SUMMARY. This post looks at other ways beyond Celiac and NCGS, that wheat can affect EVERYONE and includes new groundbreaking research being presented in Vienna. The bottom line: Move over gluten, ATI wrecks guts too, and… we have a new picture of what the inflamed gut looks like! ATIs, or amylase-trypsin inhibitors, are non-gluten proteins in wheat. ATIs activate specific types of immune cells [toll-like receptor 4] in the gut and other tissues. ATIs can trigger gut immune reactions that can spread to other tissues in the body. How bad can this get? “ATIs can lead to the development of inflammation in tissues beyond the gut, including the lymph nodes, kidneys, spleen and brain. ATIs can worsen the symptoms of pre-existing inflammatory based conditions like RA, MS, asthma, lupus, IBD, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease…” The final big hit: “ATIs may contribute to the development of non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS).” No wonder so many feel better ditching wheat since you knock out both gluten and ATIs AND decrease inflammation not just in the gut, but systemically! For an example, IBD and neurological association to ATI is discussed below! What about the non-gluten containing staples you may be consuming? Those displayed no or little of the toll like receptor 4 stimulating activity whereas ATIs displayed much!
Tag Archives: digestion
Microbiome, Emulsifiers, IBD & Metabolic Syndrome
SUMMARY: Don’t be duped into believing diet has nothing to do with your disease, or in preventing disease. When the researchers themselves rethink and change up their own diet to eliminate the ubiquitous food additive emulsifiers because their research is finding serious adverse impact on the gut lining, I want everyone to rethink their emulsifier intake too, for your gut’s health. Meet here, Dr. Andrew Gewirtz and learn about his important work on Microbiome, Emulsifiers, and their association with IBD and Metabolic Syndrome (defined by NIH as having three or more of these factors or you take drugs to control them: High triglyceride level, reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, increased blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, & large waist circumference. How concerned should you be about chowing down emulsifiers? Their connection to gut inflammation and microbiome skew at the mucosal level caused Dr. Gewirtz to eliminate such from his and his family’s diet. One tenet of the healing diets — eliminate processed foods — results in the elimination of emulsifiers. Perhaps it is time to reconsider your emulsifier intake too.
IBS: FODMAPS, Stomach Microbiome, Rifaximin Antibiotic Treatment, seriously?!?
SUMMARY: Learn impact of FODMAPS, Stomach Microbiome, Rifaximin… FODMAPS Diet helps over 70% of IBS likely because long term diet changes the microbiome in the stomach & gut. FODMAPS isn’t a life long diet; you reintroduce & learn your individual dosing limits.
Many now realize the need, if not necessity, to transition to a whole foods diet.
Foods from restaurants or cafeterias, prepared foods (even at sites considered healthy such as Whole Foods), and the obvious boxed foods make it tough for consumers to avoid caloric dense non nutritive foods with industrial seed oils and added chemicals, pesticides, and GMOs. The diet — health connection is becoming apparent; many suffering chronic disease(s) are trying to change diet and lifestyle to improve health and wellness. Eating whole foods can be daunting but the safest bet is making it yourself and to do so in quantity so as to make this lifestyle change sustainable:
It’s EASY to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts
WHY YOU WANT TO SOAK AND DEHYDRATE NUTS:
Soaking and dehydrating nuts is EASY and it makes them more digestible since anti-nutrients are neutralized and enzyme inhibitors are eliminated. If you are like many of my clients, you have no clue what the significance is of what I just said. So another way of saying this is, unless you soak nuts, you will block mineral uptake, and this totally defeats the purpose of trying to eat nuts for nutrient density.
A surprising plus of proper nut preparation is that the process takes out the bitterness in taste making nuts taste incredibly sweet and delicious, which is what they are supposed to taste like. I’d soak and dehydrate nuts solely for this culinary taste improvement truth be told. Clients do too after they sample them. I am always amazed to see what the filtered water looks like after a soak. Someday I’ll do a lab analysis, and we’ll learn what actually is in that yuck. One thing I do know, nuts blow up in size by the end of the soaking period leaving no doubt that they have absorbed the salt soaking medium:
How-To Dehydrate Apples & Preserve the Enzymes, EASY
SUMMARY: Learn Why and HOW to dehydrate apples and preserve the enzymes! Spoiler alert: Properly dehydrating apples at a low temperature preserves maximum nutritional density and natural live enzymes since you can use organic apples picked seasonally and locally at their peak of ripeness, and the internal temperature of the fruit stays below 118F which maintains active enzymes! The total dehydration time for this recipe is about 12 hours!
How to Dehydrate Apples to Preserve Live Enzymes
My directions incorporate the Excalibur-9-Tray-Digital-Controller-Dehydrator-76970-User-Manual.pdf, Raw and Living Food Guidelines, Excalibur Dehydration Guide. This manual explains that nutritional value AND enzymes are preserved if the INTERNAL temperature of the fruit is kept UNDER 118°F/48°C:
A professional autism dietary intervention program.
Summary: It is time to share what a successful professional autism dietary intervention program can look like for autism management.
“Special Diets and Nutrition For Autism: Why They’re Cost Effective,” is such an interesting read from Judy Converse MPH RD LD, a registered dietitian since 1989, who then self taught herself, beginning in 1996, diet impact for her son’s growth, feeding, and developmental challenges at birth. She then expanded training to learn biomedical intervention for autism, becoming a DAN practitioner, and ultimately provided instruction in nutrition for Autism Research Institute, US Autism and Aspergers Assocation, National Autism Association, and many others. She has lectured for many local and national audiences about the profound impact nutrition and a healthy gut have on the developing brain as well as authoring three books and created the first web-interface accredited learning module for health care providers on nutrition and autism in 2007.
Digestive Enzymes & Disease w/Focus on Autism
Digestion: we all do it though most take it for granted unaware that improper digestive enzymes and subsequent digestion is the root cause of most disease which is epidemic at the moment:
Those with digestive dysfunctional symptoms (GERD, heartburn, bloat, gas, bowel Bristol Chart type issues…) don’t take it for granted. Neither should you.
Any blimp in the digestion trek, from brain to elimination, has upstream and downstream ramifications particularly affecting the microbiome community bacterial species balance. Most, if not all disease, is now being connected to microbiome community shifts.
This post focuses on autism specifically only because there are many current studies documenting the autism digestion dysfunction. The overall message however applies to all of us.
Digestion: You & Your Microbiome Eats
You eat to feed your microbiome, which in turn, feeds you, or not.
YOU CAN BE WELL FED… BUT MALNOURISHED!
You are NOT what you eat which is contrary to what we hear time and again.
- Rather, you are what you feed your microbiome.
- You are what you digest.
- You are what you absorb.
We will discuss lots of practical digestion strategies beginning at the brain and ending at… yep, the commode.
Arguably, poor digestion is the leading cause of disease in the US. A dsyfunctional gut:
- Impairs absorption of vitamins and minerals,
- Increases the risk of infections in the gut as well as systemically since immunity is reduced (80 to 85% of our immunity is in the gut),
- Increases the risk of abnormal bacterial overgrowth as well as yeast overgrowth in the gut since a pathogenic microbiota can flourish at the expense of beneficial microbiota,
- Down regulates our immune system since the gut is unable to perform it’s role of digestion of vitamins and minerals, manufacture of vitamins and antibiotics, and maintenance of a homeostasis balanced microbiome ecosystem,
- Conditions that can result from poor digestion include:
- SIBO
- FODMAPS intolerance
- Fructose malabsorption
- IBS
- Gluten sensitivity
- Other food sensitivities
- Increased intestinal permeability
- Autoimmunity
- Systemic inflammation: In addition to gliaden crossing the gut wall, LPS (end-products of certain microbiota strains) crosses the gut wall). LPS can then cross the blood/brain barrier and impact brain health. LPS is in fact used in research to induce inflammation in animals as noted in this Medical News Today article, “Newly created turmeric-based formulation releases anti-inflammatory power throughout body “: “The researchers injected mice with lipopolysaccharide, a bacteria cell wall extract that stimulates an immune reaction in animals. Curcumin can target many molecules, but the research team zeroed in on NF-kB, a protein that is known to play an important role in the immune response.”
- An antibiotic impacted gut can decrease microbiome diversity which is associated with reduced immune system functioning.
To begin, understand enzymes and deficiencies which are a root cause of microbiome disruption having disease consequences by reading the post: “Digestive Enzymes & Disease w/Focus On Autism”.
And for more on microbiome impact from eating nutrient dense, anti-inflammatory whole foods, check out:
“Some of My Best Friends Are Germs”, NY Times article, Michael Pollan, May 2013.