Nutrition

by Mike Geary

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been researching quite a bit lately about all of the various functions of our gut flora (good bugs and bad bugs in our guts), and all of the dramatic effects to our health, including our weight, skin conditions, brain health, asthma, allergies, digestion issues, and frequent sickness.

Today, I found a few more nuggets that I wanted to share with you that are really interesting… It’s a couple more excerpts from the super-interesting new book I’ve been reading by Michael Pollan called Cooked, and it tells a lot about the importance of our “microbiome” in our guts:

First, Pollan talks about how the diversity and health of our gut flora starts all the way back to birth… He talks about how natural child birth exposes the baby to it’s first blast of beneficial bacteria that immediately begin to colonize the baby’s body (an important part of building their immune system from day 1) …
He continues, “Children born by Cesarian Section, a far more hygienic process, take much longer to populate their intestinal tract, and never acquire quite the same assortment of bugs. Some researchers believe this could help explain the higher rates of allergies, asthma, and obesity observed in children born by Cesarian“.

He then goes on to explain the results of a study of 15,000 children in 5 European countries, which basically concluded that children who grew up on farms and were exposed to more microorganisms from dirt, livestock, etc had more robust immune systems and had lower rates of allergic diseases.  The study also mentioned that children in Waldorf schools who ate more fermented vegetables and received fewer antibiotics and fever-reducing drugs also had better immune systems and lower rates of disease.

And it gets even MORE interesting, as Pollan continues:

“The average child in the developed world has also received between ten and twenty courses of antiobiotics before his or her 18th birthday, an assault on the microflora the implications of which researchers are just beginning to reckon.

Consider the saga of the once-common stomach bacteria Helicobacter pylori.  Long considered the pathogen responsible for causing peptic ulcers, the bacterium was routinely attacked with antibiotics, and as a result has become rare — today, less than 10% of American children test positive for H. pylori.  Only recently have researchers discovered it also plays a positive role in our health:  H. pylori helps regulate both stomach acid and ghrelin, one of the key hormones involved in appetite.  People who have been treated with antibiotics to eradicate the bacterium gain weight, possibly because the H. pylori is not acting to regulate their appetite.”

Once again, this is yet more evidence that our health is being harmed by our overly sanitized modern world with hand sanitizers every where you look, a constant “war on bacteria” and a sterilized food supply that lacks the natural microbes food was meant to contain, and over-prescription of antibiotics by just about every single doctor for common colds and many other minor sicknesses that don’t need antibiotics.

And as you can see, the dramatic reduction or eradication of H pylori in the guts of most people in the developed world these days is now being shown to be disrupting the hormones that regulate our appetite!

by Mike Geary

If you’ve been reading my newsletters for a while, then you know one of the biggest things I talk about is the importance of all those trillions of little “critters” in your gut (your probiotics, and the balance between good and bad bugs in your gut) that regulate so many important aspects of your health, including your immune system, digestion, your weight, and even brain health according to some recent studies.

After all, as you may have heard, we have 10x the amount of microbes in our body compared to the number of our own human cells in our body.  Clearly, those 100 trillion “bugs” in your body control a LOT about your health considering they outnumber our own cells 10 to 1.

Well, recently I’ve been reading the thought-provoking new book by Michael Pollan called Cooked, and I ran across this excerpt, which is important and fascinating:

“Indeed, the microbiota may play an important role in regulating our weight. It has long been known that feeding antibiotics to livestock makes them gain more weight on the same amount of feed, and though the mechanism has not been identified, intriguing new clues are emerging.  A group of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered that the types of bacteria dominant in the gut of obese individuals (in both mice and humans) are very different from those found in slender people, and that the different species of gut bacteria metabolize food more or less efficiently.

This suggests that the amount of energy we obtain from a given amount of food may vary depending on the kinds of microbes living in your gut.  So might changing the composition of our gut bacteria in turn change our weight?  Possibly: The researchers found that when they transferred bacteria from the gut of fat mice into germ-free mice, the germ-free mice gained nearly twice as much weight as when they received gut bacteria from skinny mice.  Other research has found that specific gut microbes, such as Helicobacter pylori (which are killed by antibiotics), play a role in regulating the hormones that control appetite.”

As you can see, the irresponsible use of antibiotics in livestock in the last 50 years and also the over-prescription of antibiotics in humans for every little minor sickness has been devastating the guts of humans and possibly making us fat just like livestock fatten up with the use of antibiotics.

This excerpt also raises intriguing points about the importance of our gut probiotics in regulating our weight considering the information about different gut microbes in obese vs slender people.

by Mike Geary
Over the last couple years, I’ve perfected a daily digestion-healing plan that’s worked wonders for me, as well as some of my friends and clients.  Quite literally, I’ve had some friends that either had chronic “runny stools” or constipation, and this type of plan has totally fixed their issues.

A side effect of the digestion-healing meal plans below is that most people start to lose body fat faster by eating this way too!

Keep in mind that I’m not “prescribing” anything here as I’m not a doctor, and this is solely my observation on what’s worked for me and several friends of mine that have tried my plan, which is based on science.

First step in healing digestion issues:

First, you need to identify if you have any food allergies, intolerances, or sensitivities and try to minimize or completely avoid those foods. For many people, wheat, soy, and conventional dairy are 3 issues that come up most frequently.

With that said, keep in mind that certain types of dairy, such as grass-fed Kefir can actually be a very strong healer of digestion issues due to the extremely powerful probiotics in kefir which help to fix harmful bacterial imbalances in your gut.  And kefir is also 99% lactose-free since the friendly bacteria pre-digest almost all of the lactose.  So kefir ends up being one of the most digestible forms of dairy.

Also, keep in mind that it’s generally either the lactose in dairy or the proteins in dairy that some people can be sensitive to.  But many people don’t realize that they can still reap the health benefits of dairy fat, including the CLA, vitamin K2, and omega-3’s of grass-fed butter and cream without anything more than traces of lactose or dairy protein.

If you don’t currently know if you have a sensitivity to gluten, one test that you can consider running on yourself is to completely avoid any wheat-based foods (that means no bread, muffins, pasta, cereals, crackers, etc) for 2-3 weeks and see if you notice a considerable improvement in your digestion and your bowel movements.

Many people are quite pleased to find that their digestion problems start to go away within the first 2 weeks of eliminating wheat from their diet, as the constant inflammation that can be caused by gluten (and other antinutrients found in wheat) in the digestive tract subsides once they stop eating so much bread and cereal.

This should be obvious, but to be clear, you also need to avoid junk foods that are loaded with sugar, trans fats, corn syrup, and chemical additives too, as these all can cause digestion problems and other health issues.

Ok, now that you’ve eliminated foods that might be causing inflammation and other digestion problems, you need to start HEALING your digestive system…

Second step – foods that HEAL the digestive system:

I’ve been amazed at the power of fermented foods (loaded with probiotics) and how dramatic the improvement to digestion and bowel movements can be, since many digestion and bowel issues are caused by either a harmful bacterial imbalance in the gut and/or too many foods that cause inflammation.

I’ve had at LEAST 6-8 friends of mine that started trying a similar food plan that I lay out below and their chronic constipation, runny stools, or indigestion completely cleared up within one week of starting this type of plan.

Keep in mind that the VARIETY of probiotic sources is what I consider to be most important, as each type of food or source has different strains of good bacteria that have different health benefits to your digestion or immune system.

Even though I’ve always eaten healthy at least for the last 15 or so years, I didn’t focus more on probiotic intake, except intermittently, until the last year. Over the last 8-12 months, I’ve focused a LOT more on getting DAILY sources of probiotics instead of just occasional, and the results have been phenomenal to my digestive system!

In previous years, I would only occasionally eat fermented veggies like kimchi or other krauts, and I would occasionally drink kefir a couple times per month.  But that’s changed, and my digestive system is LOVING my new plan.

My personal daily plan for PERFECT digestion:
Morning (first thing)

• 1 serving of this superfoods-cocktail mixed with unsweet iced tea (7 Billion probiotics + 76 superfood ingredients all in a delicious drink)
• Organic coffee with grass-fed real cream* (good source of the healthy fat CLA, and vitamin K2 for heart health)

*Organic Valley brand has a great pasture-raised cream that I’ve found at many grocery stores.

Late morning

• 3 eggs (over-easy is my favorite, plus slightly healthier than scrambled since scrambling can oxidize some of the cholesterol)
• Chicken, turkey, or bison sausage
• Half an avocado
• Fermented veggies* (a nice pile of them)
• tea (green, white, or oolong) with tiny bit of raw honey
• 1 serving of ProX10 microencapsulated probiotics (protects the probiotics through the stomach to the intestines — the most powerful probiotic supplement I’ve found)

*The fermented veggies are also a particularly powerful source of probiotics with different strains from what you get in yogurt or kefir for different health benefits for your digestive system and immune system.  I rotate a different type of fermented veggies each week and have found some really tasty varieties at Whole Foods or at a local health food store… my favorites that I rotate are kimchi (Korean style), fermented carrots (carrot kraut), fermented beets (beet kraut), and one that I found called Jungle kraut, which seems to be purple cabbage, carrots, etc.

I’ve noticed that some people that don’t like the taste of typical fermented cabbage dishes end up really liking the fermented carrots or beets instead.  TMI alert:  Several friends have told me that their years of poop problems completely cleared up after only 1 week or so of including fermented veggies each day with their meals as well as Kefir.
Afternoon snack

• 1 cup plain or greek full-fat Kefir (grass-fed) with added 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1-2 tsp of real maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla (if you don’t like the tangy taste of plain kefir, try it the way I make it here and I’m pretty sure you’ll LOVE it!)

*Kefir is a super-healing food for the digestive system.  Remember that natives of the Caucasus mountains in eastern europe routinely live to over 100 years old and one of their favorite daily drinks is full-fat Kefir!  Kefir has quite a bit more probiotics than yogurt (2x-10x more), plus is generally 10 or more strains of probiotics vs only 3-4 strains in most yogurts.  Most types of kefir have anywhere from 7-50 Billion probiotics per cup depending on brand.

Note that according to their website, Lifeway brand kefir is made from 100% grass-fed dairy in all of their products even though they don’t include “grass-fed” or “pasture-raised” on the label.

Dinner

• Some sort of meat – grass-fed steaks, chicken, or wild fish typically
• Some form of steamed veggies or vegetable side dish
• Fresh greens salad with real homemade olive oil dressing

I’ve found that one of best ways to get and stay very lean is to keep dinner based around a healthy type of meat, cooked veggies side dish, and a raw veggies salad.  It keeps the evening meal relatively low-carb with minimum impacts on insulin, but loaded with nutrition and hormone-balancing healthy fats.  It also keeps the meal gluten-free and fairly easy on the digestive system.
Late night snack

• Handful of nuts (pistachios, almonds, or pecans are my favorite, and loaded with nutrition) and a small square or two of extra dark chocolate
• 1 cup of caffeine-free tea such as chamomile, rooibos, mint, or tulsi tea (each have their own unique antioxidants)
• 2nd daily serving of ProX10 microencapsulated probiotics

 

Once or twice a week, I’ll also grab a Kombucha tea (a fermented probiotic tea) if I’m out and about, which is another good source of probiotics, although not as powerful as the others I listed in the above plan.

There you have it!  Again, this is NOT a prescription for any health condition… this is solely my personal digestion-healing plan that I’ve used with great success and that many of my friends and clients have used to fully HEAL many of their digestion and bowel problems.

 

— By Leanne Beattie, Health & Fitness Writer

 

Convenience foods and snacking go hand in hand. Unfortunately, many of these convenient snacks also go straight to our waistlines. When “snack packs” appeared on the market just a few years ago, dieters rejoiced! Now, they could easily count calories and enjoy their favorite snacks at the same time. In fact, the 100-calorie snack packs proved to be so popular that sales have skyrocketed to almost $200 million in under three years. But how healthy are these snacks and should we even be eating them at all? Do good things really come in small packages? Let’s break down the snack pack facts.

Some dietitians and behavior experts believe these small 100-calorie packages are ideal for foods that we should only enjoy in limited amounts anyway, such as chips, cookies and chocolate bars. Numerous studies have shown that when a food container is larger, people will eat more. In fact, they’re more likely to eat until they reach the bottom of a box or bag, without even realizing how much they’ve eaten until all the food is gone. Therefore, smaller portions sizes will help you eat less, right? Well, new research published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that smaller “snack” packages encouraged participants to eat nearly twice as much, often without hesitation, than people who ate from larger packages. The built-in portion control of snack packages may help some people curb mindless overeating, but this theory works only when you limit yourself to one package. If you consume more than that, the benefits are lost.

Hunger Satisfaction
While the snack packs are winners for portion control and short-term satisfaction, they typically lack hunger-controlling nutrients (fiber, protein and healthy fats). This means that they won’t control your hunger for long and may lead to further snacking and higher calorie consumption over the course of the day. A handful of nuts or a piece of fruit could stave off the munchies for around the same number of calories while also providing key nutrients like fiber or healthy fats.

And despite the fact that the labels on these snack packs claim “0 grams of trans fats,” many still contain hydrogenated oil—the prime source of trans fats. Legally, manufacturers can label products as trans-fat-free if they contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.

The Price of Convenience
While there are plenty of 100-calorie choices on the market, from chips to cookies and crackers to pudding, you’ll pay a higher price for these conveniently packaged snacks. Snack pack manufacturers charge as much as three or four times the price of conventional packaged foods. For example, a box of six 100-calorie packs of chips weighs only 95 total grams but costs around $3.00. That’s about the same price as a full-sized bag of chips, which contains three times as much food. More single-use packaging also means more waste from an environmental standpoint.

But judging by the explosive growth of the market, many dieters are choosing to pay more in order to avoid temptation. While you could simply divvy up a bag of chips or crackers into smaller portions yourself, many people don’t want to spend the time. If you can’t control your eating when faced with the full-sized version of your favorite snack, but you can eat just one smaller-portioned bag, a 100-calorie snack pack might be worth the extra money and help you reach your weight loss goals.

Smart Snack Alternatives
If you want a healthy, low-calorie snack but don’t want to pay the premium for convenience, here are some healthy snacks you can prepare yourself. You’ll save money, reduce waste, and stay fuller longer with these 100- to 200-calorie ideas that you can portion out yourself.

• Low-fat cottage cheese (4 oz): 80 calories
• Raisins (50 or about 1 oz): 85 calories
• Skim milk latte (8 oz): 85 calories
• Air-popped popcorn (3 cups or 1 oz): 95 calories
• Graham crackers (8 small rectangles): 100 calories
• Thin pretzel sticks (48 sticks or 1 oz): 100 calories
• Celery (5 pieces) with peanut butter (1 Tbsp): 100 calories
• Unsweetened applesauce (1 cup): 100 calories
• An apple (small) with low-fat cheese (2 oz): 150 calories
• Baby carrots (10) with hummus (1/4 cup): 150 calories
• Peanuts (a handful or 1 oz): 160 calories
• Raw almonds (a handful or 1 oz): 165 calories
• Low-fat yogurt (6 oz): 175 calories
• Tortilla chips (12 chips or 1 oz) with salsa (1/2 cup): 175 calories
• Whole wheat Ritz crackers (10 crackers or 1 oz) with peanut butter (1/2 Tbsp): 175 calories

By Paige Fowler,

Things are looking even brighter for the sunshine vitamin. Maintaining healthy levels of vitamin D could protect against brain damage and Alzheimer’s disease as you age, according to University of Kentucky researchers.

Using rats, scientists simulated human equivalents of low, normal, and high levels of the vitamin for several months. The low threshold was 10 times below what’s considered healthy—a level you could reach if you’re not getting enough D from your diet or sunlight, or if your levels are depleting due to aging, explains study author D. Allan Butterfield, Ph.D.

The study found that the vitamin-deprived group experienced an increase in amyloid-beta deposits and free radical damage in the brain, which are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. The low-D rats also showed impaired learning and memory in tests. Previous lab studies suggest that sopping up enough vitamin D reduces neural inflammation associated with free radical damage and also protects the health of signaling pathways that prevent amyloid-beta deposits from taking root in your noggin, Butterfield says. While the results haven’t yet been shown in humans—to this same degree, at least—researchers believe that the effect would be similar in people.

Make sure to eat plenty of vitamin-D rich foods like fatty fish, fortified milk, and yogurt this winter, and spend at least 10 to 15 minutes outdoors in the sun each day. Start today, too: “A proactive approach when you’re younger may be necessary to lower your risk of long-term consequences of vitamin D deficiency,” Butterfield says.

Aim for 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily. Combine a multivitamin—most contain 400 IU—with an 8-ounce serving of OJ and a bowl of cereal and milk. Both contain 100 IU when fortified. Or consider a 3.5-ounce piece of salmon with dinner—it packs 360 IU.