Hi! Sarah here…. Thank you all for coming to our Saturday and Wednesday “Your Gut Health” workshops ~ What a great turn out and wonderful, exciting energy! Dr. Gerber gave a tonne of information at this session, and we thought it would be helpful to do a quick summary of the tips and tricks particularly.
Next up, blogs on “How to” get probiotics naturally, how to ferment foods at home, best prebiotic sources etc.
SOME DEFINITIONS:
Microbiome: A whole universe of bacteria, fungi, viruses and yeasts live in our gastrointestinal system, genital tracts and on our skin. The gut is home to approx 100 trillion microorganisms (10 times more bacteria than human cells in the body). We each have a population of over 400 known diverse bacterial species that, like a fingerprint, is unique to each individual.
Prebiotics: non-digestible carbohydrates that trigger the growth of beneficial gut bacteria.
Probiotics: beneficial live microorganisms contained in foods and supplements.
Benefits of probiotics include: Help you with the digestion of your food, promote iron and other mineral absorption, population control of opportunistic/harmful yeast, bacteria etc, immune system stimulation and protection from pathogenic species etc!
TIPS & TRICKS!
Avoid these things:
Processed Foods: Avoid or eliminate processed foods (question if something really is “food” if it has been packaged and requires a label. Grocery shop around the perimeter of the store (have you ever notice that the cereal and grain products aisles occupy most of every commercial market?)
Gluten: Say no to gluten! Humans have changed wheat so much that it can no longer survive in nature without our care. Whether or not you have a known sensitivity, eating gluten can have dramatic consequences. More than 55 conditions are linked to gluten, according to research published in the New Engl J of Med. (osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, weight management issues, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy etc etc… the list is too long for this blog). This is an enormous topic!
GMO foods: Say no to GMO foods. Non-organic crops are most likely treated with Glyphosate, or Monsanto’s “Roundup”. It has been touted as the safest herbicide in the history of science. While it may not kill us directly, it is killing our internal & external environments affecting our microbiome, plant and amphibian life! First discovered and used as an industrial strength descaler (mineral build up remover). Guess what? It demineralizes your food too. More below and more to come on this soon….
Antibiotics: Avoid antibiotics whenever possible (the ones you take by choice and the ones you may not be aware of in the non-organic meat, poultry, fish and eggs you eat). They kill both the good and bad flora leaving us imbalanced and vulnerable to overgrowth of opportunistic bacteria, fungi and yeast, as well as subsequent infections/viruses and leaky gut syndrome. Our gut flora diversity is not recovered after antibiotic use without intervention.
SAY YES!
Eat more homemade bone stocks and soups: Homemade stocks from animal bones and cartilage are excellent at promoting digestive health and healing the intestinal lining.
Supplement with a high quality Omega-3 fatty acid oil: Polyunsaturated fatty acids are naturally occurring substances (best source fish) that are well tolerated and have been used extensively for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The one we carry in our clinic, serve ourselves and loved ones, and recommend is Innate Choice Omega Sufficiency (www.innatechoice.com). More recently, omega 3’s have been recognized to have anticancer activity, and supplementation is being investigated for the treatment and prevention of colorectal cancer. Invest in high quality! Rancidity, poor handling, impurity, toxicity etc. can be harmful to your health.
“Sunshine or supplement!” with Vitamin D3 - deficiency is linked with inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, autoimmune diseases, and sufficiency helps to ensure better immune system function & maintenance of the intestinal mucosal barrier. Vitamin D3 was also featured in our “Beat the Winter Blahs” workshop for a very good reason! The leading world experts on Vitamin D3 state that to achieve sufficiency, our blood serum level should be 40-80 ng/ml. Go to vitamindcouncil.org for more information and order an at home blood serum testing kit, or request that your family physician test your levels. We get awesome Vitamin D from the sun, but there are so many variables….. and we do live in Canada, folks :)
Organic and Non-GMO is the way to go! There are currently no labeling laws in place to allow us to choose if we want to consume GMO foods. The “Certified Organic” label is the only way to know that something is not GMO. Organic also means no pesticides have been used.
Eat prebiotic foods or supplement: The non-digestible carbohydrates feed the good bacteria in our guts. http://www.courtyardchiro.com/prebiotics/
Eat natural sources of probiotics and/or take a high quality supplement: If you are already imbalanced, it may be beneficial to supplement as well as eat fermented foods to restore balance. Find a refrigerated or properly freeze dried multi strain probiotic with 10 to 50 billion colony forming units per capsule from a reputable supplier. We carry HMF Multi Strain probiotic by Seroyal/Genestra.
Eat probiotics foods and/or supplement: http://www.courtyardchiro.com/probiotics/
Cleanse and beat that sugar/carb habit! whole30.com
Oh Baby! Give babies the best start to grwoing their own healthy, unique microbiome (immune system, healthy digestion, and so much more!) by vaginally delivering and breast feeding whenever possible!
RESOURCES:
Websites:
againstallgrain.com (Also books and blog)
Books:
It Starts With Food – Dallas and Melissa Hartwig
Breaking the Vicious Cycle – Elaine Gotschall (The Specific Carb approach to healing the gut)
The Gut & Psychology Diet (GAPS Diet) – Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
The Disease Delusion Dr. Jeffrey Bland (new paradigm, Functional Medicine)
Meals That Heal Inflammation – Julie Daniluk
What Belly – William Davis, MD
Blogs:
Documentaries:
Food Matters (got to foodmatters.tv for lots!)
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
OMG GMO!
Carb Loaded
Farmagedan
These websites, books, docs and blogs are all great resources (although we may not agree with every single word ). You must research and choose what is best for you, your current situation, and your personal goals.