Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 11

Racing Can Wait

In the summer of 2018 when I got pregnant, I’d already taken a temporary step back from endurance racing in order to spend more time building my business.

I never stopped enjoying all that goes into training for Ironman and marathoning on a regular basis; rather, as an age group athlete, I simply got to the point that I felt I’d accomplished a lot and, although I still have goals to achieve in my sport, I needed more.

I’d come to the realization that since nearly every client I’d worked with in my nutrition practice over the previous fifteen years was suffering from some degree of inflammation and / or gut dysfunction and needed a focus on gut health, bone broth was a given for all.

And while there were some good options out there in the marketplace, I felt the one I’d been making at home for years would be one everyone could enjoy because not only was it rich in all the gut boosting health benefits, it was sourced properly and delicious!

And so it began.

No longer was I choosing to do a 90 minute masters swim on a Saturday morning followed by a threshold bike ride and brick run; I was instead, up at 330 to pack up and head to the commercial kitchen where I’d begun renting space in order to start broth production and then straight to the farmer’s market.

Same for Sunday.

My workouts shifted from first thing in the morning to after the market.

And Monday wasn’t a rest day anymore, it was an easy swim at 5, then downtown to broth it up all day.

I fell in love with it and found it far more fulfilling to produce this healing elixir by hand, not to mention to become part of two new communities – the other food entrepreneurs I’d met in the kitchen as well as the vendors at my markets.

Things all started to fall into place; broth sales started off well and continued to grow and, much to my pleasant surprise, my new communities also had the nice side effect of being great places to connect with new clients who were genuinely aware of the impact of gut health on their overall well being.

I never stopped exercising and in fact, I still managed to pull out a single 70.3 at Honu in 2018.  Although I didn’t perform as I typically do, I still eeked out a 5th place position for my age group.

So was it the lowered training volume that led to my body being ready to have a baby, at the ripe old age of nearly 44?  Hmmm…  I feel from the gut, pun intended, that it was the sense of fulfillment I had of being part of something bigger and doing a much more involved job at serving others that brought me energetically to the place I’d personally need to be in, in order to become a mom to a human.

I did not follow many of the recommendations passed on to me over the years including to stop exercise completely or to add processed carbs in order to increase my body fat percentage.

I did, however, as I’ve blogged about before, do a heck of a lot of work to learn to meditate regularly, to achieve a genuine sense of calm and belief that everything truly does work out exactly as it is supposed to.

As a result, a combination of I believe of all of the above, the pregnancy I had was magical.

I felt incredible for the most part and when I felt less than, such as being nauseated for a good four months, I was able to simply not pay attention to it, trusting that my body felt a certain way because I was pregnant and to move right past it.

It all started with the single decision to believe that the pregnancy would be magical and that by no means would, I need to pay any attention to anything touted as fact that did not resonate.

One of the ways in which this manifested was knowing that although I’d never experienced anything like the change in my body that I did during this time, I never felt worried I’d gain too much weight, my skin would stretch too much or I’d lose fitness.

I was completely able to bring down the training volume and intensity, to walk and hike beginning and five months because it felt too awkward to run, to ask my husband to put my bike handlebars in a silly upright position because I could no longer lean forward and to commit to regular yoga because I genuinely felt it was a priority.

I kept active every day and got in around 90 minutes of some sort of movement on average per day, plus continued to be active during my workday.

My main MO was that I was exercising, not training.

I’d never not trained!

But undoubtedly, it was the thing to do that just felt right.  And what better time to trust your gut then when you’re expecting?

At the same time, I never didn’t miss it.

In fact, when the elite runners at the 2019 LA Marathon ran down San Vicente, passed my Sunday Brentwood market, I was in tears to not be running!   Funny how you can feel two very different things at the same time.

I also knew that I would not be gunning to get back into training too quickly after my son was born, especially due to the complication I had after his safe and smooth delivery.

I thought I’d continue to exercise for 2019, and then on January 1, 2020, training would resume.

I registered for Honu, deferred my invitational entry to the NY Marathon to 2020 and let it be.

But once 2020 rolled around, one thing became glaringly clear: if I chose to train and not race, I’d lose precious time with my son.

My schedule had become such so that the only time I am not with him is during two yoga classes and one pilates session per week.

Three days per week, we’re out with the stroller doing our 12 mile walk / run in the neighborhood.   We have our once per week hike with hubby and the dogs.   Weekends after market, which we do together, I’m in our gym at home while he’s in the playpen three feet away.   Client calls are done from home and I’m able to keep him with me.

Was I really ready to give that up?

I wrestled with it for quite a bit.  It’d be a lie to say it wasn’t a tough choice but in the end I realized one thing:   if I were to fast forward the time and look back, would I really ever say I’d wished I’d returned to racing a year sooner, or would it be far more likely I’d wish to have more time with my son as an infant?

The decision was made and it feels so right.

I have unfinished business; I haven’t broken 3:00 in my open marathon and I was 57 seconds off podium in Kona.   And I’m very keen to see how having become a mom and gone through pregnancy and childbirth will affect my race performance.

But I can do it when I’m 46.  And 47.

Sticking with exercising as a 45 year old mom and taking advantage of the luxury that my work and my family allows me to be with Yves almost all the time is a gift I’ll be eternally grateful for.

Racing will still be there when the time is right for me… for us!

Toxins Here, Toxins There, Toxins Everywhere?

Undoubtedly, we live in a toxic world.

Even if we do our own part to keep our personal environments clean and safe, there are some things beyond our control.

From a cloud of second hand smoke we might inhale accidentally, walking down a city street, to hidden canola oil used in cooking what we thought was a healthy choice of a grass fed burger at a restaurant, to a seemingly innocent glass of cool tap water we pour ourselves from our faucets in our home, to drink after a strenuous workout on a hot day, we’re repeatedly exposed to what are in effect poisons, which can end up causing disease, even when present at low concentration in the body (1).

One client I worked with recently finally got to the root cause of her mysterious fatigue when we learned the condo she lived in was bursting with hidden mold.

Another traced back chronic migraines and respiratory issues to a dry cleaning facility she had worked in as a part time job in college.

And I personally was rudely awoken just recently when our pediatrician inquired as to what type of water filtration system we have in our home to ensure the water our son would soon be drinking (and has been bathing in for nearly 9 months) was pure and free from chlorine and chloramines (disinfectants used to treat drinking water, most commonly formed when ammonia is added to chlorine to treat drinking water and present in the water we have in LA County, as confirmed by the DWP themselves). (2)

For me, it’s been a case of peeling off the layers of the proverbial onion; first with learning about our unsafe food supply and the entire confusing conversation about organic versus non, free range meaning next to nothing, farmed fish being touted as not that bad for you and the idea that even sugar in moderation is a good idea.

Then came the education about how little protection we have in our legislation about what’s actually safe for us to use in our own personal hygiene.

Thanks to Beautycounter, not only can I rest assured that my own body wash, lotion and makeup are clean, I can be comfortable using the baby collection on our son without risk of chemical exposure in his bath.

Circling back to the topic of the toxic water, that was one more thing I realized I’d turned a blind eye to; for ages we’ve been drinking tap water thinking it can’t possibly be that bad and it took our pediatrician’s recommendation to being delving into it to learn just how very dangerous it can be to ingest the chemicals found in our drinking water.

But is the answer to stay home, ‘don a surgical mask, sanitize everything and live in a bubble?

Not by a long shot.

While it certainly behooves us to clean up our own personal environs in terms of greening up our homes, removing the obvious toxins in household products and each doing our parts to reduce our individual carbon footprints, the other part of the picture actually to start with a hyperlocal place: our very own guts.

A healthy connection exists between gut microbiota and the immune system which supports protective responses against pathogens, promotes tolerance to harmless microbes and their products, and helps maintain self-tolerance, the ability of our immune system to not react harmfully to our own body. (4)

Did you know that 70–80% of the body’s immune cells are found in the gut (5)?

It makes sense then, that when our guts become permeable, or leaky, we are less able to fight off everything from pathogenic bacteria to toxins around us.

In addition to this comes the understanding that sanitizing everything around us is not the answer; in fact, there are also numerous animal studies that have linked triclosan, a compound found in many popular hand sanitizers, to cancer (6).

We must remember that some bacteria that we find externally, just as that which we find in our guts, can be beneficial to supporting optimal health.

So what’s our best course of action?

Boosting our own gut health, thereby building our immune systems to literally make ourselves stronger from the inside out.

And just how do we do this?

It starts with a combination of removing foods which are causing inflammation and optimizing for foods which help our guts to heal, thereby reducing inflammation and allowing our bodies to calm down.

An authentic, plant-based Paleo approach will do the trick as it is inherently low in, or ideally, completely devoid of, inflammatory causing foods.

With a focus on nutrient dense, local, in-season, organic veggies combined with ample natural fats and small portions of mindfully sourced proteins, eating in this simple, net alkaline diet not only supports gut health, it’s respectful of our planet and the animals on it, making it the all around most balanced manner to eat.

Add in your daily cup of properly sourced bone broth, some fermented foods, a good dose of both pro and prebiotics and you’ve got yourself the makings of the perfect recipe for a long and healthy life in which you’re thriving and not just surviving, even in the face of external toxins.

Adopting the mindset of controlling the things we can control and taking action allows the figurative stress bucket or net inflammatory load to decrease, thereby boosting our ability and bandwidth to be stronger in order to fight off what exists around us.

(1) https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/...

(2) https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/basic-i...

(3) https://www.beautycounter.com/nellste...

(4) https://neurohacker.com/how-the-gut-m...

(5) A.K. Abbas, A.H.H. Lichtman, S. Pillai, Cellular and Molecular Immunology E-Book, Elsevier Health Sciences, 2017

(6) https://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/...

Why “Game Changers” Needn’t Change Your Game

Have you seen it yet?

If you have, and you’re thinking you’ve got to ‘go vegan’ as the main takeaway, it’s worth considering whether all the information presented should be taken at face value, or if, just perhaps, some of it may have been taken just a tad out of context.

The latest in a series of documentaries, many which contain scientific backing and sound research, Game Changers, is “a revolutionary new film about meat, protein and strength”, “tells the story of James Wilks, elite Special Forces trainer and The Ultimate Fighter winner, as he travels the world on a quest to uncover the optimal diet for human performance. Showcasing elite athletes, special ops soldiers, visionary scientists, cultural icons, and everyday heroes, what James discovers permanently changes his understanding of food and his definition of true strength.” (1)

Both the film and the website, both beautifully produced and presented, give a host of reasons why ‘eating meat is bad’ including the old go-to that ‘meat causes cancer’, that animal products create inflammation in humans and that livestock require excessive land because animals are actually just the “middlemen”, consuming on average six times more protein than they even produce.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

And all those things are true… if we’re talking about beef sourced from inhumane stock yards, chicken from deplorable battery-cage production facilities stacked as high as the ceiling who never see the light of day and pigs stuffed into pens so small they cannot turn around.

None of these practices are acceptable and as a starting point, should never be supported in any manner.

Add to that, then, the next step:  the way in which our food is packaged and processed, then served to us in giant portions on a platter… or a to-go bag from many of the nearly quarter of a million fast food eateries that existed as of 2018 (2).

From preservatives to allow a longer shelf life to hidden, and hidden sugars to cater to the cloyingly sweet palate so many Americans have unknowingly created for themselves after a lifetime of including the white powder as part of their ‘everything in moderation’ directive to FDA approved colors and stabilizers, what ends up on our greasy burger wrapped in paper is certainly far from anything that should be a part of what any of us eat regularly, if ever.

But what about properly sourced animal based products, eaten in the proper quantities (as in small), balanced out with a plethora of local, in season veggies and ample natural fats?

That’s a horse of a different color.

Below are ten reasons why simply ‘going vegan’ after watching this film, or for any other reason, for that matter, isn’t necessarily the best course of action.

1. Proper Sourcing of Animal Products Benefits the  Environment

When properly managed, raising animals on pasture instead of factory farms is a net benefit to the environment. To begin with, a diet of grazed grass requires much less fossil fuel than a feedlot diet of dried corn and soy. On pasture, grazing animals do their own fertilizing and harvesting. The ground is covered with greens all year round, so it does an excellent job of harvesting solar energy and holding on to top soil and moisture. As you will read in the bulletins below, grazed pasture removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more effectively than any land use, including forestland and ungrazed prairie, helping to slow global warming (3).

2. Portions

Meat, eggs, and dairy products from pastured animals are ideal for your health. Compared with commercial products, they offer you more “good” fats, and fewer “bad” fats. They are richer in antioxidants; including vitamins E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C. Furthermore, they do not contain traces of added hormones, antibiotics or other drugs.    One group of athletes in Game Changers consisted of three pro ball players, two of whom regularly ate excessive portions of steak or fried chicken as part of their pre-game meal (the third was vegetarian, and often for a bean and cheese burrito).   Not only was the sourcing of the proteins sub-par at  best, the sheer size of the steak was enough to feed four athletes.    For comparison, a pre-game meal for a large man, consisting of 4-6 ounces of grass fed and finished rib eye,  paired with a large arugula, avocado and olive oil salad, a large portion of steamed broccoli with fresh lime and salt and 6 ounces of baked yam with raw butter would provide ample carbohydrate, fat and protein, a high level of nutrient density, fiber and a net alkaline load on the body, setting him up for proper digestion and assimilation… just what is needed to perform at a high level, not solely in sport but also in daily life.

3. Vegan-Labeled Food Isn’t Necessarily Healthy

Any diet that one may choose to follow can be taken out of context, even if it is based on sound principles.   We saw it with gluten-free, then paleo and now keto.    An authentic Paleo Diet, which mimics the foods our ancestors ate using readily available foods we can source in our modern day society from our farmer’s markets and our own backyards, is a far cry from a grocery cart full of paleo-labeled pancakes, breads, cookies and pasta.    If what one gleans from this film, or others like it including What the Health or Forks over Knives, is to simply nix any animal products and that’s it, this is a lateral step over from the standard American Diet in terms of the net inflammatory which results in the body.   If it’s in package, it’s still likely to be highly processed and low or completely lacking in nutrient density.

4. Vegan Food Production Can Also Be Toxic To Our Planet

Soy crops rob the soil of nutrients without giving back, they’re one of the pesticide laden crops and they are now almost all genetically modified. The major part of it goes to feed livestock, who get sick eating it. Some factory produced cuts of meat are now injected with extra soy. This is yet another reason to stay clear of factory-farmed animals: save yourself and the environment from soy.

Monsanto, the largest soy producer now sues every farmer who gets their soy cross-pollinated by Monsanto’s patented GMO crops. Cross-pollination used to be the way plants reproduced, now it’s illegal! It should actually be the opposite where the farmers sue Monsanto for infecting their crops, but of course Monsanto is now too big to be vulnerable. They have a very strong political power because of the lobbying they do (4).

And that’s just the part we ingest, not even considering what it is packaged in; plastic waste from America, collected for recycling, is shipped to Indonesia. Some is burned as fuel by tofu makers, producing deadly chemicals and contaminating food (5).

5. Vegan Diets Can Also Create Inflammation

It’s not only poorly sourced meat, dairy and poultry that can create inflammation in the body; grains, beans, nuts and seeds  and vegetable oils can also do an excellent job at that. Naturally occurring substances, anti-nutrients including saponins, lectins or phytates, found in plant-derived foods, interfere with absorption or proper functioning of nutrients in the body.

Anti-nutrients are compounds that are produced by plants as part of their defense mechanism. These compounds that protect plants from pesticides and chemicals in the soil, have a damaging effect to our gut, since we are unable to digest them

They bind to nutrients in our healthy food options and while we might not notice anything immediately like a stomachache or other GI distress, the start of inflammation in the body has started and it doesn’t always stay in the gut. Symptoms can manifest throughout the body, ranging from headaches, mental fogginess, joint pain, onset or exacerbation of autoimmune conditions…just to list a handful of the maladies that can ensue. (6)

6. Small Amounts of Mindfully Sourced, Natural Proteins Are An Essential Component of a Healthy Human Diet 

Studies show that the modern human brain consumes 20 percent of the body’s energy at rest, twice that of other primates. Historically, meat and cooked foods were needed to provide the necessary calorie boost to feed a growing brain and meat must have been an integral, and not sporadic, element of the prehuman diet more than 1 million years ago (7).

7. Properly Sourced Animal Foods Play A Crucial Role in Baby’s First Foods; Vegan Diets 

Animal-sourced zinc stimulates healthier bones and low zinc stunts growth.  Vegan children, especially boys, tend to be shorter and further, getting enough zinc from birth through age five can metabolically program your child’s height.  In addition, higher zinc levels leads to improved cognitive development.  In a study, researchers compared introducing meat to iron fortified cereal to exclusively breast fed infants and found that the meat-fed infants had substantially higher rate of brain growth and demonstrated trends to other advanced developmental advantages.  (8)

8. Plant Based Needn’t Mean Vegan

Who ever decided that a plant based diet and moderate portions of mindfully sourced proteins cannot be one and the same?  I consider the way I eat and the way I feed my family, including our 7 month old son, to be plant based.   If over 80% of what we are eating is local, in season, organic veggies and a little bit of fruit, how could it be classified as anything else?   When we portion our meat properly and not in the greedy manner we’ve grown accustomed to, we are, in fact, plant based and treating our body and our planet respectfully.

9. Performance on the Field / Performance in Life Also Depends On Our Genetics, and It’s Not One Size Fits All

We’re all individuals.   The idea that all humans should eat in the same way makes about as much sense as the idea that every woman across the world should have a menstrual cycle that lasts exactly 28 days all the time without factoring anything else in.   If we begin with taking a look back to a few generations earlier, we can see what our own genetics would likely predispose us to.  And while certain populations certainly tend to  have a more meat-based and others more plant if we go back a hundred years or so, you can rest assured that most people were not going out of their way to avoid any and all meat and animal products as a means to prevent heart disease or keep their blood sugar from climbing up even further to the pre-diabetic range.  They ate locally, seasonally and fresh.   They ate food.   It was only in the past 75 years or so that food began to become an industry; a hugely profitable (for big food) giant.    If we do nothing else, just by taking a moment to see what our own families ate, we can see how that compares to what we’re eating now and make small changes to mimic what they did.

10. Here’s an Idea: What if We Just Nixed All the Labeling and Just Ate Food?

I always find it interesting to learn all the new ways we choose to label the way in which we eat.   Pesco-vegetarian.    Pegan.  Part time vegan.   Weekend Paleo.   What if we just dialed it way back to tuning into what food really is: ood is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for an organism. Food is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism’s cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth (9).  Confused and overwhelmed about how to decipher confusing labels?   Choose things that do not come in a package with a label.   There’s no doubting what’s in a bunch of kale or an avocado!

Undoubtedly, documentaries of this nature do a great job at raising awareness and granted, if someone following the Standard American Diet makes positive shifts as a result, that’s fantastic.

But to eschew all animal products regardless of where they’re sourced,  how much we eat and in what manner they’re prepared isn’t the straightforward answer one might think if they walk away from the film without mulling over some of the points I shared above.

(1) https://gamechangersmovie.com

(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1...

(3) http://www.eatwild.com/environment.html

(4) https://paleoleap.com/dangers-soy/

(5) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/wo...

(6) https://thepaleodiet.com/antinutrient...

(7) https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...

(8) “Super Nutrition for Babies: the Right Way to Feed Your Baby for Optimal Health.” Super Nutrition for Babies: the Right Way to Feed Your Baby for Optimal Health, by Kelly Genzlinger et al., Fair Winds Press, 2012, p. 41.

(9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food

Brothing it Up for the Holidays

What’s your favorite way to get your broth on?

While there’s no doubting the easiest way to drink your daily cup is simply to heat it on the stove top and sip away, who ever said that’s the only way to enjoy this healing panacea?

One of my own personal faves is to heat my grass fed and finished beef bone broth, already rich in flavor, thanks to the marrow’s contribution, combine it with a spoon full of ghee, blend it, add a dash of ginger and go.

Not only is this idea one great for those who choose to implement intermittent fasting and / or a higher fat day of an authentic Paleo regime, it’s also incredibly handy for anyone on the go who simply may not  have factored in ample time to stop and eat a meal.

Another extremely way to put this healing food into good use is to include it as a recipe ingredient.

Now that the cool fall weather is upon is, if we eat seasonally, this often translates to wanting more of a warming meal, and soups and stews are the first thing that comes to mind.

One customer at my local markets got creative and used the beef broth to shortcut a recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon while another made an AIP compliant recipe for Pho, using shirataki noodles in place of traditional rice noodles, which can be inflammatory.

Or, make good use of all the pumpkins that abound in the markets by cubing them then roasting and doing a simple puree with your favorite bone broth, topped off with some toasted seeds and a dash of coconut cream (easily made when not in the tropics by blending some coconut butter with water), as shown above.

When we start off with a mindfully sourced, thoughtfully curated bone broth as a staple in our diets, we’re already a step in the right direction insomuch as having a single food which is not only tremendously good for us, but that also tastes incredible.

Then, since no effort is needed in order to create flavor, but rather just add to it, the pressure is off and we can truly be creative in the kitchen with our bone broth as our base.

Cheers!

 

Is Gluten-Free Really Gluten-Free?

Do you follow a gluten-free diet?

If so, you’re not alone.

3.1 million people across the United States follow a gluten-free diet and 72% of them are classified as “PWAGs” – people without celiac disease avoiding gluten (1).

But what does that gluten-free diet actually look like and just how healthy is it?

One way to approach a gluten-free diet would be to simply eat in a manner which is based primarily on abundant, local, in season produce (mostly veggies with some perhaps some fruit here and there… or not), ample sources of naturally occurring fats and moderate portions of mindfully sourced proteins.

In other words, if you could pick it and eat it, gather it and eat it or catch it and eat it, it’s not going to have gluten in it.

Another way, of course, is to work backward from what might be seen as a more convenient way to eat and to work backward from a standard American diet, removing manufactured goods that contain gluten and replacing them with manufactured goods which do not.

Unfortunately,  simply trying to avoid gluten by eating foods labeled as gluten-free is not necessarily the healthiest way to go… nor is it even reliable.

First off, gluten-free foods, including breads, pretzels, and pastas, replicas of normally glutinous foods, often contained more saturated fats, sugar, and salt than the regular items as well as a lower amount of fiber and proteins (2).

Next, and perhaps more alarming, in a recent study, in which the the FDA looked at over 5000 foods that were labeled ‘gluten-free,”  32% had significant amounts of gluten in them with pizza and pasta were the worst offenders (3).

Not only is this extremely harmful for the consumer who’s chosen any given product labeled as gluten-free who happens to have celiac disease, it’s problematic for the over 90% of Americans who have an inflammatory related health concern they’re trying to address.

A diet consisting of packaged items labeled as gluten-free is far from the answer to anyone’s health issues or to address their high performance lifestyle goals.

So where does this confusion stem from?

Simple:  it’s the bottom dollar.

The global gluten-free food market was valued at $4.48 Billion in 2018 and is predicted to reach  $6.47 Billion in 2023 (4).

You can bet that the majority of gluten-free foods in this category are not those which are described in the first scenario above in which one chooses to eat from what grows, swims and runs locally in the area in which they live.

In other words, there’s not a lot of profit to be made in broccoli, berries and local farm-free eggs in their natural state.

But pick them, dry them, powder them, add refined sugars and salts, place them in a package that will be portable and shelf stable for a year and voila!  You’ve got yourself the beginnings of a potentially profitable commodity.

The mere fact that the FDA’s gluten-free seal of approval has been shown to be erroneous to the tune of over one-third should be a message to consumers that giving them all their trust and faith may not necessarily be the best bet and accordingly, relying on the tagline of FDA approved may not be all it’s chalked up to be.

So what’s a well intentioned consumer to do, in order to sift through all the confusion of labeling?

That’s easy: minimize or even eliminate the amount of packaged food items one consumes.  If it doesn’t have a label, it’s not going to have gluten.  (Have you ever seen a nutrition label on a bunch of kale,  a head of cauliflower or an apple?)

Does this mean we’ve got to go out of our way and never eat any of these items?

Not at all.

If you’re like me and don’t have Celiac disease, but know definitively that gluten is a bad idea, always, eating the occasional item labeled gluten free may not be as high risk and may potentially even be an enjoyable treat from time to time.

On my birthday, my husband and I shared a lovely flourless chocolate torte at our local favorite restaurant, without consequence.

But simply replacing all the gluten-containing goods in your home, your office and in your day to day regime with gluten-free versions of the very same items is not likely to create a foundation for creating optimal health.

Doing so would only result in a still highly refined, low nutrient dense eating plan which may very likely still keep that inflammation going strong.

Focusing on a real, uncompromised food diet is the answer, once again.

What to do if you accidentally get ‘glutened’?

Microbiome labs has recently launched their new WheatRescue which is meant to help break down any possible gluten consumption.

Keep it for in a pinch, but err on the side of caution and just stick with eating things that are actually food and staying way from things that are not.

(1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/01/17/the-number-of-americans-going-gluten-free-
(2) https://www.thedailymeal.com/healthy-eating/gluten-free-foods-expensive-less-healthy-study/012218
(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30920417
(4) https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/gluten-free-food-market-2018-2023share-scope-stake-trends-industry-size-sales-and-revenue-2019-10-22

Nourishing Our Minds

With the recent wildfires occurring literally right out our doorstep in Southern California, it would be easy to slip into old patterns of a ‘what if’ mentality.

One of the most important reasons I opted to learn to meditate a few years ago was to manage anxiety.

I’m far from being an expert in this space, but just having begun a regular practice and seeing how many times, and in how many different types of situations it’s proven time and time again to be invaluable, it’s something I cannot recommend highly enough.

Case in point: not falling into a frenetic frenzy when fires were burning in the very trails we hike on every week and having to evacuate at 5am with some basics.

As recently as five years ago, staying calm in this setting would not have happened.

Creating calm isn’t only something we might opt to do in order to enable ourselves to be ready for a real emergency, but to keep our minds at ease so our bodies don’t react to non emergencies by diving right into a fight or flight mentality.

We can train our brains to do anything – be it falling into a space of anxiety when it’s really not serving us or, on the flip side, training them to remain at peace even when the world around may be burning.

So how does this translate to nutrition coaching?

Easy:  my work with client is far from being what one might expect when working with a by the book nutritionist, and certainly delves into a much deeper level than an education on what foods are paleo, or keto or what creates optimal gut health.

As part of my high performance living (HPL) practice, one of the four pillars I work on with coaching clients is rest and recovery.

Without this component as part of a solid foundation, even the most pristine eating plan might fall by the wayside;   not being connected with sound mind and body actually prevents us from properly being able to digest our food, breakdown our macronutrients and assimilate our micronutrients.

It also keeps us from sleeping properly and as a result, from performing optimally on a day to day basis, be it as an executive, a mom or an athlete.

It used to be the case that I’d never want to share my own story about how anxious I truly used to get.    As if somehow by doing so, I’d be less of a role model to my clients or by showing my spots I’d seem less professional.

I now see that being transparent, honest and, in keeping with Brene Brown’s work, showing vulnerability, is actually the very thing that would likely make any coach appeal to others who are on a similar path… and there are so many of us!

If we don’t start talking about things that are uncomfortable, we’ll never move past them and grow.

It’s not that different from how vocal I’ve become about other topics, from encouraging moms to be to learn about the health of their pelvic floor, to speaking openly with clients about bathroom habits; these are but two examples of subjects we’re shy to broach, are far from being too much information and are actually quite important to discuss.

Given the fact that close to 90% of Americans are now facing some degree of leaky gut and / or inflammatory related conditions, it behooves us to address all of the factors that contribute to its development.

And it’s not just eating inflammatory foods; it’s living in a high stress / fight or flight environment.

Feeling like meditation is something that’s ‘not for you’ or that you just don’t have the time?

I did, too.

I must have tried to meditate on and off for a good two decades before I actually created a practice. 

What finally worked for me was to first integrate a five minute breath work then a guided imagery practice, then finally, TM (Transcendental Meditation).

I don’t always do it twice per day and now, as a mom of an infant, sometimes I don’t even get in more than a single 10 minute session.

And I don’t beat myself up about it.

Whether you choose TM or breath work, Vedic meditation or one of the many other options you have at your disposal, the single most important thing is to do something, regardless of how short it may be, to allow yourself to get into that Alpha brain wave state of relaxation and rejuvenation for your mind.

Take it from someone who thought for years that just going for a run would do the trick; running is meditative, indeed, but meditative and meditation are two very different things.

I am grateful beyond words that I learned this years before becoming a mom, and there’s no better compliment than when a client in my HPL practice or a customer at the farmer’s market compliments my son on how calm he is.

When we consider that by meditating, we can create so much healing and health on a very fundamental level, there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Perhaps you’re already there and have been doing it for years.

Or maybe you’re like me- a late learned who needed some coaching along the way.

It doesn’t matter; what we have is now and there’s no need to consider should have / would have / could have.

Now’s the time… and now is perfect. 

Sustainable Eating for Sustainable Health

Sustainable: able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

On the topic of sustainable eating, what comes to mind?

Perhaps you think immediately of the impact on the planet of the foods we choose to eat?   

Or possibly, what comes to mind is the type of eating regime that will be personally sustainable for you, given your activity level, health and fitness goals and overall lifestyle including travel and day to day schedules.

Maybe both?

But can the same eating plan that supports the health of our planet be one in the same with the one which supports our own health, despite the fact that so many leave what, where, when and how much to eat at any given meal as something to figure out on the fly?

After all, actually taking the time to map out a thoughtfully planned schedule for the week, including what to buy, where to buy it, when to actually get to the farmer’s market or grocery store to shop and then actually carve out time in the kitchen to cook isn’t something that piques the interest of many.

In today’s NY Times, an article entitled A Guide to Sustainable Eating (1), we are asked whether we have considered the effects of what we eat on the planet, and made changes that will protect not only the Earth but also our health and the well-being of generations to come?

A mere five years ago, less than half suppers served at home were actually cooked at home (2) and on any given day in the United States, an estimated 36.6% (approximately 84.8 million adults) were consuming fast food (3) regularly.

What’s the price we’re paying for convenience, both on our guts as well as on the planet?

The article cites a recent study published in the Lancet in which (4) we are asked whether we can feed a future population of 10 billion people a healthy diet within planetary boundaries.

We are then reminded of the statistics we’ve heard before:

“cattle consume up to eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat and release tons of greenhouse gases in the process while their saturated fat and calories contribute heavily to our high rates of chronic diseases.”
“Intensive meat production is on an unstoppable trajectory comprising the single greatest contributor to climate change. Humanity’s dominant diets are not good for us, and they are not good for the planet”

Followed by the recommendation that “the Lancet report does not insist that everyone become a vegetarian or vegan, but does set as a goal that people in wealthy countries limit consumption of red meat — beef and lamb in particular — to one 3-ounce serving a week, or one 6-ounce serving every two weeks.”

Agreed.

Most of us are eating too much protein; demanding more than what we would naturally be able to access does undoubtedly lead to overproduction with unnatural means (grain), depletion of soil due to excessive overuse and an end product of a piece of meat which is no longer even a healthy option for us humans to consume anyway,

The next piece of advice we’re given is that “we can be somewhat more generous with pork, poultry and fish, which are better for your health and less damaging to the earth”, reason being that “the grain-to-meat ratio for poultry and hogs is only about 2.5 to 1, and the fat in fish is mostly unsaturated and high in omega-3 fatty acids”.

But wait.

Why are we feeding grain to pork, poultry and fish?

Decreasing the amount of an unnaturally (in other words, one which is not 100% grass fed and finished, but actually fed grain) raised cow we consume, and slightly lowering the amount of an unnaturally pig, chicken or fish, yet still continuing to eat and therefore support the industry which is responsible for the inception of this issue in the first place is not the answer.

Doing so is still supporting their ways and means.

How about the impact relying too heavily on grains, both on the planet and on our guts?

When comparing a plant-based, nutrient dense, seasonal diet which contains small portions of mindfully sourced proteins to a diet which is solely based on ‘eating less animal protein overall’, how can the latter even be considered as a viable option?

 

Fortunately, things are looking up and today, 82 percent of the meals Americans eat are prepared at home, a much higher percentage than just a few years ago (5).

If we’re preparing food at home, perhaps we’re actually getting out more often to shop locally and regularly.

Whether we’re using a planned in advance list, based on interesting recipes or recommendations that suit the particular health issues you’re trying to address, or by perusing the farmer’s markets to purchase what looks good and is inherently fresh and local,  the end result is the same:  this is sustainable.

Once we recognize the crucial role of how what eat so directly affects our health and consequently opts to create a common sense plan of what to eat to support this correlation, we can no longer turn a blind eye to the effects of even eating the infrequent fast food meal, lacking in nutrient density.

In my work with clients, sustainability from day one of a new eating regime, both from the environmental standpoint as well as the client’s ability to easily maintain it for the long haul is the top priority.

And since every customized plan, although different perhaps in macronutrient ratios and specific foods to include to boost gut health or to avoid to address certain known diagnoses, is based completely on local, organic, seasonal, fresh food prepared simply, sustainability is embodied automatically on both counts.

Let’s not get overly hyped up on scheduling a grass fed steak to be eaten only once per month in favor of increasing the times we have a serving of a bean based veggie burger.

Put most simply, if you rely on eating foods, the bulk of which naturally grown in the area in which you live and balance it the rest out with fish that swim in your local waters and animals that run across or fly over the land you live on, you, too are embodying the most possible sustainable manner of eating possible.

It is that simple.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/well/eat/a-guide-to-sustainable-eating.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/05/the-slow-death-of-the-home-cooked-meal/
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/03/health/fast-food-consumption-cdc-study/index.html
https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/
https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/2018/9/americans-are-cooking-more-meals-at-home–eating-out-less

Moving Toward Plant-Based with Authenticity and without Fake Food

I am plant-based. I’ve always been. And I eat meat.  In small portions and only from proper sources that are 100% organic, grass fed and finished.

Who ever said plant based must mean vegan?

Just two weeks after an article was published in the New York Times stating that new research says, “you can’t prove red meat is truly bad for you” (1), we learn that there’s a new group of companies that have begun making meatless meat anyway: the same food conglomerates and meat producers that Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods originally set out to disrupt (2).

While it would certainly take more than a single study to overhaul the current thinking that includes such directives as not to eat read meat more than x times per month or that one with a family history of high cholesterol should do so even more infrequently, the general misconception that meat is bad for the planet, unhealthy for us humans to consume and that somehow the vegan label automatically makes the item inside the package an overall superior choice is what is screaming to be addressed.

Let’s set the record straight.

Below are a series of factors we might consider when deciding between an Impossible Burger,  or Beyond Meat (Plant Based Ground Beef), Vegan, No Soy, No Gluten Burger and a 100% organic, grass fed and finished burger.

The reality is that virtually all the meat, eggs, and dairy products that we find in the supermarket come from animals raised in confinement in large facilities called CAFOs or “Confined Animal Feeding Operations.”  These highly mechanized operations provide a year-round supply of food at a reasonable price. Although the food is cheap and convenient, there is growing recognition that factory farming creates a host of problems, including:

• Animal stress and abuse

• Air, land, and water pollution

• The unnecessary use of hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs

• Low-paid, stressful farm work

• The loss of small family farms

Food with less nutritional value (3)

Accordingly, if we compare a burger made from this type of meat, it’s understandable to deduce that a vegan substitute might make sense.

But that fact alone isn’t reason enough to shift to a vegan version of a plant based diet.

First and foremost, who ever said that plant based must be vegan?  I consider myself plant based even though I do eat small portions of wild fish, grass fed and finished beef, game meat and pasture raised pork.    

If upwards of 80% of one’s diet is made of organic, in-season, locally sourced plants, mostly vegetables, a small amount of fruit and over half the fat sources I rely upon for my daily fats (olive oil, avocado and coconut oil), isn’t that percentage enough for a “base” of plants?

Next, let’s talk about portions.

If we continue with the example of the diet above, assuming that small percentage of calories coming from meat are not only coming from properly sourced, local animals, but eaten in small, human-sized portions, we dramatically reduce the amount of cattle needed to feed red meat to any given local community.

Unfortunately, we have a portion control issue in the US; not only with regard to what we’re eating, but what we’re served. 

Considering the fact that approximately 85% of the food that isn’t used or eaten in a typical American restaurant is thrown out (4), not only are we presented with servings reflective of our “eyes bigger than our stomachs” (does one human really need a 16 oz rib eye?), we’re not consciously thinking about what’s happening to that food we never finish.

But is the answer to completely eschew meat?

I don’t believe so.

While the two start-ups Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods may be non GMO and organic, there are far two many other brands who may simply just promote the fact that they don’t contain animal products, so are therefore vegan and without directly stating as much, presented as being a healthy choice.

We cannot allow ourselves to get too wrapped up in the way in which a food is labeled; one might even go so far as to argue if it is in a package with a label, that in and of itself might be reason enough to question its nutrient density.

This isn’t specific to a vegan label; we’ve seen it for years with a gluten-free label, then paleo and now with keto.

One can fill their entire cart at Whole Foods with any or all of the above marked items and still walk home with no actual food.  Nothing fresh or with any nutrient density… perhaps even more of an example of a ‘dead food’ than eating meat.

How does one measure the impact on the planet of a package of tofu in a plastic container made of GMO soybeans grown in the Amazon where a rainforest used to exist (5)?

And the impact in terms of inflammation on the person who eats the tofu because his doctor advised him to cut out red meat when his total cholesterol numbers were unfavorable?

As a recovered vegan myself, someone who adamantly avoided all animal products for a solid two years, I can say from a personal standpoint that my approach was ill informed.  

I was not separating the different meats from different sources and in retrospect I can now see that my actions did nothing to help support animal welfare.

Without realizing it, I was not only boycotting the Monsantos, I was boycotting the local, human, ethically minded farmers who were trying to do things the right way to support animal welfare, the very reason I was vegan in the first place!

Benefits of choosing to eat small portions of meat from grass fed animals include (6):

Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain- fed animals
Ruminants raised on fresh pasture alone render products that contain from three to five times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets
Lower in total fat
Higher in beta-carotene
Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
Higher in total omega-3s
A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)
Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)
Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease

And how about Mother Earth? 

Raising animals on pasture instead of factory farms is a net benefit to the environment.

A diet of grazed grass requires much less fossil fuel than a feedlot diet of dried corn and soy.
On pasture, grazing animals do their own fertilizing and harvesting. The ground is covered with greens all year round, so it does an excellent job of harvesting solar energy and holding on to top soil and moisture. 
Grazed pasture removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more effectively than any land use, including forestland and ungrazed prairie, helping to slow global warming.

When we choose to eat meat and eggs from animals raised on pasture, we are improving the welfare of the animals, helping to put an end to environmental degradation, helping small-scale ranchers and farmers make a living from the land, helping to sustain rural communities, and giving your family the healthiest possible food. It’s a win-win-win-win situation. 

When we do so in small portions and obtain the bulk of our calories from produce vendors at our local farmer’s markets or CSA (or grocers, if we are committed to reading the fine print in terms of where that lettuce grew and how long ago it was harvested), we are best able to support the health of our planet and the health of our bodies in one fell swoop.

So where does that leave the meatless burgers?

For me, it leaves them on the shelves.

For others, it may be a balance of doing your own due diligence to see if these type of products can play a role in your overall nutrition regime.

How are you doing in terms of inflammation?   If you’re in the US, you’re 80% or more likely to have some degree of inflammation or gut dysfunction.

You can start with a self test by cleaning up your diet, removing the potentially inflammatory foods for a period of time and then properly testing suspected (and possibly surprising) culprits, you can then see how your body reacts to soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12, the ingredients of an impossible burger.

Compare that to a real, whole, unadulterated meal made of actual food that you can identify… food that doesn’t have a table in the first place.

For me, there’s just no replacing a raw kale salad with tons of olive oil, avocado, lemon, Himalayan salt and a piece of a nice, juicy grass-fed and finished rib eye (half for now and the rest for tomorrow.)

Net alkaline, nutrient dense and nourishing.

That is food.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/health/red-meat-heart-cancer.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/business/the-new-makers-of-plant-based-meat-big-meat-companies.html
http://www.eatwild.com/basics.html
https://www.moveforhunger.org/startling-reality-food-waste-restaurants/
https://kids.mongabay.com/elementary/soy.html
http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/87/9/2961.long

Flu Shot… or Prevention Through Food?

FIGHT A COLD + BUILD IMMUNITY

Flu season is just around the corner; have you gotten your flu shot yet?

After all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 5% and 20% of the U.S. population comes down with the flu each year, and as many as 200,000 people are hospitalized for flu-related complications (1).

But is the answer really to be found in a vaccine?

Almost half of Americans seem to feel this way, based on the 43% of us who opt to receive it each year, especially those who are ‘high risk’, such as the elderly, babies over six months old… and pregnant women (2)!

Reasons to get it?

Just one and it’s rather obvious: to avoid getting the flu.

And reasons not to?

The CDC reports mild side effects from the flu shot include soreness, redness or swelling at the injection site, low-grade fever and aches as well as rare but serious side effects can occur, including allergic reactions, difficulty breathing, swelling around the eyes or lips, hives, racing heart, dizziness and high fever (3).

Not to mention that the strain of any given flu shot may not protect against other versions that rear their ugly heads.

In addition, it’s not just the flu vaccine that’s injected into your body when you receive it; other ingredients in the mix include (4):

1. Antibiotics — To prevent bacteria formation during production and storage, manufacturers add antibiotics such as gentamicin or neomycin.

2. Formaldehyde — As a flu vaccine ingredient, formaldehyde is used to deactivate and decontaminate the flu viruses and toxins in the vaccine.

3. Chicken egg proteins — Historically, most flu viruses have been grown in fertilized chicken eggs, as this environment allows viruses to grow and reproduce. Viruses are separated from the egg and added to the vaccine after completing development, with some traces of chicken egg proteins being transferred. As such, people with an egg protein allergy should rethink getting a flu shot.

4. Canine (dog) kidney cells — Instead of being grown in chicken eggs, two vaccines, Flucelvax and Flucelvax Quadrivalent, are grown in a canine kidney cell line and inactivated with a detergent called cetyltrimethylammonium bromide.

5. Gelatin: — Pork-based gelatin acts as a stabilizer for the purpose of helping to maintain the flu vaccine’s effectiveness from production to use, and shields the vaccine from harmful heat- or freeze-drying effects.

6. Thimerosal — Thimerosal is a preservative that contains approximately 50 percent mercury. While it’s no longer found in most pediatric vaccines, it’s used in multidose vials of flu vaccines to help prevent contamination by bacteria, fungi or other germs as the vial is repeatedly used.

So what to do if you want to best arm yourself against getting what might turn out to be a nasty virus but prefer a more natural line of defense?

Focus on your gut as the core part of reducing inflammation in the body.

When our bodies become inflamed, external factors that typically might not be problematic become much more of a threat.

Since our guts are where are sickness (and health) begins, if we opt to reduce inflammation in our bodies through what we eat, we can boost our immune systems without risk and keep flu-free on our won.

While a certain amount of inflammation in the body, such as what we might experience after a tough workout, is a good thing because it helps the body recover, if infection or recurrent injury occurs, inflammation can become a chronic condition that can lead to other, more serious, health issues.

Chronic inflammation causes certain substances in the immune system to tell other parts of the immune system to kick into action. Once the immune system receives these messages, it will get to work by attacking bacteria and viruses, starting to increase blood flow, clearing out dying cells, and repairing unhealthy tissue; this is referred to as an “inflammatory response.” (5)

While there are other factors to consider in reducing systemic inflammation, such as overall stress and stress management, how we sleep, rest, recover and move, if our eating isn’t intact, we’re missing a huge part of our health foundation.

By eating a diet rich in net- alkaline forming foods and avoiding foods that are known to create an acidic pH and subsequent inflammation such as sugar, processed foods, gluten, grains, and dairy products, we can set the stage for allowing the gut to begin to heal.

Next, by adding in regular doses of gut-boosting foods which specifically help to fight off the flu, we further allow the gut to not only heal but to flourish.

Below are my top five go-tos to keep nasty cold or flu bugs at bay:

Bone broth is once again the star of the show. The gelatin found in bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid. It attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, thereby supporting proper digestion and inhibiting infection caused by cold and flu viruses due to its medicinal qualities which significantly mitigating infection (6).
Raw garlic raises blood levels of T cells, garlic ensures that the immune system is well prepared to meet and disarm the viruses responsible for common cold and the flu (7).
Oil of oregano helps your lungs recover from a bout with a cold or flu by thinning the mucous, allowing for easier breathing and faster removal of the infecting virus (8).
Turmeric is a spice that belongs to the ginger family; Curcumin is its most important bioactive ingredient with a number of exceptional medicinal properties including as a remedy for cold and today we will understand the modern science behind it
Oysters contain more zinc per serving than any other food making it far superior that taking a zinc lozenge hidden in a candy!

While the decision to get a flu shot for yourself, aging parents or children is a personal one, by having a more informed approach to what you may be getting with that flu shot as well as some more naturopathic alternatives (and risk free) to test out, you’ll be able to make the best decision that you’re most comfortable with.

It never hurts to have more information!

(1) https://www.sharecare.com/health/cold...

(2) https://www.bustle.com/p/how-many-adu...

(3) https://www.livescience.com/40279-flu...

(4) https://articles.mercola.com/flu-shot...

(5) http://thescienceofeating.com/2017/10...

(6) https://healthimpactnews.com/2014/hom...

(7) http://www.progressivehealth.com/can-...

(8) https://www.livestrong.com/article/49...

What’s in Our Baby Food?

Oh, Baby!

With my son’s 4 month birthday having come and gone, we’re learning what to look for as he will likely soon start displaying cues that introducing real food in addition to breast milk is just around the corner (1):

Good head and neck control
Ability to sit upright when supported
Showing an interest in food on my plate
Opening his mouth when food is offered

My gut feeling is that the first foods I’d like to give him will include avocado, liverwurst and egg yolk and fortunately, we have a holistic pediatrician with whom we will be able to bounce ideas around to make sure we introduce foods in the right order and quantity.

I knew she was on the same page as us when she confirmed there’s no need to add foods we don’t even eat, such as rice cereal, to his repertoire!

Having worked with many moms as one of my main client demographics over the past two decades, I’ve been able to see the range of moms who like to cook and make all their baby’s own food to moms who prefer to buy it, and everything in between.

But now that we’re in the thick of it, I thought I’d do a little investigating just to see what options currently exist out there for moms who do opt to purchase ready made food for their little ones.

While there are companies out there that are paving the way with real, unadulterated food for our little ones, such as Serenity Baby Food (2) and Tummy Thyme (3) the bulk of what’s out there is still highly processed, lacking in nutrient density… and very high in sugar, even those that look great on the shelves and tout the infamous organic label.

Last year, Gerber was the leading baby food and snack brand in the United States with sales amounting to approximately $235.6 million (4).

And while statements about their “quality ingredients, grown from strict soil standards, made with natural fruit and held to FDA standards” are all well and good, there’s still an issue at hand and it’s a big one: sugar content and overall macro nutrient balance in what we’re being sold to give our babies.

The American Heart Association recommends that kids 2-18 should have less than 25 grams or 6 teaspoons of added sugar daily for a healthy heart (5) while the USDA suggests that Americans limit their sugar consumption to 10 percent of daily calories, which is equivalent to 12 teaspoons or about 200 calories in a 2,000-calorie diet (6).

How about those under 2?

Considering an average newborn needs to consume 120 calories per kilogram of weight each day to grow into a healthy child, a 10 pound infant would need 546 calories per day (7).

Combining the two directives above leaves you with 10% of 546 calories from sugar, 55 calories or roughly 1 Tablespoon, about 14.79 grams.

So how is it that many of the baby foods on the market for infants not only have 2-3 times that much, they also have no fat and very little protein?

Not surprisingly, the information we are presented with in terms of what should be giving our children to eat is just as confusing as we are told we need as fully grown humans.

It doesn’t take a scientist; if we think outside the box and consider whether it really makes sense to feed our babies a high carbohydrate diet versus one which is more balanced, we can begin to make heads or tails of this.

When we look at an authentic, ancestral diet for humans, the foods we would eat would include those which grow in the areas we live, seasonally, as well as animals that ran across our lands or swam in our local waters.

There wouldn’t have been refined carbohydrates, packaged and processed foods, ‘diet’ anything or food so refined they’d been literally stripped of all nutrient density.

We speak and read about this often now in common conversation as it pertains to adults, and the growing number of inflammatory related dis ease conditions plaguing our society today.

So how about the youngest of us?

Why would we feed our own children anything less the most optimal foods we can get our hands on?

The breastfeeding conversation is a hot topic; I’ve already experienced how important it is for me as a blogger and an educator in the nutrition space to chose my words wisely so as to ensure that my goal is merely to share information I’ve learned on my journey as a new mom, in order to help other moms and to be clear it’s not coming from a place of judgement if someone chooses to use formula, for example.

Similarly, the goal of this post is to point out that we’ve got to look beyond a commercially prepared baby food in a glass jar labeled as organic as the only standards we apply as filters when it comes to what we give our babies.

If we can make our baby’s food at home out of the very same foods we’re feeding ourselves – local, in season veggies in abundance, fruits low in sugar, ample natural fats and moderate portions of mindfully sourced proteins – fantastic!

Not only a time saver, it’s far more cost effective to take the very same yams you’ve baked, mix them with some ground bison you’ve sauteed and blend them with some steamed broccoli, drizzled with olive oil, the very same meal you served yourself and the rest of your family.

Even if you are someone who’s not that comfortable in the kitchen, being in the role of a new parent might just be the impetus you need to start learning.

What a gift to be able to teach your kids from a very early age how to source and cook their own healthy foods!

Studies show that getting kids involved in the kitchen, through cooking classes or at home, makes them more likely to choose healthy foods (8).

Feeling like you’re not as healthy as you need to be yourself, in order to set a great example on the eating and moving front?

It’s never too late to start; having the blessing of a new baby in your life, for whom you have the opportunity to create optimal gut health from the very beginning may just be that impetus you need to get the whole family started on their path to greater health!

(1) http://raisingchildren.net.au/article...

(2) https://myserenitykids.com

(3) https://tummy-thyme.com

(4) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1...

(5) https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-livi...

(6) https://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/dietary...

(7) https://www.livestrong.com/article/50...

(8) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teaching...