Want To Lose Weight? It’s Simple, Honest. & Another Success Story – Use It For Inspiration.

March 24, 2014 / / Comments Off on Want To Lose Weight? It’s Simple, Honest. & Another Success Story – Use It For Inspiration.

jigglemacineI was checking out at the grocery store the other night and the lady behind me, who had a few pounds to lose, was unloading her items onto the conveyor belt.  She had a cart full of Diet Products: diet bread, diet soda, diet ice cream, diet frozen meals, diet cookies, diet cheese.  She looked at me and said,” time to do this again because I’ve gained so much weight with this snowy winter”.  I wish I could have said something, but that would have been rude.  She was a stranger. I save unsolicited advice for my kids and husband, (who appreciate it tons and hang on my every word).

Just an hour earlier, I’d wrapped up a nutritional consult with someone who’s under a tremendous amount of stress (seriously, if there were a competition, she’d win.  I don’t know how she does it.)  She comes from a heritage and country where rice and noodles are common and normal. (sounds like America, but it’s not.) She’s lived here several years and feeds her family traditionally.  She and I have met before about her weight and her willpower, and my advice is the same now as it was then.

To both ladies, and everyone out there trying to lose weight:  Traditional dieting,fat banished w tapeworms where you cut calories and fat, and maybe use Diet Products, is PROVEN to MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.  PROVEN, in study after study.  You might lose a few pounds or several initially, but if you lost the weight DIETING, you’ll gain it back.  Unfortunately, the havoc you wreck with your hormones (thyroid, estrogen, neurotransmitters, insulin, cortisol) and your liver, will slow your metabolism and create signals in your brain that are focused on GAINING weight in case the starvation situation happens again.  

Let me repeat:  If you’re eating products like pasta and bread, or any sort of Diet Product, you’re putting substances in your body that make you GAIN WEIGHT and cause disease.  Also, those foods are addictive.  “Moderation” doesn’t work with these foods.  As long as you’re eating flours, sugars, and chemicals, you’re nurturing the addictive areas of your brain.  If you want to lose weight you’ll have to Ditch Those Foods Forever.  Scary?  I know.  And sad too.  Trust me though, once you’re free, you’re FREE. You won’t miss them once the addiction is gone; as a matter of fact, fake foods and processed foods will taste horrible once you switch to Real Whole Foods.

Here’s the amazing thing:  we’re all smart people.  In most of life, if we try something and it doesn’t work, we move on.  That’s normal.   That doesn’t happen with Dieting.  It’s NEVER worked. Ever. In all these years.   I’ve counseled people now who’ve literally done more than 20 attempts at losing weight through several different and some repeat Diet Methods.  There’s some initial weight loss, regain, additional gain, and eventually, NO WEIGHT LOSS AT ALL using methods that previously worked.  And yet, there’s this odd willingness to keep trying the same old thing over and over and over.  What’s the definition of Insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Listen to what your body is telling you:  Flour, Sugar, and Diet Products make your mind and body sick.  You’ll never lose weight permanently, feel energetic, and be healthy as long as that’s your paradigm.  Ever.  If you read this and you think, “no way can I give up my cereal/crackers/wine/girlscoutcookies etc, know this: your addiction centers are calling your shots.

You can quit, you can change, you can lose weight and feel great, but ONLY on Real Whole Foods.  Really, google “keep weight off after dieting” and read the depressing headlines that pop up.  If you’re struggling, get in touch with me.  People with the same addictions to food that you have have successfully changed their life because they developed HABITS and ATTITUDES about their health and their food that makes their body happy and calm, as opposed to the stress and anxiety of Dieting.

Here’s that Success Story, use it for strength.  Cindi is a single mom with a more-than-full-time job and 2 boys who play lacrosse every day up and down the East Coast.  She’s busy, and she’s managed to make Real Whole Food work for her and her sons.  ( No, she doesn’t have a cook.)  It’s just an attitude, a lifestyle pattern, remember that other quote I love: It’s just an effort until it’s a habit.

I am a 54 year old mother of two teenage, very active boys.  I am the Program Execution Director for a large business unit of a major defense contractor.  I commute roughly four hours each day and have a demanding job while at work.   I am active and energetic and am used to feeling good most of the time.  I have suffered from periodic migraines for many years along with annual bouts with colds, bronchitis and allergies.  Overall, I felt pretty healthy and other than my migraines, I viewed the colds, etc as somewhat routine.  I love to cook and make many of our meals but we eat out often or I turned to convenient meal options at home (tacos with taco seasoning mix, recipes including packaged ingredients, lunch meats) due to my hectic work and my boys’ hectic lacrosse schedules with year round games and tournaments.  Over the last year or so, I began feeling increasingly achy, particularly in my knees and joints.  I also was unable to shed the extra 10 pounds that I had gained over the last couple of years despite following multiple regimens (very, very frustrating and demoralizing!).  I was tested for arthritis and went to the orthopedist as well for a knee check…..nothing abnormal.  I continued to exercise regularly by walking, lifting weights, doing yoga and ballet barre work but always felt very stiff even after yoga stretching and ballet.  Given that there are so many variables to how a person feels, along with the marching of time, I just assumed I felt bad because I was getting older and had a stressful life.

I have known Debbie Abbott for over 9 years and have trained with her regularly throughout this period.  She is extraordinarily positive, compassionate, educated, and interested in learning and teaching friends and clients about nutrition and health in a non-judgmental, kind manner.    I value immensely my time with Debbie as I always feel good after being with her.  I mentioned how I was feeling to Debbie during a training session and she suggested I do a nutritional analysis.  I completed the paperwork.  Debbie also suggested a simple 10 day detox that consisted of organ supportive supplements and easy-on-the-liver-and-organs organic whole foods such as a fruits and vegetables, homemade broth, lean protein AND NO CARBS other than those from fruits and vegetables.  Debbie was very supportive leading up to and during my detox, offering to gather the foods that I needed and bringing over homemade bone broth to kick start the process.   I have to admit that I did not have very high expectations for this 10 day period as it just didn’t seem like I was doing that much that was different from my regular eating routine.  Boy, was I wrong.  I got on the scale routinely during the 10 day period and the number was going down almost every day.  At the end of the detox period, my weight had dropped almost 10 pounds and my general feeling of achiness was subsiding.  I did another 10 day detox.  After the 20-day period, I had dropped 14 pounds and my knees and joints felt much, much better.  It was as though my system had been clogged and my revised diet and supplement regimen had freed the clog to enable my body to function normally again!  I went through the detailed nutritional analysis with Debbie after the detox and she recommended specific supplements and enzymes for me to correct what appeared to be a general inflammatory condition that had probably developed over years.  I have now been taking the supplements and eating (for the most part) a sensible whole foods diet with very few carbs for over 15 months.  I do not place limits on any real foods, including the use of butter and nuts.  My weight has remained stable within a pound or two over the 15 months and overall I feel very good.  I have not had a migraine in 15 months which is remarkable as I was having one almost every month prior!  I have not had a cold or any digestive upsets in 15 months.  As a matter of fact, this is the first 15-month period since I was in middle school that I have not gotten bronchitis and had to go on antibiotics!  I am mindful of the things that I buy and eat by asking myself if the food will do anything for me and my boys nutritionally……..sounds like a little thing, but over time it works.

I am thrilled that I now have a sensible diet that is flexible with few restrictions.  I eat well and feel good almost every day.  I am thoroughly convinced that the marching of time is not a leading indicator for feeling bad and that what we eat is hugely important!  I am very grateful to Debbie for her insight, support, and nutritional guidance.  If you have the opportunity to work with her or interact with her, seize it!  You will be rewarded in many, many ways.  – Cindi Shelburne

Category: Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Success Story, Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Our Weight, Our Health, our Moods, Our Sleep? Depends on our GUT BUGS.

March 22, 2014 / / Comments Off on Our Weight, Our Health, our Moods, Our Sleep? Depends on our GUT BUGS.

igor scientistI got to spend all day Wednesday at a seminar called “The Gut Brain Connection”; I was in Heaven. There’s a LOT of new information on the bugs in our gut because the NIH and it’s European counterparts have culminated a multi-year, multi-multi-million dollar study that’s revealed all sorts of FASCINATING facts.  It turns out that there’s a whole lot more to know about the bugs in our stomachs other than “antibiotics kill them, so eat yogurt”.  A whole lot more.

I’m going to bullet point some facts, and highlight some resources if you’re interested in studying it further.  Know this though:  our gut bacteria interacts with and has ENORMOUS effects on our ENTIRE BODY.  Way more than scientists and doctors had ever guessed.

* Our bugs send information to every cell in our body, even our DNA.

* Bad bugs send Bad information, and Good bugs send Good information.  What we have in there really matters.

* There are probably over a 1000 species of bugs, totaling over 100 TRILLION bacteria just in our intestines!  Three to five pounds of bacteria JUST IN OUR COLON alone!!!  You’ve got to admit that’s a fun fact.

* Statistically, if you’ve got Anxiety/Depression/”brain/emotional” conditions, you’ve  got gut issues:  you’re either low in good bacteria, have a leaky gut, and/or hosting too much bad bacteria, or all 3.  Our bugs are DIRECTLY involved in making our Neurotransmitters, Dopamine and Serotonin (among others).

* Dopamine is made in equal parts in the gut and the brain.   Here’s what Dopamine does:  Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine deficiency results in Parkinson’s Disease, and people with low dopamine activity may be more prone to addiction. (LIKE FOOD ADDICTION)

* Serotonin is made primarily in the gut, 90%; only 10% is made in the brain.  Here’s a brief explanation of serotonin: Serotonin is a type of neurotransmitter that is found mainly in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Much of the serotonin is located in the GI tract where it is used to regulate digestion. Serotonin helps regulate mood, sleep, appetite, learning and memory.

* Our gut bacteria play HUGE roles in making sure adequate amounts of these 2 neurotransmitters are produced.

* What compromises our good gut bacteria, which should number in the 100s of TRILLIONS, and mostly populate our Large Intestine?  So much:  Sugar, Flours, Processed Foods, Antibiotics, EVERY SINGLE OTC AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG bayer Chemicals, and Stress/Cortisol.  Every thing on this list pretty much decimates our gut flora either directly or by changing normal pH levels.   Look at the list again and go over your week, then go over your kid’s week.

* MSG, which is a known neurotoxin and has horrible effects on gut bacteria and brain cells, takes 10 – 14 days to clear the body.  Other names for MSG:  Natural Flavors and Yeast Extract.  (FDA approved) (Read Your labels, and your kid’s labels)

* Being Diabetic and Pre-Diabetic ALWAYS CHANGES GUT FLORA. ALWAYS.  If this is you, supplement with a good probiotic.

* The toxic waste from both C-Dif and E Coli harm the gut wall (leaky gut, here you come).  So does alcohol.  Anything that harms the wall harms the body’s ability to make and maintain good bacteria and sets up an environment for bad bacteria.

* Gut bacteria have a direct link to normal weight or obesity.

* It can take anywhere from 4 weeks to several MONTHS to repopulate gut flora after antibiotics.  THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE YOU POP SOME FOR YOUR NEXT SORE THROAT.  There are so many holistic, wonderful treatments out there you could use instead that are just as effective with no side effects.

* Anxiety and Depression increase BAD gut bacteria, it’s the Cortisol.

lard be gone* Starving yourself by either not eating, or eating very low calorie, initiates stress and anxiety, via the hormone cortisol, which tells the  neurotransmitters and bacteria in your gut to signal your thyroid to SLOW DOWN, and then they signal fat cells to STORE MORE.  The body will do ANYTHING not to starve. (there’s that communication I was talking about)

* Ghrelin is a hormone which INCREASES appetite.  Alcohol and sleep deprivation INCREASE ghrelin.  So does stress.

* Stomach fat is (1) VERY metabolically active (2) it produces a lot of ESTROGEN (3) fat bellies are full of INFLAMMATION, that’s why they’re hard (4) that inflammation is Inflammatory Cytokines that don’t just stay in the belly, the shoot around the Whole Entire Body through the blood stream, wrecking Havoc and creating disease.

* Probiotics are great, and now we know that specific strains can be used to specifically target specific conditions.  Cool.

* Nothing beats Probiotic Foods and Drinks:  cultured and fermented vegetables, keifer, kombucha, and real yogurt.  Numbers wise, there’s millions and millions more bacteria in food, and a wider range of species, than in any pill supplement.  If you’re trying to correct a condition or improve health, use the pills along with the foods/drinks.  ***** Vinegar does NOT make a food cultured or fermented!!*****

* A single course of antibiotics can wipe out up to 20 species.  Sometimes, they DON’T make a come back.

* Want to learn more?  Here’s some of the most current revelations from different researchers involved in the study talking about everything from babies, to birth, to diabetes, the immune system, and IBS.

The take away?  What we eat matters.  How we stay healthy and well, matters.  It matters what we put in our body.  Really.  Everything we eat either helps us or harms us.  Be a Real Whole Foodie!

Category: Gut bacteria / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Estrogen, Cortisol, and Thyroid; GIRLS SCOUT COOKIES, Recipes

March 20, 2014 / / Comments Off on Estrogen, Cortisol, and Thyroid; GIRLS SCOUT COOKIES, Recipes

blood spotOkay, Full Disclosure:  I’m Going Through Menopause. Ugh. This picture to the left?  That’s a “Blood Spot” test I did this morning. More on that in another post, I promise.  I’m actually just letting you know because today I’m tying Hormones to Health, Mood, and Food. What We Eat Affects Our Body and Mind.  I’m doing this after being inspired by a client email last night, asking if eating a few Girl Scout cookies would undue a “good” day. Let me tie my menopause, YOUR body, and her girl scout cookies together, because they are.  Our body, our energy, our emotions, our health,.. they’re one big connection.

Here’s some interesting facts:

*The Ingredient list for Samoas:(Don’t be hatin on the Messenger!)

Sugar, vegetable oil (soybean and palm oil, partially hydrogenated palm kernel and/or cottonseed oil), enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin,reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [vitamin B1],riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), corn syrup, coconut,sweetened condensed milk (condensed milk, sugar),contains two percent or less of sorbitol, glycerin, cocoa,invert sugar, cocoa processed with alkali, cornstarch,salt, caramelized sugar, soy lecithin, dextrose, natural and artificial flavor, carrageenan, leavening (baking soda, monocalcium phosphate).

Pure Poison.

* Since our body could CARE A LESS about calories, and is DOMINATED by the hormones Insulin and Cortisol, does “food” like this undo a good day?  YES!,  “food” like this is ALWAYS harmful for your body. Always.  After eating this, your blood sugar and insulin spike, your Immune System is suppressed for 24 hours, you’ve allowed in Cancer Causing Sugar and Flour (glucose – cancer’s favorite food), Chemicals (artificial colors, flavors), soy, hydrogenated oils and Omega 6/Inflammatory vegetable oils. If ONLY the worst side effect was a little weight gain.

* What if you’re in the Majority of Women, and struggle with Bloat and Headaches; bile beanswhat affect will this “food” have on those issues?  Bloat, which happens in the Small Intestines, is from Bacteria or Yeast that DOESN’T BELONG THERE.  BLOAT IS NOT NORMAL. EVER.  Eat “food” like these Girl Scout Cookies, and you’ve just fed that bacteria and yeast it’s most favorite, fortifying meal.  It’s like when Popeye eats the can of spinach and then he can beat up Bruno.  That’s what’s going on in your “dysbiotic gut” (overgrowth of the bad stuff, not enough good):  you’ve just empowered it and prolonged your condition.

* Headaches are highly linked to Sugar/Flour/Insulin/Cortisol/Thyroid/Estrogen.  There’s a cascade effect going on that’s too long to write about, but eat this “food”, and if you’re prone to headaches, you’ll get one.

* Eating “food” like this suppresses/destroys our beneficial gut bacteria.  Here’s one surprising side effect from that: after our body produces estrogen,(this is for MEN and WOMEN) and uses it, it’s sent back to the liver to be broken down.  After leaving the liver, the “conjugated” estrogen is sent to the small intestine to be further broken down, or actually consumed by, the bacteria “lactobacillus acidophilis”.  If you’ve destroyed your gut bacteria with: SUGAR (the kind in Girl Scout Cookies), Processed Refined Foods (like a Girl Scout Cookie), Antibiotics, Cortisol/Stress, chemicals in water (fluoride, chlorine, etc), birth control pills, anti-inflammatories, acid suppressors, or Splenda,  you’ve likely impaired your bodies ability to break down and get rid of “old estrogen”;  back into the system the estrogen goes instead of being pooped or peed out of you.  Not Good.  (Bryan – there’s your favorite word again)

*The Sugar, Flour, and Chemicals in this product will ABSOLUTELY STIMULATE AND NURTURE the Addiction Centers in your brain.  And your child’s brain.

*Eat enough of these to raise your blood sugar way above normal, and your pancreas will respond with a big dose of Insulin to push it back down.  Unfortunately though, when blood sugar crashes, Cortisol is called in to correct it. Boom!  Stress.   Like I said above, Cortisol and Insulin are our 2 Dominant hormones, whether we’re male or female.  Too much Cortisol and too much Insulin mean that Sex Hormones and Thyroid Hormones will have to take a back seat.  Reproduction and Metabolism are not priorities.  Balancing blood sugar ( because SUGAR IS TOXIC), and Fight/Flight (staying alive) are priorities.

What’s all this have to do with my peri-menopause?  So far, my only symptom has been losing my period.  I’m sleeping well, no hot flashes, no up and down moods.  If pretend foods like Girl Scout Cookies were a normal part of my diet, I’d be a nut case.  ( to my husband and children, ……..)  Being a hormonal nut case IS NOT NORMAL.  It’s the food, it’s the food, it’s the food.  It ALWAYS matters, always.

When you look at that cookie or cake or chip or whatever it is that’s calling you, STOP.  Ask yourself, “how will I feel about this in an hour”;  practice thinking about the long term consequences from our actions.  Isn’t that what we tell our kids?  It’s great advice for us too!

Parchment-SalmonHere’s a recipe we made last night, oh my gosh it was delicious! Samoras-2-0051 I used cod instead of salmon because it’s cheaper and I can always find wild caught.  The parsley and lemon together were so good!  Did you know that parsley helps the body detox heavy metals, and that’s it’s LOADED with Vitamin’s K, C, A, and Bs, and a whole bunch of minerals.  And here’s a Paleo Samoa cookie Meg made – it was excellent!  You can have a dessert that doesn’t shoot up your blood sugar and instigate destruction of your brain and body, or your kids brain and body.  Real Whole Food is the answer.

Category: Carbs, Food Additives, Paleo Recipe, Question of the Week, Sugar / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Success Story! Recipe and Meal Ideas:)

March 17, 2014 / / Comments Off on Success Story! Recipe and Meal Ideas:)

You’re going to love this Success Story – I do!  Aimee so perfectly describes a Diet Roller Coaster that it should be in a dictionary.  Here’s her story:

After years dieting and just coming off of a strict low/no fat, 750 calorie diet AND topped off with 10 days of a Liver Detox, my body was MESSED UP. I came off the cleanse with out of control cravings and immediately gained 45lbs in a matter of three months, not to mention that I was a weepy, grouchy, exhausted mom. Did I mention that I was grouchy? I could not stop eating things that I knew were wrong for me – especially at night – I couldn’t stop to save my life! I heard of Debbie Abbott from a good friend of mine who said “Debbie has a gift of explaining things so that they make sense.” I signed up for a class that she had on Digestion and it really answered many things that I had been struggling with for a long time. Following the advice has completely changed my health around from the inside out:) I hadn’t realized that even though I was eating, my body was literally starving for nutrients. It is taking a while to undo all of the damage that I have done but Wow! what a difference in my energy and mood! The inflammation in my joints has significantly decreased as well. It is such a relief to know that I have the information that I need AND that I trust. I was also able to relay this message to my mom who had a blood sugar of 210. She and I rejoiced in the fact that within a few months of monitoring and eating correctly, her blood sugar is now staying around 80. No medication…just eating correctly and exercise. Thank you Debbie for all of the words of wisdom that you are so willing to share with everyone. You have truly made a difference in my life:)

If you want to be a healthy weight, and have a healthy mind and body, you’ll need to give your body what it wants.  And it doesn’t REALLY want ice cream, crackers, wine, or cookies.  Honest.  That’s your self-destructive urges talking there.  Your body wants the Nutrients necessary to perform all it’s functions.  Let’s look at just a few.

Your body needs to build your brain, which is 60% fat/25% cholesterol.  Glucose/sugar has a devastating effect on brain cells/neurons/connections. Glucose “glycates” parts of the brain, that means function and communication is ruined.  How well do you think a low fat, high carb diet is going to make your brain function?

Your body needs to digest food and then absorb the nutrients from it so that those nutrients can be sent throughout your body.  If you’ve compromised gut function by taking acid suppressors, then food breakdown and nutrient absorption isn’t happening.  Pretty soon, all those warnings on the antacid box will start coming true:  weak bones, weak immune system, vitamin B deficiencies, etc.

Your body needs to make Neurotransmitters, so that you can feel Even and Normal.  You’ll need protein, fat, and minerals to do that, which are absent in Cereal, Pasta, and Bread.

Your body demands a certain level of calories or it’ll TURN OFF your thyroid gland, and quit making Serotonin (a feel good neurotransmitter).  Low calorie diets also force your body to take muscle proteins and convert them into fuel, slowing down your metabolism even more.

Your body wants a LOT of healthy fats (saturated animal fats, coconut fats, olive/avocado oils), Tons of vegetables (everything from leafy greens to cruciferous, to starchy), some protein, some fruit, and some nuts and seeds.  Real Whole Food.  Eat enough at each meal that you’re not hungry again in 2 hours, that’s ridiculous.  We shouldn’t need to be on an all day eating schedule for several reasons; two are: (1) to go into hormonal Fat Burning Mode, glucose levels need to be completely NORMAL, 80-100mg/dcl of blood  (2) the gut’s not meant to function constantly, it’s a long explanation, but it needs rest periods.

I’ve posted enough Success Stories now that you should be seeing the pattern:  no one improves by going on a diet and adding medications.  No one.  Your body doesn’t want to starve, and will resist you, and NO ONE IS DEFICIENT IN A MEDICINE.  No one.

To reinforce that starving yourself isn’t necessary, and is in fact, disastrous, here’s a chocpbcakecake that we made Friday night for a family dinner, it was Delicious!!!  I got the recipe off of All Day I Dream About Food.  We served it after eating a dinner of 10 hour chicken (put a bunch of breasts in a big pan, a cup of water, lots of S&P and herbs,cover w foil,  200*, then shred), a bunch of broth/kale/onions/tomatoes/garlic/asiago cheese,  and roasted sweet potato (lots of butter and salt).

Honestly, Honestly, I SWEAR, if you want to be a healthy weight, with a healthy mind and body, low cal/low fat/tons of exercise ISN’T the way to do it.  You have to, you MUST, work with your body.  Give it the nutrients it uses to build every cell, every tissue, and give it the calories it needs to NOT SHUT YOU DOWN.  Go back and look at Aimee’s Diet Roller Coaster description.  Then make the decision to get OFF the Diet Roller Coaster like she did.  You can do this!

P.S. I didn’t make that cake, 2 of my daughters did.  I actually never make anything that has that many ingredients; I trend towards shorter recipes, like this recipe here.

 

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Fats, Mind/Body, Paleo Recipe, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Got Bloat? You Shouldn’t. Food Ideas:) Success Story!

March 14, 2014 / / Comments Off on Got Bloat? You Shouldn’t. Food Ideas:) Success Story!

Got Bloat? Reflux? Gerd? Ever heard of SIBO, or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth?   You know how I say that Stomach Problems Aren’t Normal, and if you’ve got bloat/gas/cramps/reflux/constipation, don’t medicate it, FIX IT?  That’s because these symptoms are the beginning of and signs of much bigger problems: leaky gut, migraines, auto-immune conditions, decreased immune function, obesity, skin problems, etc etc.  If your digestion’s off, you’re in trouble, and it’s not because you’re deficient in antacid.

Not ENOUGH stomach acid is the problem for most people, and it becomes too low because it’s effected by so many things:  birth control pills, pain meds, OTC meds and prescription meds, obviously Antacids, chlorine/fluorine in municipal water, STRESS/CORTISOL, and sugar/refined flours/chemicals in foods.  Mess with the pH of the stomach, and all downstream gut function is compromised.

One thing that can happen is the Small Intestine, (which should hold anywhere from zero to a “few bacteria”/up to a million), develops an OVERGROWTH of normal bacteria ( not necessarily the bad stuff,  although they can and do proliferate if there’s insufficient acid to kill them). Another possibility? Studies show that LARGE INTESTINE bacteria (which numbers about 100 TRILLION) can migrate UP to the small intestine.  AHH!!  Not good, they don’t belong there.   Why would they do that?  The pH environment is off, so undigested and slow digesting carbs/sugars are not being absorbed properly in the small intestine. They call to those Large Intestine bacteria like cookies call to you.  Eat me eat me… How do you know if this is happening?

BLOAT’s a big sign.  There should be NO fermentation that causes bloat/gas/pain/cramping in the small intestine.  The small intestine is for digestion and absorption.   Fermentation is ONLY supposed to happen in the Large Intestine, which was set up and designed for it.

If you’ve got any of these stomach issues going on, and you follow the advice to “eat more fiber”, you’re probably NOT noticing any improvement.  The fibers (there’s several types), which are undigested/hard to digest Carbs, are just feeding that Small Bowel Overgrowth. On the other hand, if everything’s NORMAL, fiberous foods and slow digesting carbs shouldn’t bother you.

What about constipation, could that be a result of SIBO?  Yep.  MMS stands for Migrating Motor Complex, that’s contractions in our intestines that move food and SWEEP THE AREA CLEAN OF THINGS THAT DON’T BELONG.  MMS is impaired by Stress/Cortisol and eating too often.  Do either of those ever happen to you?

If you’ve got Bloat/Cramps/Reflux/Diarrhea/Constipation/GERD, you need to Heal and Seal your gut.  It’s not difficult, but it can take a while to normalize and repair damage, months. Your body wants to return to normal though, so you’ve got that on your side.

Changing the subject, how about No Recipe Food Ideas, with pictures?

stuffpotatThis first picture is Stuffed Potatoes:  bake the potatoes for an hour, scoop out the insides and mix with bacon, butter, cheese, broccoli, and broth or milk, rebake for 15 minutes.  Kids love this one!

Next is a mix of Broth, Sausage, Onions, Carrots, andpotstove Brussels, tons of herbs, salt, and pepper.  No Recipe, no measurements.

Last is a meal I made for Shelby after a late practice (wet fields, everyone’s sharing the gyms), of chicken sausage, roasted potatoes (from a previous meal, frozen), and broccoli (frozen), that I just cooked fast shellatein a pan with coconut oil.

Cooking’s not Rocket Science, but it can take practice to get in the Mind Set of always having ingredients on hand, scheduling the time, and planning.

Let me leave you with a Motivating Success Story and the phrase, ” Your body is a Chemistry Set, not a Math Equation”:

Hey Debbie, I would like to thank you for introducing Paleo to my life. Today officially I have lost 10 lbs since your Paleo Christmas party. My husband lost more than 20 lbs and he doesn’t even work out !
So thank you very much! Xoxoxoxo

 

Category: Cooking, No Recipe Paleo Meals, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , ,

How To Lose Weight and Be Healthy? Feed Your Body What It Wants!

March 12, 2014 / / Comments Off on How To Lose Weight and Be Healthy? Feed Your Body What It Wants!

carbblockOne of my main goals in life is to help people connect these dots:  food,  health, weight.  If you read my blog, you know I’m not referring to calories, or fat grams. I’m referring to nutrients in food and chemical reactions that happen when our body uses those nutrients.  When you care more about: what’s in your food, what it does to you, and how it makes you feel; than you care about calories, then I know you’re on track to be lean and healthy, forever.

What you fill your mind with is what’s going to rule your mind.  For instance, if you’re swayed by any of these advertisements (make sure you check out the last one – it’s my favorite), you’re going to continue along hoping that if you can just starve yourself for a sufficient amount of time, you’ll end up skinny and happy.  It doesn’t work that way.  Look back over your own history:  low cal dieting and tons of exercise are a VERY temporary way to take off pounds,always  to the detriment of your Thyroid, Adrenals, Sex Hormones,hcg Neurotransmitters, and Muscles.  Do it with Low Fat products, high in carbs, and there goes Insulin and Blood Glucose levels also.  Your body wants Nutrients to Run Correctly.  That’s all it wants, honest.  Eat to make your body as healthy as possible and your weight will become healthy and stable.  That’s all it takes, really.

Here’s some interesting bullet points (to fill your mind with) on why Real Whole Foods are so important.

*To make hair, nails, cartilage, growth hormone, glutathione (our #1 antioxidant), insulin, prolactin, and a whole bunch of other parts of our body, we need to have plenty of Sulfur.  Sulfur is the 3rd most common mineral in our body after calcium and phosphorus.

*Research points to sulfur deficiency in obesity, heart disease, cancer, and many “wasting” conditions.  Sulfur is also a crucial ‘ingredient’ in joints, and all joint supplements are sulfur containing: chondroitin sulfate, methyl sulfate, glucosamine sulfate…

best way*Garlic, onions, and cruciferous vegetables (brussels, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli…) are loaded with sulfur.  So are egg yolks, fish, meat, and poultry.

*Many studies show that garlic, onions, and other allicin (sulfur containing) foods are incredibly protective against cancer and heart disease.

*The National Cancer Institute found that individuals who ate the most allicin vegetables (red onions, scallions, garlic, chives and leeks) had a nearly 50% lower cancer risk than those who ate the least.

*A large-scale epidemiological Iowa Women’s Health Study looked at the garlic consumption in 41,000 middle-aged women. Results showed that women who regularly consumed garlic had 35% lower risk of developing colon cancer.

*Acetaminophen depletes sulfur levels in the body.  Sulfur is used to both break down and escort out (via urine), acetaminophen.  Breakdown happens in the liver.  We have large stores of the antioxidant Glutathione in the liver, or we’re supposed to.  Acetaminophen drains those supplies.  Acetaminophen is the Number 1 Cause of Liver Failure in the U.S.

Real Whole Food is made from compounds that our body needs to run correctly.  Here’s some more cool facts:

*Our body makes Vitamin D3 when the cholesterol from INSIDE of us, rises to the OUTSIDE of us/on top of our skin, and is “mixed/hit with” with UVB rays from the sun.  Vitamin D SULFATE is made.  Vitamin D sulfate is WATER SOLUBLE, so it sinks right back down through the skin, into the blood where it goes anywhere in the body that Vitamin D is supposed to go.

*Here’s a UVB map of the United States for March.

****Vitamin D3 supplements are UN-SULFERATED.  That means NOT water soluble. ( Our blood is water, right?)  The liver must make LDL to transport UN-sulferated Vitamin D3 through the blood.

*Both cholesterol and sulfur protect the skin from radiation damage, the kind oflucky damage that can lead to skin cancer.  Remember, cholesterol is an ANTIOXIDANT.  That’s one of the reasons our liver makes so much of it.

*Here’s a great podcast with Senior MIT Researcher Stephanie Seneff on Statins, Cholesterol, and the “Real Demons” of heart disease.

If you want to get slim, healthy, and be loaded with energy, you need to learn how the body works and what food does to you.  Invest in yourself, invest in your loved ones.  Become a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Mind/Body, RWF / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Success Story! Weight issues, Fatigue, Joint Pain, and Reflux – sound familiar?

March 10, 2014 / / Comments Off on Success Story! Weight issues, Fatigue, Joint Pain, and Reflux – sound familiar?

motivation and habitI love when I get to post a Success Story because they always hit home with so many people.  This one will also:  smart woman, years of weight issues, several diet attempts, stomach problems, joint issues, fatigue.  Ring any bells?  Rebecca solved all this without counting any calories, or following any traditional diet paradigms.

Here’s her story:

Like most women, I have struggled with weight my whole life; it wasn’t until I really started to have some significant quality of life issues, that I realized that something had to change….and fast!
I had met Debbie Abbott years ago where my husband Tim and I belonged to Old Town Athletic Club where she was a trainer/instructor, but had not really seen her in years. As God would have it, she ended up coming to Grace Bible Church where I had been a member of for years. Debbie was offering the women of the congregation some nutritional counseling classes and that was when I became aware of her nutritional training. I was unable to make the classes due to my work/life schedule in the Fire and Rescue Department, but took this as an opportunity and prompt to call her to make private appointments with her which I shared with my Mother, who was also having some health concerns.
It was February 2011 that we first got together, prior to our meeting, Debbie asked me to read some information on Mark’s Daily Apple “with an open mind” so I would have some knowledge on the subject of Paleo eating before we met. Well let me paint the picture of what my life was like at this point: in early 2011, I was 44 years old, a wife, mother of two children ages 24 and 6, and a 21 year Firefighter/Paramedic/Supervisor. Overall, I have always been active, considered myself healthy and obviously my job demands a certain minimum level of fitness. With the exception of a few very short periods of time in my life, I always seemed to be carrying that extra “20 or so pounds” around and praying/wishing/making new years resolutions that they would go away! Sound familiar? I followed every conventional diet known to human kind and with each one, I would loose some weight and it would come right back because it was never anything that I could maintain or feel good enough to want to. I had a life long history of elimination miseries and lactose intolerance, food sensitivities that would cause my skin to itch and break out, brain fog etc….. Finally, I had hit a wall, I went to my Doctor and had every known test done to find out why I was having chest and back pains, severe joint pains with weakness and disability, fatigue and trouble sleeping. I truly was fearful I had something really seriously wrong with me. I knew if things didn’t turn around soon, the state of my health was going to end my career long before I could really afford to retire! Well of course the Doctor said I was “fine”, maybe a little vitamin D deficiency but otherwise all my vitals looked great, BP 100/60, resting heart rate of 56, cholesterol and all blood levels NORMAL. I can tell you, I was far from normal or healthy!!! Now I had just given up cream in my coffee cold turkey to stop having the chest and back pain that the dairy was causing, but when I met with Debbie that first day and we talked about “grains and processed foods” something in me just clicked! I had tried conventional wisdom, the standard American diet and the laughable food pyramid to no avail. I was ready to really make a change that would be permanent and not only take my pain and fatigue away but lengthen my life and it’s quality….remember I had a six year old at the time and I really want to be able to enjoy the eventual grandchildren from both of my kids!
So I really took to heart everything that I was learning from Debbie about blood sugar and digestion, that is where it starts folks! After that very important first revolution and enlightenment, it is an adventure in real whole foods that has been so rewarding! The kicker is that not only did I start to feel better right away, no more roller coaster of ups and downs but the weight literally started falling off me : ) Everywhere I went, people would say something about how good I looked and asked me what I was doing. My self esteem had really taken a beating all those years with all the weight I had been carrying. People would always tell me that I was not overweight but “large framed” but I knew better, I felt terrible in my own skin. I was an educated health care provider for Pete’s sake! I was supposed to be an example to those I work with and here I was, unsuccessful in loosing the weight and keeping it off despite my “healthy lifestyle”. Oh we all thought we were doing everything right, grilling, baking, eating salads, using all the right oils and eating a “balanced” diet full of veggies, lean meats and fruits and yes lots of whole grains…the complex carbs, Hah! I felt so betrayed! After I got over the “I wish I had learned this 30 years ago, I got busy. I had to rethink everything I ever knew about healthy eating….low fat, high complex carbs, taking a multiple vitamin daily…blah blah blah! In a matter of weeks, there was such a noticeable difference both on the inside and out. The pain in my shoulders, elbows and wrists had just about disappeared, (caused by the inflammation in the grains I had been consuming daily) I was sleeping better, my mind was clearer and get this? I would eat three meals a day, with out snacking and I was really satisfied (and not hungry an hour after just eating a normal sized meal) throughout the day where I hadn’t been before following all the other “diets”.
I love to shop for and cook fresh food and I am blessed to have a wonderful, supportive husband, which I know is a big part of my success! My Daughter (who has lost 70 pounds!) my Mother,and my Husband have all experienced improved health and weight loss due the changes we have made in our daily eating, choosing real whole foods. Debbie frequently says , “leanness is a side effect of good nutrition”, and “nutrition is 90% of it”! I have adopted another saying from “Paleo Mom” when sharing this lifestyle with others,”It is only effort until it becomes routine”, that is so true!!! If you know me, you know that if I believe in something, I will talk your ear off about it! I just love telling people about real whole foods and staying away from anything processed or artificial. What breaks my heart is seeing all the people who you know could be so much healthier and happier if they could just get past the “I can’t give up this or that”. If they only realized that they would be getting so much more out of their lives and enjoy each day more if they would just “open their minds” and give real whole food a try. I am a true believer, never going back to the old way of eating, why would I? I have maintained a 25 pound weight loss for almost 3 years now…without dieting, exercising to excess or feeling hungry or deprived.

I am starting my 25th year in the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department as an EMS Supervisor/Captain II, and I no longer doubt that I can do my job and I look better in my uniform and feel like I am being the positive roll model for others in the department that I have always wanted to be.

I am so very grateful to Debbie Abbott for her tireless dedication to bringing the truth about real whole food nutrition to me; her passion is contagious and I hope everyone gets “the bug”!

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Success Story / Tags: , , , ,

How to REALLY Lose Weight (it’s not by dieting!) and Looks Healthy But Isn’t

March 8, 2014 / / Comments Off on How to REALLY Lose Weight (it’s not by dieting!) and Looks Healthy But Isn’t

debbie (27)I had the opportunity to look at a diet plan that a very large employer has probably paid a whole lot of money for their employees.  This plan includes a P90X style workout several days a week, and meal plans around 1300 calories.  You know how I say that Diet Plans (pills, programs, menus, foods, drinks etc) are just money makers, not actual “ways to lose weight and keep it off”?  This falls right in that category.

GOOD NEWS:  plans that have you starve yourself and work your butt off AREN’T NECESSARY.  No matter what Main Stream Media/Medical/Business/Government  would have you believe, the science Truly Truly Truly doesn’t support the THEORY that restricting calories through diet and burning more calories through exercise EVER works long term.

What the SCIENCE actually says is that if you Diet, you can be pretty assured of GAINING WEIGHT and causing Nutritional Deficiencies that will cause health problems for you down the road, or possibly immediately.

Here’s some pretty sobering statistics:

* A government review of 55 studies found NO SUSTAINED WEIGHT LOSS AT ALL AFTER 12 MONTHS.

* Between 95 and 98% of everyone who loses weight on a DIET, Gains It All Back

*2/3 of DIETERS REGAIN MORE WEIGHT THAN THEY LOST

* The more weight initially lost, the greater the rebound weight.

What’s going on here?  Why doesn’t restricting calories, limiting fat, and exercising a ton work?  Simple:  You’re a chemistry set, not a math equation.  Traditional, typical dieting SCREWS UP YOUR HORMONES.  Eating Diet Foods and Drinks screws up your liver.  Following a low fat plan depletes your hormones and messes up your brain (which is 60% fat).  Restricting calories shuts or slows down the thyroid almost immediately.  The neurotransmitters take an immediate hit with low cal dieting – there goes your mood/energy/thought patterns.  Cortisol increases BECAUSE LOW CAL DIETING IS SEEN BY THE BRAIN AS STARVATION, which equals STRESS.  Insulin ALWAYS increases when Cortisol increases.

Are you getting the picture?  Probably.  Here’s what’s harder for DIETERS to believe.

If you eat a diet of a couple thousand calories or more FILLED with FAT, PROTEIN, VITAMINS, and MINERALS from TONS of good fats, fish/meat/eggs/seafood, and tons of vegetables, you will lose weight.  Honest.  Your body doesn’t want to starve. Your body doesn’t want to diet. Bad things happen when you force it too.  Your body wants to run correctly:  it wants to have normal cell turnover, it wants to make all your sex hormones in normal amounts, it wants to repair every day damage, it wants to run thousands and thousands of chemical reactions that rely on the FUEL YOU PROVIDE YOUR BODY to complete.

Again, You’re Not A Math Equation, You’re A Chemistry Set.

Let’s look at a couple foods included in this program and other large programs; look at their ingredients and honestly access if you think these ingredients could in anyway make your body permanently slimmer, healthier, and more energetic.

Diet Cherry 7Up Antioxidant:  Filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup or sugar and less than 2% of natural flavors, citric acid, potassium citrate, calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor).   ***** The FDA “plans” to study (it’s “high” on the priority list) the calcium disodium EDTA because it’s suspected of mutagenic, teratogenic, subsacute, and reproductive effects. Those middle two words – I don’t even know what they mean and I’m not looking them up.  I don’t need to.  This product contains dangerous chemicals in addition to high fructose corn syrup and sugar.  Antioxidant my ….

Weight Watchers Brownie Bliss ONLY 2 POINTS! Note the flours, sugars, hydrogenated oils, and chemicals:

Powdered Sugar, Sugar, Semi-Sweet Chocolate (Unsweetened Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Extract), Water, Enriched Wheat Flour Bleached (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Condensed Skim Milk, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Corn Syrup Solids, Inulin (Natural Extract of Chicory Roots), Glycerin, Soybean Oil, Pea Fiber, Dry Whey, Chocolate Liquor, Egg Whites, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Nonfat Dry Milk, Caramel Color, Whole Milk Solids, Reduced Mineral Whey Powder, Dextrose, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate), Xanthan Gum, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Red 40.    

Let’s wrap up with a real shocker:  The American Heart Association APPROVED Subway meal:  Black Forrest Ham Sub, Apples, and Skim Milk:

The Ham:  Water, dextrose, 2% or less of modified food starch, salt, potassium lactate, seasoning [potassium chloride, pork stock, sugar, yeast extract, salt, lactic acid, fructose, sunflower oil, cysteine hydrochloride, calcium lactate, modified food starch, flavors, grill flavor (from sunflower oil), polysorbate 80, rendered pork fat, and smoke flavor], sodium phosphate, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, caramel color.

The Bread: ITALIAN HERBS & CHEESE BREAD Subway® Italian Bread, Monterey Jack cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, artificial color), cheddar cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, artificial color) potato starch and powdered cellulose added to prevent caking, natamycin [a natural mold inhibitor]), garlic powder, corn maltodextrin, long grain rice powder, salt, toasted bread crumbs (wheat flour, dextrose, modified wheat starch, sugar, salt, yeast, caramel coloring, paprika), spice, parmesan cheese solids (milk, cheese, cultures, salt, enzymes, calcium chloride), cellulose, modified palm oil, oregano, natural and artificial flavor (including butter extract), sunflower oil, whey, gum arabic, citric acid, yeast extract, lactic acid, calcium lactate, disodium phosphate and not more than 2% silicon dioxide added (as anticaking agent).

I’m not even going to print the Apples and Skim Milk ingredients; trust me, they’re LOADED with flavors, preservatives, and additives.

Back to my original topic, Traditional Dieting/Calories In /Calories Out is a BUSINESS.  It promises weight loss and rakes in money.  In 2012, about 108 Million Americans were on a Diet, and the Industry brought in $20 BILLION that year, $20 BILLION.  It promises weight loss, but it doesn’t deliver weight loss.

Want to lose weight:  get your head on straight.  You need to eat Real Whole Foods Every Single Day.  You need to plan, cook, shop and pack, and make smart choices when you eat out.  Not because the food is “fattening”, but because it’s loaded with flours, sugars, bad oils and chemicals that make you sick and addicted.  Focus on the word “addicted”, because that’s the biggest struggle I see:  not being able to stop eating or resist foods calling to you.  As long as you’re eating addictive foods containing  Flour, Sugar, and chemicals, you’re going to stay addicted.  It’s just like cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs.  Trying to be “moderate” just ensures the addictive patterns continue.

I do a lot of work with Julia Ross’s Mood Cure and Diet Cure.  It’s an Amino Acid supplement program that restocks/replenishes the neurotransmitters in your brain.  You become ” Normal “, as opposed to Food Driven.  It’s an excellent program that I’ve used on myself, my husband, and several clients.  The results are unbelievable.  If you think you can’t stick to a Real Whole Foods program because the Fake Foods/flours/sugars/chemicals constantly call you, get in touch with me.  You can change.  You can get healthy.  You can be normal weight and full of energy.  Honest. You just need to become a Real Whole Foodie.

Category: Carbs, Fats, Food Additives, Looks Healthy But Isn't, Mind/Body, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Sugar / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Amanda’s Journey; Sleep Deprivation and Carb Cravings

March 6, 2014 / / One comment

manda me uvaEpilepsy sucks.  Trust me.  I don’t have it, but I’ve watched my #2 daughter struggle with this for almost 15 years.  She somehow gets up most days, goes to class, participates in sports, and clubs, and she (thank God) has a ton of great friends ( who’ve always been very supportive); but it can really knock you down sometimes. She had a really rough weekend that culminated in a middle of the night hospital stay, scary “heart attack like pains”, memory issues, and other symptoms.   We’re changing her meds and prayingmanda w wrap that it works.  Here’s two pictures of Amanda:  on the left is about a month ago on the lawn at her school, and on the right is in December after getting about 25 electrodes glued on her head for a 2 day EEG.  It didn’t last 2 days because she had a middle of the night seizure and “activity” that caused her to get up and take every single electrode out.  That’s from the meds, one of them disrupts her REM sleep, a lot.

Anyway, Mark and I rushed down to Charlottesville around 1 am last night and stayed up the whole night.  It’s a busy, busy hospital and there’s absolutely NO sleeping in the ER.  Checking my email the next day, I got not 1 but 2 emails about lack of sleep and over eating / craving bad foods.  One was a friend who has a puppy, and the other was a lady with a baby.  Sometimes there’s no way you can sleep through the night, right?  And wow, it really does a number on your immune system, your neurotransmitters, and your “hunger hormones”, ghrelin and leptin.

I have good news though:  the “unavoidable munchies because of lack of sleep”??  They can be avoided!!  Lack of sleep is such a hit to the body because GOOD THINGS DON’T HAPPEN when you’re up in the middle of the night (these are different things from what we’re warning our teenagers about, but just as bad).  When we’re asleep, the brain does repairs, the muscles do repairs, the immune system makes particular hormones, our glands make corticosteroids and sex hormones, the body makes Human Growth Hormone, the liver is incredibly busy breaking down hormones and toxins, the skin the lungs the kidneys, EVERYTHING is cleaning and repairing or making things.  Trust me when I say I just seriously condensed what goes on during our sleep.  If your sleep is disrupted, or you don’t go to bed early enough, you can get into real trouble.

Sleep has been a pretty big issue and topic in the news for the past few years, and I’ve often seen advice to “eat more protein” on the days you’ve missed sleep.  I agree with that, but I want to add:  Eat More Fat, on these days and every day.  Your body is CRAVING nutrients; you think it wants junk food, but that’s YOU, not your inner brain talking.  Your deepest smartest brain parts know exactly what it takes to build and repair your body, and it’s not carby cereal, or ice cream, or pizza, or chips, or a trip to Fast Food. Carbs build NOTHING, they’re just an energy source.  What you “hear” are the habits you’ve established as comfort when you’re tired/stressed/happy/sad/etc.  Give your body the fat and protein and vitamins and minerals it really wants, and you’ll see those cravings disappear, I promise.

Add the butter, add the fatty broths, pour on the olive oil, make treats with coconut oil, butter, or milk;  up the good fats with your proteins and vegetables and truly sooth your brain and body.  Also, make sure your Neurotransmitters are full:  the serotonin, dopamine, GABA, catecholamines.  These things make you “normal” feeling.  Amino acid supplements, on a particular timed schedule, do this.  Read the Mood Cure or the Diet Cure by Julia Ross, I swear it’s for real.  I’ve used her protocol on ourselves and several nutrition clients now, IT’S FOR REAL.

Another important factor:  don’t set yourself up for failure by having any thing munchie/quick/junkie in your house.  Nothing.  Quit telling yourself your kids might need a snack.  NO ONE needs crap that sets up life long bad habits or creates a state of terrible health in the body and mind.  NO ONE.  Not you, not your kids.

DO SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS:  have plenty of fats, vegetables, ….INGREDIENTS,.. that you can mix up and genuinely provide your brain and body what it’s actually craving to rebuild, repair, and make hormones and neurotransmitters.  (Remember:  ALL your steroid hormones, and ALL your sex hormones are made from Cholesterol, Saturated Fat, and Minerals.  ALL OF THEM. )

It always comes back to: eat Real Whole Food, doesn’t it?

 

Category: Carbs, Fats, Mind/Body, Question of the Week / Tags: , , , , , ,

Bloat; Leaky Gut; Hamburger Helper; A Recipe

March 3, 2014 / / Comments Off on Bloat; Leaky Gut; Hamburger Helper; A Recipe

stomach problemsWho struggles with:  bloat, gas, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, IBS, reflux or GERD?  Statistically, at least half of you; actually, since you all are health seekers, I bet more than that.  Please read this, because your gut issues are EARLY WARNING SIGNS THAT SHOULDN’T BE IGNORED.

What I mean by that is if you’ve had any of those conditions long enough, other conditions will arise: headaches, depression, thyroid issues, rheumatoid arthritis / auto immune disorders, fatigue, skin problems, allergies, IBS, Crohn’s, colitis, even autism and behavior disorders.  Seriously.  It’s a big deal, and band-aiding your symptoms with anti-gas/anti-pain/anti-acid medications will absolutely set you up for disaster down the road.

Hippocrates said, ” all disease begins in the gut.”  Science has proven him to be completely correct.

Let me stop here for a second:  suppressing symptoms with medications, instead of solving the reason for the symptom, is not a good idea, ever.  Unfortunately, that “brain washing” I talk about comes into play here:  got a headache, take a pill, got a stomach ache, take a pill, something hurts, take a pill, feel sad/down/anxious, take a pill.   For all of you who take pills, ASK YOURSELF, HAVE THEY RESOLVED YOUR PROBLEMS?  OR ARE THOSE PILLS JUST A REGULAR PART OF YOUR LIFE NOW AS YOU TRY TO SUPPRESS YOUR BODIES CALLS FOR HELP DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY?

Back to the gut, here’s a little 411:  all those gut symptoms I listed above are NOT NORMAL.  They shouldn’t happen in a well functioning gut, but that doesn’t mean you need medication.  It’s a sign that your food isn’t digesting quickly or well enough. You can fix that without medications.  Gut medications have serious CONSEQUENCES; pull out your sheet from the pharmacist, or look in / on the box, and you’ll be able to read all about them.  Note this:  6 to 8 weeks is the MAXIMUM amount of time the FDA says ANYONE should be on most gut meds.  That’s because of the damage they cause.  It’s not hypothetical, and that damage won’t just happen to other people, it will happen to you.

What’s the first issue to address?  Your stomach isn’t acid enough. God made our stomach to be incredibly acidic.  Acid kills virus, bacteria, parasites, yeast, and pathogens; acid starts the initial break down of protein and fats; and it triggers the correct steps for the rest of the “southern digestion” in the small and large intestine.  Reduce your acid, and you inhibit all this, and create a gut condition ripe for problems.

There’s a great book by Dr. Jonathan Wright called Why Stomach Acid is Good For You, it’s awesome, and I wish everyone would read it.  If you want the short version, here’s a You Tube of Dr. Wright explaining it in 9 minutes.

There’s some simple tricks to acidify your stomach BACK TO NORMAL, which would hasten your digestion and allow for the proper digestive path to be followed.

What reduces acid, or actually, what suppresses acid production in the gut?  Many prescription and OTC drugs, stress, simple sugars/flours, phosphoric acid from sodas and drinks, certain chemicals in foods, and again: stress or more specifically, the hormone Cortisol.  Imagine the damage we’ve done to our gut after years and years of the Standard American Diet (SAD) and the pills we’ve used to conceal the symptoms.

The second issue to address with bloat, gas, reflux, constipation, diarrhea, and GERD, is the “consequence” issue; or what happens after you’ve had this condition for years.  This was me.  I started having BLOAT in my mid thirties.  I thought it was because I ate so healthy (pounds of fiber cereal, fiber breads, and fruits and vegetables).  I thought my bloat/gas/pain was actually an outward sign of my healthiness!!  I developed really bad asthma and had blood clots in my late thirties.  I took several meds for the asthma, but when the blood clots happened, that was a wake up call.  I wasn’t going on blood thinners, and I made the connection between the two conditions:  they were both “inflammatory” conditions.  I made no connection to my gut at this point whatsoever; but there was.

When you have Bloat/Gas/Reflux/GERD etc, that means you have Low Stomach Acid.  Low Stomach Acid means your food isn’t digesting properly down to the little tiny molecules that absorb through the small intestine wall into the blood stream.  Not only does that make you nutrient deficient, but big proteins (as opposed to tiny amino acids), break through the intestine wall and create “leaky gut“, aka Intestinal Permeability.  Now that you have holes in your gut lining, bacteria and virus that didn’t get killed ( because you don’t have enough stomach acid), and metabolic waste products, ALL OF WHICH SHOULD BE CONFINED TO YOUR GUT, and these big protein chains, “leak out” through the holes, into the bloodstream, where your Immune System sees them and ATTACKS THEM LIKE THE FOREIGN INVADERS THAT THEY ARE.  This should be good, right?  Wrong.

Keep eating the SAD, keep taking the drugs, and the holes stay open, because you’re perpetuating the situation.  INFLAMMATION IS DEVELOPING AND BUILDING as the Immune System stays on ‘over drive’.  Pretty soon, it’s attacking other proteins that “mimic” or resemble the big proteins; proteins in your Lungs, your Thyroid, your Heart, Your Joints, your Brain.  Remember, there’s plenty of proteins in those organs because the body is built from proteins and fats.

My point:  if you have Gut Issues, resolve the cause, don’t try to cover the symptoms.  If you have the Resultant Damage from years of gut issues (crohns,colitis, …), you’re going to have to “heal and seal” your gut if you want Real Healing and Improvement.  How long will this take?  I don’t know, from weeks to months, it depends on the damage you’ve done and how hard you work; but everyone can heal.

Everyone has the power to feel energetic, clear thinking, positive, and healthy, but only if you’re ready to commit to a different path.  If you’re struggling mentally and physically, all you have to do is look backwards and make an honest assessment of what you’ve done to get there. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, you just need to turn off the brain washing and really focus on making that serious connection between what we put in our mouth to our mind and body.  The food we eat becomes us. The food we eat becomes us.  The food we eat becomes us.  hamburgerhelper chicken

box coverLet’s look at another very SAD food product, Chicken Helper, Crispy Ranch Chicken.  Betty Crocker’s/General Mills market shares are down a little, they’ve taken a hit from Kraft’s Mac N Cheese Skillet dinners and frozen food items.  Still, the Hamburger Helper line sells around (2010) $350 Million A Year.

A serving size is one third of a cup. Does anyone eat a third of a cup of food for dinner?  Anyway, a THIRD OF A CUP is 350 calories of crappy fats, crappy carbs, and crappy chemicals.  Cancer in a box!

uncooked roastInstead of falling prey to food products like this, do the Real Whole Food thing, here’s some ideas:  Slow cook a roast for 24 hours:  salt/pepper/herb it; wrap it in a couple layers of aluminum foil, put it in the over at 180*, 24/25 hours before you want to eat it, and DON’T LOOK AT IT.  When it’s done, pull it out finished lamband shred it with two forks.  Keep some in the fridge for the week, and freeze the rest, flat, in freezer bags. Here’s the before and after pictures of a lamb roast I just did.  It was about as big as a loaf of fat bread.

Next, in a big frying pan, put in some broth OR butter and water, and cook onions, broccoli and carrots; or cook a bag of frozen vegetables.  Bake a few whole potatoes in the oven for an hour at 425.  Dinner’s done without a lot of effort.

We are the end result of what we put in our mouth.  What we eat matters.  Take the action steps necessary to be healthy and whole.  Eat Real Whole Food, and remember, focus on your health and your weight issues will resolve.

Category: Cooking, Fats, Food Additives, No Recipe Paleo Meals, RWF / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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