In a recent episode of This American Life, people talk about foods that make them sick but they eat anyway. There’s the man whose body swells up when he eats crab (he keeps Benadryl at the ready) and the woman who is lactose intolerant but eats a whole pizza a couple times a week.
Perhaps the most crazy is the woman who throws up and gets severe stomach pain when she eats popcorn and nuts – sometimes to the point where she needs to go to the hospital – but doesn’t hesitate to keep those snacks on hand.
While it seems ridiculous that people knowingly make themselves sick, it is, as the podcast points out, a common thing. And I can relate. As I’ve pointed out on this blog, there are foods that often give me digestive distress, particularly when eaten close together or consumed when I’m stressed. Eggs. Cheese and other high-fat dairy. Coffee. Fried food. Draught beer. But sometimes I can’t help myself and push the limits to see what my stomach can endure. read more…
Sylvia Davies’ son Adam was seven years old when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. While the diagnosis didn’t come as a surprise – Adam had been growing weaker, getting intense bouts of cramping and missing school – it was a starting point for Sylvia to take action by having her son tested for food sensitivities and changing his diet.
Six years later, Adam is a healthy teenager who can eat a wide range of foods and Sylvia has released a cookbook entitled Feeding Carl: Easy Allergy-Free Cooking (Carl is the name Adam gave his stomach after the Crohn’s diagnosis). Sylvia talked to Fix My Gut about managing Crohn’s through diet and learning to cook without gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, nuts, fish and shellfish, sesame seeds and refined sugars. Read on! read more…
One of my earliest memories of beets is being served a bowl of them, pickled, at my grandparents’ house and being horrified by their taste, texture and smell. My sister and I choked them down, and the childhood memory of those slimy purple specimens meant it wasn’t until I was well into my 20s that I started eating beets again. Even then I preferred them shaved on top of a salad or finely chopped in dainty appetizer form.
Beets have grown on me in the past year, but I must admit they’re not my favourite food to prepare. They’re messy. They don’t cook quickly. Those little heirloom ones are sweet and delicious, but the fat bulbous ones can be unpleasantly bitter.
The good news? Once you find some easy ways to make them, beets are one of those versatile vegetables that do a lot for your body. And no, I’m not going to go all cliché on you and call them a superfood.
BEETS
Why they’re good for your digestive health: Beets are high in fibre, potassium and magnesium – all friends of your digestive system. Fibre helps move food through your digestive tract and prevents constipation, while potassium and magnesium aid in enzyme production. Because of their high content of plant flavonoids (which accounts for their potent colour) and beta carotene, beets also help out the gut’s fat-emulsifying sidekick, the liver. Finally, like DLGs, they’re a great plant-based source of iron and calcium. read more…
I came across the story of a man who conquered Crohn’s disease over at the excellent blog Expert Enough, and it’s so crazy fascinating I had to share it.
In 2007, Ari Meisel was diagnosed with Crohn’s, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that is deemed by most medical professionals to be manageable but not curable. There is no known cause, but the main symptoms are frequent diarrhea and stomach pain. Medication is the most common treatment, but the disease is also marked by the fact the body has trouble absorbing nutrients, and so people who have it are often weak and fatigued.
When Meisel hit a low point (read: hospitalization) with Crohn’s, he decided to make some lifestyle changes, including switching to a non-dairy vegetarian diet and incorporating yoga and, eventually, intense athletic training into his life. I was amazed to hear how his body reacted to these changes and I think you will be, too.
On a separate but related note, holistic practitioner Dr. Ben Kim has more lifestyle tips for inflammatory bowel conditions on his website.
And if you’re living with Crohn’s or another IBD and want to share your story, please contact me. I’d love to hear from you.
A couple of months ago, I talked to probiotics researcher Kevin Donato, who also happens to be a big fan (and creator) of fermented foods. Here, Kevin explains why these foods are good for your gut:
“Bacteria have been used to convert foodstuffs into alternative forms to please our taste buds – think of cabbage and related veggies that ferment into kimchi, or milk products that are converted into cheeses and yogurts. Our relationship with our healthy flora is akin to the adage “one person’s trash is another’s treasure.” Specifically, our dietary sources of complex carbohydrates are often too burdensome to digest without the help of this flora. The bacteria break down these compounds and produce short-chain fatty acids as a waste. In turn, our intestine uses these molecules as their primary source of energy and they stimulate intestinal motility.
Fermented foods can be perceived as “partly digested” and can be helpful for those with digestive upset. In addition, they may still have active bacterial cultures so that one would also get a dose of probiotics. However, it’s important to note that not all yogurts or other fermented foods contain probiotic bacteria, which are superior to “starter” or standard bacterial cultures in providing these beneficial effects. Probiotics are better at surviving the acids and bile of the digestive tract, produce less (or none) of the gas that causes bloating, and last longer in your system.”
I try my best to follow the well-known Michael Pollan mantra: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
You’re probably thinking, “yeah, yeah, yeah”, and I don’t blame you – this line of thinking has become so ubiquitous, it feels like not much more can be said (interestingly, anyway) about whole food diets.
Which is why I was happy to find myself learning new things and getting kitchen inspiration from the book Eat Naked by Margaret Floyd (sent to me for review). Admittedly, the whole “sexier you” thing on the cover feels like a marketing ploy. But Floyd, an L.A.-based nutritional therapist, has lots of great tips and takes a non-judgmental approach to food education.
Floyd’s concept is that a large portion of the foods we eat are processed with harmful ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils and we need to strip down our diets to a “naked” form. Early on in her book, she points to soy and gluten as two common ingredient offenders, saying gluten has become a “top allergen” due to its prominence in processed foods. It’s hard to tell if she recommends cutting out gluten if you’re not sensitive to it, but I think her point here is that non-gluten grains are easier on the body and eating less of them may decrease the risk of a sensitivity forming.
For the rest of the book, she shares the steps of transitioning your diet to whole foods and high-quality ingredients, and the back section includes more than 40 recipes. Here are some highlights: read more…
When researching natural remedies for digestive problems, there’s one that comes up again and again: apple cider vinegar. I remember being pumped to try it a couple of years ago after reading about its stomach-relieving properties. Then I opened a bottle and the pungent “feet” smell hit me. Needless to say, my motivation went away.
This scenario played out a few more times until I finally got used to taking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a day. And my conclusion is that once you get over the taste (diluting it in water makes a big difference), it really can help your digestive system run more smoothly.
What does apple cider vinegar do for your gut? It can help stimulate hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the stomach, which is responsible for breaking down foods. If you don’t produce enough HCl, you can be classified as having an “underactive stomach” (something holistic nutritionist Peggy Kostopoulos covers in her recent book). Symptoms of an underactive stomach – also called hypochlorhydria – can include excessive gas and belching after meals, as well as an “over full” feeling, abdominal pain and cramping.
January is a funny month. It’s the time of year when we think of all the ways we want to be better and what we’re going to achieve that we didn’t get around to the year before. At the same time, it’s a month of post-holiday fatigue, monotony and often dreary weather, a time when it’s all too easy to do a whole lot of nothing.
How to reconcile these two opposing forces? I, for one, have tried to stop making resolutions in their traditional form. Instead, I’ve been recalling practices – rituals, let’s say – I’ve introduced that make me feel good. Then I’ve been thinking of new rituals I can adopt that sound simple and enjoyable, the point being that I won’t immediately drop them.
OK, you’re thinking – why not just call a resolution a resolution?
But doesn’t ritual sound so much nicer?
One of my new rituals: making granola. It’s an extension of something I focused on last year, which was putting more effort into eating a protein-rich, nutrient-packed breakfast every day.
So now, instead of buying cereal (which I top with kefir, hemp seeds and sometimes ground flax or tiger nuts to complete the power breakfast…POWER breakfast!), I’ve decided that making granola from scratch is worth a bit of extra time and effort. Because, well, it tastes reeeally good and it’s lower in fat than store-bought versions. Plus, no hard-to-pronounce mystery ingredients!
The recipe I’ve been using is from the excellent cookbook Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck. Check it out after the jump.
Feeling stressed? Stomach upset? Take a break with this quick and easy yoga move, the fifth (and final!) in a series brought to you by my friend Frances, a yoga instructor at Yogagurl in Toronto.
Remember: You should perform yoga poses for digestive health on an empty stomach for best results.
SUPINE TWIST
Twists aid in flushing fluids through the body and help to stimulate digestion. Your lower lungs get a good squeeze in twists, which gives the middle and upper lungs the opportunity to activate. Breathing deeply and rhythmically in twists calms your body and reduces stress.
Feeling stressed? Stomach upset? Take a break with this quick and easy yoga move, the fourth in a series brought to you by my friend Frances, a yoga instructor at Yogagurl in Toronto.
Remember: You should perform yoga poses for digestive health on an empty stomach for best results.
BRIDGE
Bridge is another pose to stretch and stimulate the abdominal area. It brings your organs into alignment so that they can operate most efficiently. Bridge pose also stimulates the thyroid, an important gland for digestion and food metabolism.
