Sick, Fat and Unhealthy: Part 2: Agriculture Low Protein & High Carbohydrate
For the greater part of the past 2.6 million years, our ancestors’ diets consisted of wild animals and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Today most people’s diets are centred on grains and carbs — many of which contain gut-blasting, microbiome-damaging gluten whose downstream effects have serious impacts to our health. The fact that preventable, non-communicable diseases account for more deaths worldwide today than all other diseases combined is unacceptable (see part 1). How can that be? We’re living longer than previous generations, but not necessarily better. We’ve failed at averting and curing illnesses that we’re susceptible to when we’re older. I don’t know anyone who wants to live to be 100 if their last twenty years are spent in misery?
Sick, Fat and Unhealthy: Where did it all go wrong?
Theodosius Dobzhansky, evolutionary biologist, said, “Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution.” What did he mean by this? All organisms adapted to thrive and survive in a particular environment, if that environment changes faster than the organism can adapt, mismatch occurs. This fundamental biology principle applies as much to humans as it applies to any other organism in nature.
Fat Gut, Thin Gut, and Leaky Gut
In our first step in a healthy nutrition plan post we talked about the importance of gut health and the two main areas that impact it; the intestinal microbiota, or “gut flora”, and the gut barrier. We also touched on the impacts of gluten and a leaky gut. But was does “leaky gut” actually means? What causes it? What are some of the symptoms? How does it impact your immune system?
On Quality of Movement
Not everyone has a gym membership or trains to achieve specific goals, yet we all experience movement on a daily basis. The least active people in the world are likely to wash, sit down and get up, eat and drink, get in and out of bed regularly, and even when it comes to these simple tasks of life, it quickly jumps to the eye that some do it better.
The First Step In A Healthy Nutrition Plan
Scientific research is bringing more and more credence to the notion that up to 90% of all known human illness can be traced back to an unhealthy gut (Brain Maker, David Perlmutter). And we can say for sure that just as disease begins in the gut, so too does health and vitality. Ongoing research continues to uncover a strong case that gut health is critical to immune system functioning, detoxification, inflammation, neurotransmitter and vitamin production, nutrient absorption, signaling being hungry or full, and utilizing carbohydrates and fat. The gut extracts vitamins, minerals and energy from the food we eat, and it produces more than twenty different hormones. An unhealthy gut contributes to a wide range of diseases including diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, autism spectrum disorder, depression, alzheimer's, ADHD, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Most doctors learn very little about gut function and gut health, should they honestly be giving anyone nutritional advice?
Eat, Sleep, Train, Repeat: PART 2B Sleep
So what should you be doing to help rebalance your hormones, decrease your body fat, increase your energy levels, increase your libido, increase your immune function, improve your digestive health, increase your recovery while lowering your chances of illness and even death?
Eat, Sleep, Train, Repeat: PART 2A: Sleep
The human body appreciates rhythm, movement, and nourishment. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors supported this by waking up with the sunrise, being active during the day, and going to bed with the sunset. The invention of the light bulb has hugely impacted out lifestyles and changed our rhythm. There was no hunting and gathering in the dark, there was also no insomnia and chronic fatigue!
Our bodies like homeostasis and they achieve this best with routine and rhythm. Chronic stress has become the way many people live their lives these days as they are overworked and under-recovered. Most people don’t yet understand the risk associated with such high levels of stress. Our body passes through an “alarm stage” where it pumps out high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline hormones to help you “fight the tiger”. High levels of these stress-related hormones play havoc on our sex hormones and our sugar management hormones, which both play a critical role energy levels, the storage of body fat, and the health of your immune system.
Eat, Sleep, Train, Repeat: PART-1 Eat
Your body is like a delicate little flower. How you take care of your body dictate whether it wilts and die or if flourishes and blossom. The rapid pace of our society takes our focus away from the simple things that our body still appreciates and longs for: rhythm, movement, nourishment. Don’t underestimate the importance of the basics when it comes to reaching the results you are working for.
The Human Stress Response - Homeostasis
We continually placing our bodies under high levels of stress (sympathetic nervous system) - just about everything we do in our daily lives has an impact on our energy equation and our metabolism. Just sitting at your desk and thinking can use over 700calories, the brain requires a lot of energy to think. Physical activity is a hugely energy intensive stressors as the muscles, and the brain is needed to coordinate movement and meet the demands of the training session/competition.
When we eat poorly (cut calories, don’t eat enough quality nutrient-dense foods), we affect our metabolism and force our body to tap into other energy stores (lean muscle mass breakdown, fat metabolism, down-regulation of certain hormones (like you reproductive hormones)) to maintain energy balance in the body. Poor quality sleep also impacts our brain function and performance.
Health Posture PART 2: Longevity and Performance
Far too often we see athletes training to build strength and fitness, but failing to draw the link between posture and performance. Endless hours of lifting heavy weights and performing high volume repetitive repetition will never deliver the optimal results if the technique is compromised by posture.