Just another data point, but my journey through digestive issues and recovery was kicked off by the worst depression and burnout I ever experienced, which started in 2019 and lasted 3 years.
My best guess for what happened is that work stress, excessive celebration and coping with the cognitive dissonance of the pre-COVID era and subsequent pandemic, combined with overtraining and the misuse of protein shakes in place of food, left me in a chronically dehydrated state. The body tries to collect moisture from the gut, which opens an opportunity for bacteria to get into the body cavity and blood, which is colloquially called leaky gut. This sets off food sensitivities and eventually an autoimmune condition/response to lectins, gluten, etc, which have proteins similar to linings in the body, joints and thyroid. Then a cascade happens where everything goes out of whack quickly. In my case, I went from being in the best shape of my life, the strongest I had ever been in the gym, to barely able to get out of bed in the morning. In other people, it might present as chronic fatigue, arthritis, etc.
I didn't really believe any of this in 2018, and my meal plan then consisted entirely of everything that I can't eat today. So I consider what people say politely, but for the most part, they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. This experience has made stuff like GMO foods sound absolutely insane to me. Like, why would we ever taint our food supply to make food 5 cents cheaper or "feed the world" when we've been operating under artificial scarcity since the end of the second world war? It's all a crock.
Every time you eat inflammatory food, the risk is similar to smoking a cigarette. Probably nothing will happen, but if it sets off your immune system, you may wake up one morning chronically depressed and/or unable to eat something that you rely upon. It got me after I turned 40, YMMV.
My best guess for what happened is that work stress, excessive celebration and coping with the cognitive dissonance of the pre-COVID era and subsequent pandemic, combined with overtraining and the misuse of protein shakes in place of food, left me in a chronically dehydrated state. The body tries to collect moisture from the gut, which opens an opportunity for bacteria to get into the body cavity and blood, which is colloquially called leaky gut. This sets off food sensitivities and eventually an autoimmune condition/response to lectins, gluten, etc, which have proteins similar to linings in the body, joints and thyroid. Then a cascade happens where everything goes out of whack quickly. In my case, I went from being in the best shape of my life, the strongest I had ever been in the gym, to barely able to get out of bed in the morning. In other people, it might present as chronic fatigue, arthritis, etc.
I didn't really believe any of this in 2018, and my meal plan then consisted entirely of everything that I can't eat today. So I consider what people say politely, but for the most part, they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. This experience has made stuff like GMO foods sound absolutely insane to me. Like, why would we ever taint our food supply to make food 5 cents cheaper or "feed the world" when we've been operating under artificial scarcity since the end of the second world war? It's all a crock.
Every time you eat inflammatory food, the risk is similar to smoking a cigarette. Probably nothing will happen, but if it sets off your immune system, you may wake up one morning chronically depressed and/or unable to eat something that you rely upon. It got me after I turned 40, YMMV.