Gut Health Above Everything Else

When most people get a health problem they don't often consider their gut to be the originator. Usually they don't even think they know where the problem is originating or go to the doctor to have them simply diagnose it as "depression". But what is happening in the body when depression appears? Despite modern psychiatry's sole focus being on the brain, mental disorders probably don't actually originate in the brain though the activity may be seen there and this goes for many other health problems as well. Especially since its now known that the blood brain barrier can be penetrated by certain substances such as heavy metals. In this post, I would like to discuss the crucial role that gut health plays in brain functioning and other organs.

As the book Gut And Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mc-Bride explains, your gut is dependent upon lots of different good bacteria to allow it to digest food properly so nutrients can be obtained and used by the body and flush out toxins. All of this bacteria is found along the layer called epithelium that coats the entire length of the digestive system to protect it from invading bacteria and toxins and to digest and produce nutrients. When damage occurs to the epithelium the bacteria is no longer present and it goes on to mess up other functions of the digestive system. The vitamin B complex, which is produced by good bacteria, is no longer available to maintain good mental health. Toxins start building up due to the imbalanced gut flora and leak out into the rest of the body through the damaged small intestines. And the constant inflammation response (allergies, etc.) caused by undigested food and foreign particles leaking out of the small intestines can eventually break the brain blood barrier down allowing toxins to enter the brain. All of these conditions can lead to poor mental health such as autism, learning disabilities, and even bipolar disorder.

• Autistic kids were found to have high levels of a bacteria called sutterella in their gut. 

• Depression may actually have more to do with the immune system (and gut) then previously thought.

• This study shows a link between intestinal dybiosis and psychiatric disorders.

• Great article on how our "second brain" influences moods and behavior.

• Gut viruses may have contributed to human evolution and our overall health.

• Consumption of good bacteria like Lactobacillus rhamnosus contributes to less stress, anxiety, and depression-like problems.

• A good article explaining that from a young age people are hard-wired to be exposed to diverse bacteria to keep their brain in shape.

• A study shows a link between gut bacteria and multiple sclerosis.

My First Sourdough Bread

I finally got up the bravery to try my baking "skills" at sourdough bread. In this post I would like to write about the main highlights of this process and explain how you can start making your own sourdough bread, too. First the ingredients used:

• 1 half cup starter
• 2 cups of spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of honey

I started the process by adding the half cup of starter (bought at a local farm thats also used in their sourdough bread) to a glass baking tray. Then proceeded with the 2 cups of spelt flour and 1 teaspoon of salt. Of course, I had to experiment a little bit to get to know the sourdough better. Your supposed to "feed" the starter at least twice a day so I added about a teaspoon of honey twice per day and another cup of spelt flour. Mixing this together I allowed it to sit at least six hours out in the open (the bacteria in the starter needs oxygen as well as sugar to live) before feeding it again. I did this for three days. When the dough first rise I knocked it down to feed it again then it rise again.

The gas being released by the starter consuming the sugar is what makes the dough rise. You should probably put it in the oven after the second time its risen. But I was trying to get the hang of sourdough so I allowed it to rise a few times before I put it in the oven at 350 degrees. When it came out it was very sour so perhaps I overdone the sitting time and should have baked it after the second time.

So I salved it in butter and the sour taste wasn't as noticeable anymore.

Maple Syrup: The Sweet Taste Of Nature

Yesterday I took a trip to the historical Malabar Farm State Park in mid-Ohio to go to the Maple Syrup Festival. It was an overall fun and interesting though crowded day at the farm where we saw demonstrations on how maple syrup is processed from the native Americans time to modern times. Did you know that most the syrup tapped from a tree is mostly water with only about 1% being actual maple syrup? Its the processing that separates it from the water and makes it into pure syrup. No wonder maple syrup is always so expensive! we bought a small pint-sized container for $12.00. And I just got done eating my homemade pancakes doused in the syrup so I know its worth it.

Maple syrup gets its sweet taste from the sugar sucrose, which is made up of glucose and fructose. This is the sugar present in the sap as it is tapped from the trees on cold nights and warm days in February through March. Maple syrup is also high in other nutrients such as minerals like manganese, zinc, and calcium. Manganese is needed to enable enzyme functioning while zinc is necessary for immune function. Its also a good source of the vitamin B complex. Recently, in a study it was found that maple syrup contains 54 beneficial compounds that have such properties like antioxidants and anti-inflammatory. Quebecol was one of the new unique compounds discovered in the processing of maple syrup.

But maple syrup's real charm can be found in the fact that its all natural and a great substitute for less healthy sugars like white sugar. Your body can more easily recognize the glucose content of maple sugar than it can the refined fructose of white sugar. You may want to use less liquid in a recipe when using maple syrup as a sugar substitute (about three tablespoons less). In maple syrup the glucose and fructose is bound up unlike in high fructose corn syrup where the fructose is unbound and ready to be absorbed by the body leading to a huge sugar intake and subsequent spike. The importance of this bounded sucrose cannot be underestimated because it must go through an extra metabolic process because the excess unbounded fructose would otherwise contribute to weight gain.

Though I should remind everyone that no sugar is really good for you because all sugar uses up minerals from the body to be metabolized and creates dangerous insulin spikes. However, maple syrup can be a healthy sweet substitute when baking and on your pancakes and waffles. 

Is Gluten-Free Really Nothing More Than A Trend?

I actually wasn't planning on posting here again until later this week, but this latest article on whether or not gluten is actually ruining your health caught my attention.

Firstly, they are trying to make it out as if "gluten-free" is nothing more than a trend. Now I admit that the so-called gluten free foods that you buy in a package at the store is probably nothing more than a trend. These packaged cookies, cakes, breads, pasta, sauces, and other sweets are nothing more than chemical-filled sugar-laden crap passed off as healthier than the Standard American Diet when in truth they are just like the SAD. It wouldn't surprise me at all that most people don't get any better when they switch to mainstream gluten-free foods. Because theres other harmful substances to be found in grains, not just gluten. Phytic acid is another such substance that literally binds up minerals in the body rendering them unavailable, which can lead to its own set of issues. Another substance called lectin is a type of sugar that raises blood sugar levels.

Second, you don't necessarily need to have celiac disease (which is rare) or allergic reaction to gluten to be intolerant of this wheat protein found in many common grains. Wheat has changed drastically since it was first planted ten thousand years ago in the agricultural revolution. Its become very hybridized with higher levels of gluten than in how previous generations consumed it. In the past, wheat and other grains were not a major part of peoples diets in traditional societies as found out by Weston A. Price. Most people didn't sit around all day munching away on snacks loaded with wheat and refined grains. If indeed they consumed grain it was always sprouted and fermented into a unleavened sourdough bread that was much easier to digest.

Third, apparently the author of this article is a vegetarian who views gluten as a cheap and convenient protein. I almost had to laugh at this. Do people seriously believe that a grain protein is the same as an animal-based protein? Animal protein is far more nutritious (though not cheap) and actually benefits your health because you need it for nourishment. People can live without gluten. For anyone who follows the Weston A. Price or GAPS diet (or even Paleo) you know that nothing compares to nourishing animal proteins and fat.

Lastly, they only talk about mainstream research and claims about gluten-free without mentioning such groundbreaking work as Gut And Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. In the book, she clearly argues that health begins in the gut and that many epidemic diseases today (ADHD, autism, and other psychiatry disorders) overlap because their really all related to the state of the gut. When gut dybiosis occurs it becomes very difficult to digest foods containing gluten and phytic acid. Though doctors may see the activity in the brain, it actually originates in the gut.

Another great piece on the dangers of gluten focusing on wheat in particular is found here. It says that celiac disease can literally be turned on when the HLA genes are turned on, which makes it a healthy response to an unhealthy food and not the other way around. In other words, there is possibly epigenetic factors (food turning on certain genes) involved in food intolerances that could trigger such bad reactions and even lead to further future complications.

Well, I'm not one for finicky diets and would never attempt to put myself on one. Gluten-free or not gluten-free, just remember that you need to cut out more than gluten to achieve a truly healthy diet. Its always important to look beyond the mainstream health trends, but not to outright dismiss them either. Their could always be some hint of the truth waiting to be further investigated.

Is Oxygen The Answer To Many Modern Ailments?

Perhaps the importance of oxygen in the human body comes as no surprise. You need a constant supply of oxygen in the blood to give cells energy and respiration. Using oxygen as a treatment for infection, cancerous tumors, inflammatory disease, metabolic issues, and detoxing all have their basis in how oxygen is used in the body. You obtain oxygen by breathing it in through your nose or mouth where it goes down the trachea to the diaphragm region in your chest cavity. From there it goes into the lungs to pass through vital small sacs called alveoli to be passed into the capillaries where it enters the bloodstream. Once in the blood it provides fuel for all the cells in the body to function properly. A bountiful supply of oxygen in the body makes it very difficult indeed for anaerobic pathogens and cancerous cells to survive.

Oxidative Stress


We've all heard about free radicals before, but do you know how they develop in the first place? Your body has a built-in biological system that can to some degree detoxify damaged oxygen species though we're exposed to millions of potential free radicals such as air pollution, lack of exercise, bad diet, and chemicals everyday that can overload this natural redox ability. They are formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules that form into highly reactive species that can even damage DNA. Thus the body ends up chronically deprived of oxygen due to these unpaired electrons. The barrage of scientific findings over the last few years that show antioxidants are affective at preventing the diseases of oxidative stress- cancer, aging, inflammation- serve as validation that lack of oxygen is a very real problem.

Tumors Have Their Own Energy Source


It was Otto Warburg in the early 19th century that first came up with the idea that cancer may be caused by lack of oxygenation. Instead this normal oxygen process was replaced by fermentation of sugar (glucose) within the tumor leading to energized out-of-control blood vessel growth thats very difficult to stop. Nutrients are also hard to find in a tumor, which correlates with sugar's nutrient and mineral robbing ability. Many conventional medical treatments for cancer aim to cut off these blood vessels by depriving them of oxygen, but that is probably not the best way to go about it now. In fact, it's more likely that the formation of cancerous tumors are actually a survival mechanism by the body to attempt to make do in a toxic and nutrient-depleted environment. If oxygen is the first powerhouse for cells then it would make sense that it's continuos lack would lead to a build up in carcinogenic matter within your body.

Polyunsaturated Fats vs. Saturated Fats

You can typically find polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oils where they turn rancid at high temperatures unlike saturated fats that remain stable. Both display similar action in the human body. The polyunsaturated fats are made up of more than one double bond chains that can easily break apart leading to oxidative damage in the body when they become attached to cellular molecules (in turn causing them to break apart). Saturated fats are composed of a single bond thats difficult to break up. Some of the affects of consuming polyunsaturated fats are disrupted metabolism, impaired cellular communication, decreased enzyme function, and possibly many more. Aerobic exercise disperses oxygen throughout the body while oxygen also jumpstarts the metabolic process that allows for "calorie burning".