnesses.
Over 90% of asthma sufferers are allergic to dust mite, which is a microscopic insect living in dust. Dust mite allergy can be easily tested. It seems wrong that doctors juggle drugs, puffers, sprays, nebulisers when treating asthma and neglect to teach the sufferer how to improve their environment, particularly their bedroom, in order to minimize exposure to this prevalent asthma trigger. Similarly the vast majority of headache and migraine sufferers are sensitive in varying degrees to chocolate, oranges and peanuts.
Elimination diets have been trialled by researchers on vast numbers of patients suffering different chronic illnesses such as arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, colitis, migraine, psoriasis and even more. Elimination diets are simple low allergy diets with usually just 20 foods. Improvement rates in medically controlled trials vary from between 40 to 100%. In one trial in 1984, 100% of the 23 rheumatoid arthritis patients improved on an elimination diet.
What this is really saying and very loudly is that food is a major factor in chronic illness and is involved in somewhere between 40 to 100% of cases.
A paradigm is a shift in one's way of thinking. The Food and Disease Paradigm is a new way of thinking about chronic illness whereby there is a pattern of foods which relates to disease symptoms. A computer program was developed called CWASQ and this program was able to be used to define the common offending foods with each condition: For every food avoidance this book discusses useful alternative foods. Case histories are reviewed and discussed with each condition.
The Allergy Connection may be used to help your condition and possibly even cure it. One can use this book to help friends and family.
