Category: Podcast Episodes

Paul is an authority figure on food and agricultural sustainability.  He has been invited on hundreds of news outlets, including StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Rich Roll Podcast, and CNN.  He’s also published hundreds of articles ranging from daily newspapers such as The Washington Post to pop-sci publications like Scientific American as well as magazines like FORTUNE and academic journals.  

You can find his website here: www.bettermeat.co as well a link to his book: www.cleanmeat.com

Dr. Dave is a sleep expert, dentist, educator, and acupuncturist with a Master’s degree in psychology who believes that a startling number of physical and mental health issues are rooted in sleep disorders. His research has proven that treating sleep apnea can reduce the effects of ADHD, dementia, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension, among others. He addresses these root causes through functional medicine, allowing patients to identify the source, treat the issue head-on, and completely rewrite the story of their health and wellness. Since roughly 90% of sleep apnea patients are unaware they have it.

Here is the link to TMJ Sleep Center & how you may contacts Dr. Shirazi

https://tmjandsleeptherapycentre.com/meet-dr-shirazi/

We often overlook proper breathing or we only focus on breathing during our workouts

I like to ask, if we workout 1 or 2 hours per day, that is about 10% of our day

What has a larger impact ? the 10% we workout or the 90% we don’t?

Let that sink in!

One of the big reasons why we fail to reach and achieve our goals is because we do not make the necessary changes to the 90%

That 90% s much more than just nutrition

It involves, sleep, movement, breathing and the other habits I teach in this show is important for health and fatloss

Before getting into today’s topic, let’s discuss the study of the week

A study published in PubMed is titled “Physical inactivity is associated with a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes: a study in 48 440 adult patients”

This study was designed to compare hospitalisation rates, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and mortality for patients with COVID-19 who were consistently inactive, doing some activity or consistently meeting physical activity guidelines.

Results of the study is that patients with COVID-19 who were consistently inactive had a greater risk of hospitalisation, admission to the ICU, and death due to COVID-19 than patients who were consistently meeting physical activity guidelines.

Let’s start with a definition:

Breathwork refers to any type of breathing exercises or techniques. People often perform them to improve mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. During breathwork you intentionally change your breathing pattern.

Listen to all those benefits. 

So let’s discuss them one by one:

1. Mental-  There are tons of research that connects proper breatherwork and mental health.  

How so?

Proper breathing allows you to manage cortisol.

That is important to know because if you breathe properly throughout the day you can manage your vagus tone.

Your vagus nerve is connected to all nerves in your body.

2. Physical – Well, this is connected to stress.

Rapid breathing leads to accelerated blood pressure and physical stress on our organs 

There is research connecting sport fans to heart attacks because they are in an excitable state for long times 

I am not saying to stop watching sports

I love football, soccer, basketball, swimming and track

Yes, in that order

Breathing well throughout the day puts less pressure on your organs, mainly the one that’s primary job is the keep you alive, the heart

Less pressure on your heart is always a must.

In fact one reason why obesity shortens our life is because excess body mass put more pressure on your heart daily.

3. Spirituality 

Everyone I know who takes their health seriously at some point reach a level of spirituality

When I say spirituality, I do not mean religion

You can be spiritual without being religious and you can be religious without being spiritual

Humans are spiritual being 

Proper breathing connects you to your spirit 

You are not truly health if you cannot optimize physical, emotional and physical health 

Now, that we have touched on these, here are some power pack tips to optimize your health 

Now, that we have touched on these, here are some power pack tips to optimize your health 

1. Meditate- I start most mornings with a 10 to 15 minute medication

Meditation is not a gimmick. It has been around for thousands of years. 

It is only new to the western side of the world, primarily the Americas

Meditating, especially early in the mornings, starts your day off in a calm and self aware mood

We know that most people start their day with at least 4 to 5 stressors.

So, yes, even if it is 5 mins , start your day with meditation and breathing 

There are many apps you can download or go to youtube to practice guided meditation

2. Breathe with your diaphragm – Most of us are shallow chest breathers

It is interesting to me how of us do not take in air through our diaphragm

Go to youtube and look up videos  on diaphragmatic breathing 

3. Breathe with your nose- nose breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system 

This helps you manage your vagus nerve

A healthy vagal tone keeps you relaxed

People who know me understand that even if something bothers me,  I do not stay upset for long.

I take in and expel air through my nose that keeps me in parasympathetic mode 

Pro tip- nose breathing during exercise trains your body to operate more efficiently on oxygen and CO2

4. Lastly- putting all these together will train you to breathe less, breathing less will help you maintain healthy vagus tone

There is research that indicates shows connections between less breathing a longevity 

If you paid attention to all the other things I mentioned, then it should come as no surprise 

So, that is really all I will say here

Thanks for listening to The ZecoHealth Show, follow my IG @zecohealth

Stay Awesome Fam!  

By the end of the episode you will learn tips that will make your nutrition plan more enjoyable 

Before I get into the episode let’s discuss the study of the week

A study published in asm.org which is The American Society for Microbiology discusses the connection between severe Covid 19 infections and poor gut health.

This article is titled “Poor Gut Health Connected to Severe COVID-19, New Review Shows”

It states “autopsy and other studies have also revealed that the infection can affect the liver, kidney, heart, spleen—and even the gastrointestinal tract. A sizeable fraction of patients hospitalized with breathing problems also have diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, suggesting that when the virus does get involved in the GI tract it increases the severity of the disease.”

It goes on to explain “microbiologist Heenam Stanley Kim, Ph.D, from Korea University’s Laboratory for Human-Microbial Interactions, in Seoul, examined emerging evidence suggesting that poor gut health adversely affects COVID-19 prognosis. 

Based on his analysis, Kim proposed that gut dysfunction—and its associated leaky gut—may exacerbate the severity of infection by enabling the virus to access the surface of the digestive tract and internal organs.”

In my interview with Dr. Caroline Stone I discussed the importance of a health gut and that 95% of your immune system resides in your GI Tract

Finally the article states “ Studies have demonstrated that people with underlying medical conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity face a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Risk also increases with age, with older adults most vulnerable to the most serious complications and likelihood of hospitalization. But both of these factors—advanced age and chronic conditions—have a well-known association with an altered gut microbiota. This imbalance can affect gut barrier integrity, Kim noted, which can allow pathogens and pathobionts easier access to cells in the intestinal lining.”

Remember too that health gut is important to slow down the aging process which is important for optimal health and to manage your body weight

Accelerated aging is connected to loss of lean muscle mass and increased body fat

With that being said, let’s jump into the topic of the day 

Cravings is defined as a powerful desire for something

In this case we are talking about food.

In order to understand why you crave unhealthy food or “fattening” foods we have to learn the causes:

1. Poor Gut Health-

Surprised? You should have known that  was going here.

Our gut has trillions of gut bacteria 

There is an emerging body of research that suggests that our food cravings may actually be significantly shaped by the bacteria that we have inside our gut.

Beneficial gut bacteria aids in digestion and nutrient absorption, which leads to fewer cravings.

We now know that whether in the form of chips, pizza, ice-cream, cupcakes or doughnuts, cheap, easy access to such ultra-flavourful foods explain skyrocketing obesity, diabetes & cancer rates.

The problem lies in the incompatibility of these foods with our evolutionary genetics of meat & fibre-eating cavemen.

Humans didn’t evolve on pizza and ice cream

High carb, low fibre diets promote an imbalance of gut bacteria, called dysbiosis. The war within 

Your gut determines your health, as declining levels of “good” bacteria allow overgrowth of harmful bacteria (C.difficile, Salmonella, E.coli), yeast (Candidiasis) & parasites to damage your gut (Leaky Gut Syndrome) & health overall.

Yeah, you may think you just lack self control and that may still be true, but in most cases your cravings is causes by poor gut health

I like the look on people’s faces when I tell them that I do not crave unhealthy foods, but my body craves nutrients

That is why I do not believe in cheat days 

When you improve the health of your gut, you will stop to crave unhealthy foods

Here are some general guides to improve the health of your gut:

1. Eat Your Prebiotics- One of the best ways to support optimal growth of your gut bacteria is to eat foods that contain prebiotics, such as garlic, onions, leeks, apples, konjac root (shirataki noodles), cacao (chocolate), flaxseeds, jicama root & seaweed.
2. Eat Your Probiotics- eat bitter foods that greek yogurt, kombucha, dark chocolate, etc provide probiotics for your gut. Bitter is good. Prebiotics are food for probiotics, so they work well together. In addition, you can take a trusted probiotic. 
3. Minimize carbs and sugars- bad bacteria thrive on sugars 
4. Avoid excessive alcohol and caffeine consumption – alcohol & caffeine will trigger inflammatory & toxic pathways by altering gut bacteria balance (dysbiosis), increasing inflammatory toxin release from bacteria, while disrupting your intestinal barrier (leaky gut) allowing more inflammatory toxins into the bloodstream

Using these tips you can discourage the bad guys and encourage the good guys.

Promoting good gut flora and limiting or even eliminating cravings

2. Move More-

A British study in the journal Appetite showed that women who walked on a treadmill when a chocolate craving hit reported a reduction in their desire for the sweet. This supports the idea that engaging in any physical activity will help curb cravings.

I am not saying to exercise all day, but the more you move and exercise the less you will crave unhealthy food.

That is why I am not a fan of getting all your steps of exercise in the morning or evening

Even if you do the bulk of your exercise at those times, allow time to go for a brisk walk, or a jog, just some type of moderate exercise.

Note: Too much high intensity exercise may cause more cravings.

3. Limit Stressors –

In a study published in NeuroImage, researchers used MRIs to investigate which areas of the brain are involved in food cravings. Participants were given a nutritional drink (to eliminate hunger during the test), and then asked to think about the taste, smell and texture of a favorite food to prompt a craving.

The MRIs, completed during the induced cravings, showed that the parts of the brain involved in food cravings—the hippocampus, caudate and insula—are identical to those involved in drug addiction.

This is important to note because stress tends to fire up these parts of the brain, seeking pleasure.

That is why meditation, reading, laughing and spending time with positive people is important

Most Americans are exposed to at least 4 to 5 stressors before they leave the house.

By going through stress all day, we then feel like we deserve this

Where is the chocolate? I had a bad day

The last thing I am going to say here is that I am not saying that you are going to wake up tomorrow and change your life. 

It took me almost a year and I am still a working progress, but I am much healthier than I was years ago.

In the beginning you may need to  include only few unhealthy items in your diet to help control cravings. “Pick the ones that you love and have [just] them, not a wide variety. And then have them occasionally, not all the time.”

In fact, surrendering every now and then may be beneficial—if you do it the right way.

Thanks for listening to the ZecoHealth Show 

Follow my IG @zecoehalth for daily motivation and information to improve your health and lose that pesky body fat

Stay awesome fam

Welcome to another episode of The ZecoHealth Show

This week, is Trifecta part 2 

Before we discuss the trifecta, let’s talk about the article of the week.

A study published in PubMed titled Postmarket Safety Events Among Novel Therapeutics Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration Between 2001 and 2010 is very eye opening. 

This study is designed to To characterize the frequency of postmarket safety events among novel therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and to examine whether any novel therapeutic characteristics known at the time of FDA approval were associated with increased risk.

We tend to believe that drugs approved by the FDA are safe and carefully vetted, but here are the results.

After the 10 year study it concludes that “Among 222 novel therapeutics approved by the FDA from 2001 through 2010, 32% were affected by a postmarket safety event.” and “The median time from approval to the first postmarket safety event was 4.2 years.”

Let me put it another way.

68% of the drugs approved do not have any known postmarket safety events.

That means the FDA is a D student.

How many of you would be happy if your child came home with a D average?

Well, not only are they a D student, but their decisions impact people’s lives and it takes about 4 years before you discover the first impact.

Remember earlier what I said about quicksand? 

Yet, so many of us are happy to take a FDA approved medicine without question, but you tell them about natural herbs and they have a million questions.

I would love for you to stop and think!

The change starts with you. Looking for a pill to solve your problem brings more problems than it solves.

Once you begin to rely on medicine, it is a slippery slope.

I always say that if you are taking medication, ask yourself, what are your plans to get off them.

This the perfect segway into the Trifecta

Let’s begin with Fear.

In last week’s episode I explained that fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something or someone is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat.

The key word in that sentence is believe

It starts with your mind

This may sound cliche, but let’s dig deeper.

I was raised in Jamaica and even now, many of us are backwards in how we think

We do not believe in talking about our problems or seeking help for mental health issues.

Dr. Joe Dispenza believes that 95% of our actions are from a subconscious state.

I will stop right here and say something that I have never admitted publicly.

 Most people see me from the outside think that see me as a positive and uplifting person

What they do not know about me is that I used to be suicidal.

I internalize things and whenever someone criticized me, right or wrong I would take it to heart.

People would tell me, you don’t have patience, people don’t think the way you do, you have no empathy and so on and so forth.

I spend years trying to please everyone else.

Again, I was sinking in the quicksand.

Today, I am happy to say that I do not suffer from suicidal thoughts

Even though I am growing and learning daily, I am so far ahead of where I was.

I have spent countless time working on my subconscious. 

Feeding my mind with healthy thoughts.

Morning meditation, mantras, listening to podcasts, reading books,surrounding myself with the right people, and removing negativity from my life have really helped me tremendously.

I medicate 15 to 20 minutes every morning while repeating mantras and focusing on my inner energy.

Doing so helps me to take control and center my thoughts.

Listening to podcasts and reading books that focus on positivity go hand in hand.

Feeding my subconscious with what it needs to help me to be the best version of myself

Finally surrounding myself with the right people and removing negative people from my life helps me to work on my problems in a safe place.

I also remove people who constantly criticize me

Do not get me wrong, constructive criticism is important, but there is a big difference between constructive and destructive criticism.

If you have or are struggling from mental health problems and you want to talk, I am here, feel free to email me naradopowell@gmail.com or dm me on instagram @zecohealth 

These are the same habits that can strengthen your subconscious against fear.

Today, I no longer fear criticism.

If someone disagrees with me, I take it in stride.

I make decisions based on careful thoughts and not based on irrational fears.

So, that is connected to stress.

I will not spend too much time on this because fear and stress are connected. 

However, when we constantly run on fear, it leads to emotional and physical stress.

Taking steps to clear your subconscious of fear and negativity, while focusing on controlling your thoughts can take you to a different level of mental and physical strength.

Pro tip here: 

While in meditation, focus your energy on your third eye. 

Last, but certainly now least, let’s talk sleep

I will have talked about sleep so much in past episodes so I will not waste your time by talking about the benefits, but here are some tips to improve sleep quality:

1. Set a sleep schedule – I go to bed at 9 most nights and wake around 5:30
2. Do cardio and intensive workout earlier in the day-  do cardio in the mornings and weightlight in the evenings.
3. Go to amazon and get a pair of blue light blocking glasses. Put them on after the sun goes down to block out blue light from the t.v and allow your body to create melatonin
4. Get some blue light blocking bulbs from amazon and put them in the room where you tend to have lights on at night. Mine are in my bathroom
5. Do not watch action or exciting events at night. This is hard for me sometimes during football season, but I tend to turn the volume of the tv on low to limit my excitement. 
6. In the mornings, go for a walk in the mornings. Ideally between 7 to 9 am. This resets your circadian clock.
7. Avoid drinking caffeine within 6 hours of bedtime. Caffeine has a 6 hours half life. Not drinking caffeine close to bed, along with these habits can make a huge difference.

Follow me on IG @zecohealth 

Stay awesome fam

Fear, Stress, Sleep & How They Impair Fatloss

Welcome to another episode of The ZecoHealth Show

This is finess, nutrition and weight management expert, Narado Zeco Powell

I am going to talk the trifecta, Fear, Stress & Sleep

These can work together to aid weight loss and work against you to impede weight loss.

This is a 2 part episode.

This week, I will explain how these habits impede your health and fat loss progress and next week, I will dive deep into the habits you need to improve your levels of all three. 

Before I get into today’s topic let’s start by discussing an article on EveryDay Health  titled “10 Common Medications That May Cause Weight Gain”

I absolutely love this article and put a link in the show notes.

It lists 10 medications we take and how they may limit weightloss and in turn cause obesity.

The top medications mentioned are :

1. Tricyclic Antidepressants
2. Corticosteroids
3. Antihistamines
4. Epilepsy Medications
5. Beta-Blockers
6. Insulin
7. Antipsychotics

And much more!

I will post more about these medications on my IG @zecohealth on a weekly basis.

For now, I want you to be aware. 

Over 70% of Americans are on legal drugs

We spend more money on legal drugs than any country in the world!

Yet we have a war on recreational drugs, but not on legal drugs.

Even though most of them have adverse effects. 

We know the connection between obesity and underlyning health issues.

That is why I have the ZecoHealth Show to teach you the habits you need to take control of your weight.

Now, let’s get into the trifecta!

Let’s first talk FEAR

It is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

The key word in the definition is belief.

If you listen to my past interviews with Dr. Chris Lee and Kristine Ovsepian, we discussed the role our minds play in our health.

Most of us operate from an automatic state.

Dr. Lee mentioned that the successful person doesn’t go to fear, but regulates and goes to curiosity.

We know that healthy fear is good.

If you have been listening to me, you have heard me explain that  excess cortisol tells your body that you are in danger.

Given that your body prefers sugars for energy,  when you are in that state, you will crave more sugars and carbs, even if your body doesn’t need it.

And of course, since your body doesn’t need all that sugar, it will store it as glycogen and fat.

Now, this take me into Stress

It is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

Fear & Stress are hand in hand.

As we often run in an automatic state, if we are running on fear, we tend to cause emotional and physical stress.

We know that stress damages your immune system, metabolism, energy levels and so much more.

That is why habits to reduce stress are very important.

Lastly, let’s talk SLEEP

Now, stress impedes sleep as most of us know.

Most people do not know this, but getting quality sleep is vital for health and fat loss.

Research tells us that lack of sleep causes poor gut health, hormone imbalance, weakness, low energy, high stress levels and much more. 

In fact, getting quality sleep is the most important habit for sustainable fat loss. 

Low quality of sleep can also accelerate the aging process by causing excess inflammation and oxidative stress.

Looking to the fountain of youth, get to sleep at night

WIth sleep, it is not just quantity, but quality. 

So, now we know how these work together to damage us.

In my next episode I will dive deeper into these habits and how to improve your levels of all three. 

Stay tuned for next week’s episode.

Thanks for listening to this episode.

Join The ZecoHealth Crew on Facebook.

Stay awesome fam. 

In this episode, I define what it is then dig deep into habits that prevent and accelerate fax oxidation. 

Most weight loss plans fail long term, because they focus entirely too much on calories or macros, but do not give you the tools to improve your health 

Fat oxidation falls in that category.

People with healthy metabolism sutain fat oxidation. 

Talking about health, I want to talk about a study that came across recently. 

It is posted on PubMed titled  “Outcome Reporting Bias in COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Clinical Trials.”

It states “ Relative risk reduction and absolute risk reduction measures in the evaluation of clinical trial data are poorly understood by health professionals and the public.”

According to another PubMed article, relative risk reduction tells you by how much the treatment reduced the risk of bad outcomes relative to the control group who did not have the treatment.

Absolute risk reduction (ARR) – also called risk difference (RD) – is the most useful way of presenting research results to help your decision-making

The first article mentioned  claims that the #s regarding the effectiveness of the covid vaccines are poorly overstated.

What is fax oxidation?

It is the breakdown of triglycerides stored in fat cells, and free fatty acids in the blood for energy. During any activity there will be some usage of fats as energy.

Just by knowing that do you see why it is important for weight loss?

If you are trying to lose weight, you more than likely have excess body fat. 

So, then the question you have to ask yourself is how can I make my body break down stored fat to use as energy? 

This is why again, just focusing on calories is a waste of time

Some trainers  say if you eat less calories, you will burn more fat.

Well, that is absolutely wrong!

Let’s count the ways:

1. Your BMI adjusts. Your body will adjust to the amount of calories you feed it and learn to use them to maintain your body weight.
2. Your body goes into a survival mood. If you constantly stay underfed, your body will attempt to store as much body fat as possible for future use.
3. Raises your cortisol levels, leading to high blood pressure, jitters and a host of other health problems.
4. Your body will only divert most nutrients to your large arteries, not leaving enough for your smaller processes. 
5. if you are insulin insensitive aka type 2 diabetic, your body will still store fat , especially if you are taking insulin

These are just some things that can happen.

So yeah, let’s stop talking about calories, but we can find healthy ways to promote fat oxidation.

What are these ways I wonder?

Here is another list:

1. Fasting. Now, don’t just stop eating and if you are new to fasting, you may want to implement it under the guide of a certified or licensed professional.  Where most people go wrong with fasting is they just stop eating. Well if you do so, your body will not burn extra fat. So it is important to couple fasting with the next hit 
2. Movement. Constant movement tells your body to use blood glucose, stored glycogen and then burn body fat. Exercising in a fasted state promotes fat loss. Don’t stop there, you have to keep moving. A minimum of 10k steps per day. Even better, 12k if you are trying to lose fat. 
3. Hunger. This is a great que. If you are not hungry, then you are not efficient at burning fat. That is how fasting and movement can help. Again, you may want to work with an expert who can teach you proper fasting habits, what and when to eat and so on. I will eventually have a fasting expert on the show.
4. Eating too much in each meal. There is tons of research that shows that frequent small meals can be more effective than a few large meals. In the beginning though, you may want to eat few small meals and as your metabolism speeds up, you can eat more often.
5. Lastly, strength training. Stop trying to out run your plate. Strength training and developing lean muscle is vital to generate heat, burn more calories and body fat. 

Thanks for joining me today.

Join The ZecoHealth Crew on Facebook

Stay awesome fam! 

If you have been listening to me for a while, you know about my struggle with gut health, asthma and allergies.

That is my inspiration behind the ZecoHealth Show and ZecoHealth LLC and all the education I provide to help you be the best version of yourself.

In this day and  age we know the importance of gutheath, or at least we should, yet most of us still do not make it a priority.

More and more studies and literature are coming out that explains the connection between gut health and diabetes, cancer, obesity, COPD and just about every health issue you can think of.

In this episode, I will dive deep into some of these connections and the changes I made to improve my gut health.

This was even after my doctor basically told me to take my medicine when I asked if there were any nutrition changes I could make.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame doctors.

Most do not get any nutrition training whatsoever

Which is a shame.

Most MDs only have medicine in their toolbox

Do you wonder why the world has been getting sicker and yes, even before Covid

Let’s beginning by discussing the term “I am vaccinated”

Now, let me begin  by saying that I am not an anti-vaxxer, but we need to be more responsible.

Due to poor education my our political leader and medical professionals or just pure ignorance, we do not fully understand that vaccination by itself does not stop you from catching or spreading Covid19

Don’t take my word for it, here is a link to and article from USA Today entitled USA TODAY

‘Keep your guard up’: CDC studies show waning COVID-19 vaccine efficacy as delta variant sweeps US.

The article states “Immunity to COVID-19 from vaccines might be declining over time as the highly contagious delta variant surges across the country, according to new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

It goes on to say “The delta variant now accounts for more than 95% of U.S. cases, according to the CDC, and has led to a rise in the death rate in 43 states, the worst tally since December, before America’s deadliest month of the pandemic, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.”

I am not saying this to scare anyone and I hope you read the entire article that is in the show notes, but I want us to be aware.

Let’s get into why I am bringing this up.

Here is a link to an article by the CDC which links the connection between underlying health issues and Covid 19 

It reads “Adults of any age with the following conditions can be more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19. Severe illness means that a person with COVID-19 may need:

Hospitalization

Intensive care

A ventilator to help them breathe

Or they may even die”

I am going to read a few

1. Cancer
2. Chronic Kidney Disease
3. Heart Conditions 
4. Immunocompromised States aka having a weak immune system  

This is a great intro to today’s topic because all these are connected to poor gut health and obesity.

So, let’s talk how 

For starters your gut is where most of your immune system resides and where good bacteria meet.

This article by John Hopkins Medicine outlines this very well.

It states

“A huge proportion of your immune system is actually in your GI tract,” says Dan Peterson, assistant professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “The immune system is inside your body, and the bacteria are outside your body.” And yet they interact. For example, certain cells in the lining of the gut spend their lives excreting massive quantities of antibodies into the gut.

It goes on to say

“Cynthia Sears, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and member of its Kimmel Cancer Center, studies the role of the microbiome in causing colon cancer in mice and humans. Colon cancer seems to stem from an interaction among the microbiome, the immune system and epithelial cells that line the colon.”

I hope you click on the link and read the entire article, but something else important it states 

“No one species has been found to always cause colon cancer in humans. Instead, carcinogenesis may have to do with a shift in the ecology of the gut—that is, in the makeup of the bacterial community.”

But, as I stated earlier guthealth impacts more than just Cancer.

This PubMed article titled The role of gut microbiota in immune homeostasis and autoimmunity

states “Keeping a delicate balance in the immune system by eliminating invading pathogens, while still maintaining self-tolerance to avoid autoimmunity, is critical for the body’s health. The gut microbiota that resides in the gastrointestinal tract provides essential health benefits to its host, particularly by regulating immune homeostasis.”

As we know, you your immune system is weakened, it will be hard for you to fight off illness, virus and disease. 

Yeah, that was a mouthful, but I really wanted to highlight the importance of guthealth.

Now, I am going to talk about my personal struggles and changes I made.

My disclaimer are:

1. Before making any dietary changes a please talk to a medical or licensed professional 
2. Your situation may be different than mine, but the underlying issue stays the same. We need to improve the health of our gut. 

So, here is my story 

You know that I struggled with allergies, allergies and asthma . 

Triple AAA haha 

What I did not know at the time was my asthma was not related to activity, but the health of my gut.

I learned that through studying books from Dr. Steven Gundy who taught me about lectins and other poisons in foods that damage my gut.

I did not follow how exact program, but here are some changes I made:

1. I eliminated most foods that contain lectins (you can find a list of these from his book, The Plant paradox)
2. I changed how I prepare certain foods to eliminate their anti-nutrients. For example , beans I soak and pressure cook them and I do not eat beans from a can because they are not prepared properly. 
3. I stopped eating any foods with added sugars. Even though I wasn’t overweight, sugars were wreaking havoc on my gut
4. I include more organic and non-gmo foods in my diet. This is not a scam, people. Pesticides are killers and they are horrible for our good gut bacteria or what Dr. Gundry calls our gut buddies 

I did not stop there, because as we know, external factors also impacts 

I am not going to list all the books and studies I have read over the years, but will give a summary of the things I have done:

1. Improve my sleep hygiene . Getting quality sleep is vital for gut and immune health. Here is a link to my article on Habits to Get Quality Sleep
   
2. I implemented habits to reduce stress, including medication, spending time with positive and motivating people, listening to podcasts and watching cartoons, yes, I said it!. Stress wreaks havoc on our gut and it is impossible to have a healthy gut, if you are constantly stressed
3. Spend more time outside, primarily in the sun, Sunlight has more benefits than just vitamin d. There are more studies coming out showing a connection between adequate sunlight and fatloss, mental health and emotional health. Please Please Please do not overlook this

Here are other dietary changes I made, but from studies other than Dr, Gundry:

1. Ate as natural as possible . I actually eliminated processed foods for about 6 months  and even now, processed foods are only about 20% of my diet . More to come in a future episode
2.  Eat more food sources of fats. Primarily nuts like almonds, pistachios and almonds (keep in mind that cashews and peanuts are not nuts), salmon, tuna and mackerel.
3. Drink bitter teas and eat bitter foods. Bitter is good for your gut. For example, dark chocolate is more bitter than regular chocolate
4. Staying hydrated, this is always a staple. Most of our bodies are made of water
5. This one is  a biggie, Intermittent Fasting. This may look different for each person, but fasting is important to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress which we know wreaks havoc on our gut.

This might sound overwhelming, but I always say we have to take the holistic approach. 

I did not do these all at once. I made changes over the years as I learned more and with every change, I improved. 

Genes! What are they?

Well, according to The American Cancer Society “Genes are pieces of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) inside each cell that tell the cell what to do and when to grow and divide.”

In other words, they are instruction manuals for your cells.

Think of it as the motherboard of a computer 

Now, by this definition, it is easy to think, yes, that is why!

My genes tell my cells that I am overweight 

Well, let’s talk more.

The question I want to ask is, if you think your genes give instructions to make you fat, then who is designing the instructions?

Well, according to this article from the CDC People get (inherit) their chromosomes, which contain their genes, from their parents. Chromosomes come in pairs and humans have 46 chromosomes, in 23 pairs..

I came across another CDC article that states “Science shows that genetics plays a role in obesity. Genes can directly cause obesity in specific disorders such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome.”

But here is the kicker, it goes on to say “ However genes do not always predict future health. Genes and behavior may both be needed for a person to be overweight. In some cases multiple genes may increase one’s susceptibility for obesity and require outside factors; such as abundant food supply or little physical activity.”

So, yes, we can sit and blame our genes, but that is really a copout 

I was born and raised in Jamaica, where more people, especially younger people tend to be skinny. 

But on the other hand we are more active, we sweat more (remember my episode on heat and fat loss), our diets are different, etc.

Now we are getting somewhere.

In this same article it states that People may make decisions based on their environment or community. For example, a person may choose not to walk to the store or to work because of a lack of sidewalks. Communities, homes, and workplaces can all influence people’s health decisions. Because of this influence, it is important to create environments in these locations that make it easier to engage in physical activity and to eat a healthy diet.

But I tell you that my clients who get the best results are the ones who start to take responsibility for themselves

I can give you the best fitness and nutrition plan in the world, but it is up to you to execute it.

Now that we understand this or I hope that we do, let talk how much do our genes play in obesity vs our environment

This is important to note. 

Believe it, that regardless of what you inherited , it isn’t the end of the world.

I hope you have heard of the word Epigenetics

If you haven’t let me define it.

The prefix Epi is latin and it means above 

So yes, Epigenetics mean above your genetics 

You can change the hand you are dealt by going above your genetics

This article from The National Institute of Health Sciences  states “epigenetics, a rapidly growing area of science that focuses on the processes that help direct when individual genes are turned on or off. While the cell’s DNA provides the instruction manual, genes also need specific instructions. In essence, epigenetic processes tell the cell to read specific pages of the instruction manual at distinct times.”

By now, you are learning that you are not a slave to what you have inherited

In addition,  I want you to think about the future.

Epigenetics is much more than turning genes on and off.

I will finish up with this last article from Utah Valley Pediactrics which states “in a new embryo the epigenome is largely erased and reprogrammed. But recently scientists have found that some epigenetic tags sneak through. This means that parents’ experiences and lifestyle can affect the genes that are passed down to offspring through their epigenetic tags.”

This is the kicker!!

The decisions you make today, don’t just affect you, but what you pass on to your children

Isn’t this awesome?

By making the right decisions you can set your children up for success, alternatively,  by making bad decisions, you can set them up for failure

I am sure you want your children to be better versions of  yourself. 

I am yet to meet a parent who doesnt want that. 

Then ask yourself, will you make their journey harder by putting roadblocks in their way?

Food for thought!

Thee human body is designed to build lean muscle and burn fat, but for most of us, our bodies do not operate so efficiently.

That is because we misuse our body and it doesn’t operate as it should. 

Take out a notepad because I will give you some pointers to get your body back into alignment.

Remember though, it is not a  fast food menu and you cannot pick and choose, but you can make adjustments that may work best for you.

1. Slow down the aging process.

One of, if not the biggest difference between someone who is healthy and who is not, is the rate they age.

Let’s talk how excess aging connects to our body weight

As we age we tend to lose lean muscle mass.

This process is called Sarcopenia.

In fact, Sarcopenia is a good measure of the rate we age.

Slowing down this process is vital.

There are few things to do so;

1. Lowering Inflammation and Oxidative Stress
2. Lowering physical stress
3. Improving the health of your gut 
4. Strength train 

I have many episodes on all these topics so  will not go into too much detail here

But I want you to know that if you want to be healthy, you need to slow down the aging process

In order to do so, you need to have a healthy balance of everything I talked about above. 

If you need to, go back and listen to my episodes on these topics.

2.    The next habit is lack of movement.

A body in motion stays in motion

A metabolism in motion stays in motion

Constant movement allows your body to generate energy and heat 

This process allows you to burn more calories 

With that being said, you will burn more body fat as a result.

I teach my client to take around 5k steps before eating and at least an extra 5k the rest of the day

Walking promotes fat oxidation , that is training your body to break down body fat as needed

This is key, do not try to get all steps in 1 chunk then sit the rest of the day. 

You are not doing yourself any favors

My golden rule is to get up at least once every hour for about 5 minutes 

Again, a metabolism in motion, stays in motions

3. Spend time at play.

This may sound silly, but in today’s adult world, many of us forget to be kids

This accomplishes a couple things. 

1. It reminds us of the simple joys of life
2. It helps us to laugh and relax
3. It keeps us moving and I explained those benefits earlier

Spending time at play is good for us in many ways

Especially with children.

4. Take time to practice self care

When I say self care I mean to find ways to take time for yourself

We know that relaxing reduced physical, mental and emotional stress

1. Take a bath
2. Drink red wine (preferably dry redwine)
3. Spend time talking to your favorite people
4. Listen or watch something relaxing 

These are some things you do, and the list is not complete, but you get the idea

5. Last thing I will say here is stay hydrated

Any health and fitness routine must include hydration for so many reasons. 

Our bodies, just like the earth is mostly water 

Our metabolism, gut, cells , etc need water to function efficiently.

More studies are coming out to show the connection between water and fatloss

Of course, listen to The ZecoHealth Show weekly and apply the tips you learn

Join the ZecoHealth Crew on FaceBook.

I will continue to provide accurate, up to date and actionable content.

Stay awesome fam

Enjoy the ride