The connection between our environment's health and our own

There have been some great articles hitting my computer screen recently - about the connection between microbes and human health.

Last year I posted about sour dough bread - which I'm convinced is healthier for us - and the link between depression and unsustainable agriculture. This post connects a few more ideas.

This article is an interesting one, the lower rates of allergy in Amish communities. Some aspects of diet, environment or lifestyle have been helpful: Amish farm kids remarkably immune to allergies, study finds

It describes the connection between gut health and mental health - particularly autism and the now common disorders of the brain including ADD and dyspraxia:

Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAP syndrome or GAPS)

We've all heard people asking 'is ADD a real problem?'  and people who work with kids responding 'oh yeah!' ... 'if so and so doesn't take their medication he'd be climbing the walls'. My feeling is it might be worth re-framing the 'disorder' into a collection of symptoms. In other words - these kids have a lot of trouble concentrating and have a collection of symptoms which vary from child to child and which are improved by medicating them. The 'medicine' shows us that symptoms can be improved, but it doesn't tell us much about the heart of the problem.

For me, it seems obvious that the rates have gone up dramatically when compared to older generations and that therefore there must be an environmental variable, or several, that have changed dramatically.

The microbes that we live with are one possible explanation:

Environmental biodiversity, human microbiota, and allergy are interrelated

Sadly, I don't think that we understand perfectly the connection between microbes and our own health. We know that intestinal flora provide us with significant assistance in digesting and properly absorbing nutrients from our food... this includes manufacturing B vitamins. Yet biodiversity of microbes also seems to play a role. Even the pH or acidity/alkalinity of your gut likely influences which bacteria will live there - this makes sugar and refined carbohydrates highly suspect!

My personal choice is to play it safe and avoid chemicals and 'new' foods as much as is practical. At home we eat foods that our grandparents might have eaten. Perhaps this includes too much sugar! This link shows you the major foods included in the diet of my American Indian ancestors including Jerusalum artichokes which are known to be helpful for intestinal flora. Happily I'm growing some in the garden and very much looking forward to harvesting them soon.

We don't use commercial cleaners with antibiotics or strong chemicals. We don't regularly eat or drink out of plastic, nor do we cook much in our microwave. The best way to summarise our philosophy is that we try to live the way our grandparents did, plus some technology.

Our environment is worth protecting - both in terms of its intrinsic worth and because we might need something from it later!

Shiitake logs, beeswax and turning poo into food

Last weekend was a real joy as I was able to convert a sad event, a neighbour's tree being chopped down, to a good thing - new mushroom logs for us. I popped over and had a chat with the lady, who I'd never met before and made a new friend and got two free logs.

I got the idea from reading Mycelium Running, a book that still excites me when I talk about it!

Check out Paul Stamets' website

I have understood for some time that we should always try to use a resource for the highest purpose possible. High quality 'waste' goes to the chickens versus lower quality material being composted. This way, we get a second or third yield, in this case eggs, from our 'waste' stream and keep the energy flowing.

Happily there are some organisms that we can eat that are fairly low on the food 'chain' which might surprise some people!

Detritivores are creatures who like to eat muck filtered from the water - classic examples are mussels, prawns and, the classic Australian favourite, marron. People grow these critters by sprinkling duck poo on their ponds, which in turn grows algae and boom! Food from poo, which just makes my day.

Permaculture gardeners should all be familiar with Black Soldier Fly Larvae as the best way to compost and produce high protein, self harvesting feed for chickens or fish.

Mushrooms are a whole other 'kingdom' in the same way that plants and animals are very different, so are fungi and plants. Fungi are ancient amazing organisms which are skilled survivors in highly competitive environments and in some cases, could well save your life. Read Mycelium Running if you have cancer or a troubled immune system.

The thing that fascinates me is the way that mushrooms can convert a log which would otherwise be left to decompose or burnt - into high quality food. Or better yet, poo into food. The old fashioned way was to simply get some horse manure into a compact garden bed, allow it to hot compost, then roughly chop some mushrooms into the mix and tamp it down. The new way is to mix in extra nutrients, hot compost or sterilise and then inoculate with cultivated mycelium growing on dowel or agar. Of course, you have to match the type of mushroom to your growing media.


Months ago I purchased Rowen Reid's Shiitake mycelium on dowel which arrived in a snap lock bag similar to the ones used for school lunches!

One fascinating thing that I noticed before I started my wood work was the rather wide ant 'highway' trekking to the logs and their sweet sap. This sap sits close to the surface of the bark and is sent around from the leaves to feed the rest of the tree and often, soil biota that have symbiotic relationships with the roots.

The process itself is simple:
1. Trim the log so that any cut surfaces are fresh and not contaminated
2. Drill holes around the circumference of the log
3. Put in a dowel plug to each hole
4. Seal any exposed wood and holes with beeswax

Keep moist and in the shade.
They say you should shock them into fruiting by dunking them in cold water... I'll keep you updated on whether you really have to torture them or not!

The link between depression and unsustainable agriculture

It's been a wonderful break over Christmas and I spent most of my lovely free time reading My Beautiful Genome by Lone Frank and Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin. I can highly recommend both: However, the spotlight deserves to be on My Beautiful Genome.

Wonderfully easy to read. Share Lone's exploration of her genetic history and gain a deeper understanding of how genetic variations help to shape your personality, relationships, emotions and more. Her reflections on neo-eugenics, emotional resilience, genetic plasticity and how coffee can affect breast size... if you have the right genes.

I know what you're thinking! Very different topics - genetics and agriculture - but for me, I have been thinking of how our modern lifestyle places people under extraordinary pressures that they may not be biologically equipped to handle.
This is concerning not only in terms of our health, but also in terms of reducing our capacity to adapt to a changing world - considering climate, land use and culture.


How can we, as a society, hope to forge a new path, if we can't be bothered to get out of bed in the morning?


If you're depressed and struggling, you're not going to be thinking behaviour change, advocacy or anything at all other than 'what's for breakfast' ... which will probably include cheap wheat and sugar from your local industrial food outlet. Possibly with a bit of some heavy metal or a bit of carbon that can be traced back to it's pre-historic origins.

The rate of depression in first world countries - not to mention allergies, auto-immune diseases, decreasing fertility and cancer - is way too high. I've heard many people suggest that people in third world countries are too busy surviving to have time to get depressed. That is part of the story. Certainly I've met some people who manage to survive on meat and potatoes... not everyone would be OK on that diet! These people seem to be made of pretty sturdy stock.

Many people who are actually in the midst of a deep despair (I've known a few)  feel that they have no choice but to medicate themselves for either short periods of time, or their entire life. I suggest that these people are the canaries in the coal mine for our society - considering stress from perceptions of crime in densely populated cities splashed all over the media, lack of community, low quality food and toxins.

We understand that health challenges like depression do have a genetic component and Frank's exploration of this puzzle is worth reading, just to understand that scientists are still piecing together the pieces of the puzzle. We medicate as a stop gap before the 'perfect' treatment that might be developed in a number of years. Maybe this perfect treatment will be a little protein that flicks the epigenetic 'switch' back to 'normal' (whatever that means).

After I thought about these connections between sustainabilty and mental health... I went looked up the ingredients that the body needs to make a batch of serotonin. This information is not that well known even by those interested in nutrition.

• Tryptophan
• Iron
• Vitamin B3
• Calcium
• Folic Acid
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6

(Tabrizian, I. 2003)

Wonderful... the ingredient list for mental health. Perhaps I should add 'act, belong, commit', which is a great public health campaign in Australia at the moment.

Consider that the following anti-nutrients can be present in high doses in either our environment or our food supply.

• Mercury (blocks iron and zinc, which sit near it on the periodic table)
• Copper (blocks iron, folic acid, zinc and magnesium)
• Cadmium (blocks zinc, magnesium) 

(Tabrizian, I. 2003) 

I'm aware that cadmium is present in industrial fertilisers. It becomes more available to the plants in unhealthy or degraded acidic soils which occur in marginal farming country - where farmers may be pushed financially.

Here in Western Australia we don't have a lot of natural minerals in our ancient soils - zinc is one example. We can try to get it from seafood and eggs and so on, but realistically, chances are that we're on the low side. Supermarkets can't get the high levels of Vitamin C - the older the fresh food; the lower the levels. This is because Vitamin C is nature's anti-oxidant (preservative).

I don't know about you, but I find this biochemical reality very very interesting. For me, it is a nail in the coffin for industrial agriculture using chemical fertilisers. It is also a glimmer of hope for those who are prone to depression - the canaries in the coal mine... a warning sign that our society is getting it wrong!

It highlights for me the many many reasons we should be growing some of our own food on real compost... aside from deliciousness!

If you're feeling excited: have a read of Peter Dingle and get into local, organic produce!