Autoimmune and inflammatory conditions
Inflammation is a natural response of the immune system that occurs in response to infection or tissue damage, while autoimmunity refers to the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissues as if they were harmful pathogens. Inflammation is generally a protective and healing mechanism. Chronic inflammation, however, can contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases.
Inflammation and autoimmunity are both examples of an immune system response to a trigger. Inflammation involves the activation of immune cells to eliminate an infection or promote healing of an injury. In some cases, the immune response becomes dysregulated, leading to persistent inflammation. This inflammation can target and damage healthy tissues, causing autoimmunity.
Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and multiple sclerosis are autoimmune conditions characterized by inflammation and tissue damage. Inflammatory and autoimmune processes may also cause neurodegenerative diseases.
What is Autoimmunity?
An autoimmune disease is a condition in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues and organs. The immune system fails to distinguish between defending against foreign cells like bacteria and viruses and the body's own cells, leading to an immune response against the body's normal tissues.
Revero addresses the root causes of inflammation and autoimmunity
Revero uses a low-carbohydrate diet to treat the root causes of systemic inflammation by:
• Eliminating phytotoxins, allergens, processed foods, sugars, and seed oils
• Restoring gut health
• Providing the body with complete nutrition
• Reducing insulin resistance, helping to further reduce inflammation
• Inducing nutritional ketosis, which also reduces inflammation
Revero limits allergens, phytochemicals, and processed foods that cause inflammation
Eliminating processed foods and sugars
It eliminates processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and added sugars, which are major contributors to inflammation. These processed foods often contain unhealthy oils and additives that can also trigger inflammatory responses. For example, eliminating gluten, dairy, and other inflammatory foods has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis.
How phytotoxins, anti-nutrients, gluten, dairy, and seed oils create systemic inflammation
Phytotoxins and anti-nutrients
Phytotoxins are chemicals produced by plants to protect themselves from competitors and predators. While not all phytotoxins are harmful to humans, some can cause inflammation and health problems.
Antinutrients can irritate the gut lining, disrupt the normal functioning of cells, or trigger an immune response. This can lead to inflammation as the body tries to protect itself from these foreign compounds.
Gluten
• Celiac disease causes gluten to trigger an immune response that attacks the small intestine, causing inflammation and malnutrition.
• Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: Gluten has been shown to trigger an immune response in people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. This leads to inflammation and damage to the lining of the small intestine and symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, fatigue, and joint pain.
Leaky Gut: Gluten increases intestinal permeability, also known as "leaky gut," in some individuals. This allows larger molecules, including undigested food particles and bacteria, to enter the bloodstream. These particles trigger an inflammatory immune response.
Dairy
Lactose intolerance happens when someone lacks the enzyme needed to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. This leads to bloating, gas, diarrhea, and other digestive problems after consuming dairy. But dairy can also cause inflammation in people who are not lactose intolerant or allergic.
Sensitivity to casein: Some people have a sensitivity to A1 casein, a protein found in cow's milk. Their body may treat this protein as a foreign invader triggering an inflammatory response in the gut. This can cause bloating, pain, diarrhea, and fatigue. The same response can result from intolerance to other components of dairy, such as whey.
Seed oils
Seed oils are often referred to as vegetable oils. Examples like canola, soybean, and corn oil are high in omega-6 fatty acids. Consumption leads to an imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in the body, causing inflammation. Additionally, many seed oils are highly processed, which can result in the formation of harmful compounds like trans fats and oxidized lipids. These compounds can trigger inflammation in the body.
Revero is designed to restore gut health and improve nutritional status
Restoring gut health:
Ultra processed foods, grains, and other phytotoxins can penetrate and disrupt the gut lining, triggering inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. A low carb diet helps preserve the integrity of the gut wall, eliminating these irritants and supporting a healthy microbiome.
Improving nutritional status:
A low carb diet emphasizes whole, nutrient-rich foods like meats which offer complete nutrition in the most bioavailable format to nourish the body. These foods are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and have anti-inflammatory properties, helping combat oxidative stress and inflammation.
Improving nutritional status:
Low carbohydrate and elimination diets have been shown to help with inflammatory bowel disease. The Revero method reduces the FODMAPs for individuals with IBS. Low FODMAP diets have been found to reduce the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease.
How unhealthy diets cause intestinal permeability, gut imbalance, SIBO, and candida overgrowth
Leaky gut, or intestinal permeability
When the delicate lining of the intestines is exposed to plant toxins like gluten, those membranes become more permeable, letting molecules through that would have otherwise been blocked. When molecules leak out of the intestinal tract and into the bloodstream, they cause systemic inflammation. Some of these molecules are lipopolysaccharides (LPS) that are broken up pieces of bacteria. The immune system reacts to LPS, and builds an antibody response. Those antibodies can cross-react with our own human tissue, causing an autoimmune response to develop. This concept is called molecular mimicry, and commonly occurs with gluten, gliadins, transglutaminase, and other molecules.
Gut imbalance, SIBO, Candida
A carbohydrate based diet disrupts the balance of the gut microbiome, which plays a crucial role in regulating the immune system. This happens through several mechanisms:
• Feeding Harmful Microbes: High intake of carbohydrates, especially refined sugars and processed carbs, provides a rich source of food for certain bacteria and yeast like Candida in the gut. These microbes thrive on sugars, and their overgrowth disrupts the gut microbiome. This favors the growth of harmful bacteria and yeast, while potentially suppressing beneficial bacteria.
• Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth: This happens when bacteria that normally live in the colon overgrow in the small intestine. A high-carb diet can exacerbate this condition as these bacteria ferment carbohydrates, leading to gas, bloating, and other digestive symptoms.
Candida Overgrowth: Candida, a type of yeast, can also overgrow when there's an abundance of dietary sugars and simple carbohydrates. This overgrowth can lead to symptoms like fatigue, digestive issues, and yeast infections.
FODMAPs
FODMAPs are a group of carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and can cause problems, especially for patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). FODMAP stands for: Fermentable Oligosaccharides Disaccharides Monosaccharides And Polyols. Examples of FODMAPs include onions, wheat, artichokes, apples, Yogurt, and erythritol.
FODMAPs draw water into the bowel, causing bloating and diarrhea. Also, Bacteria ferment FODMAPs, producing gas that distends the gut and causes pain. This combination of fluid, gas, and fermentation can irritate the gut lining and cause abdominal pain and discomfort.
Revero is designed to restore metabolic health, limit pro-inflammatory pathways, and restore hormonal balance
Lowering blood glucose and insulin levels
A low carb diet eliminates foods that cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels. Reduced insulin levels minimize inflammation in the body by improving insulin resistance, reducing the activation of pro-inflammatory pathways, and lowering oxidative stress. It also helps lower blood pressure, improve blood flow, and reduce vascular inflammation.
Regulating hormones
A low-carb diet can also positively influence hormone regulation by eliminating some reactive foods and stabilizing blood glucose, which helps by: Reducing insulin levels, Balancing hunger and satiety hormones like leptin and ghrelin, lowering cortisol levels, supporting thyroid function, balancing sex hormones, potentially increasing testosterone levels, reducing inflammation, improving sleep quality, regulating brain neurotransmitters, and improving mood and overall mental health. Also, by reducing phytotoxins from grains and legumes that can interfere with hormones, a low carb diet helps improve hormonal health.
How unhealthy diets causes insulin resistance, inflammation, and hormonal disruptions
Insulin resistance and pro-inflammatory pathways
Consuming excess carbohydrates and sugars promotes elevated levels of insulin and glucose leading to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. It also triggers inflammation and elevated triglycerides. This type of diet activates the immune system, stimulating the release of pro-inflammatory compounds and oxidative stress. This damages cells and tissues, increasing the risk of developing or worsening inflammatory diseases.
Hormonal disruptions
Phytotoxins are naturally occurring toxins found in plants that can disrupt hormonal balance in several ways. Goitrogens and phytoestrogens are two examples of phytotoxins.
• Mimicking natural hormones, binding to receptors and causing overstimulation or abnormal growth
• Blocking hormones from binding to their receptors, leading to hormonal deficiencies and physiological malfunctions
Interfering with the synthesis or breakdown of hormones, resulting in imbalances that affect various bodily functions.
Revero is designed to induce ketosis and improve brain function
Generating ketones bodies which have anti-inflammatory properties
A low carb diet further helps reduce inflammation by putting you in ketosis. Ketone bodies have anti-inflammatory properties. They act like mini fire extinguishers in your body. Ketones fight inflammation by: inhibiting the production of inflammatory molecules, reducing oxidative stress and cleaning up harmful free radicals, strengthening your gut barrier, helping your mitochondria run smoothly, and protecting your brain cells.
Improving brain function
A low-carb diet enhances brain function by providing ketones as an alternative and efficient fuel source for the brain when glucose is less available. This leads to:
• Cognitive performance improvement
• Reduced inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain, which are factors in neurodegenerative diseases
• More stable brain networks, which prevents the highs and lows in energy that can affect mental clarity and focus
A root-cause approach for treating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
Revero’s nutrition therapy is designed to treat the cause of inflammation and autoimmune disease by utilizing a low-carbohydrate diet that eliminates many causes of inflammation. When the immune system has become triggered by a food or food group, identifying the food sensitivities and removing the foods that are causing systemic inflammation and autoimmune reaction in the body are critical steps to treating the condition. By utilizing a low-carbohydrate approach, Revero’s diet is designed to further reduce inflammation by removing grains and sugars that cause elevated glucose, insulin, and inflammation. This approach promotes weight loss in overweight or obese people, providing health benefits without the risk, expense, and inconvenience of pharmaceutical treatment.
