Hello, Jonathan:
Sorry for the late reply; busy here in Philippines now.
I was not offended by Your post, but there was something You said that made me quit reading; I shut down early because I did not want to wade into the weeds too deeply again!
1) I believe that our nemesis bacterium does, in fact, work its way up into the small bowel, albeit such a massive SIBO takes perhaps many years to establish. One of my early observations about the diet is that my GERD cleared up. Yes, because of the timing of the flares and the thorough seeding by the time the chyme reaches the large intestine, it seems very plausible that the small intestine is involved.
2) The problem with antibiotics is that they not only affect the target bacterium, but are broad spectrum and adversely affect the entire mucosa, which is knit together by a lot of similar bacteria. This mucosa covers up damage to the epithelium, turning dormant lesions into active ones. This exposes more of our immune system (lymph nodes in the gut) to the triggering Klebsiella. This is another reason that antibiotics should only be used in conjunction with the diet and intestinal cleansings. Your observations are quite valid in this regard.
3) I haven't noticed that people on the restrictive diets, long-term, do worse but they are continually frustrated from apparent lack of improvement and stealthy starches. They should be taking supplements and gut-friendly foods in addition to the draconian restrictions they self-impose.
I am convinced that a healthy gut can help us become much more starch-tolerant. Good observations on Your part and I will try and review what I missed in previous post.
HEALTH,
John
