A Flourishing Gut -- and Certain Behaviors -- Promote Good Health

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 ................... Introduction
4, 5 ............... How Foods You Eat Affect How You Feel
6, 7 ............... My Plate
8-10 ............. God Planned Foods for Specific Body Needs
11 ................ Vital Nutrients
12,13............ Resources for Nutrition Management
14 ................ Assessing Your Current Nutrition Status
15-17 .......... Diets, Food, Nutrition -- and What is Sustainable in Our Environment
18, 19 ......... Safe and Sustaining Methods of Storing Food
20-25 .......... Vegetable Partners Recipes
26 ............... Final Message

INTRODUCTION

The Gut-Immune Connection
To build greater immunity against disease, particularly viral infections, we need to understand the gut-immune relationship. During health, the human gut bacterial community is diverse. Each person harbors over 100 trillion bacteria comprised of over 2000 different known species. According to biologic scientists, the gut microbiome plays an essential role in the development, instruction, and priming of the immune system. The proper balance, composition, and healthful diversity of gut bacteria is necessary for favorable immune responses and the enjoyment of optimal health. Imbalance that favors unfriendly bacteria over friendly germs triggers strong immune and inflammatory processes that promote chronic disease. Friendly gut bacteria have the opposite effect!

Belkaid, Y. and Hand, T. Cell. (2014) Mar 27; 157(1): 121–141.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.011

Other Sources:
Wildwood Lifestyle Center
Harvard Medical School on "The Sensitive Gut" and "the Gut-Brain Connection"

How the Foods you Eat Affect How You Feel
From Nutritional Psychiatry: Your brain on food

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep and appetite, mediate moods, and inhibit pain. Since about 95% of your serotonin is produced in your gastrointestinal tract, and your gastrointestinal tract is lined with a hundred million nerve cells, or neurons, it makes sense that the inner workings of your digestive system don’t just help you digest food, but also guide your emotions. What’s more, the function of these neurons — and the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin — is highly influenced by the billions of “good” bacteria that make up your intestinal microbiome. These bacteria play an essential role in your health. They protect the lining of your intestines and ensure they provide a strong barrier against toxins and “bad” bacteria; they limit inflammation; they improve how well you absorb nutrients from your food; and they activate neural pathways that travel directly between the gut and the brain.

Studies have compared “traditional” diets, like the Mediterranean diet and the traditional Japanese diet, to a typical “Western” diet and have shown that the risk of depression is 25% to 35% lower in those who eat a traditional diet. Scientists account for this difference because these traditional diets tend to be high in vegetables, fruits, unprocessed grains, and fish and seafood, and to contain only modest amounts of lean meats and dairy. They are also void of processed and refined foods and sugars, which are staples of the “Western” dietary pattern. In addition, many of these unprocessed foods are fermented, and therefore act as natural probiotics.

So, to express a general message of advice,
Diets that are high in whole plant foods (fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, but low in added sugar, saturated and trans fats) stimulate the proliferation of beneficial bacteria such as those that have beneficial anti-inflammatory properties. In other words, liberal amounts of raw fruits and vegetables are particularly useful in building healthy gut microflora. . . and add to that the improvement of your blood circulation for transport of those plant food nutrients.

In contrast, a poor-quality or Western diet (rich in sugar, animal products, salt, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates) is linked to more disease-causing bacteria. Eating meals at regular times, exercise, and sufficient sleep help to populate the gut with disease-fighting bacteria.
............................
In this short ebook, I will describe some major strategies for the improvement of your nutritional intake.

So, let's get started!

My Plate: Optimal Nutrition Facts from Scientists Who Know

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines evolve from the concept of My Plate, where one can estimate proportions of food groups on the meal plate.
The Guidelines are a published manual with extensive information on food values and recommended portions of value-rich foods that should be consumed on a daily basis to maintain optimum weight and nutrition status.

To start out on your Meal Plan for a day, with this example in mind, you will need to determine these factors:
·        Your present weight and what your desired/optimal weight should be
·        How many calories/day you should consume
·        Your food allergies
·        Any special diet restrictions (from your health professional)
·        Whether or not you will eat/drink snacks
·        What type of diet you need/desire (vegetarian, vegetarian with fish, vegan, etc.)

Tools you will need: Portion cups, measuring spoons

My Plate Preparations cont'd. . .

You may be wondering why on the previous page I did not include animal meats (only freshwater fish). It is because meat-eating jeopardizes one's efforts in weight control, infection resistance, and organ functions. Society is recognizing that animals, wild or domesticated, carry pathogens that are not necessarily killed by cooking, but could be activated by it. And, some cooking methods enhance deleterious fat intake. Slaughtering and preparing meat for market is not a reliably clean process either. Gourmet appetites of some humans even evoke raiding habitats of unique wild animals for "valuable" protein, risking exposure to unknown pathogens that may cause a pandemic of disease (flu, corona virus).
Other reasons for a plant-based diet is concern for the environment, that is being politically hi-jacked.
"The Actual Reason Meat Is Not Healthy: Nutrition studies leave out a crucial factor." James Hamblin, Author. The Atlantic, October 10, 2019
"How much would giving up meat help the environment?" from Economist.com 11/15/19 (PDF)

Plant-based dietary methods are growing in popularity among individuals who are stewards of the health they are given by their Creator and the health of the natural environment they share in this world.
Have you seen the movie, "Forks over Knives"? It examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods. But, how does one do that? Watch it on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, or Netflix. Here is the home website.
Consider the entertaining expressions on the next 3 pages . . .

God Planned Foods for Specific Body Needs

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... All before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. We're such slow learners...
God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye. And Yes, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges , Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.