6 Medicinal Foods for Lyme

Is your food helping you?  Take your diet to the next level with heavy hitting anti-inflammatory foods.

1. Turmeric  is my favorite “ace” anti-inflammatory herb.  Research shows benefit in reducing inflammatory processes in neurodegenerative disease, joint inflammation, infection induced inflammation and potentially on reducing biofilms.  In medicinal herb formulas I use much larger quantities than would ever taste palatable in a curry dish.  However, small amounts on a regular basis will have a useful effect when combined with other anti-inflammatory foods and herbs.  Are you having a particularly inflamed day?  Add 1 tsp to 4 oz water, swish and drink.  Repeat 2-3 x a day.

2. Garlic  is best raw for antibacterial and anti fungal properties.  It is a good food to help prevent candida, improve circulation and potentially help with biofilms as well.  You have to be creative to eat garlic raw… and a little brave.  Add 1-2 crushed cloves to salad dressings, add to homemade or store bought pesto and guacamole, add 1-2 cloves to fresh homemade veg and fruit juice.  Make garlic oxymel for a sweeter delivery.  

Indian proverb – “Garlic is as good as ten mothers.”

3.  Blueberries are rich in polyphenols, and in particular OPC’s a unique antioxidant that has specific affinity for capillary function, improving microcirculation, reducing oxidative damage to capillaries, improve venous return and more.  All red and blue fruits are particularly rich in these compounds.  Increasing intake of blueberries (and other red and blue fruits) can help with symptoms such as shortness of breath, and numbness and tingling.

4.  Avocado  Rich in monosaturated fat and fiber, two essential nutrients for healing, avocados are a good addition to one’s healing diet.  A half cup avocado contains 5 grams fiber, and keeping fiber to at least 30 g a day will help reduce ‘herx’ response from antibiotic treatment and improve detoxification and elimination.  This west-coast fruit is also very rich in monosaturated fatty acids that are key for healthy cardiovascular health and neurological function.  Fats improve absorption of key nutrients like D and carotenoids.  It is best when dealing with Lyme to shift the balance towards less starch and more high quality fat.

5.  Kombucha   For many of my clients kombucha is a favorite way to get healthy live bacteria (probiotics) in a non-gluten and non-dairy food source.  It is fairly low in sugar, usually having less than 3 g per serving.  I recommend 4-6 oz a day.  A strange drink, certainly.  It is much cheaper if you can make it at home. Daily intake of probiotic foods is a key to survival from long-term antibiotics and systemic infectious disease in general.

6.  Kale is the ‘green of the moment’, but really it is one member of a wonderful group of nutrient-dense dark leafy greens.  Dark leafy greens like kale, collards, mustard greens, spinach, etc provide minerals, fiber, folate and support detoxification and assist healing from Lyme.  Dark leafies are a great source of magnesium, which is depleted by some antibiotics, most notably the macrolide antibiotics (Azithromycin, Zithromax, Biaxin​).  Dark leafy greens are calming to nervous and muscular skeletal systems.