General Wellness

GUT HEALTH (THE MICROBIOME) AND COVID-19

ONE last post before the weekend.

A recent (literally in the last few weeks) study looked at the correlation between severity of Covid-19 symptoms, particularly in hospitalized patients, and gut biodiversity, the variety of microbes in your gut, which is the #1 predictor of gut health. The microbial composition of the gut is what is commonly now known as the gut microbiome. The bottom line is this: there was an almost 100% correlation between gut health and disease severity. 

We are learning more and more about how incredibly important gut health is to just about every single chronic disease we deal with in Western society like vascular disease, obesity and diabetes, the three most common chronic conditions associated with severe Covid cases. Here are a few brief facts:

• 70% of our immune function is derived from the gut. 
• The enterocytes, gut lining cells, produce over 30 different neuropeptides, including 90% of the serotonin, the mood stabilizing peptide, in our body. It also makes 40% of the dopamine.
• There are 500 million nerve endings in the gut, 5x more than the spinal cord and #2 only behind the brain itself. There is a direct connection to the vagus nerve. There is a reason we have the phrase “Gut Instinct”.
  

I have  TON more about the microbiome on my website but let’s just leave it at this: the gut is the most important organ we can heal quickly. It’s all about the foods and the toxins we put into our bodies and we can control that. The #1 predictor of gut health is the variety of fruits and vegetables we eat. 

Why? 

Lots of reasons but the main one is the fiber which healthy gut bacteria LOVE. 95% of Americans don’t even consume the pathetically low USRDA of 15 grams. 100 years ago, people consumed over 100 grams and anthropologists think that our ancestors consumed well over 150 grams a day. And supplements like Fibercon and Metamucil won’t do it. Those products give you big poops but don’t feed the gut bacteria. Neither will probiotics, which are essentially useless and even potentially harmful. The ONLY source of fiber is fruit and vegetables Beans, nuts, seeds… they are all great sources of whole fiber. There is not just ONE kind of fiber. Each plant has a different kind. Contrary to what 70% of Americans think, there is NO, that’s ZERO fiber in animal products. Including meat, fish eggs and dairy. On the contrary, these products feed the unhealthy bacteria in our guts.

In addition to lots of fruits and vegetables, get your rest, limit toxins (and unfortunately too much alcohol is a toxin to the microbiome, exercise and manage stress, all factors impacting on gut, and overall health.

Have a great weekend.

Stay safe and be well. 

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷

Are we running out of meat? Why is food going to waste?

There have been some news items about how farmers are basically throwing out tons of produce and that our meat supply may start to dwindle. 

Both issues have to do with the pandemic but in different ways.

Both industries are affected by supply chain issues. Basic things like fewer trucks to transport food, fewer restaurants taking orders… But to think that we will run out of food is ridiculous. Did we run out of toilet paper?

First of all, Americans throw out 50% of the produce we buy, the vast majority of this is at the consumer level. Worldwide, this figure is around 33%. Much less but still crazy. For Americans, this translates into over 100 pounds and thousands of dollars annually. In addition, Americans throw out 26% of the meat we buy, 81% of which is again, at the level of the consumer. So if we were so concerned about food waste, we would look no further than our own homes. Food waste is one of the top 10 contributors to climate change.

Part of the problem today with some of these animal processing plants (a nice nickname for slaughterhouses) are Covid outbreaks. However, our government would rather further risk the health of meat workers by forcing companies to stay open. Jobs in the food industry, espetially factory farms and slaughterhouses, are among the most dangerous in America with some of the highest suicide rates. 

Pork facilities report being at risk of losing 700,000 pigs in particular a week. Pre-covid, almost 1 million pigs a year die en route from their farms to the slaughterhouse. In addition, millions die on the farms themselves. Close to 100% of the pigs have pneumonia by the time they reach the slaughterhouses. 115 million die in the US annually to feed our pork apatite.

Even if we do run out of meat and dairy, NO ONE will die of malnutrition. There is plenty to eat. In fact, we’d be better off. During WW2, when the Nazis confiscated the meat and dairy from Northern European countries to feed its soldiers, cardiovascular deaths dropped dramatically. Various chronic diseases reversed. All people ate were the vegetables they grew or could forage for. As soon as the war ended and they started to eat meat again, heart attack and other disease rates started to climb once again. Today, the healthiest and longest lived societies eat little to no animal products boasting life expectancy in the 90s. And that is not just about lifespan, it’s also about healthspan as they live such long lives with virtually no chronic disease or dementia.

If you are REALLY concerned, plant a garden. At the end of WW2, 45% of the produce Americans ate came from their own gardens. Today, it’s a tiny fraction of that. Kansas, the most agricultural state with 90% of its land dedicated to farmland, imports 90% of the food its citizens eat. It’s pretty sad.

We kill, throw out and eat over 90 billion animals annually. The vast majority of them are tortured during their lives. In addition, the meat industry contributes more to global warming than all modes of transportation worldwide combined. They also contribute to heart diseae and drug resistant infections. 

Will we run out of meat? NO.

But if we did, it would not be such a bad thing.

Stay safe and be well. 

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷