Tag Archives: Candida Treatment

Questions & Answers

Mental Health And Gut Health: The Foods You Need To Eat

Some foods offer particular benefits both for psychological well-being and gut health.

1. Complex carbohydrates: One of my concerns with paleo and keto diets is that people have taken too many carbs out of their diet. Fruit, many vegetables, starchy foods, legumes, and grains are stripped out of the fiber in favor of too much animal fat. Your body needs complex carbohydrates for emotional and gut health. When people skimp on dietary carbs, they become grumpy and have a higher incidence of mood disorders. Keep in mind that I’m talking about healthy carbs. The truth is that arbs like candy, ice cream, high-fructose corn syrup, and sugar can actually increase obesity and ramp up depression. It’s foods like whole grains, nuts, seeds, starchy and green leafy vegetables, and many different fruits that contain healthy carbs, fibers, and resistant starches that will improve gut function and psychological well-being.

2. Brightly colored foods with high levels of antioxidants are also good for your brain and your gut. Antioxidants help manage the oxidative stress that occurs in the body. If you want good levels of dopamine and serotonin, antioxidants will help protect those neurotransmitters. There’s a lot to be said for including brightly colored foods in your diet such as blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, aubergines, tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchinis.

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3. Omega-3 fatty acids are excellent for the brain and the GI tract. You can find Omega-3s in oily fish like salmon, walnuts, and chia seeds. Omega-3 fatty acids are a critical addition to our diet because your body can’t make them on its own. I’ve read many research papers that have demonstrated that Omega-3 fatty acids improve both mood and cognitive function.

4. B vitamins such as B6, B12, and folic acid are essential for your mental health. There’s a clear link between depression and low levels of B vitamins. B5 is a vitamin that is particularly important for keeping energy levels high.

5. Probiotics offer your brain and bowel ample benefits. You can take supplements, but other sources of probiotics include fermented and cultured foods. It’s helpful to have sufficient prebiotics in your diet to make the most of the probiotics. For example, vegetables from the brassica family, such as broccoli and cauliflower, are a great source of prebiotics. So are plants from the allium family such as onions and chives.

6. Trace elements such as iodine, molybdenum, manganese, zinc, and copper are all critical for proper brain and digestive function. Look for foods that are organic and locally grown as these tend to contain higher levels of minerals. Good sources of minerals include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, and sardines.

If you ensure your diet includes these six categories of food, your mind and body will thank you!

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Questions & Answers

High Protein Diets And Weight Loss: What You Should Know

Let’s talk about high-protein diets and weight loss.

There are several mechanisms by which protein actually allows you to maintain a good weight and even lose weight. That’s why so many people were excited about paleo and keto diets. These diets tend to help people feel better and burn off extra fat.

There are several reasons why protein helps people lose weight.

1. Protein helps reduce cravings for sugary, high-fat, high-calorie foods. Protein tends to generate satiety via hormonal and other mechanisms. There’s no doubt that people who eat a high-protein diet feel fuller, look better, and weigh less. When you eat protein, your satiety goes up, and your appetite goes down.

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2. Protein has something called a thermic effect, which is greater than for carbs and fats. The thermic effect is the energy the body uses to metabolize or burn food. For protein, the thermic effect is 20 to 30%, if not higher. This means that the body increases its metabolic rate when digesting protein. Carbs have a much lower thermic effect, which makes it easier to gain weight from eating starchy food than from eating high-protein food. The same is true for high-fat foods.

3. A high protein diet ramps up the production of certain hormones and reduces the production of others. Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, is suppressed with high protein intake. Cholecystokinin, a pancreatic hormone, increases in response to protein-intake and also helps reduce appetite. Carbohydrates don’t cause the same hormonal response.

Remember, that even though protein is vital for weight loss, you also need carbohydrates and fiber in your diet. A high-protein diet doesn’t feed the beneficial gut bacteria the way carbs such as resistant starches do.

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Questions & Answers

Managing Cravings While On A Diet

How can you reduce cravings while you’re on a diet?

There are a number of ways to keep your diet on track.

1. Work out a plan beforehand: Make sure you know where you’re headed and what you want to achieve on a diet? Is it a lifelong commitment or a temporary change in habits? I think it’s a great idea to make a commitment to healthy food and activity with a goal six to twelve months in the future.

2. Clean up your pantry: Get rid of the food in your house that’s a temptation. That means junk food, crappy food, and the food that you can’t stop eating no matter how full you are.

3. Make a list of the healthy, tasty foods you’re going to eat on your diet: You need to go shopping and stock your kitchen with food that will help achieve your health goals. If you do have a snack attack, you want to be able to grab a piece of fruit or a small serving of nuts rather than a sleeve of cookies. One of my favorite healthy snacks is a small package of seaweed. Seaweed is a great way to get valuable minerals into your diet.

4. Make sure you eat enough protein: Eating protein is a key factor in reducing cravings. You need to eat protein with most meals. You could opt for chicken, fish, legumes, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, and seeds, to name just a few options.

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5. Chose satisfying snacks: A common snack for me it will be an avocado because I’ve got two avocado trees. One good size avocado can allay hunger for a few hours.

6. Eat at regular times: Skipping or irregular meals can contribute to getting overly hungry and trigger cravings. If you want to reduce cravings, I think eating a breakfast that includes protein makes good sense.

7. Drink several glasses of water between meals: Drinking water in combination with a high fiber diet will leave you feeling full for extended periods. A couple of small pieces of cooked sweet potato and a glass of water will leave you feeling as if you’ve had a two-pound steak. You won’t be hungry for a long time.

8. Catch the cravings early: When you start thinking about the pantry or refrigerator, chose a different activity. It could be a walk with the dog or a stroll on your own. If you distract yourself from a craving, often it goes away within five or ten minutes.

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Questions & Answers

How To Break Your Sugar Habit

“How can I stop eating sugary foods?” is a question I’ve been asked many times.

Sugar is extremely addictive for the brain. The brain loves sweet foods.

One of the first steps you can take to break a sugar addiction is not exposing yourself to the media that glorifies sweets. Instead, involve yourself in your own hobbies, physical activity, and healthy past times.

It’s also best to avoid sharing meals with people who eat a lot of sweets. The more friends you have that eat sweet foods, the more likely you are going to partake in all of this too. When you’re working on improving your health, spending a lot of time with junk food addicts isn’t going to help.

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I also recommend avoiding social events that include ample access to treats and sweets.
The more fresh food you eat – like vegetables, fruits, and lean meats – the less likely that you’ll crave sugary foods.

Making healthy choices for breakfast will help reduce sugar cravings. Having some protein in the morning is particularly helpful in keeping you satisfied for hours at a time. There are also hundreds of snack options that don’t involve sugar. Stock your kitchen with easy to grab, nutritious snacks like nuts, seeds, and chopped vegetables.

Over time you’ll lose your taste for sweet things. You’ll find that you no longer like the taste of pop or candy.

People don’t decide on their future. They decide on their habits. And their habits will then decide on the future of their health.

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Questions & Answers

Putting An End To Binge Eating: 10 Steps You Can Take

Binge eating is a source of great emotional and physical distress. Luckily, there are several steps you can take to reduce this habit.

1. Stop dieting: Dieting can lead to cravings that eventually become so strong they trigger binge-eating episodes.

2. Make sure you’re eating enough fiber. Eat regular amounts of fiber throughout the day – from fruit and vegetables in particular. Fiber slows down the digestive system and signals the brain, so you don’t feel the need to eat so frequently.

3. Get enough protein in your diet. It’s easy to feel ravenous and binge-y if you’re not eating enough protein. Protein is great for generating feelings of satiety and keeping your hunger hormone in check. Just as for fiber, protein also slows down digestion, keeping you feeling full for a longer period.

4. Don’t be a lazy eater. That means you should be prepared to put effort into making and cooking your meals rather than going to a fast-food drive-through.

5. Find some engaging distractions to fill your time when you have the urge to binge. It could be walking the dog, going for a stroll, talking to your neighbor, busying your hands with knitting, or anything else that gives you some enjoyment.

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6. Identify the emotional triggers that trigger binge eating. Once you know your triggers, start taking steps to change them or to find healthy ways of responding. It could be a relationship issue, a job issue, or financial stress.

7. Get your stress levels under control. Do your best to mitigate your stressors to prevent the spikes of cortisol that can drive your appetite to very high levels.

8. Eat before you are overly hungry. Eating at regular times of the day is very important. You don’t have to be excessively rigid, but skipping meals can lead to all-out binge eating. Keep an eye out for the subtle symptoms of low blood sugar and hunger. It could be that your thinking is slowing down, or you’re feeling irritable, tired, and dizzy.

9. Make sure you drink enough water between meals. Getting overly thirsty can trigger overeating for some people. Water also contributes to a feeling of satiation, so you don’t get overly hungry between scheduled meals and snacks.

10. Learn to eat slowly. Eating slower is better for your stomach. Think of your stomach as a cement mixer; you can’t fill it up all at one time. Fill your stomach up gradually, give it time to process the food you are eating.

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