« If we took care of our health the way we take care of our entertainment,
then we would never get sick. »
François Gervais.
Hi, Chillers
Having given you a brief overview of anti-inflammatory diets, it’s time to delve deeper.
First, if this is the first article you’ve read here, I recommend checking out the “Food” section, then “Nutrition and Health,” and more specifically the articles on anti-inflammatory diets and the glycemic index, as this article is a logical continuation of the previous ones.
To understand where we’re going, we sometimes need to know where we’ve come from.
Stork, rose or cabbage?
It’s a little more complex than that, but we’ll try to keep it simple: we all come from the same cell that divided. And there were hundreds, thousands, billions of divisions to create an entire human body. But, despite this incredible number of cells that make up our organism, our gut microbiota is more numerous than all the other cells in our body combined.
We have three to four microbiomes depending on our sex: digestive, oral, cutaneous, and vaginal (if you don’t have one, don’t be sad, only you can write your name in the snow).
Our gut microbiota is so important for our balance that if our digestive state is disturbed, we can develop mental illnesses such as depressive states, for example, but not only that.
When it’s time to make the decision to change your eating habits
We can no longer afford to ignore basic nutritional knowledge.
Rather than trusting purveyors of snake oil and pills, rather than relying on the health advice of pseudo-professionals who always require you to reach for your wallet (what a coincidence…), it’s better to ask yourself the magic question, like in Clue or an Agatha Christie novel: “Who benefits?” If the people talking to you have things to sell you, like pills or miracle diets, for example, run! And don’t look back!
Even if the general principles remain the same, there are almost as many diets as there are people on Earth. To determine what suits us individually, we need to acquire general knowledge and then test it ourselves to finally discover what’s good and what’s bad for us.
Here are some examples of conditions that require a change in diet:
Waking up between 2 and 4 a.m. feeling slightly hot: This indicates a problem with an overloaded liver due to a diet that is too rich. This is one of the signs of fatty liver disease (hepatic steatosis). The liver is under stress, and action is needed.
Poor sleep, chronic fatigue, lack of energy, apathy.
Frequent illness in winter or during seasonal changes (two or more colds per year).
Recurring gastroenteritis or cystitis are also a sign that the gut flora is under stress.
To take control of your health, the liver and intestines are key.
By focusing on the biological role of food rather than its caloric value, you take the first step towards a healthy diet. To give you a clearer example: 100 kcal of potato chips and 100 kcal of green beans are equivalent in terms of calories. One provides you with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, while the other doesn’t nourish you and creates inflammatory foci. I’ll let you guess which one.
To take control of your health, regardless of age, fitness level, or overall health, it’s essential to adopt an anti-inflammatory diet (article available here). By improving our nutrition, we improve our internal environment, thus improving our gut and liver health—the two keys to our long-term well-being. And when we eat effectively, we also nourish our immune system.
Here are two or three additional tips to follow up on this first article:
First, regarding food intake. Nourishing our immune cells means providing them with the right vitamins and minerals, and pills are never as effective as fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s therefore best to prioritize fresh fruits and vegetables as a top priority, and if you’re in a pinch, frozen is an option. Preserved foods like jars or cans have virtually no vitamins.
Eliminate as many empty calories as possible, meaning all processed foods, because they are low in nutrients and are then stored as fat. By buying as many raw, unprocessed foods as possible, you provide your body with a maximum of nutrients. Do I need to remind you again that we were made to run naked in the woods? If you’re one of my loyal reader, I think not. I’m just trying to make you understand that it’s important to grasp that our food has changed far more in 70 years than in 3 million years.
Avoid refined fats: favor cold-pressed oils.
FYI, coconut oil withstands cooking but is rich in saturated fatty acids. Its nutritional value is low.
Favor fats containing omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for cardiovascular health, and B vitamins, which are good for skin and hair. Furthermore, good fats help prevent weight gain when consumed in small, reasonable quantities (of course!).
Heads up, this is going to be technical, but essential for vegan friends: The myelin sheath is composed of 70% plant-based fat, which is crucial for the central nervous system. Inside it, the nerve tissue is fatty tissue produced by our own metabolism, which we process ourselves, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. These are found either in animal products from animals that have consumed omega-3s, or, as vegans do, they produce their own EPA and DHA from ALA found in flax, chia, and hemp seeds, soy, walnuts, and rapeseed oil. Hence the absolute importance of long-chain omega-3s.
So, to put it simply, if you didn’t get that and you’re vegan: For your nervous system, regularly eat flax, chia, and hemp seeds, soy, walnuts, and rapeseed oil, for crying out loud! You’re welcome.
The recommended daily protein intake for an average adult is approximately 0.83g/kg per day, so you’d really have to be trying to become protein deficient!
In modern diets, which are often too salty, we need to pay attention to our potassium intake: fruits and vegetables, healthy fats… for example, bananas and nuts.
Use your teeth. Chew your food 20 times before swallowing. Fiber is only irritating when it hasn’t been chewed thoroughly. This small, simple action takes care of your gut and helps it absorb nutrients more effectively. Chewing allows you to get the most vitamins and minerals, develop and release flavors, and allows satiety hormones to take effect.
There are other things that can be deceptive, such as blood pressure, which naturally rises by one point every 10 years; however, this is perfectly normal.
There are certain products that, when mixed with others, create havoc in our bodies, and not literally, unfortunately. Indeed, consumed alone they have many virtues, but if we want to retain those benefits, there are some precautions to take.
Animal proteins, for those who eat them, when mixed with grains or starches, disrupt digestion and lead to putrefaction. It’s better to consume them with vegetables.
Tomatoes mixed with mozzarella or any other dairy product become acidic.
And what about dairy products?
Migraines are often caused by intolerance to dairy or gluten. If this applies to you, I suggest you take a look at Professor Jean Seignalet’s writings on the subject. Warning: spoiler alert! He basically tells you to stop consuming dairy products and eat more fruits and vegetables. Amazing news! 93% of the patients he studied reported complete remission.
Indeed, dairy products cross the blood-brain barrier and act like switches on nerve fibers. They are therefore detrimental to nerve impulses.
After the age of 7, almost all humans no longer produce lactase, the enzyme that allows them to digest milk. Dairy products are acidifying for the body and should either be consumed in very small quantities or not at all.
Slow-release sugars or fast-release sugars?
We no longer talk about slow-release carbohydrates; that was a mistake made by scientists at the time.
There are actually two types of carbohydrates:
Digestible carbohydrates → absorbed by the intestines to nourish us (glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, starch, glycogen). These are found in legumes, fruits, vegetables, etc. They provide energy to our bodies..
Non-digestible carbohydrates → fibers that are subsequently broken down by bacteria in the colon. This is the food for our gut microbiota, essential for a healthy gut flora.
What can be done to address the exposures of our modern society, such as pesticides and pollution?
Indeed, simply eating a balanced diet isn’t enough anymore these days…
Just so you know: glyphosate is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, so when we ingest it, we wreak havoc on our gut flora and reduce our immunity. Mmm! Makes you want to make a nice salad of F1 hybrid tomatoes! (Or not).
Pesticides are lipophilic endocrine disruptors.
By gently steaming our food al dente to allow it to “sweat.” This reduces its toxicity, provided you discard the cooking water, which becomes unfit for consumption.
We eliminate them by sweating, by exercising to sweat out toxins, by eating organic food, which means minimizing our exposure.
Too much of everything kills everything.
Be mindful of portion sizes. Eating too much acidifies the body, even if it’s just good fruits and vegetables. Too much is too much. We need to learn, or relearn, to listen to our TRUE satiety cues (which I’ll discuss in an upcoming article), and not what is actually just an emotional buffer designed to prevent us from experiencing our emotions (eating because we’re upset, stressed, or sad also acidifies our body, much more so than fully experiencing that unpleasant feeling, which ultimately lasts only a relatively short time).
Eating too much of a particular superfood, or because we believe that by overindulging in a certain vegetable or miracle spice, we can eat all the burgers we want, is also harmful.
Too many dietary supplements can also be detrimental to our health. What nourishes us isn’t in pill form.
And gluten: a fad or a real problem?
Gluten intolerance is spreading not because it’s a fad (it’s no fun being deprived of pizza for life, after all), but because of the industrial processing of wheat. This industrial gluten makes our intestines permeable and disrupts our immune system to varying degrees, depending on individual sensitivities.
Our bodies have adapted to nature for millennia, naturally and therefore very slowly. Today, the gap between our metabolism and industrial products is no longer a crack, but an abyssal chasm. In the past, beautiful golden wheat reached our armpits; today, wheat is short, poor, diseased, gray, ugly. And for our intestines, it’s a nightmare. Modern wheat is ultra-genetically modified, too elastic, a real “glue,” irritating; no living organism on Earth is designed to tolerate this garbage.
Here’s another one from Coluche, which is particularly apt: “When you think that all it would take is for nobody to buy it for it not to sell…” QED.
So, daily consumption of modern gluten, whether you’re intolerant or not, isn’t a good idea, unless you want a crappy immune system, of course.
What if we don’t change?
Type III diabetes, also known as Alzheimer’s, is actually caused by excess sugar. You could say that type II diabetes is a form of pre-Alzheimer’s, to put it simply. Knowing that diabetes can be cured by eating a balanced diet based on proteins, fruits and vegetables, cutting out refined sugars, and that’s it, is ridiculous. Very ridiculous.
Cancer develops and thrives in an acidic environment. That’s why an anti-inflammatory diet is key to minimizing the risk of cancer.
Medications: ah, the famous crutch. It would be great if they weren’t eliminated by liver detoxification. They strain the liver and acidify the body, thus leading to illness. Rather than immediately resorting to chemicals for minor ailments, try natural remedies such as propolis gum to help relieve sore throats, acid reflux, and toothaches, as it provides mild anesthesia.
Put your body to the test to make it stronger
Just as too much of everything is counterproductive, too much of “less” can be just as harmful. Yes, you read that right.
As I mentioned in my article on the glycemic index, it’s good to occasionally go out to eat and enjoy that famous F1 hybrid tomato salad or some fries, to pull an all-nighter, take a cold shower, spend a day wandering around Paris in the midst of a pollution frenzy, and so on.
Putting your body in uncomfortable situations from time to time makes it stronger, provided you don’t push it beyond its limits.
To do this, you need to take the time to get to know yourself, to observe yourself, so you can then test yourself, aiming to experience discomfort without ever going into the danger zone.
XO 🌱
Sources :
– Livre « Mangez mieux et meilleur », Pr Henri Joyeux & Jean Joyeux, ed. Du Rocher, 2017.
– Conférence du professeur Henri Joyeux et Jean Joyeux sur l’alimentation anti cancer à laquelle j’ai participé le 19 mai.
– Livre « The obesity code » du Dr Jason Fung, ed. Greystone Books, 2016.
