In this 7 week ONLINE program, formerly known as nutrition bootcamp, I will teach you how to EAT REAL FOOD for REAL CHANGES.
You will learn WHICH changes to make, HOW to make them, and WHY they are important for your health! In 7 weeks you will develop the tools and strategies necessary to prepare healthy food for a lifetime!
This program will replace all the fad diets you have tried and failed, giving you a new way of looking at food as fuel for your body.
If you're in, reply to this email “I’m Ready" and we can chat to make sure this method is right for you!
Dr. Jamie
The way you eat makes a huge impact on how you feel. But with so many diet trends available, it can be really hard to decipher what is truly healthy!
Should you limit your carbs focusing on fats and protein? Or does fat cause you to gain fat, so you should focus on eating low fat foods?
Let's explore what a healthy way of eating looks like and take away the confusion!
Our Ancestors
If you’ve been around me awhile, you know how much I refer to our ancestors to decide what a natural way of living looks like. Let’s think about their diets as a guide for ours.
Long ago our ancestors lived off the land. The foods they ate were whole foods - grown or caught in the wild. Everything was natural with no sprays or pesticides.
At the same time, food could be scarce and difficult to get. They had to work the land - growing, harvesting, or hunting each serving of food.
Our Food Supply Today
In contrast the Standard American Diet (SAD) is highly processed and composed of foods made in a factory. Some of the ingredients are even genetically modified. This type of diet is far from natural.
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We all know that what we eat can affect how we feel physically, but did you know that it also plays an important role in how we feel emotionally?
Most people don’t realize how intricately the gut and brain are connected. But the processes in the gut directly impact the brain’s function and may have an impact on your emotional health.
Dr. David Perlmutter, brain specialist and a well known author, states that “we no longer can segregate the brain on one hand and the gut on the other hand” calling the gut brain connection a “profoundly intimate relationship.”
Let’s take a look at this connection and see if healing the gut could improve your mood.
The Gut-Brain Axis
The brain and gut are connected, physically and biochemically, through a communication network called the gut-brain axis.
The Vagus nerve is one of the biggest physical connections between the brain and gut. It communicates both from the brain to the gut - and from the gut to the brain. Neurotransmitters also connect the brain and gut in a biochemical way.
The connection between the gut and emotions has been overlooked in many ways, but is backed by a growing body of research.
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Are you rushed in the morning? Is it hard to get out the door, let alone have a decent breakfast? It’s a struggle for many people, but when you take a look at the research you will find just how important that first meal is.
Let’s take a quick look at the research and then talk about what you should be eating for breakfast and why.
A Bigger Breakfast
A study from 2013 looked at the difference between those eating a high caloric breakfast vs. those eating a high caloric dinner.
Researchers split the women into 2 groups. Both groups were on a reduced calorie diet of about 1400 calories. The first group had 700 calories at breakfast, 500 at lunch, and 200 at dinner. The second ate 200 at breakfast, 500 at lunch, and 700 calorie at dinner time.
The Big Breakfast Group
- Lost more weight
- Lost more inches at waist
- Had greater reductions in fasting glucose
- Had greater reductions in fasting insulin
- Greater decreases in triglycerides
- Had lower hunger scores and higher satiety scores
This study was on overweight and obese women.... BUT... another study had similar findings of better blood sugar and insulin control in lean women with PCOS. Effects of caloric intake timing on insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome - PubMed (nih.gov)
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When it comes to our food, not all sources are created equal. Real food is something that was grown in the ground or was once alive. But even with real food, it is important to consider the quality.
The quality of your food in great part depends on the environment in which it was raised. For plants it is important to find out if it was sprayed with a bunch of nasty chemicals. For animal products it is important to look at the health of the animal.
Let's take a look at what this means for you when selecting meats and dairy.
The Natural Environment
Years ago, our ancestors were hunters and gatherers. This means that the animals they ate were free to roam in their natural habitat. They got plenty of exercise and ate their natural diet. These factors created extremely healthy animals, which in turn became extremely healthy food.
As farming became more common, the animals were still kept in a natural environment. The cows were able to graze on grass, and had room to move about. These healthy cows also made healthy food.
But now, many of our livestock are kept in cramped quarters where they don’t get any exercise. They are not able to eat their natural diet. This results in unhealthy livestock that are often pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to fatten them up. As you can imagine these animals do not make healthy food for us.
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As we discussed last week, consuming conventional produce can expose you to toxins. Since toxins are stored in the fat, your body will create more fat as a buffer to these toxins. This is a brilliant way the body tries to protect us, but it can be very frustrating if you are trying to lose weight.
Ideally everyone would eat organic food all the time, but we know that isn’t always possible. Let’s take a look at the different quality of food, so you can decide what steps you want to take on your health journey.
Recommendations
When talking about fruits and vegetables, the best option is to buy organically grown produce from a local farmer. (Remember that these farms may not be certified organic.) Local farmer’s markets are great places to connect with farmers in the summer, but you can also buy through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
When those options are not available, buying organic produce in the grocery store is your next best option.
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