Happy Healthy Gut (19 page)

Yellow

Yellow fruits and vegetables such as lemons, papaya, pineapple, nectarines, and peaches contain flavanoids and Vitamin C. Flavanoids possess anti-inflammatory properties, which is essential for digestive health. Vitamin C plays a huge role in protecting the body against infections by strengthening the immune system, which is also happy news.
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Green

Green bell peppers, honeydew melon, kiwi, green beans, avocados, spinach, and other leafy green vegetables are among the members of the green family that provides the plant nutrient lutein. Lutein
protects the body against free radicals and macular degeneration. It also is great for the skin.
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Purple

Anthocyanins are highly concentrated in fruits and vegetables that are blue and purple, such as blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, plums, prunes, beets, red cabbage, purple grapes, and acai. They are strong antioxidants, and are fantastic for immune health, among other benefits.
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We all remember the USDA food pyramid from our elementary school years, right? Beginning at the bottom, it recommended 6-10 serving of grains and cereals, then 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables, then 2-3 servings of dairy, 2-3 servings of meat, poultry, or fish, and then finally it recommended that you only eat sweets, fats, and oils sparingly.

Well, out with the old, in with the new! The brand new 2011 “MyPlate” is the equivalent of the old-school food pyramid from the past. It almost divides veggies, fruit, meat, and grains into quarters, and then recommends dairy on the side. The serving suggestions appear to be somewhat equal, and I guess I would perceive it as this: 40% of your food intake should be produce (awesome), 35% should be “protein” and dairy (a little high), and 25% grains (a little low).

While I do have to give the government props for the larger percentage of fruits and veggies, and also for labelling the previous “meat and alternatives” category “protein,” I still argue that 35% protein is completely unnecessary, and 25% grains is probably too little. Also, “whole grains” should be emphasized. With just “grains”
sitting there, a lot of people might infer that a roll of saltines is just as good for you as a cup of quinoa (which, of course, it isn’t).

Well, I have a better one for you, my friend. The Vegan Food Guide provides a good visual on how much of what foods you should be eating. If you decide to take the plunge and adopt a plant-based diet, this will serve you well as a great reference. Simply print one off the internet, and stick it on your refrigerator.

“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dieticians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal proteins, as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than non-vegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.”
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—Journal of the American Dietetic Association

If you have never heard of food combining, then your tummy is in for a treat. Theoretically, food combining makes digestion easier by only having to deal with specific types of food at any one time, depending on how long they plan on hanging out in your digestive system. For instance, fruit is digested the fastest; meat the slowest. This works for me, and it may also work for you.

Fruits should be eaten alone, or with each other. They digest so quickly (in most part because of the high sugar composition), that they are already semi-digested by the time they arrive in your stomach. If the fruits are combined with other foods, they will get trapped, and begin to rot and ferment, causing gas. Melons digest at an extremely speedy rate, so it’s best to eat these alone.

Protein and starch don’t mix very well. To digest proteins, your body needs an acidic base. An alkaline base is required in order to
digest starches. Both proteins and starches combine well with veggies, but they do not combine very well with each other. In other words, my once-favorite snack of cheese and crackers is out. So is pizza, creamy pasta, grilled cheese sandwiches,
etc.
If you have a tough time with digestion of any kind, this one adjustment could really help you out.

Don’t eat proteins and fats together. Fats inhibit digestion, and proteins take the longest to digest, so this can equal constipation. This is another reason to forgo meat. Red meat, especially, contains high amounts of protein and fat, so it’s particularly difficult to digest.

This whole procedure sounds tedious, but I can personally assure you of its eventual simplicity. To sum up, proteins are great with veggies, starches are great with veggies, proteins and starches should not be combined, nor should protein and fats, and eat fruit by itself.

For the very best results, try to wait the following lengths of time between consuming foods that don’t combine well:
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• Fruit needs two hours. (Melons take only fifteen minutes to digest; the rest of the fruit takes about an hour.)
  
• Starches need three hours. (They take approximately three hours to digest.)
  
• Proteins need four hours. (Plant-based protein takes about four hours; animal-based protein takes anywhere from eight hours for fish to seventy-two hours for beef to digest.)
  

If you notice that within an hour or so after eating that your stomach responds by bloating, cramping, and generally begins to feel inflamed, you should definitely try food combining. (Or ask yourself if you just ate some dairy . . . dairy causes stomach cramps, too.) Food combining is not difficult; it just takes a little practice, and it’s completely worth it.

*It is important to note that although I’ve had positive personal experiences using this strategy, there is no reliable scientific evidence showing that food combining works. Just keepin’ it real.

In
The 100-Mile Diet
, by Vancouverites Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, they explain that the vast majority of the food that reaches plates in Canada (this also applies to the United States), has travelled an average of 1500 miles.
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That means that although seriously delicious, those avocados from Mexico or bananas from Fiji are pretty old by the time they get eaten. Fruit and vegetables’ nutrients begin to diminish the moment they are picked or harvested. The best way to take advantage of what a piece of produce has to offer is to eat it within a few days of it being plucked, or to freeze it right away. (A process termed “flash-frozen.”) Other foods count, too. Try and purchase local eggs, bread, dairy, and other staple items. Before throwing something into your shopping cart, look at the label to figure out where it was produced. I was pretty excited to figure out that my very favorite bread (generally anything made from Silverhills Sprouted Bakery), is produced in the same city that I live in! By buying locally, you are sure to reap the benefits of better quality food, because it is still fresh, and spent far less time in transit. There are also other numerous advantages to local shopping:

Reduction of your ecological footprint is a great reason to try and stick to local foods. If that food you’re holding has never seen a long-haul truck, cargo boat, train, or an airplane, then the amount of fuel you have saved by purchasing locally is outstanding. Supporting local economy is another great excuse to buy your apples from the farm down the road. Even though buying local is not always less expensive, it usually is. Most people wouldn’t mind spending the extra few bucks’ difference if it means supporting local farmers. In addition, buying local translates to better traceability of our food, which more and more consumers are beginning to realize is something that is important to them. Being connected to our food is special. Food keeps us alive, and determines our health. Knowing where it comes from and who it’s produced by is both powerful and exciting.

Exploring the diversity of local produce is interesting, because eating locally also means eating seasonally. This is important, because our twenty-first century, on-demand lifestyles often exemplify the fact that we’ve collectively lost our knowledge regarding which season brings what food. Every fruit and vegetable has a season, and those products taste way better when they are in season, compared with when they aren’t. Have you ever had watermelon and thought it wasn’t very flavorful? What about strawberries? That was probably because they weren’t in season. Eating in season is fun, and it’s all local.

Being confident about the quality of your food is another pretty sweet by-product of purchasing local. You might have a pretty good idea about the ins and outs of your own country’s laws regarding pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones, and genetically modified organisms, but do you know Japan’s? I like feeling sure about what restrictions were imposed on the farmers who grew the pear that I am about to feed to my children. Do you know how mandarin oranges grow, or what might be used to modify them, preserve them, or enhance their color or flavor? Hmmm . . .

Eating fermented vegetables once or twice a week can be one of the best things you can do for your overall health. Fermentation is a fabulous way to preserve good food, ensuring vitamin-rich nourishment all year long. It also floods the digestive system with beneficial microflora which can help keep your gut healthy and strong. Healthy bacterial cultures are also present in cultured or fermented vegetables. The more healthy microflora one keeps in one’s gut, the more the body’s receptors are blocked when exposed to dangerous viruses and bacteria, such as
Salmonella
or
Listeria
. Fermented vegetables are also high in natural antioxidants and benefit general health in many ways. Call your loveliest of friends, crack open a bottle of organic red wine, and have a fermenting party!

How to Ferment Vegetables

Step 1: Choose your veggies. Great vegetables to ferment include cabbage and/or cucumbers (the staples), and then bell peppers, radishes, beets, carrots, and onions. You can ferment any veggie, but these are the ones most people prefer to work with.

Step 2: Chop or grate them up into the desired size. I like to keep mine big enough to throw on burgers, sandwiches, and salads. Some people like to mince their veggies in a food processor, because the smaller the pieces, the faster they will ferment. Once chopped, throw them all in a 500 ml Mason jar. The veggies should reach to the top of the jar.

Step 3: Add your brine. The standard recommendation is one litre of fluid to two tablespoons of good quality sea salt. For a 500 ml jar, try adding half a tablespoon of sea salt to about one cup of filtered water. Mix well. Ensure that the salt has dissolved completely and then pour the brine into the jar, over the veggies. The liquid should fill the jar to the top, completely encapsulating the vegetables and ensuring even fermentation.