Dealing With Lyme Disease: How Paleo Can Help

Lyme disease treatment remains a controversial topic –  with some practitioners holding onto the belief that it’s a chronic condition that can’t be beat, others using strong antibiotics and medications to control symptoms, and still others recommending lifestyle changes to overcome the disease naturally.

What is clear is this: a nutrient-rich, fiber-rich, alkalizing diet can help control symptoms of just about every disease there is. Your diet plays an enormousrole in the level of inflammation that’s present within your body. Inflammation triggers changes in your immune, endocrine and central nervous system which can make Lyme disease symptoms even worse.

Symptoms of Lyme disease, which is caused by a tick bite from the borrelia burgdorferi species are headaches, fatigue, mood chances, muscle pains, achy joints and a higher likelihood of getting sick/developing infections. The reason symptoms are so varied and can occur in almost every part of the body is due to how the immune system works. When it gets the message that something has gone wrong (you’ve been bit by a dangerous bug) it charges up your immune system in order to try and protect you. While the intentions are good, ongoing autoimmune reactions definitely are not.

While the Paleo diet hasn’t exactly been proven to help you overcome Lyme disease fully (because no diet has), you can expect these positive results:

1. Lower inflammation levels due to a high-antioxidant diet

As time goes on Lyme disease symptoms can continue to worsen as the disease raises inflammation levels and causes autoimmune reactions – basically the body attacking its own tissue. This results in a weakened immune system, inhibited cellular functions, susceptibility to viruses/bacterial infections, and essentially a sped-up aging progress. To keep inflammation to a minimum, it’s crucial to make lifestyle changes that help you avoid chemical exposure, reduce toxins and heavy metals entering your body, and improve your innate defense system.

One way to do this is to remove processed, inflammatory foods from your diet. The Paleo diet emphasizes easily-digested, nutrient-packed whole foods. At the same time it eliminates foods that commonly worsen autoimmune conditions. Some of the foods that can worsen autoimmune reactions include:

• Gluten – a common allergen/sensitivity that is tied to lower immune function and gut inflammation
• Dairy – A1 casein found in dairy can trigger allergies in addition to indigestion
• Sugary snacks – sugar actually feeds bad bacteria, yeast and fungus that can live within your gut
• GMOs, artificial ingredients, sweeteners or additives – your body doesn’t know how to handle foreign chemicals. Genetically modified organisms are linked to worsened autoimmune reactions, plus we don’t have enough evidence yet to know what other diseases they might contribute to.

2. Better control over blood sugar levels and a healthier gut

As opposed to eating processed foods which can alter your hormones (like insulin) and further increase inflammation, eating a real-food based diet has countless health benefits. The paleo diet helps provide essential macronutrients which help with disease recovery such as: antioxidants from veggies/fruits, healthy fats (even saturated fats/cholesterol) from nuts/seeds/natural oils, probiotics which improve gut health, and readily available protein from animal foods which support hormonal balance.

Some of the best paleo foods for beating Lyme disease?

• Probiotics (from cultured veggies or kombucha)
• Bone broth
• Coconut oil
• Fresh vegetables and veggie juices
• Wild caught fish, cage-free eggs and grass-fed meat (which supply omega-3s)

3. Hormonal balance and a more positive mood

No doubt about it, having a disease of any type is stressful and emotionally draining. Chances are when it comes to emotional support, you can use all the help you can.The paleo diet luckily includes plenty of grounding, hormone-stabilizing foods that are known to actually make you feel happier – really!

For example, omega-3 fatty acids found in wild-caught fish/seafood are linked to positive moods and less symptoms of depression. So is eating enough sources of healthy protein and fats in general – since amino and fatty acids are what the body uses to create the neurotransmitters that govern your mindset. How will a low-fat, low-protein, highly-processed diet make you feel? Likely a lot more sluggish, sad, hopeless and helpless than you need to be.

Eating a natural, nutrient-rich Paleo diet can help your immune system work to the best of its ability, clearing up symptoms of Lyme disease and fighting off further complications. At the end of the day, remember that the Paleo diet isn’t a one-size-fits-all prescriptive plan – it’s crucial that you learn to listen to your body, whether you’re healing from a serious disease or not. Each person reacts differently to various foods – even certain vegetables and fruit might make matters worse for you.

Look for “bio-feedback” from your diet by paying attention to how your body feels. Are your symptoms getting better, or worse when you change what you’re eating? Do you have enough energy if you avoid most common carbohydrates, or could you use more from eating starchy veggies? Formulate your own Paleo diet and keep playing around with what you eat, looking for what works and makes you feel best.

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