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What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Micronutrients
On this week's episode of the Harmony With Food Radio Show, we talk about how big ag practices affect nutrition, micronutrients for digestion, and the secret to a higher metabolism.
Muscle and Metabolism
The dirty little secret that the billion dollar dieting industry doesn't want you to know is that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be. When you go on a restrictive diet, you often wind up losing muscle mass at a rapid pace along with losing fat.
You're not going to be able to stay on the diet forever, because diets make us feel deprived and we usually can't stick to them long-term. So when you go back to your normal eating habits you're going to gain all of the weight back, plus a little extra.
You'll probably be frustrated and mad at yourself, but I'm here to tell you it's not your fault. Diets do not work. What I want to do is get to the root cause of the problem so you can increase your metabolism.
That means you need to increase your muscle mass. How can you do that? The first step when I work with someone is to figure out exactly how much protein they need, and then teach them how to get that in. Then, we talk about weight-bearing exercises, not dieting, and allowing yourself to consume foods that you actually like.
Keep It A 5™
When it comes to weight loss, I also wanted to talk about my trademarked secret, Keep It A 5™. On a scale of 0 to 10, where zero isn't hungry at all and 10 is ravenous, you want to be at a 5.
Say you have lunch at noon and then you have errands to run after work, so you don't get home until 6:30. That means that when you get home you're at a 9 or 10, so super hungry. Every cell in your body is saying you need food, so you open up your pantry and go for the bag of Doritos. And when you eat, your body wants to hold onto it because it went temporarily into starvation mode.
So, what I want you to do is think through your plans. If you know you're going to have a late lunch or dinner, make sure you have a healthy snack with some fat and protein, like an apple and peanut butter, so you aren't hangry. This will prevent you from making poor food choices!
Micronutrients and Big Agriculture
Optimal nutritional supplementation is now more essential than ever before. Changes in the way our foods are grown, harvested, ripened, and sold mean that we simply aren't getting the same nutrients we used to.
There is a lack of nutrients in today's fruits and vegetables that can be traced in part to a loss of soil quality. Corporate farms no longer make soil maintenance a priority. Instead of plowing mineral rich natural substances like kelp, manure, and compost back into the soil to help build healthy plants naturally, corporations use three elements, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, to force growth. What this does is force plants to grow larger and quicker. So while they look fine, they are deficient in dozens of micronutrients that we need.
The modern agriculture practice of loading soil with artificial fertilizers and pesticides creates an environment where candida fungi cannot survive, which interferes with the ability of the plant to extract all the nutrients it needs from the soil.
Another problem is that crops are transported long distances, so the way they are harvested has to be changed. For example, tomatoes bruise really easily. So they are harvested when they're bright green and still firm. To turn them red, the harvested tomatoes are gassed with ethylene. In nature, a tomato ripens on the vine and develops an abundance of the red phytonutrient lycopene. When tomatoes are green, they have almost no lycopene. Bananas, strawberries, citrus fruits, and mangoes are all artificially ripened.
Micronutrients and Digestive Health
You might think that nutrient deficiencies only happen in developing countries, but that is not the case. For example, 51% of American women don't get enough calcium to support bone health. 30 million Americans are deficient in Vitamin B6, which can result in fatigue and depression. The average American only consumes 25% of the recommended daily amount of chromium, which can make us more susceptible to insulin resistance and type 2 Diabetes.
Certain nutrients are also important for digestive issues, including:
Vitamin A - supports mucosal barrier healing and is beneficial for addressing ulcers.
Vitamin B Complex - supports muscle tone throughout the GI tract and helps maintain liver health.
Berberine - a natural antibiotic that can assist in treating SIBO and H. pylori
If you have digestive issues, it's important to know your micronutrient status. Micronutrients are absorbed in the gut, so it is no surprise that many patients with digestive issues are also lacking in micronutrients. Micronutrients can also help repair the gut.
When it comes to micronutrients, you need to test, not guess, so you can find out exactly what nutrients you're missing and start replacing them. Don't waste your money guessing which supplements to buy when you may not need them!
If you're interested in micronutrient testing, click the button below to schedule a free call with me.
