#43 Ironman Athlete Fueling with Glukos Energy

By Kyra / November 1, 2016

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Coach BK and CEO and Founder of Glukos Energy, Mark Jensen, chat about ironman fueling, how to have abundant energy and how to eat clean while racing and training.

Free Athlete Health Assessment with Coach BK

[CLICK FOR ASSESSMENT] comprehensive questionnaire, followed by a 30-45 minute chat. Fun and insightful.

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Eating, Education

Paleo and Whole30

By Kyra / October 26, 2016

whole30-vs-paleo Whole30 and Paleo are two eating programs that are very similar.

In fact, in a nutshell, Whole30 is simply a more strict version of Paleo.

Both programs focus on consuming whole, clean, natural foods. Both Whole30 and Paleo ban eating:

processed foods
grains
dairy
alcohol
legumes

Whole30 vs. Paleo: On The Subject of Sugar

The major practical difference between Whole30 and Paleo is that Whole30 doesn’t allow any kind of added sugar, while Paleo only rules out refined sugar (so for example, you can have honey with Paleo, but not with Whole30).

As a side note, one other small difference is that Whole30 advises against trying to imitate your favorite baked goodies or junk food with approved ingredients (so imitation pancakes would be off the list). However, it’s common (and encouraged) for Paleo eaters to recreate their favorite sweets with ingredient adjustments.

Difference Between Paleo and Whole30: The Form
The biggest difference between Paleo and Whole30 is the form of how each diet is carried out.

Whole30 is designed to be a very strict 30 day program to cleanse and reset your body. While some of the habits you gain from Whole30 will hopefully be maintained, it isn’t intended to be a permanent practice. Most of the benefits from Whole30 diet come from learning about your relationship to food and discovering how to modify unhealthy eating habits.

Paleo, on the other hand, is a long-term eating lifestyle. Since it’s designed to be long-term, rules are a bit more relaxed. Many Paleo eaters also think of Paleo as a loose template – some will add in dairy or or alcohol here and there. Paleo is more a general mindset, and with so many modifications, people often define a Paleo lifestyle differently.

Many individuals use Whole30 as a launching pad into a more long-term Paleo lifestyle, or to reset their eating habits when they’ve strayed too far from the Paleo practice.

Ultimately, the two programs resemble one another very closely. The main difference lies in the diet’s form.

Eating, Recipes, Soups

Bone Broth

By Kyra / September 15, 2016

Bone Broth Recipe

Did You Know?

The gelatin found in bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid that attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, thereby supporting proper digestion
Bone broth reduces joint pain and inflammation courtesy of chondroitin sulfates, glucosamine, and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage
Amino acids such as glycine, proline, and arginine in bone broth all have anti-inflammatory effects
Bone broth contains high amounts of calcium, magnesium, and other nutrients that play an important role in healthy bone formation
Bone broth can be made from any type of bones you like – chicken, beef, pork, or even fish – but seek bones from organically raised, pastured, or grass-fed animals

The Healing Benefits of Bone Broth for Your Gut

Bone broth is a staple of the GAPS Diet, which is based on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) principles developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.

The GAPS diet is often used to treat children with autism and other disorders rooted in gut dysfunction, but just about anyone with allergies or less than optimal gut health can benefit from it, as it is designed to heal leaky gut.

If your gut is leaky or permeable, partially undigested food, toxins, viruses, yeast, and bacteria have the opportunity to pass through your intestine and access your bloodstream; this is known as leaky gut.

When your intestinal lining is repeatedly damaged due to reoccurring leaky gut, damaged cells called microvilli become unable to do their job properly. They become unable to process and utilize the nutrients and enzymes that are vital to proper digestion.

Eventually, digestion is impaired and absorption of nutrients is negatively affected. As more exposure occurs, your body initiates an attack on these foreign invaders. It responds with inflammation, allergic reactions, and other symptoms we relate to a variety of diseases.

Leaky gut is the root of many allergies and autoimmune disorders, for example. When combined with toxic overload, you have a perfect storm that can lead to neurological disorders like autism, ADHD, and learning disabilities.

The GAPS diet starts out as an elimination diet, which means taking out all inflammatory foods. This includes high-fiber foods, processed foods, and anything that is going to be difficult to digest.

One of the main foods that you use is bone broth, because not only is it very easily digested, it also contains profound immune-optimizing components that are foundational building blocks for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

As your leaky gut begins to heal and your health improves, certain foods are added back in, but bone broth remains a staple because it is so incredibly nourishing for your body. This is why, even if you don’t have gut issues, it is still a wonderful staple food to include in your diet.

Top Reasons to Eat Bone Broth

There are many reasons for incorporating good-old-fashioned bone broth into your diet. The following health benefits attest to its status as “good medicine.”

Helps heal and seal your gut, and promotes healthy digestion: The gelatin found in bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid. It attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, thereby supporting proper digestion Inhibits infection caused by cold and flu viruses, etc.: A study published over a decade ago found that chicken soup indeed has medicinal qualities, significantly mitigating infection¹

Reduces joint pain and inflammation, courtesy of chondroitin sulphates, glucosamine, and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage Fights inflammation: Amino acids such as glycine, proline, and arginine all have anti-inflammatory effects.

Arginine, for example, has been found to be particularly beneficial for the treatment of sepsis² (whole-body inflammation). Glycine also has calming effects, which may help you sleep better

Promotes strong, healthy bones: Bone broth contains high amounts of calcium, magnesium, and other nutrients that play an important role in healthy bone formation Promotes healthy hair and nail growth, thanks to the gelatin in the broth

Choose High-Quality Bones from Grass-Fed Animals

The recipe that follows is from The Heal Your Gut Cookbook: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Intestinal Health Using the GAPS Diet. Written by Hilary Boynton and Mary Brackett, it shares helpful tips on how to “heal and seal” your gut so that profound healing can take place.

Hilary Boynton is a local food advocate and a certified holistic health counselor who runs several local food co-ops and teaches cooking classes out of her home. Mary Brackett is a photographer and whole foods advocate who seeks out projects that illustrate the importance of healthy choices.

This bone broth recipe is a classic and one you’ll want to keep for future reference. Below I’ve also included tips on how to make this recipe using a slow cooker or different types of bones, such as chicken. Perhaps the most important caveat when making broth, whether you’re using chicken or beef, is to make sure the bones are from organically raised, pastured or grass-fed animals.

As noted by Sally Fallon, chickens raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) tend to produce stock that doesn’t gel, and this gelatin has long been valued for its therapeutic properties.³ As noted by Boynton:

“You definitely want to get the best bones you can get—bones from pastured animals. If you can’t find a farmer in your area, reach out to your local Weston A. Price chapter leader… There are also resources to get homemade bone broth if you can’t make it yourself. …If you can only get CAFO bones, I guess you go with that. You can still get some healing benefits. But it would be better to go with bones from pastured animals.”

A Basic Bone Broth Recipe

The recipe that follows calls for beef bones, but you can also make bone broth using whole organic chicken, whole fish (including the head) or fish bones, or pork. Each will render a different flavor. Boynton and Brackett actually suggest starting with chicken because it has the mildest flavor (beef tends to be more overpowering). If you’re using chicken, simply place the entire chicken, raw, into the pot in place of the beef bones and proceed with the recipe as follows.

One note, if cooking a whole chicken, the meat should start separating from the bone after about 2 hours. Simply remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones. Then place the bones back in and continue to simmer. You can even use bones from a roasted chicken or turkey carcass to make bone broth, which is incredibly cost effective since you would otherwise throw them away.

Ingredients
Calories: 379 per serving | Number of Serving: 3 Quarts

3-4 pounds beef marrow and knuckle bones

2 pounds meaty bones such as short ribs

½ cup raw apple cider vinegar

4 quarts filtered water

3 celery stalks, halved

3 carrots, halved

3 onions, quartered

Handful of fresh parsley

Sea salt

Method

Place bones in a pot or a crockpot, add apple cider vinegar and water, and let the mixture sit for 1 hour so the vinegar can leach the mineral out of the bones.

Add more water if needed to cover the bones.

Add the vegetables bring to a boil and skim the scum from the top and discard.

Reduce to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 24-72 hours (if you’re not comfortable leaving the pot to simmer overnight, turn off the heat and let it sit overnight, then turn it back on and let simmer all day the next day)

During the last 10 minutes of cooking, throw in a handful of fresh parsley for added flavor and minerals.

Let the broth cool and strain it, making sure all marrow is knocked out of the marrow bones and into the broth.

Add sea salt to taste and drink the broth as is or store in fridge up to 5 to 7 days or freezer up to 6 months for use in soups or stews.

How to Make Bone Broth Using Your Slow Cooker

Bone broth is an example of a traditional food that’s easily adaptable to your modern lifestyle. Even if you’re away from home most of the day, you can still prepare homemade bone broth by using a slow cooker. To use a slow cooker, you will need to first bring the broth to a boil in a pot on your stove, then skim the scum off the top. Pay careful attention to this stage, as once the broth begins to boil the scum is rolled right back into the broth. The scum are the impurities that you want to remove. You can then transfer the broth to your slow cooker and turn it on to low heat for 24 to 72 hours.

Diet, Eating, Recipes

Spicy Oven- Roasted Cauliflower

By Kyra / August 29, 2016

Spicy Whole-Roasted Cauliflower
1 hour to prepare, serves 4-8

INGREDIENTS

1 head cauliflower
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
3 teaspoons cumin
2 tablespoons grainy mustard

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350º F.
Cut leaves from around the cauliflower, and cut out the center core to create a flat surface for cauliflower to balance, making sure to leave the head intact. Rub vegetable oil over cauliflower and season generously with salt. Transfer to a baking sheet or pie dish and roast for 45 minutes, or until fork tender.

Options:
1. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, grainy mustard, chili powder and cumin in a small bowl. Set aside until cauliflower finishes baking.

2. You could simple use Wing Sauce or some other spicy mix that you already have or use.
Remove cauliflower from oven and brush olive oil mustard mixture (other) all over. Let rest 5 minutes, so the mixture can soak into the surface.
Sprinkle with chopped cilantro or other herbs, then cut into four pieces and serve hot.

Recipe adapted from Hilah Cooking

Athlete, Diet, Eating, Education

Stop Worrying about Carbs

By Kyra / February 21, 2016

Just focus on the right kind!

During the past two decades, diets have cast carbs as hell spawn sent to fatten you up and destroy you with diabetes. These diets demonized all carbs, from whole grains to fruit, and urged you to get them out of your life. Some forms of this nutrient deserve that evil reputation, but many don’t. By avoiding bad cards you can speed weight loss and doge disease.

Article source: Fetters/Men’s Health

But beware: shunning the good carbs may hurt your health and fitness goals.

What Carbohydrates Really Are

Like proteins and fats, carbs are macro-nutrients – in other words, substances that stoke your metabolism and keep you alert and active. As an analogy, think of carbs as your body’s primary source of crude oil. Through digestion, carbs are transformed into glucose –kind of like high-octane unleaded gas. “Carbohydrates are the only nutrients that exist solely to fuel the body,” says Donald Layman, PhD, a professor human nutrition at the University of Illinois. Without glucose, your blood oxygen levels suffer, your energy levels tank, and your risk of a brain fart rises.

You should consume 45 to 65 percent of your daily calories form carbohydrates, according to the USDA’s most recent recommendations. So if you’re a moderately guy consuming 2,600 calories a day, that means 1,170 to 1,690 calories of that total should come from carbs. And since carbs-whether from sugar, starch, or fiber – contain 4 calories per gram, you should shoot for 295 to 425 grams a day. This amount, says Layman, will help your brain, blood, and nervous systems function at their best.

If you keep your intake under 80 grams of carbs a day, as some diet plans suggest, your body will begin breaking down its fat stores to produce ketones, a poor man’s “glucose”, which can lead to that low-carb “cloudy” feeling. Excess dietary carbs become excess body fat. So losing weight and helping your heart is as simple as cutting back on the white bread, right? Lets read on.

Why You Should Strive for Complexity

The quality of your carbs is as important as the quantity, says Frank Sacks, MD, a nutrition professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Complex carbs, found in starchy veggies and whole grains, ar linked to healthier weight and lower risks of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

“Complex carbohydrates are difficult for the body to break down, and that’s a good thing,” says Gail Cresci, PhD, RD, a researcher in gastroenterology and nutrition at Cleveland Clinic. THese carbs digest shlowly, and the absorption of sugars into your bloodstream is also slower as a result. The increases in your blood sugar and insulin levels are moderate enough that they don’t reach levels associated with body-fat stoarge, Cresci says. Plus, they make your good gut bacteria happy. “The gut microbiata prefer complex carbs over any other food source,” says Cresci. After theses guys feast on the carbs, they send beneficial compounds into your bloodstream. These compounds, called short-chain fatty acids, may help lower inflammation and strengthen your immune system.

Most foods that contain complex carbs are also high in fiber, which regulates blood sugar and helps you feel full. In a 2015 study, people who were asked to eat 30 grams of fiber a day on top of their normal diet lost about as much weight as folks on a strict diet.

How the Wrong Kinds of Carbs Can Hurt You

Refined carbs, such as those in white bread, cookies, and chips, have the opposite effect that complex, unrefined carbs have. After you eat, your blood sugar rises; in response, your insulin levels skyrocket. Plus, your gut bacteria spit out inflammatory compounds. So a daily Boston cream sets you up for metabolic malfunction, elevated triglycerides, obesity, and the chronic diseases that accompany them.

Cutting out those breakfast doughnuts may help you erase the one encircling your waistline. And yes, if you eliminate almost all carbs from your diet, you’ll drop even more weight-but not for the reasons you might think. On a low-carb diet, your body churns through its stores of muscle glycogen. And for every bit of muscle glycogen you burn, your body release twice as much H2O. So initially you’ll lose weight, but it will be more form water than from body fat.

To effectively reverse the weight gain associated with the intake of simple carbs, you have to shop smart. Beware of products that market themselves as low-fat. When food producers remove fat from cookies, ice cream, yogurt, or salad dressings, they often replace the lost flavor with processed sugar (yes, sugar is a carb), which is more easily converted into body fat than unprocessed carbs.

And don’t let the “gluten free” trend hook you in: Many gluten-free pastas, breads, and baked goods contain more sugar and calories than their conventional counterparts. So unless you’re among those with celiac disease or known sensitivities, there’s probably no health reason for you to cut out gluten-containing whole grains like wheat, barley, and rye. And don’t forget: gluten is a form of protein, your muscles’ friend.

A general rule: the fewer ingredients in the food you’re buying, the better. Choose apples, not low-fat, gluten-free, cinnamon-sugar apple chips. While fruit does contain simple carbs, those carbs come with plenty of fiber. In fact, a 2013 BMJ study found that fiber from fruit may reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. “Anyone who cuts down on fruit to reduce their sugar intake is making a big mistake,” says Dr. Sacks.

How Carbs Fuel Your Fitness

Carbs are stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver and also serve as fuel for high-intensity and endurance exercise. If your fitness regimen is intense-say, you’re training for a marathon-you need 40 to 60 additional grams of carbs per hour of exercise to help your performance, says Stuart Galloway, PhD, who studies exercise metabolism at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Another way to think about this is 1 extra gram of carbs per minute you work out. According to 2013 research in the journal Sports Medicine, carbs boost performance during the endurance and high-intensity work-outs. Better performances burn more calories.

After your workout, you need to consume just as much carbs as protein-ideally more. That’s because insulin may help with protein synthesis and muscle building, a 2015 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests. Aim for a 1:1 or 2:1 carb-to-protein ratio after you hit the gym. Lift some choc protein shake, apple slices with almond butter, or pita and hummus.

So here’s your prescription: Eat a consistent amount of complex carbs every day (unless you’re running a marathon or doing some similar activity the next day) from the greatest variety of whole sources possible. Then enjoy all the disease-fighting, gut-filling benefits.

Adrenal Health, Athlete, Eating, Education, Personal Growth, Self Care, Yoga

6 signs that you’re BURNT OUT

By Kyra / December 9, 2015

There are a number of very LEGITIMATE reasons why we can feel ABSOLUTELY DONE. Stress, life events, illness and the list goes on and on. Here are some small signs that you need to take action to improve your health and energy levels.

1. You forget what in the world you were doing almost immediately. Drawing blanks.

Did you know that when you are under stress, the stress hormones actually counteract your abilities to recall from your memory. It’s a brain thing. Add in maybe not sleeping well.

“During sleep, your brain replays whatever you learned that day and moves it into long-term storage.” ~Sandra Ackermann, PhD (University of Zurich).

Meaning if you are sleeping and have been stressed out all day, this process just doesn’t happen.

2. Your cuts take longer to heal

We are talking about a little cut or maybe something bigger. The healing process includes producing collagen, forming blood clots and recruiting cells to protect against germs. However, when you are stressed, your body has higher levels of chemicals called glucocorticoids, which suppress your immune system. Think about it like this, when you are stressed, your body thinks it needs to fight or run, not spend energy worrying about healing. So this makes your little ouchies heal more slowly, giving you a small sign that you are stressed out and your adrenals are in hyperdrive.

3. Ladies … your cramps are AWFUL

Stress can make your period late. And awful. This is because the hypothalamus, the regulatory center of the brain, senses that your body is RUNNING ON EMPTY, and so delays the release of the egg. I mean, really, why release an egg if you’re not going to be able to support a pregnancy?

Or you feel super frazzled during “that week”. Studies have shown that women feel way more frazzled and out of control, due to the adrenals not being able to produce hormones in balance, so you FEEL CRAZY.

4. Your digestion is a MESS

Reflux. Constipation. IBS. blah blah blah. Stress can alter gut secretions and slow or speed up digestion cause lots of issues. The good bacteria in your gut takes a hit. Everything gets off balance. Why do we care. Nutrient absorption. You really need to be using what you’re eating. Your immune system is mainly in your gut. You’re gut is your second brain. Imagine how you would be doing if your brain was filled with crap. or empty. or chronically inflamed. All due to stress.

5. Scratch scratch scratch

Did you know that the skin’s nerve endings release chemical signals called neuropeptides that communicate to the brain “something is wrong” in response to trauma or other stimuli. This is a form of inflammation that can leave you super itchy.

6. Your dreams are wacky

People you are sleep deprived (quantity and/or quality) can have crazy dreams. The super smart people really aren’t sure why. They think that maybe it’s related to your brain prioritizing REM sleep, the most restorative stage, but also where dreams occur. Also, the fragmentation of the REM cycle can cause you to remember more and for you to pop in and out of REM, instead of the cycle we are designed to go through.

CONCLUSION: Look for the little signs. Knowing that “stress” is a real thing, not just a word to be thrown around. And it causes real issues in the body. Left unchecked in the early stages, you get bigger issues. Fertility issues. Depression. Big Digestion Issues. Fibromyalgia. Other autoimmune issues. etc. etc. etc.

These energy / stress issues don’t have to get you. And it’s not a realistic idea “let’s cut out the stress. It’s not the external stress that’s killing us. It’s what we do with it. So fixing these issues MUST be done on a multi-level approach. Heal whats going on. Crowd good stuff in.

Work on dealing with life in a more positive and productive way.
WANT TO TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THIS WITH ME?
LET’S DO A FREE HEALTH CONSULTATION!

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Athlete, Diet, Eating

How diet pills can trash your health

By Kyra / June 11, 2015

Energy/health ALERT: PHENTERMINE (very common prescribed diet pill) essentially chemically drives the fight or flight system, leading to adrenal depletion. The adrenals are responsible for kick starting your ENERGY systems and responding approximately to stress (or living, breathing, waking up, standing up, etc, not just when ur getting yelled at by ur boss. Kids. Spouse. 😉 ).

SPECIAL NOTE: if you are taking said pill and go in for an elective procedure, Anesthesia will cancel surgery for two weeks, so your body responds normally to stress/etc, so you don’t end up dead on the table. Katie Kramer Richardson have Brian “Amen” that, and Karla Wagner too, my local gas passers.

Adrenal depletion=low sex drive, stupid hormone issues, irritability, low energy, crappy sleep, depression, infertility, blood pressure issues, heart palpitations, EP heart issues leading to fun stuff like A-tach, A-fib, stroke, heart failure, untimely death.

Eat clean. Exercise. Be more healthy. Solution for a lifetime. Private message me if you have questions or are taking this and want to know how to repair the adrenals.

Athlete, Eating, Education, Personal Growth, Self Care

Are you tired of…being tired, PMS, restless sleep, not having enough energy to do what you want?

By Kyra / April 30, 2015

Read no more if you…

Have all the energy in the world
Don’t struggle with hormones and PMS
You don’t know what a “busy mind” is
Wake up feeling like a FRESH DAISY
You don’t know what it’s like to live feeling OVERWHELMED (all the time)
Don’t crave carbs

If you are still reading, lets get right down to it.

We live in a society of GO GO GO. Do MORE. Have MORE.

Being BUSY is the norm. If it’s not working, then work harder.

And if you are reading this…you are probably a lot like me.

Athlete. Looking for PRs. Parent. Striving to provide better. As a person, always looking to see what you can take on, looking to see JUST HOW AWESOME YOU CAN BE!

Nothing wrong with any of that!

Here is where we get into trouble:

Most of us are driven people. Type A. The movers and shakers.

out-of-order-tired So our person type leads us to run harder, faster and not give up. The price to pay for that, for a life time of living like that, is issues within adrenal health. Those babies are glands on the kidneys that are crazy important. Yes, everything is important. But these gems aren’t getting any publicity.

If you go into the docs office and complain about PMS they certainly aren’t going to educate you on how the adrenal produce progesterone, which levels out estrogen, which helps that week of PMS not be a FLIPPIN’ CATASTROPHE. Hey guys, HORMONES ARE FOR YOU TOO! The adrenal glads produce testosterone. And you can be deficient too. So maybe low energy. The adrenal glands work hand in hand with the thyroid. You really can’t help one without looking at the other.

There are varying degrees of adrenal issues. And various things to do for them. A lot of them are super awesome in that nurturing the adrenals is fairly easy and little negative side affects. The catch.

YES THERE IS A CATCH. Depending on where you are at with your adrenals, it might take quite a while to build them back. It’s not a quite fix. 6 months to a year if you’re lucky. But you want to go down that road, because here’s the SCARY PART, the little issues…they pile up. PMS, Infertility. Female issues. Hysterectomy. Depression. Chronic Anxiety. Heart palpitations and other BIG BAD issues with the heart, like A FIB. The list will go on and on. Because these adrenal glands affect important hormones that affect everything. So…

Here are some classic symptoms:

You’re not eating breakfast because you chow down on carbs in the pm
You’re intake of carbs and quick energy in the am is OFF THE CHARTS
You feel awesome at night, have lots of energy (aka you aren’t winding down)
You can’t shut off the mind, you don’t stay asleep, you are taking sleep aides
You wake up feeling NOT RESTED
You have PMS (no, ladies, this isn’t normal)
You’re libido is in the tank
You struggle with low blood sugar or low blood pressure
Allergies, asthma, frequent illness, unexplained heart pains/palpitations

Ok. Thats the IN YOUR FACE, do you need to address this chat. Be on the look out for the following…

PART 2 on this topic
Information the the 30 Day KICKSTART to A NEW BEGINNING program. This is going to be a group activity that I will be hosting. Three levels to join…FREE, Level 1, and Level 2. We get started soon. This is going to be a very private thing. So if you are serious and wanting to commit, contact me. I’m going to be here throwing a lot of stuff at you, so you can use this next 30 days to develop and GET YOUR OWN PLAN in place. Email me if you want to join.

Diet, Eating, Self Care

Say GOODBYE to HEARTBURN with clean eating!

By Kyra / April 14, 2015

Do any of you have heartburn?

Boy oh boy, I do with certain foods. Hamburger buns interestingly enough! Through the years as my diet has evolved and gotten better, my digestion has become very efficient. However as I age, I do notice that I tend to get pretty good heartburn every now and then with certain foods.

Did you know that antacids & proton pump inhibitors (PHPs) actually damage your belly?

They suppress your natural stomach acid, inhibiting your ability to digest food. This can lead to gastroparesis, overall slow digestion, nausea, and malabsorption of vitamins and minerals, especially zinc and the B vitamins.

I have a very personal experience with this, as when my youngest son was born he had severe colic, silent GERD. HOLY COW! I think we almost died. What I felt then, that the medicine wasn’t making anything better and much worse in fact, I have not figured out why. O M G!!!

In a nutshell, your digestive system needs to be a beautifully acidic environment. The acidic levels of the stomach kill potentially harmful pathogens and bacteria – even the kind that lead to bacterial overgrowth and Candida!

Generally the medicines that are given are really only meant to cover put the symptoms, like discomfort in the throat. They do not address the issue and can make them worse. Antacids also lead to more serious conditions, like stomach cancer, chronic hepatitis, depression, anemia, and even anxiety.

The Real Cause of GERD

If you ask the average Joe on the street what causes acid reflux, you’ll likely get the answer, “too much stomach acid!” Contrary to popular belief (and the media!) this is wrong. Acid Reflux & GERD are actually caused by to little tummy acid and something called intra-abdominal pressure – which is basically stomach bloating that causes the acid to be pushed into your esophagus & upper tummy. And what causes the bloating?

Low digestive acid & poor carbohydrate absorption. See the chart below by Dr. Kresser for the process in a nutshell.

Reclaiming Your Stomach

So, here’s what you can do to heal your stomach and stop acid reflux from happening in the first place.

[tie_list type=”checklist”]

Adopt a healthy grain-free diet, mostly talking about wheat. You can most certainly eat cleaner grains like quinoa and couscous. Treat your belly right with a diet high in plant foods and rich in healthy animal foods like pastured meat, whole dairy, and eggs.
Drink bone broth. Repair your damaged gut lining with the collagen-rich broth made from bones.
Take an HCI supplement. Betaine Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) promotes healthy gastric acidity, digestion of proteins, and nutrient absorption. This supplement is especially handy if you’re transitioning from a vegetarian diet to one containing animal foods. This stuff has been saving my husband’s belly – which was feeling rather sluggish and “basic” after transitioning from a SAD to grain-free lifestyle. Take one (650mg) before every meal, and increase the dosage as needed. Feel the power of strong belly acid!
Replenish your own gut flora by take probiotics.
Drink up the morning elixir made of ACV. Lots of recipes out there; the clean eating program goes over this one in depth.
Chill with yoga and breathing. Stress can have a bit impact on your gut.

[/tie_list]

Athlete, Eating, Education

Healthy Oils – the quick skinny

By Kyra / April 3, 2015

Much Smarter in Regards to Fats

In order to be healthy we need healthy fats. We’ve gotten SMARTER in recent years.

In fact Harvard is saying “dozens of studies have found that low-fat diets are no better for health than moderate-or high-fat diets—and for many people, they may be worse.”

The Quick Skinny

Olive oil: This oil has been so highly research. Let’s leave it at its seriously good for you. It’s a rich monounsaturated fatty acids. The cardiovascular benefits have been shown to be outstanding. Cook with it, add it to your smoothies, use it as salad dressing.

Coconut oil: The lauric acid in coconut oil may help improve your ratio of good to bad cholesterol. Select virgin or raw options. You can add to smoothies, good with it, put it in your coffee.

Grapeseed oil: Polyunsaturated fatty acids have been shown to lower total cholesterol. Cook with it as you would olive oil. It’s also makes a smooth base for salad dressings.

Pumpkin seed oil: Contains a blend of vitamins, such as A and E and antioxidants that can reduce free radicals and protect skin from UV damage.

Walnut oil: A great source of the omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, and has been shown to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It has a warm nutty flavor making it excellent for salad dressings or in soups.

Happy eating!