Focus:
Connecting with your intuition — trust that a neutral, calm feeling about something means you are connecting with your intuition.
A feeling of fear, urgency, or any excitatory feeling means the decision is coming from dysregulation, not intuition.
Repetition:
I am connected with my intuition.
My intuition knows what my body needs, and it speaks to me from a place of calm and neutrality.
I will slow down and take the time to listen to my intuition and make measured decisions.
B2
Begin taking B2 this week along with your B1 supplement. The dosage of B2 is 400 mg per day.
Bulk Supplements is always a good option so there are no added ingredients. The starches or additives in supplements can derail your gut healing protocol.
Education Phase
Over the next few months, we will focus on education and will not implement many new things. Keep going with the food as you are, keep up your morning routine, meditation and prayer practices, keep working on your mindset, get a daily set of habits that rebuild your microbiome, immune system and nervous system.
We will begin the ancestral gut healing phase of the protocol in a few months and until then, let’s learn more about why we are doing what we are doing!
Anti-Nutrients in Plants
Let’s dive into anti-nutrients in plants this week so we can have a better understanding of why we leave out some plants we thought were healthy!
Keep in mind some plants were not eaten until the last few centuries and still have no real benefit for us, such as tomatoes; some plants were/are eaten ancestrally but are not prepared properly by the modern human, such as grains.
Many plants are very different from their origins and have been altered to be more palatable such as the banana.
Additionally, some plants will be fine in the future but with a compromised microbiome should not be consumed for at least two years, such as parsnips.
Plants are necessary for the modern human, not necessarily the traditional ancestral human with a perfect microbiome. We need them to feed our birth microbes at the very least and some plants are helpful to use medicinally and strategically.
There are three macro-nutrients: fat, protein and carbohydrates. We need the first two; they are essential which means we get sick or die without them. The third is non-essential, meaning we do not get sick or die without them. So we do not need them in bulk amounts as a food per se.
Plants are not bad and some people do need to take a break from them for a time and that is OK! You can bring them back in in the future when some healing has happened, take the time without plants to make peace with plants and to welcome them back into your diet in your imagination.
The best ways to prepare plants are teas, tinctures, cooking in stock or fat for 20 to 30 minutes, soaked, sprouted, fermented, boiled and drained multiple times, or with another food that would reduce anti-nutrients such as dairy does for oxalates.
Soluble fibre can be used medicinally as it binds to fat soluble toxins such as microplastics and recirculating hormones in the bile and removes them.
Insoluble fibre, despite what we were previously taught, is not necessary for the human body and for someone with a compromised microbiome should be avoided or properly prepared.
- The colon struggles to ferment insoluble fibre and it can exacerbate constipation as a result.
- There is no evidence that the colon needs help keeping itself clean; fibre does not “keep things moving” as peristalsis does that for us.
- The intestines not only do not need to be “scrubbed” as they replace themselves two times per week but also fibre damages them requiring the formation of mucous to protect themselves.
Here are some of the anti-nutrients/plant toxins we know of to date and how they behave.
Phytates
All seeds are high in phytic acid; they are there to make sure seeds have minerals to grow once planted, and these minerals are not available to us except in a small fraction of the nutrition facts. Phytates bind to and remove the minerals from the other foods we eat.
Goitrogens
Compounds that disrupt thyroid hormone synthesis, either by inhibiting iodine uptake or by interfering with the enzymes involved in hormone production, can lead to the increase of TSH.
Saponins
Irritating to mucous membranes, interferes with nutrient absorption, cytotoxicity, increases gut permeability contributing to leaky gut.
Amylase Inhibitors
Gastrointestinal issues, increase uric acid.
Phytoestrogens
Suppress thyroid function, iodine absorption, affect bone density in women during and after hormonal changes, risk for the unborn, endocrine disruptors, implicated in infertility.
Tannins
Headaches, skin rashes, carcinogen, can cause IBS, kidney and liver damage.
Lectins
Stick to the gut lining and pierce holes, gastrointestinal issues, nausea and vomiting, contribute to autoimmune, can cause allergic reactions, chronic inflammation, prohibit absorption of minerals, food poisoning, malnutrition.
Oligosaccharides
Ferment instead of digesting in the colon and cause distress in the digestion.
Solanine
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach or abdominal pain, headache, fever or hypothermia, slow pulse or breathing, vision changes, hallucinations, loss of sensation, delirium, neurotoxin.
Glycoalkaloids
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, membrane disruptors, causing cells to leak or burst open, neurotoxin.
Cyanogenic Glycosides
Creates cyanide.
Oxalates
Tiny crystals that accumulate in the body until the intake is stopped and the body releases them: hearing loss, mood changes, skin rashes, kidney stones, painful and itchy diarrhoea upon release, gout, mineral absorption, tinnitus, inflammation of mucous membranes, painful joints.
Removing and Reintroducing
We remove the foods that contain high amounts of these for a time as most of us have over-consumed them during our lives. Our bodies need a break from some and still others to no longer consume. If we are perfectly healthy, presenting no symptoms and we know how to prepare and consume these foods properly, some of them can be eaten in the future.
Plants best avoided are nightshades, foods with high-lectins and high-oxalate foods. The caveat would be you need to actually consume about 50 mg of oxalates per day to avoid large releases or “dumps” as they are commonly called, and if you want to consume higher oxalate foods, drink your fermented dairy with them. Oxalates bind to calcium and the dairy will move them through the body without accumulation.
Preparing Plants Properly
Plants to learn how to properly prepare in the future before eating would be:
- Potatoes, if you choose (ferment and drain, rinsing well and discarding liquid)
- Corn (learn the process of nixtamalization)
- Wheat (only use ancient grain, sprout and ferment for 72 hours to reduce gluten from 72,000 ppm to 12 ppm)
- All seeds (including nuts, grains and legumes): soak, ferment or sprout, and choose nuts that are highest in fat like macadamia and pecan, or highest in carbs like almond, walnut and pistachio, and forgo the cashew altogether.
I personally would consider not bringing in potatoes and other nightshades or rice if you have had a nervous system disorder or other more serious illnesses.
Reconsidering Plants
As we take this little food vacation from a lot of the plants you may be used to, take some time to learn which ones you may want to incorporate again. See if they:
- Are actually a food — and if so, how have they been prepared by ancestors or modern, ancestral tribes?
- Grow in your area — eating locally and in season will allow your body to release anti-nutrients, plant toxins and even fructose, and it is truly the way your microbiome understands plants as foods.
- Have health benefits that outweigh the negative — for instance, English ivy tea is reputed to stop asthma attacks and anaphylactic reactions, and beets can be very supportive for the bile.
When we near the place where we can add more plants in and when we are done with the two years, you will have a completely different perspective and understanding of what the body needs.
Keep in mind that grocery stores were not even a part of everyday life until the 1950s. Our bodies do not understand “eating the rainbow,” endless variety and eating foods that do not match up with our environment; bodies much prefer reliable nutrients and not variety.
Preparation, where you live in the world and what is local to you, and smaller amounts, are always the best methods when it comes to plants. If you live close to the equator, have no symptoms and are outside a lot, you can eat many more plants than someone in Canada. Plants cause a buildup of deuterium in the cells (heavy water) and the sun is the perfect remedy! Location is key!
Resolve to make a list of plants you love, write why you love them and research where they originated, how they were prepared, are they altered by breeding, what are the anti-nutrients they contain, what are the health benefits and are those accurate? You will find many plants were not eaten ancestrally but in times of necessity and famine, and have only been eaten in the last 500 years, which is not truly ancestral.
We do not absorb nutrients from plants the way we do from animal foods. Most plant matter is broken down by the bacteria in our colon and animal foods are digested in our small intestine.
Food history can be tricky and is almost always viewed and written about by those in civilization, which is where the people were the least healthy. It is the rural, ancestral person we are trying to model our diet after and they often did not pass down writings. So we use our wisdom. What is local, what would I be eating close to me if there were no grocery stores, and how have these foods been prepared to make them safe and edible?
Humans are the only “animals” that must process plant foods outside of our bodies. Peoples that thrived did so from animal foods. Those in cities, under controlled famines, serfdom or slavery were the people who survived on plants and often high grain. This never correlated with health or longevity.
Plants are good! Plants are beautiful and they deserve our reverence and respect; they are here to help us and it is up to us to know how they could harm us.
Eat Like a Human by Dr. Bill Schindler is an excellent read if you are looking to understand this subject more.
Amazing work this week, you are doing great!!