Everywhere you look, everywhere you read, there are countless advertisements for internal health improvements.
To fix your bloating or your irritable bowel syndrome or your constipation, or your heartburn or your acid reflux or the countless other problems with you gut and your digestive system, take Mylanta or Maalox or Reglan, or Nexium, or Omeprazole, or tons of other names you can’t really pronounce.
And don’t worry if those “cure-alls” create rashes or hives or itching or difficulty breathing, or loss of appetite or muscle weakness or swelling of the mouth, lips, face and tongue or nausea or diarrhea or vomiting or slow reflexes or dizziness or confusion or depression, or agitation or a choking feeling or the hundreds of other symptoms not listed here. “Don’t worry, we have other pills to relieve those symptoms as well”.
More than 100 million Americans have digestive problems and two of the top five selling drugs in America are for digestive problems and they cost us billions and billions of dollars.
Ok, what’s the safe remedy for digestive problems?
It’s the health of your gut that determines what nutrients are absorbed and what toxins, allergens and microbes are kept out. In fact, the health of your gut is directly linked to the health of your whole body.
In essence, intestinal health is defined as the optimal digestion, absorption and assimilation of food.
Basically, you have bugs in your digestive tract that have a mind of their own and their job is to create an internal conglomerate that helps to digest food, regulate hormones, excrete toxins, and produce vitamins and other healing compounds to keep you healthy.
But, and there’s always a but, the ecosystem must be comprised of friendly bacteria to keep you healthy. The good guys are the lactobacillus or bifidobacteria and the bad guys are the parasites and yeasts.
But wait, there’s more: in your gut there is a one cell-thick layer that protects your entire immune system and the rest of your body.
When that protective layer gets damaged you develop allergies despite being able to digest the foods perfectly well. Then the immune system becomes overactive and introduces your body to inflammation.
It should be obvious that the gut needs to be in a condition to separate the good molecules from the bad ones to protect the immune system to its fullest capacity.
What’s cool is that the gut has a brain of its own (the enteric nervous system) that is actually wired to brain above your ears and messages travel back and forth between the two brains. When those messages are compromised so is your health.
So, what happens to all the toxins produced by your metabolism that the liver has to work overtime to deal with? All those symptoms and more listed above manifest and create more problems in your body that you can imagine.
As if that’s not enough of a nightmare, the gut has to breakdown all the food you eat into their individual components, separate the vitamins and minerals and filter them across the one cell-thick layer so it can enter you bloodstream and nourish your body.
Fixing your gut is understanding what puts it out of balance in the first place. One word does that- DIET.
The SAD (Standard American Diet), with its low-fiber, high-sugar, high-dairy, high-flesh, processed to death, excess protein eggs, high-calorie food causes all the wrong bacteria and yeast to flourish, damaging the intestinal ecosystem.
The over abundance of meds and “fixers” like acid blockers, anti-inflammatory meds, antibiotics, steroids and hormones (bovine growth hormones in over cooked and nutrient depleted in dairy) damage the gut or not let it do its job.
This assault brings about low-grade infections, gut imbalances, yeast overgrowth, and parasites. Then we add mercury through dental fillings and fish, suffer from sulfur, zinc and magnesium deficiencies and worry ourselves to death making us nothing more than stressed out zombies trying to solve our problems with more drugs, more acid-blocking meds, aspirins and whatever we are led to believe will reverse our condition. Yet is does nothing more than making us worse.
What to do, what to do?
*Switch to or at least eat way more of a plant-based diet to get more fiber, more nutrients and more body-friendly foods.
*Get rid of the foods that are high allergies like gluten, dairy, yeast, GMOs (soy, corn, all canola), and addictive sugar.
*Rebuild your immune system with reputable super foods and bee pollen, which contain amino acids to help build leans muscles, improve skin and hair, support brain function, improve mood and reduce cravings; antioxidants to help reduce oxidative damage from free radicals, promote heart health, support joint health and keep your brain healthy; phytonutrients to help alkalinize the body and promote detoxification for health and vitality; adaptogen herbs that helps protect the body from stress, supports the immune system and helps balance the endocrine system; and digestive enzymes that help the body break down foods and increase absorption of nutrients.
In closing, research has shown vegans have stronger gut protective health benefits by their flora allowing for better absorption of vitamins and minerals.
Life is full of choices so choose them wisely.
Aloha!
Sources:
*How To Fix Your Gut. Gaiam Blog
*David LA, et.al. diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature. 2014 Jan23; 505(7484):559-63
*Markiewicz LH, Honke J, Haros M, Swiateca D, Wroblewska B. diet shapes the ability of human intestinal microbiota to degrade phytate-in-vitro-studies. Appl microbial. 2013 Jul:115(1):247-59
About Hesh:
I have been doing a radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called “Health Talk”. To listen to the show please tune into 1080 or 108 am or go to www.kwai1080am.com on your computer at 8am Hawaii time. FYI, 8 am Hawaii time is 10 am on the West coast and 2 pm on the East coast. To call in, the number is (808) 524-1080.
Now, American Voice Radio will be picking up my streamed show and playing it all week until the next one takes place. To listen, go to americanvoiceradio.com and click on my link at AVR 2. Starting in December I will be doing another radio show on AVR at 9:00 am Hawaii time on Thursday mornings. Just go to the website, click on AVR 1, and listen live or tune in later and listen via the archive to Health Talk with Hesh.
See you on the radio!
In 2007, I was “forced” to get a masters degree in Nutrition to stop all the doctors from calling in asking what my credentials were. Besides that, they never liked it when I asked them what their credentials were that would enable them to treat an illness without drugs or surgery.
If you go to www.healthtalkhawaii.com and click on Podcasts and Articles, there are years of shows there as well as hundreds of health related articles that are completely free to listen to and read.
I am an activist. I am vehemently opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame, fluoridation, and everything else that the “pimps” (big pHarma, Monsanto, and the large food companies), and the “hookers” (the doctors, the government agencies, the Public Health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the “tricks”.
At 75, I am in 3 softball leagues, racewalk, do stand-up paddling, hike, swim, do weights and cardio, and teach women’s self-defense classes based upon 20 years of Wing Chun training. I have been a vegetarian since 1975 and a vegan since 1990, have no illnesses and take no meds.
After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child, I developed asthma, which plagued me until 2008 when I learned about and started taking the organic sulfur crystals. My asthma was reversed in 3 days and has not come back.
So far, 26 cases of autism that we know about have been reversed, as has cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, asthma, osteoarthritis, joint pain, gingivitis, and erectile dysfunction. The sulfur has increased sexual activity, eliminated toxins, heavy metals, radiation, and parasites. It speeds up athletic recovery time, increases blood circulation, reduces inflammation, increases resistance to the “flu”, reduces wrinkles, allergies, PMS, monthly period pain, migraines, nausea, and way more, because the oxygen that the sulfur releases floods and heals the cells in the body.
The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England, enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids.
You can find out more about this on my website under Products.
My book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”, which has been published, can be viewed and purchased at www.asanediet.com. The book clearly explains why what you eat, for the most part, is designed to keep you in a state of declining health.
I have recently discovered two amazing super foods – Zeal and Shakeology – Zeal contains 30 amazing probiotics, anti-oxidents and more, all designed to build and strengthen the immune system and Shakeology contains 42. What’s great about Shakeology is that it is filling, replaces one meal and keeps you full for hours and helps with weight control and loss. For more info about Shakeology please email me or go to www.beachbodycoach.com/heshgoldstein. The good news about Shakeology is if you are not satisfied after 30 days the company will refund you.
And now I have come across an amazing bee pollen that is so soft it melts in your mouth and has so many benefits. It is rich in vitamin B12 and all B vitamins, proteins, minerals, beneficial fatty acids, carotenoids, bioflavenoids, antioxidants, antihistamines, enzymes, antibiotics, and natural phenylalanine, which acts as an appetite suppressant, and more.
My daily regimen consists of one teaspoon of the crystals twice a day, one scoop of the Zeal in cold water, one packet of Shakeology either in 8 to 12 ounces of water or added to my smoothie and a heaping tablespoon of bee pollen. For more about Shakeology please go to www.beachbodycoach.com/heshgoldstein.
Hesh Goldstein, MSNutri
“Health Talk” Moderator, K-108 Radio
POB 240783, Honolulu, Hi 96824
(808) 258-1177
www.healthtalkhawaii.com
www.asanediet.com
[email protected]