We discuss how:
– Irene experienced a lot of pain and swelling in her fingers in the last 4 1/2 years
– She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, followed by Rheumatoid Arthritis
– She changed diet based on her blood results and the pain got even worse
– Six months ago she started the Paddison Program and after the cleanse she immediately felt better
– She’s now pain free and can enjoy her life again: mountain bike, yard work, kayak!
– The Paleo diet gave her some initial relief, followed by the return of very pain pain
– She even had a rash on her body in this phase, and it went away as soon as she started the Program
– Now Irene prepares all her meals and bakes her own bread and ferments her own oats
– Her husband is very supportive and eats all the meals she cooks
– Her colleagues and even her rheumatologist appreciate her change!
Clint: Here we go again, another exciting episode of the Paddison Program. And today Irene is going to share with us how she has made tremendous improvements on the Paddison Program. Good day. Irene.
Irene: Hi, how you doing Clint?
Clint: Doing fabulously well, the weather has changed here in Florida. So instead of being smashed outside with humidity and heat, it’s nice and mild. How are you in Texas?
Irene: Excellent, got a little bit chilly overnight we have wind and rain. But, it’s better than 100 degrees in the summer. So, I definitely enjoy the weather now.
Clint: Yes nice, well we’ve got lots of nice things to talk about today. You have been through a lot of pain in the past. You tell me in our sort of pre-chat wrap, and what I know some information about you as you were part of our support group. And also, you’ve transformed all of that pain into a pain free life, and you’re not on any medications, and yet you have rheumatoid arthritis, so this is quite extraordinary. So, give us the 60 second snapshot of Before and After in your words.
Irene: Well, roughly it started about 4 1/2 years ago I experienced a lot of pain and swelling in my fingers. So when I did heavy yard work, housework, or anything. My fingers would swell up, and the pain would just lingering in my fingers. And slowly, gradually, over the years it would get worse. And then two years down the road I saw a doctor, he actually determined I have osteoarthritis. And based on the x rays, and blood results. And then I changed my diet, And for another two years the pain got even more worse. I couldn’t even open up jars, type a keyboard. And saw another doctor and the need to determine I have rheumatoid arthritis and it was this year.
Clint: OK. So, was that sort about six months ago or so?
Irene: Yes, about six months ago.
Clint: OK. All right. So, before we go into all the detail. How are you now compared to how you were six months ago?
Irene: Oh, I feel so good. I’m actually pain free at the moment. So, since about since I started the Paddison Program immediately I was free after the cleanse. And I’m enjoying life again, I mean I still have a little bit of swelling in my fingers, but I can mountain bike, I can Kayak, I can do yardwork, so pain free So it’s changed my life again.
Clint: It’s remarkable isn’t it? How quickly the results can be obtained. In your case, What I’m picking up is that you know you might have had a dramatic sensitivity to one of the major aggravators for everyone. like it might have been oils, or it might have been meat, or it might have been dairy, and we might never know. But what we know is that may be one of those three groupings you were getting almost all of your pain from. And so just by eliminating one of those three groupings, you hit the bull’s eye immediately which is sensational.
Irene: Yeah. And I mean it does go a little bit more into your program and four weeks into your program I discovered actually the big culprit in it was the nuts. As soon as I ate the cashews, and the almonds, even dry roasted, all my pains came back. So, I haven’t eaten nuts since then, that’s the only vegetable, or grain, or nuts, from all the groups that I have problems with.
Clint: Okay. Well that’s really interesting. So that tells us that maybe it’s the fats, because you know they are high in fat and I’m just curious to explore this a little bit more before we even get further into your story. How are you with avocados and olives?
Irene: I’m okay with avocados and olives and I’m eating now. That’s weirdest thing.
Clint: Well there we go. And this is a good lesson in itself. Sometimes there’s just a particular food group that we have allergies to, and this is why you know although Paddison Program has a one size fits all in terms of the process forward. The caveat in there, is that the person must do their own testing, and you have done that. You’ve followed the process, and you’ve done your own testing. And because you have done things systematically, the nuts have jumped out at you. Clear as anything as being a problem.
Irene: Yeah that was the only problem I discovered during the whole program.
Clint: OK. Well there you go. So, what a remarkable discovery that’s, you know I love it. Because it just shows us that all of us have just a different breakdown in terms of what we’re able to digest. OK. Well let’s now go back a little further. Let’s maybe mix this up and change this a bit. What was your diet like before you got any kind of arthritic symptoms? And what a deuce would you honestly say that you ate a lot often your general kind of lifestyle?
Irene: OK. Well I had the American standard diet, and I must admit I never ate salads. And now I eat more salads than anybody else I know. So, it was a problem, and I blame myself. I mean, I was eating junk food, pizza’s, pasta, and hardly any salads. And I guess it was the main reason why I started having the Arthritis.
Clint: Yeah, I think it is the reason, and it’s funny when we look back at what we used to eat and how I like I used to think eating healthy was you know having some vegetables with a massive amount of meat. In fact, and that’s kind of it you know, like a big piece of meat and some vegetables. I used to think it was sort of a rounded kind of meal, and although I didn’t eat much fast food, I used to think that you know having cereal for breakfast some kind of high sugary, sort of commercial, regular kind of packet of cereal with regular milk that was OK. You know. Yeah. Very, very basic thinking and I never considered myself someone who was stupid, I just, thought that was acceptable. I was never challenged by that. I never saw anyone else eating anything different than that.
Irene: Right. And then they did determine I had osteoarthritis. And at that time, they said my sugar level was very high. My A1C when they take the blood test. I changed like a lot of people the paleo diet.
Clint: Right.
Irene: And I did feel good in the beginning. But then, my pains all came back really bad. And now I’m thinking it must have been nuts because I cooked a lot of nuts at the time in the paleo program. Because the desserts have cashews, Brussel sprouts you roast them with pecans and all that. All these nuts in the paleo diet more likely caused a lot of inflammation and pains.
Clint: And the coconut oils, and of course the meats. No one’s going to get well if they keep eating meat, and I don’t care if you show me 10 testimonials online of someone who has done well on the on the paleo diet. You show me that person in two years from now and I’m going to show you someone in agony, and I’m going to show that same person is going to be on medications. Because you can’t keep putting meat into the gut, and you have a healthy gut. It just does not work.
Irene: I thought I was eating healthy, and now I realize I did it all wrong.
Clint: But it’s better to know than to go to your grave early. You know like because the average person with rheumatoid arthritis life expectancy is 13 years less than someone without the disease. OK. And that’s not because necessarily, that the joint pains you know drive us to end of our life. It’s a multitude number of reasons, and they include the fact that the someone who has Rheumatoid arthritis is more prone to get other conditions. And I strongly feel that’s because of medications that they’re put on. So if you’re on an immuno suppressant drug, your immune system can’t defend itself against all sorts of other things and so you’re much more likely to get something like pneumonia. And so on the paperwork that goes with someone when they pass away, the actual cause of death will be pneumonia. No one dare actually write why they got the pneumonia, because that’s threatening to you know the medical community. And you know no one wants lawsuits going out to various immunosuppressant drugs and stuff. But that’s the reason that they get these diseases.
Clint: And of course, when we have rheumatoid arthritis, you know there’s a disinclination to want to exercise and we know that there’s a direct relationship between exercise levels and longevity. And so you know there’s just a couple of examples. And the will to live can be slowly drawn out of you as you enter your I guess the elderly years, and life’s been a struggle for a very long time and I guess like Willpower isn’t as high and there’s probably a multitude of other reasons and so on.
Clint: But at least, I guess to loop this back to your comment. At least we realize this now, and not continue to put the inflammatory foods into a body that’s inflamed.
Irene: Yeah that’s true. And its life changing. I mean even I had a rash on my body as well at the same time, and even the dermatologist he wasn’t sure if it was connected with my arthritis. But it went immediately away as soon as I started the Paddison Program. So, I assume all these oils would have caused all of these rashes on my body.
Clint: Perhaps, and you know I’m only speculating like others. I don’t claim to know exactly what the rationale was cause from, and I don’t see a correlation all the time between rashes and a particular food group. But when the body feels better, everything improves doesn’t it? It’s just like, the body just cleans everything at the same time. And so, these rashes and whatever other little problems that we’re facing or big problems that we’re facing simultaneously all improve. So, Wow, fantastic.
Clint: Well can you give us some tips that you may have accumulated through this process that’s helped you to get really outstanding results that you think may not necessarily be obvious? That if someone was doing the program right now, listening to this. What words of advice, or encouragement would you give them that you found that helped you?
Irene: Well I know it’s there’s a lot of planning involved with this program. Especially I worked almost full time, and so on my days off I need to prepare and do batch cooking like prepare meals for the work. And you have to get your mindsets, prepare list go shopping, do all the meals in advance, so you don’t get so stressed out. I got a lot of cookbooks, vegan cookbooks, oil free, with all the ingredients on the Paddison Program included, and I create all these meals and it makes my life then much easier. In the morning, I make myself a giant green smoothie, and with oatmeal, and cinnamon, and raw honey.
Clint: Oh, I love it. Do you know the degree of confidence that I have for your future is like, ninety-nine-point nine percent. You’re set, you’re absolutely set for life.
Irene: And I listened to your podcast with Dr. Matthews, and I’m making fermented oates now. Oh my God, it has such a great effect on me.
Clint: Awesome.
Irene: So, I mean I started these probiotics first, low doses. And then I bought probiotics with hundred billion CFU and 34 strains. And that’s changed actually my level of inflammation as well, my stiffness in the morning went away after I eat that probiotic. Because I had to go to the restroom two or three times a day, before it was like twice a week. And that changed everything. And my stiffness went away, and my [00:12:06] nights [0.3] changed it to fermented oats. I stopped the probiotic, and I included the fermented oats. It had the same effect.
Clint: Oh my gosh. OK. There’s a lot in this, and I don’t want us to just skim over this. So first of all, I know our listeners really love hearing about brands of probiotics. Which probiotic did you buy? I know everyone’s gonna to be wanting to know that.
Irene: The garden of life.
Clint: Garden of life, Okay.
Irene: 100 billion CFU, 34 strains. To tell you the truth, I almost wanted to return the bottle because within three hours I was so bloated, and I had to go to a restroom and I thought okay this had a bad side effect. But I said okay, maybe I’ll keep the bottle and keep eating the probiotic. So I ate for 4 days, and on the fourth day my stiffness in my fingers went away in the morning.
Clint: Now did the bloating stop? Even though you persisted with the same probiotic?
Irene: No, it didn’t stop. I was still having bloating on the fourth day, but I was going very regular.
Clint: To the bathroom?
Irene: Yeah.
Clint: OK now. OK. So, when did the bloating stop?
Irene: Maybe after a week.
Clint: Did go away though.
Irene: Slowly yeah.
Clint: It did go away.
Irene: When I started the fermented oats, it came all back again. I think there are great more bacteria in there.
Clint: Yeah. Well you know we’re playing with real things here aren’t we? Or when it’s like we’re our own little you know medical lab. Yeah. Because these are real organisms, right? We’re not. These aren’t these aren’t innate objects. We’re dealing with real life here. OK. All right. So we’re putting this together in a little bit of a summary and I’ll say it back to you in a minute to make sure I understood. And now tell me about how did you ferment your oats? Because there’s a discussion in our support forum about, fermenting oats and I’d like to get your input on that.
Irene: I just follow the instructions from Dr. Matthews the day. Take a cup of Oates, I put natural kefir in it. And I let it sit for two days, cover it up with a paper towel, and then I put a little bit of raw honey in it, and coconut water unsweetened. And I just eat it like yogurt in the morning.
Clint: And the kefir that you get. Where do you source that?
Irene: Where do I store it?
Clint: No where do you get it from?
Irene: Oh, just a normal supermarket.
Clint: OK. And is it a water Kefir?
Irene: It says lactose free.
Clint: Lactose free.
Irene: Yeah.
Clint: Right.
Irene: I think it’s nature way is the brand.
Clint: There we go. OK, Nature way, Lactose free, Kefir.
Irene: Yeah.
Clint: OK. All right.
Irene: So, I will get rid of all that probiotics, and switch over just to fermented oats because it had the same reaction in my body.
Clint: Well it’s going to offer you tremendous more benefits than taking a probiotic, and far cheaper.
Irene: Yeah. Oh definitely.
Clint: Yeah. So, I can’t say for sure whether or not that’s completely dairy free, lactose free or would suggest that it is. But if people, I don’t want anyone to get all arms up in the air if it’s not and who is listening. If it’s not 100 percent dairy free, because it’s not that I want to endorse it if it does contain dairy. But let’s remember that during the fermentation process, all of the proteins get broken down to amino acids. and all of the fats get broken down to fatty acids .and so it’s quite different food than if you were to buy a bottle of milk, or a carton of milk from the shelf. I mean we’re talking about completely different effects on our body. So ideal would be dairy free, but if that one is working for you right now and it just happens to under a microscope contain some dairy element. Then you know keep in mind both first both and also for listeners that, you know it’s a far cry from just buying milk off the shelf that particular food that you’re eating there so predigested and broken down already. OK. That’s super exciting. And did you get the Nature Way lactose free Kefir from Whole Foods? Or another sort of health food store?
Irene: No, it’s just the regular supermarket. I mean here in Texas it’s well known it’s called AGB.
Clint: AGB. OK. Great. OK. Well that’s excellent. And so, you would follow the steps that you outlined a moment ago putting it together, and how long would you wait just 2 or 3 days?
Irene: For the fermenting, two days.
Clint: 2 days. OK. Great. All right beautiful. And then after it’s done do you then warm it up? so that it’s… no…
Irene: Just cold. Yeah because I’m afraid if I heat it up it will kill the bacteria.
Clint: That’s was I was going to ask. And you’re absolutely spot on. And that’s why I checked. Yeah. Well here you are setting a great standard here for us. This is fantastic…
Irene: I make something else, I make my own Kombucha now.
Clint: Look at you go. You’re excelling.
Irene: I started brewing about two months ago… So, I’m really enjoying that too. So that’s helping me I think so too because I was buying all these bottles and they are expensive to. And this is now a fraction of the cost.
Clint: It’s a fraction of the cost and that it doesn’t contain all of the necessary superfluous ingredients to keep its shelf life up. So, talk us through you Kombucha. This is fun.
Irene: Anybody can order a starter kit, I got it on Amazon the deluxe kit. It comes with a bottle, the big gallon jar, the scoby, the tea, the sugar, the bottles, and it gives detailed instructions. Anybody can do it. It’s so simple.
Clint: Right, now with regards to temperatures. If there’s people listening and cold parts or very hot parts of the world.
Irene: I’m lucky to be in Texas. I keep it now my house 70 degrees. So, it’s working fine.
Clint: Right. So, air condition that to a controlled temperature and then you know that it’s always going to work well?
Irene: Yeah. And it’s delicious, and I have my little (inaudible), I use my mint, and basil in the Kombucha. And so, I’m fermenting the second stage with flavors. So, it’s delicious.
Clint: Oh my gosh I want to come visit your house.
Irene: Yeah. So, it’s a whole, the whole program changed my life, and I’m baking my own bread now. And it’s pretty neat because it’s out of quinoa, Buckwheat and oats, and it’s oil free. So, I make two loaves, I bake two loaves per week. I freeze it, and I make toast for lunch. And it’s delicious and it’s much better than the bread in the supermarket. It’s, that taste like cardboard, and is very expensive. And this one also saves me money.
Clint: Oh fantastic. That’s wonderful. I might have to get you to create some videos for our audience.
Irene: Yeah.
Clint: Just some training videos.
Irene: A lot of research. I spend a lot of time on the computer researching for recipes. I mean there are a lot of vegan on the Internet, who are oil free. And they post their recipes so and I just experiment and some recipes I don’t like I will not repeat, and some recipes. I just keep and I love them, and I keep redoing them.
Clint: Yes absolutely awesome. Now, how your husband embraced your change of lifestyle?
Irene: He is very very supportive. He eats all the meals I cook. I mean once in a while I’ll make a sausage for him and he said with the lentils and the rice and all that. But, it’s no problem whatsoever. I mean if I had to make a separate meal once in a while, it’s fine. But 90 percent he eats all the meals I eat.
Clint: Okay. Well fantastic right. Another example of how…
Irene: It makes it easier.
Clint: Well it makes it so much easier. And in fact, you know it’s just so hard when you’ve got this conflict. And it might not be verbal conflict, but just an energy conflict where people in your family don’t want to eat what you’re eating. It basically almost says look I don’t approve of what you’re doing in some subconscious way.
Irene: Well in the beginning he was skeptic too, but then he sees the improvement I have. I mean he can see my hands, He sees the swelling is going down, He sees I can do sports again. Before I was just sitting on the side line, I said I can’t do it, I’m sorry I can’t. I mean so much pain. Now I can participate with my biking again, we go kayaking again. Before when I was kayaking after three, four-hour trip, I couldn’t even straighten up my hands. I had to use my other hand to straighten out my fingers. There was like trigger fingers. And now it’s like I have movements. zero pain, it’s just amazing.
Clint: Yeah. Wow. I mean that’s why we do this isn’t it we want to get back and live normal lives. You know it’s like if we’re going to prepare to do some significant thing in our life, we have to put in a lot of preparation, and discipline, and effort. And if we’re going to go and climb Mt. Everest, I think you know I don’t know exactly how long people have to prepare for Everest. But I believe it’s sort of the of the order of multiple years to get ready to climb Everest. I mean you don’t just show up at the bottom of the mountain. And so if we if we we’re investing in to do something remarkable which is to live a life pain free, or on as minimal drugs required, and have tremendous you know outlook for the rest of our life, then we have to put the work in. Just like any other thing that’s significant, and you know now you’re getting the pay offs. And it’s exciting because you know all the other potential health crisis is that you would have potentially hit just by being you know in a western society, and you’ve minimized all of those to a negligible level. And your husband too I bet that he’s probably seen some health improvements as well by sort of piggybacking your efforts.
Irene: Oh yeah. He’s very more energetic. He gets his green smoothie in the morning, and he actually loves the green smoothie. He got hooked on that. And I put everything what you always say in the Paddison Program, I put the celery, the cucumber, the Greens, everything in it, banana, and papaya. And it’s every morning our energy drink.
Clint: Well I mean it you know I can’t say anything more than perfection you know. It’s just so exciting, to see this play out in your life. And you know I just, words can’t describe how happy that makes me feel. This is why I put all this stuff on paper after I went through all this and just thought you know. Melissa said, if we can just help one person it’s worth it, You know because there’s so much work involved and then you know just listen and you know I just want to reach out and give you a hug. But we’re you know we’re a bit far away for that but maybe we’ll get to.
Irene: I’m sharing all the information at work, because there are other people at work who are in my same age, we suffered similar problems, and they’re starting to change their diet. They’re not going to the Paddison Program, but they’re cutting out meats, fish, and dairy. So they’re changing as well, because they see the change in me. And even my Rheumatologist is on board that’s what I like. Because I watched those two documentaries seem more like you know the fork over nice and what the hell’s. And so she watched it too, And then she saw my improvement. She said I’m supporting you but I’m not prescribing you anymore medication, and come back in February and I’m supporting you 100%
Clint: Wow. And that’s your rheumatologist. That’s awesome. And you said that she watched these videos as well. Did you give them to her, or recommend them to her?
Irene: Yeah. And she said she was with her son. And so and she believed actually in diet and medication.
Clint: Sure.
Irene: Not just the solely diet. And but so, she prescribed me for four months the meloxicam. But after three weeks I got so dizzy I told her I had to give it up. And then she said I understand. And I didn’t have any improvements with the meloxicam, Nothing changed. She even gave me a steroid shot. It didn’t help. And then she said OK since the medication is not working, and the diet seems to be working, why don’t you continue with the diet and see me in February. If the symptoms come back, you have pains or anything, call me immediately. But, nothing so far has changed. So, I will see you in February, and just say it’s perfect. So and even the first appointment I had I was already on the Paddison program, 3 weeks and my first appointment I sat down she says hurry to today? I said I’m doing good. She said Oh my God this has never happened to her in our career. That somebody says I’m doing good. And I said you know I’m pain free since three weeks because of this program. And then she said oh wow that’s strange.
Clint: That’s really funny you know. Yeah. That’s great. So you imagine if everyone did that. Imagine if they get diagnosed they immediately start this program before they even see the rheumatologist. So by the time they even see the rheumatologist, which as we know can sometimes take a couple of months because of the backlog.
Irene: That’s reason why I actually started your program because it took two months to get the appointment. And I start researching on the Internet and I joined two groups on Facebook. there’s a Facebook group rheumatoid arthritis natural healing, and a Facebook group rheumatoid arthritis support group. the natural healing are talking a lot about your program. And 90 percent of the people were saying they had success with your program. 10 percent maybe say oh no they couldn’t deal with the buckwheat, and the quinoa, and it will give them pains. And I said what 90 percent is a good success. I’ll start the program in here I am, and it’s perfect.
Clint: Well thank you. Thank you. That’s right. Now I always have solutions for those 10 percent to. So if we have people listening and that think they’re in that 10 percent, there’s not a person who I don’t with a 100 percent conviction believe that we can get out of a mess. And so, you know I’m glad that you know that you know in an environment that I’m not even involved I’m not in that group. Well I did join for a while I don’t know if I still get notifications or whatever but I haven’t poked my head in there for many months. And it’s great that they that there is a lot of positivity because…
Irene: So many people are saying so many good things about your program. and I know just people who don’t do this program. or who have no success they give up easily after two or three weeks y And it takes a long time.
Clint: Yeah. That’s absolutely true. I mean a disease that, you know it’s not natural for your body to work against itself in this manner it’s an extremely unnatural situation that has evolved into an autoimmune disease. So you know prior to the 1960’s as I’ve said a fair few times before, there was no evidence of any kind of rheumatoid arthritis in Africa which I believe you know you originally from. And the reason being most easily explained is that there were no you know McDonald’s, there were no KFC’s, there was no fast food outlet. But even taking a step further than that. People were just pretty much eating plants because meat is too expensive. Now these are these are humble communities, humble foods, and people living off you know foods that you can grow, and that you can cultivate in your own little space, in your little bit of land.
Clint: Well this has been super fun. So thanks for sharing. We’ve just used up our time really quick. This has been a lot of fun. I love talking about, ways in which we can you know continue to take matters into our own hands, and be proactive, and resourceful. And you’ve been all of those things definitely. So what I’d like to do is definitely extend you a guest membership for our support group, and come join us and answer questions for those people who probably want to ask some more about the fermentation process, the bread making process. And I might actually commission you to go make some videos for us so we can talk about that and you can… That’ll be great. And we can upload them into our support group, and so members can then go and watch those and adds a lot more value to their lives as well. So, thanks so much Irene for coming on this episode.
Irene: Thank you, you changed my life Clint.
Clint: Awesome, I tell you what, it feels wonderful to hear those words.
Irene: Thank you appreciate it.
Clint: Yeah. Now you’re very welcome. And just stay on the call once we wrap this recording up and we can talk a little bit more. So, thanks again.
Irene: Thank you.