Page 26 - Summer2018

I usually start The diet for GERD uses the traditional erkraut is well known for its wonderful healing

the patient healing foods outlined in Sally Fallon Morell’s qualities for stomach dysfunction. Adding ghee
classic book Nourishing Traditions. It must be and fermented raw dairy (goat or sheep is best
off the first kept somewhat bland (nothing hot or spicy for for GERD patients) to the soups after they have
week on now!) and should be focused around two key cooled to lukewarm also provides nourishing
nothing but components: homemade bone broth (chicken fats, which are critical to the healing process.
Breakfast will often consist of stewed apples
or fish to start) and lacto-fermented foods, es-
cups of pecially sauerkraut. Meals should be eaten in or pears, cooked in raw ghee and sprinkled with
healing broth smaller portions more frequently, perhaps up some Celtic sea salt and a touch of cinnamon.
and ample to six smaller meals throughout the day. Bone They can alternate these fruits throughout the
broth is rich in gelatin; as Fallon Morell notes, morning with soft cooked eggs cooked in ghee
amounts of it is “an aid to digestion and has been used suc- or lard and vegetable omelets. It is very impor-

meat, skin cessfully in the treatment of many intestinal tant that a digestive enzyme is taken with each
and marrow disorders, including hyperacidity, colitis and meal, although not with stewed fruit.
Crohn’s disease.” Lacto-fermented foods are
Once the healing process has begun, usually
21
from making a rich source of probiotics as well as enzymes, within the first two weeks, we begin teaching
the broth. vitamins and minerals. the patient the principles of the Weston A.
I usually start the patient off the first week Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions diet. Doing
on nothing but cups of healing broth and ample so allows the patient to slowly introduce more
amounts of meat, skin and marrow from mak- and more foods, properly prepared and rich in
ing the broth. Vegetables should be cooked nutrition. Getting patients back in touch with
when making the broth and preferably should the spiritual connection to their food and the
be non-fibrous at first. Too much fiber can cause world around them can go a long way toward
gas and bloating in patients who have dysbiosis promoting the healing process.
or leaky gut, as most GERD patients do. One
must have good intestinal flora to digest fiber- LONG-TERM HEALTH
rich vegetables. Typically, I will have patients What are some of the consequences of liv-
blend the meat or fish, marrow, vegetables and ing with GERD? According to the Mayo Clinic,
broth into a puréed soup to aid digestion. Purée- GERD can lead to a long list of symptoms,
ing the soup increases the surface area of the including chronic coughing, asthma, recurrent
food for contact with enzymes, while liquefy- sore throat, recurrent laryngitis, dental enamel
ing it makes it easier to digest. I also instruct loss, globus sensation (the feeling of having a
them to add ample amounts of sauerkraut juice lump in your throat), subglottic stenosis (nar-
and eventually the sauerkraut itself to provide rowing of the airway above the trachea and
probiotic bacteria, vitamins and enzymes. Sau- below the vocal cords), chest pain, pounding

FOOD COMBINING PRINCIPLES FOR GERD PATIENTS
Three main rules form the foundation of proper food combining:

1. Because starches and proteins are the two more complex and difficult foods to break down, they should be
kept separate when planning meals. In other words, GERD patients should not eat animal proteins with starches.
These foods generally take three hours to empty from the stomach.

2. Non-starchy vegetables combine well with either starches or proteins. These include green vegetables, salads
and many others.
3. Ripe fruit, which is digested and leaves the stomach very quickly (usually in under an hour), should be eaten
alone. This can either be an hour or so before a meal or three to four hours after meals.

24 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2018