Tag Archives: Yeast Infection Recovery

Questions & Answers

Cooking Methods for Weight Loss

What’s the best cooking method for weight loss?

It’s important to know the best way to cook food in order to maintain vital nutrients.

If you search online, you’ll probably find that microwave cooking is described as the “ultimate” way to cook. However, I’m not a fan of microwave cooking. I prefer to steam and stir-fry foods.

Boiling is not a really good food preparation technique. Boiling almost guarantees that nutrients will be lost during the cooking process. It’s estimated that 35 to 65% of nutrient loss occurs by boiling food.

I also think boiled vegetables, boiled potatoes, and a slab of meat is a bland and boring way to eat.

Steaming is a much better way to prepare food as the nutrient loss is only 10 to 15%. I prefer steaming my vegetables very lightly.

You should always be looking for ways to cook without destroying the valuable nutrients. For example, if we look at folic acid, it’s a vitamin that is exceptionally easy to degrade. Deep greens should be minimally processed to avoid this degradation. Folate is essential for cancer prevention, so protect it, if at all possible.

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My general philosophy is to cook for less time, cook smaller portion sizes, and cook for flavor.

In terms of cooking for weight loss, the best method is the quickest with the lowest heat that can achieve a satisfactory product.

Personally, I don’t have to cook food overly well. I prefer to eat meat that is semi-cooked and still juicy.

Stir-frying is a fantastic technique for weight loss. I love stir-frying using my steel wok and a little bit of sesame oil and the secret ingredient, water.

I will only boil certain tubers, such as sweet potato.

Stewing and grilling are also good options.

In the winter, I recommend hot pot cooking and stewing.

Having flavorful meals is another great weight to encourage weight loss. When food is tasty, it’s more satisfying. Some of the flavors I like are ginger, garlic, lime juice, chili sauce, anchovy sauce, Worchester sauce, and salt and pepper.

Over time, your taste buds will come to appreciate tasty, crunchy food.

Ensure that you are cooking healthy, high fiber foods. This will help you feel full on less food.

And don’t forget to keep your body moving.

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Questions & Answers

The Health Benefits Of Spanish Black Radish

Black radish is also known as Raphanus sativus variation niger.

You may know radish as in the red kind of radish. I like to grow radishes, but I also like to grow carrots, including dark carrots. The old carrots that were grown thousands of years ago are a dark black color and even purple color, these are extremely good for your health. Today carrots are orange. I also may mention to you that carrots are orange because the Dutch bred them to be orange for the Dutch royal family, which is an orange color.

Black radish is very good for you. Black and purple pigmented vegetables, like purple lettuce, are very good for you.

Radishes taste a bit peppery. Radishes belong to the Brassica family, so they are related to kale, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower.

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Brassicas contain a compound called glucosinolates. In the gut, enzymes change glucosinolates into isothiocyanate. Isothiocyanate accelerates detoxification in the liver. It’s even been shown that isothiocyanate can detoxify certain cancer cell lines in the liver.

When they introduce cancer experimentally into rats or mice and then give the animals isothiocyanate, the rate of cancer is reduced. The claim isn’t that isothiocyanate cures cancer. The claim is that eating brassicas, including black radish, may help prevent cancer.

It’s also been shown that people who consume radish regularly have a much lower incidence of getting gallstones. The chemicals in radish stimulate globet cells (the mucous producing cells) and other cells in your gut that function to excrete waste. In other words, radish acts as a natural detoxifier of your small and large bowel.

Try and add more radish to your diet. Radishes are very easy to grow. They’ve got a nice crunch and are great for oral health. People who eat radishes and related vegetables tend to have sweeter breath and better digestion. Why not eat a radish instead of a chicken nugget? It’s a lot better for you.

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Questions & Answers

The Health Benefits Of Elderberry

Elderberry is a plant, also known as Sambucus nigra.

Sambucus is a fascinating medicinal plant that’s been used now for probably thousands of years. I used to grow this plant in Australia.

Elderberry can grow up to nine meters tall. I used to grow it down around my verandah in the backyard. Elderberry has beautiful big clusters of lovely, aromatic white, creamy flowers.
People make champagne or fizzy drinks from elderberry flowers.

The berries of Sambucus nigra are quite tart and need to be cooked. The berries have a high vitamin C and antioxidant content. The antioxidant compounds in elderberry fruit include phenolic acids and different flavonols like quercetin and kaempferol.

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The compounds in elderberry are very good at fixing free radical damage. As a result, elderberry is very good for people under a lot of stress who want to prevent progression to heart disease, cancer, or diabetes.

Several natural medicines contain Sambucus. Studies have demonstrated the elderberry can help prevent flu and shorten the duration if you do develop symptoms. Sambucus is thought to upregulate the immune system.

With regards to the gut, the combination of vitamin C, other antioxidants, and fiber, helps boost up beneficial bacteria levels.

I highly recommend growing elderberry. In addition to being very nutritious, it is a beautiful plant. Thankfully, Sambucus nigra grows well in a lot of different climates.

You can infuse elderberry flowers in hot water, cool it down, and end up with a lovely beverage. Some people just float the flowers in ice water. You can also make tea out of the leaves or the berries.

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Questions & Answers

High Fat Diets And Your Gut: What You Need To Know

Is a high-fat diet bad for your gut?

That’s an interesting question, and I think this question came in response to a published study from China.

The research put 200 people onto a variety of diets. There was a relatively low-fat diet, with about 20% of the calories from fat. There was an intermediate fat diet with about 30% of calories from fat. Lastly, there was a high-fat diet, with about 40% of calories from fat. The protein and fiber content were the same for each diet. It was just the percentage of fat calories that increased.

What they found was very interesting. After some time, stool and blood samples were taken from all study participants.

The results should that for mainly people ages 18-35, the bowel flora differed based on diet. Subjects eating more fat had higher levels of Bacteroides, a bacteria associated with fat and meat consumption. Thes same subjects had lower levels of Bifidobacteria and Blautia. Long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) were higher in the bowels of people eating higher fat diets. LCFA are byproducts of fermentation in the bowel. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are good for the bowel, but LCFAs can be problematic.

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LCFA can lead to more inflammation and conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
In this study, the predominant source of fat was soybean oil. Keep in mind that soybean oil isn’t a great oil to include in your diet.

In other words, this study did not use healthy fats from salmon, avocado, nuts, or seeds. (Although, keep in mind that not all seed oils are good).

Because the fat provided in this study wasn’t monounsaturated from what I can gather, and the possibility of deep-fried foods being ingested, these factors may explain some of the findings.
In other words, don’t automatically assume that a high-fat diet is going to create a big problem. It depends on how much fat you’re eating in relation to protein, carbs, and fiber. It also depends on the type of fat you are eating. And, of course, lifestyle factors like alcohol intake, stress, and physical activity will influence your gut flora.

I wouldn’t assume that a high-fat diet is bad for you based on this study. But, if you’re eating the wrong kinds of fat, you could run into problems. Deep-fried chicken nuggets and French fries aren’t going to help your gut any.

Monounsaturated fats like olive oil and foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., salmon) are going to be way better for your gut than these saturated fats.
What I take from this study is that take-away food made with low-quality fats is bad for your gut.

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Questions & Answers

What You Can Do If You Have Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a bacteria that lives in the gut.

Some people can get a very serious C. diff infection after using antibiotics such as clindamycin. In one study, clindamycin was shown to wipe the gut almost entirely for two years. One dose.

Most cases of C. diff occur in hospital. One of the biggest causes of this infection is antibiotic use.

Conventional medical websites will say that the cause of C. diff is antibiotics and the cure is antibiotics.

To me, that’s like saying, “Watch out for handguns. They kill people.

By the way, if you carry a handgun, it’ll help you not get killed.”

If you’ve got a clostridium difficile infection, the concern is that you’ve got a 20% chance or recurrent C. diff infections.

If you have C. diff, my recommendation is to get a comprehensive stool analysis. The stool test will tell you if you also have problems with yeast, parasites, or other harmful bacteria. It will also indicate your levels of beneficial bacteria.

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I highly recommend you use a proper lab like Genova Diagnostics or Doctor’s Data for your stool test.

Some people recover quite quickly from C.diff. For others, it becomes a chronic infection. Some will have relapses and recurrences. Unfortunately, some people have a very poor recovery from C. diff.

Fecal microbial transplants are recommended in some cases. Some people have to be hospitalized and have surgery for C. diff.

As far as diet goes, if you have C. diff, you should avoid aggravating foods.

To keep a long story short, with C. diff, it’s definitely an advantage to be alcohol, coffee, and caffeine-free for at least three to six months.

I would recommend including steamed vegetables and other easy to eat foods in your diet. You’ll have to monitor what does and does not agree with your GI system. For example, some people with C. diff have quite bad diarrhea and abdominal pain when eating salads. Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar may also be poorly tolerated on the presence of C. diff.

Yogurt is often fine, but be cautious with kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

For protein, emphasize lean protein without too much fat. Fish and eggs are usually perfectly fine.

Proceed with caution when it comes to fruit. I don’t think bananas or oranges are great foods for people with gut problems. I think the same about white bread.

Drinking water is essential because C. diff causes diarrhea.

As far as supplements go, grapefruit seed extract works quite well for C. diff.

Try not to take antibiotics if you want to prevent clostridium difficile infection, especially if you’re older. I suggest avoiding antibiotics unless it’s a matter of life and death.

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