My friend recently went raw..like 80%... and she is itching like crazy... all over...


what could it be???? detox, foof, chemicals????

Does she have pets?
Fleas maybe?

Here is an old post from our beloved Dave Klein…

Itching and detoxification
Dave Klein (---.oak.jps.net)
Date: 01-11-02 15:29

Itching is the body's signal that toxins are in the skin and trying to come out. Our nails are provided to scratch to help release the toxins.

We can get skin detox when we are transtioning to a raw diet.

We can get also itching after we have been raw for a while, even after we have nearly thoroughly detoxed if we eat in a way that food decomposes in our gut. Eating bad combinations, eating too frequently, eating when tired, eating enzymeless foods, eating irritating "foods" and condiments (mustard, vinegar, cayenne, onions, etc.), and eating too much can all cause decomposition in the gut by bacteria (fermentation) leading to toxemia (polluted blood). The toxins in the blood circulate arround the body, irritate glands and nerves, and the body tries to eliminate the toxins thru the skin and other places.

To enhance your body's ability to detox, live on water or juices and citrus fruits and exercise vigorously so that you sweat. Avoid fatty foods. Always follow food combining guidelines. If you are ill, do not exercise vigorously. Skin brushing can help.

Here's an article on detoxing:

Detoxification …see below…
by David Klein
[www.livingnutrition.com]
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
------------------------------------------
…see “Detoxification” file…
==========================================
Detoxification
Dave Klein (---.oak.jps.net)
Date: 08-18-01 12:14

Detoxification by David Klein

Living Nutrition Magazine
[www.livingnutrition.com]

Many people begin transitioning to a raw food diet when they are severely ill, some do so when they are attempting to recover from minor nagging illness symptoms, and still others make the change when they are free of symptoms. In all of these conditions, once the body begins to assimilate a higher proportion of natural raw foods, it initiates detoxification and health-building actions, since it is always striving to establish a higher state of wellness.

The new, enzymatically-active live raw foods with their nutritious, energizing sugars cause the body to spring into action, utilizing much of its energy in cleaning house: purging debris, shedding old inferior cells, and using the new raw nutrients to build a completely new, healthier body. In order to avoid the drastic cleansing, with its accompanying symptoms, that takes place when the transition is made too quickly, a slower transition is recommended. As long as there is vitality, the opportunity exists for the body to rejuvenate to a far more vigorous level of health. Results are often noticed within 24 hours of beginning a new healthful regimen.

Detoxification is a self-purifying process which the body carries out continuously, most aggressively during the early to late morning hours. It is advantageous to eat lightly in the morning; heavy foods eaten at this time suspend the cleansing process, keeping us toxic, and, in some cases, overweight. “Detox” entails 1. the cells off-loading metabolic wastes and environmental toxins into the bloodstream for filtering by the liver and kidneys for elimination, and 2. the organs of elimination (bowels, kidneys, lungs, skin, vagina) releasing metabolic, environmental and residual food wastes via feces, urine, breath, sweat and menses. Toxins are also expectorated in mucus via the throat and sinuses.

Under normal conditions of healthful living and natural diet, the body is able to eliminate metabolic wastes and other environmental pollutants through its normal organs of elimination. However, under chronic excessive bombardment with unnatural dietary fare, environmental pollutants, emotional stress, and/or overeating on even good natural foods, the body’s eliminative capacities are not equal to the task, and a buildup of toxins increases as the days and years go by. This condition, called toxicosis, leads to accelerated aging, fatigue, illness, and, in many cases, to obesity. In this condition of toxicity, which is particularly likely if one has lived on a diet of foods such as cooked meat, dairy, bread, and junk foods, the body harbors sticky and insoluble debris and waste matter on artery and bowel walls, as well as in the bloodstream, tissues, bowels, and organs.

Fortunately, the body is a magnificently designed masterpiece of self-regulation and self-healing, always striving to establish and maintain purity and wellness. When a toxic load becomes too dangerous for the body, it intelligently enacts a detoxification/elimination/purging/housecleaning event or phase, manifested by any of these “symptoms”: sore throat, inflammation, fever, skin outbreaks, coated tongue, mucus expectoration, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Malodorous body wastes and underarms are signs that toxic putrid fermented matter and acids are being eliminated. During the detoxification phase, many people experience lightheadedness and headaches as the body stirs up and dumps toxins into the bloodstream for processing and elimination. During a thorough detox, unhealthy fat, cysts and even tumors are also broken down (autolyzed) and eliminated. As toxins are stirred up and released, people also typically experience symptoms of mental-emotional detox: mood swings, depression, sadness, anger, and crying.

When the organs of elimination are weak and/or overloaded the body will resort to eliminating toxins through any convenient outlet it can find: e.g., the eyes, ears, throat, vagina, skin (sweating, rashes and suppurations), sinuses, and scalp. When we experience any of these signs of elimination, we typically feel fatigued and sleepy, as the body is directing much of its energy toward accomplishing the housecleaning. At such times, it is always wise to assist the body by heeding the calls for extra rest and sleep. All of these “symptoms” will diminish and then vanish when the body is sufficiently cleaned out, providing we adhere to a healthful lifestyle regimen.

In conjunction with the heightened detoxification action, the body works at repairing any damage, regenerating new cells, rejuvenating and restoring wellness. The repair work mostly occurs when we sleep. When there is damage to be repaired and rejuvenation to be accomplished, the body needs extra sleep. We typically feel weak and need plenty of extra sleep at the beginning stage of the rejuvenation phase. If the toxemia, physical damage, degeneration and emotional distress is severe, this phase may last for weeks or months. It is important to understand that the symptoms of the detoxification and rejuvenation process signify the workings of the awesome rejuvenative power of the body. It will help the process if we appreciate the workings of the body and do everything possible to assist it in its healing processes. We can do this by taking a break or a sabbatical from our normal routines, obtaining plenty of extra sleep and rest--if necessary, complete rest--as well as eating simply, until the work is sufficiently accomplished and we experience new vigor and vitality. It would be ideal to take the sabbatical at a comfortable health center or retreat with fasting supervision, juicing, deep rest and hygiene education.

If we persevere through the uncomfortable detox symptoms, get extra sleep and rest when feeling tired or unwell, and resist covering up symptoms with medicines (which only add more toxins to the system), we will arrive at a wonderful state of well being in the quickest time possible, and in the process, we will learn invaluable lessons about how the body works to restore health. Some of the rewards include freedom from illness, sweet smelling breath, no body odors, easy and inoffensive elimination, shinier, thicker hair, clearer eyes and skin, more mental energy and clarity, better memory, more joie de vivre, slimmer belly, no cellulite, greater stamina, deeper connection to spirit, and finding a mutual attraction with healthy, vivacious people like ourselves. Through healthful living practices which keep our bodies clean inside and free of energy-robbing toxic matter, we can ensure a healthier, longer, more vital and youthful life, free ourselves from disease and aging, and tap into the wellspring of joy within.

[www.livingnutrition.com]
[www.healthfullivingintl.org]
[www.raw-passion.com]
[www.colitis-crohns.com]
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
------------------------------------------
…see “Detoxification” file…

Peace and Love..........John

Itching can also be due to an allergic reaction, it took me a while to realise large amounts of spinach in smoothies did this to me, its the histamine reaction.

Does it happen after a certain food?

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

Allergic Reactions are rarely the Primary Cause and are usually a Subsequent Cause just like Diabetes is the #1 Cause of Blindness in American. The questions we must ask is why do we have Diabetes and why do we have Allergies? As a side note, my Seasonal Allergies disappeared when I went Raw 22 years ago.

Anyway, here is an interesting article written by Dr. Tim O'Shea on Allergies…

...Article Preview...
• Allergies are not watery eyes and stuffed up noses. Allergies are reactions to irritants. Something foreign is triggering the body's cleansing responses.
• When antihistamines block these normal clearing responses from happening, the irritant or allergen or antigen is being permitted to enter further into the body than it would normally have gotten.
• ...what do 99% of allergic Americans have in common? Undigested food.
• Chronic buildup of undigested food signals two main deficiencies within the body: enzymes and flora.
• According to the FDA, the average American has between 4 and 22 lbs. of undigested food in the colon at any given time. Rotting food in the digestive tract sets up a condition that gastroenterologists call Leaky Gut Syndrome.
• Putrefying sludge breaks down the cells of the gut lining (epithelium) largely by choking off the blood supply to these delicate cells (ischemia). Hyperpermeability... Once in the blood, these foreign molecules can lodge in any joint, tissue, or organ. Since they are rotting food, they are toxins. As such, they can be the cause of practically ANY disease condition you can name. ...We're allergic, all right – allergic to all the food we're taking in and never digesting.
• Without them (flora), food rots in the colon. Rotting food becomes cemented within the inner folds of the colon's lining, destroying the mucosal cells, preventing normal function, and eventually blocking proper elimination. Rotting food leaks back into the bloodstream, going anywhere it can in the body.
• World authority in probiotics, the late Dr. Khem Shahani, described flora as the Second Immune System. He was referring to the ability of the flora to remove a toxic stimulus or allergen – undigested food - from the body. ...allergies simply cannot coexist in a body that has a healthy colon.
• After awhile the body can no longer distinguish between the undigested food particles and the tissues in which they are lodged. It sends its army - the immune system - to attack the foreign area, no longer just the foreign cells. So whatever the organ, whatever the tissue where the rotting food accumulates - that part of the body will be attacked as foreign. And we'll call it an autoimmune response.
• All the foregoing has to do with undigested processed foods as the cause of allergic reactions.
• ...Threshold of Reactivity. ...since all this undigested food has no outlet or way to be broken down, it builds up within the body over months and years. Let's call the point at which a person actually breaks out with symptoms of allergy (hives, rash, runny nose, stuffed sinuses, etc) let's call that point the Threshold. Below the Threshold, the person won't have symptoms. Stay with me now for the punchline. Since the indulgent American is packing away all this stored debris, he is pushing his body steadily closer and closer to its toxic capacity. Day by day he is jacking up his level of autointoxication, higher and higher. He is so close to the Threshold at all times, because of his indigestible diet, that contact with cat hair, dust, pollen, phases of the moon, or whatever the Specialist said he was "allergic to" – any contact is enough to raise him that last little bit, the straw that broke the camel's back, above the Threshold, and voila' - symptoms occur. And then the "specialist" blames the whole allergy on that last straw.
• ...the reason this information is not mainstream starts with an M. The allergy industry is big business, both presription and over-the-counter. Changing one's diet is not. It goes back to the first paragraph about conventional wisdom.
• The vast majority of allergies today are food allergies. We're addicted to the things that poison us. ...why search the house high and low for some elusive unknown bug, when there's an elephant sitting right in the middle of the living room?
...End of Article Preview...
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[thedoctorwithin.com]
ALLERGIES: THE THRESHOLD OF REACTIVITY
- Tim O'Shea
If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that Conventional Wisdom. In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:
• Pharmaceuticals restore health
• Vaccination brings immunity
• The cure for cancer is just around the corner
• Menopause is a disease condition
• When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics
• Hospitals are safe and clean.
• America has the best health care in the world.
• Americans have the best health in the world.
• Milk is a good source of calcium.
• Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
• Aspirin prevents heart attacks.
• Heart drugs improve the heart.
• Back and neck pain are the only reasons for spinal adjustment.
• The purpose of the health care industry is health.
• Cipro will prevent anthrax
• No child can get into school without vaccinations
• The FDA thoroughly tests all drugs before they go on the market
• Pregnancy is a serious medical condition
• Chemotherapy and radiation are effective cures for cancer
• When your child is diagnosed with an ear infection, antibiotics should be given immediately "just in case."
• Ear tubes are for the good of the child.
• Estrogen drugs prevent osteoporosis after menopause
• Pediatricians are the most highly trained of all medical specialists
• The purpose of the health care industry is health
• HIV is the cause of AIDS
• AZT is the cure
• Without vaccines, infectious diseases would return.
• Fluoride in the city water protects your teeth. Flu shots prevent the flu.
• Vaccines are thoroughly tested before being placed on the Mandated Schedule
• The NASDAQ is a natural market controlled only by supply and demand
• Chronic pain is a natural consequence of aging
• Soy is your healthiest source of protein
• Insulin shots cure diabetes
• After we take out your gall balladder you can eat anything you want
• Vaccines are safe now that all the mercury has been removed
• Allergy medicine will cure allergies
All the above statements are myths. Fortunes have been spent to slam and re-slam them into the public's hard disk. Each can easily be proven false with just a little research, provided the student is determined to go wherever the data may lead. (The Doors of Perception - thedoctorwithin.com)
In this chapter we will only look at the last of these carefully crafted bits of conventional wisdom.
WHAT ARE ALLERGIES?
Your friend looks at your bloodshot eyes, hears your stuffed-up voice, and accepts the explanation "It's my allergies," as though the symptoms he observes were the disease itself. This word game is no accident. We are conditioned by a thousand commercials a day to equate all diseases with their symptoms. Headache, backache, arthritis, tinnitus, high blood pressure, on and on - are not diseases themselves, but rather the signs of disease. The illusion is that by covering up the signs, we have now cured the disease. The illusion is that by naming the signs, we have identified the disease. Nothing could be further from the truth.
You have a headache. Solution, programmed every five minutes on TV: Tylenol, Advil, whatever, that will do what? That's right: take the pain away. But wait – the pain wasn't the cause of the problem. The headache had a reason; it was a sign of something else. Neck spasm, intoxication, emotional stress, sinus allergies, trauma, spine misalignment, drugs, chemical sensitivity, overwork, hunger – the pain can come from many sources. The pill didn't solve anything, didn't cure anything. Soon as it wears off, guess what? Right – the pain returns. So then what are we taught to do? Right – more pills.
Same with allergies. Allergies are not watery eyes and stuffed up noses. Allergies are reactions to irritants. Something foreign is triggering the body's cleansing responses. Like walking behind a smoky bus when it starts up. You breathe in the fumes and start coughing and choking, with your eyes watering. That's an allergic response. Humans are allergic to bus exhaust. Eyes water to clear the eyes. Coughing reflex kicks in to forcibly expel the toxic fumes before they get inhaled. Happens in an instant.
Tolerance is a big problem. That means when we get used to an irritant, the body gives up on trying to expel it. Like a bus mechanic. After a few weeks or months of breathing those fumes every day, the body doesn't try so hard. The sensitive mucous membranes in the mouth and nose toughen up a little, and the mechanic learns to "take it." He's becoming less sensitized to a poison – carbon monoxide. Doesn't mean it won't kill him; it just means the body's getting accustomed to that degree of being poisoned. The irritant is no longer triggering such a strong cleansing response as it used to.
Same with someone learning to smoke cigarettes. He coughs and chokes at first, but soon gets the hang of it. The body's ability to throw off the toxins is gradually weakened.
We've all heard of anti-histamines. Pills and sprays that unclog stuffed noses. They work by blocking histamines. Histamines are produced by our white cells to trigger protective mechanisms, like stuffing up the nose, making the eyes water, and shutting down digestion. Allergy medicine is generally an antihistamine, which unnaturally interferes with the body's normal attempts to protect itself. Mouth, nose, and eyes – that's the first line of defense. When antihistamines block these normal clearing responses from happening, the irritant or allergen or antigen is being permitted to enter further into the body than it would normally have gotten. This is a side effect of antihistamines. You may thank God that you can breathe again, but for any drug, there is always a downside. The problem wasn't the stuffy nose or the watering eyes; the problem was the allergen: the irritant. Antihistamines don't touch the underlying cause; they just suspend the body's ability to respond with its normal clearing mechanisms. Result: tolerance. Toxification.
Isn't this obvious? Holistic doctors grow weary of explaining this self-evident fact over and over a dozen times a day to their patients. It's like if you're driving down the road and suddenly you hear this horrendous knocking noise coming from the engine. So you turn up the radio full blast in order to cover up the noise. Pretty stupid, but that's precisely what we're doing with allergy medication.
COVER UP THE SYMPTOMS
The focus of allergy treatment should be to eliminate the underlying stimulus of the sinus blockage and the watery nose and eyes. First of all, identify the causative factor. Cat hair, dust, pollen, shellfish, wool, etc.? I don't think so. Normal people can be around all of these and not react. Genetics? The usual excuse, when the "experts" run out of ideas. We have no idea, so let's just transfer it to an area that so far is unprovable and unknowable – gene sequencing. That way we can avoid pronouncing those three frightful words that separate the career researcher from the true scientist: "I don't know." As long as we don't know, the best we can do is keep on buying and selling antihistamines and their derivatives. As a $10 billion a year industry, why would anyone want to question it? Doctors sell drugs; that's why we go to them. If you want health, well, that's a different topic altogether. You're on your own for that.
There's another possibility here, another solution that thousands of people have discovered within the past five years. A whole new paradigm must be considered to explain the consistent success all these patients are having in resolving their chronic allergies. This point of view may be called the Threshold of Reactivity. It's really quite simple.
Here's the key idea: what do 99% of allergic Americans have in common? Undigested food. Too simple? Simplicity is the hallmark of the classic solution. Undigested food accumulates in the digestive tract, in the blood, in the tissues, organs and joints. It remains for months and years and cannot be dislodged by any of the body's methods. And the last and most persistent of these methods is the Inflammatory Response – the body's attempt to what? Right: attack and expel the intruder.
Chronic buildup of undigested food signals two main deficiencies within the body: enzymes and flora.
First,
ENZYMES
The reader is directed to the chapter on enzymes for review. To summarize, enzymes are what has been removed from food in order to make it last as long as possible on the shelves of American supermarkets. Enzymes are necessary for breakdown and digestion of food. Without them, the body makes a valiant effort to employ its own digestive enzymes to do the job. Problem is, so many of the soft foods we eat today are brand new to the human species within the past 75 years. New chemicals and preservatives have been introduced into our food supply for flavoring and preserving. The rancid, oxidizing fats of chips and fries are too weird. Our bodies can't break them down. After a certain amount of trying, the body gives up. At that point, much goes in, but little goes out. That's the main reason older people have difficulty eliminating. And many young people as well.
Food allergists and clinical ecologists waste a great deal of time setting up elimination diets to find out which exact foods cause a patient's allergic symptoms. Far more applicable and effective would be a shotgun approach: enzyme supplementation, because in general we eat an enzyme-less processed diet. People don't eat corn and bananas and cashews nearly as much as they eat processed peanut butter, Hamburger Helper, Taco Supremes, Big Macs, pizza, fries, Cheetos, chocolate pudding, hot dogs, Fig Newtons, and potato chips. The American soft drink industry is at $54 billion per year. (Wall Street Journal 18 Sep 98) 57 gallons per year per American. (Appleton)
Pasteurized milk has no enzymes any more. Canned food, none. Dairy products, salad dressings, soft drinks, ice cream, cheese, pastries, deep fried food, salty snacks, - see where this is going? – contain no enzymes. So what, you ask? So John Wayne and Elvis. Huh? On autopsy, according to the county coroner's reports, these gentlemen had 44 and 20 lbs. of undigested food in their respective colons at the time of death. According to the FDA, the average American has between 4 and 22 lbs. of undigested food in the colon at any given time. Rotting food in the digestive tract sets up a condition that gastroenterologists call Leaky Gut Syndrome. Review the colon chapter THE COLON
Happens like this:
Putrefying sludge breaks down the cells of the gut lining (epithelium) largely by choking off the blood supply to these delicate cells (ischemia). The gut wall is supposed to be very selective in what it allows to be absorbed into the blood. Hyperpermeability takes place when there is so much cell damage that the intestinal cells can no longer be selective. Stuff that wasn't supposed to get through starts getting through. Big stuff. Large molecules of half-digested fat, protein, and carbohydrate are absorbed intact through the gut into the bloodstream. Once in the blood, these foreign molecules can lodge in any joint, tissue, or organ. Since they are rotting food, they are toxins. As such, they can be the cause of practically ANY disease condition you can name. We're talking blood poisoning here: toxemia, bacteremia, septicemia. Don't be put off by big words. Such a set-up is perfect as the explanation for an allergic reaction. We're allergic, all right – allergic to all the food we're taking in and never digesting.
Second,
FLORA
Flora means good bacteria. The normal colon should have three lbs. of good bacteria at all times. (Shahani) They are also called probiotics, and include species like Lactobacillus, L. Salivarius, Acidophilus, and many others. Their job is the final phase of digestion. Without them, food rots in the colon. Rotting food becomes cemented within the inner folds of the colon's lining, destroying the mucosal cells, preventing normal function, and eventually blocking proper elimination. Rotting food leaks back into the bloodstream, going anywhere it can in the body.
World authority in probiotics, the late Dr. Khem Shahani, described flora as the Second Immune System. He was referring to the ability of the flora to remove a toxic stimulus or allergen – undigested food - from the body. Understanding this simple concept is the key to grasping the essential dynamic between a healthy colon and the end of allergies. With rare exception, allergies simply cannot coexist in a body that has a healthy colon.
Why do most Americans have suppressed flora? That's easy. Probiotic flora - the good bacteria - are fragile life forms existing in the normal body in a dynamic balance along with pathological (bad) bacteria, fungi, and viral forms. These good bacteria get killed off by the following agents
• antibiotics we take
• antibiotics in the meat we eat
• antacids, like Zantac, Tagamet, etc.
• NSAIDs, like Advil, Tylenol, Excedrin, Motrin, etc.
• other prescription and over the counter medications-
• white sugar
• carbonated drinks
• antihistamines (!)
• chlorinated drinking water
• fluoridated water
Many holistic nutritionists estimate that 80% of American women, and a significant proportion of men, have systemic Candida albicans. Candida is a yeast proliferation throughout the whole body whose existence was denied by American medical doctors as recently as fifteen years ago. As the normal flora become killed off, bad bacteria begin to multiply. Without enough good bacteria to occupy the available living quarters, there is nothing to check the bad ones. Fungal and yeast growths are allowed to increase for the same reason. Doctors call this phenomenon opportunistic infection. With the amount of pasteurized dairy we consume, such chronic low-grade infections are in epidemic proportions in America today.
The normal person has some viruses, some Candida, some potentially pathogenic bacteria at all times. But the majority of bacteria in the normal body are good ones. Think of it like walking into a crowded theatre. If all the seats are taken, there's no place to sit. Same for the pathogenics. If all the seats are taken by the friendly bacteria, the opportunists don't get the opportunity to replicate because there's no place to sit. Is this rocket science?
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
Thirty years ago you couldn't use the word autoimmune in conversation unless you were speaking with a doctor. With the meteoric increase in these diseases, today even the uneducated know what you're talking about, because someone in their family probably has an autoimmune condition.
Autoimmune means the body is attacking itself. It means that for some reason, the body is getting the idea that part of itself is foreign and must be expelled, in exactly the same way as any allergen, intruder or antigen would be. First that means inflammation. Then comes swelling, followed by the onset of fibrosis (crunchiness, from the laying down of cheap tissue), and finally, if unchecked, actual calcification. Pain can jump in at any time. It's almost biblical, like the body is turning to stone because we have not honored its needs. Almost.
Lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, scleroderma, - we hear about most of these all the time. What do they have in common? They're all of "unknown" origin, according to the medical texts. They can't be cured by drugs. They're all progressive. They can all be life-threatening. They're autoimmune. And they're all on the rise.
I won't be making revelatory statements here by saying what hundreds of holistic healers have known for years: the cause of these diseases is obvious, and they are all expressions of the same process - toxemia. (Tilden) That means blood poisoning. Another term is autointoxication, or self-poisoning. It's simply that food has putrified in the digestive tract for months or longer, which then leaks through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream in its undigested, rotting form. The debris is then free to lodge in any location it can find, where the inflammatory process will promptly begin. Easy to see why: in the blood, there are no digestive enzymes any more. Those were left behind in the digestive system.
Remember, that was Nature's brilliant survival design: the inside of the Tube is still the outside of the body. (The Tube is the entire digestive tract, from one end to the other.) Digestion of food only takes place within the Tube, outside the body. So with no enzymes in the blood, the undigested food which doesn't belong there anyway can no longer be broken down. All the blood can hope to do is to attack the foreign stuff with white cells to wall it off, or to engulf it in fat cells or calcium.
Problem is, the inflow of this stuff never ends. With the American high fat processed diet, more debris gets past the intestinal walls every day in undigested forms that were never meant to get into the blood - Leaky Gut Syndrome. Day after day, week after week, the stuff accumulates in the joints, arteries, and tissues, infiltrating wherever it can. After awhile the body can no longer distinguish between the undigested food particles and the tissues in which they are lodged. It sends its army - the immune system - to attack the foreign area, no longer just the foreign cells. So whatever the organ, whatever the tissue where the rotting food accumulates - that part of the body will be attacked as foreign. And we'll call it an autoimmune response. It's really not mysterious at all. It's completely natural. These empty, nutrition-deficient manmade foods of commerce simply don't belong inside the body. They were never food at all; they were just packaged and sold to look like food. And that, my friends, is show business.
OTHER ALLERGENS
All the foregoing has to do with undigested processed foods as the cause of allergic reactions. This doesn't even take into account the pesticides, hormones, and chemical preservatives, additives, and contaminants which end up in our food as the results of preparation, processing and packaging. Half of all antibiotics produced in the US today are for animals. Animals we eat. Sprayed pesticides work their way into the inner cells of supermarket fruit, and do not wash off. In our bodies such poisons are fat-soluble: stored in our fat cells, for months or years. Until the mid 1980s, sulfur dioxide compounds known as sulfites were commonly sprayed on French fries, meat, and salad bars to keep the food from browning too quickly. Sulfites were also routinely added to wine, to prevent further fermentation. Sulfur dioxide is toxic, and a cause of thousand of documented allergic reactions reported to the FDA in the mid 1980s, many of them fatal. Although sulfite use on meat and raw produce has been banned, they still appear in bronchodilator sprays, and also in wines, as long as the label states the percentage. (Randolph, p83)
Ever notice how some bananas don't ripen, but just go from green to rotten, with large black areas as though they had been bruised? This is from "gas-ripened" bananas. After shipping, the green bananas are put into a room and sprayed with ethylene gas, which artificially ripens them just before going to the market. Here's how you tell the difference: naturally ripening bananas will have many small dark spots on the skin as they ripen, and won't turn immediately rotten. Gassing is legal at this time, but is usually the cause of allergic response in someone who thinks he's allergic to bananas. (Randolph)
THE LAST STRAW
OK, back to the Threshold of Reactivity. You know the background now. So here it is: since all this undigested food has no outlet or way to be broken down, it builds up within the body over months and years. Let's call the point at which a person actually breaks out with symptoms of allergy (hives, rash, runny nose, stuffed sinuses, etc) let's call that point the Threshold. Below the Threshold, the person won't have symptoms. Stay with me now for the punchline. Since the indulgent American is packing away all this stored debris, he is pushing his body steadily closer and closer to its toxic capacity. Day by day he is jacking up his level of autointoxication, higher and higher. He is so close to the Threshold at all times, because of his indigestible diet, that contact with cat hair, dust, pollen, phases of the moon, or whatever the Specialist said he was "allergic to" – any contact is enough to raise him that last little bit, the straw that broke the camel's back, above the Threshold, and voila' - symptoms occur. And then the "specialist" blames the whole allergy on that last straw.
So they give him antihistamine "allergy medication" which prevents the body from offering its normal response to chronic poisoning from all the undigested, weird foods it's still taking in. And as soon as the medication wears off, he keeps breaking out. This is why allergy medication never cures allergies. People who take allergy medication continue to "have allergies" year after year. Most of them actually develop further allergy to the medication itself.
Same with allergy shots. They give you a little of what you're supposedly allergic to, as determined by the Last Straw diagnosis, with the promise that this will make you "immune" to that last straw – the cat hair, pollen, fairy dust, eye of newt, whatever. Allergy shots rarely work. If they did you wouldn't have to rush back to the doctor every six months or so for your shots. Ever notice how people on allergy shots always have allergies? Ever hear of anyone getting cured by allergy shots?
How can it be this simple? Why doesn't everybody know this? Thousands do, but the reason this information is not mainstream starts with an M. The allergy industry is big business, both presription and over-the-counter. Changing one's diet is not. It goes back to the first paragraph about conventional wisdom.
LAYER THAT STUCCO
One difficulty with food allergies is that they are bio-accumulative. In addition to the digestive tract, undigested residue is stored in fat cells and may last for months or years. A sensitivity may persist for weeks or more after new intake has stopped. In the case of dairy, it is only necessary to take in a tiny amount of any processed milk or cheese product every few days in order to keep a dairy allergy going, to maintain the person's susceptibility to the allergen: the coughing and the sneezing, etc. Even a few drops of milk added to coffee is sufficient to support the chronic allergy. And the person may think that he has "stopped" eating dairy. (Twogood)
The same is true of additives in the food and in the food's packaging, and also of the contaminants that may be present. Theron Randolph, MD, clinical ecologist, talks about the material used in the lining of tin cans which is used to keep the color of the metal can off the food. The material is called phenol, a coal-tar derivative. It is used in virtually all canned foods. Dr. Randolph has documented hundreds of cases of reactions to the phenol alone. (An Alternative Approach to Allergies)
For years Albuquerque, New Mexico has been a mecca for asthmatics, TB patients, and those trying to escape their "allergies." No more. Talk to any doctor in Albuquerque today and you'll hear the same story: practically everyone in town has allergies. And the government actually has researchers out there climbing "trees" to find out what kind of pollen is making people sick! It's a desert! The people aren't sick from dust, angel hair, or cactus pollen. They're sick, and allergic, from the homogenized, devitalized processed food of the metropolitan American city, a diet which is unvaryingly standardized, from Coney Island all the way to the Santa Monica Pier. Allergy in America today occurs in epidemic proportions. Many researchers are like Howard Rapaport, author of The Complete Allergy Guide, in that they estimate that half the population suffers from some form of allergy. And that book was written in 1970.
A FAIR TRIAL
Let's say your programming does not allow you to believe anything I've said up to this point, and for various reasons it simply makes no sense to you as far as your allergies go. Fine. Ask yourself this: do I really want to get rid of these allergies, or am I going to continue taking these medications every year, with very little results? If you can admit to yourself that you're really sick of your allergies and would like to try an experiment that does not depend on drugs, try the 60 Day Test. For the next 60 days,
• no drugs
• no dairy
• no white sugar or white flour
• colon cleanse
• New West Diet
Lest this sound too easy, by drugs, I mean no medications of any kind, prescription or over the counter, unless you're on some life-sustaining drug therapy program.
No dairy means no milk, no cheese, no butter, no alfredo sauce, no yoghurt, no ice cream, no white salad dressing for 60 days.
No white sugar means no soft drinks, no donuts, no cookies, no refined flour, no ice cream for 60 days.
A program of enzymes and flora will intensify the detox process, and maintain the new allergen-free status, once it's acquired. (1 800 572 6204)
The 60 Day Test may not be fun, but how do you like your allergies? The per cent success rate of such a program is in the 90s. If the 60 Day Test doesn't work, then individual contaminants may have to be ruled out one by one. But this program is workable and generally applicable, with no side effects, except for its inconvenience. Thousands have done it. The reason it's not millions is simple: this program requires taking a step in the dangerous direction known as I Can Be Responsible For My Own Health. Such a journey is discouraged by any and every public medium possible – written and spoken, online and digital, conscious and unconscious – that is under the control of the nation's two biggest advertisers: food manufacturers and drug manufacturers.
DRIVE-THRU CLUE
Here's my personal definition of pathological cluelessness. Your child has had "allergies" most of his life, and is on bronchodilators or antihistamines in spray or pill form. No progress is noted. Blind trust has suppressed any wonder you may have had about possible side effects of taking these drugs on a daily basis for all these years. You've never even considered looking up the Adverse Reactions to the drugs in the Physicians Desk Reference, available at any library or WalMart or Costco these days. But that's not even the bad part. The bad part is where you go to the drive-thru at Wendy's and let your kid order a giant Frosty, fries, and a Coke because you're both too hungry to wait until you can get home to get at the milk, ice cream, Pepsi, and cheese that awaits you in superabundance in your very own fridge. And you talk about your child's allergies with your friends with the same conversational tone you use to describe the brake job your car just got at Midas. Yes, he has allergies, BUT he takes the inhalator and the antihistamines, so he's OK, you know. Anybody but me see anything insane about this little bit of prosaic Americana?
OK, sorry. How would you have known? Well now you know. The vast majority of allergies today are food allergies. We're addicted to the things that poison us. Of course there can be other causes, other irritants which effect allergic response: environmental toxins, chemicals in housing materials, cleaning materials, cosmetics, clothing, bedding, heating and air conditioning, But why search the house high and low for some elusive unknown bug, when there's an elephant sitting right in the middle of the living room?
©copyright - New West -- 2003

REFERENCES

Nord CE, Lidbeck A, Orrhage K, Sjöstedt S. --- "Oral supplementation with lactic acid-producing bacteria during intake of clindamycin" ---Clinical Microbiology and Infection 3: 124-132, 1997.
Twogood, Daniel --No Milk-- 1996
Guyton, AC, MD-- Textbook of Medical Physiology --1996
Nord, CE, MD-- "Effects of probiotics on the normal and disturbed human microflora"---
Dept of Immunology, Huddinge Univ. Hospital, Stockholm 1998
Anderson, Ross ND-- "The Vibrant Health You Deserve" -- video 1998
Stoll, Walt, MD -- Saving Yourself from the Disease-Care Crisis --June 1996
Black, Dean, PhD-- Health At the Crossroads -- 1988
Randolph, Theron MD -- An Alternative Approach to Allergies -- 1989
Tilden, JH, MD -- Toxemia Explained --1926
Robinson, JW-- "The Intestinal Response to Ischemia"--
Archives of Experimental Pathology and Pharmacology --1966; 255(2):178-9
Unno, Fink MD-- "Intestinal Epithelial Hyperpermeability. Mechanisms and Relevance to Disease"-- Gastroentero Clin Nor Am 1998 Jun;27(2):289-307
Haubrich, WS-- "The ebb and flow of gut fluids" -- Gastroint Endosc 1980 May;(2Suppl):1S-25
Dalton, HP-- "Etiology of Bacteremia"-- Va Med Mon 1971Dec:98(12):660
Letter --"NSAID and the Leaky Gut" -- Lancet 1985 Jan 26:1(8422):218-9
Rapaport, Howard-- The Complete Allergy Guide-- 1970
Appleton, N -- Lick the Sugar Habit -
Wall Street Journal-- 18 Sep 98
Jensen, Bernard --Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care-- 1999 Avery Publishing, NY p111
[thedoctorwithin.com]

Peace and Love..........John

I am of a different opinion, allergic reactions are very common in my opinion, food allergies are on the rise. The chances of it being an allergy especially if you suffer from poor adrenal function are much more likely than the toxin theory in my opinion.

Also many people react to the pesticides found in non organic produce. It can be helpful to rotate your food to see if any one food is causing the itching.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

BIG THANK YOO!

This is really helpful. I will pass this on.


ALso could it also be that now since going raw she is allergic to lotions, chemical products, hand sanitizier and etc????

My allergies disappeared when I was raw.

...until I moved to the west coast, and now they are terrible. So, there's obviously something I am extremely sensitive to.

I have been vaccinated. Maybe nothing will change that.

And unless you want to lock yourself in a padded white room and obsessively eat only 100% organic, and make sure every single microbe that enters your body is 100% organic, chances are some GMO something has been ingested somewhere along the way, even if you live with the darndest of best intentions. I am highly suspicious of GMOs.

Chemicals at the workplace also sometimes cannot be avoided. I used to come home some nights with a horrible red rash all over my chest because of chemicals other people used and I was exposed to through air contact. (*I don't work there anymore and the rash has never returned, YAY!)

But when there's a gun at your head that is basically "rent or homelessness," there is only so much you can do. My boss now likes to use vinegar to clean, but it doesn't cut down on my occupational exposure to BPA by handling thermal receipts (gloves are not an option).

Clean living, pure food, water, sunshine, all of that is the absolute best defense and will let you play with the odds stacked in your favor.

But I do have the odd day where my face itches and I go through a tissue box a day. And it's really annoying. >.<

I'm also living on the west coast post-Fukushima. Even if I did pull off that 100% organic farm, the rain is still contaminated.

THE WORLD needs to detox and we'll all be okay. But all we can do is our best until then...

Wait.. she was vaccinated couple months ago..... hmmmmmm...

thank you..... that could also be it!!!


i completely forgot that...... she was supposed to move to the M East and had to be vaccinated.........