Do you love a wine and cheese event? A beautiful and tasty charcuterie board filled with cheeses, olives, cured grass-fed meats and dried fruit, complimented with a well paired organic wine is perfect for social gatherings.
Does it love you back, or do you get a bit of heartburn or GERD afterwards? Or maybe a migraine develops.
If you can figure out which food compounds are contributing to your symptoms, you can make better food choices, and eat foods that make you feel better.
Have you heard of Akkermansia? It’s a beneficial microbe that has been getting a lot of attention over the last few years. What happens when you don’t have enough? How do you increase it in your gut?
Here are some foods you’ll find it in, along with some delicious recipes I’ve created to feed both you and your Akkermansia.
You’ve read about the healthy fats and nutrient density in avocados, so you eat them.
What about all the benefits from fermented foods? You’ve tried those too.
Aren’t garlic and onions supposed to be great?
And chocolate is rich in polyphenols and minerals, right?
I’m already eating a Paleo, gut-healthy diet!
But what if eating these foods is making you feel worse?
On a complicated diet? I work with a lot of individuals who end up on fairly complicated dietary protocols to address multiple health conditions at once. These diets end up being combinations of existing protocols. The most common combinations I see are Paleo-AIP-SIBO (autoimmune protocol and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), or some variation of Paleo- AIP that includes going low-histamine. SIBO can also trigger histamine issues. Finding new treat ideas, when your ingredient list is limited is always a challenge. I’ve come up with a few things that my son and I enjoy, and I hope you will too!
Last month the Government of Canada came out with a new Canada’s Food Guide that is radically different from the old one. This new guide was formed with a lot of public input, whereas previous versions were influenced heavily by industry input, which was evident in the strong focus on dairy, meat and grains. In this blog I’d like to summarize some of the good and bad in the new guide (in case you haven’t perused it yet), and give you some tips on how the guide can be easily modified for gut-health.
Milk is one of the most confusing foods out there. Some people say it’s unnatural to consume it, and that we shouldn’t consume it past infancy (breastmilk). Other people tout it as the best source of calcium. Many people have some sort of reaction to it, but don’t know if it’s from the lactose or is an allergy. Others think they are fine consuming milk, when in reality it is impacting their health.
It is complicated to figure this all out. So how do you know if you should be enjoying cheeses, yogurt, milk and ice cream?
It’s cold outside (as I write this there is a nasty wind-chill outside). Do you have plans to travel to a warmer climate this winter? If you are then you need to check out this important guest post! In addition to the information posted below, I always suggest taking along the probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii on your travels in case of diarrhea.
I’m squeezing in one more blog article before the holiday season, in case you are like me, and love to give food as HOLIDAY GIFTS. Chocolate is always a holiday favourite, and it’s possible for it to be healthy too! So here is a recipe that is easy to make, that you can package up to give away, or that you can finish off a special meal with. You can feel great about gifting this healthy version!
MYTH #1 - I SHOULD EAT A LOT OF FIBRE!
There is a lot of truth to this statement, but not everyone should be eating a lot of fibre. The benefits of fibre are well documented and include pooping regularly, feeding your gut microbiome, and helping to clear debris and toxins out of your digestive tract. But fibre can be very irritating to a damaged gut, especially insoluble fibre like that found in bran, whole grains, flax seed and legumes. Find out if you should be eating more or less fibre.
Call the clinic to book a complimentary 15-minute meet & greet or to book your first full appointment. If you aren’t sure if I’m the right practitioner for you, start with the 15-minute meet & greet.
