Protective Diet Class #272 Notes:
Allergies and the Microbiome
This class addresses allergies as the first symptom of microbiome imbalance. A Protective Diet puts your body in its best place for healing. We can recover with a healthy diet, movement, sleep, relationship, and gratitude practices that support an anti-inflammatory modulating microbial population. The body is a healing machine.
Announcements
- Celebrate Glenda & Jackie, Wendy, CJ & Dave for incredible results and committed follow-through of a Protective Diet.
- Save money on cacao nibs, white chia seeds, and more. Buy online or at www.protectivediet.com/bulk.
Vocabulary
Allergies | Plant Diversity | Epithelium | Beneficial Microbes |
Autoimmune Diseases | Prebiotics | Endothelium | Short-Chained Fatty Acids (SCFAs) |
Gluten Sensitivity | Probiotics | Inflammatory Response | Pathogens |
Action Steps for Eliminating Allergies
- Support Your Body’s Natural Barriers
- Epithelium–A protective barrier of tightly packed cells which lines the gut, skin, respiratory tract and mouth; keeps pathogens from food/air/surfaces, etc. from passing into the bloodstream.
- Good Guys–A beneficial microbial population (10:1) in the gut/respiratory tract/mouth, and on the skin that maintains the integrity of the epithelium and crowds out bad bacteria.
Origin of Your Microbial Population
- Vaginal birth—baby gets inoculated with all the mother’s protective microbes.
- Breastfeeding and holding child—populates baby’s microbiota.
- C-sections/Sterile environments prevent this critical inoculation.
- Prevent a C-section by eliminating the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, etc. with a Protective Diet.
- If C-section is necessary, intentionally inoculate newborn w/mother’s vaginal microbes to populate protective microbiota.
- Your current diet and lifestyle determine which microbes live in your gut and on your skin right now.
- Microbe population demographic (good guys vs bad guys) changes over time with diligent application of a Protective Diet.
- Good Guys populate and thrive when we eat a Protective Diet packed with a high diversity of plant fiber.
Beneficial Gut Microbes Digest Fiber & Produce Short-Chained Fatty Acids (SCFAs)
This byproduct of fiber fermentation is required for many essential health benefits:
- Reduce inflammation by activating immune cells that regulate/modulate inflammatory response.
- Control cellular healing and growth in the gut, respiratory tract, mouth & skin.
- Maintain a tight cell junction to strengthen, tighten & preserve epithelial integrity, preventing pathogens (bacteria & viruses that cause disease) from crossing from the gut/skin/lungs/mouth into the bloodstream.
- Lower body fat, regulate glucose, regulate metabolism, and prevent disease.

Healthy Epithelium with tight cell junctures due to Good Guys producing needed SCFAs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Plant Fiber (Prebiotics) | Þ | Good Bacteria (Probiotics) | Þ | Short Chained Fatty Acids | Þ | Tight Epithelium | Þ | Modulated Inflammatory Response | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Understand the Cause of Allergies/Autoimmune Diseases
- What: An over-reactive inflammatory response (sometimes life-threatening) to non-life threatening things.
- Why: A diet that includes animal products, fats, oils, sugars, artificial sweeteners, food additives and non-digestibles populates bad bacteria that cannot digest fiber. This reduces short-chained fatty acid production causing inflammatory gaps in the epithelium that allow pathogens to enter the bloodstream, eliciting an immune response/flare up.
- How: to eliminate the inflammatory reaction (topical or internal)=populate a healthy, diverse microbiome=tight epithelium.

An Inflamed/Damaged Epithelium lets pathogens leak into the blood stream=allergies/leaky gut, viruses & disease. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SAD Diet Populates bad bacteria | Þ | Bad Bacteria Cannot digest fiber | Þ | Short Chained Fatty Acids | Þ | Gapping Epithelium | Þ | Over-Reactive Inflammatory Response | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Promote A Healthy Microbial Population
Diversify Your Diet; do not just eat the same healthy things over and over.
- Consistently eating the same foods to “keep it simple” causes food allergies, respiratory allergies & inflammatory response.
- Diligently diversify your diet with new plant fibers every day. Mix it up so the Good Guys can regulate inflammation.
- If you have developed sensitivities to certain foods, diversify your diet to populate Good Guys, then come back to that food.
- PD Recipes are full of plant fiber: whole grains, beans, spices, herbs, fruits, vegetables, etc. Use several varieties of each.
- Drink a variety of PD Beverages; herbal drinks promote a healthy colonic environment for good gut microbes to work in.
Live a Little Dirtier. Take in Healthy Microbes.
- Through the respiratory tract: breathe outdoor air, smell the roses on your walk; bury your face in them.
- Through the skin: swim in the ocean, pet a dog, dig in the dirt.
- Through the gut: eat fermented foods; Reframe the 5-Second Rule—“Quick! Eat it before the bacteria die.”
Exercise—moderate daily exercise/walking outside.
Avoid Hyper-Cleanliness
- Use natural cleaning products, no bleach. Wash clothes in PD Natural Laundry Detergent.
- Wash hands with castile soap; no anti-bacterial soap; no hand sanitizer.
- Brush teeth with PD Super Natural Whitening Toothpaste to preserve good bacteria in the mouth.
Avoid Antibiotics—unless needed to survive; they put you at greater risk because they wipe out the Good Guys.
- If you are in good health, your body is fully capable of overcoming infections naturally.
Cooking Tips
- If tofu is approaching expiration date, mark it with an “X” and put it in the freezer to be defrosted & used later.
- Julie demonstrates cooking Dry Steamed Kale using prewashed “fast food” baby kale & following the guidance on the recipe.
- Meal Idea—Julie demonstrates a diversity packed 5-course meal you can make even when in need of a fresh produce restock:
- Pro Bowl: Perfectly Cooked Brown Rice cooked with PD Broth Mix or diluted ferment brine. Pack into a little rice bowl and invert into center of soup bowl. Surround with dry steamed greens. Add a splash of rice vinegar & tamari to rice and greens, Probiotic Pepper Sauce, Probiotic Pickled Onions, Ruby Raw Kraut, Chinese Hot Mustard, and Fermented Tomatoes
- BLT Wedge Salad
- Quickie Cream of Veggie Soup
- Sugar-Free Kettle Corn
- Fruit-on-the-Bottom Yogurt: Sugar-Free Pineapple Fruit Jam, Plant-based Yogurt & cacao nibs
Student Q&A
Q: Are you saying we can prevent ourselves from getting viruses by enhancing the microbiome?
Q: How does wearing a mask affect our microbiome?
Encouragement
- The Recipes are your guide. Just start cooking the recipes. Read the notes. Read the descriptions and you are going to get all the information you need. All you have to do is eat your way through this.
- PD-Ed classes reinforce everything we are doing and show you the science behind the Protective Diet and lifestyle.
- We can protect ourselves from bacteria and viruses, but we have to be diligent and treat our food like it’s medicine.
- On a Protective Diet, every time you eat, you see what you are doing for your Good Guys.
“Populate your healthy microbes inside and out. We can take over the bad microbes with our good microbes as long as we keep all the bad fertilizers out of our diet, off our skin and out of our environment.”
Recommended Classes
This class addresses allergies as the first symptom of microbiome imbalance. A Protective Diet puts your body in its best place for healing. We can recover with healthy diet, movement, sleep, relationship, and gratitude practices that support an anti-inflammatory modulating microbial population. The body is a healing machine.
Tagged with: Allergies • Autoimmune Diseases • Beneficial Microbes • Endothelium • Epithelium • Gluten Sensitivity • Inflammatory Response • Microbiome • Pathogens • Plant Diversity • Prebiotics • Probiotics • SCFA • Short-chained fatty acidsClass URL: https://protectivediet.com/courses/protective-diet-education/lessons/class-272-allergies-and-the-microbiome/
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