The Weston A. Price Foundation’s Annual Conference was focused specifically on children’s health. It was enlightening in many regards and left me feeling like several more pieces of the health puzzle have come together. The whole seminar can best be summarized as ?Natasha Campbell-McBride.

McBride, a Russian M.D. living and practicing in England, spoke for the first time on Saturday to the entire audience of nearly 1,000 health, food, and farming dorks. McBride presented her theory and patented syndrome which she labels ?Gut and Psychology? or GAP Syndrome. GAP syndrome is an acute illness where one begins wearing inexplicably trendy clothing while looking upon the world with a distant stare. Also, the vision of the GAP sufferer clouds over with a dull brown tint, known by medical experts as KV (khaki vision). Finally, in the acute stages, GAP sufferers only liquid intake is often caffeine in various forms from Starbucks, and sufferers refuse to buy clothing made by anyone over the age of 10, develop a compulsion for looking through retail clothing racks marked ?on sale,? and throw tantrums when their I-Pods run out of batteries.

Now, if you were under the impression that GAP Syndrome, as described above, is a real disease, then you may already be showing signs of this illness ? psychological disturbance. I’d tell you to pay attention to the information that follows, but that is unlikely because you probably also have A.D.D. McBride would say that you have, not A.D.D., but GAP Syndrome (the real kind), and she is probably right.

The real GAP Syndrome is, for lack of a simpler explanation, a metabolic disorder. This metabolic disorder is rooted in the gastrointestinal flora, where abnormal ratios of bacteria flourish. Like many illnesses, it is cumulative, and begins before your life even commences with the prior generation. The originating cause is most likely under-consumption of nutrient dense fats, proteins, and accompanying nutrients with a disproportionately high carbohydrate intake ? something Robert McCarrison discovered to cause a myriad of gastrointestinal, respiratory, and other illnesses. Of course, any irregularity among the intestinal bacteria, or dysbiosis as it’s called, is greatly exacerbated by antibiotics and contaminants in our society.

Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis is often described as a condition where harmful or pathogenic bacteria proliferate and dominate the intestinal flora, and beneficial bacteria are greatly eradicated. Of course, if you know me, you’ll know that I find this definition problematic. Calling any type of bacteria harmful is like calling a rainy day ?bad? just because it is uncomfortable, yet it undeniably serves a purpose and its presence is mandatory for survival. The same can be said of these supposed ?bad? bacteria that have overgrown the intestinal flora of someone with dysbiosis. These ?bad? bacteria are like weeds populating a field after a bomb has been dropped on it. They inhabit the weakened areas. Weeds in a field is a soil condition problem at the core, for if the soil is healthy, weeds cannot overrun it. So at the core, you are overrun with irregular bacteria because you are unhealthy, not unhealthy because you are overrun with irregular bacteria.

But once you are in this unhealthy state, and have thus created an environment that is inhospitable to regular bacteria but quite nice for yeasts and fungi that are normally only present in small quantities, problems arise. One of the first manifestations is the inability to digest food properly, and both diarrhea, constipation, gas, IBS, colitis, and various other illnesses typically arise. Next comes the body’s suppressed and abnormal immune system function, exacerbated by exhausted adrenal glands, and respiratory problems, allergies (including food allergies), and infections abound. When this problem is even more advanced, psychological and behavioral problems emerge such as ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, and so on. Finally, the most extreme expression of this disorder is Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome ? similar imbalances of differing intensity levels.

It is unlikely that an Autistic child could be produced from a mother’s diet of refined carbohydrate and nutritionally incomplete foods alone. However, throw birth control, antibiotics, and excess heavy metals into the mix and the microflora that is passed from mother to child as it swallows amniotic fluid in the womb is quite harmful. Therein lies the potential for unbalanced microflora to penetrate the unformed blood/brain barrier of the fetus or infant and damage the brain.

Another important factor is that normal intestinal bacteria bind with toxic substances in the digestive tract, chelate them, and flush them from the body. Problems are heightened among those suffering from dysbiosis because toxic matter, heavy metals, and undigested food accumulate. It is truly a downward spiral, but know that the toxins are not the root cause. Autistic children accumulate toxic amounts of certain minerals like mercury, arsenic, and even normal minerals like copper (while therefore being unable to absorb others like zinc for example) because of the dysbiosis and the digestive tract’s inability to assimilate food properly. These are all common patterns as can be seen by nutritional tests among children with health problems falling into these general categories.

When dysbiosis is in place, vaccinations like MMR can be devastating. Vaccines are tolerable by healthy children (an oxymoron these days), but not by those who are not. Vaccines are therefore closely associated with Autism but are not the cause, and not all autistic children have been vaccinated. Many children develop Autism soon after receiving this vaccination, and the MMR vaccination, which protects against illnesses that are scarcely life threatening, should be avoided until a child is proven to have developed a strong immune system (or avoided altogether).

More?

GAP Syndrome in adulthood can lead to depression, anxiety disorders, and full blown schizophrenia.

Other signs of GAP Syndrome include bed wetting or frequent and uncontrollable urination.

Most GAP sufferers are very picky eaters and prefer only sugary and carbohydrate foods, often having a complete disinterest in animal products. Grains, because of the body’s inability to digest gluten fully, can be extremely addictive because morphine-like compounds in most grains are not handled appropriately.

Most GAP kids are overly emotional, are emotionally wounded quite easily, and often display obsessive behavior such as playing with one toy for hours on end.

Many GAP children have altered sex hormone levels which can lead to early menstruation and breast development in girls as well as interest in sex at a very early age. Boys often develop more feminine qualities and have less interest in sex (?more interest in video games? as Donna Gates suggested).

Digestive abnormalities are always present.

This issue is reversible through adherence to a specific diet, which I’ll present tomorrow along with a few perspectives McBride does not take into account.

A child’s chances of being Autistic in 1990 was 1 in 10,000. Today, in Great Britain (the world’s worst), a child’s chances of developing Autism is?

1 in 88

This illness, along with exploding epidemics of Cancer, Diabetes II, and obesity are rapidly speeding towards compromising the physical and mental quality of the entire human race, and urgently demands our attention.

Have a great day!