Clean gut equals good health
Much of the focus in dietary advice is on what foods to avoid, and then on healthy alternatives. And while it is certainly important to make these choices, there is a step that belongs in front of even that consideration: Helping the body, and allowing the body to cleanse itself of stored toxins, so that the major organs can: a. Deal with future incoming toxins; and b. More effectively utilize the nutrients they are given.
There is much recent research, and authoritative suggestion that our 鈥済ut鈥� is the start of almost all disease, and the answer to almost all healing. To be clear, the gut as we refer to it, is not just the stomach, as is usually what comes to mind. Rather, it is the entire gastrointestinal tract, especially the stomach and small intestine. But for purposes of addressing overall health and nutrient absorption, it includes the related organs such as the cleansing liver, and the all-important insulin-secreting pancreas.
Now, we are not going to fill a short column with details you may find in any high school biology text; rather, we will leave it to the reader to review these facts at his or her leisure. Instead, let蘑菇视频 talk about the universal need to keep these areas clean, and working.
It turns out that historically humans have dealt with irregular periods of eating, not so much by choice, but by necessity. In the context of Earth history, we as a species have only had the option of eating whenever we want, for a very short period of time. Our biology does not adapt quickly because we live 70 to 100 years on average. So for example, a person born in 1930 would now be 84. They were born well before much of the convenience foods now available, and they were born when more people still prepared food at home, and even grew the food at home. Plus, the quality of the water, soil, and air were less polluted, so an apple in 1930 was an entirely different apple from one today for many people.
Our genes and our bodies are not likely to adapt at the same rate as those changes within our lifetime. Perhaps the grandchildren of the 84-year-old may possess some adaption to better extracting nutrients from the modern food supply, but even a 20-year-old today has experienced major environmental and food-supply changes.
Even these examples pale in comparison to the larger picture: That according to many serious experts, we are essentially unchanged biologically from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and therefore are biologically unprepared to eat anything except the food as nature provides it: mostly raw, uncooked, plant-food. Your next question is, 鈥渨hat about meat?鈥� This topic is highly debated by very serious and scholarly people. If you are absolutely not ready or willing to try vegetarian or vegan eating, then my best advice is to only eat the highest quality meats you can get, and greatly reduce the portion sizes. Look for hormone-free, grass-fed, free-ranging, organically raised meat. This way at least you are not adding toxic pesticides and pharmaceuticals to the mix.
There is much evidence that through processed foods including dairy, breads, sugary desserts, high-heat oils, environmental toxins, deadly pharmaceuticals, and various toxic packaging, we have overloaded our vital organs, and we have very likely damaged our gut organs to the point where they cannot absorb nutrients efficiently even if we eat all the best food. I highly recommend watching the movie 鈥淧rocessed People.鈥� Last time I checked it was available on Netflix, and possibly YouTube.
Sound grim ? Well, it should. But there is a huge silver-lining in this looming storm cloud: the body can repair itself if we let it. Unless we are so far gone that we have lost some of our vital organs altogether (such as kidney failure), we still have time to let the body-intelligence repair itself. How? By getting out of its way: i.e. STOP. Stop putting things into it which it sees as toxic, or which do not feed us at the level we really need to be fed: Our cells.
This is precisely why last column蘑菇视频 homework was to practice mindful eating. We need to eat for our cells, and not for our taste buds. Can these be combined? Absolutely. Once we retrain our mind to look for 鈥渇eeling good鈥� after we eat, we begin to regain control over our body-machine; and that蘑菇视频 all the body is, a machine. Its intelligence is in what it does after our brain, or our ego, gives it the 鈥渇ood鈥� to work with. If we give the body useless raw materials, or worse, toxic ones, it will do its best to defend itself, and then still be deficient, and therefore begin to break down. If we give it 鈥渞eal food鈥� raw materials, such as clean water, fresh fruits and vegetables, it will know what to do with these materials, and it will begin to rebuild and replace its damaged cells. A good idea for many people is a vegetable juice, or 鈥渕ono-fruit鈥� fast as a means to re-boot our bodies, so that we can break from half a lifetime of bad habits. I recommend the movie 鈥淔at, Sick, And Almost Dead.鈥� It will hopefully help inspire you, as it did me.
It蘑菇视频 important to note that for the most part, heating any real food, especially over the temperature of boiling water, changes its structure, and often destroys any benefit it may have had. For some vegetables, light steaming is okay because it actually helps make the nutrients more accessible, and there is a readily available body of information about that topic for those who wish to learn more.
So as a Step 2, after practicing mindful eating, I suggest to clean up your food intake so your body can stop fighting you every meal.
Here are a few tips toward that goal to get you started:
n Drink clean water as your main drink 鈥� hot or room temperature is best.
n Drink 30 to 60 minutes before the meal, and do not drink during or up to 30 min after so as to not dilute the stomach acid.
n If you cook your food, light steaming or low temp baking is best. As much as possible, try to consume fresh, uncooked real food: fruit, veggies, true whole grains if you must eat bread. Meat must be cooked in most cases.
n Minimize processed oils. Most are deadly, especially heated.
n Minimize dressings on salad. Ask for it on the side at a restaurant so you can control the portion you eat. Ideally, salads are best eaten dry, or with a non-oil, non-sugar dressing such as lemon juice.
n Try to go as many hours between meals as you can, while drinking plenty of water, so your gut can clean itself out, and repair; it cannot repair while digesting. I personally practice 16 hours between dinner and my next meal (14 is recommended for women).
My next column will further focus on methods and choices for advanced gut cleanup. Until then, keep up the good work, and practice mindful eating until it is second nature!