Gut Health: Six Things to Do About Gut Health

January 3, 2022 by

Starting off the new year right can be tricky.

There are millions of messages in our everyday lives that tell us we have to look or act a certain way to be acceptable.

What we need are ways to be intentional about our health without becoming obsessed by unattainable weight loss goals.

One of the most important systems in our body is the gut microbiome that regulates the functionality of both our heart and brain.

To maintain optimal wellness (not just a focus on weight)

we must ensure the overall health of our gut.

Here are six things you can do to intentionally change your life by changing your gut:

  1. Think about your food. A diet based mostly on plants is optimal for your overall health. If at all possible, opt for food that is whole (with no added fat, sugar or sodium). Chew your food slowly and completely to aid in digestion. Consider fermented foods (probiotics) and fibrous foods (prebiotics).
  1. Listen to your body’s signals. Consider that food cravings are sometimes caused by an imbalance within your gut microbiome. Other signals like brain fog, stomach aches, fluctuations in weight, sleeplessness, a change in bathroom habits and acute inflammation can also be indicators of an imbalance.
  1. Consider your sleep schedule. Getting an adequate night’s sleep is an essential way for your gut microbiome to restore itself naturally. It is suggested that adults get at least 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
  1. Choose to drink more water. Water aids gut health naturally. It’s a simple and efficient way to repair your gut lining and the good bacteria in your intestines.
  1. Pay attention to your poop. Notice whether there are fluctuations in the way your body eliminates waste. Notice whether your stools are loose or hard. Track how often you eliminate and consider whether that is regular for your body or not.
  1. Get tested. As you become more aware of how your gut is interacting with other parts of your body, you might have questions. I can help you assess the health of your gut and how it might be impacting your life. Together we can look at food sensitivities, supplements and beneficial ways to nourish your gut microbiome. Schedule time with me here.

Whether you set goals or intentions for the new year, make it a priority to focus on the health of your gut microbiome. It could literally change your life.

If you live in the Guilford/ Branford/ New Haven/ Madison/ Clinton area and would like to learn more about the innovative programs Dr. Fisel has to offer, call (203) 453-0122 or CLICK HERE to schedule a consultation.

Filed Under: Diet and Nutrition, Digestive Health, Health and Wellness, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , ,

Why Will I Gain Weight If I’m Not Sleeping Well?

May 9, 2012 by

As bizarre as it sounds, how well we sleep can have a direct impact on the amount of weight we gain. While doctors often talk about how poor sleep impacts immune function and stress hormones, we’re only more recently beginning to understand how hormones that control appetite are also affected. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With:

Don’t Skip Your Breakfast!

November 11, 2010 by

Prior research suggests that breakfast eaters may be healthier than people who skip breakfast, and now a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests a nutritious breakfast may be especially good for your heart. Specifically, the recent study shows that regular breakfast eaters may reduce risk factors linked to heart disease.

Breakfast eaters reduce heart disease risk factors

While prior research has shown that skipping breakfast may lower a person’s energy level and increase the risk of weight gain, less is known about the effects of skipping breakfast on other body organs and functions.

In this study, 2,184 participants, 9 to 15 years old, initially filled out a questionnaire about diet and physical activity and stated whether they usually ate breakfast before school or not. Twenty years later, one third of the original participants filled out a meal frequency questionnaire, had their waist size measured, and had blood levels of triglycerides, total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and fasting insulin (insulin levels after no food has been eaten overnight) checked. Participants were then classified into four groups:

• skipped breakfast in neither childhood nor adulthood,

• skipped breakfast only in childhood,

• skipped breakfast only in adulthood, or

• skipped breakfast in both childhood and adulthood.

Results showed that people who skipped breakfast in both childhood and adulthood had a larger waist size and total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels compared with people who ate breakfast in both childhood and adulthood. They also had higher fasting insulin levels, which indicates they have insulin resistance, a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease.

Breakfast skippers also tended to be single, have a lower education level, and were more likely to smoke, watch TV, get less physical activity, and have a less healthy diet compared with breakfast eaters.

The authors comment, “Skipping breakfast was associated with a larger waist circumference, cardiometabolic risk factors, poorer diet quality, and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.” They add that promoting the benefits of eating breakfast may be an important public health message.

M
ore reasons to be a breakfast eater

There are many good reasons to eat breakfast, and prior research has shown that compared with breakfast skippers, breakfast eaters tend to have:

• Better habits. People who eat breakfast tend to have healthier diets and get more physical activity.

• A more nutritious diet. Breakfast eaters tend to eat less daily fat and cholesterol and more fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

• A healthier weight. Some studies suggest that breakfast eaters have a lower weight compared with breakfast skippers.

Filed Under: Heart Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Artificial Sweeteners=Real Trouble

September 22, 2010 by

Most of my patients know that I’m not a fan of artificial sweeteners, but people often have      a hard time cutting them out of their diet. Hopefully this evidence (excerpted from   mercola.com) will be enough of a motivator!

Why Artificial Sweeteners Can be Detrimental to Your Waistline

The belief that eating artificially sweetened foods and drinking artificially sweetened beverages will help you to lose weight is a carefully orchestrated deception. So if you are still opting for sugar-free choices for this reason, you are being sorely misled.

For years now studies have shown that consuming artificial sweeteners breaks the connection between a sweet sensation and a high-calorie food, thereby changing your body’s ability to regulate intake naturally.

In one study by psychologists at Purdue University’s Ingestive Behavior Research Center, rats that ate yogurt sweetened with an artificial sweetener consumed more calories (and didn’t make up for it by cutting back later), gained more weight, and put on more body fat than rats that ate yogurt sweetened with sugar.

Other studies, too, have shown that eating artificial sweeteners might hinder your body’s ability to estimate calorie intake, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge. Your body and your brain simply do not have the same biological response to artificial sweeteners that they do to regular sugar, and this can pose some serious problems.

Your Brain Can Tell the Difference

You may have convinced yourself that your favorite artificial sweetener tastes the same as sugar, but rest assured your brain is not being fooled.

In one brain-scan study by neuroscientist Paul Smeets, volunteers were given two version of a beverage, one sweetened with sugar, the other with a blend of artificial sweeteners. The brain scans showed that the artificially sweetened beverage failed to activate an area of the brain called the caudate nucleus, which is an area associated with rewards.

A separate study by psychiatrist Guido Frank at the University of Colorado in Denver also looked into your brain’s response to sugar versus artificial sweeteners. Women given a taste of the two said they could not consciously determine a difference. However, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of their brain responses showed differences indeed.

As in the previously mentioned study, the sugar activated the reward areas of your brain more strongly than the artificial sweetener, suggesting that the latter may not make you feel satisfied the way sugar would.

This is not an endorsement to indulge in sugar; rather it’s a major clue that your body is not being fooled by artificial sweeteners.

Filed Under: Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

High Fructose Corn Syrup Tries To Hide Behind Name Change

September 15, 2010 by
In an attempt to try and fool the public, the Corn Refiner’s Association has applied with the FDA to change the name of high fructose corn syrup to “corn sugar”. This would imply that high fructose corn syrup is a “natural” product, when in reality it is a highly synthetic product. The move may have partly been prompted by a recent Princeton University study demonstrating that rats who consumed high fructose corn syrup “gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.”
For more information, visit the following website:

http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/14/high-fructose-corn-syrup-up-for-a-new-name?fb_js_fbu=757915220

Filed Under: Diet and Nutrition, Type II Diabetes, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Blueberries and Insulin

August 25, 2010 by

A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition (August 19, 2010) showed that subjects who consumed blueberries twice/day for 6 weeks had an improvement in insulin sensitivity. The participants were all obese and insulin-resistant, but not diabetic.

Blueberries have long been considered a “super-food” because of their high antioxidant and fiber content, and are often recommended for diabetic or insulin-resistant patients due to their negligible affect on blood sugar (as opposed to other fruits). However, the fact that they are now proven to actually reverse insulin-resistance makes it even more important for doctors to emphasize that all patients who are pre-diabetic and/or obese consume blueberries on a daily basis.
Filed Under: Diet and Nutrition, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Weight Gain and Fatty Acids-Born Into Obesity?

July 21, 2010 by

For years, the naturopathic profession has emphasized the importance of balancing the ratio between omega 3 and omega 6 intake. The standard American diet is overloaded with omega 6 fatty acids, while being deficient in omega 3, which can lead to a chronic inflammatory state, increasing the risk of cancer and other serious diseases. Now, a new study in the Journal of Lipid Research has found that a high omega 6:omega 3 ratio may not only lead to insulin resistance in individuals, but may actually predispose their offspring to a life-long struggle with obesity.

In addition to high consumption of fast foods and refined carbohydrates, the high omega 6:omega 3 ratio in the American diet is largely due to the shift from grass-fed to grain-fed livestock. For meat eaters, this means seeking out sources of locally raised or grass-fed livestock, along with incorporating more wild game (bison, venison) into the diet. In general, a diet that is well-balanced with fruits, vegetables, fish, and healthy oils should insure a healthy balance of omega fats. Supplementation with fish oil and ground flax seeds is also recommended, to further bolster your omega 3 intake.
Filed Under: Diet and Nutrition, Type II Diabetes, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Weight Loss and Natural Medicine

March 24, 2010 by

Naturopathic Medicine can offer a number of options for helping people to lose weight. From hormonal imbalances to underlying food allergies, the causes of abnormal weight gain are varied, so it’s important to seek an individualized approach to losing weight. Consulting an experienced naturopath will help you identify obstacles to weight loss, allowing you to lose weight in a safe, medically supervised fashion.

In the meantime, here are some general tips to help you lose or maintain your weight:

• Talk with a professional. Being overweight increases a person’s risk of a number of medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. If you are overweight, talk with a knowledgeable doctor to come up with a good program for you, and work with a nutritionist who can educate you about what to eat and help you stay motivated and on track for a healthy weight. As this study showed, people who attended more dietary counseling sessions lost greater amounts of weight than those who attended less.

• Identify triggers that lead to cravings or overeating. It is important to ask yourself questions such as “Why do I choose foods that are not healthy for me?” and “What feelings or circumstances lead me to crave unhealthy foods or to overeat?” Answering such questions can help you learn how to manage the cravings and feelings that lead to overeating, and help you plan ahead with healthier alternatives in situations where you might normally make unhealthy choices.

• Choose the right foods. You know the recommendations by now, but have you taken specific steps to improve your diet? The body needs an abundance of fruits and veggies–at least 5 servings every day–and a source of protein every day in order to optimize health and prevent disease. Eating foods high in sugar increases cravings, so reach for low-sugar, low-fat, nutrient-dense foods when eating regular meals and when snacking.

• Plan ahead. Sit down and plan your meals for the week. Try grocery shopping on a Sunday in order to stock the refrigerator with healthy foods to get you through the week. Don’t bring high-sugar, high-fat foods into the house, which may increase the temptation for overeating, but keep looking for healthy foods that you really enjoy so you have options if a snack attack hits.

• Exercise regularly. Guidelines recommend 60 minutes of exercise every day for healthy adults and 90 minutes for children. Exercise helps reduce cravings and overeating and also improves risk factors for chronic disease such as high blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels. If the optimal amount is too overwhelming either because of your schedule or fitness level, remember that everything helps. Get the all-clear from your doctor, and then start slowly and build over time. As your fitness improves, you will naturally enjoy longer exercise sessions, rather than slogging through. Exercise buddies and cross-training are also good tricks for keeping yourself going.

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Type II Diabetes-Do Genetics Matter?

March 3, 2010 by

A recent study demonstrates that diet and lifestyle factors play a bigger role than genes in determining whether a person will develop Type II Diabetes or not.

Genes are not destiny

To study diabetes risk, researchers enrolled 5,535 healthy British men and women, with an average age of 49 years into a study. After following these people for 10 years, 302 of them developed type 2 diabetes.

The researchers studied how well the Cambridge and Framingham risk scores predicted who developed diabetes in the group. They also looked at how 20 genetic changes that increase diabetes risk affected the ability to predict type 2 diabetes risk in the group.

Adding the genes to the risk scores did not significantly improve the ability to determine who would develop diabetes. In other words age, gender, family history of diabetes, body weight, smoking, and blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar are more effective for determining diabetes risk than genes.

You have the power to defeat diabetes

The most exciting thing about this study is that it tells us that we each have the power to positively affect our own health. Two important factors that affect diabetes risk–body weight and smoking–are within our control. By maintaining a healthy body weight and not smoking, we can lessen the chances that we develop diabetes, even if we have “diabetes genes.”

You can’t change your family medical history, age, or gender, but you can make your health a priority starting today. A healthy diet and regular exercise will keep obesity at bay and reduce diabetes risk.

(BMJ 2010;340:b4838. doi:10.1136/bmj.b4838; National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. National Diabetes Statistics, 2007. Accessed February 13, 2010. Available: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/DM/PUBS/statistics/#allages)

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