Nutrition

What's the Big Deal about Gluten?

gluten free blog 1 Have you ever wondered why so many people are going gluten free? Is eating a gluten free diet safe? What about women trying to conceive, pregnant, or breastfeeding? Let's take a moment to explore these issues, so that you can consider if this is something that could help you reach your wellness goals.

What is gluten?

Simply put gluten is the protein in wheat, barley and rye. People with celiac disease, an autoimmune disease triggered by gluten, must avoid gluten completely. However, Gluten is often blamed for contributing to a myriad of other health problems including: digestive problems, skin issues, brain fog, ADHD, joint problems, infertility, and inflammation. Many people report wonderful results after embracing a gluten free diet.

Is a gluten free diet right for me?

One way to check if gluten is affecting your system is through an elimination diet. When doing an elimination diet gluten is strictly avoided for at least 30 days. It is then intentionally reintroduced, and any reaction is carefully noted. It is important to know that symptoms may appear immediately after eating gluten, or may appear a couple of days later. These symptoms may include digestive issues, skin trouble, depression, low energy, etc.

The Single Food that had the Greatest Impact on My Overall Health

Liver Changed My Life I’m not one for gimmicks or quick fixes. Being in robust health doesn’t happen overnight but generally takes making significant changes to diet, movement, mindset, stress, sleep, etc over an extended period of time. However, there has been one food that I believe has made a tremendous difference in my overall state of health. What is it? Organ meats and in my case, specifically liver. In my mind this is the superfood of superfoods.

My Story

I had made all the changes. I ate a super clean real food, paleo type diet, I slept 8 plus hours a night, I walked everyday, I eliminated stressors in my life, I got rid of toxins from cleaning supplies and beauty products, but still I was having a hard time balancing my hormones with abnormally long cycles and was having a hard time getting pregnant. Then entered, organ meat. I had known it was good for me for a long time and even would sneak it in every now and again in ground beef dishes but I never fully took the plunge. I decided to start making liver pate and eating 1-2 tbsp daily on my morning vegetables and eggs.

How Dirty is Your Windshield?

How Dirty Is Your Winshield? I heard an analogy recently that I loved. It is about bugs on a windshield. Basically the gist of it was that if you have a windshield that is full dirt, grime, and dead bugs, and one more bug hits your windshield, you won't notice it. On the other hand, if your windshield is crystal clear, one new bug stands out.

How does this relate to your health?

As you know, I am all about eating REAL FOOD. If a person eats the Standard American Diet (SAD) full of pizza, cheeseburgers, fries and soda, it is like the dirty windshield. Making one more poor food choice doesn't change the way that you feel.

As I convince patients to shift the way they eat to a real food diet full of a variety of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and good quality meats, they are slowly cleaning their windshield. They often notice that suddenly, eating a candy bar or a few slices of pizza has a much greater impact on them than it used to. This is the windshield effect at work!

Are GMO's Safe to Eat?

GMOS 2

Recently, I have had several questions from patients and people in my nutrition bootcamp program about GMOs.

What is a GMO?

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. This is an increasingly popular topic in the news. There is controversy over labeling of genetically modified products.

Many people believe that GMOs are the simple cross breeding of plant species that farmers have been doing for years. This is NOT the case. Current procedures for making genetic modifications are high tech and sophisticated techniques like gene-splicing, rather than the natural, low-tech methods of cross pollination.

Are GMOs safe for human consumption?

One of my main concerns with GMO foods is that there are few studies (especially anything long term) on how they impact humans. My philosophy is to keep our food simple, go back to the basics, and eat foods more like our great grandparents ate, rather than processed food invented within the last 75 years. Clearly genetically changing the makeup of vegetables (and in the pipeline they are working on creating GMO animals as well) does not fit in with this philosophy of back to the basics old and simple foods.