Week 4
Day 22: What are ATIs (amylase trypsin inhibitors) and how do they affect inflammation and obesity?
ATI stand for amylase trypsin inhibitors which are natural pesticides that are naturally within certain plants in order to protect them from being eaten by predators. But they also stimulate our immune system and cause an inflammatory response. Farmers have selected for higher ATI plant strains because they produce more crops per acre. Modern gluten containing foods have ATI levels that are 100 times higher than previously. High levels of ATI are in wheat barley and rye. Medium levels are in buckwheat millet and teff. Lowest are in lentils, quinoa, oats, amaranth and rice. Furthermore, there is a low measured reaction to form of ATI in einkorn wheat. That's why einkorn is tolerated so well by many people who have gluten sensitivity. Including einkorn into your menus allows for creation of many foods you are used to like breads, pastas, etc. and even waffles and cookies can be made in a healthy way so we have included these recipes in our literature for you.
Day 23: Why are fruits and vegetables actually healthy contrary to many so-called ‘health experts”?
Fruits and vegetables are loaded with natural plant nutrients called phytonutrients like phenolics, triterpenoids, polyphenolics which are anti-inflammatory and block the formation of harmful inflammatory chemicals made in the body like TNF-α, interleukins, etc. The people who are telling you to not eat fruits and vegetables are so focused on sugar that they often fail to realize the benefits of complex sugar sources and are throwing the baby out with the bath water. That's inadequate teaching of science to dismiss foods that are healthy for you and block inflammation. Those teachers are confusing the benefits of short term versus long term gain. They have gone down this pathway because fruit temporarily increases glucose levels in the blood but the phytonutrients turn off harmful genes leading to longevity and chronic disease reduction. We need to keep our focus on the correct goals - longevity with chronic disease reduction and not short-term benefits. The Mediterranean diet has long used a wide variety of both vegetables and fruits. Disclaimer - Don’t worry about the natural sugars unless you have diabetes or other dietary restricted diets and should then consult with your doctor before consuming much fruit.
Day 24: Why is nut consumption so important?
In one study involving 354,000 people, they compared the health benefits of consuming one serving (1/4 cup or one-handful) per week vs. consuming the nuts on a daily basis. Those consuming nuts daily reduced all-cause mortality (dying for any reason) from 4% - 27%, cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel causes of death) mortality from 7 – 39%, decreased cancer risk 14% decreased fat around the organs referred to as visceral fat (the most dangerous form), and reduced insulin resistance (which leads diabetes) and regulated cell growth. The benefits of a handful of mixed nuts alone are amazing and a wonderful snack during the day. I'd recommend you avoid most nut-based food bars as they usually contain unhealth oils and sugars which are going to neutralize most of the benefits of eating the nuts. Nuts also contain fiber which are food for the healthy microbiota. Please always remember, "If the microbiota aren't happy, ain't nobody healthy." Disclaimer - The exceptions to taking nuts of course is if you have allergies to them or have been specifically advised by a doctor not to take them for some reason.
Day 25: What are genetically modified foods and why were they modified?
In order to increase crop yield per acre, some crops had their DNA changed (modified) so that herbicides wouldn’t kill them but would instead kill the nutrient depriving weeds next to the desired plant. According to the USDA Economic Research Service in 2019, 89% of corn, 94% of soybeans, and 94% of cotton which is the source of oil used in restaurants and many processed foods, have been genetically modified in order to make them tolerant to herbicide like glyphosate (Roundup). 61% of all oil consumed in the US is from soybeans. 90% of the canola oil grown in the US is GMO resistant to herbicides. Alfalfa, fed to cattle, is GMO. Sugar beets, a source of much of our table sugar have been genetically modified, too. Sugar and corn are in almost every processed food we eat. In order to maximize the benefits of the herbicide resistance, many farming practices include spraying a lot of glyphosate on all plants which remain on the plant after harvesting and processing. Glyphosate is able to kill healthy microbiota in our digestive tract. If a product label says the food contains, canola oil (examples - margarine, mayonnaise, butter, salad dressings), cottonseed oil (example - mayonnaise, salad dressings, pasta sauces, chips, baked goods) , sugar (example - almost everything in the grocery store), soybean oil (example - mayonnaise, margarine, salad dressings, baked goods), then chances are it also contains a lot of herbicide in it as well. That's why there really is a benefit to organic foods in order to protect your microbiota. Many grocery stores now have organic products so they are worth it. Read labels carefully, however. Many products have packages that are green with pictures of mountains and the earth and are filled with nasty ingredients.
Day 26: What is glyphosate and how does it impact the microbiota?
Glyphosate is an herbicide used to kill weeds in the farming industry. The brand name many people are familiar with is Roundup but it has many brand names now since the patent has expired. The farming industry, under the clearance of the USDA, allowed for many plants to be genetically modified so they are resistant to glyphosate which increases crop yields per acre. Commonly, large amounts of glyphosate are used and the production and use of glyphosate has gone up dramatically. Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus of plant pathology at Purdue University states that farmers will purposely pour large amounts of glyphosate on crops to make them mature faster to beat the weather frosts. Glyphosate use has increased 250-fold in the last four decades. Foods we eat have glyphosate still on them because glyphosate has not been shown to directly harm humans so its levels aren't routinely checked. The problem though is that glyphosate kills and disrupts our microbiota which is a problem. It’s best to avoid it as much as possible by eating organic foods. Ideally, consumption of foods that have also been tested to not have any glyphosate on them is best.
Day 27: Is my belly all fat or is it also a huge inflamed bowel?
This brings up a great point because many people assume that a large belly is due just to fat accumulation alone. The reality is though that when we have a leaky gut from inflammatory foods and the wrong diet, it causes our bowels to become inflamed and swollen. Having about 30 feet of swollen digestive tract takes up a lot of room. Our larger bellies are most likely due to both. By reducing the inflammation and leaky gut by the proper diet, is will reduce both the fat and the inflammation.
Day 28: Are ancient diets like Paleo and keto better?
The recent interest in Paleo diets I find rather intriguing because there have been many assumptions made concerning these diets that don’t necessarily apply to us at all and, in fact, research shows these assumptions concerning our best health may be completely wrong. The Paleo diet was initiated by a gastroenterologist as a way to reduce chronic bowel problems. Some researchers found ancient people who died by falling into glaciers and their stomach contents analyzed. The Paleo promotors have based much upon these stomach contents. There are logical problems with relying on these stomach contents found, such as, the berries and meat noted because we really don't know much else about these people. We know nothing about the lifespan or health of these people. Maybe they all died early with lots of disease. Maybe these were the only foods available to them that day they died. Most paleo and keto diets heavily favor high animal meat intake which isn’t associated with longevity studies. Recent research has shown that branched chain amino acids (commonly in animal meat) are associated with activating pathways that lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. High meat diets also result in the selecting for microbiota which will metabolize those proteins through fermentation. Fermentation of proteins results in production of dangerous compounds so protein diets above 10% of total calories are not recommended especially from animal sources. Again, most promotors of these diets focus on short term benefits and extrapolate them to long range benefits which has not been found in true longevity studies. Just because eating meat lowers sugar in the blood for a few hours, doesn't mean that diabetes risk is reduced. In fact, the opposite is true. Longevity studies consistently show that high animal protein diets dramatically increase the risk of diabetes several times. Just because they reduce a few pounds of fat for a few weeks doesn't mean it's good for you over decades.