Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

It’s official. If you’re keeping up with the latest science, you know that the gut is inexorably linked to the brain. This year researchers found a correlation between depression and mood swings in men and high sugar intake.1 Last year a study showed probiotics could help with reducing the risk of depression.2 A growing body of evidence is proving that healthy people’s microbiota has a lot in common with other healthy people’s microbiota, and diseased people’s micro-biota also have common traits.3  They’ve been talking about how the gut may affect the brain and the immune system more and more for the last 20 years. Mainstream medicine is slowly figuring out that our gut’s microflora correlates directly with our health, and sugar and other junk foods do not promote healthy gut bacteria.

World’s First Trial Shows Improving Diet Can Treat Major Depression

Depression is one of the world’s most prevalent and costly medical disorders. It may be surprising to read “World’s First” in regards to a trial study establishing a link between diet and depression, as many would guess that this kind of study has done before. It hasn’t been, but headlines proclaiming that healthier diets may decrease the risk of depression have been appearing in the news more frequently. That is the work of Director of Deakin’s Food and Mood Centre Professor Felice Jacka and her team. She’s published numerous epidemiological (survey-based) studies reporting that eating an unhealthy diet shows you are more likely to be depressed. The studies were based on questionnaires. They were not actual diet experiments. They have simply educated guesses that hadn’t been tested in the real world yet. Until now.

Professor Jacka said the results of her team’s new study may offer a better approach to depression.

We’ve known for some time that there is a clear association between the quality of people’s diets and their risk for depression.

This is the case across countries, cultures and age groups, with healthy diets associated with reduced risk, and unhealthy diets associated with increased risk for depression.

However, this is the first randomised controlled trial to directly test whether improving diet quality can actually treat clinical depression.” – Professor Jacka

The Study Details

Professor Jacka’s team recruited 67 men and women. The participants had severe depression and also reported eating a relatively unhealthy diet. Most of them were taking antidepressants and/or were in regular psychotherapy.

Half of the participants adhered to a Mediterranean diet while they attended dietary support sessions with a nutritionist. The others continued eating as usual (unhealthy), but they were required to attend social support “befriending” sessions. Everyone’s depression symptoms were graded using several different tests.

Encouraged foods included: whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, low-fat/ unsweetened dairy, raw unsalted nuts, lean red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, and olive oil

Discouraged foods included: Sweets, refined cereals, fried food, fast food, processed meat.

Beverage information: maximum two sugar-sweetened beverages per week and maximum two alcoholic drinks per day, preferably red wine.

The Study Results

People in the unhealthy diet group improved a statistically insignificant amount, and those in the healthy diet group improved their symptoms with a full third of them fully reversing their depression. It’s also important to note that this was done with conventionally accepted dietary protocols. It should be noted that these “healthy” diets are not that healthy. Imagine the results a more radical approach could have achieved.

How & Why (gut bacteria, B vitamins, etc.)

In another study, scientists from McMaster University wanted to test how mice with different gut bacterial conditions deal with stress.4 

The baby mice were stressed from 3 to 21 days old by being separated from their mother for 3 hours each day. This experiment was conducted with mice that had different gut bacterial conditions. One group of mice was grown completely free of bacteria in their guts and kept in a sterile room to prevent bacteria from affecting their behaviors (germ-free mice). The other group were regular mice that were exposed to an ordinary, complex range of bacteria. The last group was a germ-free control group that hadn’t been separated from their mothers. The baby mice with normal gut microbiomes that had been subjected to early-life stress showed an unusual increase in the stress hormone corticosterone. They also exhibited signs of depression as well as anxiety. The germ-free mice, meanwhile, behaved similarly to the control mice, showing no symptoms of anxiety or depression. It is interesting to note that these mice also had elevated levels of corticosterone, just not symptoms of depression. Naturally, the control group showed no elevated stress hormone or altered behavior.”

These results indicate that the bacteria in our environment contribute to our mental health and behavior.

Next, they exposed the germ-free mice to bacteria taken from the stressed group. As the bacterial composition of the germ-free mice changed, so did their metabolic activity and their behavior. After a few weeks, the previously symptom-free mice were now showing signs of depression. Finally, the researchers wanted to see how the control group reacted when they were exposed to bacteria from the stressed mice. In this situation, the mice didn’t start showing symptoms of depression at all.” – IFLS

Our brains are running off of the energy our gut and our lungs are producing. If our gut is producing an unhealthy chemical environment, this effects the whole body including the brain.

Depression Free Diet & Lifestyle

Eat Right

So eating right…we’ve got you covered:

Stop eating sugar and processed foods. Yes, the depressed brain wants to reach for the nearest comfort food (donut, pizza, what have you), but the mice have proven that’s probably the last thing you actually need. The brain and the gut are intertwined and cultivating your beneficial bacteria with raw, fresh produce; soaked and sprouted nuts; and antibiotic-free, pasture-raised meats is a necessary part of any healing process. You don’t expect a mechanic to work on your car without tools. Why expect the same from your body?

Most people reading this who are really looking for answers to help with their depression are not going to be able to take on an entirely new lifestyle filled with shopping at farmers markets and cooking all of one’s own food. Think of this is the long-term goal and take baby steps towards being more connected and in touch with your food. Also, check out How I Overcame Depression Naturally and I’m Depressed.

Stop with the germaphobia

If you carry a small bottle of disinfectant on your keychain or find yourself constantly rubbing your hands together in a strange imitation of someone over a campfire, step away from the sanitizer. You’re doing more harm than good. Most commercial sanitizers contain harmful ingredients like triclosan, parabens, and sulfates. They also contribute to the inability to fight diseases naturally.

Exposure to harmful bacteria teaches the body how to naturally fight infection. It’s why we suggest that small children spend time playing in the dirt. But antibiotics, hand sanitizers, and household cleaners have taken that away from us, along with the beneficial bacteria. Beneficial bacteria is the gatekeeper to the immune system.

Play With Nature, Get Dirty

Speaking of sticking your hands in the dirt…do it. When you’re depressed, the last thing you want to hear s some random person chirping at you about how you should “just go outside…” but seriously…do it. Vitamin D is your friend.

If you’re near water, you’re in luck. Humans respond to water on a primal level.

Exert Yourself

This one is kind of like the go outside one…you gotta do it. Make it something simple. Maybe swap getting in the car for walking somewhere instead. Play your favorite music or enjoy some people watching.

A depressed brain is likely in short supply of feel-good endorphins and neurotransmitters.

Sleep Well

Make yourself go to bed. Stop looking at your phone. In fact, take a cue from babies, nature’s original fussy sleepers. Or at least a cue from their parents – nighttime routine. No, you’re not in a onesie (are you?), but many of the tricks used by hopeful parents can be modified to help you.

Bath, with soothing essential oils (because you’re an adult now!) or other pleasing spa products? Check. Soothing music/white noise/smoothly voiced NPR podcast? Check. A ridiculous book you don’t necessarily want anyone to see you reading? Check. Momma knows best, but you’re still a grown ass adult. Have fun planning a decadent pre-bed routine. Also, check out Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look with Natural Remedies.

Supplements To Fix The Gut & End Depression

Almost everyone in the world who is dealing with chronic health issues or chronic mental issues has an abundance of Candida and heavy metal toxicity, along with a lack of beneficial bacteria. Diet alone can fix this for most people, but when the head is not working well, choices don’t usually go well either. B vitamins can help alleviate depression until the healthy gut microbes develop. Good fats (click here) are a must for people who can’t assimilate Bs properly. For those dealing with depression, a diet rich in B vitamins and healthy fats is a very good start. Supplements can be used to accelerate healing and eliminate all the other ailments and used to kill Candida and promote healthy bacteria.

Related:

SF722

This is my favorite for killing anything fungal, but it also works on parasites and other pathogens. If you have had yeast infections, athlete’s foot, see floaters, have BO, or eat the way everyone in modern countries do, you’ll want this supplement. There are tons of other choices for killing yeast (click here), but I don’t know of anything that does a better job for the money than SF722. Candida can become fairly immune to many other antimicrobials but studies have shown that this does not happen with SF722.

Probiotics

Probiotics help fix everything int he gut, including breaking down and removing things that shouldn’t be there, like heavy metals. A healthy gut detox the body all the time. Often touted as the cure everything supplement for the well-informed, probiotics are something most everyone is familiar with these days. What most do not know is that the vast majority of probiotic supplements on the market are ineffectual at best, and many actually feed yeast. How the probiotics are processed and preserved make all the difference. It’s not an easy task to produce good probiotics; our stomach acid is designed to kill it. Two of my favorites are FloraMend and Bio-K (the latter is not available in our store, but it is at most health food stores and Whole Foods). I don’t recommend taking a probiotic with antimicrobials. A really good probiotic should come out on top, but you are reducing its effectiveness when you combine it with compounds that kill. For instance, I would take SF722 all day and a probiotic at night and early morning, or vice versa, where I take the probiotic with food and the SF722 late and early. Different digestive issues can favor one over the other so try both ways and see what works for you.

Don’t take them with antimicrobials, and make sure they are high-quality supplements. Anyone without an appendix should take a probiotic every day with every major meal for the rest of their life. Your appendix secretes out beneficial bacteria when you don’t have enough. Take them on an empty stomach as noted or with food to help digest food inside the gut. I recommend mixing it up each day, but I do recommend caution when taking systemic enzymes. Too many systemic enzymes can cause issues, they can start to eat away at the body, so I don’t just grab a big handful like I do with SF722. I personally take 4-6 a day on an empty stomach, and I take more with food as needed.

One antimicrobial you can take with probiotics is olive leaf extract. It’s great for maintenance but it’s not a yeast serial-killer like SF722 (otherwise it would damage the probiotic). It’s a fine supplement, and but it’s not going to do much of anything all by itself. I like Abzorb best right now for a probiotic. For more on systemic enzymes click here.

Magnesium

Magnesium is an old home remedy for all that ails you, including ‘anxiety, apathy, depression, headaches, insecurity, irritability, restlessness, talkativeness, and sulkiness.’ In 1968, Wacker and Parisi reported that magnesium deficiency could cause depression, behavioral disturbances, headaches, muscle cramps, seizures, ataxia, psychosis, and irritability – all reversible with magnesium repletion.” – Psychology Today

A small study reported that over-the-counter magnesium tablets significantly improve depression in just a couple of weeks.11

Magnesium is a foundational supplement, like calcium. In the modern world, there is a tendency to become deficient in this vital mineral, and this effects every single function of the body! Not having enough magnesium is like not having enough oil in the car. Something is going to break down sooner or later, and in the meaning time, things will not be running as well as they should.

Poop Easy

For some, the gut needs more help to eliminate properly. Everyone should defecate once for every meal, and maybe once or twice more for those who also snack on lots of calories throughout the day like I do. Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse is the best I know of for healing the gut, killing parasites that may reside within, and getting the bowels regular. Shillington’s Intestinal Detox helps eliminate heavy metals and anything positively charged (like most pathogens), and it slows down and firms up stools. It also helps heal the gut and rebuild a healthy biofilm. Together the two supplements have synergistic properties, and they can be taken together to help balance the gut. It’s a very effective combination, but if the budget is tight, get the one that suits your needs. Note that if you have chronic constipation and have not tried magnesium yet, Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse may not be necessary with a good magnesium supplement.

Conclusion

We rely on bacteria to survive and yet many aspire to live in an antibacterial world. We know certain heavy metals are incredibly toxic to us, but we excuse them in vaccinations and light bulbs and sushi. Most of us know that fresh, raw vegetables pull our heavy metal toxins, but we grow conventional vegetables with such a heavy toxic load that they no longer have their natural chelation properties. For most people, when it’s all said and done, our physical well being affects our mental well being more than anything else in our lives. Our entire body is built on what we eat. Our heart, our gallbladder, our appendix, our fingers, our eyes, our noise, our brain – they all need the right nutrition to function properly. Nothing in the body gets healthy and stays healthy for long without fixing the gut first, and that includes the brain. If you’re looking for the easiest thing you can do, a little baby-step just to get you started, get the SF722 and Abzorb and some B vitamins. I can’t stress enough how much almost everyone in any modern country could use SF722 to help fix the gut. Get some sunlight or a D vitamin and some good fats. Start squatting every day, just a few to start with and build up daily. And get into some nature, be it walking or gardening or whatever. Another good option would be CBD oil. It’s showing a lot of promise with depression.

 

Recommended Reading:
Sources:
  1. The Link Between Sugar And Depression: What You Should Know – Forbes
  2. Effect of Probiotics on Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials – NCBI
  3. The healthy human microbiome – NCBI
  4. Link Found Between Gut Bacteria And Depression – IFL Science
  5. Gut Bacteria in Health and Disease – NCBI
  6. Diet and Depression – Psychology Today
  7. Mediterranean Diet Can Help In Fight Against Depression – study – ABC News 
  8. World’s First Clinical Trial Finds Diet Works for Depression – Psychology Today
  9. Mediterranean diet can help in fight against depression, Australian study finds – ABC News
  10. A randomized controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial) – BMC Medicine
  11. Can magnesium help depression – or is it just a placebo?

 



Sugar Industry Has Had Evidence Linking Sugar to Heart Disease for Nearly Half a Century

Project 259 is a study that linked sucrose, a common sugar product, to heart disease and bladder cancer and would have revolutionized the way we think about sugar in regards to our health. Or at least it would have…if the sugar industry hadn’t stopped funding it halfway through the project in 1971. The project was discovered by a team of researchers at the University of California San Francisco who have been in the news for other reports on the sugar industry’s unsavory practices.

Details of the Project

Project 259 was launched by the Sugar Research Foundation in 1968. The project was in two halves, and only one of them was completed. The finished portion of the project looked at rat’s gut bacteria after rats consumed sucrose compared to starch. Early results showed that the sucrose caused gut microbes to throw off those rodent metabolisms, increasing their levels of triglycerides. Elevated triglycerides clog arteries and increase a person’s predisposition for cardiovascular disease. Project 259 also found that in a comparison to high-starch diet, a high-sugar diet boosts the activity of beta-glucuronidase, an enzyme linked to bladder cancer, when compared to a starch diet.

These discoveries were reported to Sugar Research Foundation in 1970. The results accompanied a request for 12 additional weeks of funding to finish the second half of the project, which was outlined as a deeper look at the effects of starch. Within a month, the Vice President of the Sugar Research Foundation declared these findings as nil and the additional funding never materialized. Project 259 was abandoned in 1971.

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternatives and More

Who Tells The Story

The sugar industry does not see this as a story. According to Courtney Gaine, the president and CEO of the Sugar Association, “They never called us. We would have let them look at the archives. I would let them look tomorrow. The story we have in our archives is a lot better than the story they’ve been telling,” She asserts that this study was lost in a bureaucratic shuffle, and emphasizes the industry’s ongoing interest in negative claims.

The sugar industry has a vested interest in controlling the story of sugar and health’s relationship. More than anything, Project 259 disrupts a narrative that was already being put into place.  The same researchers who found this study also uncovered a letter in the Harvard library that revealed the truth of that. Two prominent and now deceased Harvard researchers, Harvard nutritionists, Dr. Fredrick Stare and Mark Hegsted, were responsible for disproving studies that implicated sugar and concluded that there was only one dietary modification — changing fat and cholesterol intake — that could prevent coronary heart disease. Their work was published in 1967 and didn’t require disclosure of industry funds, although these newly found records state that the sugar industry trade group initiated and paid for the studies, examined drafts, and laid out a clear objective to protect sugar’s reputation in the public eye. Yes, the sugar industry wants to know about negative studies but not to offer an informed choice.

Related: Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease

Most Frustrating “What If” Ever?

Sugar (especially the way we process and refine it) is more detrimental to the human body than anyone had previously thought, but what would our quality of life look like if this study was published? What would our sweetener options even look like?

Rates of heart disease, the number one cause of death in the world, would be far less than they currently are, and the ripple effects from consuming less sugar would be huge. Would we be facing the same level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria crises? While the majority of the blame for that coming storm can be placed at the factory farming industry’s doorstep, sugar feeds infection like no other food. Would doctors and dentists need to prescribe antibiotics at the rate they currently do?

This is all speculation. Infuriating speculation, at that, as that potential future is gone.

Related: Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

We Should Be Angry

Not everyone who has heart disease has a history of heart disease in their family, but through the over-consumption of sugar, we have bred that predisposition into millions of people’s genetics. Anger and outrage are a daily occurrence in the current news cycles though and making this another cause for anger doesn’t send a strong enough message.

What if you stopped and said no more to products with large quantities of added sugar? Chose a different salad dressing or committed to figuring out a quick and tomato sauce recipe that kept you from reaching for the sugar-laden, jarred version on the shelf? Instead of choosing foods that create problems while willfully ignoring them, dictate your own health and choose foods that heal.

Sources:


Too Much Sugar Can Lead to a Higher Risk of Cancer – Study Confirms

A nine-year study by scientists in Belgium found that excess sugar consumption stimulates tumor growth and increases your risk of cancer. Scientists focused on the Warburg Effect, a phenomenon where cancer cells consume glucose and turn it into tumor-feeding lactic acid. According to one of the study’s researchers, Professor Johan Thevelein:

Our research reveals how the hyperactive sugar consumption of cancerous cells leads to a vicious cycle of continued stimulation of cancer development and growth. Thus, it is able to explain the correlation between the strength of the Warburg effect and tumor aggressiveness. This link between sugar and cancer has sweeping consequences. Our results provide a foundation for future research in this domain, which can now be performed with a much more precise and relevant focus.”

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternatives & More

The study used yeast cells to examine the connection between Ras protein activity and the sugar metabolism in yeast. Ras proteins send important signals controlling growth between cells, and mutated versions of these genes are frequently found in tumors. In this study, excess sugar caused the yeast tested to produce overactive Ras proteins.

Professor Thevelein summarized the study,

The main advantage of using yeast was that our research was not affected by the additional regulatory mechanisms of mammalian cells, which conceal crucial underlying processes. We were thus able to target this process in yeast cells and confirm its presence in mammalian cells. However, the findings are not sufficient to identify the primary cause of the Warburg effect. Further research is needed to find out whether this primary cause is also conserved in yeast cells.”

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

Too much sugar can increase your risk of cancer and promote tumor growth. This sugar is being consumed through any variety of foods. You could then be forgiven for assuming that a diet with too much sugar is more likely to cause cancer. Yet the Mayo Clinic places that idea firmly in the cancer myth column, which brings up an important question.

Related: Cure Cancer Naturally

As more research confirms that our health is first and foremost a direct product of what we eat, will our current food and medical system be able to acknowledge that before it’s too late?

Sources:


Stop Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

I have worked with many doctors, health coaches, nutrition consultants, and other various health professionals who are baffled with a client’s inability, or their own inability to get over certain health issues. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the problem is sugar. We eat so much sugar! But it’s not just sugar. If you’re struggling with your health, and you feel like you’ve learned so much about health but still are unable to reach homeostasis, take a look at these common mistakes people make with their diet.

Contents

Juice

The sugar within a whole apple will not feed pathogenic gut flora or spike most people’s blood sugar when eaten as an apple. Apple juice, on the other hand, is a refined sugar. Juicing removes fruit sugar from its natural state, which is inside the fruit, surrounded and bound with fiber. If the juice gets hot enough the enzymes are getting destroyed too.

Must Read: How To Heal Your Gut

How to Juice For Health

Use a slow juicer to preserve enzymes and other delicate nutrients. Drink immediately; don’t store it. Use vegetables and herbs. This will not be that refreshing burst of sweetness fruit juicers are accustomed to.  Spinach, lettuces and other lighter leafy greens make for a pretty easy transition. Kale, cabbage, and collards can be difficult to work with (or drink) depending on the juicer and their palate. Try adding them in slowly. Personally, I cannot make collard work to save my life, but I’ve grown accustomed to kale and spinach.

Related: How to Optimize Curcumin Absorption – With Golden Milk Tea Recipe

Cayenne, turmeric, garlic, ginger, and cinnamon are a healthy juicer’s best friend. The herbal antimicrobial properties and some other factors help balance out the effects of the sugars from juicing.

Related: The Best Juicer

Wheat

The food pyramid is not our friend. Meat and grain industries have influenced dietary regulations for decades. How a food pyramid is done right depends on whether one is vegan, a raw foodist, or an omnivore, but the commonality is raw vegetables as the base for a balanced diet.

Related: How to Optimize Curcumin Absorption – With Golden Milk Tea Recipe

Grain has been consumed for thousands of years, but modern wheat is making people sick. There are a few likely reasons for this, including genetic engineering through hybridization (not to be confused with GMOs), glyphosates, unnatural harvesting practices, and the way we handle the modern processing that make the food products. Many who cannot consume wheat are able to eat spelt, Kamut, Einkorn, and some other ancient grains that contain gluten, but anyone with severe gluten issues would be wise to stay away from all wheat and gluten until the gut is balanced and healed.

A proper food pyramid would have raw herbs and vegetables as the most important items, with cooked vegetables and herbs being shown as the second most beneficial, with fruit following close behind. Meat and grains are not necessarily bad for you, but they don’t do nearly as much to heal the body (unless you’re severely deficient in nutrition). Cooked vegetables, meats, and grains have many benefits and can help sustain and build our body, but raw fresh produce and herbs produce the best ecosystem in our gut which equates to a healthy body.

Gluten-Free Grains and Grain Substitutions

  • Amaranth is an ancient grain that is very easy to absorb and assimilate and is rich in protein, as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. It’s also the only grain that has been documented to contain vitamin C.
  • Buckwheat is technically not a grain; this fruit seed is related to rhubarb and sorrel. It’s a good source of antioxidants, fiber, manganese, magnesium, and tryptophan.
  • Corn can be problematic for those dealing with inflammation, but it’s a much better choice than wheat for anyone who’s not feeling their best. Corn is a good source of vitamins B1, B5 (pantothenic acid), and C; folate; and phosphorus.
  • Millet, “with its many nutrients, has been shown to support the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and respiratory systems. It has the potential to protect against diabetes and cancer.” – Click to read more about millet here
  • Montina is flour milled from Indian ricegrass (which is not to traditional rice). It’s rich in protein, carbohydrates, and fiber and is typically used as an additive to primary gluten-free flours.
  • Quinoa is an ancient grain that’s very popular right now. It’s often is used in place of traditional starches, such as pasta, rice, couscous, and cereals. Quinoa is rich in amino acids, manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, and phosphorous.
  • Rice. But not white rice. Brown rice contains the bran and germ portion of the kernel and is higher in fiber and other nutrients. Rice is rich in B vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, and zinc. Rice flour is commonly used for baking with gluten-free products.
  • Sorghum is an ancient millet like cereal grain that’s used in baking.
  • Teff is an ancient grain that is similar in size to poppy seeds. Teff has a nutty, molasses like flavor is somewhat mucilaginous. It’s can be eaten uncooked, as a cooked grain, or ground and added as part of the flour used in recipes. Teff is rich contains all eight indispensable amino acids, and it’s chock-full of thiamin and contains significant amounts of the minerals phosphorus, magnesium, aluminum, iron, copper, zinc, boron, and barium.
  • Wild rice is an aquatic cereal grain that grows wild in isolated lakes and riverbeds in the cold regions of North America. It contains protein, phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium and the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid.

And of course, there are also beans and lentils for gluten free meals. Did I miss any? Comment!

Should I Be Soaking My Grains?

Phytic acid is an enzyme inhibitor of concern for many. Studies on phytic acid reveal that the phytic acid in whole grain can block calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron and copper absorption. It doesn’t happen with everyone; some seem immune to these adverse consequences because of a favorable ecosystem of gut flora. In addition, when animal fats that provide vitamins A and D accompany whole grains the effects of phytic acid are lessened.

Despite its potential drawbacks, phytic acid is similar in some ways to a vitamin, and metabolites of phytic acid may have secondary messenger roles in cells.” – All About Phytates Phytic Acid

For those with healthy gut flora, it’s probably not necessary to soak grains before cooking. For anyone suffering health issues, soaking grains and grain flours in an acid medium at very warm temperatures reduces or even eliminates phytic acid. I don’t generally soak grains or grain like products. I also tend to eat grains with raw herbs and vegetables, and I eat more vegetables in a day than I do grains. If you consume lots of grains you may do better with soaking them first.

I do soak legumes and I typically soak most nuts and seeds. I sprout them if I can.

Nuts

Nuts and seeds have enzyme inhibitors, including but not limited to just phytic acid. That’s why they last so long. Nuts and seeds will not break down into their simplest forms during digestion when their enzyme inhibitors are present.

Our pancreas produces our enzymes. Enzymes cause chemical reactions in the body. Enzymes break things down. Enzymes break down food, clots in the blood, they remove waste, break down fibrin, break down proteins and other food components to allow assimilation of nutrients, destroy foreign proteins, destroy viruses, and they are necessary for all bodily functions. Without enzymes we’re dead. Not having enough enzymes will equate to a stroke, heart attack, or some other catastrophic failure very soon.

Our pancreas only produces a finite amount or enzymes. Enzyme inhibitors are hard on the pancreas. Our modern diets are as a whole are very unfriendly to our pancreas. Chemicals that don’t breakdown, food that can’t be properly, fully digested for any reason, and to a lesser but still significant extent, any food that is void of enzymes put a burden on the pancreas. Think of the pancreas as the clock that our life is counting down from. If everything else is as healthy as it can be, the pancreas will still, eventually, stop producing enzymes no matter what else we do. We know that the quality of food can impact our DNA degradation, and enzymes are the other big piece of the longevity puzzle.

Related: Enzyme Supplementation For Disease

The more enzymes we get from our food, the longer our body will be able to produce our own enzymes, the longer we live.

Heat destroys enzymes. Pasteurized nuts are unlikely to sprout. The few that do still have some enzymes, but most do not.

Nuts, seeds, and legumes have natural enzyme inhibitors. Some are worse for us to consume than others, but all enzyme inhibitors inhibit certain enzymes from working. This is great for nuts and seeds so that they can be stored for years without breaking down, but these enzyme inhibitors disrupt our body’s functions.

How To Do Seeds Right

Pumpkin seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, hemp seeds, pecans, walnuts and a few of other nuts and seeds are chock full of enzymes while in their raw, natural forms. Provided they are raw, chewing them well enough can mix the enzymes with the inhibitors, effectively canceling each other out, but soaking and sprouting these nuts and seeds will remove the inhibitors, turning the nuts into enzyme rich, life-giving superfoods. Other nuts, and many legumes, really should be soaked and sprouted due to the nature of their enzyme inhibitors. There’s no need to sprout flax or chia seeds.

Enzyme supplements can also help to properly digest nuts and seeds, and eating them with raw vegetables can provide extra enzymes for digestion too.

Cooking can destroy many enzyme inhibitors but does not destroy all of them. Ideally, cooked nuts and seeds should be sprouted first.

Related: Homemade, Vegan Nut Milk Recipes and More

Soaking and Sprouting Nuts and Seeds

I use warm filtered water and a pinch of sea salt. The warm water will neutralize many of the enzyme inhibitors, but not all of them. I dump the water half way into it, refill, and then dump and rinse well before use. The salt also helps to activate some of the enzymes that deactivate the enzyme inhibitors.

I soak for 12-24 hours, depending on the nut or seed.

What You Need

  • 2-3 cups of raw, organic nuts or seeds (I don’t mix them, one kind per container)
  • 3-4 cups of warm water (cover nuts +15% for expansion)
  • 1 tablespoon of salt

Instructions

  1. Place the warm water in a medium bowl or jar that accommodates 2 liters or more
  2. Add salt
  3. Add the nuts or seeds
  4. Leave uncovered overnight.
  5. If you’re not sprouting, it’s time to dehydrate them. If I’m sprouting, at this point I soak them for one more round, another 8 hours or so, and then I lay them out on a towel and leave them overnight, damp. Wait until you see sprouting, and then you dehydrate the nuts or seeds.

Here is an article that goes into more depth on how to sprout using a mason jar.

There are preferred individual soaking times, but I just tend to go by size. Bigger nuts get a little more water time.

Sprouting goes a step further reducing the levels of enzyme inhibitors and unlocking other nutritional benefits, even more. But not all seeds sprout. Pine nuts, macadamias, pecans, and walnuts will not sprout, at least in my experience. Don’t even bother with soaking flax or sesame seeds. I like to sprout pumpkin, sunflower, almonds, broccoli, alfalfa, and clover. I can’t get brazil nuts to sprout, but I always treat them as if I could. Judging by the chia pet, it would seem you could soak and sprout chia seeds.

If you give a squirrel a raw nut, it will always bury it. The squirrel will only dig it up when the nut has sprouted. They have found sensors in squirrels’ noses that can identify a sprouted nut. Raw, unsprouted nuts have digestive enzyme inhibitors that prevent animals from digesting it easily. Only when it sprouts are these inhibitors deactivated. Smart squirrels!” – Diana Herrington

Beans, Legumes

Apparently, our ancestors understood this very well, because grains, beans, nuts, and seeds in their natural form were never consumed without being soaked or fermented first. It was a time-honored tradition of food preparation that kept agrarian cultures thriving. It wasn’t until food mechanization took the reigns and the processing of food became an industry, that soaking and fermenting became a dying tradition.” – Kim, Yogitrition

Do not buy canned beans. Do not trust companies to cook your legumes. Legumes can have intolerable quantities of enzyme inhibitors and dangerous types of lectins that need to be resolved with soaking (and cooking). Check out All About Lectins for more on lectins. Always soak your beans, legumes, and lentils before consuming.

Soak lentils and peas for about 5 hours, and I soak other legumes overnight.

Soy

Soy contains a few enzyme inhibitors including a trypsin inhibitor, that won’t allow nutrients to be properly digested. More than 90% of our soybean crop is genetically engineered. The GMO variety contains 27% more trypsin inhibitor. Soy should be consumed in a fermented form such as miso, tempeh, natto, and tamari sauce. Fermentation reduces soybean’s enzyme inhibitors. Sprouted soy and edamame (green soybeans) are easier to digest.

Asian women have very low rates of menopausal complaints, heart disease, breast cancer and osteoporosis. The soy industry, with sketchy evidence to support their claims, attributes this to soy being a regular part of the Asian diet. These claims, which have become widely accepted due to massive media campaigns, disregard extensive research that shows otherwise. They also disregard other dietary and lifestyle factors at play in Asian cultures. For example, there are many Asian populations that don’t eat soy as a regular part of their diet, yet still enjoy low rates of the chronic diseases mentioned. Among those who do eat soy regularly, fermented soy products are what is consumed the most. Asians aren’t downing quarts of overly-sweetened, highly-processed soy milk or popping supplements containing concentrated soy isoflavones, which has become popular in the U.S. Soy. In addition, the traditional Asian diet consists of primarily whole, fresh, natural foods including sea vegetables, which are packed with vital nutrients and one of the richest sources of absorbable calcium. They also eat a lot of fish, small amounts of meat, and little to no dairy products or processed foods—in stark contrast to the Standard American Diet, which consists of mostly processed foods high in sugar, fat, sodium, and excessive amounts of meat and zero sea vegetables.” – Family Wellness First: Nutrition

Related: Sprouting to Remove Enzyme Inhibitors

Agave Nectar

The Glycemic Index measures how quickly sugar from food enters the bloodstream. Fructose does not raise blood sugar or insulin levels in the short-term. This is why high fructose sweeteners are often labeled as “healthy.” Agave nectar’s low GI is because the sugar in it is fructose. The harmful effects of agave have little to do with the glycemic index. Glucose is an incredibly important molecule, found in many healthy foods and our bodies produce it. We need it. Every living cell does. The liver metabolizes fructose. When the liver cannot process all of the fructose it turns the fructose into fat, which gets shipped out of the liver as VLDL particles, fatty triglycerides, which raise our triglyceride levels.  Eventually, much of the fat lodges inside the liver, which can cause fatty liver disease.

Related: How To Reverse Fatty Liver Disease (Diet Plan Included)

The sugar in agave also feeds pathogens. It doesn’t take much agave to overwhelm the liver. Agave is probably no healthier than white table sugar and could be worse.

Honey

A little bit of raw honey is good for you. While there’s no scientific determination as to how much is too much, I reckon a tablespoon a day is just the right amount for those who are healthy, and far too much for those without a healthy gut.

Related: Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease

The biggest two problems with consuming honey are:

  • It’s not always real honey, and it’s almost always pasteurized
  • People tend to cook it even when they buy raw (like when you put it in that coffee or tea)

Cooked honey loses too many of its beneficial properties to still be healthy. Honey should only be consumed raw with the natural enzymes intact.

Other Sugars

Coconut sugar, evaporated cane juice, apple juice, and brown rice syrup are all refined and processed foods. The sugar in fruit juice will have different results than the sugar in whole fruit. You can’t sweeten foods by adding sugar without the consequences of added sugar.

There are also sugar alcohols like maltitol, sorbitol, erythritol, and the most well known, xylitol. Manufacturers of xylitol market the sweetener as derived from xylan, which is found in the fibers of many plants including berries, oats, beets, sugar cane and birch. Sugar alcohols are naturally occurring substances but manufactured xylitol is another matter entirely. Xylitol can be derived from the xylan of birch trees, but xylan is also found in corn. Thanks to our tax dollar subsidies, corn is cheap. Xylitol typically comes from GMO corn to make matters worse.

Sugar alcohols do not break down like food does through digestion. The fermentation of undigested xylitol in the gut disrupts our flora. Studies have shown health issues with mice.

It appears that xylitola may be ok as a sweetener in small amounts, especially for those addicted to sugar. But it’s not healthy. It’s not at all beneficial to our bodies. And in large amounts, sugar alcohols are clearly toxic. For those sweet-tooth’ed ones looking to replace their sugar, there is not substitute without consequences. Sugar, in nature, is hard to come by. We just weren’t meant to eat foods that are so sweet.

But there is one. The holy grail for health nuts: Stevia. But even this sweetener is not without its problems. True health does not come with a sweet tooth.

Dried Fruit

Speaking of sugar, dried cranberries almost always have plenty of it. Lots of dried fruit has this problem. Why do dried bananas need sugar? Double check those ingredients. Ideally, there should only be one. We suggest making your own.

Yogurt

First of all, the whole probiotic craze negates the fact that our stomach acid is designed to kill bacteria. Most yogurt is made with weak bacteria that would be killed within the stomach before reaching the gut. “Would be…” Most conventional yogurt does not have enough of this beneficial bacteria and what little bit it did have was killed off in the processing.

Food Bars

Sugar, cooked, processed, soy and other sticky ingredients make bars a no-no for anyone trying to heal. I’ve found a few bars that I like, but they aren’t healthy. They are a treat. A much better choice than conventional food, but when you’re not well, you shouldn’t trust a company to make your food. Another common problem with healthy food bars, besides soy and sugar, is they tend to add healthy fats that are highly susceptible to degradation, like chia and flax seeds.

Smoothies

Smoothies are typically too sweet, thanks to fruit juice and lots of fruit. But smoothies can be done right if they are made at home. Check out How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies.

Packaged Health Food

The health food section of any grocery store is where the fresh produce is. That conventional, pesticide laden, perfect looking, 4 month-old apples is going to do most people a lot more good than a box of organic, all natural, free range, grass-fed, non-GMO, small farm, locally grown box of cereal. Healthy people eat lots of fresh, raw produce, and cook food from scratch. Pretenders buy their junk food in the organic section. It’s better than the conventional aisles, but it’s not healthy. Get to know your farmer’s markets and the farmers there. Grow your own. Take things one step at a time. And listen to your body. Forget the health food section, and stick to the produce and bulk sections.

Conclusion

When I do eat foods that aren’t the healthiest choices, I take Abzorb with it. It’s an enzyme and a probiotic. It works well. I use it to help digest the food and keep the gut eco system in check. It’s also useful for beans that maybe didn’t soak long enough. Also, it’s very important to get a wide variety of foods. Try a new food every day. Check out my salad recipe here. I’ll bet you’ll find a few new ones in there. Those salads are better than any supplement on the market. Good, large, diverse salads are the foundation of a healthy and powerful immune system.

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Does Soda Tax Work?

The total number of cities in the United States that have voted to place a tax on beverages with added sugar like soda, sports drinks, and energy drinks grew from two cities (Philadelphia and Berkeley, CA) to six cities (San Francisco, Oakland, Albany, CA, and Boulder, CO) and one county (Cook County, which contains most of the city of Chicago). Relatively new to the United States, these “soda taxes” will or have also taken effect in France, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Much like tobacco taxes, the goal is to make the consumption of a key culprit (added sugars), which is associated with the rise of diabetes and other diseases, a less attractive choice. The effects of refined sugars on public health and healthcare costs are becoming one of the most important issues the world must face. But are taxes on sugary beverages the way to address it?

Do They Even Work?

…it’s possible the increased awareness campaigns are doing as much, if not more…

Short answer: probably. Of all of the local governments that have passed a tax on beverages with added sugar, there is only one that has any actual data: Berkeley. That measure was passed in 2014, and it took effect in January of 2015. With Berkeley as the sample size, the numbers are promising. For minority and low-income residents in Berkeley (the population most likely to drink sugary drinks), consumption fell 21 percent once the tax was implemented. But those numbers are not the entire story.

While the increase in the price of soda likely deterred many regular customers, that wasn’t the only way the Berkeley community achieved its positive results. The first objective of the campaign is to raise awareness. The tax has been earmarked for community programs specifically designed to promote health education and diet awareness, like the Berkeley YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention and Reduce Obesity campaign and the Unified school districts gardening and nutritional education programs. As the Berkeley tax is applied to beverage distributors, not consumers, it’s possible the increased awareness campaigns are doing as much, if not more than the actual tax.

In looking at the results of the Berkeley sugary beverage tax, it’s easy to see why it’s succeeding. The tax raises awareness of the issue and the education delivers resources and strategies to make better choices. A small, progressively minded, and wealthy community like Berkeley has the infrastructure to implement this program. But the tax itself is not without issues.

Why It’s Problematic

What’s the biggest issue with a soda tax? The people enforcing it – if you can call government people. There are two hurdles to worry about that combine and amplify one other. Reason one? Any time things are taxed, governments begin to expect and rely on that money. The second question is whether the government agency that is regulating this tax and other similar taxes actually knows anything about health.

Seriously…Does It Work?

Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes. But we don’t know if it does work without the education. Education makes a difference. The low-income populations (or people likely to have less access to quality health education) are responsible for a large percentage of sugary beverage consumption. Replacing unhealthy choices with better alternatives will always create a more lasting impact on habits than merely raising the price of soda ever could. One way or the other, the world is waking up to the truth about sugar.

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Is Diabetes Caused by Sugar or Bad Genetics?

To put it simplistically, sugar feeds the worst of our gut flora, including parasites, non-beneficial bacteria, and Candida. This opens the doors to all sorts of disease. People whose calorie intake is 25% sugar or more are three times more likely to die of heart disease. Fructose, one type of sugar we’ve recently started consuming in much larger quantities, even has the power to alter our genes and increase the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s, ADHD, or other brain issues, though this author suspects that all food has the power to alter our genes one way or another, hence the importance of a healthy diet.

We tell kids that too much sugar isn’t good for them. We tell them this all of the time, and we heard it all the time, but that message often dies off once we reach adulthood. The rotten teeth, mood swings, and hyperactivity that we warn the little ones about are problems many adults deal with due to consuming too much sugar! Unless you’re overweight or developing diabetes, conventional medicine is content to pay lip service to the dangers of sugar.

Why Quality Matters

It’s difficult to find definitive information regarding sugar. Arguments over how bad sugar really is tend to end up with someone claiming, “Even fruit has sugar,” followed by “Everything must have sugar to survive,” followed by a general throwing up of the hands and a return to previous eating habits out of confusion and frustration.

Or was it just the justification we wanted?

If I’m going to eat sugar anyway, why not eat what I want?

But that’s a reductive and damaging argument that we know on some level is wrong. We ask children to eat an apple instead of drinking a soda. If health is the objective, it’s time we adults heed the same advice.

Fruit contains fructose, yes. But it also contains antioxidants,  vitamins, and the fiber needed to slow down the actual absorption of the fructose. Incidentally, whole raw foods generally have the nutrition that our beneficial flora prefer. Synthetic or refined forms of fructose don’t have any of these benefits, or any health benefits, as it’s derived from corn starch or sucrose (table sugar, basically) and devoid of any actual nutrients. Comparing the synthetic or refined fructose to the sugar that’s in an apple is like handing someone that apple and a piece of paper and claiming they’re the same thing since they both come from trees. Refined, processed sugar isn’t good for you, and not all sugars are equal.

Sugar Is All Around You

So, it seems easy to move forward here. No sugar in the morning cup of tea, lay off the desserts, and stop using… vegetable broth? Say no to granola?

Sugar is not just an after meal treat. Once you decide to limit your sugar intake, you will find that most of the food people regularly consume, processed foods, are products containing sugar to deliberately mask the taste of nutrient-void, bland, preservative-laden ingredients. People have become accustomed to sugar being slipped into everything. We know sugar is incredibly addictive.

The FDA claims to be trying to get labels changed in an effort to better indicate hidden sweeteners, but there are only two options right now. Learn your sugars (from glucose to stevia to xylitol to corn syrup), read labels, and cook more of your own food at home from scratch.

But…But, It’s Genetic!

While it’s absolutely true that some people are predisposed to certain conditions through their genes, science is learning that what you eat actually changes your genes. Fructose, according to a recently released UCLA study, is the difference between knowing your mother has diabetes and actually developing diabetes yourself. The majority of genes that can be altered by the consumption of too much fructose are associated with inflammation, cell communication, and metabolism regulation. It’s no surprise, then, that possible conditions from consuming enough fructose to alter the brain’s genes include Alzheimer’s, ADHD, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s, and depression, to name a few.

Nature has a way of balancing things though; the right foods can play a role in rebuilding you and making you stronger. People who eat the best diets deserve the best DNA, right? Be sure to check out Healthy Sugar Alternatives & More to get to know your sweeteners.

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Fitness VS Health – Sorry, Coke, Pepsi, but You Can’t Out-Exercise Junk Food

For most people, living a healthy lifestyle is no easy task. Being healthy involves a few hundred decisions every single day about what and where to eat, how to exercise, what medicines or vitamins are necessary, and so much more. Even talking about healthy eating isn’t easy. Food has so much associated context and culture that discussing a healthy diet can be as tricky as conversations about religion or politics.

Don’t think so? Put a vegan, paleo eater, and the average American in a room and watch them go to war over their food philosophies. It’s not that one person is right and the others are wrong; they each have a completely different belief about what constitutes a healthy diet.

In his book and recent documentary, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan goes into great detail explaining how different foods (processed and unprocessed) affect the body and how “nutritionism” (a focus on individual nutrients rather than the food itself) has derailed our understanding of food. The result has been decades of focusing on fat, cholesterol, fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, or calories, which has left humans fatter, sicker, and more confused than ever.

The mantras “Eat less, exercise more,” “ Balance energy,” and “Everything in moderation,” have brainwashed generations of Americans into believing they can eat whatever they want as long as they exercise enough to “burn it off.” The problem is, this doesn’t work.

Last year, a conglomeration of beverage companies created a campaign called MyMixify to convince kids that they can “mixify” their lives by “balancing” some activity with a sports drink or sugary juice beverage. High-fructose corn syrup, the form of sugar found in most commercial sodas, sports drinks, and fruit drinks today, has been shown to have a detrimental effect on the liver and to increase insulin resistance and it is associated with type-2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Even zero calorie “diet” beverages have been shown to negatively affect the intestinal microbiome and raise blood sugar in the process.

By perpetuating the premise that a calorie equals a calorie, that a calorie from a nutritious vegetable is the equal of a calorie from high fructose corn syrup, processed food companies avoid any responsibility for the food they create, placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the consumers. It’s not the highly processed, incredibly addictive, preservative and sugar-filled, artificially colored and flavored substances that are the problem, it’s that you are not running 10 miles daily to burn it off! “Don’t blame us!” they say.

Sorry, Coke and Pepsi, but you can’t out exercise junk food.

Quality Matters

Most people who change their diets from a standard American diet to paleo, vegetarian, vegan or similar diets see significant changes to their health largely due to the removal of processed foods. (If they actually stick with it, of course.) Those who change their diets but continue to eat processed foods, generally do not see the same benefits. The reason is that the human body does not treat all foods the same. Everything gets digested and responded to by hormones differently, depending upon the type of food, quality of ingredient(s), and composition of nutrients.

In his book, The Dorito Effect, author Mark Schatzker dives into the world of flavor and its impact on nutrition and our health. Flavor isn’t just a bonus; it actually tells us what’s in the food we’re eating. The fruits, vegetables, and even animals we’re consuming today are being bred for speed to market and shelf stability, not flavor. The results are foods that have less nutritional value and less flavor than foods traditionally raised. Taste a fresh tomato fresh from the garden, then taste one “fresh” from the grocery store. The difference is like night and day. One has grown into full ripeness on the vine and is bursting with life and flavor, the other was picked while still green, trucked across the country and treated with ethylene gas to “ripen” before it is brought to the store. It  has a mealy, cardboard-like texture and flavor.

So Which Would You Rather Eat?

Eat food. Don’t eat too much. Eat mostly plants.

Conversely, quality helps moderate the amount we eat as well. When was the last time you overate a plate of salmon or broccoli or eggs? Can’t recall? What about a bag of chips? Or a bottle of soda? Foods that are created to be devoured mindlessly like chips or soda are incredibly easy to over consume. They are high in “flavor” (mostly from chemical additives) but low in nutrition, so your body wants to keep eating, thinking that some nutrition has to be in there somewhere. Sadly, it isn’t. But with real food that is full of flavor and nutritional value, you don’t need to eat as much to feel full and satisfied because your body is actually receiving both a nutritious and delicious meal.

To bring this philosophy back to health and the daily decisions consumers make, a movement toward real food is growing in America. Enlightened consumers don’t want the Monsanto bred corn grain or factory farmed meats from the slaughterhouse. To put it simply, they want quality not quantity.

Michael Pollan’s take away from In Defense of Food is to follow these simple rules:

  • Eat food.
  • Don’t eat too much.
  • Eat mostly plants.

Whatever your dietary preference, we couldn’t agree more. Whether you’re paleo, vegetarian, vegan, low carb or just want to be healthy, these are words to live by.

While tracking calories may be a part of your healthy lifestyle, focusing only on calorie counts will not create a healthier life. Obsessing over one aspect of a food isn’t healthy. Instead, focus on quality whole foods (non-processed foods) and enjoy. Your body will take care of the rest!

So What To Do Now?

When cooking at home, it’s quite easy to regulate what goes onto your plate. When dining out, however, do you really know what’s going on behind the curtain? In order to extend this real food philosophy to the dining world, Tasteful App (available on iOS and Google Play) ranks restaurants based on the quality of their ingredients and the benefits for certain types of diet. So no matter where or how you’re eating, you can make truly healthy decisions.

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