Tag: Mindfulness

The Amazing Process of Digestion

Part of eating mindfully involves understanding how your body digests food. Once you grasp this, it brings a whole new awareness. It’s essential to fully comprehend what the food you eat, and the way you eat it, does to your body. While you might think digestion is a boring subject, gaining knowledge about it is important to change your relationship with food for the better, and achieve optimal health.

So what is digestion?  It is simply the breakdown of large food molecules into small food molecules that are more easily absorbed into the blood stream.

How to Improve Your Digestion

Every step in the digestion process requires energy. The more energy you use to digest food, the less energy you will have available to do all the other things you need your body to do, such as healing and regenerating itself. In her book Body Ecology, nutritionist Donna Gates recommends following the 80/20 principle. Basically, you eat until you are 80 percent full and leave 20 percent of your stomach empty to allow for proper digestion.

You can also help your digestive system by doing the following:

  • Drink a good supply of the right kind of water daily.
  • Eat a good balanced diet with the right mix of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, high fiber foods, and a healthy supply of vitamins and minerals.
  • Chew your food until it is liquefied. This is very important.
  • Enjoy your food. Eat slowly and mindfully.
  • Avoid stressful eating. If you are overstressed, your body is so busy dealing with your stress that it has no time to deal with digestion or absorption of nutrients. You can stress or digest; you cannot do both.
  • Do not overeat. This is less likely to happen if you slow down your eating.
  • Avoid exposure to artificial food additives, colorings, and preservatives.
  • Take a digestive enzyme supplement with your meals to boost your digestive juices and alleviate all the typical digestive problems. Digestive enzymes are produced naturally by your body; however, these enzymes often become depleted, particularly if you are older.
  • Drink a glass of water while you are cooking to stimulate your digestives juices. Do not drink while you are eating your meal as it can dilute your digestive enzymes that need to be emulsified while you chew.
  • Try adding a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to four ounces of water fifteen minutes before you eat a meal to increase the production of hydrochloric acid which is necessary to break down protein in the gut and may aid cellular absorption of glucose.

Digestive Aids

Probiotics

Probiotics are live microorganisms that help fight bad bugs in your gut, improve intestinal health, and are important to any discussion about digestion. There are many different strains of  these beneficial organisms that reduce the risk of infection by conquering dangerous organisms and suppressing inflammation. Probiotics promote the function of the intestinal inner lining to act as a barrier to potentially dangerous organisms and chemicals. Many problems can arise if the organisms in your gut are not balanced, including inflammatory bowel disease, heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, asthma, allergic disorders, and even obesity. Pollution, stress, overuse of antibiotics, and the simple fact of aging all assist in the breakdown of a healthy gut. Probiotics can help restore the balance and treat lactose intolerance, diarrhea, inflammatory bowel diseases, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Tracy Piper is a cleanse and internal fitness expert to many celebrities and offers her insider’s secrets in her book The Piper Protocol. A fabulous read that includes the best guide I‘ve ever seen on probiotics. Tracy believes that “the more species of probiotics you take, the better,” and it’s a good idea to rotate them. She points out that “there are also a broad number of species and strains that do specific things in the body so you can customize your probiotic supplements.” You really need to purchase Tracy’s book to get the full list along with a lot of really interesting information. Tracy offers a few other great tips on probiotics:

  • Look for a list that outlines the genus, species, strain, and the number of probiotics; fifty billion is ideal. Avoid if you see “proprietary blend” or “synthetic” enteric coating.
  • For best results, take probiotics every day, ideally on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.
  • Your mouth has more bacteria than anywhere else, so break open a capsule, mix with a little water and swish between your teeth and into your gums on a daily basis.
  • To increase your strength and muscle mass, take an additional probiotic with your protein. It will enhance protein utilization.
  • For better preservation, all probiotics should be refrigerated even if they say no refrigeration and keep out of extreme heat.
  • You can take probiotics as often as three times per day.
  • Fermented foods were around long before probiotic supplements ever arrived on the scene and are excellent. Ideally you want to find brands with no added sugar, coloring, bindings or too much salt. This is covered more full in the “Fermented Foods” section of The Power of Healthy Living.

Enzymes

Like probiotics, enzymes are important to digestion and are either produced by your body or introduced to your body through the food you eat. Enzymes break down food to absorb the available nutrients. You can be eating a perfectly healthy diet, but if your body does not have enzymes, your body is not equipped to absorb all the goodness from the food. According to Tracy Piper, enzymes also metabolically “repair and digest unwanted debris in the blood and body, like bacteria, cellular debris and viruses.” If this is not happening, you can get sick and feel older and less energetic. Avoiding stress, living a healthy lifestyle, eating the best enzyme-rich foods, and taking good-quality supplements will keep an abundant supply of  enzymes in your body. Fresh, whole, raw, sprouted, fermented food that is still alive will have the most plentiful supplies of enzymes. The closer to nature the food is, the better. Cooked, processed, or dead food is devoid of enzymes. If eating too much raw food is a real chore for you, try juicing and blending to incorporate enzymes into your diet.

There are many different enzymes that are necessary for breaking down food. They fall into three major food groups: lipase for fat, amylase for carbohydrates, and protease for protein. Your body should produce these enzymes naturally; however, this unfortunately doesn’t always happen, often because of not properly chewing your food or eating too much processed food. Getting older also lessens your body’s ability to produce enzymes for the simple reason that your body does not function as well. Finally, a diet that is not properly balanced with sufficient supplies of vitamins and minerals can hamper your body’s ability to produce adequate enzymes. Changing all of these habits may still provide an inadequate supply of enzymes. I try to remember to take digestive enzymes right before each meal. If I’m going to make the effort to eat the perfect food, I want to make sure my body is getting maximum benefits from the nutrients.

For more detailed information on Digestion, pick up your copy of the Recipes for Life Boxed Set.

Access your complementary recipe here.

 

Health Coach Rita Thomas and Chef Erin Holm hope to inspire families, friends and communities to live happier, healthier and more delicious lives.
Sign up for their health and recipe blog to start your journey to good health.

Organic Vs. Non-Organic

How many times have you heard that organic foods do not contain more nutrients than non-organic foods? So why bother paying all that extra money for organic? Well, putting aside the nutritional component of organic produce for a moment, the chemicals and pesticides you are eating when you ingest non-organic foods have been associated with cancer, nervous system disorders, and other serious health problems.  We appreciate TV host, speaker, chef, author, Andrea Beaman’s take on it.  She says these chemicals kill bugs and the only difference between bugs and us is size.  Eventually they’ll kill us too.

Are you still wondering, “why bother?”now?!

Best organic choices:

Here is a list of the foods most likely affected by pesticides:
(originally referred to as the “Dirty Dozen” but now there are more than a dozen!)

  • Green Beans
  • Leafy Greens (kale, collard greens)
  • Potatoes
  • Blueberries
  • Cucumbers
  • Lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Grapes
  • Nectarines
  • Strawberries
  • Peaches
  • Red Peppers
  • Celery
  • Apples (THE WORST!)
  • Teas and Spices

What you can get away with:

These “Clean Fifteen” foods are those, least likely, to hold pesticide residues:

  • Asparagus
  • Avocado
  • Cabbage
  • Cantaloupe (domestic)
  • Eggplant
  • Grapefruit
  • Kiwi
  • Mangoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Onions
  • Pineapple
  • Sweet Corn
  • Sweet Peas
  • Sweet Potato
  • Watermelon

How to avoid toxins all together?

To avoid toxins and pesticides, the best of all bests is to plant your own garden if you have the time and space. If this isn’t possible, the next best option is to buy organic and in season from local farmers. If this is out of the question financially, buy as much organic as you can, keeping the Dirty Dozen in mind; and check out the section on “Detoxification” in our latest book The Power of Healthy Living. You’ll find there are many ways to help eliminate some of these toxins from your body.

Researchers have started tracking the nutrient components of organic versus non-organic produce, and the findings weigh very heavily in favor of organic. For example, tests show that organic tomatoes have as much as 55 percent more vitamin C than non-organic tomatoes. In 2005 a team of Newcastle University researchers found that organically produced food had higher levels of specific antioxidants and lower mycotoxin levels than conventional samples. The study found organic crops are up to 60 percent higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally grown ones. Professor Carlos Leifert, lead author of the study, said in the October 2014 issue of What Doctors Don’t Tell You, there are “statistically significant meaningful” differences between organic and standard produce, with organic having from 19 to 69 percent more antioxidants. One other study showed substantially higher levels of minerals.

Organic is not only better for your body, it’s also much better for your planet. Studies have shown that organic farming uses less energy, less water, and no chemicals. That means less erosion, maintained soil quality, and more conserved biological resources. As well, new reports show that current yields from some organic crops are exceeding those of non-organic crops.

For more detailed information on Organic Eating, pick up your copy of the Recipes for Life Boxed Set.

Access your complementary recipe here.

 

Health Coach Rita Thomas and Chef Erin Holm hope to inspire families, friends and communities to live happier, healthier and more delicious lives.
Sign up for their health and recipe blog to start your journey to good health.

Genetically Modified Foods

Right now in the United States, about 60% to 70% of the foods on our grocery store shelves contain GMOs, and there is absolutely no labeling to indicate this. As a result, we cannot always be certain whether the foods we are consuming are GMO or not, and the number of GMO foods is growing. This is absolute craziness.

The affects of GMOs

Animal studies on the effects of GMO foods have revealed all kinds of issues, including infertility problems, immune system complications, accelerated aging, insulin issues, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. Most of this research is funded by industries with a vested interest in finding no negative effects, so outcomes are always in their favor! And there have be no studies done on the long-term effects …

The Non-GMO Project is a nonprofit organization committed to preserving and building the non-GMO food supply, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. Here is their response when asked if GMOs are safe:

“Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Increasingly, Americans are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment.”

There are positive steps you can take to avoid GMOs and it starts by buying organic foods that contain the 100 percent USDA certified organic label.  GMOs are not permitted in organic products. If you cannot afford organic, then look for Non GMO Project seals. Buying local is also a great way to avoid GMOs; ask questions of your vendors about the lifecycle of the product and the philosophy of the producer.

Organic or Non-GMO?

Max Goldberg is one of the nation’s leading organic food experts and keeps us well informed on his website. Some of his readers tend to confuse the terms organic and non-GMO. So here’s the deal: non-GMO is not better than organic. Look for 100 percent USDA certified organic because all organic food should be non-GMO. Non-GMO is always second best to organic. If the product you want to purchase comes in a box, a can, or a jar, read the labels and check every single ingredient.

Here are some at-risk ingredients to avoid because they are probably genetically modified:

  • Beet sugar
  • Canola rapeseed
  • Corn ingredients and products
  • Cottonseed oil
  • Soy ingredients
  • Papaya
  • Peas
  • Potatoes
  • Rice
  • Yellow squash
  • Tomatoes
  • Zucchini

Actions you can take to ensure a non-GMO future for food production:

  • Stop buying GMO and processed foods. In the 2014 documentary Origins David Wolfe suggests you “vote with your money.” If you stop buying processed foods, there will be no market for them.
  • Get involved. Insist that your governments conduct their own studies on the safety of GMOs rather than relying on studies conducted by biotech companies who are only in it for the money. 
  • In April of 2014, Vermont was successful in passing a no-GMO bill, yet the very next month, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) confirmed it would sue in an attempt to overturn the bill. Jackson County in Oregon is the only other state that has had some success in banning the growth of GMO crops.
  • Stop supporting junk food restaurants. We were delighted to read that McDonalds reported a 30% drop in revenues for 2015 and is closing 700 locations. We’re sure it’s because of these revenue drops that McDonalds announced that they will be launching their first organic hamburger in Germany. Yay! If we continue to send the McDonalds’ of the world the message that we don’t want to eat unhealthy food, they will be forced to incorporate new, healthier, affordable choices into their menus if they want to survive.
  • Ban these brands from your grocery cart:
    • Pepsi Cola
    • Nestle
    • Kraft
    • General Mills
    • Naked Juice
    • Gerber
    • Organic Boca Burgers
    • Cascadian Farms
    • Simply Frito-Lay

You can be proactive. Even if all you do is a sign a petition, it’s a great place to start. And please, let your governments know that what they are doing to our food supply is totally unacceptable. Make them accountable by asking them why they subsidize junk food, making it so affordable yet not organic food?

More Resources

For more detailed information on GMOs in your food, pick up your copy of the Recipes for Life Boxed Set.

Access your complementary recipe here.

 

Health Coach Rita Thomas and Chef Erin Holm hope to inspire families, friends and communities to live happier, healthier and more delicious lives.
Sign up for their health and recipe blog to start your journey to good health.

Nourishing the Soul

Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health, and Society says:  “Mindfulness is a love affair with life and a gateway into the full dimensionality of being human.”  This applies to all areas of your life including how you choose to nourish your body.

This month we will take you from the macro (how to make ethical and healthy choices about food) to the micro (how food moves through your digestive system). When you begin to be mindful of food in this holistic way, it will lead to better health and a more profound connection with your food and your world.

At its most basic, eating is what humans do to satisfy hunger. Although, in our food-obsessed culture, eating is a loaded activity that comes with a host of emotional, social, physiological, spiritual, and environmental baggage. Not surprisingly, some of us rely on food to fill us up emotionally as well as physically. Let’s face it, we live in a culture that encourages us to eat and drink. For anyone who loves eating out or entertaining, it can be difficult to follow strict dietary guidelines. Plus, the temptation of junk food is everywhere. It’s fast, cheap, quick, and easy to eat at fast food restaurants.

In Michael Pollan’s books The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Rules, and his most recent Cooked, he points out that three times a day you are able to express your values through your food choices. So how do you bypass all of the unhealthy cultural messages you are bombarded with? One way to do this is to learn to eat mindfully. Mindful eating is eating with intention. It’s about slowing down and being conscious of the effect food has on your body. When you eat mindfully, you learn to enjoy food the way it is meant to be enjoyed rather than just trying to fill a void. You choose foods that truly support your body. This approach inevitably leads to developing a healthier relationship with your food and puts you in the right frame of mind; your body will feel the benefits. Eat slowly and focus on what you are eating. Chew your food until it is liquefied and think about how every mouthful is nourishing your body. Smell it, savor the taste, and enjoy the experience. Your mindset is extremely important.

Michael Pollan believes “cooking is an expression of love” and “meals are sacred occasions” where you should honor the sacrifice of the food you are about to eat. It’s a good idea to take a few deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth to prepare your digestive system for the food your body is about to metabolize. It lowers those stress hormones whose goal is to encourage you to store fat when you eat. You certainly don’t want that.

By being mindful of the foods you buy, the brands you choose, and the stores you shop in, you become part of a groundswell of people who are striving to stop the unscrupulous food producers, pesticide manufacturers, and GMO proponents from severing our vital connection to nourishing foods.

Tune in next week to learn more about the foods in the world around you. And enjoy this complementary recipe, meant to be eaten slowly and enjoyed to it’s maximum!

Access your complementary recipe here.

Health Coach Rita Thomas and Chef Erin Holm hope to inspire families, friends and communities to live happier, healthier and more delicious lives.
<style=”text-align: left;”>Sign up to their health and recipe blog to start your journey to good health.