23 Facts that Will Make You Reevaluate the Importance of Gut Health
1. Serious Consequences
The standard American diet is killing about 670,000 Americans per year and 12 million people worldwide annually (Center for Science in the Public Interest).
2. Costly Effects
In America, we spend about $3.8 trillion a year on mostly preventable diseases in healthcare (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
3. Brain and Body Benefits
Lifestyle determines your body and brain health. A healthy gut can lower risk for chronic disease and dementia (Sherzai & Sherzai, 2021).
This post is all about the importance of gut health!
Understanding how to improve gut health naturally could be the difference between feeling young and healthy or finding yourself tired, unhappy, and wondering how you got there. Often, we take our health for granted until it’s too late. Don’t make that mistake, your health is worth it!
The Blue Zone and Your Longevity
National Geographic explorer and adventurer, Dan Buettner, traveled the globe to “reverse engineer” how to live long, healthy, lives by studying those people who were living the longest in the world. He documented his findings in a book called, The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. Keep reading to find more below!
Alzheimer’s Prevention and Health
Dr. Ayesha Sherzai and her husband Dr. Dean Sherzai are the authors of The 30 Day Alzheimer’s Solution: The Definitive Food and Lifestyle Guide to Preventing Cognitive Decline. They also are researchers who have made it their lives’ work to focus on Alzheimers’, cognitive decline and dementia. Their book lays out how to stay you, longer. Keep scrolling to read more!
Diabetes Prevention and Health
Dr. Cyrus Khambatta has devoted his life to researching diabetes and how to manage it. He finds pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes is reversible for about 80% of cases. In Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes, he shows how a low fat and plant based diet can change your life and keep diabetes at bay.
Did you Know? Facts About Longevity
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If you eat half a cup of beans per day, you’re satisfying about half of your daily required fiber intake, and adding about four years to your life expectancy (Buettner, 2012) .
Pass the Beans and Focus on Fiber
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Since 1970, chronic disease among middle-aged people has nearly doubled in the United States (Buettner, 2012).
Chronic Disease is Increasing
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The longest living people in the world seem to eat their calories in an 8 hour time period. Maintaining your eating in a window of 8 hours has been related to longer life and the reduction of chronic disease (Cabo & Mattson, 2019).
Intermittent Fasting
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The longest living people move naturally, because they have a sense of purpose.
Move Often
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By reducing your snacking you are allowing your body to process the food that you’ve already eaten. Want to why? Check out my post on 3 Ways Our Bodies Work here!
Reduce Snacks
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The longest living people surround themselves with people who help them make the right choice, and, they live in places where the healthy choice is the easy choice.
Be With Your People
Create Your Own Gut healthy Blue Zone
Eat Largely Plant Based Meals
Gut Health and Mental Health, that is, brain health!
Making New Connections is the Key to Living a Brain Healthy Life
Giving your brain the fuel it needs through gut healthy foods is one way to support it to make more connections.
Did You Know? Facts about Dementia
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Our brain is only three pounds but it consumes about 25% of your body’s energy.
Thinking Takes Energy
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6.2 million people are living with dementia. In fact, every 64 seconds someone is diagnosed with dementia.
Dementia Statistics
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1 in 10 individuals age 65 and over have Alzheimer’s disease in the United States.
Alzheimer’s Statistics
Women are at greater risk than men to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.
Alzheimer’s Association
By age 45, 1 in 10 men are at risk for Alzheimer’s. While, this number is half that, 1 in 5 for women at risk.
4 Myths about Alzheimer’s Disease
Myths
The Importance of Gut Health | Alzheimer’s Disease
4 Myths About Alzheimer’s Disease that Bring Clarity and a Sense of Empowerment Regarding the Opaque Disease
Alzheimer’s and Dementia Can’t Be Prevented
Research that started this myth was focused on plaques and tangles. Once these developed, they didn’t go away. However, the full picture of Alzheimer’s disease and its onset is more than this. The processes that create plaques and tangles in our brain do not just start all of a sudden at the point of diagnosis. Often, they have been developing for long before one is aware of a problem.
Alzheimer’s is Purely Genetic
Only 3 percent of cases are driven by genes. The rest of the cases do not have very strong genes for Alzheimer’s. Genes might be a contributing factor, but they are not the causal factor.
There is Only One Medication for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s
There are two main medications out there, with many other medications for cognitive decline. However, the best medication is preventative lifestyle changes EARLY IN LIFE.
Alzheimer’s starts with Symptoms of Forgetfulness,
People may think that Alzheimer’s start with symptoms of forgetfulness but in fact, it often starts with other little things you may not even notice. We call these things cognitive decline. People who are not as sharp as they were, maybe do not remember names as they did, or can’t play follow the rules to their favorite game anymore.
The Importance of Gut Health: The Best Way to Reduce Your Risk for Alzheimer’s is to Support Your Brain Health Through Healthy Living.
The 30 Day Alzheimer Solution Aligns to the Blue Zone Diet.
Find Gut Healthy Foods that Align to Blue Zone Best Practices
Gut Healthy Recipes By Day
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Days
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Recipe Themes
Diabetes Prevention and Health
Pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes is reversible for about 80% of cases. In Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes, Dr. Cyrus Khambatta and colleagues show how a low fat and plant based diet can change your life and keep diabetes at bay. (pic of garden bed)
The More insulin sensitive You are, the better
Insulin Sensitivity is the Single Most Powerful State Associated with Overall Health
Limit your fat intake and increase your carb intake from Whole Foods (that means food that grows from our Earth).
Did You Know? Facts about Diabetes
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A high fat diet creates insulin resistance. Your body can only absorb so much fat before it has to put it in the liver and muscles. And, this creates insulin resistance.
Avoid High Fat Diets
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is rapidly expanding. In fact, it is expected to be the number one cause of liver disease in the future.
Liver Disease is Not Just a Drinking Disease
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When you consume potatoes, rice, corn, bread, or even refined carbs your glucose is high and you might think it’s the carbs fault. However, by suppressing carbs you eat more fat which increases your sensitivity to carbs AND your insulin resistance.
All Carbs Aren’t Bad
If you are diabetic, pre diabetic, or just trying to live well and eat healthier, say NO to saturated fat.
Dr. Kait
REcommendations
The Importance of Gut Health | Mastering Diabetes
By following a diet full of whole foods you can improve your immune system, lower your risk for chronic disease, and even achieve your ideal weight!
Eat Fruit
Eat whole fruits for healthy glucose! Don’t forget the skin! Fruit skin often contains a large portion of healthy fiber. Try my recipe for baked peaches!
Eat Starchy Vegetables
Starchy vegetables convert to short chain fatty acids when you eat it. And, your body needs this healthy energy source! Try my recipe for the ultimate baked potato!
Eat Legumes
Legumes include beans, lentils, peas, and more. Try swapping meat for legumes as the main protein source in your meals. You’ll feel full and see your waist shrink! Try my recipe for split pea soup!
Eat Whole Grains
Refined grains are a no no. Often, they contain saturated fat. Whole grains support short chain fatty acid creation in your body and provide a healthy source of dietary fiber. Try this easy Asian shrimp stir fry recipe here!
A Diversity of Fiber is Super Important.
Guess What? The Mastering Diabetes Diet Largely Overlaps with the Blue Zone Diet.
gut health diet
Find Gut Healthy Recipes
Gut health foods can be delicious and have you forgetting you are even eating healthy! Find gut healthy recipes on Kait’s Cupboard and start living your best life today!
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