Fiber, Beans, Probiotics, Protein & Homeopathy

In This Issue: 

• Importance of Fiber
• Beans for Longevity
• Probiotics for Colds & Flu
• Protein or Fiber?
• Homeopathic Medicine

You’ll Find More Fascinating Health Posts on Our Facebook Page –

https://www.facebook.com/HealItAll/

Message from Bernadette Wulf

Happy Holidays!

December always seems to sneak up on me. Suddenly the weather turns frosty and people are rushing around buying gifts and decorating trees. Geesh! I’m still enjoying the afterglow of Halloween. Time to gear up for the Yule season. Fa la la la la la la la la!

I didn’t plan it this way, but fiber and its attendant probiotic gut flora seem to be the themes for this month. Most Americans are woefully lacking in fiber, and the statistics are worse for men than for women. Come on guys! Eat your beans.

The more I look into the nutritional rabbit hole, the more “rabbit food” I find. Study after study supports eating a diet high in fiber, and that means whole plant foods. Good thing we have lots of recipes to make them taste delicious. I’ll be sharing some of them here in the future. At some point I plan to start offering whole food plant based cooking/nutrition classes. I will let you know when I get that together.

Fiber, Beans, and More

And then we have a little article on homeopathy. It has been good to me, so I like to give it a little boost when I can, to counteract all the bad press it gets. Homeopathy has been around for quite a long time, because it works, and it doesn’t have all the nasty side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. There is room for both to coexist in this world, but I’ll always try the more natural options first!

As always, I would love to hear what you want to read about. Feel free to send requests, suggestions, or any sort of feedback. I appreciate hearing from my readers.

Email Bernadette

Here’s wishing you the very best holiday season ever.

To your health and happiness!

Bernadette Wulf

http://healitall.com – Visit my new website Plant Based for Life

---

Importance of Fiber

Perhaps the biggest flaw in ketogenic and Paleo diet plans, as well as the standard American diet (SAD), may have to do with the lack of fiber. Animal products and fats, including meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products are completely devoid of fiber. Sugar and white flour products also lack fiber. The more you eat of these foods, the more you will be crowding out valuable high-fiber foods.

Only whole plant foods are good sources of fiber, and fiber is a necessary food for healthy gut bacteria. Since a healthy gut is the key to a strong immune system, fiber supports good health in general. Here’s what the foodrevolution.org blog has to say about fiber:

Is Fiber the Real “Fountain of Youth”?

We hear a lot about the power of superfoods to extend our lives and keep us well. But it could be that fiber is better than all of them!

A meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests how powerful fiber consumption is to human health. Researchers analyzed 17 studies, including nearly a million participants, and found that every 10 grams of fiber consumed per day cut mortality risk by 10 percent.

Wow! A ten percent lower mortality rate is pretty impressive, don’t you think?

But where do you get that extra 10 grams of fiber?

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Beans and other Legumes
• Whole grains
• Nuts and seeds

For optimal health, you need at least 40 grams of fiber a day. I suppose that would mean a 40 percent lower mortality risk! Most people get less than 20 grams.

Beans are one of the best fiber sources, which may explain why they are a staple in the most long-lived populations. But don’t suddenly start filling up on beans. If you have been on a low-fiber diet, you won’t have enough of the good bacteria in your gut to digest beans and other high-fiber foods very well. Start out with small amounts of beans every day and gradually increase the quantity as your microbiome adapts to more fiber.

And, by the way, if you are serious about following a Paleo diet, our Paleolithic ancestors ate a lot more than 40 grams of fiber a day. That means they were eating lots of roots, seeds and berries and not much meat at all. The meat they did eat was very lean – far from the modern high-fat Paleo craze.

For more fascinating information on the health benefits of fiber, plus a fiber-rich meal plan, go to – https://foodrevolution.org/blog/why-is-fiber-good/

---

Beans for Longevity

We have all heard the rhyme about “the musical fruit.” Beans have a tendency to create intestinal gas for many people. That infamous gas is the result of improper digestion, but that only happens when we haven’t been feeding our gut flora enough fiber. 

If we slowly increase our fiber consumption to the recommended 40 grams or more per day, we encourage the growth of beneficial organisms in the gut, and those organisms can digest beans quite well. Gas production will be greatly reduced.

There are plenty of reasons to eat more beans. Dr. Greger recommends 1 1/2 cups per day, because of all the scientific data showing their benefits for longevity – as well as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer prevention.

From another article in the foodrevolution.org blog:

Beans and legumes can help reduce the risk of many types of cancer in several ways. – One way is through the fiber they contain. Beans and legumes are among the foods richest in dietary fiber. Fiber is essential to help shuttle excess hormones and carcinogens out of the body. Without adequate fiber, these waste products continue to circulate over and over again, potentially causing cancer. This process is called enterohepatic circulation.

Don’t believe all the hype you may hear about lectins and phytates in beans. Lectins are destroyed by boiling, so you won’t find them in your bean dishes anyway (not that they are really harmful). Phytates have actually been shown to be beneficial for bone density, but if you are worried about them, just soak your beans overnight before cooking. One bean I would avoid, however, is soy. Unfortunately, Monsanto has destroyed the soy bean with genetic engineering, and even organic soy is now contaminated by cross pollination.

For more on beans, plus 12 great bean recipes visit – foodrevolution.org/blog/benefits-of-beans/

---

Probiotics for Colds & Flu

I’ve been buying probiotic supplements for many years and I’ve noticed a big change recently. In the past you could buy acidophilus or bifidus, or a combination of the two, sometimes including other strains of gut flora. Now you will find a whole array of probiotic options for everything from prenatal to mood elevation. There are even separate formulas for women, men, and children. I counted 22 different formulas on the Garden of Life probiotic product page!

Of course, there are also special probiotic formulations to boost immunity and to fight colds and flu. It is all about the specific strains. As the greenmedinfo.com article explains, these different strains can be compared to different breeds of dogs. Even though they may come from the same genus and species, each breed displays remarkably different traits. Personally, I like to switch between brands and strains each time I buy them, so I get a wide variety.

The most important thing you can do is eat plenty of fiber, so your helpful gut flora have lots of food to eat. The more beneficial gut flora you have, the less harmful bacteria can thrive. Beneficial bacteria love whole plant food fiber.

Garden Fresh Produce

Another great way to get beneficial gut flora is to eat raw, unwashed produce from your garden or from an organic farm that doesn’t spray anything harmful on their produce. You can even grow a jar of sprouts on your kitchen counter if you don’t have access to a farm or garden. Sprouts are covered with beneficial microorganisms.

From greenmedinfo.com:

A systematic review of 10 pooled randomized controlled trials of 3451 subjects revealed that probiotic therapy, defined as “the feeding of (live) non-pathogenic bacteria, originally derived from the alimentary tract, for disease treatment or health promotion,” was effective in upper respiratory tract infection prophylaxis (24, p. 3). Despite heterogeneity in study design, probiotics reduced the number of subjects afflicted by upper respiratory tract infections by 42%, reduced antibiotic usage by 33%, and reduced the quantity of upper respiratory tract infections per person per year by 12%.

If you want the scientific info., go to the link below. If you just want a good probiotic to help you fight off colds and flu bugs, head on over to your favorite natural food store and ask for help choosing the best one. 

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/prevent-and-treat-common-cold-strain-specific-probiotics

---

Protein or Fiber?

Which do we need more – protein or fiber? In the video on this page, Dr. Greger does a great job of showing that the average American (even if they are vegan) gets almost twice as much protein as they need. However, most people (other than those on a whole food plant based diet) get FAR less fiber than they need.

Why then, are we constantly bombarded with protein propaganda? Since we are already getting more than enough protein, it becomes obvious that special interest groups are pushing us to consume even more of it – in the form of meat, eggs, dairy, and protein supplements – so they can make bigger profits.

Unfortunately, bean and vegetable growers do not have a lot of money to influence the USDA food pyramid and other government food programs. Though numerous nutritional studies support replacing meat, dairy, and eggs with beans, vegetables, and whole grains, the USDA food pyramid still devotes a big portion of its surface to animal products. This then becomes the foundation of most nutrition teaching in our schools, but it is not based on science.

It can be hard to shake a long-held belief, especially when it is widely supported by media advertising and “common knowledge,” but facts are facts. Unless you are living on refined foods, severely restricting your calories, or have some sort of digestive problem, you will easily get all the protein you need, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or meat eater. But only if you eat lots of whole PLANT foods will you get all the fiber you need.

For more information on getting the all the nutrition you need on a whole foods plant-based diet go to – http://www.plantbasedvegancoach.com/what-vegans-eat/

To read more about protein and fiber needs visit – https://www.forksoverknives.com/do-vegetarians-and-vegans-eat-enough-protein/

---

Homeopathic Medicine

This greenmedinfo.com article starts out with the following paragraph:

According to a 2013 article in the Washington Post, the subjects of Jesus Christ and homeopathy are the most controversial subjects on Wikipedia in four leading languages (English, German, French, and Spanish).  Sadly, strong evidence of bias against homeopathy (and many other alternatives to Big Pharma) at Wikipedia is significant, and this evidence is provided here.

I find that quote both amazing and sad. Amazing, because I’ve seen dramatic, positive results with homeopathy, so it is hard to believe so many people are not even willing to entertain the possibility that it could work. Sad, because our world population is being bombarded with toxic drugs and surgeries, when a harmless homeopathic remedy might have solved their problem.

It’s not that studies haven’t been done to prove the effectiveness of homeopathy. Again from greenmedinfo.com:

Solid Clinical Research Confirms Efficacy of Homeopathy

Ultimately, high quality research showing the efficacy of homeopathic medicines have been published in many of the most respected medical journals in the world, including The Lancet, BMJ (British Medical Journal), Chest (the publication of the American College of Chest Physicians), Rheumatology (the publication of the British Society for Rheumatology), Pediatrics (publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics), Cancer (journal of the American Cancer Society), Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pediatrics Infectious Disease Journal (publication of the European Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases), European Journal of Pediatrics (publication of the Swiss Society of Pediatrics and the Belgium Society of Pediatrics), and numerous others. 

However, the AMA and pharmaceutical industries dominate the flow of media information on medicine and health care. The AMA systematically tried to stamp out homeopathy, which was once a thriving health care option in America – not because it didn’t work, but because it did. It was a threat to their way of approaching medicine. It didn’t fit with their limited scientific understanding.

That has always been the problem with homeopathy. Nobody really knows why it works. Science hasn’t been able to measure the subtle energy and effect of a remedy that no longer contains any detectable amount of the physical substance it was made from. So they call it a placebo. And sometimes even placebos have been shown to work better than standard drugs, so that causes even more confusion.

Bottom line, here’s how I see it. When faced with a chronic health challenge, or even just an annoyance, always start with the most natural and harmless options. Then move toward the more harmful ones – only if the first ones don’t work. Always look for the least harmful solutions to your problem.

If the issue is not immediately life threatening or dangerous, this is the approximate order I would use to heal it:

1. Start by improving your diet, getting some exercise and fresh air, and drinking plenty of pure water – make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need – lose weight if you need to
2. Then try remedies that don’t have any serious side effects. Depending on your issue, that could be homeopathy, herbs, massage, reiki, acupuncture, chiropractic, meditation, and other natural healing options
3. If you still have problems, try a heavy metal detox for a few weeks, 28 day raw fruit and vegetable cleanse, fasting, juicing, colonics, or other cleansing modalities
4. Get some blood tests if you still don’t feel good – maybe there’s something you haven’t thought of yet that a blood test might explain
5. Only after trying options 1 – 4 without results would I resort to medical interventions like prescription drugs or surgery, yet those are often the first and only options offered by medical doctors

Sometimes You Do Need a Doctor!

All that being said, modern medicine can work miracles in a crisis. If you have any sort of serious infection, breathing difficulty, or other life-threatening issue, don’t dally around with “alternative” remedies. Get to a hospital ASAP!

The great thing about homeopathy is that it works WITH your symptoms to help your body heal, rather than suppressing symptoms as prescription drugs and some herbs do. Your symptoms might even get slightly worse for a few minutes as the remedy starts to work, and that is a good sign that healing has begun. 

Homeopathy is not a cure all. Sometimes it works almost like magic. Other times it might not seem to work at all. It can be hard to pinpoint the exact remedy for a specific health issue, and if the remedy is wrong, it won’t have much effect at all.

You can try over-the-counter remedies you find in natural food stores. Sometimes they will be exactly what you need, like Arnica Montana for bumps and sprains. I carry it with me everywhere, just in case. For more serious issues, you might need the help of an experienced homeopath to get the right remedy and dose. Usually the longer you have had a problem, the more likely you will need the help of a professional homeopath to get to the root of it.

Homeopathy is just one tool in my healing toolbox, but it is one I use often, because it is effective and generally has no noticeable side effects. Even so, nothing can take the place of good nutrition, adequate exercise, and a positive attitude!

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/compelling-facts-figures-and-scientific-studies-about-homeopathic-medicine-aka-or