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NIC DEMUTH FOUNDER, THE UP BEET KITCHEN
Our gut is the first line of defense in our immune system: it forms the primary gateway through which nutrients and toxins enter the body. The standard American diet is so devastating that it breaks down this pathway, and this makes us nutrient deficient. Unfortunately, this is all but ignored in the new federal dietary recommendations, leaving us vulnerable to chronic diseases that already contribute to seven out of ten American deaths each year.
We are heading blindly towards the collapse of the microbiome, the bacterium that helps humans break down food in the intestines. Just as trans fat will be banned in 2019, even though it has been a known cause of coronary artery disease since 1956, it may take many more years for federal guidelines to take into account the growing consensus on the importance of healthy bacteria in the gut. This is relevant not only to adults but to our children, who will experience the terrible consequences of their unhealthy diets for the rest of their lives.
For instance, Americans on average now consume 153g of added sugars a day that feed the bad bacteria and yeasts in our gut, causing intestinal inflammation. Once one’s bad bacteria outweighs the good, our food begins to ferment rather than be broken down, allowing toxins to easily cross into our blood stream.
Although the new guidelines did recommend a limitation on sugar to 10% of daily calorie intake, this figure is still way too high to keep us safe from the common cold, severe autoimmune diseases, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The American Heart Association’s recommendation of 5% for women and 7.5% for men is a step in the right direction. Either way, added sugars provide absolutely no nutrition to your diet, so the lower the percentage the better.
Additionally, toxic chemical residue used in modern industrial agriculture is causing more intestinal inflammation and damage. Because Americans have unhealthy guts, these toxins cross into the blood brain barrier. This leads to an increase in psychological disorders such as autism, ADHD, depression and anxiety.
The overuse of antibiotics in modern medicine is also destroying the American gut. Most antibiotics do not differentiate between good bacteria or bad bacteria: they kill both. If you have taken a course of antibiotics and have not replenished the good bacteria in your gut, you are in trouble. Not to mention that, since refrigeration has become so commonplace, most Americans do not eat the necessary fermented foods that would provide such replenishment.
The American Nutrition Association reported that 70,000,000 people every day experience some type of digestive issue such as heartburn and abdominal pain, and most of the medications that are used to treat these conditions are quick fixes that mask symptoms and make the problem worse. You can pop a pill to reduce stomach acid, but this substance is critical for properly breaking down our food, especially protein, into smaller components. In general, stomach acid supports a gut environment that is more favourable to good bacteria while simultaneously weeding out the bad.
The patients who have the best outcomes are the ones who question the standard and become active drivers of their own health. Real medicine is about empowering the individual and the body to heal itself.
There is a perfect storm brewing in the United States. We are living such fast paced lives, but we have forgotten how to listen very carefully to our own bodies. This is not rocket science: it’s going with our gut.
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