You are the gardener of your body’s health and have the ability to alter the “ecosystem” for better or for worse, for good health or bad …
While we all have an end date, how well we get there and how much we get to enjoy good health along the way is largely dependent on how we treat the ecology of our body along the way. Even, in terms of our genetics and genetic dispositions, current research shows that through dietary and other choices we have the ability to change gene expression. Certainly worth giving it your best shot.
We have all witnessed 60 yr olds that look 70+ and some 70+ that look 60 .. a lot of that is about choice.
We get to choose options that heal and nurture or those that damage and harm.
While the body will always make the most of what we give it, the kinder the choices we make for it the kinder it will be to us.
One of the most strategic ways of nurturing our entire ecosystem is to “Ensure the gut lining is healthy and feed it the right nutrients, recognizable by the body.”
Given that the gut is the powerhouse that converts our intake of food into components usable in the biochemical pathways in the body such as amino acids, vitamins and minerals, converting them into neurotransmitters and components of energy production and liver detoxification pathways and the conversion to hormones for example, it is vitally important that we provide the right fuel as well as ensuring that the powerhouse is in good shape to enable the production to run smoothly. The simpler the foods we supply, the easier it is for the body to convert them into usable components and get them on their way to the right pathways with as little residual damage and waste as possible. The more complex or processed the foods, the more complex the process, the more the liver has to filter and the more collateral damage.
Serotonin for example, one of the main neurotransmitters often deficient in depression is mostly produced in the gut and requires at a base level the components of the amino acid Trypotophan, B3, Folate, Calcium, Iron and Magnesium.
Why Calorie counts and calorie apps are somewhat redundant in the scheme of things …
While they have some place in weight control, they do not focus on whether we are meeting our daily requirements of individual nutrients. It is not about filling a hole or hitting the right calorie number – it is about supplying our body with the nutrients that it needs to do what we are asking of it, correcting any imbalances, in approximately the right amounts, neither depriving it nor flooding it.
Many illness and conditions are generated by the lack of gut health and the imbalance of good: bad bacteria in the gut which when out of balance encourages damage to the gut lining (well certainly not the healing), hence the need for regular prebiotic foods to be consumed in the diet and the benefit in following up a course of antibiotics (when needed) with a course of a good quality probiotics. “Leaky gut” while somewhat descriptive is not a term I like to use due to its overuse and misuse, though, it does help you to understand that if the gut lining is compromised the beneficial nutrients slip through the system before they can be properly absorbed and used.
How do we optimize our Gut health for the benefit of our whole system?
6 ways to improve gut health and in turn the health of our entire ecosystem
- Water
- Probiotics/prebiotics
- Flush regularly, fibre, to move that shit out
- Recognizable food and drinks
- Don’t fill it with crap
- Ginger, Garlic, Turmeric
- Not sugar
- Pick your poisons
- Let that shit out … don’t build up stress and cortisol
- Sleep
- Eat according to genetics/ethnicity, Asians eat soy, Italians eat pasta (both do it in balance with other foods and not in isolation) Australian aboriginals cannot tolerate gluten or dairy simply due to the fact that they are not genetically programmed too, just as the English born Australians are not genetically programmed to eat soy products.
Jacinta Harding is a Nutritional Medicine Practitioner, specializing in Allergies and Allergy related conditions and author of the eBook “When No Means Yes: No nonsense guide to saying NO to Gluten, Casein, Lactose and ill health and YES! To Health, Vitality and Wellbeing”.
Visit her website for more information http://www.optimumhealthclinic.com.au
Jacinta Callaghan is a Nutritional Medicine Practitioner, specializing in Auto Immune disorders, Genetic disorders, Allergies and Allergy related conditions.
Jacinta owns and practices at Optimum Health one of the largest Multi-Modality Natural Therapy Clinics west of Brisbane in conjunction with lecturing at the Australasian College of Natural Therapies.
Jacinta has also published an ebook to assist with adapting to a gluten and lactose free diet when coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity has been diagnosed. “When No Means Yes” is a No nonsense guide to saying NO to Gluten, Casein, Lactose and ill health and YES! To Health, Vitality and Wellbeing”.
With formal training in Health Science and Nutritional Medicine, Jacinta has worked with a large and varied client base, as individuals, families, specific health condition support groups as well as with local and national sporting groups and is regarded as the leading Nutritional Medicine practitioner in the area. Jacinta also brings a background of knowledge in energetic and emotional health.
Jacinta lives and breathes her passion for health, a passion that is the core reason for her success.
