Monday Morsels: Thyroid Support #1
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking Thyroid Lovin.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
New month, new topic here on ye olde blog.
Let’s talk THYROID LOVE. All month long.
First up on your grocery list, you may wish to add this one should your thyroid be asking for some help.
GREEN TEA.
Matcha - but think other green teas too, like Gynostemma + Moringa!
For those who wish to know the ‘why’ behind this idea, I’ll give you three things to think about.
FOR THE ANTIOXIDANTS
See, when your thyroid (or any other hormone organ) is struggling, it is often due to a chronic ‘stress’ response in the body, be it from internal stress (read = inflammation), external stress (read = can you pay your mortgage this month?) or emotional stress (read = how to human in 2021). This combined stress response in the body produces something called oxidative stress. Think of this as the end result of the combined burden of stress.
Know what helps protect against the damaging effects of oxidative stress? ANTIOXIDANTS. And all green teas are rich in antioxidants. Yes please!
FOR THE METABOLISM SUPPORTING GOODNESS
There are many studies now showing the role the compounds found in green tea (including matcha) in revving up the body’s metabolism. One of the mechanisms here is in helping the body increase sensitivity to insulin, that important hormone necessary for the uptake of blood sugars into cells. The more your cells can ‘hear’ insulin knocking at the cell wall door, the better you support that metabolic balance piece.
And listen, your thyroid is the main gear in your very sophisticated engine; anything to help give a leg up to support your metabolic function will go miles in supporting every lovin organ in your body. Combining this with the antioxidants helps in improving your energy levels too. Another way to rev up your metabolism!
FOR THE LOVE OF DEEP NUTRITION
One of the brilliant things about greens — in this particular case, moringa powder — is that it provides a brilliant delivery system of nutrients necessary to thyroid function. A solid source of minerals like Selenium and Zinc, supplying good amounts of vitamins like beta-carotene, some of the Bs and loads of C, these nutrients help your thyroid function and get the jobs done it wants to do. Nourishing her deeply is one of the ways to support your thyroid - I mean take away the things that offend, sure. But you also need to give her the tools she needs to work well! And greens into tea is just one of those easy and delicious ways to do so.
Moringa fresh, and in dried powder form.
I do love me a good cuppa.
Look for some recipes here for a good round up of about 40 ways to utilize some good quality matcha powder; and one here for a Moringa Green Tea. (Because matcha is high in histamines, whereas moringa is a histamine buster. So especially if you struggle with histamine issues, choose moringa!)
Know that I also have a White Chocolate Matcha Latte recipe in my Thyroid e-book of recipes. Purchase for download that one here! (Half price for the month of February.) You can easily swap out the matcha powder for moringa!
Aiming for a return to thyroid vitality? Looking to support your metabolism + energy levels? Need some help in feeling real good?
Get in touch by clicking here. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to support you in both quantity and quality of life.
Monday Morsels: Digestive Support #4
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking Digest Like a Champ.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
Let’s move on to the 4th food you’ll want to add to your grocery list, especially if you’re focusing on this month’s topic: DIGESTING LIKE A CHAMP.
Honey, I’m a broken record when it comes to this food. It really is your very best food-as-medicine thing you can add on the daily.
MEAT STOCK.
My homemade chicken meat stock. Feet included.
For those who wish to know the ‘why’ behind this idea, I’ll give you three things to think about.
TO HELP ENHANCE YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE
Meat Stock (+ Bone Broth) are rich sources of glycine, an amino acid needed for everyday function. In the case of digestion, glycine enhances the secretion of hydrochloric acid, thereby revving up your digestive fire.
Meat Stock is of good support to the pancreas, one of the organs that plays a crucial role in producing enzymes + digestive substances. It specifically helps the pancreas enhance the production of enzymes that you need for digestion, as well as metabolic work in the body.
FOR THE LOVE OF REDUCING INFLAMMATION
This is code for gut lovin. Where is ground zero for inflammation? THE GUT. How do you reduce inflammation then? You give the ground zero (GUT) its favourite food (MEAT STOCK) so that it can help reduce the inflammation.
When you reduce this inflammation, you now reduce the stress response in the body. This stress response is what thwarts your own digestive fire. In times of stress — whether external, internal such as when there is inflammation, or emotional stress — digestion gets shut down.
Reducing that internal stress? Why that is gold in helping to, in a round-about way, enhance your body’s digestive prowess and stop shutting it off. Good work, kitten.
FOR THE LOVE OF EASE OF NUTRIENT DELIVERY
Meat Stock provides easy-to-assimilate nutrients that are sometimes lacking in our modern day diets. When someone is convalescing, or recouping from injury, surgery, or long term illness, Meat Stock is one of the very best ways to nourish the body on a deep level with those harder-to-find nutrients. Included are nutrients that help reduce the incidence of heartburn, ulcers, nausea, bloating and flatulence.
Gelatin is one of the main ingredients in Meat Stock - this nutrient has been found to reduce irritation in the stomach lining, and enhance the cells at the gut lining to be more robust.
Meat Stock provides glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) which enhance your body’s ability to produce mucous in the gut lining, further protecting you. Robust mucosal production is a key in protecting your digestive tract and maintaining its integrity!
Soup on the regular, friend.
Listen. I go on and on about Meat Stock all the time.
If you need a leg up on how to make it —> head over to this blog post for a video Malcolm Saunders and I did on the subject of Meat Stock. We’ll even take you through how to make it yourself.
And work it in on the almost-daily, if not daily should you wish to rev up your own digestive prowess.
Aiming for a return to digestive vitality? Looking to fire this important function up? Need some help in achieving it?
Get in touch by clicking here. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to support you in both quantity and quality of life.
Monday Morsels: Digestive Support #3
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking Digest Like a Champ.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
Let’s move on to the 3rd food you’ll want to add to your grocery list, especially if you’re focusing on this month’s topic: DIGESTING LIKE A CHAMP.
Go on, add this to your list:
FERMENTED FOODS. Especially all things kraut-related.
For those who wish to know the ‘why’ behind this idea, I’ll give you three things to think about.
TO HELP ENHANCE YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE
In a few different ways, in fact. Fermented foods have naturally occurring lactobacillus bacteria, and many other types of bacteria. When something like cabbage is fermented into a sauerkraut or kraut juice, the pH is similar to that of your hydrochloric acid at the stomach level. This helps enhance your stomach’s work of producing enzymes that will break down protein. This enables you to better break down those proteins you’re eating into smaller components = nutrients.
Fermented foods are also rich sources of probiotics and live enzymes. Enzymes are the chemical scissors you need to break foods down into nutrients - huzzah to their work!
Ferments help better break foods down for you, and enhance your ability to get those nutrients IN to your body as well by nourishing the cells lining your gut.
FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR MICROBIOME
Consuming fermented foods help enhance diversity at the gut lining, in that 3rd layer of your gut — the MICROBIOME. The weird, wonderful world of your innards, kitten.
When you help enhance the microbiome, now you work at reducing inflammation at the gut level. Did you know that low grade inflammation is but one of the saboteurs to shutting down your digestion?
Get at it! Fire it up - with all types of ferments including sauerkraut and kraut juice.
FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR GUT LINING
Kraut juice is a rich source of glutamine - an amino acid (protein building block) that happens to be one of the favourite foods of the cells of your intestines. When they have their fave food, they have the best chance at full expression of their work + abilities. This helps nourish deeply in order to build a strong gut barrier.
When this works is achieved, you now work at reducing the low grade inflammation stress that inadvertently ends up shutting down digestion in the first place. So in a round about way, by looking after the cells of your gut, you then help improve digestion at the next incoming meals!
All kinds of ferments can help enhance your digestive fire.
Ferments. Who knew?
ok well I did. But now you do too! Fermented foods do so much. I think they’ll also do the dishes for you, if you ask them nicely…
Of course, if you struggle with histamine issues, adding in fermented foods is one of the much much later steps for some, and a never-step for others, depending on your situation. Holler my way if I can help with that.
Aiming for a return to digestive prowess? Looking to fire this important function up? Need some help in achieving it?
Get in touch by clicking here. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to support you in both quantity and quality of life.
Monday Morsels: Digestive Support #2
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking Digest Like a Champ.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
It’s Monday, my friend.
This means only one thing: NEW BLOG POST on a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list, especially if you’re focusing on this month’s topic: DIGESTING LIKE A CHAMP.
Go on, add this to your list:
SPROUTS.
For those who wish to know the ‘why’ behind this idea, I’ll give you three things to think about.
TO HELP ENHANCE YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE
Sprouts help here in two ways: when digesting seeds or beans (like the peas they use for pea sprouts, the chickpeas they use for chickpea sprouts, the broccoli seeds they use for broccoli sprouts), unless properly ‘activated’, they contribute to shutting down your digestion and stealing from your mineral stores. Sprout the same beans + seeds, and what do you get? Your body sees them as vegetables now, not grains. They no longer steal your digestive fire, and you get to keep your mineral stores intact. GOOD WORK.
Sprouts also come loaded with naturally occurring enzymes: these enzymes help give a leg up to your digestive system, in aiding you in breaking foods down into nutrients. That’s the key thing to improving digestion: we are looking to support that work in your body so that you can better get the nutrients your body needs to run like a dream. Sprouts help enhance this very important work!
Especially if you are struggling with histamines: pea sprouts in particular offer naturally occurring DAO enzyme, an enzyme that helps break down histamines coming in through foods. When histamine troubles are lurking, it can often be an indicator that the ability to produce your own DAO has waned. Pea sprouts to the rescue!
FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR MICROBIOME
Sprouts are typically consumed raw, and are one of the foods that I often recommend to clients who are currently refraining from consuming much raw food. See, raw food can exacerbate things at the gut level if the microbiome is off kilter. Sprouts help enhance digestion, and provide good fibre to help support a balance at the microbiome, without contributing to the inflammatory situation typically taking place when someone’s microbiome is off kilter. If you feed the bugs of your gut the good foods, you now enhance the good guys to populate, which now helps return a balance to your microbiome. Win!
FOR THE LOVE OF METABOLIC BALANCE
Anything you can do to help improve metabolic balance will go miles in reducing the stress in the body. When stress is around, your digestion gets shut down.
Studies show that sprouts have been shown to help improve blood sugar balancing + the utilization of insulin (check it here!); sprouts are also showing promise in helping balance cholesterol numbers. When metabolism balance is off, cholesterol numbers tend to also go off. (See that study here) Working at a balance in metabolism is one of the big pieces to look at when digestion isn’t up to snuff; sprouts can certainly help in this regard.
Pea sprouts are especially helpful for those who struggle with histamines
Sprouts. Who knew?
Find sprouts in your produce section at your local grocery store or health food store. You can also learn to sprout your own - it’s quite easy! Loads of tutorials online.
How to eat them - think of them as a condiment. Eat on the side of your meal, sprinkle on top, toss in to a salad, slip into a wrap or sandwich, add as one of your toppers to a Build-A-Bowl kind of scenario. Use your imagination!
Aiming for a return to digestive prowess? Looking to fire this important function up? Need some help in achieving it?
Get in touch by clicking here. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to support you in both quantity and quality of life.
Monday Morsels: Digestive Support #1
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking Digest Like a Champ.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
Happy New Year, my dearies!
Every Monday, I pop on here to post about a food to add to your grocery list. How do I come to choose this food? It’s typically linked in to the topic we’re covering for the month. Let’s start 2021 with a brand new topic - that of SUPPORTING YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE.
aka Digesting Like a Champ. Go on, add this to your list:
REAL FOOD.
Shocker, I know.
I’ll tell you three reasons why Real Food will always support enhanced digestion, mon ami(e).
TO REDUCE NEFARIOUS DIGESTION-KIBOSHING INGREDIENTS
See, those ‘food-like’ ingredients you tend to find in packaged foods negatively impact your gut’s overall function. Things like hydrogenated oils fan the flames of inflammation; preservatives tend to mess with your microbiome; BHA and BHT (additives), emulsifiers (carrageenan, guar gum, etc) wreak havoc and influence the junctions between your intestinal cells to grow apart. This is truly Ground Zero, honey pie.
When all of this happens, you fan the flames of INFLAMMATION. What does inflammation do? Turns off your digestion. Yeaaaahhhhh. Good times.
Blarg.
FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR METABOLISM
See, when digestion is hampered, it is most typically a sign that a person’s metabolism isn’t up to snuff. What do you need to support a healthy metabolism? NUTRIENTS. Your body’s metabolic work (digesting + assimilating foods + nutrients, and turning it into ingredients for your body to use for the production of energy) relies on INGREDIENTS for all of these biochemical processes to function.
Where do you find these ingredients? IN REAL FOOD.
FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR LIVER
The ingredients found in packaged and prepared foods will often contribute to your liver’s workload. Poor quality ingredients, rancid and over-processed ingredients are now fanning the flames of inflammation, further short-circuiting your body’s digestive prowess. The not-so-simple switch to the concept of JERF (Just Eat Real Food) can single-handedly be one of the biggest needle movers here: take a load off of your liver, and you now can better move inflammation out. Take a load off of your liver, and now you can better tend to the work of metabolism (mostly orchestrated by your liver, thyroid, pituitary).
Anything you do to support your liver will inherently improve your body’s ability to digest.
Fresh ingredients - gets my mouth watering!
Real Food. That’s where you start. New to this concept? Start with one meal a week. Prepared at home. From scratch. With simple ingredients.
Need a leg up to get more real food on the dinner table, more often? And a bit easier? Or need inspo to get this going? Join us for an online group class that gets underway on January 16th: Meal Planning Like a Boss. Registration opens tomorrow, January 5th. Find full info here. We’d love to have you along!
Aiming for a return to digestive prowess? Looking to fire this important function up? Need some help in achieving it?
Get in touch by clicking here. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to support you in both quantity and quality of life.