IMMUNE POWER DIET: ON THE TRAIL OF AN IMMUNE MYSTERY

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that these different groups of patients who, at first glance, seemed absolutely dissimilar had something in common. Two very peculiar things stood out.

First, in the course of routine blood tests, I found that many of my patients who wanted to lose weight also had severe imbalances in their immune system. Test samples drawn from what seemed to be healthy arms showed blood profiles that were in immunological shambles. Equally intriguing, not all of my patients responded the same way to treatment. Patients often seemed to get better up to a point, but then get stuck. I was treating a puzzling range of complaints: unexplained headaches, nerve problems, mysterious stomach or gastrointestinal ailments, skin rashes and lesions, and, particularly, profound psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, and lethargy. I found that patients' symptoms would lessen or disappear, but I didn't see the clear improvement in overall health that I expected.

Others lost weight perfectly well, but that was as far as it went. Although they were pleased with their weight loss, I had the feeling they were stopping at some vague halfway point—that something was blocking them from getting robustly healthy.

And there were a few, too, who simply couldn't lose much weight at all, in spite of the fact that I was using every traditional tool and technique known to bariatric medicine. I worked desperately to find the clues to solve this medical mystery.

*9\242\2*