Hi Everyone. I love tea! I also love it for its anti-inflammatory and gut health properties. It has been known for a long time that tea has medicinal properties, and evidence grows stronger with each study about how the world’s most widely consumed beverage’s amazing benefits for a whole host of health conditions.
A recent report from the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes indicates that if you drink around four cups of tea a day, you are doing yourself a favor by reducing the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes!
There is a multitude of scientific studies that state that tea aids diabetes management. So, I decided to delve deeper into this post.
Why not make yourself a cup of tea and have a read?
What Makes Tea a Tea?
Whether black, green, oolong or so on, it comes from the Camellia sinensis bush, an evergreen shrub.
Herbal tea comes from flowers, bark, spices, and dried fruits and may have some black and green tea in there. These have health properties, too, but this post is about tea from the Camellia.
The composition of tea differs with its leaves, climate, season, and horticultural practices; each differing process affects the chemical composition.
The excellent taste of tea is all down to the growing conditions, leaves storage, fermentation process, and what it is exposed to. Which is why there are so many depths of flavors and aromas. This cultivation causes the tea to have a positive effect on your health.
What Are The Nutrients In Tea?
The cultivation regions and process of tea create bioactive compounds called catechins.
Catechins then form complex health-giving theaflavins and other compounds during fermentation. This unique chemical composition is responsible for the amazing taste, aroma, and color, too.
Tea is such a rich source of nutritional molecules, including phenolic compounds and powerful antioxidants, polysaccharides, proteins, amino acids, fiber, carbohydrates, lipids, and minerals.
What Is the Study About Drinking Tea and Diabetes?
There are 422 million diabetes sufferers worldwide (and it is climbing!). In the last three decades, the prevalence of diabetes has risen dramatically, and according to recent projections, it will continue to grow to a whopping 629 million by 2045.
What is really alarming is that there is a massive trend of diabetes in children and teenagers! It is such a serious issue.
Type 1 diabetes is not preventable and is treated by insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is preventable and can be reversed by lifestyle factors. For instance, reducing inflammation, which plays a vital role in glucose and lipid metabolism pathology, eating the right foods, exercising, and managing insulin.
The study report at the ESDA came from China and relied on 19 cohort analyses of over 1.1 million adults from eight countries, including the UK, USA, Europe, and Asia.
They found a ‘significant linear association’ between drinking tea and a reduced risk of developing diabetes.
People who drank 1-3 cups of tea a day, compared to people who didn’t drink tea, had a 4% reduced risk of developing diabetes. The risk was reduced even further if they drank four or more cups of tea daily.
The conclusion was that drinking four cups or more a day reduces the risk by 17% of developing Type 2 diabetes. The effects were consistent with everyone.
“Our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups a day to potentially lessen their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.” – Lead author Xiaying Li from the Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China.
How Does Tea Aid Diabetes Management?
So, as I mentioned before, tea (black, oolong, and green) has many health benefits. One reason why I love it so much is that it improves intestinal flora and has anti-inflammatory effects.
Regarding diabetes management, the phenolic compounds, polysaccharides (TPS), and amino acid L-theanine in tea are responsible for the physiological effects. Without getting too scientific and delving into subgroups (8,000 phenolic compounds), I will refer to the phenolic compounds as polyphenols.
Polyphenols are a rich source of pharmacologically active molecules.
Polyphenols, which are bioactive compounds in many fruits, vegetables, drinks, legumes, nuts, and spices, are being recognized for their antioxidant properties and involvement in many powerful enzymatic and cellular mechanisms in the body.
Some tea polyphenols connected with reducing the onset and progression of diabetes are quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, theaflavin, thearugibin, and catechins (mainly EGCG – epigallocatechin-3 gallate).
In countless experimental studies, these three teas were proven to protect against the onset of diabetes mellitus and diabetic complications in a powerful way.
The tea produces anti-hyperglycemic activity and improves insulin resistance, activating the insulin signaling pathway, playing an insulin-like role, improving oxidative stress, and alleviating the inflammatory response.
Tea is also shown to protect the kidneys in people with diabetes, diabetic eye conditions, and cardiovascular complications in diabetes.
Polyphenols and polysaccharides have beneficial effects on glucose homeostasis, decreasing hyperglycemia and improving acute insulin secretion and sensitivity.
L-theanine is also a potent stimulator of insulin activity. It is effective in giving partial protection to pancreatic cells when your antioxidant levels are low (oxidative stress).
Oxidative stress is when there is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidant defenses in your body, hence the need for antioxidants.
There is so much to say about the powers of the properties in tea!
There is enough evidence to back up the claims that tea does affect diabetes management.
Without a doubt, lifestyle modification plays a vital role in the ultimate solution to the problem of diabetes. Likewise, in the prevention of diabetes.
Do note that there must be a multitude of nutrients and lifestyle tweaks for optimum health to be achieved.
Numerous factors that could cancel out the benefits of any compounds need to be addressed. This is why Eat Burn Sleep successfully prevents, treats, and manages diabetes.
If you are looking to lower your cholesterol, please check this article.
The next time you have a cup of tea (if you are not having one now), note the aroma, taste, and color.
It’s the polyphenols that are responsible for those, too. I love the distinctive aroma of different teas.
You may know that our sense of smell has an intense effect on what we crave. I have only to smell the maltiness or the earthiness in tea, and I want a cup.
Of course, it is also associated with sitting down and relaxing (which lowers the stress hormone cortisol)—or socializing, meeting someone for a cup of tea. Taking your time and pouring the pot until every drop has gone is a lovely ritual.
Memories make that craving stronger. We associate tea with pleasure and reward, which then releases dopamine, which further boosts your health.
Of course, we know that tea improves intestinal flora, too. Plus, when you relax, you contribute to your gut microbiota by following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle (not loading your tea with sugar and eating a high-fat meal with your cup of tea, of course).
So, since 70% of neurotransmitters are produced in a healthy gut, you are also creating more ‘feel good’ ones, which are essential for mental well-being. Good gut health is good for your mental health.
A consistent increase in serotonin and dopamine production is associated with lower rates of depression!
Not only that, but the amino acid L-theanine in tea promotes relaxation.
So, sitting down with a cup of tea with someone that you love being with will reduce your inflammation, make you feel happier, and assist in managing conditions such as diabetes.
How Much Tea Is Good For You?
Again, it is all about moderation; up to four cups are enough. Though some studies suggest more, it depends on dosage (and how big your cups are!).
Too much could exert adverse effects, and I always advocate that moderation is the best way.
After all, tea does contain caffeine. This could have diuretic effects (and effects on sleep) if you have too much. Some people have more sensitivities to it than others, which could affect the nervous system.
Because of the tannins, tea could also inhibit iron and other nutrient absorption.
It also matters how you take your tea because I am referring to neat, unadulterated tea without sugar and milk since additional ingredients will alter the composition.
Also, some research suggests that if you take dairy milk in your tea, the fat in the milk may reduce the antioxidant capacity. This makes sense because flavonoids deactivate when they bind with proteins.
So, those regular tea breaks are essential!
You may look at your daily cuppa differently and even go so far as to put its benefits on your gratitude list.
Needless to say, from these studies, if you like tea and have Type 2 diabetes, you can relax and enjoy four neat cups daily.
Tea, without sugar, is suitable for almost everyone. How do you take yours?
Hi Everyone! Okay, there are a lot of components in creating a state of mind and feeling good, and you know that I am going to say that tiptop gut health is imperative to it. But this post is about some other matters!
Although this post touches on gut health, I will talk about 4 functions to focus on to feel good and how to activate them yourself.
For the sake of this post, the secrets to feeling good are wrapped up in hormones that are also neurotransmitters.
Hormones (neurotransmitters) are your body’s chemical messengers, carrying, boosting, and balancing signals between nerve cells and target cells around the body.
They are released by glands into your bloodstream and rise and fall throughout the day and night, acting on various organs and tissues.
Neurotransmitters manage everything from our heartbeat to our memory, for how you feel and your body functions.
It’s a complex and highly interconnected system, with over 60 neurotransmitters (e.g., amino acids, peptides, purines), and imbalances occur if optimal health isn’t achieved in the body.
Now, amongst these neurotransmitters and hormones, there are ‘feel good’ hormones that you have the power to control.
These ‘feel good’ hormones are:
Dopamine (pleasure and motivation hormone)
Oxytocin (love)
Serotonin (happy hormone)
Endorphins (pain relief and well-being).
D.O.S.E.
Use the following as a checklist to encourage the release of and activate your daily D.O.S.E!
What Is the First Secret to Feeling Good?
The first secret to feeling good is the hormone and neurotransmitter: Dopamine!
Dopamine is part of our brain’s pleasure and reward system. It’s often called the ‘motivation molecule.’
It is all the things that trigger that intense feeling of reward, like sex, food…winning an award!
It’s that feeling you get when you do something like going on a scary ride at the amusement park – or jumping off a boat in the middle of the ocean, as I did recently!
Dopamine is that feeling of pleasure washing over you while your brain feels perked up.
About 50% of dopamine is produced in the gut by enteric neurons and intestinal epithelial cells (more about their role, with serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain-gut axis another time!).
The rest is produced in the brain’s substance nigra, ventral tegmental area, and hypothalamus.
This is in the process of converting the amino acid of tyrosine into another amino acid called L-dopa! L-dopa then undergoes another change, where enzymes turn it into dopamine!
The role of dopamine is involved the following:
punishment and reward
voluntary movement
inhibition of prolactin production
lactation
blood vessel function
kidney function
heart rate
motivation
behavior and cognition
sleep
dreaming
working memory
attention
learning
mood
Dopamine transmission levels increase in response to ‘rewards’.
Its involvement in reinforcement is what makes us go back for more! More food, more sex, more scary rides – more jumps into the water!
Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons why people get hooked up on addictions like shopping, gambling, and gaming!
Dopamine deficiency presents itself in back pain, constipation, muscle cramps, low mood, feeling hopeless, lack of motivation, and full of brain fog (despite low moods being mostly linked with serotonin deficiency).
Dysregulation of dopamine shows itself in conditions such as Depression, Parkinson’s disease, and Irritable Bowel Disease.
You may be interested in reading How to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.
How Do You Increase Dopamine Naturally?
Yes, you can increase dopamine and reset your zest for life!
1. Reduce inflammation, improve gut health, and ensure nutrition and absorption are maximized by following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
2. Regular movement in the form of anti-inflammatory exercise – stimulating the vagus nerve, increasing blood flow to the brain, and promoting neurogenesis.
Proper exercise stimulates the immune system and produces an anti-inflammatory response.
3. Tyrosine plays a critical role in dopamine production, so boosting levels with tyrosine-rich foods like bananas, pumpkin seeds, chicken, and avocados is a good way.
Tyrosine can also be made from phenylalanine, another amino acid found in many protein-rich foods like turkey and eggs!
Have some Dairy-free Scrambled Eggs or an Asparagus, Zucchini & Avocado Salad!
These provide an extra boost of memory and mental performance!
Needless to say, you always need complete nutrients to allow for conversions and synthesis in the body.
Like iron, omega-3 fatty acids, and B vitamins, for instance, concentrating on tyrosine alone won’t fix it if your body lacks good nutrition.
4. Sunlight for Vitamin D. Especially in the morning, setting the circadian rhythm.
5. The practice of meditation, since consciousness change may trigger its release.
6. Listen to music. Even the thought of listening to your favorite music can release dopamine!
7. Sleep regularly and for reasonable amounts of time. Lack of sleep disturbs circadian rhythms.
8. Massage and touch – reduces cortisol, stimulates the vagus nerve, and increases oxytocin (see below!).
What Is the Second Secret to Feeling Good?
The second secret to feeling good is the hormone and neurotransmitter Oxytocin!
It is produced in the hypothalamus and transported to and secreted by the pituitary gland at the brain’s base.
The way to feel some of the oxytocin’s magic is that wonderful sense of well-being that occurs when you hug someone.
Or when skin is touched, in massage, holding hands, making love.
Or spending time with your favorite pet! Oxytocin levels rise in both pets and owners when they have time to snuggle with each other!
It’s not just that, though. Oxytocin plays a huge role in female reproductive functions.
Oxytocin is present during labor, increasing uterine motility, which causes uterus or womb contractions.
As the cervix and vagina widen in labor, oxytocin is released. Further contractions enable the widening to increase.
That overwhelming love feeling you have with a baby is what oxytocin is responsible for.
It fosters the bond between mother and child immediately after birth and affects milk release from mammary glands for breastfeeding.
That sense of bonding, when entwined with music, increases oxytocin levels if you are in a band or choir together.
Practicing random acts of kindness boosts oxytocin levels, too!
Ensure that you top up your oxytocin levels and maintain real contact with people and animals. Socialize, touch, and hug! Our immune relies on socializing, too.
What Is the Third Secret to Feeling Good?
The third secret to feeling good is ensuring that gut dysbiosis does not suppress the hormone and the neurotransmitter serotonin.
Serotonin is one of the most important signaling molecules within the gut.
It plays a pivotal role in initiating secretory and motor reflexes. Serotonin keeps your appetite and satiety in check.
It is serotonin that kicks in when you have eaten something that your body does not like.
It lets the brain know it is time to dispel it as soon as possible.
90% of serotonin is in the gut and stored in the intestinal mucosa.
This is why, as I always mention, depression, low moods, and tearfulness are linked to an unhappy gut and low serotonin levels!
The other 10% of Serotonin is attributed to the serotonergic neurons of the enteric nervous system.
It works a little differently there, promoting feelings of well-being and happiness.
These cells play an essential role in regulating serotonin homeostasis and possess the apparatus to produce and store serotonin.
This affects many parts of the brain that affect sexuality, memory, fear, body temperature, stress response, digestion, sleep, breathing, and addiction.
Tryptophan, the amino acid – is used by your brain to make serotonin, but only 1-2% of dietary tryptophan is converted to serotonin.
Do You Have to Eat Tryptophan to Produce Serotonin?
It isn’t a case of eating more tryptophan foods to increase the amino acid to make serotonin, though.
When you eat tryptophan-rich foods like chicken and other high-protein foods, the protein breaks down into amino acids.
This competes with tryptophan to get across your blood-brain barrier.
The blood-brain barrier prevents harmful substances from reaching your brain and, as such, blocks tryptophan from getting in.
Getting Tryptophan Into Your Brain Without Medication
Eating carbohydrates (not high-protein foods) with tryptophan foods may help get tryptophan into your brain.
This is why immune-boosting chicken soup made with vegetables is suitable for a dose of tryptophan to soothe your mind and heal your body.
You see, your body produces insulin when you eat certain complex carbohydrates.
Insulin helps your muscles take in more amino acids, which is why tryptophan has a better chance of making it across the blood-brain barrier.
How Serotonin Aids Sleep
Serotonin is a regulator of the sleep-wake cycle.
Serotonin levels increase with sunlight, and melatonin kicks in with the dark.
These aid sleep regulation and lower stress levels.
This is why light therapy is suggested in the winter for many people who suffer from S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder).
Melatonin also sets the body’s circadian rhythms. As well as countering infection, reducing chronic inflammation, suppressing skin damage, and clearing many diseases.
Sleep is imperative to live!
Looking to improve your sleep and lose weight?
Some Signs of Serotonin Deficiency
Depression
Anxiety
Anger
S.A.D
Sleep-cycle disturbances
Chronic disease
Neurological disease
What Is the Fourth Secret to Feeling Good?
The fourth secret to feeling good is the hormones and neurotransmitters: Endorphins!
There are twenty different types, and the most studied is beta-endorphin – the euphoric endorphin.
The one that is felt when we dance, exercise, have sex, or laugh out loud, lots!
In fact, laughter alters serotonin and dopamine levels, as well as releases of endorphins. Laughter is so good for you!
Ever danced and laughed at the same time? It’s an amazing feeling.
The hypothalamus and pituitary gland release our body’s natural pain relievers that give us a sense of well-being.
You feel them when you meditate and breathe deeply and correctly, inducing calm in the body and mind.
It is connected with that beautiful feeling that you get when you have had exposure to the sun!
The calmness and the sense of well-being are connected to UV light, which has stimulated the release of beta-endorphins in the skin.
Endorphins promote other hormones that are involved in all of the feelings when you are in love!
They are also responsible for one of the reasons why exercise is recommended for depression.
When repeated daily, the buzz from endorphins you get from workouts aids mental well-being.
Can You Take a Feel Good Hormone Supplement?
Supplementing these feel-good hormones wouldn’t ever be as effective as encouraging their production biologically with lifestyle, food, movement, thoughts, actions, and who we have around us.
Supplements can’t produce what these elements can.
You know my thoughts about supplements being no contender against the bioavailability of foods and how our body absorbs and utilizes nutrients based on our lifestyles.
Extra caution is paid attention to serotonin level-raising supplements, for instance, because they are linked to severe diseases and organ damage.
How Do You Optimise Your Feel Good Hormones?
So, you can optimize your feel-good hormones with your lifestyle and the people around you by focusing on choices that secrete these neurotransmitters.
Gut-health foods that are nutrient-dense with an ample amount of essential B vitamins, amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, and micronutrients – that work intricately in concert with each other will assist with neurotransmitter health.
What foods we eat are not enough, though, for lifestyle choices are cofactors in synthesizing nutrients in the body. I know that I say this a lot, but it is so important!
What you eat, how you move, how much you sleep, and what you think all play a significant role in these feel-good hormones.
Who you hug and spend time with and what you do in a day aids optimization, too.
You could take a walk with a friend, turn up the music and dance, or hold hands with someone you love.
Watch a movie with friends or your family that you know makes you all laugh out loud.
Sitting in the sun and shifting consciousness will aid in feeling good mentally.
You could reward yourself with an early night and a good book.
I am a massive advocate for this, as you know because health optimization rewards yourself daily and is essential for hormone balance.
Of course, other elements come into play when it comes down to feeling good, like following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle 80/20.
This D.O.S.E. of neurotransmitters is an excellent focus to assist you with optimum health, though. They play a crucial part in maintaining homeostasis for the entire body.
They’re a reminder to have fun, be with people, take a walk, and sit mindfully while you eat. To live and love well. That sort of thing!
Getting your ‘feel good’ hormones optimized and your body balanced will not just make you feel good. You will feel amazing!
Hello Everyone! It’s time to address the benefits of the amazing, essential omega-3 fatty acids!
So many people ask, ‘What about omega-6? Omega-9? Aren’t they essential, too?’.
Yes, omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids are essential, but there is a reason why we need to put our focus on omega-3.
In this post, I will talk about the importance of omega-3! I have barely touched the surface – but it’s a long read! Be prepared.
Facts About Omega-3 Fatty Acids
First, the human body needs a good omega-6 and omega-3 (2:1) ratio in the diet for proper body functioning. They must be sourced because the body cannot produce these essential fatty acids.
For eons, the human diet existed with a perfect ratio of omega-6 and omega-3, as humans consumed all foods accessible to them from nature.
Fast forward 150 years, and the balance of omega-6 and omega-3 has changed drastically. This is down to modern agriculture and the Western diet.
Today, people eat excessive amounts of omega-6, trans fatty acids, and saturated fat and have a deficiency in omega-3, putting the ratio at around 15:1 (6:3). This is known as a disturbed essential fatty acid ratio.
A higher ratio of omega-6 (which is not bad for you) and insufficient essential omega-3 have an inflammatory effect and fuel chronic diseases, affecting the brain, heart, and all over the body.
For instance, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, lupus, arthritis, cancer, and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases are characterized by an increased level of the inflammatory marker interleukin 1 (IL-1) and the proinflammatory leukotriene LTB (4), which is produced by the presence of omega-6.
Omega-3 will contribute to balancing inflammation.
Chronic diseases (like inflammatory bowel disease) are multifactorial (genetic, environment, microbiota, immune response…), which means they will respond positively to Eat Burn Sleep’s 360-degree anti-inflammatory lifestyle. EBS is packed with inflammation-reducing nutrition, compounds, exercises, and techniques.
What Are Omega-3 Fatty Acids?
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (also known as essential fatty acids: EFAs) are polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). There are three main omega-3s:
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is the most common, found in vegetable oils, flax seeds and flax oils, nuts, leafy vegetables, and the fats of grass-fed animals.
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) come from fish (marine omega-3s), mostly.
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) needs to be converted in the body to EPA and DHA to EPA and DHA in the body.
Linolenic acid is easily destroyed by cooking and food processing and contains hydrogenated (solid, hardened) polyunsaturated fats, so a new, whole source is essential.
The healthiest effects come from EPA and DHA.
What Makes Omega-3 So Special?
Essential for the cardiovascular system, immune system, nervous system, brain, and skin, Omega-3 fatty acids are an integral part of the function of cell receptors in cell membranes throughout the body.
Cell membranes have the functions of being a barrier, protecting the interior of a cell, and also keeping unwanted substances out.
They also control the passage of essential nutrients going in and export cell waste going out.
Omega-3 plays a significant part in the organization of every cell in the body. For instance, omega-3s assist with inflammatory processes, protecting immune health, nervous system regulation, blood clotting, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, etc.
Omega-3 fatty acids bind to receptors in cells that regulate genetic function and play a significant role in the decreased expression of genes involved in inflammatory pathways, for instance!
Does Omega-3 Reduce Chronic Inflammation?
Altering the ratio of fatty acids in cells by adding the therapeutic agents of EPA and DHA and an anti-inflammatory lifestyle are successful treatments in managing and reducing inflammatory conditions.
PCOS is successfully treated on Eat Burn Sleep, for instance.
Some chronic inflammation conditions that benefit from a good omega-6/3 ratio as part of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle are:
Losing weight is a common side effect of lowering inflammation in the Eat Burn Sleep way.
Does Medication Treat Inflammation?
One of the challenges for many people with inflammatory conditions is taking medication for their chronic inflammation.
Maybe painkillers and steroids, and then antibiotics for infections. Invariably, the medication masks the symptoms but does not treat the source of the inflammation.
What also happens is that the medications are so strong that they irritate the gut lining and overload the liver.
An extra load of toxins in the body via medication contributes to other diseases, pain, and inflammation.
Taking omega-3 is not going to eradicate a less-than-optimal health situation. There is more to it than that.
Please talk with your doctor about joining doctors worldwide in working with Eat Burn Sleep as part of an optimum health lifestyle, treating the cause and not the symptom.
Does Omega-3 Help the Immune System?
A body of evidence shows the positive role of Omega-3’s EPA and DHA in immune health.
Omega-3s help your immune system elicit a robust immune response in the presence of bacteria, pathogens, and viruses by impacting macrophage (white blood cell) function, which plays a vital role in the process.
Scientists have found that omega-3 can help remodel the cell membranes in immune cells (T-cells) and ultimately strengthen them.
Chronic inflammation is a dysregulation of the immune system. 70% of our immune cells reside in the gut.
So, an inflammation-fighting lifestyle begins with gut-healthy food and balancing the microbiome.
How Does Omega-3 Help the Brain?
Omega-3 optimizes brain function.
Studies show that Omega-3 (DHA) is beneficial in various neurological and neurodegenerative conditions, including a developing brain.
You see, DHA is the most important long-chain omega-3 fatty acid for brain development and plays an essential role in neurotransmitter release, cellular membrane function, and fluidity.
A high omega-6/3 ratio is associated with depression, anxiety, and mood disorders because of the gut dysbiosis (disrupted gut bacteria) it causes. There is a bidirectional link between the gut and the brain.
This information also supports why an unbalanced, unhealthy, inflammatory diet (rich in omega-6 and not enough omega-3) affects the brain and mind.
Also, an aging brain is prone to inflammation and oxidative alterations.
When lifestyle changes affect proinflammatory cytokine release in the brain and have been enriched with omega-3, studies have shown that the anti-inflammatory effect has positively impacted neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The way to reduce inflammation, depression, mood disorders, and neurodegenerative disorders in the brain, as I always say, starts with the gut!
Is Omega-3 Good for Fertility?
Omega-3-rich foods form a portion of any good anti-inflammatory diet and contribute to fertility as long as a 360-degree anti-inflammatory lifestyle is followed.
Again, no supplement or meal plan will perform miracles if inflammatory lifestyle habits remain in place and a good ratio of omega-6/3 and other nutrients from a multitude of foods to help absorption isn’t in place.
Inflammation needs to be treated at the source, and it takes anti-inflammatory food, anti-inflammatory thinking, and anti-inflammatory movement.
I say it a lot, but it is absolutely fantastic news every time I hear about fertility being improved, healthier pregnancies, and a new baby being born due to following the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle.
How Does Omega-3 Help the Fetus?
Omega-3 promotes fetal eye and brain development, and the brain develops in the first trimester and continues throughout pregnancy.
DHA is the most critical PUFA in the central nervous system and accumulates in the last trimester of pregnancy and for the first 6-10 months after birth.
It is recommended that a pregnant and lactating mother consumes 200mg a day (check with your pediatrician) of omega-3 for optimum childhood eye and brain development.
However, studies show that the average intake of DHA in pregnant and lactating women is only a quarter of the recommended omega-3.
A high omega-6/3 ratio could also explain postpartum depression.
So, if you are pregnant, you must have long-chain omega-3 PUFA intake with nutrient-rich foods to allow complete absorption.
Is There Omega-3 in Breastmilk?
Breastmilk contains omega-3 (DHA) and optimizes infant health; unfortunately, not all formulas contain DHA.
DHA assists with behavior, visuomotor coordination, height, head measurement improvements, and IQ.
If breastfeeding isn’t an option, don’t worry and check with your pediatrician about accessing recommended long-chain PUFA-fortified (AA and DHA) baby formula or other options.
Omega-3 helps eye and brain development in children.
Is Omega-3 Good for ADHD Treatment?
Studies have shown that a deficiency of omega-3 in children transpires as hyperactivity-impulsivity, temper tantrums, sleep difficulties, behavioral and learning problems, and anxiety.
When long-chain DHA was supplemented, significant reductions in ADHD occurred.
Considering the effects of omega-3 and an optimum health meal plan, it is no wonder that children are benefiting from the meals on the Eat Burn Sleep anti-inflammatory lifestyle as part of their healthy diets. (Suggestions are made in recipes where to adapt the anti-inflammatory meals for children).
A good omega-6/3 ratio is good for assisting in developing brains and overall IQ.
Is Omega-3 Good for the Heart?
A lifestyle rich in anti-inflammatory foods, nutrients, omega-6/3 ratio, anti-inflammatory movement, and stress-reducing tools promotes cardiovascular health.
Omega-3 (EPA and DHA), as a component of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiac events.
Reducing inflammation in the body will reduce weight, decrease body fat, reduce resting blood pressure, contribute to maintaining average blood triglyceride concentrations, and all heart-healthy improvements.
Lowering inflammation reduces the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.
How Does Omega-3 Help Your Eyes?
Omega-3 promotes good eye health.
A low inflammation lifestyle with a good ratio of omega-6/3 fatty acids is essential for regulating eye health.
It reduces the risk of developing macular degeneration, dry eye disease, and glaucoma.
For instance, the inflammation-lowering effects reduce symptoms and signs by modulating ocular surface inflammation and improving tear-lipid profiles.
Is Omega-3 Good for Your Skin?
Omega-3 is excellent for your skin, taken alongside antioxidants and other vital nutrients and inflammation-reducing components from an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
Every cell membrane is composed partly of essential fats, and your skin comprises countless cells. The cell membranes’ fatty acid content is crucial in keeping cell membranes in control of what goes in and out of the cells.
Simply put, without enough fatty acids, they cannot retain water; thus, skin plumpness is lost.
Omega-3 and an anti-inflammatory lifestyle assist with skin damage repair, wound healing, smoothing, softening skin, and skin protection.
Of course, there is much more to it than that because oxidative damage limitation and optimum liver and digestive tract health come into play here, too.
Does Omega-3 Act as an Anti-inflammatory?
When included in a whole 360 anti-inflammatory lifestyle, omega-3 assists with the following:
Anti-inflammatory effects
Immune health
Heart health
Eye health
Chronic disease protection
Hormone regulation
Increased fertility for both men and women
Mental wellness: MMDs, depression, and anxiety management
Brain function: IQ, cognitive functioning, memory, concentration, and learning
Healthy Pregnancy
Fetal eye and brain development
Allergy resistance
Skin protection and healing
Sleep and relaxation
Athletic performance and recovery
Degenerative disease protection
Menopause
Sleep (a build-up of DHA promotes melatonin, which promotes sleep).
Are Omega-3 Supplements Enough?
I always advocate for obtaining essential nutrients through foods as the best option, if possible.
The right gut-healthy foods with superior bioavailability are the most nurturing healers for the body, reducing inflammation.
You see, other minerals and vitamins come from foods that aid in the absorption of omega-3, like vitamin B6, magnesium, and many others.
Taking supplements alone lacks the key interactions between the fatty acids and other nutritional components of healing omega-3-rich foods.
However, there are recommended supplements and brands in the Personalized Advice section on the Eat Burn Sleep platform – for the treatment, protection, and recovery of many conditions – to be taken alongside this anti-inflammatory protocol, also on the Yalda Loves page.
You cannot eat nurturing, inflammation-reducing foods and expect change when you inflame your body with stress, inflammatory exercise, unhealthy habits, and triggers.
Also, many supplements are not always what you think they are, nor do we know the long-term effects.
See my video (scroll down in the videos section) on the shocking findings about supplements and the FDA.
Always get supplement advice from a qualified nutritionist.
Do We All Need Omega-3?
So the conclusion to why we should all be thinking about getting the correct ratio of omega-6/3 is evident.
Getting an excellent omega-6/3 ratio affects us from when we are in the womb to an older age.
Needless to say, a lifestyle change is necessary for many people for optimum health – in all areas of their life.
The inflammation-reducing powers of this 360-degree anti-inflammatory lifestyle (rich in omega-3 and other powerhouse microbiota-rich, inflammation-fighting nutrients, components, and tools) address those needs.
Members, I know that you are enjoying all of the omega-3-rich desserts, breads, and breakfasts like these:
Hi Everyone! So many people are surprised that I advocate for a cup of good coffee* since the debate certainly persists about whether coffee is good for you or bad for you.
Coffee is certainly not discluded from the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle, and there is one primary reason (and you may guess why). So I decided to write about it.
I will tell you what I have learned about the world’s most widely consumed drink, which often gets a negative rap.
If you are a coffee lover, you will like this post!
Coffee is equated with caffeine, which is associated with many health conditions (like reducing asthma symptoms). Depending on their genetics and tolerance, some people are more sensitive to it.
Caffeine is also renowned for its cognitive-enhancing effects and isn’t just found in coffee. It is used in medications like pain relievers and migraine medication.
There’s caffeine in tea and unregulated, unsafe soda drinks that are dubbed as ‘energy drinks’ (which have the equivalent of two cups of coffee and a mountain of sugar in one serving!).
There is so much more in the amazing coffee bean than caffeine.
Coffee also contains chlorogenic acid, vitamins, minerals, phenolic compounds, nitrogenous compounds, carbohydrates, and alkaloids – among many other biologically active compounds.
The antioxidant activity depends on the chemical composition of the coffee, but all ingredients have far-ranging health effects!
Not only rich in antioxidants, but coffee is also anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic, and has anticancer effects. In particular, the results of the polyphenol compounds in coffee on the immune system are associated with extended health benefits for different chronic inflammatory diseases.
Studies show that biologically active compounds play a beneficial role in the prevention and progress of chronic diseases related to inflammation, such as:
Diabetes (reduces impaired glucose tolerance, hyperglycemia, and insulin sensitivity), obesity (chlorogenic acid also appears to protect against metabolic syndrome through its antioxidant activity, which is linked to obesity), cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, skin conditions, cancer,s and neurodegeneration.
Gut microbiota composition has improved with coffee consumption, and digestion is enhanced.
Coffee is also associated with gastric, biliary, and pancreatic secretions, which are necessary for healthy digestion.
It is found to stimulate the production of the digestive hormones gastrin and hydrochloric acid – both of which break down food in the stomach.
It also stimulates cholecystokinin secretion, a hormone that increases bile production, a part of the digestive process.
Consuming light-to-moderate amounts of coffee may prevent a wide range of non-communicable diseases compared to not drinking coffee.
Some studies suggest that coffee has a positive disease-modifying effect on chronic liver diseases, instigating further studies to evaluate the potential causative agent.
Vitamin B3 in coffee supports healthy digestion, skin, and the nervous system. Magnesium aids the synthesis of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. Magnesium is good for heart health, calcium homeostasis, DNA repair, and the modulation of muscle activity.
The potassium, which is present in the seeds, remains at the same concentration when brewed. This means coffee is good for water balance, hormone balance, blood pressure, and muscle and nerve health.
So, you can see why I advocate for a cup of coffee in the morning!
How Much Coffee is Good For You?
It is recommended that you don’t drink more than 400mg of caffeine in a day. So that means no more than 2 x 8oz freshly brewed cups daily, but we are all unique. Some people may be sensitive to caffeine, and a light amount could be too much.
The reason for this is that you could be genetically sensitive to caffeine. Studies show, for instance, that a particular component called polymorphism in specific genes could make one little sip absolutely enough for you. You would know if this was happening to you as your body would react.
Also, see the cautionary note about caffeine and pregnancy.
How Much Coffee is Bad For You?
Heart:
Studies show that there isn’t enough information to support that coffee negatively affects the cardiovascular system. Some studies have shown quite contradictory results and state that consuming caffeine daily, in moderation, actually reduces cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Judit Simon of the Heart and Vascular Centre, Budapest, discovered: “[…] compared with participants who did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had healthier sized and better-functioning hearts. This was consistent with reversing the detrimental effects of aging on the heart.”
Digestive Conditions:
Contrary to some assumptions, digestive conditions are not linked with coffee, as indicated above. In many cases, coffee has positive effects on digestive disorders. E.g., Stimulation of colon motility, for instance.
Improve your levels of gut bacteria through coffee consumption.
Should You Drink Coffee Every Day?
I love a good cup of freshly ground coffee and am talking about pure coffee in the morning, not in the afternoon or evening, due to its stimulatory effects.
Trust me, if you are a big coffee drinker, you can reduce the amount despite long-term habits.
Reprogramming your mind and habits is one of the vital successful tools on this lifestyle, which is why this optimum health method is good for removing addictions and long, hard habits.
Beverages that you may have a lot of, like coffee or wine, become more enjoyable. Making a conscious effort to be healthier and seeing the results quickly invokes enthusiasm and inspiration.
As you move through the reset, your gut microbiota is improved, inflammation is reduced, and your liver is detoxed. Brain fog and anxiety lift, and you gain energy, symptoms are reduced, and as you see and feel positive results, it all kicks in. Every day, it gets better. Believe me.
However, if you don’t drink coffee already or don’t like it, you don’t need to start.
You don’t have to start drinking it because if you are following an optimum health plan, this should provide you with the nutrient compounds that I have talked about.
If you fancy a cup of coffee:
The key message is that in the morning, in moderate doses (without all of the additives and extras), habitual coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of many chronic diseases.
So, if you are meeting a good friend for a coffee, you will maximize the health benefits by triggering happy neurotransmitters and lowering cortisol, reducing stress.
If you fancy a healthy cup of exceptional coffee, have you tried my recipe: Moroccan Spiced Coffee?
Try it with a slice of delicious microbiome-friendly Coconut Yogurt & Almond Cake. Increase your nutrition and your cognition!
*Unless you are pregnant. Caffeine in coffee crosses the human placenta, rapidly reaching a similar concentration in the fetus, which can cause implications.
My Interview With BBC World: People Are Overfed And Undernourished
In the BBC World Live News interview, I was asked to comment on the government’s case that we have a cost of living emergency and poor people need cheap food.
To explain further: The ban on ‘buy one get one free unhealthy food’ deals is being put on hold for a year. Also, the plan to restrict television advertising of junk food advertisements before 9 p.m. has been put on hold.
The government said that this plan would allow for a better understanding of the impact on household finances as the cost of living continues to rise.
As I explained, people are overfed and undernourished. If you consume more processed foods, it will give you very unstable blood sugar levels. This can lead to diabetes, obesity, and heart attacks. These are all taxing on the healthcare systems.
If it were ‘buy one get one free’ for healthy, inexpensive food like vegetables, fish, and chicken, there would not be an issue.
This decision will most likely cause even more mental and physical health problems. It doesn’t make sense. Gut health is paramount to psychological and physical well-being.
When you consume food that doesn’t feed you nutritionally, your body is never satiated. So, you end up eating more. Overeating foods that are not nourishing will encourage inflammatory disease, without a doubt.
Processed foods cause gut dysbiosis, which ultimately leads to disease.
Obesity, for instance, is reaching epidemic proportions in most Westernized countries. It is a severe chronic inflammatory condition with a wide range of debilitating and life-threatening conditions. This makes the body susceptible to catching serious viruses and not recovering from them, like COVID-19.
Obesity imposes enormous financial burdens on healthcare systems. Not banning ‘buy one get one free’ junk foods at this time is encouraging more serious health conditions. Obesity develops over time. Once it kicks in, unless someone undertakes an anti-inflammatory lifestyle like our member Nicky did (she lost 56 pounds), it presents many more risks.
Conditions associated with obesity are cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and joint and muscular conditions. There are gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory disorders, cancer, and obstructive sleep apnea. There are psychological conditions and depression, as in neuroinflammation. (Depression diminished for Nicky, too, on this gut-health plan).
We must educate people on how to create nutritious meals on a tight budget. We should encourage batch cooking once a week for an hour. Freeze food that can be taken out in the morning and quickly heated in the evening.
Or use a slow cooker (a slow cooker isn’t necessary, though) to make soup and stews that take no time to prepare. I told the BBC World presenter that I had bought organic chicken and vegetables and lemons to make my immune-boosting chicken soup. It came out at only £2.50 per person.
It isn’t just a bowl of hunger-satisfying chicken soup; the ingredients work together to boost the body rather than deplete it.
The synergistic actions from the nutrients, combined with the accompanying compounds from ginger, turmeric, onions, garlic, parsley, black pepper, eggs, lemons, and so on, will all assist significantly with the lowering of inflammation. This will protect the immune and keep the digestive tract healthy.
Kefta, Tomato, and Egg Tagine comes in around the same cost and are not only delicious and satisfying, but it fills the body up with good nutrition. It supports metabolic and cholesterol-lowering functions. It reduces inflammation and protects the eyes, teeth, brain, and bones. Keeping the mind, the immune system, and the whole body healthy.
My Cream of Broccoli and Zucchini Soup costs even less than £1.50 per person. It protects the body from viruses and disease, supports metabolism and gut health, stimulates the liver, and lowers cholesterol and inflammation.
Encouraging people to feed their guts well with good bacteria will keep them mentally healthy, too.
Junk food / processed foods do not fulfill daily micro and macronutrient requirements, leading to disease.
We must teach people how to nourish themselves and their families (without spending too much money) to support their health and the healthcare system.
You can watch the interview here:
You may be interested in reading more about the damaging effects of junk food and processed foods:
I get asked a lot by people who do not have health issues whether my anti-inflammatory ‘diet’ would benefit them somehow.
People often say ‘diet,’ but the Eat Burn Sleep method is much more than that. It is a holistic anti-inflammatory lifestyle with more facets than just what we eat.
Diets are generally unsustainable and very restrictive.
Diets can make you feel guilty if you have an ‘off’ day. Strict diets are generally not good for the body in the long run, and some are dangerous.
I am all about what is best for your mental and physical health, now and in the future.
A lifestyle choice that is best for good overall, long-term health for everyone would focus on mental, physical, and emotional well-being; one that focuses on improving gut flora, detoxifying the liver, and keeping inflammation at bay.
A sustainable lifestyle choice.
A good lifestyle choice does not activate the weak genes (hereditary chronic inflammation-related disease) in your DNA.
How Can You Change Your Lifestyle?
It can be rather daunting to decide to change your lifestyle; barriers are often formed before you even start.
You can think about commitment issues, patience, giving up things that you love, how realistic it is, the challenges involved, and whether it works for everyone around you.
The key to success is not to aim for perfection.
Aiming for perfection means setting unrealistic goals that are impossible to attain.
That means that you are in a perpetual cycle of never feeling satisfied.
This will have you crumbling at the first hurdle and feeling guilty if you don’t stick to the new lifestyle plan rigidly.
This is not good for sustainability or your mental health. Life is to be enjoyed.
Rigid plans are not enjoyable, and you can easily break them.
Striving for perfection means that we are so taken with achieving perfection that we miss out on life: being in the moment, living mindfully, breathing…enjoying what is around us.
Look at the whole picture and set realistic goals.
Forming new sustainable and enjoyable habits is critical. Being supported with proper exercise and nutrition advice is essential.
Learning to make good choices when you are out to dinner or switching off without worrying when on holiday is essential.
Having the tools to know what is good for your body, mind, and emotions, enjoying the process, and feeling the results is paramount to success.
Eat Steak and drink wine and coffee on the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle. In moderation!
If you enjoy coffee, steak, or a glass of wine, to state at the beginning of a lifestyle choice that you can’t have them makes you feel miserable. Let’s be honest.
When you are in charge, based on learning about what is best for you, and feeling and seeing the changes – and everyone around can see and feel it, too – this is empowerment – and you know that it isn’t going to be a lifestyle that you will be changing anytime soon!
How Does Eat Burn Sleep Help With Optimum Health?
Eat Burn Sleep is a unique health education platform that is ultimately empowering, guiding people for long-term optimum health, making second-nature choices (when away from the plan), and having more autonomy over their health choices.
Following the 80/20 method, it is all about moderation, having treats, and enjoying life more.
Through the right anti-inflammatory diet for you, movement, neuroplasticity methods, and forming long-term science-backed habits while reducing inflammation, it can be physically noticed quite soon.
So many people who follow the Eat Burn Sleep anti-inflammatory lifestyle say they look the best they have ever looked. The reason for this is that they are feeling better.
When we lower chronic inflammation, even if we don’t have any health issues, the first thing that it does is increase our energy levels. Our energy levels are very low if our diet has gut flora imbalance and our lifestyle is stressful.
What Is Optimal Health?
Optimal health is not a standard. It is very subjective to your circumstances: how you feel, your age, your genetics, and the microbiome you were born with (and have developed over time).
Optimal health depends on where you live, your lifestyle demands, etc.
Why Do We Need Strong Gut Flora?
Regarding diet, it is essential to give our body the proper nutrients to have robust gut flora. This impacts your immunity and neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA, dopamine, and melatonin.
It impacts sleep and hormones (whether you are a man or a woman) and, as a result, your energy levels.
It also impacts your endocrine response. For example, if you have unstable sugar levels, that will affect your cortisol, adrenaline, and energy levels.
So, following a low-inflammation diet and lifestyle, from a food standpoint, can significantly impact your energy levels.
Low-inflammation lifestyles have a significant impact on your mental well-being.
How Can You Fix Your Mental Health Naturally?
Focusing on your gut health and reducing inflammation through diet and lifestyle is essential when you want to improve your moods, reduce anxiety and depression, and, generally, have good mental health.
It is all linked because by improving gut flora, you are producing certain mood-modulating hormones, as mentioned above.
The way that you think changes gut health, and gut health changes the way that you think.
60% of neurotransmitters are allocated in the gut. 90% of serotonin is produced in the gut, responsible for well-being and happiness, as well as reducing anxiety and mood swings.
It is a precursor for melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep.
Eat Burn Sleep improves your mental wellness scientifically.
The body, mind, and skin are improved on EBS.
How Do I Improve My Body Composition?
Many people see an improvement in body composition with this anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
The reason is that you are eating foods that support the healing of soft tissues, bones, muscles, and skin.
Also, because the exercise on the platform is not inflammatory, the shift in better body composition is healthier and doesn’t ‘invite’ conditions in the long run.
Many people say they get the ‘Eat Burn Sleep Glow.’ It is all linked.
Your body will become stronger because of what you are feeding your body and the correct exercise you do daily.
Doing the proper anti-inflammatory movement will significantly influence your energy levels and liver detoxification pathways.
The anti-inflammatory program also influences your mental wellness, encouraging you to go for a fresh air walk and get vitamin D, along with guided meditations and lifestyle tips.
The optimum health guidance will influence how you feel and look.
What Is The Ideal Healthy Lifestyle?
You don’t need a health condition to feel the incredible benefits of a low-inflammation lifestyle. Many people do not realize that they have inflammation running in their bodies until they are diagnosed with a condition.
So, opting for a low inflammation lifestyle is damage limitation, reducing the risk.
A low-inflammation lifestyle can make you feel better. You will have significant energy levels, a better mood, and body composition, sleep better, have better skin, and feel like you are the best version of yourself.
This is achieved relatively quickly when you reduce chronic inflammation in your body (although I am not into quick fixes).
It is the long run that matters.
One super important piece of information to know, which I speak about all the time, is:
Chronic inflammation switches on your poor, weaker genes.
So, if there is a family history of diseases like heart attacks, autoimmune disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, hormone issues, cancer, and so on, they all are linked to chronic inflammation.
For any disease you cannot transmit, the expression of those genes will depend on the levels of chronic inflammation in your body.
Such a lifestyle plays a huge role in preventing the development of hereditary conditions.
How I went about fixing my autoimmune diseases (putting them into remission) naturally began with thinking about what I needed to do to stop the hemorrhage, stopping the bleeding.
I was thinking about all the medication I was on and what it was doing to my body. It was like a building with cracks all over it, and having medication was putting plasters on the cracks.
It wasn’t fixing the foundations, so more cracks were appearing.
I needed to fix the foundations so that more cracks didn’t appear.
Autoimmunity expresses itself pretty early in people’s lives generally. Other issues, like cancer and heart attacks, typically express themselves later in life.
It can almost be too late because they are so inflamed. After all, they have been inflamed for a long time.
Some people are lucky and have quickly reversed their disease with this anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
The long journey is essential, though, not the quick fix.
So, you can’t just go on a low inflammation diet, and it will sort it out quickly. It isn’t just diet, remember. Your whole lifestyle comes into play. It may take some time to see results, or it may not. The prevention side is enormous.
There is so much misinformation when it comes to health out there.
How Do You Take Care of Your Body When You’re Sick?
Frankly, if I had found an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle when I was sick, it would have saved quite a few years of pain.
That is why I created the Eat Burn Sleep anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
It isn’t just for when you are sick, though. This is the best diet and lifestyle to keep sickness at bay, keeping your body and mind free from inflammation.
I am on a mission to ensure that everyone is living at their optimum health, physically and mentally, for now and for the future.
Hello everyone! I am often asked about my opinion of the keto diet. I tried a very similar diet when I was exploring what would help me with my autoimmune diseases (which is why Eat Burn Sleep was created).
So, I have first-hand knowledge of how being on an extreme diet feels initially, in terms of how my body responds and, unfortunately, what happens in the long run.
This is the reason why I investigated what is actually happening to your body when you embark on a ketogenic diet.
For the purpose of this article, I am going to explain what the keto diet does to someone who suffers from diabetes.
The role of fasting in treating diseases has been around for thousands of years.
The ketogenic diet was developed in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy, adopted in the 1970s, and it became more popular in the 1990s for weight loss.
It has really spiked in the last few years with thousands of endorsements on social media, claiming it to be the queen of diets for rapid weight loss and leveling blood sugar in diabetes.
The diet consists of high fats, moderate proteins, and low carbohydrates. The dietary macronutrients on a ketogenic diet are 55% to 60% fat, 30% to 35% protein, and 5% to 10% carbohydrates.
The reason why it was used for adequate treatment (under high supervision) for epilepsy was that when the body is forced to use fat due to fewer carbohydrates, ketones are produced.
Ketones provide the brain with an alternate energy source, and this has an anti-epileptic effect on the brain, resulting in seizure control.
Is the Keto Diet Good for Treating Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy, and it comes from your diet.
Insulin, the hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose from your diet get into your cells in order to be used for energy.
When your body doesn’t make enough insulin, glucose stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells.
Diabetes will respond to the keto diet initially because it has the advantage of reducing serum glucose levels. As a result of lower blood sugar levels, less insulin is needed, and the pancreas is less stimulated.
An unhealthy lifestyle and overconsumption of sugar and carbohydrates causes type 2 diabetes. You can develop it at any time in your life – even in childhood.
This is why the keto diet might produce results in the beginning.
However, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease.
Your body does not make enough insulin, and your immune system attacks and destroys cells that are in the pancreas that make insulin.
Ultimately, an autoimmune disease needs to be treated with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
Not only an anti-inflammatory diet but a whole anti-inflammatory lifestyle (as with all autoimmune conditions related to chronic inflammation, which is why I developed the Eat Burn Sleep method).
What are the Dangers of the Keto Diet?
The keto diet is gaining popularity because of the initial and quick weight loss. Everybody wants quick fixes!
I admit that when I tried a diet similar to keto, I lost weight. I thought that it was wonderful, but then I experienced the downside.
On the keto diet, long-term health is jeopardized because such a diet presents several issues.
I will explain:
The High Fats: Allowing for 60% of macronutrients to be allocated to fat is very heavy for liver health.
The liver is responsible for over 500 functions in the body, including lipolysis (fat burning), hormone homeostasis (hormone regulation), blood production, toxins excretion, etc.
With such a high percentage of fats in the diet, the liver has to work harder to process the fats (just like alcohol or sugar).
The body needs fats in the diet, but they have to be good fats and in moderate amounts.
What happens is it puts the other functions like hormone homeostasis and lipolysis on the back burner. It makes fat processing a priority, rather than burning fat from your stores for energy. It becomes overloaded and toxic.
A toxic liver can lead to several health issues and promote chronic systemic inflammation.
This process, incidentally, is what makes the keto diet popular.
As I mentioned above, when you go into ketosis, you stop tapping into the glucose in your blood, but you start going into the fat reserves in your system.
This results in a buildup of acids called ketones within the body. It is forcing the body to rely on fat for energy rather than carbs. That is the theory, and it works for a short while.
The Low Carbs: I wouldn’t ever advise anyone to cut down on carbohydrates. Good carbohydrates are needed for hormone function, sleep, and mood.
When you release insulin (the hormone that you release when there is sugar in the blood), you want to release moderate amounts. That is why I advise good carbohydrates.
Insulin is the precursor to serotonin – the happy hormone, which is the precursor to melatonin – the sleep hormone.
If you cut down insulin production completely, your insulin release will go down, which means your serotonin will go down, which, of course, leads to low moods and possibly depression.
Serotonin is also a natural appetite suppressant, too.
So, without it, of course, you are more likely to feel ravenously hungry. It leads to a lack of satiety, cravings, and possibly binge-eating!
Extreme diets lead to extreme behaviors
Is Sleep Affected by the Keto Diet?
Last but not least is the impairment of sleep that occurs due to low carbohydrates and lack of melatonin. Sleep is imperative for optimum health.
During sleep, 75% of the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is produced. This is essential for hormone repair and the turnover of bone, muscle, collagen, and burn fat.
Also, during sleep, the regulation of two hormones that are linked to hunger happens. Grehlin is responsible for hunger, and leptin is responsible for feeling full.
In the daytime, these neurotransmitters are increased and decreased, signaling the need to consume calories.
With little sleep, these neurotransmitters become dysregulated. There can be an increase in grehlin and a decrease in leptin. This ultimately leads to an insatiable appetite, e.g… No matter what you eat, you are not feeling satisfied!
Sleep increases resistance to oxidative stress, which is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body.
Oxidative stress increases chronic inflammation. This damages DNA, proteins, and cells and leaves the body to be more susceptible to disease.
So, having diabetes, an autoimmune disease, has already opened up the inflammatory pathways to acquiring more autoimmune diseases, like hypothyroidism and coeliac disease.
You really need good sleep for optimum health!
A 2022 study on patients with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes shows a link between poor sleep and lower glucose tolerance. Good sleep is essential for blood sugar control in healthy subjects as well as diabetic subjects. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8994826/
That is why, on my Eat Burn Sleep plan, I advise good carbs in the evening so that you sleep well and be healthier.
If you have weight to lose, you will have a better body composition with good sleep.
Starving the body of good nutrition and bingeing due to a lack of serotonin and hormone imbalances and less sleep leads to weight gain, imbalanced sugar levels, lower moods, metabolic dysregulation, and making the body susceptible to more disease.
Is Keto a Healthy Choice to Treat Diabetes?
So you can already see why all of this disruption on the body would do anybody harm, let alone people with health conditions.
A well-fed, healthy body with the right nutrition at the right time throughout the day does not constantly send signals for more food, renders you depressed, and keeps you awake at night!
The keto diet is most definitely not a good healthy choice for diabetes type 1 and type 2 sufferers despite the initial experience of maintaining glucose.
As an autoimmune disease, it is essential for diabetes sufferers to focus on lowering chronic inflammation. Plus, it stabilizes blood sugar levels to alleviate their symptoms and avoid further complications.
Lowering inflammation is for long-term health and not a quick fix that jeopardizes health further.
Always check in with a health professional about any diets that you want to follow. Your health is your most precious asset.
What is the Best Diet for Diabetes Sufferers?
This anti-inflammatory platform for reducing inflammation holistically offers the best solutions for diabetes sufferers. It allows for the regulation of blood sugar levels and simultaneously for chronic inflammation to be tackled.
The method is finely calibrated, but it is not extreme, so it has no negative side effects – just positive ones that continue.
The anti-inflammatory meal planning and recipes are created with a good balance of foods from all of the important food groups.
Food and all of its components and nutrition can affect the function of the gut microbiota, which is important when it comes to gut and overall health. The keto is not a balanced diet.
Thousands of people around the world are healing, are at optimum health, and are in long-term remission because of the Eat Burn Sleep Method.
There’s a reason why extreme dieting and fasting like the keto diet were designed to be used under medical supervision (for epilepsy, not diabetes) within a hospital.
My advice is not to try anything extreme. Extreme diets cause extreme issues, both physically and mentally. I reiterate: make sure your doctor approves the diet that you do!
Your health is your most valuable asset. Invest in it and look after it.
You may also be interested in the following:
If you are looking to lower your cholesterol, please check this article.
Watch the videos. There are plenty to choose from! Including mental wellness, motivation, skincare and beauty, conditions, health taboos, nutrition advice…..(I keep adding and uploading!). I am continually researching and sharing.
Fixing Health Issues and Fine-Tuning Optimum Health
I recently enjoyed appearing on The Big Move podcast and chatting with Em Roberts.
We discussed:
*Taking charge of your health
*My approach to nutrition – minimizing damage
*Teaching educated moderation when it comes to health
*What chronic inflammation is
*Why gut health is so important
*Neurotransmitters and immune cells
*How Eat Burn Sleep helps with specific issues and ensures optimum health
*Removing the stigma around obesity
*Being a good role model for my children
*Taking the pressure off yourself not to be inspired every day
*How to get through phrases when you don’t feel on top form
*Talking to yourself for a positive outcome when it comes to bingeing
*Taking time away from screens for a good digestion
*The Red and Green Brick Wall System on Eat Burn Sleep
*The positives of social interaction
*How to keep a positive mindset daily
*Rewiring subconscious habits
I also share what I tell my boys about the key to happiness!
As a final takeaway, it is essential to:
Invest in your Health – it’s Your Most Valuable Asset.
I hope that you enjoy the podcast as much as I enjoyed being on it. Don’t forget to check out the podcasts on Eat Burn Sleep. I have amazing guests with incredible stories surrounding health.
Boost the Production of the Sleep Hormone Melatonin
I was asked to comment for The Sun recently on how to get your best night’s sleep.
Sleep is a huge focus of the Eat Burn Sleep program, of course, and I was pleased to share one top tip for a great night of sleep along with the rest of the panel!
There is still so much debate about whether the sun is good for you or bad for you, so I decided to do a post on it.
I have noticed that everyone recommends something different depending on the studies that they are most aligned with.
Also, let’s remember the focus of many campaigns discussing the perils of sunshine.
We have come from a culture of roasting in the sunshine to completely avoiding the sun, which results in either skin cancer or vitamin D deficiency.
Here is my take on it in a nutshell:
Sun exposure is so good for you! In moderation. With protection.
I will explain why.
How Does Sunshine Benefit Your Body?
There are multiple benefits that the mind and body receive from the sunshine, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Let’s start with vitamin D.
Vitamin D is essential for absorbing minerals to keep our bones, muscles, and teeth strong. It is also vital for our immunity and many more metabolic functions.
Unlike many essential vitamins obtained by food, vitamin D is synthesized through a photosynthetic reaction triggered by the presence of UVB radiation (which is from the sun).
90% is produced by sunlight and 10% by food.
The efficiency of vitamin D production from sunlight depends on the UVB protons that are penetrated into the skin.
Although the skin cells carry out this process, it is primarily the liver where the conversion occurs.
This is reduced if you are well-covered in clothing and sunscreen and have excess body fat.
What About Melanin and Sun Exposure?
Also, you must consider the skin pigment melanin—the darker the skin, the more vitamin D deficiency.
For instance, half an hour in the sun in a swimsuit yields 1.25mg of Vitamin D in blood circulation if you have light skin.
Tanned skin yields half of that, and dark skin yields half of that again at around .30mg.
This reveals, of course, that darker skin needs six times more skin exposure than pale skin for essential vitamin D photosynthesis.
It is recommended that a daily dose of 10-15 minutes for lighter skin and up to 120 minutes (dependent on skin pigments) of sun exposure provide good vitamin D production.
This also explains how winters and countries where light is restricted, and the need for clothes encourage the likeliness of SAD.
Many conditions are associated with a lack of vitamin D and less than optimal mental and physical health for all of us.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to sun-sensitive individuals and those taking medication that cause photosensitivity. They will need a good diet and supplements.
Vitamin D allows calcium absorption from the gastrointestinal tract.
Are Vitamin D Supplements Enough?
In my opinion, supplements are never enough. There is no comparison between supplements and foods (but they are necessary for some).
The body gets good vitamin D from food sources like mackerel, sardines, tuna, salmon, red meat, egg yolks, and mushrooms throughout these times.
Food is medicine.
Note: an anti-inflammatory, gut-healthy lifestyle supports your liver, immunity, cells, blood, and everything!
The bioavailability of nutrients in foods is always better than supplements because it is hard to increase serum levels via supplements alone.
It doesn’t even have to be organic, but food is always a better way of attaining the proper nutrients.
Do Vegetarians Lack Vitamin D?
Vegetarians may be at a greater risk of vitamin D deficiency because food sources of vitamin D are generally from animal sources. That is not the most significant concern with vegetarianism and veganism.
It is vitamins like B12 that vegetarians and vegans have to supplement.
If a vegetarian eats plenty of eggs, they may be getting enough B12, but plants do not contain bioactive forms of B12, so a vegan has to supplement.
Vitamin D is also present in dairy (but I don’t recommend dairy for many reasons), but it is hard to digest.
Although, it is interesting to note that people from Northern Europe are more likely to carry the gene that produces lactase, which allows them to digest lactose in the milk.
This means that these people can extract vitamin D from dairy. However, I can’t because I am from Morocco.
What Happens to Our Bodies Without Vitamin D?
Unfortunately, many Covid-19 fatalities were linked to vitamin D deficiency.
The coronavirus affected people with less sun because vitamin D is an immune regulator.
It is essential to have high vitamin D levels to fight viruses and stop autoimmune issues.
Vitamin D is important to maintain serum calcium and phosphorous levels to support metabolic functions, bone mineralization, and neuromuscular transmission.
Maintaining a good serum level is imperative to reduce many physical and mental conditions.
Without vitamin D, bones do not form properly, causing rickets in children and osteoporosis in women and men, and they go on to develop a painful disease called osteomalacia.
Breastfed infants of women who are vitamin D deficient are also at significant risk.
Without vitamin D, we are more prone to:
a weakened immune
low moods
depression
premenstrual tension
hormonal disorders
sleep disorders
metabolic conditions
being more susceptible to pain.
Should I Avoid the Sun on Statins?
You need vitamin D supplementation and exposure to sunshine if you are on statins.
Statins lower cholesterol, and you need cholesterol for vitamin D production.
Please follow the advice on sunbathing safely below to ensure you get maximum vitamin D.
Sun exposure and skin cancer surfaced in the late nineteenth century. People were cautioned to steer clear of the midday sun and not expose themselves to direct sunlight for more than ten minutes daily.
Three types of skin cancer became common worldwide, and the message was that too much sun caused skin cancer.
Yet, did you know that too little sunshine can be detrimental to other cancers?
Studies show that scientists are worried about the emphasis on avoiding skin cancer, which obscures the larger concerns of diseases that can be treated with sun exposure.
Too little vitamin D in the body is linked to significant illnesses.
So, getting moderate sun exposure is more likely to be beneficial than not.
Members can read specialized advice for cancer prevention and recovery support here.
Also, listen to my special guest, Karin Greenberg, on the Eat Burn Sleep podcast on Surviving Breast Cancer. Her technique in coping is inspirational!
Vitamin D induces cathelicidin, a polypeptide that effectively combats bacterial and viral infections.
This explains why effective treatment for influenza and tuberculosis in the last century was focused on putting patients in bed in the fresh air!
Also, this explains why people with sicknesses like tuberculosis, bronchitis, diabetes, rheumatic disorders, and wounds were sent to rest in sunny climes in later years.
Sunshine is linked to disease inhibition in arthritis, autoimmune diseases, thyroid, IBD, and many other chronic inflammation diseases.
How the Sunshine Helps Sleep
We are creatures programmed to be outdoors in the daylight and in bed when it is dark.
At this time, nocturnal melatonin is produced to aid in easier sleep patterns.
Melatonin is a key hormone for setting the body’s circadian rhythms.
Communicating a repeat signal to the brain and body, melatonin rises after dusk, commanding our bodies to sleep, and decreases throughout the night until we are exposed to sunlight or bright artificial light in the morning.
Active wakefulness is kicked in until dusk, and the cycle is repeated.
Melatonin also plays a vital role in reducing inflammation, countering infection, suppressing skin damage, and clearing other diseases.
Why the Sunshine Suppresses Appetite
Exposure to sunlight encourages the release of serotonin.
Also known as the happiness hormone, serotonin is a neurotransmitter produced in the central nervous system and the gut.
Serotonin regulates mood, sleep, appetite, digestion, memory, learning, and other cognitive functions.
As a precursor for melatonin, daylight exposure also affects serotonin and is only converted to melatonin in the darkness.
Moderately high serotonin levels result in positive moods and good mental well-being.
Modern-day indoor work and play activities reduce melatonin production.
So, if you work or play inside a lot, you must go outside regularly, seek beneficial lighting, and sleep in total darkness.
This will significantly affect energy, mood, and sleep quality.
Because sunlight helps regulate sleep and produce melatonin and serotonin, the body’s stress levels are decreased.
Eat Burn Sleep’s gut health program is packed with serotonin-inducing recipes that assist with balancing the gut-brain axis.
How to Sunbathe Safely
I love moderate sun exposure, with a hat on and SPF50 for my face and SPF30 for my body, which I reapply regularly.
Don’t forget hydration and drink lots of water (untreated, preferably).
I regularly use sunscreen by Organic Pharmacy (you can find the products I love on my Yalda Loves page).
What Sunscreen is Best?
I also use a mineral sunscreen, which I change regularly (because I love trying different skincare products). Plus, you need to buy a new one yearly because they go off.
I advise exposing the forearms and shins for thirty minutes between 12 noon and 3 pm throughout the warmer months for maximum vitamin D production.
It is important to remember that sunshine enters the skin, even with a high SPF sunscreen.
So, you can maximize vitamin D production by spending more time outside but with sunscreen on!
Without sunscreen, skin damage would be substantial (and vitamin D is not increased with longer spells in the sun).
It just makes sense to wear sunscreen and a hat to minimize the risk of photo-aging and skin cancer.
Also, moments without sunglasses are essential because wearing them all the time alters melatonin rhythms.
When sunlight enters your eyes, it stimulates the part of your retina that then cue your brain to produce serotonin: that feel-good hormone!
It is good to note also that we don’t store vitamin D from one season to another. We keep it in the liver, and we utilize it!
Benefits of Sun Exposure Summary:
Serotonin production – a natural appetite suppressant and better mood elevator!
Vitamin D – produced by the kidneys, allowing calcium absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. Stronger bones!
90% of vitamin D is produced from sunlight exposure and 10% from food
Vitamin D is essential for immunity and lowering inflammation
Better sleep – sunlight exposure supports our circadian rhythm and sleep function
Better mental health- reduces risks of depression, stress, and SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
Anti-inflammatory effects at the systemic level – disease protection
You can really feel the benefits of being outside in the sunshine.
Regarding food, exercise, having fun, being in the sun, and going to bed early, I always apply the same principle: moderation.
I am all about getting as much upside from all situations and as little downside as possible – and would recommend safe sun exposure for keeping happy, healthy, and the inflammation down!
Look after yourselves. Look after your health. It is the best form of self-respect and self-love.
Also, since we are talking about sunshine, this anti-inflammatory snack, which I call ‘Sunshine on a Plate!’ based on how it looks, will uplift you on the inside, too!
Serve with a slice of lemon in water – garden, porch, or poolside!
Eat Burn Sleep Corporate Talks and Workshops are delivered by the CEO and founder of Eat Burn Sleep – Yalda Alaoui, a Naturopathic Nutritionist.
Unique approach to boosting productivity, morale, health, and vitality.
She has earned a reputation as a globally recognized inflammation pioneer through her groundbreaking research into chronic inflammation and gut health. Yalda’s mission is to share her expertise and reach as many people as possible so that we all live our best lives, with more autonomy over our dietary and lifestyle choices, for long-term physical and mental health benefits.
Health Education as a Productivity and Retention Tool
She extends her education to the workplace and offers corporate talks, workshops, and masterclasses. Since many mental and physical health conditions that people suffer from are linked to chronic inflammation (which leads to absences, stress, and low morale) and how optimum health can be achieved (along with virus resistance), through her method – it is no wonder that the workshops are incredibly popular.
Feedback shows that mental and physical well-being is boosted, a stronger resilience against sickness and disease is achieved, disengagement decreases, productivity is increased, and morale is returned to the office.
As a former capital markets professional, Yalda understands the challenges of working in an intense office job, business trips, juggling home life, and keeping physically and mentally balanced.
She offers valuable insight into coping strategies optimized by the world-renowned, science-backed anti-inflammatory lifestyle she created.
Tailored to the needs of the Corporation, Yalda Alaoui delivers compelling, life-changing health talks, workshops, and masterclasses. Applicable to everyone. Beneficial to all.
Designed to boost health, morale, productivity, and vitality.
In talks or workshops, Yalda delivers complex information in easy-to-understand language, inspiring key takeaways and vital tools for a healthy, happy life. Of course, healthy, happy people benefit corporations:
Reducing employee absences
Boosting workplace morale
Improving mental well-being
Increasing good time management
Increasing drive and inspiration
Lifting employee engagement
Reducing employee turnover
Retaining good employees
Improving productivity
Improving motivation
Improving energy
Improving longevity
Decreasing the risk of burnouts
Enhancing work-life balance
Increasing profitability
Educational. Engaging. Inspirational.
Eat Burn Sleep Health Workshops, physical or virtual, including topics such as:
Masterclass on chronic inflammation
What is inflammation?
How is inflammation caused?
What is chronic inflammation?
Signs of chronic inflammation
Chronic inflammation conditions
The impact of chronic inflammation on physical and mental health
How to keep inflammation low
How Living a Low Inflammatory Lifestyle Benefits Work, Business & Home
Understanding the brain-gut axis to support cognitive functioning
How brain fog and low moods can be dissipated through gut bacteria
How reducing inflammation increases mental well-being
How to increase mental clarity, efficiency, and work quality
Improved work relationships through a stable body and mind
Optimal health for optimal business decisions
How this anti-inflammatory lifestyle increases energy and motivation
How this lifestyle enhances work-life balance
Resilience against disease and sickness
Decrease in burnout and stress-related sickness
Masterclass on Optimum Mental and Physical Health
The link between chronic inflammation and mental health
The link between chronic inflammation and physical health
Delving into the brain-gut connection
Neurotransmitters – how feeding the gut well affects mental health
How the Eat Burn Sleep anti-inflammatory lifestyle benefits mental and physical health
What exercise is anti-inflammatory?
What exercise creates inflammation?
Practical tips to support mental health on the weekend: activities, foods to eat, foods to avoid, nurturing practices, etc.
Practical tips to support mental health on weekdays: exercises, keeping stress at bay, foods to eat – equilibrating body and mind.
Stress Reduction and Improved Productivity in the Workplace/Home
Brain-gut axis eating plan to reduce stress
Protecting against oxidative stress
Strategy for managing hybrid/remote work and staying healthy
How sedentary behavior is associated with inflammation
Tips on movement for light and serotonin
Deep understanding of nutrition for improved focus
How timing of eating has a major impact on productivity and brain function
Debunking myths about food
Implications of a low-carb and high-carb diet
How dairy affects the human body
Bloating and digestive issues
Discussion about caffeine.
Nutrition when Traveling and Business Dinners
Keeping performance at peak
Mental clarity
Physical well-being
What to eat when traveling to avoid ‘jet lag’ sickness
Mental and physical well-being during time zone changes
What to eat at business dinners
What not to eat at business dinners
Keeping healthy the morning after business dinners
Optimum health when away from home
All talks and workshops include tools and tips around each topic, along with an in-depth Q&A.
Participation is encouraged. Applicable to everyone.
To track progress, questionnaires are distributed to attendees during the first and last workshops to assess:
how they would rate their health and habits
how they would rate the progress in their knowledge at the end of the workshops
whether the workshops have had a positive impact on their habits related to nutrition and health
how they rate the increase in their productivity as a result of improving their habits.
Attendees leave with handouts summarising the key points, the inspiration to act, and further reading recommendations.
Delivering life-changing talks that resonate, motivate, and optimize health and productivity, we guarantee your audience will be captivated by Yalda’s knowledge and delivery. Book yours today!
“You cannot outsource your health.”
All around the world, thousands have joined the revolutionary Eat Burn Sleep anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
Prescribed and used by Health Professionals and acclaimed by all members. Embraced by Employers.
Special packages are available for corporation well-being benefits enrolment.
Contact the Eat Burn Sleep Team for more information about how we can help you look after your employees’ mental and physical well-being on a non-financial retention incentive for the long term, setting the tone for your company’s internal values and ethos.
Raising Optimal Health Awareness on Men’s Radio Station
It was so much fun appearing on The Daily Show on Men’s Radio Station – with Russ Kane and Chantal Rickards OBE.
I was so grateful to join the radio program to raise awareness of how my anti-inflammatory method can help people live with optimum health.
It was good to highlight also that the anti-inflammatory program helps in surprising conditions, like depression and psoriasis (since it is not as well known as it should be, of course).
You see, all conditions you cannot catch are linked to chronic inflammation.
Here is the anti-inflammatory and optimum nutrition interview. It is worth a watch since Russ and Chantal so kindly said they had learned things they hadn’t heard before. (Also, we have some great laughs!).
I include some snippets from the radio interview about optimum health for those that are not able to listen at this moment:
After introducing myself and sharing my health journey: developing autoimmune diseases after my children were born, firstly, after my eldest was born, it was ulcerative colitis. Then, two years after my youngest was born, I developed a rare blood autoimmune condition called autoimmune hemolytic anemia (where your body destroys your red blood cells).
Then, I became resistant to medication.
For many people: medication does not always work.
Medication can keep you alive but not always make you well.
There was a point where I was scared for my life. I was being kept alive with blood transfusions and looking at my two lovely boys – and I knew I needed to find a way forward.
The doctors were excellent and doing their best, but at the end of the day, I thought,
‘It’s their job, and it’s my life! I only have one. So, I am going to fix it!’
So, I spent years researching and understanding that my diseases came from chronic inflammation – which is basically the cause of any disease that you cannot catch.
Like cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, endometriosis, and depression – all of these diseases have a link to chronic inflammation.
During the pandemic, we realized that when you have underlying inflammation, with diseases that you can catch (viruses), they are more dangerous because you have an impaired immune function.
The body is fighting itself.
Is Depression Really Linked to Inflammation?
Depression is an inflammatory disease. When post-mortems have been carried out on people that have died that had depression, it shows that they had much more elevated inflammation markers in the brain (which is called neuroinflammation).
So what happens is if you carry a gene for autoimmunity or depression or if you have any inflammation running through your body, depression switches on when so many factors contribute because you have the gene.
The problem with this is that people with depression who have been given anti-depressants find that after 18 months of medication, they report feeling no better than at the start of their journey.
The reason for this is when you have inflammation and neuro-inflammation in the case of depression, you can develop medication resistance.
Can You Take an Anti-inflammatory Drug for Depression?
Unfortunately, an Ibuprofen or similar won’t do the trick. It would work momentarily, but it doesn’t switch off the pathways. The way to do that is to adopt the right anti-inflammatory lifestyle.
So, through my healing journey and putting my autoimmune diseases into remission, I developed this anti-inflammatory lifestyle method that has healed me and thousands worldwide.
After three years, I retrained (from being an Investment Banker) and qualified as a Naturopathic Nutritionist in London, with a foundation in Biochemistry.
I continually deepen my research for each condition. Depression is one of my keen interests. In nutrition school, I wrote a 29-page paper on the causes of depression.
So many studies link depression to chronic inflammation.
Why Haven’t We Heard of Depression Being Linked to Inflammation Before?
It takes time. Studies came out, and inflammation markers are noted, but it doesn’t mean people have the solution to lower depression.
Until someone comes out with a solution, as I have with my Eat Burn Sleep platform, then awareness happens.
Depression is lifted by being on the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle program. There are many testimonials to prove mental wellness, like Tsveta’s & Mireille’s, along with many other conditions (click the dropdown on All Categories in Testimonials).
Then members tell their success stories like Christen Kinard did in the Daily Express. She suffered 20 years with depression and followed the lifestyle, and it has gone. She has also lost over four stone.
Inflammation also causes obesity!
What Lifestyle Should People Adopt for Optimal Health?
Well, I initially developed the optimum health lifestyle for me, and it needed to fit well in my life. I just wanted my life back, and I am not very patient.
I didn’t want it to be boring, and I didn’t want to cut out the booze.
I am only talking about 2-3 glasses. I drink in moderation, and I don’t do anything in extremes.
Always in moderation.
There may be other methods that reduce inflammation that work, but I will tell you about my method that successfully reduces inflammation naturally. It is all about bringing control over the low-hanging fruits.
There are many factors that we cannot control around us that might contribute to inflammation.
Like the quality of water or air surrounding us, or we could be getting a transdermal absorption of chemicals from the chairs we sit on, which triggers an immune response that increases inflammation.
So, I looked at what we can control. We can control food. We can control what we are thinking through wellness assistance. We can control the way we move.
It is very much about using an 80/20 approach. So, for instance, if you are at your desk, stick with non-inflammatory foods.
Use my traffic light meal plan for good gut health when you go out with your family and friends.
The anti-inflammatory plan contains a treatment system guideline.
My method also includes food lists. Sometimes it will be 70/30, but you can come back to it. You can always come back to the 80/20 method.
That makes the program joyful because it is all planned for you, with the option to deviate from the plan and then jump back on it again. (No guilt and no feelings of failure!).
All the while, the carefully devised recipes containing the essential compounds to reduce inflammation will also make you feel physically and mentally happier. There’s a proven science in it!
Let’s say you are in London and go out to get lunch from Marks and Spencer. You get a roll, a bag of crisps, a drink of water, and then maybe a latte. My suggestion would be to scrap that. Save wheat and milk for other occasions. Grab a Niçoise salad or take a lunchbox with you. There will be so many micronutrients in that salad.
These days, we are overfed but undernourished.
We get a lot of micronutrients, carbohydrates, fats, and protein but not the vitamins and minerals essential for the functioning of our bodies and brain.
When we are nourished, we are less hungry.
The body knows. If you have the right vitamins and minerals, you are full. If you go for crisps, a latte, and a dairy-based pudding, you probably have things that you have too much of.
We can have bigger bodies but be starving on the inside.
I will give you an example. In the old days in England, people had a full English breakfast, which was protein and vegetables, and a cup of tea with a splash of milk. Then all these cafes open all over the place, and people grab a latte and a chocolate croissant.
They suddenly have a pint of milk and all this wheat for breakfast. At lunch, they have a sandwich. In the evening, they go to Pizza Express and maybe have a side of dough balls.
Wheat has three times as much gluten these days. It is the way that we select the crops. Modification. It is yummier when it is elastic and chewier, but it literally sticks to your insides.
Russ declared that he had peanut butter on a banana and three espressos. You know that coffee is good for you. I wrote a post on the benefits of coffee on my Instagram account.
Coffee is good for you. 8% of the population is intolerant of coffee. They cannot process it, but for most people, coffee gives them focus and burns fat. It is full of antioxidants. Make sure you read: Is Coffee Good For You?
But three espressos? Maybe too much!
(Russ mentioned earlier that he stood at his desk rather than sat; his back was much better, and he doesn’t snack!).
It’s good that he stands and doesn’t snack. All of his core muscles are being activated.
I ask about his digestion because the Vegas nerve links the spine to the gastrointestinal tract.
So oftentimes, if you have back pain, you will have digestive problems, and vice versa, you will have digestive issues if you have back pain.
So it is important to have a strong core to have good digestion.
Seventy percent of your immune cells sit in your digestive system.
So, for strong immunity and low inflammation, it is very important to have good gut health.
Chantal stated that she had waited to hear about the link across the piece, and this was it!
Producing Neurotransmitters Makes You Feel Happier.
Chantal also mentioned commissioning a television series about twenty years ago, where ten British people were taken on three different trips over three years to a place where they created a holistic living center, and a lot of it was frame-worked by a nutritionist. They saw remarkable differences.
“Even with psoriasis, IBS, and sleeping, which helped people with their mental clarity and the ability to feel happier with life.” She stated.
“So I wondered whether it is the resolution of a physical problem that makes you feel better and less sad and depressed, or whether it is an actual physical reaction in terms of reducing the levels of inflammation in the system that makes you feel better?”.
I loved that Chantal brought this up. IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome) and Psoriasis are linked to inflammation, and members have had amazing results in alleviating all of these on the Eat Burn Sleep platform. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease.
Also, when you have one autoimmune disease, you can have a collection of them. I know many people who have multiple autoimmune diseases.
Once you have one autoimmune disease, the pathways are open. Most of these people generally have digestive issues, too. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a sign that you might have chronic inflammation.
When our Digestive System is Impaired – We are Not Producing Neurotransmitters
To answer Chantal’s question, the link goes both ways. We produce 60% of neurotransmitters in the gut. Serotonin – is the happy hormone, melatonin – is the sleep hormone, GABA – is the reward hormone, and dopamine (pleasure and motivation).
All of these are produced in the gut. When our digestive system is impaired, and we are not eating good food, we are not producing these neurotransmitters.
As a result, we are not feeling as good in our minds. There is a strong link between the brain and the gut. So, more studies show us that gratitude and prayer instantly improve our gut bacteria. So, the brain-gut connection goes both ways.
For example, you may visit the bathroom before an exam, or your stomach churns with nerves. That is how strongly the tummy and the brain are linked.
80% of children’s neurotransmitters are produced in the gut, and children express stress through their digestion, even more than adults.
Anxiety in children is often shown through digestion. I have a friend whose child was vomiting at night. It wasn’t food intolerance because I knew the child well, and they were eating different things.
If it was a food intolerance with different foods being eaten, it wouldn’t be projectile vomiting every night.
So, I advised them to rule out anything sinister first and visit the doctor. It turned out that it was stress-related, and after some adjustments at school, that child stopped vomiting at night.
Q&A about Optimum Health
Listeners sent messages with questions about the anti-inflammatory lifestyle and other important health issues:
What Do I Think about Mercury Fillings?
They need to be removed from your teeth, if possible. Mercury, lead, and heavy metals can bring heavy metal toxicity into your system that can bring depression and low energy.
What is also essential is to have foods that bind to the molecules, like seaweed, parsley, and coriander (there are many foods with chelating properties).
Eating a varied diet with lots of vegetables isn’t about being low fat and less sweet; it is the benefit in the body of these vitamins and minerals and getting rid of toxicity.
My Eat Burn Sleep method is very much about nourishing and not depriving.
What Do I Think About Marine Collagen Supplements?
Because of our diets these days, many people tend to lose the mucus layer along the gastrointestinal tract: gut health is poor, and the mucus layer has gone.
Then, what happens is that little particles get through the gut lining and go into the system.
Then, there is an immune response from the system, which is why some people think that they are intolerant to some foods because they react, and then it shows on an intolerance test. The problem is not the food; it is the fact that the lining has become porous.
One of the ways of strengthening the gut lining is to take collagen. It is packed with glutamine, which is an amino acid that helps the healing of soft tissues, as well as the gut lining.
I use grass-fed beef collagen powder. Sometimes, if I overindulge, I mix it in some juice or soups.
You must remember to drink lots of water. Collagen in the skin makes it plump because it draws on water. Well, remember to drink lots of water while taking collagen.
Russ mentioned that when he was growing up, nobody had allergies; suddenly, everyone has allergies now.
How come we survived thousands of years without allergies before now?
I had the same question myself, and Russ is 100% right. We are not a generation of hypochondriacs. I often wondered why my grandparents were able to eat everything and why I couldn’t, and here is the explanation:
Refrigeration happened. When that happened, we stopped doing preserves. There were fewer bacteria in the kitchen. All the preserves in jars were full of bacteria that were good for our guts.
As our world has become cleaner, our gut diversity has become poorer. On top of that, processed foods are packed with preservatives.
Preservatives wipe out and kill bacteria. If you eat McDonald’s, you are not only getting a few poor micronutrients but also wiping out good bacteria because of all the chemicals in it. That has made us weaker to so many foods.
The food has also changed around us. That is another debate.
Interestingly, Chantal mentioned that her Father was a Pathologist, and they were told never to wash their hands as children.
They were told completely the opposite, that they should be getting dirty while they were out in the garden, that they should be picking up food and eating stuff that wasn’t overly processed, and that bacteria is good for all of us.
Which reinforces what we were talking about.
I mentioned that I do the same. If my children drop food on the floor, I say, “Unless we are on the streets of India or Morocco, you are eating it!”.
How Can We Have Better Sleep?
It is super important to have a sound sleep. One hundred years ago, up to the invention of the lightbulb, we slept an average of 9 hours. Now, we sleep less, about 8 hours.
With less sleep, there are more chances of dementia and higher chances of many diseases.
All of our cells renew during sleep. During sleep, our hunger hormones, ghrelin, and leptin are regulated.
I don’t know whether you notice, but when you sleep less, you have a bigger appetite. When we sleep less, we also have less stable sugar levels and cravings, so there is more chance of diabetes.
We also have less HGH (Human Growth Hormone – for staying young and losing fat).
Hacks to Improve Sleep:
Stay away from screens an hour before bed. The blue light disrupts the circadian rhythm.
It is essential to set your circadian rhythm. This is what regulates sleep. A few things to help set it is to eat your meals at the same time every day and go to bed at the same time every day.
When we wake up, our cortisol levels go up. It is cortisol that springs us into action.
To help that cortisol to be released early in the morning and to stop you from being up at night, get twenty minutes of light in your eyes in the first hour of waking.
It signals to your body that it is daytime, and twelve hours later, your body will know that it is night-time and you will fall asleep better.
Should You Give up Alcohol Entirely?
There is a treat system on my anti-inflammatory method, but I am trying to convey to my subscribers that they are not ‘treats.’ I want them to enjoy them.
The reason why I allow them is that social interaction is the number one factor for longevity.
There’s a study where the world’s healthiest people live, and it is called ‘The Blue Zones,’ which has been conducted over decades, and it shows that in all these pockets of longevity all over the world (Japan, Sardinia, Greece, Costa Rica, and California).
Older people all have different diets, but they have one thing in common: social interaction.
So, in answer to this, if going tea-total meant no social interactions, then that is not good. I would much rather people had alcohol in moderation.
Also, wine has antioxidants and can help with circulation.
It is all about moderation, and my method is teaching people that, with a clear roadmap of how to do it – and with science backing everything I put forward.
Are Fermented Foods Good for the Gut?
With everything, it is about the small print. It is good when it is raw but not when there is sugar. All the time, in the supermarket, look at the small print. It is even worse in the US.
For example, supermarket bread: there are not many benefits. Sourdough bread – there are health benefits. It is not that you can’t have wheat because you can. It is about checking what is in the small print. People must educate themselves.
You cannot outsource health.
Your doctor can’t cook your food for you or sleep for you. Your nutritionist can’t pick the foods for you.
You have to become astute. My platform will help educate people about important nutrition and life choices.
Here are some teaser gut health recipes for optimum health. Eat varied meals worldwide inspired which will promote good gut bacteria diversity:
When people have an evening drink, they can fall asleep, but they have more chances of waking up in the middle of the night. Alcohol impairs good quality sleep.
It would be good to get out of this habit. If I am going to drink, I finish long before bed and drink lots of water before I go to bed so that it doesn’t disrupt my sleep.
We all need at least 9 hours of sleep. Make sure that you make the time. Dive into the Personalized Advice for Insomnia if you need the best insomnia help to turn it around.
Members have found that my Evening Bath Meditation ritual has helped them get into a good pattern of sleeping and resting well, enhancing their digestion and aiding in a sound sleep.
Of course, they have to be the right anti-inflammatory foods for optimum health! Just to be clear!
Reboot and Revive
