Flora Intestinal

A Special Interview with C aroline Barringer
By Dr. Joseph Mercola
DM: Dr. Joseph Mercola
CB: C aroline Barringer

Introduction:
DM: W elcome, everyone.This is Dr. Mercola, and today we are fortunate to be with
C aroline Barringer, who is an expert in the prep aration of the foods one requires to
implement the program for Dr. Natasha Campbell - McBride. She has a very interestingjourney. I first met her relatively recently at the November 2011 Weston Price Wise
Traditionsevent, where I sat at the same table with her the first night and we had the
opportunity to enjoy some really amazing fermented vegetables, which we will be
discussing shortly. I’m now a strong advocate of that.
But Caroline has an interesting journey; she’s been involved with this passion of
implementingnutrition to optimize health challenges f or about 20 years or so. And then
she eventually connected with Dr. McBride and now is one of her primary and chief
training partners for helping people really understand this type of food preparation
proc ess. She’s created some resources, which we’ll talk about later.
W elcome, Caroline, and I’m wondering if you can share with us your journey on howyou came to be doing what you’re doing now.
CB:Well, thank you so much for having me on the program. I would love to share my
journey. First and foremost, I’m a professional singer and voice - over artist. In my
younger years, when I first moved to New York (I’m originally from Florida), I had a
rigorous performance schedule, and this schedule really took a toll o n my health. I
noticedsevere energy issues and chronic fatigue, acne, and a lot of reflux, a lot of
digestive issues. So, I was search ing for food to be my medicine.
I was a vegetarian for a while, s o I first started out with Ann Wigmore’s Living Foods
Lifestyle. And of course, she’s mostly vegan, but she’s into the whole enzyme-rich
foods, the probiotic-rich foods. And that was really pivotal for me, even though Iwas still
a vegetarian and I did not realize the importance of animal fats and animal produc ts in
my diet. It was the beginning of the journey to health f or me.
I was in Queens, New York, in my basement apartment , and I started growing
wheatgrass on cafeteria trays, and you name it, I cultured it. Everything. I noticed that
that was the change for me.It brought energy back, it cleared up myskin, it helped me
to eliminate and detoxify properly, and I knew there was something to this. I knew that
probiotic organisms were going to…W ell, they definitely did help me, but they were
going to help me get well, even on a much deeper level, to r each my highest health
potential.

So, through the years I discovered Weston A. Price and Body Ecology and all these
wonderful programs thatI was able to learn to incorporate animal fats and foods back
into my diet and, of course, I found GAPS, too, Gut and Psychology Syndrome. It made
all the difference for me, and I knew that even though I was in the music industry, I had
a passion for music but I developed a deep passion for food as your medicine.
And so I went to school, and I studied at the Nutritional Therapy Association.I’m an
NTP, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and now I help others take that journey that I
did and help them get real food back into their diet.But the most central, I think, f ocal
point for me is getting those probiotic -rich foods, which are an essential part of the
GAPS diet, too.
DM: W hen you first started, it was with Ann Wigmore, and she really does not
incorporate any animal foods.I was wondering if you can tell us how you made the
transition and what your journey was that led you to that shift.
CB: I believe it was my purchase or a gift – I’m not sure – of the book Nourishing
Traditions by Sally Fallon. The first 88 to100pages of that book brought truth to me. And
even though being a vegetarian and starting to incorporate animal f oodsinto your diet, it
can be...