Week 3
Day 15: Are simple sugars truly addicting?
The simple answer is "Yes" because there are similarities between how drugs of abuse and simple sugars impact the brain. The US National Institute on Drug Abuse confirmed this with brain scans. Drugs of abuse increase levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. When animals are exposed to unlimited amounts of simple sugars, the chemical that would normally shut down the desire for more is acetylcholine and over time acetylcholine’s response is delayed and the animal’s intake of sugar increased 4-fold. Food manufacturers know this point very well and add sugar to almost every product. Ideally, we should be consuming no more than about 20 grams (4-5 teaspoons per day) but the average American gets 3-4-fold more than that (17 tsp/day). Sugar became imbedded in our foods in the 1960’s and that’s when the obesity epidemic also began. Unfortunately, sugar activates inflammatory molecules and changes the microbiota in a harmful way. I was addicted to sugar and one of the ways I can see it now is that plain water was never satisfying to me. I always needed some flavor in my beverages which pushed me to bad ingredients. Now, freed of the sugar addiction, I really enjoy plain water. It’s been a good measure for me and maybe it is for you, too.
Day 16: What are healthy snacks?
Now that we talked about simple sugars being addictive and in almost every product, and we will soon talk about unhealthy oils which are also in about every snack you can imagine, what is healthy to snack on? Though this contradicts many of the health advisors but doesn’t contradict the best science, snacking on fruit is a great way to get fiber, healthful plant nutrients like polyphenols and they are integral to the Mediterranean Diet and thus integral to longevity and reduced chronic disease. (Don’t worry about the natural carbohydrate content, I’ll explain later.) Vegetables like carrots and celery dipped in almond butter or nut butters are delicious. You should eat a handful of mixed nuts every day and they make a great snack. Eating non-gluten breads dipped in extra virgin olive oil is delicious and consumed by traditional Mediterraneans daily. Putting hummus on gluten free brad is also delicious and very satisfying.
Day 17: What is fiber and how does it relate to microbiota and weight loss?
Fiber is generally defined as food components which can’t be digested by humans without the help of microbiota. In other words, fiber is microbiota food. To make microbiota healthy, you have to feed them. The ideal fibers are those which boost healthy microbiota and to have you starve the unhealthy microbiota. Most are complex carbohydrates but some aren’t. It is recommended that men consume 38g of fiber per day and women 25 grams but the average person only consumes 17 grams and those on a low carb diet only get 10 grams per day. Among the many ways that ignite has been shown in clinical trials to benefit health, it contains an exclusive soluble fiber to benefit healthy microbiota. ignite's exclusive ingredients can't be purchased anywhere except from Makkarios. We primarily get fiber in out diet from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, seeds, beans, legumes, oats, wheat, whole grains, and nuts. There are in many foods which contain lots of great fibers that some health advisors are teaching you not to eat such as lignans and lectins (which are fine for you to eat if you properly cook and prepare them). Adequate fiber intake has been shown in many published scientific studies to reduce the risk of many cancers an average of 17%, reduce death from heart disease 23%, and also reduce diabetes and obesity.
Day 18: What is a leaky gut and LPS?
LPS stands for lipopolysaccharides and they make up the cell walls of bad gut bacteria. When you have a lot of bad microbiota, then there are a lot that die over time and release their cell wall LPS components when they die. LPS irritates the wall of our digestive tract and breaks it down allowing inflammatory components within our digestive tract to leak though and even get into our blood stream traveling throughout our body. When this occurs, inflammation increases throughout almost every cell in our body including crossing the blood:brain barrier and affecting our brains. That’s why people say that there is there is a gut:brain connection commonly referred to as the gut:brain axis. This is why it is critical, for longevity and reduced chronic disease risk, for you to make sure we have healthy/happy microbiota. “If your microbiota aren’t happy, ain’t nobody healthy.” Let’s eat foods not based on fads with temporary weight loss benefits but rather based upon feeding the healthiest microbiota.
Day 19: What is the history of grains and should they all be thrown out and avoided?
To answer this question, it's important to know where our current types of wheat came from. I'll provide the history of wheat hybridization here. Hybridization is the process of breeding that creates a new plant (or animal) from two different species or types. The earliest form of wheat that humans ate was Einkorn wheat which only has two sets of DNA chromosomes. Over time, close relatives of Einkorn were bred with other wild grasses to make durum, emmer and rivet all of which have four sets of DNA chromosomes. More recently, rivet and durum where hybridized (bred) with another wild grass to form spelt and the bread wheats we have today all of which have 6 sets of DNA. It's the last form which has the most reactive genes and bread wheat is used almost everywhere that the label reports containing 'wheat'. Whole grains of this reactive wheat are still able to induce digestive tract inflammation even though they are whole grains which generally are healthier. Einkorn has some gluten but in scientific research, it has been shown to have the least reactive (inflammatory) form of gluten. The most reactive forms of gluten are found on the DD portion of the DNA components which would include bread wheat and spelt. Some durum, emmer and rivet have some reactivity depending on their source. Einkorn is the least reactive and has 3 -4 times the nutrition of other wheats. Gluten is made up of two proteins named Glutenin and gliadin. Gliadin is most reactive in those sensitive to gluten. The gliadin:glutenin ratio in bread wheat is 8:1 but in Einkorn its 2:1. It does have some gluten in it however so check with your doctor first if you have been diagnosed with celiac disease. Wheat has some excellent fibers like inulin and arabinoxylans which make for healthy microbiota.
Day 20: What is meant by a grain or whole grain cereal?
A cereal scientifically is not food or plants that come in a card board box for breakfast. The definition of a cereal is any grass which is grown for its grain. Examples are wheat, rice, barley, rye, corn and oats. The grain is made of three parts, namely, the germ (center which contains important fibers), bran (outer coat) and endosperm (starchy portion). Most all of the important nutrients are in the germ and bran. When mills refine grains, they remove the bran and germ thus leaving the cereal with very few nutrients so they are ‘fortified’ but fortification only brings a small portion of the nutrients back. Whole grains have not had their germ and bran removed so are much healthier. Studies have shown that people who eat whole grains increased the amounts of a type of microbiota which assists in weight loss. Remember though, most grains have been changed by hybridization (wheat, rye, barley) or genetic modification (corn, soy, sugar beats, canola) so they either irritate the bowel and microbiota due to either enhanced gluten or ATI (to be covered in 2 days) inflammation or high levels of glyphosate. That's why, in order to get the safest whole grains which are most nutritious and loaded with healthy fiber, you should only consume non-GMO, organic, cereals. Some people are incredibly sensitive to any gluten so please double-check with your doctor. But if you aren't, we don't need to avoid all cereals (defined above) and in fact shouldn't for longevity. Preferably consume einkorn wheat and glyphosate tested other products so that you know that what you are eating is glyphosate free if possible (since sometimes glyphosate contamination can even get into organically raised foods grown next to non-organically grown grains).
Day 21: What is gluten intolerance and NCGS (non-celiac gluten sensitivity)?
Gluten (Latin for glue) is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye, barley and triticale – a cross between wheat and rye but is lowest in einkorn. Oats generally don’t contain true gluten according to the University of Chicago but can be cross-contaminated so you should purchase only gluten free oats. Commercial wheats contain 80-90% of their protein as gluten. Gluten stimulates and immune reaction in many people (even those not diagnosed with celiac disease) which leads to leaky gut and a significant inflammatory response. This is called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. I have it and this is what partially led to my gaining so much weight. It’s sneaky but I have control over it now. Imitation meats, soy sauce, beer, ice cream, ketchup and many products contain gluten which is tricky and you need to learn more because unknowingly, this is causing obesity in many of you. Brown rice, quinoa, sorghum, teff, millet, buckwheat and amaranth are usually safe. Even though einkorn wheat has some gluten, scientific studies have shown it's the least reactive form of gluten among wheats. I definitely have gluten intolerance but am able to handle einkorn wheat without any problems. Many companies now make pastas using einkorn and other non-gluten flours and are delicious. These are loaded with healthy fiber and other nutrients which are all integral to the Mediterranean diet. Using these different sources of flours are just one of the updates Makkarios M2 has made to the Mediterranean diet.