ALL ILLNESS BEGINS IN THE GUT
Dr. Aileen O’Kane MD
More than 5,000 years ago Ayurveda, the ancient system of healing from India, taught that all illness begins in the gut. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, reiterated this same belief 2,000 years ago. Today scientific research has ample evidence that supports this belief. Aileen poses the question: “When did modern medicine forget this basic fact?” She also asks: “Could illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel, psoriasis & eczema, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, obesity, heart disease, and a number of other chronic inflammatory illnesses, which are so rampant in modern society, be linked to what is going on in our gut?” To this question, she herself answers with a resounding “Yes”.
Dr. Aileen O’ Kane qualified as a medical doctor in University College, Dublin, in 1970 and practised medicine until 1990 when she herself became ill. Through a growing awareness of what was going on in her own life, she came to realize that illness is a “dis-ease” of one’s whole being – mind, body and spirit. This led her to search for a more holistic medical model in the course of which she discovered Ayurveda. Ayurveda, which means “knowledge of life”, is about living in harmony with ourselves and with the natural world. Aileen studied Ayurveda in the USA, London and India and has been practising as a medical professional in this way since the year 2000.
In this seminar she will:
- give an overview of Ayurveda to provide a backdrop to the scientific current information which she will share;
- talk about the bacteria in our gut (our micro biome) and how they comprise 80% of the cells in our bodies and 70% of our immune system;
- consider factors that disturb the balance of these bacteria and how this contributes towards illness;
- talk about the many myths about nutrition that the food industry has been promoting over the last 40 years and how these have contributed to
- the modern inflammation epidemic;
- explain the leaky gut and explore the gut/brain connection;
- propose the changes that each of us can make in our diet and lifestyles to prevent and/or reverse inflammatory diseases in our bodies.