The facts are that our standard diet is void or nutrition, full of toxins and the effects are devastating.
The brain needs nutrition, the body needs nutrition. The effects of malnutrition on behaviour, emotional instability and learning capacities are huge! And we dismiss it even though there is considerably well documented research out there to demonstrate it. There have been studies showing a very significant decrease in violent behaviour in juvenile prisons when sugar and/or additives are suppressed. This is not new.
"The evidence is now undeniable that poor nutrition is putting children's physical health at risk. Many children are now expected to die before their parents -- as a direct result of their unhealthy diets and lifestyles." Dr Alex Richardson, "They are what you feed them"
How has our food changed?
Let's dare to have a look at what has changed in our plates.
- Massive increase of food additives: preservatives, artificial sweeteners, colourings, taste enhancers (MSG), artificial flavours, etc.
- Hydrogenated fats
- Processed foods = any food in a package
- Huge increase in consumption of sugar, corn syrup, etc.
- Huge increase in refined starches
- Breakfast cereals (are just sugars and additives)
- Highly processed dairy
- Meat industry: animals are full of hormones, antibiotics, etc.
- Pesticides in the soil
- Mothers do not teach children to cook anymore because they haven't learned from their own mums
From an evolutionary point of view, these changes have been very sudden, they happened in a fraction of a second! Our bodies have not been able to adjust and our detoxification system cannot follow suit.
The situation is even worse for the children, because their body mass is much smaller than ours, so proportionally they are ingesting even more additives, hydrogenated fats and refined sugar as we are.
What happens to food once in the body?
Well when you eat or drink, everything ends up first in your stomach, then in the intestines before exiting the body. The problem is, lots of things happen in the intestines and some toxins or mal digested food get absorbed in the blood stream, through the intestine wall before they have a chance to leave your body.
The digestive system is not isolated from the rest of the body. On the contrary, food is digested, broken down into nutrients (when there are some!) which are then absorbed through the blood stream. This is an ideal scenario. This can only happen when healthy bacteria live in your gut, it is known as "gut flora".
Gut flora plays many essential roles, such as maintaining the integrity of the gut wall, digesting carbohydrates, making vitamins, cleansing toxins, protection from viruses and bacteria, play an important role in the health of the immune system, just to name a few.
So when Hippocrates said "all disease begins in the gut", he knew what he was talking about!
What destroys healthy gut flora?
Antibiotics, the contraceptive pill, chemicals, stress, processed foods, food additives, artificial sweeteners, sugars of all kinds, refined starches are all very detrimental for healthy gut flora. In fact, even worse, they feed the bad guys! Who are the bad guys? Some are yeasts like the infamous Candida Albicans, and other microbes such as Staphylococci, Streptococci, Clostridia, etc. These microbes live in everybody's gut, the problem is when they start outnumbering the good guys.
What happens when the healthy gut flora is unbalanced?
The most common result is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), gas, bloating, heart burn, indigestion, etc.
But it can definitely get worse. Some of the bad guys will damage the gut wall's integrity, making it leaky. It's called "leaky gut syndrome". The consequences are partially digested food molecules passing through the damaged gut wall, into the blood stream, where the immune system recognises them as foreign and attacks them. This is how food allergies and intolerances begin. The good news is that when you heal the gut wall, many food intolerances or allergies disappear!
As if this was not bas enough, yeasts and opportunistic bacteria produce toxic substances and they get into the blood and sometimes into the brain. This is when you will have behavioural and learning problems!
So, what do we do? Can we still eat?
Yes, no worries. You will still be able to eat lovely food, the one you will learn to make at home.
Just think about food in it's fresh state: vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, eggs, some raw dairy and well prepared cereals. With a bit of practice and organisation, you will quickly get used to making delicious treats, know how to read a label and make healthy choices.
The main culprits are:
- refined starches: white breads, pasta, cakes, biscuits, pizzas, French fries, crisps, etc.
- sugars: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, wheat syrup, etc
- processed foods: packaged food of all kinds, loaded with additives
- sodas: with sugar or artificial sweeteners
- hydrogenated fats
To learn more about how to help your child with food changes click here.
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