Easy Avocado Hummus – This is a very simple, quick and delightful change up, especially for the bean or seed sensitive!
1 Avocado
¾ cup chickpeas (canned)
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp lemon zest
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Himalayan or Real Salt
Blend all the ingredients in a small food processor until smooth. Enjoy with bean chips or fresh veggies.
Salt is a flavor most of us really enjoy. Salt is life-giving. Every cell in your body relies on it for regulation of body fluids, bone density, blood sugar stabilization, good circulation and muscle and nerve function.
Naturally occurring salt is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. The chemical formula is NaCl. Sodium and chloride are both essential electrolytes your body requires. Sodium balance in the body is complex and impacted by magnesium, calcium, and potassium. If you change the level of one electrolyte, such as sodium, you are impacting the others. Balance is essential to your overall health. Most table salts and sodium in processed food do NOT contain the good stuff, but rather a manufactured salt which negatively impacts the delicate balance of electrolytes in the body.
Here’s the dirt on most common table salts:
Processed table salt wreaks havoc in the human body, especially over time. Here’s how:
So, what’s your best option? Usually, normal use of high-quality table salt along with a whole food diet will not invite issues with blood pressure, water retention, or cardiovascular disease. However, surprisingly, sea salt may not be the answer. As a result of plastics polluting the oceans, sea salt has been found to contain microplastic particles. This leaves the optimal choice to be Himalayan salt, which is mined from salt beds created long before plastic and other toxic chemicals were manufactured. Himalayan salt contains at least 80 naturally occurring trace elements which are beneficial to our health.
Be cautious when you make your purchase as there are cheap knock offs. Two brands that appear to be authentic and pure are Evolution Salt Company (harvested in the Himalayas), and Redmond’s Real Salt (sea salt harvested from a pristine ancient sea near Redmond, Utah). Most people need about 1.5 teaspoons, or 3500mg of sodium a day. Quality salt along with vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, will provide a balance of electrolytes and essential minerals for the day.
Resources:
Group, Edward., (2017). The Health Dangers of Table Salt. Global Healing Center. https://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/dangers-of-salt/
Mercola, Joseph., (2018). Ninety Percent of Sea Salt Contains Plastic. https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/10/31/sea-salt-plastic.aspx
Mercola, Joseph., (2022). Do You Know the Difference Between Salt and Sodium?
https://takecontrol.substack.com/p/salt-and-sodium?s=r
www.realsalt.com/Ingredients
Inflammation[1] lies at the root of most disease pathways, pain, and other symptoms. Reducing inflammation is mission critical to feeling better and avoiding many lifestyle diseases of our day.
The biggest contributor to inflammation is your diet![2] All foods fall on a sliding scale from wonderfully anti-inflammatory to painfully inflammatory. While the goal is to eat a balanced diet, some of which will be slightly inflammatory, most of what we eat should focus on anti-inflammatory and neutral foods.
Ranked for their extraordinarily powerful anti-inflammatory effects, nutrient density, antioxidant-richness, detoxifying ability, and gut-health promoting effects, here are the top 15 of the most anti-inflammatory foods.[3]
First – Berries – Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, and Raspberries
Second – Tomatoes
Third – Mushrooms
Fourth – Broccoli
Fifth – Bell Peppers
Sixth – Sweet Potatoes
Seventh – Onions
Eighth – Apples, Cherries, Oranges
Ninth- Avocado
Tenth – Dark Leafy Greens (the best are collards and spinach, but anything dark green is great)
Eleventh – Black Beans
Twelfth – Lentils
Thirteenth – Chickpeas
Fourteenth – Gluten Free Oats, Millet, Buckwheat
Fifteenth – Macadamia Nuts, Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Hemp, and Pumpkin Seeds
Seventy five to eight five percent of our diet is best chosen from the anti-inflammatory and neutral categories. While some meats, dairy, eggs, and alcohol are generally inflammatory, eaten in moderation with anti-inflammatory choices provides a well-balanced, healthy diet.
Need more help? Call our office to schedule an appointment with our nutritionist, Nancy Mehlert, MS.
[1] Inflammation displays in the body as anything that is painful, swollen, red, raw, bloody, or irritated. It applies to all aches and pains, digestive discomfort, painful joints, headaches, skin irritations and rashes, mucous membranes that are chronically producing mucus in the stool or nasal passages.
[2] On the scale, nothing is worse than deep fried combinations of wheat flour, damaged oil, and sugar. This translates directly into donuts and French fries. All fast food falls to this extreme because of the sugar, gluten, and trans-fatty acids in them. Also included in the extremely inflammatory list are candy, cookies, ice cream, and sugary beverages. And lastly, most people are unaware that bread is one of the most highly processed fake foods.
[3] Goodness Lover Pty Ltd. The Inflammation Solution: Top 29 gut Healing & Inflammation – Fighting Foods, 2022.
There was a time in history when this conversation was unnecessary, and wheat (our primary source of gluten) would have been included in a healthy diet. Why all the ruckus about gluten[1] now?
The wheat we eat today is not what we ate even fifty years ago. Today, conventionally produced wheat crops undergo super-hybridization as well as chemical and radiological mutations so that it is highly resistant to pesticides. Another way to say it is to describe wheat as a man-made fake food. Wheat is also treated with noxious chemicals twice, including just before harvesting. As a result, when we eat wheat, we are consuming these poisons in every bite. Additionally, processing techniques used in the United States and Australia also increase the gluten content, especially in wheat, making it even more difficult to digest.
What happens when we eat wheat or other glutinous foods?[2] Even people who do not have a sensitivity[3] to gluten may have a temporary leaky gut and increased inflammation after consuming it.
In the gut during digestion, gluten:
First: Activates zonulin, a protein that regulates the tight junctions of the small intestine.
Second: When zonulin is released, the tight junctions open slightly, allowing larger particles of food, including gluten, to pass through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream.
Third: The body releases anti-inflammatory cytokines to help heal the leaky gut situation. Chronic consumption of gluten makes healing extremely difficult.
Fourth: In the meantime, the immune system, specifically a number of immunoglobulins (e.g. IgG, IgA), move in to attack the larger food particles which are recognized as foe, rather than friend, since they are not broken down properly during digestion. (food sensitivities result, as does inflammation and congestion caused by them).
Specifically, the permeability of the gut barrier and an imbalance of microbiome is a primary trigger of the inflammatory process in the human body.
The truth about gluten is one of our least and most favorite messages to share with our patients. It is a love-hate topic. Hate, because glutenous foods are all around us and they are some of the most popular, well-loved foods in the world from bread and pastries to hamburger buns and pizza. Love, because we witness over, and over, and over again, the dramatic improvement in gut health and overall health, and weight when it is removed from the diet.
We love you too much to not tell you what you hate to hear. Eat well, Be well.
You can learn more about this topic by reading this article we published in 2017 about gluten:
[1] Gluten is a protein found in specific grains including wheat and its many derivatives, rye, barley, malt, and brewer’s yeast. An excellent resource for sources is found here:
[2] Goodness Lover Pty Ltd. The Inflammation Solution: Top 29 Gut Healing & Inflammation-fighting Foods.2022.
[3] About 2 million people in the US and 1% of the global population have been diagnosed with celiac disease, the most extreme gluten sensitivity. An estimated 20% of the population has a non-celiac gluten sensitivity. We find most people feel significantly better and experience greater health by avoiding it.
When you use a good quality olive oil for cooking, it’s not doing for you nutritionally what you expected it to do. While it has been determined that olive oil is more stable with heat than originally thought, the fact remains that the longer it’s exposed to heat, and the higher the heat, it will be damaged and make the oil toxic to your body.
So, when roasting your olive oil coated vegetables in a 350°+ oven, the olive oil will be molecularly damaged. You thought it was healthy, but really it’s not. Rather, you have made an unusable anti-nutrient for your body. Your body will respond with inflammation and congestion. The same is likely true for avocado oil.
Keep in mind that the higher the heat, and the more prolonged the heating, the faster the degradation of the molecular structure. It may be alright to gently, patiently, slowly sauté something on low to medium low on the stovetop for less than 15 minutes, and successfully avoid damaging the oil. Patient and slow are not common methods for most of us in the kitchen these days. Besides, why cook in olive oil when there are so many better options that also enhance the flavor of our food?
Here are some tips: First, it’s fine to apply olive oil after cooking is complete where this makes sense. Olive oil is good when used for cold preparation in salad dressings and hummus, for example. Second, in terms of roasting vegetables, try putting the roasting pan with butter in the oven while preheating and cleaning your vegetables. Then remove it from the oven, put your vegetables in the hot melted butter and toss them until coated. This works well with any saturated fat (e.g. coconut oil, ghee, lard) and is just as fast as olive oil when you consider the wait time for the oven to preheat anyway.
There are many heat stable saturated fats with which to cook. Normally, at room temperature, these will be more solid, though that may fluctuate with the temperature in your house. Examples include pasture raised butter or ghee, duck, beef, pork fat, and coconut oil. Check out epicprovisions.com for good options. Reserve bacon fat from uncured bacon for cooking. When using the highest heats such as broiling or on the grill, consider ghee to be the most stable. One excellent brand is 4th & Heart (fourthandheart.com) and they offer various flavors. Ghee is normally found on the olive oil aisle of the grocery store, not in the diary section. It is normally soft enough to use a silicone brush to coat a pan, or spread on vegetables or fish, for example.
Take caution when you purchase olive oil. Most olive oils are tarnished and impure, as well as counterfeit, having other added oils such as soybean, grapeseed, or canola oil. Many have been discovered to have toxic chemicals too. Here are tips for purchasing quality olive oil:
Reduce inflammation and increase nutrition by using oils correctly. Eat Well. Be Well.
¹ Real Food/Fake Food by Larry Olmsted, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2016.
There’s trouble with seafood. Our oceans are not as pristine as they used to be. Some of the largest contributors to ocean pollution include:
Another issue is how the seafood is harvested. Because of demand, many species are over-fished. Because of cost, many are harvested in destructive ways which end up harming the ocean ecosystem and threatening fish populations.
With all this in mind, here is a list of seafood with the lowest mercury content, highest Omega 3 content, and least threatened:
There are other great options low in mercury and sustainably harvested, though not as recognized for their Omega 3 content including:
If you don’t see your favorite on the list, then it is very high in mercury, and/or unsustainably caught, and/or the species population is threatened.
Eat Well, Be Well.
References:
https://www.texasdisposal.com/blog/ocean-pollution-causes-effects-and-prevention/
SeafoodWatch.org, Consumer Guide to Sustainable Seafood
Center For Science in the Public Interest, Seafood Recommendation Guide for pregnant, breast feeding and young children with lower mercury and increased Omega 3’s. www.cspinet.org
Our home environment is a significant source for cancer causing toxins. Here’s some advice:
Resources:
https://www.ewg.org/consumerguides
https://oneessentialcommunity.com/essential-oils-repel-bugs-diy-recipes/
*https://www.wellandgood.com/how-to-remove-dust/
Whether it’s Monkeypox, COVID, or flu and cold season, it is always a good reminder to our patients and friends that we should always be engaged in ensuring our immune function is operating optimally.
What is Monkeypox and what do we know about it?
What are the symptoms for Monkeypox?
Helpful Immune Boosters to Fight off Viral Infections
Daily Maintenance:
Additional Support:
Finally, a healthy lifestyle including quality rest, stress reduction practices, exercise, avoiding sugar, handwashing, sunshine, and laughter are invaluable ways to support immune function.
For preventative support, we are happy to assist you in putting together an individual protection plan. Schedule an appointment with one of our medical providers to discuss the ideal plan for you.
References:
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20220524/what-to-know-monkeypox-us-cases
The Food Industry is quick to pick up on rising trends and then capitalize on them, but not always in honest ways. That’s why it is so hard to trust package labeling. The latest one I’ve observed is with the word “Fermented”.
Fermented foods, if properly fermented and packaged, are full of the living bacteria found in your gut. We usually refer to them as probiotics. That’s why fermented foods are so healthy because they help you to maintain a healthy gut!
Fermented foods are LIVING foods. The beneficial bacteria are eating and multiplying, and that process should be ongoing when you eat them. Live ferments need to be refrigerated. So if you find something in the store that is non-refrigerated and it says it is fermented, well, its dead now. This means you have lost the key benefit of the food. The ingredient labels should be cabbage (or other vegetable), water, and salt. A spice would be ok too. It should never have preservatives, sugar, or vinegar added, and should never say “pasteurized”. If it’s pasteurized, it’s been heating to extreme which kills the bacteria and defeats the purpose. The most common packaging for living ferments is glass jars or vented pouches found only in a refrigerated section of the store. If it is in a can or jar on the veggie aisle, it is dead, highly heated, and potentially contaminated by the can itself. It may be edible but don’t expect it to help your microbiome or be deeply nutritious.
Did you know these two Fermented Food Fun Facts ?
Here is a link to our Fermented Salsa recipe to enjoy this summer!
[i] https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200708/Study-links-fermented-vegetable-consumption-to-low-COVID-19-mortality.aspx?fbclid=IwAR0caH0-UyS-dyOeGpeqRyY4y3ELgB6pKUJON8rksxJ86VwJn-v9g-hv23o
[ii] https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/bmjnph/early/2020/06/09/bmjnph-2019-000053.full.pdf
All artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k, interfere with the normal and healthy activity of gut bacteria[1]. They also cause DNA damage.
These popular sweeteners are often identified with the pink, blue, and yellow packets found in every store and restaurant nationwide, as well as found in “no sugar” and “sugar-free” foods, candy, and beverages. They are also used in medications, toothpastes, and mouthwashes. Consuming as few as 7 little packets may be enough to have a detrimental effect on your gut biome[2].
In addition to disturbing the gut biome, all of the artificial sweeteners are linked to increased risk for obesity, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Several are known carcinogens.
While the most well-known brand is Splenda, the actual chemical sweetener’s name is SUCRALOSE, the most common name you will find in ingredient labels. Watch for it and make every effort to banish it from your diet. Also, be sure never to cook with artificial sweeteners because they increase in toxicity with the addition of heat.
Protecting your gut biome is one of the most important aspects of protecting your health! Antibiotics, artificial sweeteners, and NSAIDS, when ingested routinely, will destroy the biome and result in weakened immunity, weakened brain function, and digestive issues. This, in turn, will create inflammation and disease. Take your probiotics and avoid destroyers of the gut biome.
To ensure you maintain a healthy gut, talk to our staff nutritionist or your medical provider at The Woodlands Institute for Health and Wellness.
[1] Harpaz, D.; Yeo, L.P.; Cecchini, F.; Koon, T.H.P.; Kushmaro, A.; Tok, A.I.Y.; Marks, R.S.; Eltzov, E. Measuring Artificial Sweeteners Toxicity Using a Bioluminescent Bacterial Panel. Molecules 2018, 23, 2454. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102454
[2] Abou-Donia MB, El-Masry EM, Abdel-Rahman AA, McLendon RE, Schiffman SS. Splenda alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrome p-450 in male rats. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2008;71(21):1415-29. doi: 10.1080/15287390802328630. PMID: 18800291.