Green Pastures Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil

Today, I added the recommended Green Pastures Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil.  For years, Olivia took Nordic Naturals EPA/DHA fish oil pill.  It seems as though I am learning more and more how most GAPS patients actually are incapable of breaking down most food, much less supplements.  This point really hit home for me since Olivia has not gained weight since 2008.  She was getting the best of nutrients in a compounded vitamin from Pfieffer, but seemed to not benefit from it.

Cod liver oil has been used as medicine since the 18th century.  Parents used to give it to their children daily to help maintain good health - remember Nana the dog in Disney's Peter Pan giving it to the children at bedtime!

Cod liver oil provides Omega-3's, natural forms of  Vitamin A & D and cholesterol.

Confirmation is an awesome feeling.  For years I was told that Olivia is getting the best of the best.  She was on an amazing diet....whole gluten-free grains, fresh organic vegetables and fruits, high quality pharmaceutical grade vitamins and supplements but her health continued to decline. All this didn't matter because all these nutrients had to pass through a very compromised digestive tract that could not digest, metabolize and convert any of these nutritional foods into nutrients for her body.

In the case of vitamin A, Dr. McBride describes how in a GAPS patient it is "virtually impossible to obtain Vitamin A from fruits and vegetables".  Olivia was surely deficient in many vitamins, including Vitamin A.  She goes on to explain that "digestive system problems and vitamin A deficiency are in a 'chicken and egg' relationship.  Poor digestion causes vitamin A deficiency, but vitamin A deficiency can cause digestive problems.  In fact, gut disease is one of the symptoms of Vitamin A deficiency, because the gut lining is one of the most active sites of cell production, growth and differentiation.  Leaky gut and malabsorption are the typical results of vitamin A deficiency."  No wonder her gut has never healed.  The many stool tests that were performed on Olivia always came back with dysbiosis, it never really went away.  Hence the inability to break the vicious cycle.

I did not know that vitamin A plays a huge role in the strength of your immune system.  Dr. McBride mentions that the earliest name for it was "anti-infective vitamin.  The ability for the body to respond to bacterial, parasitic and viral infections is compromised.  Could explain the Olivia's Lyme disease, since the vitamin A deficiency would have made her more prone to infections since her immune system was not functioning properly.

Apparently, correcting this deficiency may take some time, and her body will need to adjust to finally getting these nutrients that probably have been missing for 10 years:/ Olivia's hypersensitivity to change is still a factor to consider.  We will see how it goes:/