The Upsetting Character of Nuts

Eliminating Foods From DietThe interstitial cystitis(IC) bladder pain syndrome(interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia, chronic prostatitis, IBS, GERD, fibromyalgia)with flares can be amplified by the routine use of nuts of any kind and this includes their butters!!  Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter

Why?

Unlike the matter science(MS) nutritional information that fatty acids are good and bad, the energy science(ES) of Ayurveda states that all nuts are inflammatory due to these molecular fatty acids regardless of the “good or bad nature of them”   The reason for this is that the post digestive(small bowel) effect is heating therefore inflammation provoking

The sweet taste of many foods covers the acidic nature of the foods itself and this is true of the nut category  This is why the ES nutritional information trumps the MS guesswork around nutrition and is why the anecdotal information of the MS nutritional realm is at times confusing hence flares and then no flares   What gives?   This also explains why various other inflammatory conditions are interrelated with IC such as fibromyalgia, IBS, chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS), GERD, prostatitis(did you know that PSA is a marker for inflammation?), and CPPS(chronic pelvic pain syndrome)

As an aside this sweet taste of nuts in general make them a great choice for building tissue since the sweet taste is anabolic

OK Then What Can I Use for Nuts? 

Sorry to blow your day if you crave the mixed nuts but there is certainly a favorite guideline of mine and that is “There are no hard guidelines in the ES realms”  Know that if you use the foods that are provoking that you increase the likelihood of a flare   That use of inflammatory foods will keep you up at the ceiling of the curve below rather than allowing your mindbody to do the rebalancing as the curve progresses to the right(BTW the ascent from the left shows how we gradually get sick over decades by our own choices(Oh shoot, you didn’t have to say that did you?)

Journey to Balance

Soaked and peeled almonds(this is very important! or you can use slivered almonds from the bulk section of the grocery store if they have one ) are very helpful for their nutritive benefit but also for their cooling effect  Turns out that the skin of the almond holds enzymes that in and of themselves are inflammatory   Almonds are not actually nuts but in the end who cares

Charole(actually seeds like sunflower) is another nut choice  It’s a very small nut found in very few stores in the US(I know because Ive looked; let me know if you have a source that you would share with the community) and is heating but due to the size and its energetics is acceptable and does not provoke Pitta(more about this energy pattern in future blog posts)

And of course coconut because it’s COOLING!  The general energy science principle is this:  Plants that grow in hot climates are there for a very specific reason  Their job is to make the environment cold(well cooler) and so Momma Nature is always taking care of balancing herself

What about nut milks?  Almond Breeze is made from blanched and peeled almonds so a great drink  Coconut milk also is a very nutritious drink and both these “nut” milks make great date shakes  More about that in the future

3 Nut Alternatives

Here are three options for substitution without provoking inflammation or the Pitta energy pattern in the physiology

Use the above three recommendations and make your own nut butters from the slivered almonds

Sunflower seeds can be used by anyone anywhere anytime  Sooo..  sunflower butter sold at Trader Joe’s is an excellent proprietary product and the best tasting sunflower butter on the planet    Have tasted many and this by far is the closest to peanut butter with a nice sweet taste  Mmm good!

Give yourself “permission” to have a few nuts every once and a while if the craving is too great   The ES reminds us that food cravings are a result of imbalanced digestion so the faster we can improve our digestion the better it will be

About Dr Bill Dean

Dr Bill Dean began practicing urology in 1979 and retired from practice in 2011 to begin a complementary medicine fellowship at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico He has chosen the use of social media to reach out to the many who are interested in exploring an effective systematic approach to IC that is different to what is presently offered by traditional urology practices This can lead to helping people implement the practical applications of this knowledge either with one on one interaction or with support groups New information that can be used to improve health requires changes in habits which are not supportive to change “When the current allopathic healing approach doesn’t have an answer Ayurveda can certainly shed light and help with difficult clinical problems This is because of how the 2 models do their healing” Early in his budding urology career as a resident he researched a condition called chronic urethritis in women Now in retrospect this was his beginning study of IC since it is labeled so many different ways Dr Bill became interested in the complementary medical discipline of Ayurveda with the Chopra organization in 1995 This introduction showed him the science behind the discipline that was grounded in modern physics In 2000 having his own medical problems he sought help at the Ayurvedic Institute and over the years has watched his health dramatically improve Chronic edema from varicose veins cleared, longstanding bowel issues gradually resolved with resultant improved decreased bone density, clearance of longstanding skin lesions, and an improved healthy understanding of relationships He realized tools and techniques that could be used to reverse the disease process But what was startling was that he began seeing healing in a more complete way This improvement in his health brought enthusiasm to use some simple therapies in his urology practice for IC since there were no consistently good results with standard therapies in urology In 2005 he wrote a paper on the results of a study showing the improvement of men women and children using an Ayurvedic nutrition and aloe The results are reported at icdiet.com [http://icdiet.com/] In 6 weeks 91% of the patients had a 50% reduction in symptoms This was indeed exciting and energized Dr Bill to continue expanding on this approach to healing In the ensuing years of practice he continued to help his patient’s pain with what he now calls an energy science of healing This led to the 2010 publication of Foods Heal: Why Certain Foods Help You Feel Your Best [http://bit.ly/cIk3nZ] which uses the nutritional model to show the differences between the current matter science medical discipline and the Ayurvedic or what he terms the energy science medical discipline Says Dr Bill “Many debilitating diseases in the West are not adequately managed since in the matter science medical model the origins of disease are not well understood The energy science medical model has room for how diseases in the body begin This is the key to helping with these debilitating conditions that we have today” So Dr Bill wants to show people who come to him how this energy science of Ayurveda can heal IC “That’s a tall order” he says, “but with my past experience and what I have learned during my fellowship it is definitely possible if IC sufferers want to take on the challenge” Dr Bill is married and has 3 children and 5 grandchildren

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