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Four Day Rotation Diet ("Stone-Age")
Allergy, traditionally, has been held to encompass medical conditions that cause itching, sneezing or wheezing, thus:
Almost always caused by allergy |
Asthma, hay fever, perennial rhinitis/catarrh, atopic eczema, contact eczema, anaphylaxis |
Sometimes caused by allergy (often responding to elimination diets) |
Chronic urticaria/angioedema, some diarrheas, food intolerance's |
But a group of doctors calling themselves Clinical Ecologists, mainly in the USA, started in the late 20th century to apply allergy methods, and particularly elimination diets, to conditions that do not at first sight appear to belong to either traditional group, conditions like those listed in the Table below, and although Clinical Ecologists like me deal with allergies, our remit includes a much wider range than that of traditional allergists.
“Clinical Ecology” conditions |
Migraine, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid disease, depression and other mental/emotional disorders, chronic fatigue syndromes, irritable bowel, dysmenorrhoea, fibromyalgia, endometriosis – as well as classic allergic conditions. |
Elimination dieting is often surprisingly effective in these conditions. As with all elimination diets, the culprit foods discovered by elimination and challenge studies vary from patient to patient in a highly individual way, but certain foods keep cropping up again and again. Top of the list in many different studies are always wheat and milk (together with their various products) and artificial food additives. Grain-free, dairy-free, additive-free diets became fundamental to the ecological approach to these conditions. The regimen I favour for most of my patients eliminates root vegetables and pulses as well, leaving the patient with a good intake of meats, fishes, eggs, greens and salad vegetables (all preferably organic) for morning, noon and night. I also advise a high intake of animal fats, in contradiction to conventional dietary wisdom, and those patients who get their cholesterol levels measured generally find that it doesn’t change and sometimes even gets better. (Note however, there are some exceptions to this rule and it is always a good idea to get the fasting blood lipids measured every few months.)
The late Dr Richard Mackarness, when he introduced Clinical Ecology to the UK in his 1976 best-selling paperback “Not All in the Mind” (Pan Books, London) used the term “stone-age diet” to describe this regimen, on the assumption that stone-age Man consumed a diet somewhat like this before the domestication of animals and the development of arable farming. Professor Loren Cordain of the University of Colorado has developed the evolutionary theory more completely [1], and argues persuasively (as did Mackarness) that the kind of diet consumed by our primitive ancestors is likely to be more healthful for us, their descendants, than modern food, as there has been insufficient time in recent millennia for us to adapt to it. True, there was no one typical diet for stone-age humans, they ate whatever they could lay their hands on [2], but for sure they did not consume cereal grains, additives or milk, and probably not many pulses either.
Be that as it may, there are still several aboriginal hunter-gatherer societies in various parts of the world and many have been studied by health anthropologists. Even allowing for their shorter life expectancy (due to infectious diseases, starvation, violence etc) it is notable that they do not suffer from the “diseases of civilization” - obesity, high blood-pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer or dementias – and only very rarely from allergies.
The foods permitted by the stone-age diet are in general easy to desensitise, and that is my main reason for recommending them for allergic patients. I do not usually recommend allergy patients to this diet unless they have also been desensitised. This is because they will have to eat unusually high amounts of meats and fish, and if the patient is not yet allergic to those he/she can readily become so, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
It is noteworthy that the foodstuffs forbidden by the stone-age diet tend to be rich in lectins, which are saccharide-binding proteins in many grains, pulses and tubers that have been shown to have numerous effects on the animal body (see elsewhere on this web site). Many plant lectins are resistant to heat so they survive the cooking process, and many also resist (or damage) digestive enzymes and are capable of passing undigested from the intestine into the bloodstream [3]. Extrapolating from laboratory studies [3], we can predict that several human illnesses might be caused by dietary lectins, namely
a) rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, possibly other types of arthritis
b) Crohn’s disease and coeliac disease
c) overgrowth of abnormal gut micro-organisms
d) damaged digestive function and “leaky gut”
e) certain types of nephritis
f) obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis
g) peptic ulcer
h) susceptibility to infections (including fungal overgrowth in the bowel) and
i) allergies.
Cordain, in developing his theme of the “Paleodiet”, points out that plant saponins from alfalfa and many other legumes would be expected to promote intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”) also, thus aggravating all of the above various effects.
Some nutritionists however claim the exact opposite, namely that a purely vegetarian (vegan) diet is best for the various diseases of civilization [4]. The public wants to know how to eat for best health but are forever confused by the claims and counter-claims that bedevil nutrition science. Cordain and Campbell have recently argued their respective corners in the literature and the indefatigable truth-seeker will have to read the debate for himself [5]. For my part, I side in the main with Cordain since I consider it impossible to practise nutrition without being aware of the toxins in plant foods. You might end up recommending deadly nightshade berries just because they are rich in vitamin C! The truth is, however, that there is no one diet that suits every patient, since we are all biochemically and immunologically unique.
I am glad to report that the nutritionists I use are well aware of the science of food toxicology. Interestingly, the one central theme on which both sides of the debate agree is that milk is one of the foods most strongly associated with the diseases of civilization, and should be avoided at all costs. With that I generally agree.
Although the stone-age diet is the bedrock of treatment for many multi-symptomatic patients, it is not always indicated and in ulcerative colitis it may make the disease worse. A vegan diet might well be better suited for those patients.
Be aware of two other possible side effects of going on a stone-age diet. The first is the withdrawal syndrome. Grains and dairy products are actually surprisingly addictive, and stopping them often causes an adverse reaction for a few days. Symptoms get worse to begin with, and are often accompanied by weakness, difficulty with concentration, anorexia, aches and pains and depression. This is an excellent sign that you are on the right track. Soldier on, in another few days you will probably turn the corner and then start feeling better. Just warn your family and friends in advance that you are likely to be pretty moody during the first week or two.
The other common side-effect is weight loss. Although you will probably be consuming thousands of calories daily, the weight usually drops off when you no longer consume carbohydrate-rich foods. Some patients are pleased to lose weight, others are displeased and worried. Some (not all) women find, to their chagrin and that of their husbands (though not of their babies) that their breasts become smaller. If weight loss is unwelcome to you, this may not be the best regimen in your case (although patients who were previously underweight sometimes find that they gain, now that they are absorbing nutrients more efficiently from their food).
Women who lose weight rapidly on a stone-age diet sometimes find that their periods stop for a while. This is nothing to worry about, just enjoy the menstruation holiday while it lasts. This loss of periods does not mean any loss of fertility, indeed the opposite can be true.
References
1) Cordain L. The Paleo Diet, John Wiley & Sons, www.dietaryacnecure.com.
2) Gowlett JAJ. What actually was the stone-age diet? J Nutr Environm Med 2003, 13: 143-147.
3) Freed DLJ. Do dietary lectins cause disease? (Signed editorial) Br Med J 1999, 318: 1023-4.
4) Campbell TC. The China Study. Benbella Books, Dallas, 2006. ISBN 1-932100-66-0
5) Cordain L, Campbell TC. The Protein Debate. www.performancemenu.com.
Four Day Rotation Diet
("Stone-Age")
© DLJ Freed, M Moss, 2003
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
|
SAFE FOODS |
|||
chicken |
guinea fowl |
turkey |
beef/veal |
|
FUN FOODS |
|||
lemon |
butternut |
red/ |
fresh fig |
DANGEROUS |
|||
goat milk |
sheep milk |
organic ham |
cows’ milk |
NB Spring or filtered water, sea salt and pepper are permitted on all days.
A significant quantity of medical information relating to Allergy and Environmental Medicine, from Dr Freed's many years of practice and research in this field. Included are Medical Papers, Intreguing Cases, Conditions that respond to allergy treatment, the Science of allergy and Searching for truth.
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