Is What You Are Doing Now Helping to Improve Your Future Health?

Improving your future health starts with small changes. You can make food in a healthy way and it can taste amazing! Your options are amazing when it comes to redoing a recipe. We have so many terrific ingredient choices to make our food taste great and still eat clean and healthy. For example, I love marshmallows! You can easily buy a package of them at the grocery store, but have you taken the time to look at all of the unidentifiable ingredients on the back of the package? They don’t want us to look at or understand how to read what’s on the label. Just buy it – it’s convenient.

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I am not a doctor and this information should not be considered medical advice. This post is for informational purposes and is my own personal experience. If you need medical help, seek this from your own medical professional.

The other option is to take a little extra time and MAKE YOUR OWN! You want to use grass-fed gelatin, honey and customize with your favorite flavor! Wow are they worth it and they are delicious! By using grass-fed gelatin, you are also getting glycine. This contains amino acids which benefit your gut health and digestion and helps to decrease inflammation which also helps to protect our joints. Some other benefits are better skin health and improved sleep….WIN-WIN!

This is just a small example of how you can “redo” a recipe. I can’t wait to share so many more fantastic redos to improve your future health!

Discovering Foods You May Be Reactive To

I experienced a period of time when I was very reactive to foods in the night shade family. These foods include tomatoes, potatoes, all peppers and eggplants. Peppers are also in premixed spices. These foods also have hidden night shades that affected me: cayenne pepper, paprika, potato starch (which is in many mixes), pimentos, goji berries, ashwagandha, chili powder, taco seasonings and most spice blends. When you think of the small handful of vegetables that are in the night shade family, you also need to consider foods like ketchup, bbq sauces, all red pasta sauces, all red and green salsas, bread, soup mixes and crusts that may include potato starch.

Night shade vegetables are not a bad food. In fact, they carry good nutritional values, such as vitamins, minerals and fiber. The problem lies with each of us individually. If we have inflammation or an already existing autoimmune disease, (and who on this planet doesn’t have some form of an autoimmune disease?) our systems can be in a weakened state and be negatively affected by night shades and other foods as well.

Better Gut Health, Improve Future Health

While I was struggling with my health, I was not able to eat whatever I wanted. My health was in a critical state and I had to choose to get better. This was the catalyst that helped me to learn how to look at food differently. In order to heal my gut health, I had to allow my system to reset. We will go into greater detail in the future on how this approach works. Just know that the food sensitivity you may be having now does not have to be accepted as permanent. You may react negatively to certain foods now, but you may be able to eat these foods again. We can improve your future health…this should make you excited and hopeful!

To explain how much I love tomatoes…I planted an entire garden of only heirloom tomatoes…I LOVE THEM! I was heartbroken and didn’t know how I was going to live without them.

There is Hope!

My naturopathic doctor started me on a detox protocol which also required me to go through a gut detox. In short, the gut detox allows your “leaky gut” some time off so it can repair itself and heal. Our bodies are an amazing creation from God. It’s concerning when you’ve been eating foods you love and then all of a sudden they make you feel sick. I would feel achy, tired, lethargic and sometimes get headaches. You may be reactive to other foods and that’s ok…there is hope!

My naturopathic doctor gave me instructions for my 90 day clean gut detox. I highly recommend that you find a naturopathic doctor in your area who will be able to walk alongside you on your own healing journey. My doctor was instrumental in making a correct diagnosis for my husband’s and my causes and helped us fix them. I fasted from a list of foods during this time, following his protocols and also removed all night shades for one year.

That was a difficult adjustment but I was willing to make these temporary changes to get better long term health results. I still remember the glorious day when I tried tomatoes again after that one year fast. I was so excited and thankful to eat my beloved tomatoes again! And do you know what? They didn’t make me react anymore…YAHOO! My gut detox had worked. I became more creative with food during the detox because it challenged me to think differently. I began to realize I could still make delicious food using cleaner ingredients and I feel so much better when I eat cleaner foods. Once again, moving us towards improving future health. Once you get your gut in order, a keto plan is a great choice to continue on a healthy track.

Why?

My experience with having a negative response was because, over the years, I had developed a leaky gut. In short, I had compromised permeability in my gut lining. This can be caused by antibiotic use, your body’s toxin load being overburdened, eating foods sprayed with glyphosate (a toxic weed killer), which is why organic is a better choice. Foods are not digested and absorbed properly and they end up “leaking” into places they are not meant to be which results in a reaction to them.

Gluten is also another problem that causes gut issues. We will go into this topic and learn different options in the future. I would get severe headaches, achy joints and would feel like I had a bad flu. This would last for a couple of hours, sometimes longer.

These types of reactions can also occur if your toxin load is too high or if you detox too quickly, you can experience a Herxheimer reaction. This is your body signaling you to slow down the speed you are detoxing so it can keep up with offloading the “die off” and removal of toxins.

Solutions for Improving Future Health

Burbur is a great, natural aid to use in your body’s detox process. It has been a lifesaver for me. If I detox too quickly or am reactive to something I’ve eaten, burbur is a wonderful detox support. The one I love is a bioavailable liquid form which allows it to be better absorbed by your body. I use it as an additional step in my detox routine. It has helped me tremendously with brain fog, headaches and if I become reactive to something I eat. I usually start feeling better within 10-15 minutes. And burbur can also help improve energy levels.

I’m not advising anyone to rely on burbur to “fix” poor food choices because then we’re treating the symptom and not the cause. We must address the cause if we want overall improved, future health. Once I was able to reset my gut, I was able to eat all night shade vegetables again without any reactions…praise God, it worked! Once again, making intentional changes can improve your future health!

Now that I have healed my gut, I have the choice again to eat whatever I want and I am still choosing healthier and cleaner ingredients. Food can be good for you and taste delicious! Remember…what we eat now, if healthy, is taking care of and improving our future health!

Learning To Think Differently About Food….

When you look at a recipe, first determine if you are able to make adjustments to the listed ingredients to end up with a cleaner, healthier version. For example, if you are looking at a funnel cake recipe, more than likely, even after making substitutions for the flour and sugars…is this a healthy option? Fried foods are not a healthy option. Don’t get me wrong, every once in awhile we eat food here and there that we normally don’t include in our normal choices. I ask myself, “If I eat this, how is it going to impact my future health?” Believe it or not, once you reset your gut, gluten and sugar for example can become more evident as to how they process in your body. Inflammation, weight gain, imbalance with blood sugar levels, etc.

Making Better Choices for Improving Future Health

A better choice could be a gluten-free, sugarless cake. We call it “The Cake”– it’s that good! Sugar-less, for me, means that I use forms of sugar that are not highly processed. I love using monk sugar, stevia, honey, maple syrup, dates and one of my favorites is coconut sugar. And I usually decrease the amount of sugar that a recipe calls for. For example, if it calls for one cup of sugar, I will instead use a half cup of stevia/monk sugar or I’ll use 1/4-1/2 cup of honey. These substitutions are a great alternative and should also be used in moderation.

We need to know our options are endless when making healthier choices taste good. Just because it is healthy doesn’t mean it cannot taste great. I make a phenomenal chocolate “nice” cream almost every night. I’ve taken a recipe I found years ago and modified it using healthier ingredients. The only sugar is from the frozen fruit you use and the sugar in the coconut milk. I also try to use organic whenever I can. Remember, the less ingredients, the better. You can learn to redo your favorite recipes and love them!

The How-To for Your Redo…and Why

Here is a great example of three brownie options….including your redo options:

Option #1: A BOX MIX

Yes, the easiest…but definitely not likely to be the cleanest ingredients.

Here is a brownie mix with typical ingredients:

Sugar, enriched bleached wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), cocoa powder processed with alkali, vegetable shortening (palm oil), wheat starch, dextrose, salt, artificial flavors, carageenan, and baking soda.

The recipe also calls for water, an egg and vegetable oil.

In the future, we will dive deeper into ingredients and how they affect our bodies, but just know that the ingredients in this box mix are not your friend!

Let’s break these ingredients down so we can understand what we are putting in our bodies. Notice that SUGAR is the 1^st ingredient. Ingredients are listed from highest to lowest quantities. Flour is the 2^nd ingredient…and not a healthy flour. Enriched means additional ingredients have been added to the flour and bleached means, highly processed. The cocoa powder they are using is processed with alkali or dutch process. This means there is more processing to remove the flavanols in the cocoa powder. This makes it taste less bitter. Natural cocoa powder contains flavanols which contain phytonutrients which are anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and can be anti-viral. These are the “good guys”. An organic cocoa powder processed naturally, in my opinion is a healthier choice.

Let’s move on to the vegetable oil and vegetable shortening (palm oil). These ingredients are highly processed and highly inflammatory. They are processed with high heat and unhealthy chemicals that strip them of their nutrients and antioxidants. This is done to preserve their shelf life. Most seed oils are genetically modified and contain harmful pesticides. Seed oils are also high in omega-6 which in excess, cause an imbalance in our body and results in added inflammation.

One other ingredient I will touch on is the artificial flavoring (also called natural flavors). A better choice would be pure vanilla or a natural, healthy ingredient. Click here to learn more about natural flavors. Bobby Parrish is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to learning what is healthier for our bodies!

Option #2: A HEALTHIER CHOICE, BOX MIX

If you are not a baker and you want a quicker, healthier route, at least consider these “cleaner” mixes: Otto’s Naturals Paleo Double Chocolate gluten-free brownie mix or Good Dee’s Soft Baked keto gluten-free brownie mix. These may not be perfect choices, but they are much better options to what else is available.

Option #3: HOMEMADE, HEALTHY BROWNIES…the winner and a simple recipe!

What is Inflammation?

By making healthier ingredient choices, you help to reduce additional inflammation in your body. Let’s learn more about improving future health.

Here is a list of foods that are inflammatory to our bodies:

• ALCOHOL
• SUGAR
• FRIED FOODS
• SEED OILS / VEGETABLE OILS
• DAIRY
• GLUTEN
• HIGHLY-PROCESSED, PACKAGED FOODS
• NATURAL FLAVORS / ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS

Great teaching from Dr. Eric Berg:

“Inflammation is a normal healing repair process but the problem is when we have chronic inflammation—destruction.”

Is Inflammation Healthy?

Our bodies can create inflammation in an area to promote healing. For example, a fever is our body’s response to kill off pathogens in order to become healthy again. When I hear someone say, “I had a fever so I took a fever reducer.” Why?! You are preventing your body’s natural healing response. When we suppress our immune system, we weaken it. Not ideal!

Think of you standing on both legs, being strong = healthy immune response to sickness. Now take both legs out from under you, which weakens = suppressing our immune system which puts our fighting capacity in a weakened state. Another example of an immune suppressor is a steroid. This seems to be a go-to for many western medicine doctors. It’s not a solution at all. Steroids can seem to give some temporary relief when we are experiencing an inflammatory response. The steroids role is to slow down the inflammatory response you are experiencing.

If you have an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, MS or lyme disease, you may be prescribed a form of steroid. But you aren’t given a clear explanation as to how it will “help” you. Steroids suppress or “turn off” your body’s natural response to these conditions, which typically includes inflammation. The steroid decreases the inflammation but, at the same time, it decreases your immune system’s strength for keeping you healthy and able to fight off other illnesses. Can you see why this is not a long-term solution?

Understanding Better Choices Equal Better Future Health

Let’s look at this response from a “why” perspective. Why are we having this reaction, then address the cause not the symptom. Our body is a magnificent creation and, if we listen to it, we can assist in healing it. This moves us towards improving future health.

Removing inflammatory-causing choices from your daily foods can make such a huge improvement for your body. We don’t realize how inflammation negatively affects our brains, also. It can cause us to not think clearly, have memory issues and the list goes on. Don’t take my word for it. Do your own experiment and remove inflammatory foods for one month and see how you feel! You won’t believe it…this change can help jumpstart the beginning of healing and give you the healthy outlook and new start you’ve been looking for….YOU DESERVE IT!

I can tell you this journey has its challenges but it is so worth it! Being intentional with your daily choices will help to set you up for success…the changes you make now are for the success of improving your future health.

Is what you are doing now going to help your future health? Start with small changes and know that I am here to help you!

Blessings,

Becky