Go With Your Gut Feeling

You are 90% bacteria.

Let that sink in for a second... Just think: for every cell in your body, you have 9 cells of bacteria living in and on your body. It can be a little creepy if you think about it too much.

Most of this bacteria is living inside your intestinal tract, otherwise known as your “gut”. The health of this organism is paramount to the health of your body. Why?

80% of your immune system spends most of its time around your gut. The health of your gut bacteria and the health of your immune system are vitally linked. When your gut bacteria is balanced, your immune system is also balanced. But when it’s out of balance, so is your immune system. Signs that your immune system is out of balance are: food and seasonal allergies, chronic inflammation, chronic sinusitis, and colds and flus that linger for weeks.

The highest concentration of brain cells (neurons) outside of your brain is around your gut. Have you ever felt a “gut feeling” about something? Frequently referred to as the “lower brain”, how the neurons surrounding you gut interact with your gut bacteria is becoming more and more apparent in many health issues. The “Gut/Brain Connection” is a major part of mainstream research. Scientists are discovering connections between your gut bacteria and seemingly unrelated neurological issues such as anxiety and autism.

Our North American way of eating hasn’t helped to keep our gut bacteria balanced. Most traditional cultures regularly consume fermented foods like natural yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi, which feed the beneficial bacteria in our gut. In North America, however, we tend to do the opposite. Processed food, refined sugar, chlorine, and antibiotics are major causes of a gut bacteria imbalance.

When your digestive system has 75% beneficial bacteria, your body (digestion, immunity, brain) is able to create balance. But when the prevalent bacteria in your gut is “bad” bacteria (bacteria that doesn’t assist us), they allow for an overgrowth of yeast, molds, and fungus in our gut - as well as many digestive symptoms, like bloating, gas, distention, pain, constipation, and diarrhea.

How to Keep Your Gut Bacteria Balanced:

1. Eat whole, unrefined foods. Remove all refined sugars and grains which feed the “bad” bacteria
2. Eat naturally fermented foods daily, and take a probiotic supplement. Probiotic supplements contain high amounts of beneficial bacteria - an important part of finding balance.
3. Understand the causes of your digestive symptoms, and re-balance them. All digestive symptoms are signs that food isn’t being properly broken down and can feed the “bad” bacteria.

Keep your digestive system, immune system, and brain working optimally by keeping your gut bacteria healthy and happy!

There Are Pigs in My Yogurt?!

Yup, you heard it correctly - there may be swine bacteria in that yogurt you're enjoying! But, don't get me wrong, yogurt can be incredibly healthy. Knowing what is healthy and what isn't is the question.

Yogurt can be very confusing! This is mostly because the mass marketing of yogurt products have made it confusing. All yogurt is made with good bacteria (probiotics) and the good quality yogurts still have the probiotics in them when they're on the grocery store shelves. The problem is with the over processed yogurts.

Highly processed yogurts (low-fat, high in sugar) kill off the probiotics in their high heat processing. But, good bacteria is important so they needed to fix that. What they did was they found a probiotic that can withstand the high heat of processing...and they found it in pigs. This was a few years ago... remember how the media was suddenly all over probiotics and their health benefits? They've always been healthy and an important part of a healthy digestive system, but I find it interesting that it didn't hit the media until the big food manufacturers were able to patent specific strains.

Now things get interesting..."Bifidus Regularis", the bacteria promoted in a certain popular yogurt that promotes regularity, used to be called "Bifidus Animalis" - and it's swine bacteria. Does it help with regularity in the short-term? Possibly, I've heard some good things. Does that help our digestive system in the longterm? We don't know, we've never had swine bacteria in our yogurt before. As well, Danone was just sued for incorrect marketing, specifically for promoting their patented probiotic strains as being more beneficial than they've been proven to be.

And to top it all off, they remove all of the blood sugar balancing fat and piled in tons of high-fructose corn syrup. Exactly what studies have found to raise cholesterol and increase arterial damage. Not exactly the health food they promote it to be.

It's not all bad news, there are still very healthy yogurts on the market. The problem is they don't have the best shelf space (that costs a pretty penny). When you're at the yogurt section of your favourite grocery store, look up or down. They'll be on the very top row, or in a corner at the bottom. They'll be unsweetened (sweeten it yourself with honey and/or berries) and have at least 5% fat. The best yogurts are made with unhomogenized whole milk, although these yogurts have become very hard to find. 

Most importantly, the best yogurts have "active bacteria cultures" in the ingredients but don't scream "I have probiotics!" on the label. If a yogurt just says "bacteria culture" in the ingredients then it had it, but it was killed off in the high-heat of processing. The ones who advertise they contain specific probiotic strains usually contain some form of patented swine bacteria (yummy!). 

We have 4 - 10 times more cells of bacteria in our gut than cells in our body! This organism is very important to our overall health and an imbalanced gut bacteria (too few good guys, too many bad guys) can lead to digestive issues (including IBS, Crohn's, and colitis) and immune system irregularities (allergies, etc). Take care of your gut bacteria by removing refined sugars and refined grains from your diet, supplementing with probiotic supplements (necessary to rebalance an imbalance), and eating fermented foods daily like healthy yogurts, sauerkraut, and miso.

Don't stop eating yogurt just because it's been invaded by swine, simply choose differently and read the labels! Remember to look for: Active bacteria cultures in the ingredients, at least 5% fat (fat won't make you fat ), and no added sugar. 

How to Stay Healthy This Winter

At this time of the year I'm asked the same question over and over again - How do I stay healthy this winter? My answer -  trust your body. Why? Because, when we give our body everything it needs, your immune system can fight any virus that comes around. Seems too simple, right?

We all know how important our immune system is to our overall health. Everyday it's searching our body for viruses, bacteria, and anything else that doesn't belong there. Like our digestive system, our immune system functions best when we're happy and relaxed. If you're stressed, how well is your immune system working? Think about it...if there was a bear chasing you, how much would your body really care about fighting a virus? It would be a pretty low priority compared to your immediate survival. This is how your body reacts to a virus when you are stressed about anything (otherwise known as fight or flight :).

When you're stressed your body doesn't care about your long-term survival. You're either stressed OR you're fighting off a cold or flu.

Our immune system has "guards" set up in our throat to signal the arrival and trap any viruses or bacteria that are attempting entry. These guards are our tonsils and adenoids. Put your hand up if you have had your tonsils and/or adenoids removed....yup, that's what I thought. Many of us will have our hands up as this was a very routine procedure until fairly recently. As well, our immune system has its own super highway (the lymphatic system) to move immune cells throughout the body. This amazing super highway is large but doesn't have a central pump (like the heart). It moves when you move. When you're moving around your lymph is moving around as well. It's one of the many reasons why regular exercise keeps your immune system strong!

What can you do to help your body fight off any infection that comes your way? Here are some simple steps you can take: 1. Reduce Stress - you're either stressed OR you're fighting off that bug! So stressing about getting sick is very counterproductive :) 2. Remove White Sugar - completely and totally. Studies have found that a moderate intake of refined sugar will suppress the immune system for up to 5 hours! FIVE hours! Yikes! 3. Identify Food Sensitivities - Food sensitivities can overwhelm the immune system and may allow things it should be fighting (viruses and bacteria) through its defenses. 4. Exercise - Keep your lymph moving! 5. Garlic - Its a great way to keep vampires away and its a potent anti-viral and anti-bacterial...when raw. If you're worried about the smell, simply feed everyone in your household raw garlic. Believe me, no one will notice :)

Remember, your body knows how to fight off anything that comes around. If you do come down with a cold or a flu this winter, rest, drink lots of water, and stay far, far away from white sugar. You'll be better in no time - and now your body has natural anti-bodies to that virus :). And as always, feed your body with real food. Eat More Real Food (sound familiar :)

KFC Double Down "Healthier" Than an Egg? What!?

According to CTV.ca -

"For anyone watching their cholesterol, Canadian researchers say eating a single egg could be more harmful than munching the current king of fast food indulgences.

According to a new report published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, one egg yolk can contain more cholesterol than a KFC Double Down sandwich.

Compared to the 150 milligrams of cholesterol contained in the now-famous sandwich comprised of bacon, cheese and sauce sandwiched between two pieces of deep fried chicken, researchers say a single egg can contain between 215 and 275 milligrams. A Big Mac contains just 75 mg of cholesterol, while a footlong meatball sandwich from Subway packs 90 mg."

It's not just CTV.ca. The Toronto Star and the Toronto Sun have published similar articles calling this incredibly unhealthy sandwich "healthier" than an egg. A nutrient-packed, incredibly healthy, whole food egg.

The way I see it, there are 2 BIG problems with this article -

1. Using only dietary cholesterol as a way of judging if a food is "good" or "bad"

2. Considering dietary cholesterol as an issue when dealing with heart disease risk

Let me start with the first point, using cholesterol as the only comparison....I need to simmer for few minutes before I start into a "cholesterol isn't bad for you!" rant. :)

Many clinical studies, including one by The Harvard School of Health, found that eggs do not raise blood cholesterol in healthy individuals AND has even been shown to raise "good" HDL cholesterol! The KFC Double Down, on the other hand, is FULL of transfat. Transfat has been found, in pretty much every study ever it's been in, to raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.

One is a nutrient-packed whole food and the other one of the most unhealthy fast foods ever created! I'm quite impressed that the writer of this (well, these) articles had the guts to compare such different foods.

I think the biggest problem with this article is the way that we're looking at food and health in general. We're trying to put everything on a "good" or "bad" list. Even worse, we're trying to put single components in food onto a "good' or "bad" list, opening the doors for manufactured foods that are "healthier" than their whole food components. Some of these articles even list egg white substitutes as the healthier option if you're going to eat eggs! How is that possible!? ....I'll get into this topic in more detail in my next post...:)

Back to cholesterol - Why is the consideration of dietary cholesterol an issue? Because it is an essential part of our diet. Our bodies use cholesterol to make Vitamin D and hormones. It also uses it to repair arterial damage.

...wait, I thought cholesterol clogged our arteries?!

Yes, it can, but one of it's main roles in our body is to repair damaged to our arteries - caused by free radicals, heavy metals, and transfats...just to name a few (many of which are in the manufactured foods that have the "Health Check" symbol"). As well, our liver manufactures about 80% of the cholesterol in our body, and it's well-proven fact that the cholesterol in our diet has a very small effect on the amount of cholesterol in our bloodstream.

Instead of trying to reduce the cholesterol in your bloodstream through medication or dietary "products", ask yourself, why is it high? What am I eating that might be causing my body to raise the cholesterol in my bloodstream? Eating a diet that balances YOUR body (a diet unique to you) is the best way to keep you healthy and keep your cholesterol where it should be.

For the full CTV.ca article, click HERE - did I mention, a similar article, bashing the egg marketers even more is posted in their "Healthzone" section !

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and eat an egg in protest.

Fat Doesn't Make You Fat

Gaining weight and losing weight has nothing to do with grams of fat or the amount of calories you eat in a day. But it does have everything to do with blood sugar and insulin.

When we eat food the carbohydrates are broken down and are converted into glucose, which our body uses as energy. When the glucose in our blood rises, our pancreas secretes insulin and this allows the glucose to enter our cells to be used as energy.

Our liver is constantly watching this process to make sure that we have just the right amount of glucose and insulin in our blood. It watches hormones in particular, so it's insulin that tells the liver if your blood sugar level is too low or too high.

If our blood sugar is higher then we need for energy, the insulin in our blood signals our liver and our liver stores this excess energy as fat. The liver converts the glucose into triglycerides and then are sent through our blood stream to our fat stores.

Fat, on the other hand, can be used as energy, but this is only when necessary. Fat is used in MANY important processes in our body, and it's only as an almost last resort does our body use it as energy (it uses protein as a very last resort). Our liver has to convert the fat into a glucose molecule and will only do so as needed, so our blood sugar doesn't spike with fat. Otherwise, the fat is used to make cell membranes, hormones, etc. Fat is a VERY important molecule in the body.

Fat and protein affect how carbohydrates enter into your bloodstream. A higher fat or protein meal actually slows down the break down of the carbs, creating a slower burning carb and that keeps your blood sugar steady. The more refined the carb is, the faster it enters your bloodstream.

When we eat a high carb meal, or a refined carb, our blood sugar spikes - this is when our liver stores fat. We can tell that our blood sugar spiked by looking at when our blood sugar crashes - this is seen as any emotion around hunger. Irritability, tiredness, lack of patience, etc are all signs that earlier your blood sugar spiked and now you're crashing. Look back at your last meal and see why it caused a crash. Leveling out your blood sugar so you're no longer on the blood sugar rollercoaster is how to stop gaining weight, and how to lose weight. 

We need to stop blaming fat and eat healthy whole foods to maintain a healthy body and a healthy weight!

Eat More Real Food

Right off the bat I need to admit to something - I tend to become, well, I guess "passionate" is the polite way of describing it, when discussing food. I get quite frustrated with all of the media and advertising surrounding what is healthy and what isn't. But you might be thinking, this product has the "Health Check" symbol on it so it must be healthy? No, no it does not.

If a food says it's healthy, it probably isn't. 

I say this quite a lot, and it pretty much sums up all my frustration with the food industry. What do I mean by this? Let me explain with a few examples:

Kraft Dinner

The next time you're at the grocery store, swing by the Kraft Dinner section and check out the new addition to the pretty blue box. Yup, that's a "Sensible Solutions" symbol on it. Kraft has let us know that if you make this incredibly processed food product with skim milk and margarine (2 more incredibly processed food products), then according to their standards, it's a healthy choice! Or, as they like to call it, a "better-for-you" choice. Wow, thanks for letting us know Kraft!

Margarine

This processed food product is a pet peeve of mine, especially the "healthy" margarines. You know, the ones with the "Health Check" symbol on it. That symbol costs a lot of money and they're very proud of it. (btw, the standards aren't nearly as high as the price paid for that symbol). The healthy margarines claim to be trans-fat free (although chances are high they still contain some trans-fat), high in omega-3s, and everything else under the sun. My problem with all margarines is a basic one - for polyunsaturated fats to be solid at room temperature they MUST under go quite a lot of processing. These fats are not very stable and do not handle this processing very well....so how could it possibly be better for you than butter?

As well, a new study that followed over 300,000 people was published in March 2010, and found no increased risk of heart disease with the consumption of saturated fat. This is a significant finding (but not a surprise to whole food community :). So what would you choose? A minimally processed saturated fat that has been in our diet for millennia, or a highly processed polyunsaturated fat that is new to our diet? I will choose butter over margarine every time.

These are just 2 examples of very unhealthy foods that are screaming to us that they're healthy. Most realize that no matter how you cook it, Kraft Dinner isn't healthy, but these "healthy symbols" just add to the confusion at the grocery store.

Make it easy - any food that is being advertised, healthy or not, tends to be processed and is no longer a whole food. Why? Simply put; products have advertising budgets, and whole foods don't. An apple can't afford a multi-million (or billion) dollar ad campaign. Broccoli can't afford (and doesn't need) fancy new packaging that screams all of its health benefits. When a food says to us "Pick me! I'm healthy! See how I'm high in fibre, low in fat, and healthy!” they are actually telling us that they are processed and are no longer whole foods. As always, there are exceptions to this rule, but it's always a good place to start. :)

Let's make grocery shopping easier! Eat whole, unprocessed food. Fruit, vegetables, whole and fresh meats (instead of processed or frozen), full fat dairy, and whole grains. Eat FOOD! Real and amazingly tasty FOOD!

If you'd like to know more about your food and the food industry, check out the documentary "Food Inc." It has some wonderful insights and solutions to our food problems.

And, remember, Eat More Real Food!

How to Change Your Diet Without Annoying Your Partner/Family

I hear it all the time – “I want to change my diet, but my husband/wife/partner/family keep pulling me off track”. Sorry, that's no excuse. Creating a healthy diet doesn’t need to be difficult and it doesn’t have to be something you are “on” for a few weeks at a time.

Let's just throw away the word "diet" - eating healthy is a way of life, and you CAN work around your family’s eating habits!

How? Try this:

1. Stop thinking your diet is either on or off, black or white– A healthy lifestyle lives in the “grey”, it doesn’t need to be 100% perfect to be healthy. A treat in the morning is no excuse to eat junk food all day!
2. Change the meals you eat alone FIRST!– Dinner (the meal most of us share with our family) is only one meal of the day…what about the other 2 meals and snacks? A healthy lifestyle can be created without ever touching dinner! Most of our eating pitfalls are with the other meals and snacks anyways :).
3. Eat consciously, whatever you’re eating– Sit down, relax, and enjoy your meal…no matter what it is you’re eating. A meal eaten consciously is healthier than a meal eaten on the run, no matter the quality of the food. Plus, it’s impossible to overeat while eating consciously (try it, I can guarantee you’ll be too bored to eat too much).

Your ideal way of eating can’t be found in a book and it won’t be the same as your neighbour’s. We are all unique, and it makes sense that what our body’s need for fuel is also unique. When you find YOUR healthy lifestyle you feel great, are full of energy, and you don’t feel deprived or hungry. You just feel….good! Believe me, it works and I can help you find your ideal balance :).