Do you know what is one of the best things you can do for your health? Smile and say “Goodbye!” to an unfriendly American standard diet and unhealthy lifestyle. Start anew. First of all, take good care of your digestive system by eating good, healthy, and natural foods.     

More than 2,400 years ago Hippocrates, Greek physician and the “Father of Medicine,” wisely advised, “Let food be thy medicine.” His food therapy principle is incorporated into plant therapy. Through the modern conception and use of this idea, body sicknesses have been miracuously corrected.                      

This correction works if we give our bodies the rich nourishment they need from living foods, and when we work in close harmony with nature.

I invited herbalist Kami McBride to share her thoughts about it.

LOVE YOUR GUT by Kami McBride

Have you heard the saying, “You are what you eat?” It’s true, but really you are what you digest from what you eat. Each second your body makes millions of cells. Those cells form tissue and tissues form organs. Your overall health is the cumulative health of every one of your cells. Each cell is made from what is digested from your food. Paying attention to our digestion is one of the best things we can do for our health. By the age of 63 one out of every six Americans has some sort of surgery on a part of their digestive tract. Our standard American diet and lifestyle are  generally not very digestive friendly. Here are some guidelines to help you digest better!

Support your beneficial bacteria

Contained in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract are huindreds of beneficial bacteria. Yes, bugs. Good bugs. Bugs that help you to assimilate your nutrients and eliminate waste. These beneficial bacteria comprise your GI flora and are an important foundation to your overall health and wellbeing. Yes, once again we are humbled by the unseen world of bacteria.

                                                     Unfortunately, there are many things that disrupt the flora and destroy the beneficial bacteria such as sugar, coffee, caffeine, alcohol, chlorine, fluoride, over the counter and prescription medications, oral contraceptives, antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, food preservatives and stress. Try to eliminate as many of these things as is possible.

The good news is that there are many things you can do to support and feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Most indigenous diets around the world have some sort of fermented food as a main component. fermented foods are full of beneficial bacteria (acidophilus, bifidus, lactobacillus). Eating small amounts of fermeneted foods on a regular basis is one of the best ways to help support the integrity of your GI.

             Fermented foods are: parmesan cheese, kefir, kimchi, kombucha, Miso, kalamata olives, good dill pickles, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, and whole yogurt. Fermented foods are found in the refrigerator section of the grocery store.

  • Canned sauerkraut in the dry foods section is no longer a fermented food.
  • Make sure your yogurt is whole and organic without sugar or high fructose syrup.
  • Most Asian restaurants have a fermented condiment on the menu.
  • You don’t have to eat a lot of kimchi or yogurt, even one tablespoon a day will be good.

Think of taking your fermented foods like a condiment or medicinal supoplement. Life in general is rough on the GI flora and that is why so many diets include foods that feed the gut. When you have a serious assault on your GI flora like taking long term medications or antibiotics. Then it is a good idea to take concentrated source of beneficial bacteria in the form of probiotic supplements. Probiotic is the general name for supplement forms of acidophilus and other beneficial bacteria. Good health food stores carry probiotics. I recommend taking probiotics for as long as you take medications or to take them for six months after taking antibiotics.

Up to sixty percent of your immune cells are clustered in your GI, when the flora is destroyed by antibiotics; this compromise leaves you more susceptible to future illness. Along with fermented foods and probiotic supplements there are several foods that actually feed the good gut bacteria. The beneficial bacteria thrive on Inulin and FOS (Frictooligosaccharides) rich foods.

  • Inulin rich foods are onions, flax seed, asparagus, artichoke, Jerusalem artichoke, chicory root, dandelion root and burdock root.
  • Adding ground flax seed to your salad dressings or grating fresh burdock into your salads is a great way to feed your gut.
  • FOS rich foods are flax, rye, barley, onions, raw honey, garlic, leeks and chicory root.  

 HAPPY BELLY TEA 

Three cups room temperature water, one tablespoon dandelion root, one tablespoon chicory root, one tablespoon burdock root, one tablespoon honey

Put water and herbs into a glass quart jar. Let sit over night, then strain the herbs out. Add the honey, shake well and drink throughout the day. there is no need to heat the water for this tea.

 Happy Gut Jerusalem Artichoke Dish

                                       Eight Jerusalem artichokes, four tablespoons butter, two minced cloves raw garlic, two tablespoons powdered flax seeds, two tablespoons minced fresh or dried garden herbs (any combination of rosemary, thyme and anise). Hyssop is great on Jerusalem artichokes, also called sun chokes.

Chop and steam the sunchokes. Mix the herbs, flax and garlic into the butter and pour onto the Jerusalem artichokes when they are hot out of the steamer.

Source: Introduction to the post by Svetlana Konnikova, MA. AN,  author of 2009 Mom’s Choice Gold Award-winning book, Mama’s Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health And The Pleasures of Natural Living, Aurora Publishers, 2008, p.178

Kami McBride is the director of Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within, and experiential herbal studies program where women are inspired to reclaim their heritage as herbalists and healers. Kami is the author of 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation that is available on amazon.com. She teaches workshops for women to experience health in relation to their body cycles. Read her newsletter at www.livingawareness.com

Photos: Fruit Smile, Stream in High Tatras, Sandwich with Pickles, Asparagus, Seeeds, Dandelions, Cup of Tea, Cup of Coffeee, Meal with Red Cabbage, by Petr Kratovchil,  Girl With An Apple by Jeff Klisares, Lunch by Anna Cervova, Artichoke by Jon Sullivan, Artichokes, Wikipedia Public Domain

Copyright 2009.