Gemma Calzada nutritionist :: testimonials

David's testimonial

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 12:18:00 +0100

The scientific literature on nutrition is very complex and full of contradictions. I am very critical about experts and very grateful to have met Gemma five years ago when I was looking for answers about celiac disease. At present, I am interested in nutrition as a general health and lifestyle issue. I started with a Paleo / GAPS diet for six months, followed by an essentially vegetarian diet. For the past five months, I have been on a natural hygiene diet (life science) based only on whole and fresh raw fruit, with an intermittent daily fasting. Symptoms I had, such as bad breath and hemorrhoids, completely disappeared for the first time in ten years. I also feel more vitality and brain clarity.
Gemma kindly advised me during these five years. She explained the different theories in a simple way so that I could decide what to do. She helped me apply them, from theory to practical advice, with recipes and weekly menus, as well as cooking lessons. She also supported me in decisions to be made at key moments (dips of tension, exaggerated weight loss), to become self-taught and to listen to my body (for example, to determine which foods suit me), and to become aware of the impact of sport, stress, emotions and sun on my health. Obviously, she does not have the answers to all the questions, but she admits it without any problem when it occurs.
Gemma is open, critical, scientific and passionate about nutrition and health in general. I particularly appreciate her thorough and up-to-date knowledge of nutrition and her honesty (she never tried to sell me nutrition products). We arrange an appointment in person or by videoconference when I need it, and she replys to my emails in less than 24 hours. I recommend Gemma's coaching warmly and without reservation!

Continue reading David's testimonial

Iván's testimonial: development delay

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 18:55:00 +0100

Arnau does not have a clear diagnostics. The doctors talk about autistic spectrum, development delay, … The physiological diseases he presents when he first comes to my consultation are: bloating and abdominal distention, parasites, sensitive skin, very frequent and strong bronchial spasm attacks and otitis.
He follows several alternative therapies: homeopathy, osteophaty, and development stimulation such as Tomatis. He’s already having a gluten-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free diet that have allowed an important improvement, but his evolution is still deficient.
Thanks to food intolerance tests, we discover that Arnau is suffering some food intolerances.
We install a GAPS diet taking into account these food intolerances.
Putting GAPS diet into practice is not easy for the family. Arnau suffers a regression in his cognitive skills: disconnection, return of some stereotypes, … but they persevere with the diet, and very slowly they begin to appreciate the improvements.
Finally, we succeed to remove the bronchial spams and Arnau begins to experience a normal development: oral expression, concentration, memory and motivation. Two years afterwards, it’s possible to reintroduce some food and go out GAPS diet without problems.
You can read his father’s testimonial:

Continue reading Iván's testimonial: development delay

“Our son Arnau, who is now 5 years old, began to present difficulties few months after his birth. We have tried different therapies, some of them have been discarded because of lack of improvement, but we do have followed the GAPS diet suggested by Gemma.
We have always said that between all things we have done, one of them that we know that has worked is the diet. When we did it, we saw a positive change and evolution in Arnau”

Xelo's testimonial: Epilepsy

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 18:57:00 +0100

Samuel suffers multiple chemical sensitivity. He can’t tolerate any chemical substance such as medicines, pesticides, sweeteners, preservatives, personal hygiene products, etc. His mother says that he has allergy to everything.
With a low histamine GAPS diet, ecological, and rich in vegetables we succeed to completely control the epileptic crisis in this 16 years old boy without any kind of medicine.
You can read his mother’s testimonial:

Continue reading Xelo's testimonial: Epilepsy

“We came to visit Gemma Calzada after more than one year of GAPS diet by our own. We bought Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book, and we installed more or less the protocol on our 16 years old boy suffering autism and epilepsy. Sometimes it worked well, and other times, not so well. After more than a year, we perceived that he had important rise in histamine levels, and we didn’t know how to manage this question.
We contacted Gemma, who guided us to a more adequate diet for our son’s pathology. We changed to a low histamine GAPS diet, more alkaline, with more raw vegetables.
The use of ecologic fruits and vegetables has been crucial in the treatment.
Our son has greatly improved, calming down his nervousness. Today he is free of epilepsy and without medication.
Gemma has guided us, but mainly, we have learned a lot. She’s a professional that doesn’t keep her wisdom for herself, but she shares and encourage us to study and to learn”

Ana's testimonial: autism

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 18:55:00 +0100

Ana M. comes to my consultation because his autistic son Victor when he’s 26. Ana has tried all kind of alternative treatments, and thanks to that, his son has greatly improved since he was a baby.
When Victor follows the GAPS diet he experiences another important improvement that greatly satisfy Ana. This is her testimonial:

Continue reading Ana's testimonial: autism

“Victor was diagnosed with autism a little bit before 4 years old. He had a quite problematic behaviour that derived in an important aggressiveness. When he was 8 years old he even had to take anxiolytic medication:, Sinogan, Meleril, Haloperidol, Tranxilium, … in very high doses. But even though, we didn’t succeed to control his aggressiveness attacks and self-harm.
At the beginning of 1998, when he had about 10 years old, he started a gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, sugar-free diet, avoiding other 52 food to which he was intolerant. The diet was a success and in less than a week his behaviour completely changed. Little by little the medication that he was taking since 2 years ago was lowered, and in 3 months he completely stopped them.
In addition of violent behaviour, he also improved his constipation that he was suffering since he was a baby.
Although all the improvements with other therapies during some years, Victor didn’t put on weight, and when he was 24 years old he still wore a 14 years old size, so it was quite difficult to find trousers that fit him!
At the beginning of 2013 he started the GAPS diet. His diet was very high in fats and proteins (eggs, meat, coconut oil, seeds, nuts) and he also took a lot of vegetables and some fruits. There was a very low carbohydrate intake. The most impressive effect was that in a few months he started to gain weight. He jump two sizes in little time.
Another very important data was a significant change in the cell tests. Since some years, we observed in the microscope the irregularity of his cells, the fragility of cell membranes and the dirty in the interstitial liquid that bath cells.
In Mars 2015, after following GAPS diet for more than a year, there was a huge change in this cell test. Cell shape was beautiful and cell membrane was not fragile anymore. The doctor told us that cell membranes are made of phospholipids, cholesterol, proteins… just what he was receiving in his diet. It seems that his intestine could absorbe now better and this was reflected in the weight.
I think that the glutathion treatments could help too, but sincerely, I think that the diet was determinant”.

Gabrielle’s Testimonial: Lyme disease

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 11:42:00 +0100

Gabrielle suffers Lyme disease. On her fist visit, she talked about her symptoms which were imporant gastro-intestinal disorders; cramps; strong pain often even causing her immobility, migraines; fatigue; dizziness; tingling and spots in front of her eyes. Furthermore, she had a tendency to depression and changeable mood. She had followed a vegetarian diet for several years and had also tried many different therapies and diets.
You can read a brief explanation below about the way she became healthy again thanks to the Natural Hygiene approach.

Continue reading Gabrielle’s Testimonial: Lyme disease

Her health status at the beginning was the following :

She was permanently exhausted or fatigued, often having to stretch/take a nap.
She used to be anorexic with depression when she was young. She had a tendency to depression, moodiness, anger for no reason and had had 3 burnouts.
She had a lack of vitamin B12 as well as low levels of vitamin D and she had been taking a high dose of magnesium for over 20 years.
She had been seeing spots like flies since her adolescence.
She was hypersensitive to noise.
She had metal fillings (amalgams) and bruxism.
She had had bleeding oral ulcers for years.
Her tongue had always been white, sometimes even black.
She had a burning feeling and soreness on the corners of her mouth and on her tongue, too.
She had frequent stomach aches, nausea attacks and spasms. She always felt full and heavy even when she had eaten little. She had some acidity and reflux problems as well. Depending on what she had eaten, she often woke up at night and had trouble sleeping. Although she had eaten, she could still feel hungry and not feel like eating.
She had cramps at night.
She had constipation issues.
Some days her belly was really swollen.
She often had spasms and could have attacks of diarrhea as liquid as water.
She had a white complexion with dark circles under her eyes.
She had been suffering from pain throughout her body, cramps at night and headache for years, according to her sleeping position. Occasionally she also had migraines, suffered from dizziness and saw black spots.
She had had tingles all over her body for 2-3 years that have become permanent and felt like acidity in muscles and tendons, her joints hurt as well. The pain had become so great in the last months that she could hardly move and had to stretch regularly.
She took vitamin B12 injections, a blend of essential oils, magnesium, probiotics, vitamin D and analgesics.
She tried homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy and energy therapies.
She was a vegetarian, did not consume gluten and only very little sugar. Since her adolescence she had tried different diets and dietary changes, without any results.

We started the hygienic diet : a detox that involves eating only fresh fruit. Then we progressively introduced vegetables, nuts and some fatty fruits and finally tubers, quinoa and buckwheat.
Six months later her status is the following: The gastro-intestinal disorders, dizziness, fatigue, depression, mood swings, pain and migraine have dissapeared. Besides, there has been a great improvement regarding the cramps, tingling and spots in front of her eyes.
Although she is going through a time of great stress, she can now take it much better. Some symptoms have returned owing to the stress, but they are much milder than before.
She explains her experience how her health improved with these words:
« The third day of the detox was amazing. I felt energy and a zest for life that I had not experienced for years. It is amazing how dietary changes have influenced my energy levels. I could not have put up with the period of great stress I am going though right now. Although not everything is 100% perfect, I know that I am on the right track.
The same way as the energy and zest for life, inner calm has appeared in my life. I do not feel carried away by emotions anymore, I feel I can control them now.
I am experiencing long periods without seeing spots in front of my eyes.
There has been a great improvement in my sensitivity to noise.
I have been able to live without ulcers for weeks; in the last 6 months I have only had 3 small ones, which I had never before experienced!
During the detox I've seen a change in the state of my tongue. Then, when I started to eat richer food and also because of the stress it became worse, but nothing comparable to what it was like previously.
I am not suffering from the burning feeling and soreness neither on the corners of my mouth nor on my tongue anymore.
From the third day the stomachache has decreased significantly, then it disappeared for months. Now stress has returned but much lighter than before, and it only happens sometimes.
Attacks (nausea, cramps, etc.) occur depending on what I eat. I react very strongly to everything that is fatty, such as nuts, especally if I'm stressed or I eat very fast. It is still a weak point.
Neither acidity nor reflux occur anymore.
Cramps at night have significantly lessened, however, they still do occur from time to time.
My belly is much less swollen, only a little bit, epecially when I consume fatty foods.
I do not experience diarrhea and spasms anymore.
The pain disappeared during the detox and the reintroduction of vegetables, nuts and cereals. But with the stress it has returned, although much milder than before.
I don’t get migraines, only a slight tension from time to time.
I no longer feel dizzy.
There has been an improvement of black spots in my vision, but I still see them occasionally.
Due to stress, I have tingling, but I have not had it since the detox.
I practise nordic walking again, about 30 minutes 4-5 times a week and 2-3 hours at the weekend. Previously I could not do any sports.
I still take magnesium but only when I have cramps and I also take probiotics. In 6 months I have only taken 2 analgesics; before I had come to take 6 to 12 times a day for several days.»
« When I eat cooked food, even vegetables, I feel that my digestive system is upset, it is more difficult for it to work, so it wants raw food!
When I return to my fruit it gets calm, I feel a big difference.
When I add some raw vegetables, everything goes well too, but there is nothing to do, fruit is perfect for me, even if I need to change my diet and if it is socially easier if varied.
What I would like to add is the importance of being accompanied in a dietary change. I would never have imagined that eating according to the hygienic diet could bring about so many benefits. However, it raises many fears and doubts, which may appear due to beliefs, social pressures, etc. Gemma, with her precise knowledge, has accompanied me with care and quality. She has answered my questions, my doubts and my remarks professionally. She guides with respect, without imposition or sectarianism, her openness and attention are a real gift! »