Lyme disease is a fast-spreading chronic disease in the United States however, people still feel that it cannot be healed. Diagnosis of the disease in early stages can be beneficial and you can recover within a week but if the diagnosis is delayed, a long-term treatment process may be needed.

Biohacking means taking charge of your health. It is done by observing the effects of your daily habits and lifestyle choice have on your health and then experimenting and altering them.

Let’s understand how biohacking is essential for Lyme disease recovery. Yes, you can recover from Lyme disease or can at least ease the symptoms and lead a healthier life with a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet, and some healthy lifestyle changes.

In this blog, we will discuss:

  • What is Lyme Disease?
  • Link Between Gut Health, Brain Health, and Lyme Disease
  • What is Biohacking?
  • Signs & Symptoms Of Lyme Disease
  • How Nutrition Supports Lyme Disease Recovery?
  • The Milk Cleanse

Before we dive deep into understanding the phenomenon, let’s first know a little about someone who has had Lyme disease in the past and has overcome it with the help of functional medicine, Jody Levy. She is an educator, entrepreneur, investor, and artist. Jody is the Founder & CEO of The Milk Cleanse and NeuroPraxis Digital App, along with a few other businesses.

She promotes biohacking and talks about well-being and empowers people to take care of themselves and their happiness.

As per Jody Levy, “Our relationship with the environment around us is actually hard for our bodies.” She means that the biotoxicity around is hard for our bodies and we need to work towards making smaller changes that have larger impacts on our health. Like, ensuring the air we breathe is pure by using air-purifiers, ensuring the water we drink is clean by installing water purifiers, and also ensuring that the food we eat is clean and chemical-free.

Such changes encourage detoxification of the body and further promote the cleanse and gut reset.

WHAT IS LYME DISEASE?

In the United States, Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease. Vector-borne diseases are those that result from an infection which is transmitted from one person to another by blood-feeding anthropods, such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas.

Lyme disease is contracted from the bite of a black-legged tick carrying Borrelia bacteria. The disease is growing at a very rapid rate in the country, and it can have harmful effects on your health. Fortunately, it is a non-transmissible disease.

Usually, a rash will occur on the body in the shape of a bullseye if you have caught lyme disease. While it is a lot easier to diagnose the disease if there is a bullseye rash on the body, however, if there is no rash on the body, it becomes difficult to diagnose the disease at first. Since Lyme disease mimics so many other diseases, it may suffer misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis.

For the treatment of Lyme disease, functional medicine has proven to have a higher success rate. Functional medicine does not focus merely on your disease but treats your whole body. Simply put, functional medicine works to eradicate the disease by finding its root cause and actioning it.

Lyme disease attacks your immune system and impairs it hence, the immune system needs to be strengthened.

LINK BETWEEN GUT HEALTH, BRAIN HEALTH, AND LYME DISEASE

It’s not a secret and in fact, scientifically proven that our brain affects our gut health and vice versa. In the human body, the brain and gut are connected physically and biochemically. The communication system between your gut and brain is called the gut-brain axis.

Your gut contains 500 million neurons. However, Neurons are your nerve cells. The vagus nerve is the biggest nerve that connects your gut to the brain and sends signals both ways.

Your gut and brain are also connected through chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemicals produced by your brain that control your emotions and feelings.

To understand this better, let’s break this down and first understand the connection between your gut and brain.

Stomach and intestines are in direct relation with the brain. Their connection is real and it can link anxiety to stomach problems and vice versa. Intestine can send signals to the brain and the brain can send signals to the intestines. Hence, your stomach or intestinal distress can be the cause or result of anxiety or stress.

Now let’s understand the connection between Lyme Bacteria and Gut

The Lyme causing bacteria can infect your gastrointestinal tract causing inflammation that creates digestive symptoms. Due to which, digestive issues can cause immune dysregulation increasing susceptibility to chronic infections.

Hence, the conclusion that your gut and brain are connected and it is very important to have a Lyme bacteria free and healthy gut to have a healthy brain.

WHAT IS BIOHACKING?

Biohacking is a larger umbrella that covers a huge range of activities like optimizing your physiology, clean energy, personalized medicine and alternative wellness, sustainable fitness, clean food and more.

Biohacking means taking responsibility for your health by experimenting and observing the effect your daily habits and lifestyle choices have on your health. A biohacker is someone who is willing to make changes to their diet, supplements, and lifestyle for the purposes of optimizing their physiology and energy level. Generally, people with Lyme disease shift to biohacking by necessity.

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF LYME DISEASE

Lyme disease can cause havoc in your body in a host of different ways via multiple ways.

Listed below are few common signs & symptoms of Lyme disease:

  • Bullseye Rash
  • Chronic inflammation
  • Suppressed immune function
  • Arthritis/ joint pain
  • Increased risk of infections
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Cognitive dysfunction
  • Neurobehavioral disorders (could be anxiety and depression)

There is very limited study on how Biohacking can decrease Lyme-induced physiological dysfunction. However, a healthy body of evidence indicates that a well-planned nutritional care can optimize immunity, alleviate inflammation, and support brain function, thus suggesting its usefulness for Lyme disease patients.

HOW NUTRITION SUPPORTS LYME DISEASE RECOVERY?

We have commonly heard the saying; Your Body is Your Temple. You must worship your body and ensure the environment outside your body as well inside your body is pure and healthy.

Biohacking your way to a healthier lifestyle is a vital step towards recovery from Lyme disease. Let’s understand the step-by-step process of improving your nutritional status and accelerating your healing process.

  1. Remove Inflammatory Foods: Processed foods, Refined carbohydrates and sugar, and Industrial seed oils are the most harmful for your body. Get rid of these food items from your kitchen at the earliest. Also, avoid or reduce the intake of gluten and dairy products.
  2. Eat a Nutrient-Dense, Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Include organic animal proteins, at least three to four servings of non-starchy vegetables per day, nuts and seeds, healthy fats like coconut oil, olive oil in your diet.
  3. Have a Healthy Intake of Immunity Promoting Food Items: Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale are rich in sulforaphane (a natural plant compound derived from cruciferous vegetables. It is known for its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties and is studied for its health benefits) along with garlic, onions, and leeks, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and Fat-Soluble Vitamins must be included in the diet to increase immunity.
  4. Support the Gut, Joints, and Brain: Eat plenty of fermentable carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes, artichokes, and onions to ensure you have a healthy gut. For joints, include Supplements of collagen peptides, and Vitamin C-rich food must be consumed. For brain health, have a healthy intake of seafood as it shows the most consistent brain-health benefits. Herbs and spices must be included in moderate quantities in your daily diet.

Even though those who are suffering from prolonged Lyme disease have more complications, the above-mentioned nutritional pointers can prove to be very helpful to you.

THE MILK CLEANSE

The Milk Cleanse is a great tool that helps you in staying super healthy. It is done to get rid of parasites and give the body a chance to reset. The Milk Cleanse alleviates symptoms associated with biotoxic exposure. It is an 8-day long cleanse wherein you drink only full-fat animal milk.

According to Jody Levy, The Milk Cleanse is the best way to detoxify your body. She suggests choosing Goat’s milk for the process as it is closest to the human DNA and is very easy to digest. Goat’s milk has a lot more beneficial properties as compared to milk from other animals.

Further, Jody talks about 5 things you need to do to optimize your health.

  1. Do what you love

It is very important to find what you enjoy doing and making time to do it regularly. It can be singing, dancing, reading or anything that gives you a break from your daily routine and helps you rejuvenate and refresh your mind and body.

  1. Clean bio-toxic environment

Your environment has a humongous effect on your health. It is suggested that you drink purified water in optimal amounts, breathe purified air, and have high-quality food that promotes toxin-free surroundings.

  1. Reset your system

It is very important to create a balance between your brain and body when you feel it is getting out of sync. The Milk Cleanse is one way of giving your body a restart and getting rid of the toxins.

The Milk Cleanser is an 8-day long, wellness cleanse rooted in the ancient Ayurvedic tradition of Panchakarma. It is a combination of full-fat milk (goat milk), and proprietary supplements that pull toxins and parasites out of the body.

  1. Practice Mindfulness

Repatterning of the brain and being aware of your surroundings by meditating regularly promotes mindfulness. It helps you have a stress free and pain free life.

  1. Engage meaningfully and Give back to the community

Spend time with your family and friends, make time for the people who matter to you. Give back the love and support to the community and help elevate each other.

This is a short and quick step by step guide for you to achieve a Lyme disease-free life or at least a life with eased symptoms of the disease, shared by Jody Levy. It helps in keeping your body clear and your mind stronger.

This blog covers the highlights from the latest episode of Women Wired for Wellness which was about recovering from lyme disease by biohacking.

You can check out the entire podcast on our YouTube channel by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/lE5XpQ5TluI

 

If you have any other questions related to lyme disease and how biohacking helps in the recovery, please drop us an email with your question and a brief about yourself at drchellam@holisticicon.com