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
- Cancer
- Chronic Kidney Disease
- Heart Conditions
- 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:
- Before making any dietary changes a please talk to a medical or licensed professional
- 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:
- I eliminated most foods that contain lectins (you can find a list of these from his book, The Plant paradox)
- 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.
- I stopped eating any foods with added sugars. Even though I wasn’t overweight, sugars were wreaking havoc on my gut
- 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:
- 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
- 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
- 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:
- 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
- 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.
- Drink bitter teas and eat bitter foods. Bitter is good for your gut. For example, dark chocolate is more bitter than regular chocolate
- Staying hydrated, this is always a staple. Most of our bodies are made of water
- 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.