Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 2

MTHFR – What it is and Why You Need to Know About it

MTHFR, Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, is the rate-limiting enzyme in the methyl cycle, and it is encoded by the MTHFR gene (1).

Every human has two copies of this gene, one from each parent and some, in fact, many ( an estimated 40% (2), have a gene mutation.

I have it, my husband has it, and so does our son.

And while this gene is one that’s being spoken about more and more, and yes, it is important to know whether or not you have the mutation, it’s equally important to know that it’s not to be confused with a diagnosis.

The way in which one of my clients interpreted her finding out that she, too, has the mutation.

She was shaken up because they way it was presented to her was that she’d been diagnosed with something awful, something she could not do anything about, since it had to do with her genes.

Once we talked through it, she began to feel much better and realize that this is simply a piece of of information that, once you have it, you can be proactive in making positive changes to support your body in becoming and staying its healthiest.

In humans, each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46. Twenty-two of these pairs, called autosomes, look the same in both males and females. The 23rd pair, the sex chromosomes, differ between males and females. Females have two copies of the X chromosome, while males have one X and one Y chromosome (3).

Genes are contained in chromosomes, which are in the cell nucleus.

Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, each containing your genes, which you inherit from your biological parents. You get one copy of each gene from the egg and one from the sperm to make a pair. The pairs divide and copy to create your estimated 20,000 genes (4) .

MTHFR is just one of them.

A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity, made up of DNA. Some genes act as instructions to make molecules called proteins, which are needed for the body to function.

Many genes do not code for proteins but help control other genes.

The MTHFR gene provides instructions for making an enzyme called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, an enzyme plays a role in processing amino acids.

Why do we need to know whether or not this is relevant to our own personal health?

Because if we do in fact have this mutation, we can take simple steps to ensure that it does not eventually lead to an otherwise preventable health concern.

With a simple blood draw ordered by your doctor at the lab or now, even a do it yourself kit at home using saliva sample, a cheek swab, or a finger-prick blood drop test, you can determine whether or not this is something you need to factor in to your overall plan for optimal health.

If you do find out you have this mutation, your functional medicine doctor may first run a simple blood test to see if you have high homocysteine levels.

( Homocysteine is an amino acid. Vitamins B12, B6 and folate break down homocysteine to create other chemicals your body needs. High homocysteine levels may mean you have a vitamin deficiency (5).)

MTHFR gene mutations are common and normal, and not a disorder. Most people with MTHFR gene mutations do not really need any treatment unless it causes homocystinuria, which is rare and / or symptoms of folate deficiency (6).

If you do have the mutation, your body may need a bit of assistance with the methylation process, a chemical modification of DNA and other molecules that may be retained as cells divide to make more cells. When found in DNA, methylation can alter gene expression (7).

The methylation cycle is key in the transfer of the fat-soluble form of folate into the brain, as well as being key in the formation of the important neurotransmitters: epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and melatonin (8).

If a body is not methylating properly, neurotransmitter imbalances can occur, resulting in any of a number of psychological conditions and neuro developmental delays. Inherent impairment of the body’s detoxification processes leading to the buildup of toxic metabolites and the accumulation of environmental toxins (such as heavy metals) may also result. (8)

Here’s where this having this intel into your own body becomes exciting: you can empower yourself by making dietary and lifestyle changes to decrease or eliminate your chance of developing some of the health challenges that can be associated with MTHFR mutation down the line.

Your functional health provider can help you determine whether specific supplements may be helpful; my own regime includes a Methylation support in addition to a personalized multivitamin ( SNIP ) which include folate (NOT folic acid, which is a synthetic form of folate that’s added to fortified foods.)

But first, start with the lifestyle and food choices you can make on your own; all of which would only support you whether or not you do have this mutation.

Reducing oxidative stress and inflammation by increasing intake of local, in-season organic veggies and fruit, upping your intake of organic plant fats like avocado and olive oil, choosing properly sourced (grass fed and finished, or wild) proteins, avoiding seed oils and refined carbohydrates, moving your body more often, getting outside and bringing down the time on your screen are common sense examples of things we can do now even before we start down the road of working with anyone.

“Trust yourself and your body’s innate wisdom rather than relying solely on the healthcare system.” – Dr. Casey Means, MD.

The decision to find out if you have the MTHFR mutation, or any genetic testing for that matter, needn’t be a source of fear; rather, it’s knowledge you can use to your highest interest.

Nothing you can do about your genes, true.. but much to do with epigenetics; the sooner we begin to listen to our body and trust, the sooner we begin to create within and collectively.

 

(1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyle...
(2)https://drwillcole.com/brain-health/d...
(3) https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/unde...
(4) https://www.parsleyhealth.com/blog/mt...
(5) https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health...
(6)https://www.medicinenet.com/what_does...
(7) https://www.genome.gov/genetics-gloss...
(8) https://www.nbwellness.com/library/me...

The post MTHFR – What it is and Why You Need to Know About it first appeared on Paleoista.

Healthier Chicken ‘Nuggets’

What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘chicken nugget’?

Likely, something offered up at the drive through window at a fast food place that may or may not actually contain chicken as one of fifty ingredients but certainly is not something that would be considered a healthy option.

For instance, McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets’ ingredients are as follows (1) (interesting to note that their website states there are two recipes)

Chicken Breast Meat (45%), Water, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower, Rapeseed), Maize Flour,
Allergen Ingredient: WHEAT Flour (contains Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Starches, Allergen Ingredient: WHEAT Semolina, Breadcrumb (contains Allergen Ingredient:
WHEAT), Natural Flavourings (contains Allergen Ingredient: CELERY), Potassium Chloride, Dried Glucose Syrup, Allergen Ingredient: WHEAT Gluten, Salt, Raising Agents (Sodium Carbonates), Pepper, Allergen Ingredient: CELERY, Dextrose.

OR

Chicken Breast Meat (45%), Water, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower, Rapeseed), Maize Flour,
Allergen Ingredient: WHEAT Flour (contains Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Starch,
Allergen Ingredient: WHEAT Semolina, Breadcrumb ( Allergen Ingredient:
WHEAT Flour (contains Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Salt), Natural Flavourings (contain Allergen Ingredient: CELERY), Allergen Ingredient: WHEAT Gluten, Potassium Chloride, Dried Glucose Syrup, Salt, Raising Agents (Sodium Carbonates), Spices (contain Allergen Ingredient: CELERY), Dextrose

Rather than ingesting inflammatory oils. Gluten, natural flavorings and who knows what else, why not make a healthier version at home?

Using only four ingredients, all of which you will be able to identify as food, you can quickly make this protein choice the whole family will enjoy, so be sure to make extra for tomorrow’s lunch!

This can be made with any type of ground protein; consider using game meats to change it up a little. High in CLA, Omega 3s and just as simple to prepare, this is a great way to add some versatility into the mix.

INGREDIENTS

1 # pasture raised, organic chicken
2 oz raw goat’s cheese, cubed
1/4 cup organic almond flour
Avocado or coconut oil for cooking

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine first two ingredients
Shape into small patties
Dredge in almond flour on both sides
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat
Pan sear 2-3 on each side, flipping halfway through
Check internal temperate is at or just over 160 F
Serve with your favorite steamed or sautéed veggies

No need to automatically avoid all condiments, either; thanks to companies such as Primal Kitchen, you can serve this up with ketchup and mayo! (Or make those at home, too!)

Another blessing we get from our kids- constantly being challenged to come up with new an innovative ways to keep the healthy food coming while simultaneously making it fun for them to eat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1) https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/pr...

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Healthier Trick or Treating: Tips on Navigating the Candy Convo

It is suggested that trick-or-treating evolved from a tradition whereby people impersonated the spirits, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. S. V. Peddle suggests they “personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune”.[1]

Halloween candy is a relatively new staple of the holiday – only first becoming popular and widely distributed in the 1920s and 1930s and not becoming a major player until the 1950s (2).

Prior to that, in the mid 1900s, apples and nuts were considered major treats!

Wouldn’t that be nice!

Even before I was a mom myself, I knew better than to suggest that clients offer fruit to trick or treaters; not only was I a child of a mom who did just that (“raisins are nature’s candy”!, she used to say).

In there was also a trend in the 80s, when I was a child, to recommend against consuming anything other than prepackaged candy, due to parental concerns of things being tampered with or poisoned.

And now, here we are today in a society where the prevalence of obesity among U.S. children and adolescents is 19.7%1 (approximately 14.7 million U.S. youths aged 2–19 years have obesity) (3).

It’s no longer the case that Halloween, and Easter as well, was an example of the rare occasion when kids might be presented with the chance to over indulge on sugar; now, the average child is eating 17 teaspoons /day, which translates into 57 pounds of sugar consumed per person per year.

Furthermore, candy is not what is used to be; prior to having access to white sugar and corn syrup early confectioners used honey as a sweetener and mixed it with various fruits, nuts, herbs, and spices (5).

Now, it’s a literal recipe for disaster, a combination of artificial dyes, flavors, binding agents and preservatives, not to mention synthetic chemicals designed to create addiction at a very early age.

Ultra-processed foods are industrially formulated with added sugar, artificial sweeteners, additives and flavorings to be highly rewarding and even addictive. They can alter the brain’s reward pathways the same way that other addictive substances do, making them challenging to consume in moderation (6).

So, what is a health-minded parent to do?

The other factor, a separate conversation, is how to navigate these territories without leaving your child feeling left out?

Below are my top tips for creating a healthier Trick or Treating experience; it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

First and foremost, explain why these things (not food) are not good choices. As a mom of a now 5 year old, I’ve learned firsthand that our kids understand way more than we might anticipate. This is not to say that upon finding out something contains corn syrup they will no longer ask for it; but they begin to understand the rationale, just as they learn why veggies are good choices, sugar is not. And no, everything in moderation cannot be the suggestion as many of the things on the shelves in the store are not actually food.
Map out an ideal scenario, either in your mind or actually written out of when your child may have something that may not be on the top of your healthiest food choice. Just like you might plan to have a few glasses of wine this weekend at an event you’re attending and subsequently focus on more alkaline forming food that day, making sue your little one has extra veggies, water and good proteins and fats during the day of will help to ensure a balanced blood sugar level.
Make a plan prior to going trick or treating about what will be eaten while they are out, and what will be saved for home. Making an agreement that he will have two pieces of candy from neighbors you know in advance will help to prevent a free for all and an inevitable sugar crash.
Encourage kids to take one piece of candy, not handfuls, at each stop. Remind them that they need to share with the other kids and that will also help to reinforce not enduing up with several extra pounds of sugar to deal with later.
Check in with yourself and make sure you’re ok with the plan. It took me a while, and believe me, I’d much rather my son never ate any corn syrup or hydrogenated oil, but I do feel that allowing for these occasional (and occasional is the key word) times when they can participate in these traditional kids’ activities is important.

There’s also something to be said for a learning experience here; when my son was three, he snuck into his Easter Basket, into which the Easter Bunny had left five eggs and he’d eaten two per our permission and he went for the remaining three on his own volition, he ended up with a terrible stomach ache.

He knew exactly what the reason was and he made an announcement that he would never eat too much candy at once again.

Lessons learned all around.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

(1)Peddle, S. V. (2007). Pagan Channel Islands: Europe’s Hidden Heritage. p. 54
(2) https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/31/us/hal...
(3) https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood...
(4) https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/php/dat...
(5)https://www.britannica.com/topic/cand...
(6) https://usrtk.org/ultra-processed-foo...

The post Healthier Trick or Treating: Tips on Navigating the Candy Convo first appeared on Paleoista.

Is it Olive Oil?

Olive oil is rich in antioxidants and monounsaturated fats. It has strong anti inflammatory properties and regular consumption of it is associated with many, many health benefits.
It also fits into many of the popular approaches to eating these days, including paleo, vegan, keto and carnivore.

So where the ‘but’?

There isn’t one…until you get into the interesting labeling of bottles of this elixir in a bottle.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply go into your local store, any store, and simply pick up a bottle (in glass) that looked like olive oil, see the words, ‘olive oil;’ written on the label and buy it without ever so much as a doubt about what was inside?

Unfortunately, this is far from the likely scenario these days, unless, of course, you’re buying a bottle of organic, extra virgin directly from the family who grows and presses it themselves at your local farmers market.

A highly publicized 2010 study by the University of California–Davis Olive Center tested supermarket samples and concluded that more than two-thirds of imported oils and 10 percent of California oils labeled “extra virgin” did not meet the legal standard (under law, the extra-virgin designation is determined by a combination of laboratory testing/chemical analysis and sensory testing by an expert taster panel). A follow-up Olive Center supermarket test in 2011 used a larger number of samples for more consistency and found that the five top-selling imported “extra virgin” olive oil brands in the United States failed to meet the basic legal standard 73 percent of the time. Some have suggested that the University favors the domestic olive oil business – which is almost exclusively in California – over imports, and industry trade group the North American Olive Oil Association, which does its own testing of members’ products, disputes the accuracy of UC Davis’ findings (1).

Then, in 2014, Forbes published an article (2) which opened with, “the olive oil in your pantry, the one you bought for its health benefits and for some sliver of the seductive Mediterranean lifestyle, is most likely a scam. A scam, meaning it probably contains less actual olive oil than you’d ever imagine. A scam, meaning it’s likely been mixed with colorants and other less expensive oils like sunflower-seed oil. A scam, meaning you really have not been getting what you paid for.”

A more recent article (3) claims that 80% of the Italian olive oil, specifically, on the market is fraudulent.

Just one more example of why it behooves us to become literal detectives when it comes to attempting to decipher the interesting verbiage which is omnipresent on labels (not just with food, but with personal care products).

So how do we know exactly what we’re getting when we’re presented with what appears to be an abundance of seemingly viable options for purchasing a truly good olive oil?

First off, learn the grades of olive oil to understand not only exactly what you’re getting, but what it’s best used for, such as whether or not it’s best eaten raw and is better not to heat. The USDA’s list of Grades of Olive Oil (4) is a good resource to learn precisely how these classes of olive are graded.

In researching this article, I did not come across verbiage stating that the bottle labeled as olive oil actually contains only olive oil (as a point of comparison, consider that an item that falls under the category of cheese product needs only contain 50 percent cheese to be labeled as such) (5).

Best case scenario: head to your local famers market if you live in area conducive to having a local olive oil producer and buy directly from them. There are approximately 40,000 acres of olives planted exclusively for the production of olive oil in the United States. Olive oil is produced in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Oregon and Hawaii. The US produces about 5% of all of the olive oil consumed in this country each year (6).

Next best – know what to look for. The American Olive Olive Producers’s Association describes on their site (7) that we should check the front of the label for the grade, and the back for harvest date, best by date and where the olives were grown.

Single-origin olive oil is often of higher quality than blended oils because it is made from a specific variety of olives grown in a specific location. This allows for greater control over the growing conditions, harvest timing, and processing methods, which can result in a superior quality oil (8).

Just as we see in many foods, the smaller the production, the more likely the attention to detail is higher and subsequently, so is the end product.

If you’re curious as to whether or not the oil you already have in your pantry is really olive oil, or not, you can use the ‘Fridge Test’ (9): Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a clean, glass jar, then seal it. Put the jar in your fridge for 24 hours and don’t move it. After the 24 hours has passed, you should be able to tell which state the olive oil is in; if the oil turned into a solid, it’s pure olive oil (because its monounsaturated) while if the oil has remained as a liquid, it’s not pure olive oil; it’s polyunsaturated.

Given that a real olive oil is one of the healthiest fats we can consume regularly, it’s definitely in our best interest to do the digging in order to determine which are our best options!

 

(1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolm...
(2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhuy...
(3) https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliar...
(4) https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-stand...
(5) https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/script...
(6) + (7) http://www.aoopa.org/olive-oil-101
(8) https://olivoamigo.com/blogs/recipes/...
(9) https://www.wikihow.com/Test-Olive-Oil

The post Is it Olive Oil? first appeared on Paleoista.

What Exactly is TBHQ and Should We Be Eating It?

One of the many reasons to eat real, unprocessed food is that when we do so, we have a better chance of knowing what we’re getting.

Buy a bunch of organic broccoli and there’s not too much to be confused by, apart from the inherent uncertainty that is, sadly, a part of our modern food supply system.

We can’t really be sure of what the soil quality was, even if the grower themselves is certified organic, there’s no telling what practices and chemicals their neighbors might employ.

Other than growing all of our own food, developing relationships with local growers is key in helping to rebuild our local communities, revitalize our soil quality and decrease the carbon footprint.

Suffice to say, the more we can rely on real food that we can actually identify as food, the better off we are.

Which is exactly why the subject of being able to decipher labels comes up time and time again.

Back in the day, we were advised to look for low fat, then fat free.

We were also told to avoid salt, and then we moved into the low carb and keto arena, which, while perhaps based on what was once a valid approach to eating, only served to make matters more confusing, steering consumers to look only at certain parts of already tricky labeling, with the bottom dollar as the most important goal… not the health of the people who eat the products.

There are thousands of ingredients on the GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) List, published by the FDA (1) but the FDA and the public know little about the safety of these ingredients and other known GRAS-designated ingredients are believed to pose significant health risks (2).

Let’s focus in on just one of these additives: TBHQ (tert-butylhydroquinone).

You’ll often find TBHQ in foods like crackers, fats and oils, chips, donuts, some breads, popcorn, other snacks, pre-made frozen foods and packaged dinners. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified TBHQ as Generally Recognized as Safe, or “GRAS,” and approved its use in foods in 1972.

Why is it used?

As it is a preservative, it prevents fat oxidation which can cause the foods to lose flavor, change color and deplete their nutritional value. Since oxidation can lead to fats turning rancid, TBHQ can also help increase shelf life (3).

Let’s just think about this for a minute: a preservative. Increased shelf life. So what exactly happens when we ingest this?

Since this is not a food, but a synthetic compound, it’s not something the human body can digest, assimilate and eliminate.

Because of this it’s not as simply as assuming that having a little bit now and then is not a big deal.

It is.

Over time, each does of this or any harmful additive builds up and creates a toxic load which can lead to increase rates of inflammation and illness.

Research has found several health problems associated with food preservatives like TBHQ and BHA, another preservative, (Butylated hydroxyanisole) over time can cause chronic and nutritional disorders and have genotoxic, cytotoxic, and immuno-inhibiting effects on your body (4).

The National Library of Medicine states in one study (5) that “The additive TBHQ should be considered a skin, eye irritant and a potential skin sensitiser. Exposure of the user via inhalation is considered unlikely; therefore, a risk is not expected.”

In another statement, the same body states, “cases of vision disturbances have been reported when humans consume TBHQ. This organization also cites studies that have found TBHQ to cause liver enlargement, neurotoxic effects, convulsions, and paralysis in laboratory animals.” (6)

Yet it’s used in everything from Domino’s Pizza to Cheeze-Its to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and many, many more ‘foods’, many of which are marketed toward children. (7)
The US Food Preservative Market is a multi-billion dollar industry and an estimated 60% of food purchased by Americans contain technical food additives including coloring or flavoring agents, preservatives, and sweeteners (8).

The GRAS list keeps getting longer and longer and experts estimate more than 1,000 GRAS substances have entered the food supply without FDA or public knowledge; both the FDA and the public know little about the safety of these ingredients.

So what can we do to create change?

First and foremost, we can simply not buy what these companies have to offer.

It must be noted that there is an entirely other, and hugely important piece of this conversation, which is that an estimated 37.8 million people in the US are living in what is referred to as a food insecure circumstance (9).

It’s not an option of even being able to choose the better food, which is why it becomes all the more critical for anyone who is in a position to buy local and grass-fed rather than factory farmed and organic rather than conventional, even if it is a stretch, to do so.

When the demand for the the refined, highly processed junk which is not even food decreases and the demand for sustainable, healthier for people, animals and planet alike increases, we will be able to see an upward shift in who can afford to eat what.

Tapering away from the processed food may indeed be challenging, partly due to the addictive nature of many of these ingredients; foods packed with added sugar, fat and salt trigger the brain’s reward system, setting up a cycle of craving and addiction (10).

It may be an alarming wake up call at first, but it’s absolutely doable, especially when you have other healthier options to replace the bad stuff.

Even for the parents out there, a little dose of creativity goes a long way when coming up with healthy swaps for the little ones in your family, despite the initial push back they may serve you with.
In the long run, everyone benefits; food is medicine and it’s far healthier (and less costly in the long run) to buy the better (real food), invest a small amount of time in cooking and prevent sickness from occurring in the first place.

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredi...
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/new...
https://foodinsight.org/what-is-tbhq/#
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
https://www.healthline.com/health/foo...
https://www.ewg.org/sites/default/fil...
https://www.georgeinstitute.org/media...
https://convoyofhope.org/articles/foo...

Ingredients in popular snack foods can make them addictive

 

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Breaking Your Fast: What You Eat First Matters

Fasting gets a bad rap all too often.   

Some of my favorite misinterpretations include:  

Fasting is just an eating disorder in disguiseFasting can wreak havoc on a woman’s hormonal balanceLong term intermittent fasting can lead to cardiovascular disease

To clarify, if fasting is not properly understood in terms of why, how and when, it can certainly lead to a disastrous outcome.

In actuality, fasting can have positive effects on aspects of health like blood sugar control, blood pressure, inflammation and weight loss (1).

It’s also a crucial part in improving the gut microbiome by reducing oxidative stress, enhancing mitochondria function and triggering autophagy, the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells (2).

Whether you ease your way into fasting by simply extending the hours in which you do not eat, or dive right into a textbook IF (intermittent fasting) protocol, in which you typically refrain from feeding for 18 hours and eat only within the hours of, for example, 12-6pm, what you break your fast with matters.

Just the other day, I was in conversation with a new client who shared that he felt great while he fasted, but as soon as he ate, he felt tired and bloated shortly thereafter.

“What do you typically break your fast with?”, I asked?

His reply?  A Clif Bar.

While you could certainly do a lot worse than a Clif Bar (at least the ingredients are non GMO and the macros are relatively balanced), the product still contains soy, rice syrup and seed oils (4).

So what should you eat to break your fast?

Regardless of why you’re fasting, whether your ultimate goal is to achieve a leaner body, have a clearer mind or address an autoimmune issue, the one common thread all of the above and more have is what is going on in your gut, so by default, one benefit we all get from implementing some fasting is an opportunity to reset our gut.

By giving your gut a break from the processes involved in eating, digesting and elimination, we allow the opportunity for good gut bacteria to rest and repopulate as well as for the unfavorable bacteria to begin to die off (apoptosis).

While in most people, it’s going to take more than one cycle of fasting to achieve optimal gut health, each and every time we fast is a chance to slowly improve gut health, so choosing what you eat after each fast matters.

Imagine you were starting on a clean slate and you opt for foods and drinks that are going to most optimize for the best outcome in terms of feeding the gut what it wants.

What comes to mind?

Bone broth?  Fermented foods?  Good fat, such as coconut, which is rich in gut healing compounds like lauric and caprylic acids?   

All of the above are excellent options, eaten in an optimal combination so that your blood sugar remains balanced.

My own personal favorite is half of a large avocado, topped with a heaping scoop of saurkraut or kimchi, a squeeze of lemon juice with olive oil drizzled on top and perhaps a cup of bone broth blended with a tablespoon of raw butter.

High in probiotics, good fat, collagen, gelatin and the amino acids proline, glutamine and arginine the meal above is exactly what your gut may be screaming for and when and after you eat, you can expect to feel nourished, balanced and just the opposite of how you’d feel, had you broken your fast with a coca cola… or a clif bar!

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2019/12/fast-or-not-fast#https://www.ifm.org/news-insights/fasting-and-the-gut-microbiome-exploring-the-connection-and-health-benefits/https://shop.clifbar.com/products/clif-bar-chocolate-chip?srsltid=AfmBOorW86ROJBxe2nvV0AKDwnHbfE_xRFcY-aRYw_B4fszuEjgj5fbTThe post Breaking Your Fast:  What You Eat First Matters  first appeared on Paleoista.

Is Cellulose A Good Thing to Eat?

If you’re a termite, yes.

What does this mean? Read on to learn more.

If you’ve been reading labels and sticking to the rule of thumb that if you’re not sure what an item in the ingredient list is, you don’t eat it until you figure it out, you’re already a step ahead.

But what if you read an ingredient and you do know what it is, you think, but it’s actually something completely different?
Case in point: cellulose.

If you see this naturally occurring compound on an ingredient list, you’d likely assume it was safe as cellulose is a fiber that makes up plant cell walls and is found in all plant foods (1)

Not only is it safe to eat, it’s a good thing to eat because when you eat food that contains it, cellulose stays intact since it as insoluble fiber which means it help push food through the digestive system and support regular bowel movements.

But that’s if we’re talking about this type of cellulose.

Unfortunately, this is not what is typically being referred to when we see it on the list of what is in foods ranging from shredded cheese to barbecue sauce to vegetarian burgers; it’s sawdust (2).

Cellulose is basically plant fiber, and one of the most common sources is wood pulp; manufacturers grind up the wood and extract the cellulose.

Cellulose also can be listed by some of its many other names, as noted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as powdered cellulose, alpha-cellulose, flour cellulose, cellulose fiber, Microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose casing and regenerated cellulose (3).

And where is this wood pulp coming from?

The cellulose added to processed foods usually comes from wood pulp (saw dust) or cotton lint. It can prevent caking, such as in grated parmesan cheese, but some companies fraudulently use it as a cheap filler in their “100%” grated parmesan cheese (4).

According to the Cornucopia Foundation (5), “It started in the 1700s, along the banks of Europe’s rivers, among mills and bread makers who were trying to solve a problem: How do you feed the poor, cheaply? “At some point some clever miller asked, ‘Hey, what if we combine the flour with sawdust?’” said Penn State food historian Bryan McDonald. “‘We’re selling stuff by weight, and people don’t really have a good way of knowing what’s flour and what’s sawdust.”
Wheat was scarce in Britain, but there was sawdust all over. Sometimes sawmills and gristmills even shared space. Advocates for the poor weren’t as excited about this so-called “tree flour.” It started effecting customers’ health and the bread market, McDonald said. Mills and bakers that used sawdust, chalk and other fillers could undercut those that didn’t, and put them out of business.”

Yet it was added to the FDA’s GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) list 1973, and it’s in a lot of food; for reference, experts estimate more than 1,000 GRAS substances have entered the food supply without FDA or public knowledge. The FDA and the public know little about the safety of these ingredients. And other known GRAS-designated ingredients are believed to pose significant health risks (6).

Be on the lookout for “Added Fiber”; food manufacturers extract fiber from industrial byproducts such as wood pulp, then grind it into a powder or create it chemically in a lab, then add it to all kinds of foods – from bread to ice cream. The powder increases fiber content, which makes the food appear to be healthier, but the potential health benefits of added fibers are less well understood, and we don’t know exactly how the extraction process affects its healthfulness.

Not to mention – where is this wood coming from and what might it have been treated with?

Much safer bet when it comes to boosting the amount of fiber you and your family eat?

Up the veggies! Eating an abundance of local, in season, organic vegetables and some fruit increases fiber content more than whole grains, and without the potential inflammatory response grains can trigger in many.

And what about avoiding eating wood in other foods? When it comes to cheese, if you’re someone who enjoys it, keep it raw and buy the whole block.

In terms of condiments and some of the other items most likely to contain cellulose, scan the labels, make sure you are confident that each is actually a food we will benefit from eating and if not, make your own.

Unless you are a termite, of course, in which case, bring on the wood pulp!!

 

(1) https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/...
(2) https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...
(3) https://www.latimes.com/food/dailydis...
(4) https://www.cspinet.org/article/cellu...
(5) https://www.cornucopia.org/2017/11/br...
(6) https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/new...

The post Is Cellulose A Good Thing to Eat? first appeared on Paleoista.

Is Your Tequila Additive Free? This One Is.

Have you been following a keto, Paleo or low-carb diet and wondering what the best alcoholic drink to have would be, that would not throw off your macros, spike your blood sugar or disrupt your gut biome?

If so, there’s a strong chance that you’ve heard the recommendation that the best choice is a neat tequila ( a type of mezcal) .

( I was first introduced to mezcal about nine years ago, shortly before my husband co-founded Madre Mezcal.  

Prior to that my drink of choice was always a neat, grain free vodka… until I fell in love with everything about how mezcal is made (click here for more ).   Hand crafted, a true labor of love, you can feel the energy of all that goes into crafting this beautiful, soulful drink.

All tequila are types of mezcal,  distilled beverages made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, 40 mi northwest of Guadalajara (1).

Agave is rich in a type of sugar known as agavins which research shows may act as or function like dietary fiber, meaning the body does not digest and absorb them in the same way as most sugars. As a result, agavins may not affect blood glucose or contribute calories to the diet (2).

Because of this, it would make sense that a neat tequila would be a good choice for anyone trying to manage their weight and / or blood sugar.

If that is all that is in the drink, that is.

Pure, 100% agave tequila does not have sugar in it. “As all sugar was converted into alcohol during the tequila’s crafting, there won’t be any sugar unless additives were included (3).

At first blush it may seem, then, that if you purchase your tequila of choice, pour it into a copita and sip it slowly, you’ve got the perfect drink.
If only it were that easy.

Case in point: to be classed as Tequila this has to be a minimum of 51%, meaning the other 49% can be additives and sugars (4).

And just like the confusing labeling we have with our packaged food supply system, so, too, do we need to become detectives to figure out what is in our drink of choice.

Until recently, that is! 

In 2020, “Additive-Free Alliance” was launched for brands and distilleries that want to be super transparent about their production processes and their non-use of additives. It is an opt-in program, which needs to be renewed each year (5).

They’ve got an incredible app ( https://www.tequilamatchmaker.com/ ) you can use to type in any brand and check to see if it’s on the additive free list.

Whether you’re a tequila connoisseur, a bartender or simply someone who cares about what you’re putting in your body, this resource (which is exactly what we need in food, too, by the way) is an incredible tool that you can use in an instant to check if what you’re about to order is on the clean list.

Have a look at the brands you know and love and see if they’re on there; it’s quite the eye-opening exercise to scroll through the list of ‘most popular tequilas’ or ‘most expensive tequilas’ or even the ones that are endorsed by celebrities and compare to which are additive free. Suffice to say most are not.

The Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) – the organization in Mexico that regulates tequila – allows for additives in tequila as long as they don’t exceed more than 1% of the tequila’s total liquid (though additives these days have become increasingly concentrated, in order to stay under the “1% rule” (6).

1% may not sound like much, but considering that a bottle of tequila is 98% water, if the remaining 2% can be up to one half additives, we can see that it’s not that trivial.

Which means that the several hundred dollar bottle of premium tequila may contain the four categories of additives: glycerin, oak extract, caramel coloring, and sugar-based syrup.

And the label doesn’t need to show any of it.

Thinking back to that terrible hangover from drinking tequila with what’s likely new information can now be looked at in a whole new light: it may not have been the tequila after all; it could have been the additives!

Granted, drinking too much is drinking too much, but how you feel after a single, neat drink of a clean tequila is a far cry from how you’d feel if you drank a sweet margarita, but in the latter case, you knew you were drinking the sugar.

And now, thanks to this incredible resource, courtesy of the additive free alliance, you can know ahead of time what you’re about to drink when it comes to ALL the tequilas!

Salud!

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tequila
(2) https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/arti...
(3) https://www.foodandwine.com/cocktails...
(4) https://www.casa-agave.com/tequila/te...
(5) https://additivefreealliance.com/addi...
(6) https://inspirotequila.com/whats-in-y...

The post Is Your Tequila Additive Free? This One Is. first appeared on Paleoista.

Paleoista Bone Broth Pops to Beat the Heat!

If a piping hot cup of bone broth is not the first thing you or your family think of when it’s 80 degrees and rising outside, pop outside the box and try your hand at making a broth-sicle!  (Pop pun intended: ) 

Whether you’re more of a purist and prefer a more savory ice or you’re trying to create something that the picky eaters in your family will enjoy, in less than five minutes of prep time and just a few hours of chill time in the freezer, you’ll be set up to enjoy the perfect pop to quench the heat and benefit from the gut health benefits in one lick!

Here are my top three recipes:

PURIST POP

1 Jar Paleoista Bone BrothHimalayan Salt., to tasteFreshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

MELON BERRY BLAST

1 Jar Paleoista Bone Broth1 cup cubed watermelon or kiwi (technically a berry!)Fresh mint leaves

MEZCAL CHILLER. (For moms + dads only!: ) 

1 Jar Paleoista Bone BrothFreshly Squeezed Lime Juice1 measure Madre Mezcal

For any of the three (or make up your own!) 

Pour contents into blender

Whiz to combine

Pour into popsicle molds (these are great– no plastic!)

Freeze for 2-3 hours

Run under warm water for a few seconds to loosen

Enjoy!

The post Paleoista Bone Broth Pops to Beat the Heat! first appeared on Paleoista.

COULD HIDDEN MOLD BE THE ROOT CAIUSE OF YOUR HEALTH ISSIUE(S)?

When you think of mold in a house or building, what comes to mind?

Perhaps an old, dirty shower with blackened grout between the tiles, or the mildewed odor in a damp basement?

While these are absolutely two very obvious examples of mold, often is the case that mold is hiding where you least expect it.

And it could be part of, or the entire root cause of your health issues!

We tend to think of air pollution as what we may experience outdoors- in a crowded city street or when stopping at the gas station.

Have you ever considered that the very air you’re breathing in your home could be polluted, too?   With mold.

One very common example of sickness or simply not being well due to mold is asthma.   Of the 21.8 million people reported to have asthma in the U.S., approximately 4.6 million cases are estimated to be attributable to dampness and mold exposure in the home. (EPA and Berkeley National Laboratory, 2007) (1)

One recent study (2) found mold in every public building studied, with an average of about 14 instances of mold per building.

Reports say that around 70% of U.S. homes contain a certain level of mold (3)!

The most common symptoms of black mold, one of the more common types, exposure include (4):

Sneezing.Coughing.Nasal congestion.Postnasal drip.Red eyes.Black mold exposure can also trigger or worsen asthma symptoms, including:Wheezing.Shortness of breath (dyspnea).Dry cough and chest tightness 

Keep in mind, however,  that you don’t need to be experiencing symptoms if there is, in fact, mold in your environment,

If you inhale too many mycotoxins, even unknowingly, they will suppress and weaken your immune system. Then you could become more susceptible to diseases, viruses, infections, and other forms of sickness (5), making it a common underlying, or root cause to a plethora of autoimmune (AI) concerns as well as mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and bipolar.

On a personal note, we first investigated our own home about six years ago as part of my preparation for becoming pregnant.   Not only did I want to ensure my body was as healthy as it could be; I also wanted to make sure there was nothing untoward in our home.

Fortunately, our home checked out clean and the next step was checking our bodies; my functional medicine doctor opted for a test called Real Time Labs (6) in which a urine sample is collected.

That was clear, too, thankfully.

In the event that mold is, in fact found in home or body, there are treatments for the two, both conventional as well as a more natural approach.

A Western physician may recommend taking decongestants, antihistamines and even nasal corticosteroids (7) to ‘ease symptoms’, but they are not without consequence as side effects can include nosebleeds, dryness, insomnia, loss of appetite, heart pounding (palpitations), anxiety and restlessness.     Another common prescription, Montelukast (Singulair) is a tablet taken to block the action of leukotrienes — immune system chemicals that cause allergy symptoms such as excess mucus. However, concerns about side effects, including anxiety, insomnia, depression and suicidal thinking, are increasing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently put a warning on the box about the drug’s use!.

Functional Medicine doctors are more likely to offer holistic approaches, including eliminating the source and treating with food or plant based remedies, with little to no side effects.

Dr. Axe shares an excellent guide on his site (8), entitled “12 Natural Ways to Deal with Black Mold Symptoms” with remedies such as raw garlic, charcoal and chlorophyll.

Take away message:  if you have not had your home, office (and body!) tested for mold, there’s no drawback to doing so.

Hopefully you’ll find nothing, but if you do, it’s a must-do in achieving your goal of optimal health.

Checking with your functional medicine doc about ordering a mycotoxin test for yourself and your family and scheduling a mold check for your home with a locally based company is the first step to ensuring you are mold-free!

https://realtimelab.com/mold-statistics/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509516300833https://watermoldfire.net/important-mold-statisticshttps://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24862-black-moldhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8619365/https://realtimelab.com/https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mold-allergy/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351525https://draxe.com/health/black-mold-symptoms/The post COULD HIDDEN MOLD BE THE ROOT CAIUSE OF YOUR HEALTH ISSIUE(S)? first appeared on Paleoista.