Allergies & Intolerances (Healing and Management)

“As someone who has suffered with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) or severe histamine intolerance first hand, I am so passionate about helping others to recover from these life destroying allergies.  When a simple salad or piece of fruit brings you to your knees and sends you to the Emergency Room, it’s a body that is screaming for help and usually a terrified individual with limited medical avenues to go down to understand it let alone resolve it.  At my worst, I could only eat 8 safe ingredients and they had to be cooked very, very carefully.  My body could only tolerate them fresh and cooked by boiling.  Anything slow cooked, roasted, pan fried, stewed or accidentally cooked 5 seconds too long would be a recipe for an allergic reaction.  And whilst they were safe foods, they were completely unnourishing, I felt starved, deprived, miserable, depressed and had no energy to function in normal everyday life.  I could not have maintained that life long-term.  If I encountered any unsafe foods, my eyes would swell shut and my right ear would swell twice its size.  My neck muscles would seize, and I’d find it difficult to swallow.  My body would break out in painful hives and welts all over.

And if barely being able to eat wasn’t enough, then came the snowball, where I was that depleted that my body started reacting to everything in my environment.  I couldn’t take a shower without the water burning and welting my skin like it was acid.  If I accidentally splashed my feet with a tiny amount of water when watering my pot plants, they would welt, burn like I’d walked in acid and swell significantly before the onset of the incredible itch.  It was a really awful and miserable time in my life.  I didn’t know anyone that was experiencing the same symptoms as me and I felt very alone.  The ER advice given was simply “avoid triggers”.  And although this was my ‘before carnivore’ journey, it was my first introduction to the healing powers of animal products.  Over a very long and slow process I used beef liver, cod liver oil and electrolytes to raise my caeruloplasmin (bioavailable bound copper) to dampen the reactions.  And I did get back to a place of ‘tolerating’ 95% of foods on a clean paleo diet.  Whilst I kept myself out of the ER for 3 years, I still experienced allergic reactions and had many chronic symptoms persisting.  Mapping of my microbiome showed that I had below detectable limits of good bacteria in my gut.  So, it was very clear that something was still very wrong with the way I was eating, even if I was beyond the severe reactions.  I conceded that just because I could eat 95% of foods again, doesn’t mean I should.  Slowly removing the plant-based foods from my diet, removed 99% of my triggers and significantly decreased the frequency of my reactions.  And miraculously, my good gut microbiome finally started to grow! 

You may ask, how is ‘having’ to follow a carnivore diet any different to following a low histamine diet or sticking to my safe foods.  I can tell you they are worlds apart!  I felt utterly defeated on a low histamine diet, eating only 8 safe ingredients (only 3 ingredients were meal-worthy).  I was malnourished and miserable.  I feel the complete opposite on a carnivore diet.  I feel nourished, I feel healing, I feel connection, I crave organs, I feel hope, I feel happy that there is so much variety and I’m no longer scared.  Many of my severe histamine reactions were occurring in my sleep around 2-3am.  I would wake unable to breathe and having difficulty swallowing, it was terrifying.  I would be covered all through my scalp to the soles of my feet and palms of my hands in painful welts.  There is nothing about the carnivore diet that invokes that level of fear or panic.  For the first time in over a decade, I feel optimistic about my future.  The carnivore diet truly is the silver bullet for me.”

– Carni-Mumma Australia