I finally visited the Naturopath

Last week I saw the Naturopath for a consultation. It was kind of cool. They took a fresh drop of blood and stuck it on slides right there in the office, and showed me the clumps of red blood cells on a TV screen as the doctor moved the slide around on his microscope. There were also white blood cells; he showed me pieces of plaque (and other stuff that's not supposed to be in there). He also had a nifty machine that somehow measures the energy levels to different organs and the levels of hormones and vitamins and toxins. I held a metal cylinder in my left hand while he prodded my right hand with some sort of sensor. I know it sounds kind of science-fiction-y...and there were a few things that seemed a bit out there...but he found that my insulin level was a bit high, just like a recent fasting blood glucose test showed. He also found that my small intestine wasn't too happy and that I wasn't digesting protein well. I was low in vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and D3. I was high in a few toxins, allergic to mould...interestingly enough my adrenals seemed just fine. After asking me about my health complaints (and actually taking the time to listen!) he 'diagnosed' me with Leaky Gut Syndrome and prescribed some supplements for me. I now take 3 'horse pills' with every meal: B2, digestive enzymes, amino acids, and some sort of anti-toxin thing. As well, he explained the Glycemic Index a little bit (sugar leads to inflammation) and as a basic guideline told me to only eat foods with a GI less than 80. From what I understand this will also help with my insulin resistance issues. He affirmed my suspected milk allergy but said we would test it and other food allergies in a few months after we've given my system some time to get better.

This leads to another change in my already strange and stringent diet. Instead of avoiding just sugar in its various forms, I need to avoid other high-GI foods, such as whole wheat flour and other processed grains (no more bread, tortilla chips, cheerios). Brown rice is borderline but I'm still eating that. Potatoes are very high, in fact one baked potato supposedly spikes your blood sugar as much as 17 teaspoons of table sugar! Vegetables and most fruits are fine...as are nuts, fats/oils, and meat. The Glycemic Index is tricky to understand in that it's based on percentages of carbohydrates as opposed to weights of foods, so I am still trying to figure it out. So what can I eat? I'm still trying to figure that out too! So far some of my staples have been rolled oats, red river cereal, quinoa, and rice. Michelle is excited to cook more meats than we've been having lately...she made pork chops last night.

Overall my naturopathic visit was encouraging and gave me information and hope...and also a huge bill; the visit and the supplements came to over $300. We'll see how much our insurance actually covers...