You Are What You Eat!

A better guide to living healthier!

Most people don’t know that more than 70% of the immune system is found in the digestive tract. “You literally are what you eat!” The more you stress your digestive system with foods and beverages your body doesn’t want, the more digestive symptoms you will have (gas, bloating, pain, cramping, diarrhea, constipation, etc.) and the weaker your immune system will become. The more suppressed your immune system is, the quicker you will get sick and for longer periods of time.

The four major food allergies in today’s society are wheat, corn, dairy and soy. These four food groups contain major allergies because they are not only found everywhere in almost every food, but they are also the most widely modified genetically and enhanced chemically.

Although we make no claims in this office, the consumption of certain foods has either led to or aided in certain health problems: gluten and/or wheat causing inflammation/bloating and other digestive problems, cow dairy playing a role in asthma and psoriasis of the skin, the consumption of soy causing an imbalance in women’s estrogen levels, processed sugars from sweets to sodas leading to weight gain and diabetes, coffee, espresso shots, lattes from your favorite franchised coffee houses creating and aiding in adrenal fatigue and lack of energy, etc… (In western society, a typical individual consumes, on average, 150 pounds of processed sugar every year!)

Some tidbits for you: grains in the form of brown rice, wild rice, quinoa and millet are healthier alternatives and are either gluten-free, or contain minute amounts of gluten which most people don’t react to. You can find these in their original form or pastas made from them. Cow dairy products should not be consumed. Healthier alternatives are rice, almond and goat milk, goat and sheep cheese and yogurt. We are the only species to drink another species’ milk! If you are going to consume any cow products, they should be of the “raw” persuasion (unpasteurized and not homogenized). The best soy to eat is fermented soy. It is natural and not genetically modified (non-GMO). Soy should still be consumed in small quantities since it still has an effect on estrogen levels.

Being vegan or vegetarian is not necessarily the healthiest way to eat. Although there are benefits to living and eating this lifestyle, many people, at least in western society, wind up missing many nutrients found in meat. There are some societies that can be completely vegetarian due to geographic location and their heredity of eating a specific way for generations.

Meats are considered acidic. One of the goals in this office is to educate you in regards to the body’s acidity and help you to maintain a balance. Although it is important to eat meat for health reasons, it’s also important to keep the body as least acidic as possible. The less acidic the body is, the less inflammation there will be and the less chance of cancer growing in the body. On the other hand, keeping the body slightly acidic will keep other micro organisms; bacteria, parasites, etc at bay. It is a fine line and balance!

If you are going to eat meat, our suggestion is to eat lean meats, organic, grass-fed and free-range. Good sources of meat proteins are eggs, chicken, buffalo, turkey, some grass-fed beef and fish (wild, not farm-raised) in the form of salmon and other fish low in mercury levels. This is not to say that you can’t and shouldn’t stay away from meat products and get protein from other food sources. We are just stating that eating meat once a day or several times a week can give you the nutrients and health benefits you need to live healthier.

Health is a reflection of how we choose to live…