Last month we talked about 50 shades of a headscarf! The topic was around food and insulin resistance. Let’s quickly recap!
Food is power, and it’s information that influences the expression of your genes, it literally talks to your genes! Healing food gives us the ability to take back control of our health.
Everyone is different; some things that work for some don’t work for others, but they all have this in common—inflammation is the driver of chronic disease. So with that in mind, it makes sense to eat more of the foods that decrease inflammation, eliminating/limiting the foods that increase it, whether you have a diagnosed illness or want to prevent one.
I recommend adopting an anti-inflammatory approach to eating. This is not a meal plan but a way of living. This anti-inflammatory diet/lifestyle enhances your metabolism to help your body function optimally; eating a plant-based, antioxidant-rich diet and minimizing toxic exposures could lower inflammation. No more counting calories, just choosing the right foods in the right balance.
Whenever you give your body food, you need to make sure it falls under three criteria:
- Keeps your gut happy.
- Regulates glucose, decreases insulin resistance, and balances hormones. Anything that causes insulin resistance will also cause inflammation, and vice versa. Insulin resistance leads to rapid and premature aging, and causes stroke, dementia, heart disease, cancer, hormonal imbalances, and so much more.
- Provides dense nutrients. Focusing on foods that are nutrient dense provides your body with the strength it needs to heal inside and out. Nutrient density creates resilience.
Those foods are veggies, clean protein and healthy Fat…yay! More fat!
By focusing on nutrient-dense foods, in the right proportions, that keep your gut happy, your glucose is regulated, and balance hormones will help lower your inflammation and optimize healing!
When hunger strikes, don’t focus on the foods you can’t have (because believe me, you will want them even more) and don’t listen to your pesky bad bugs as they will manipulate your mind and your cravings, as they work by changing neural signals along the vagus nerve, altering your taste receptors to make you crave foods that will help them thrive. Focus on the foods you CAN have.
I ask my patients (and children) to go down a checklist of foods that need to be on their plate, before they consider eating anything else. If we eat the carbohydrate first, we deprive our body the nutrient-dense foods it really needs to functional optimally. Each meal should contain a balance of vegetables, fats, and protein with adequate hydration.
Let’s focus on what you and your family CAN eat (demonstrated by the Healing Food Pyramid)! There is so much variety, and the combinations of mouth-watering healing foods are endless—you can never get bored. Let’s get started!
Let’s talk about veggies, protein and healthy fats!!….I love FAT! Ya I said it!!! We all need more FAT!!! Yay!!! Let’s get our Fat on!!!
RELATED POST: What are Dysbiosis and Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Taking Your Life Back,
Madiha Saeed, MD ABIHM
Holistic Mom, MD
PS: LIMITED TIME OFFER! Download 4 of my amazing e-books all in 1 amazing bundle!
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