Gut Series Archives

March 10, 2021March 10, 2021

Gut Health – All disease begins in the gut

“…could a revolutionary probiotic dramatically extend the human life span?… Marco Ruggiero launched a probiotic supplement which contains 10 bacteria, vitamin D and E, chondroitin sulphate, colostrum and kefir…produce something similar to the human protein Klotho… Ruggiero states that Klotho Formula “will induce age-reversal”. It’s Benjamin Button stuff.” – Kate Spicer, Vogue April 2019

Gut Health - All disease begins in the gut

I’ve been nagging about gut problems, different invaders, conditions and what we can do to feel better. But one thing that’s becoming more and more popular these days are the probiotics and prebiotics. If you’re like me you’ve picked up the growing popularity towards the topic “gut health” and “gut-brain-connection”. All the health gurus and websites recommend their favorite supplements and guidelines towards “healing your gut to healing your body”. Even most influencers have jumped on the bandwagon. And they all have the answers under the sun as to how they healed everything. So in this blog post I’m going to share my favorite probiotics and prebiotics with you, because they really work!

Recommendations

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the topic isn’t a newsflash for today’s “money focus society”, trying to trick us into something abstract and misleading paths, but been around for thousands of years (as Hippocrates said “all disease begins in the gut”). With that said. Today we have more products available than ever before, which shows how it’s been growing in the past couple of years. A few years back the pharmacy had like three brands on their shelves. Since then it has all grown like the green grass after a long winter.

I did my research as usual and found valuable information. Mainly on websites and YouTube. Some pretty reliable sources I would recommend are Dr. Berg (link YouTube), Dr. Axe (link YouTube) and Thomas Delauer (link YouTube). Delauer is a favorite of mine due to the fact that he’s digging deep amongst the thousands of articles and researches that’s been done, and give you valuable information that broadens your perception. For example, he mentions that gut strains from Lactobacillus Acidophilus grow faster than most bacteria and can outnumber several other important ones (link).

And as I’ve said before, not only are we built with more bacteria than cells. But there’re also many different kinds of strains with different purposes. Therefore you have to vary your intake. Not only with a pill, but the way you live so the bacteria can thrive, and with food containing naturally fermented bacterias. My two favorite probiotics (and I’ve been trying a couple) contain more than ten strains. The more the better, but as you have just been reading, it’s also important to get the right ones. Delauer mentions that Lactobacillus Rhamnosus is the most researched one (link), so choose a brand with a high amount of it.

Quotes from Vogue

In Vogue’s April issue they surprisingly had an article on this subject, as I quoted above. They brought up a couple of other things worth mentioning; “The solution lies not in antibiotics but in probiotics…”. Instead of killing our microbiome, we can tweak it to fight all kinds of issues” – Eve Kalinik author of Be Good to your gut

“The human body contains many trillions of microbes. Their interactions create vitamins, break down our food, fight infections and communicate with our genes: without a microbiome we are royally buggered. A healthy person has several hundred different species of microbes in their gut; an unhealthy person can have as few as 30.”

“…it predicts your visceral fat mass… Before the day when doctors start prescribing medical-grade probiotics targeted to treat illnesses… we will see them being prescribed alongside drugs.” – Caroline Le Roy researcher at King’s College London

“If you give someone obese with type 2 diabetes an FMT (Faecal Microbiota Transplant) from the microbiome of a skinny person, you can improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism” – Le Roy

“Study after study has shown that gut problems are more common in those with mental health issues.”

I hope this is enough inspiration for you to start taking your probiotic!

My favorite probiotics for gut health

Greatlife probiotics

These ones you feel immediately, my stomach starts to rumble and it feels like a battle going on between the ones I just sent down and the ones already living in there. In my opinion they give you a more regular, optimal and healthy gut in a couple of days.

Probi Holistic (don’t know if this product’s only available in Sweden)

These are good if you’re having loose stools after a vacation, sickness or bad food. They’re also effective in treating diarrhea after antibiotic use. More remedies regarding the gut will soon be posted.

March 4, 2021March 4, 2021

The best vegan protein powder

Hello! If you’re a vegan or a vegetarian or just looking for a drinkable protein powder, keep reading!

Since my mission nowadays is to cut back on sugars and keep my protein high I’m forced to find alternatives due to the fact that I’m not a meat-eater. It has not been an easy task, there’re a lot of quite disgusting options out there, to say the least… But now I think I found the best ones for me yet!

This protein powder from Weider is made from pea- and rice protein. It’s gluten-free, lactose-free, and sweetened with Stevia. I’ve tried chocolate, vanilla, and Iced Cappuccino, and the last one’s my favorite. It almost tastes like real iced coffee. Put it in a glass with ice, water, and cold coffee, and you get yourself a perfect drink for warm days.

I recently found Bulkpowder, and they’re having a lot of great options. This one’s also made with pea- and rice protein, and sweetened with Stevia. If you get a stomachache or other issues related to protein powders, these contain digestive enzymes and may be a great solution for that.

Lastly we have another one from Bulkpowder. This protein powder is similar to the one above, but it also contains pumpkin protein and fewer ingredients, which in my opinion, is a positive advantage.

I would suggest blending them with coconut milk (not canned), almond milk, or oat milk. My personal favorite, when it comes to oat milk, are the products from the brand “Oatly”. Cheers!

August 4, 2020August 4, 2020

The reason why the “perfect diet” doesn’t exist

If you can’t kill the animal, don’t eat it?

From an ethical and moral side of the story, I would wish everyone to become vegan or vegetarian. I was a strict vegan for several years only because I was thinking about the animals and was willing to do everything in my power to consume less. The thought of killing an animal was unbearable. “If you can’t kill the animal, don’t eat it” was my philosophy. I can’t hurt a fly, so it’s not hard to see where this story will end…

However, as time went by, my health didn’t become any better. I was doing everything right in all the areas around eating, sleeping, exercising, and so forth. Then my focus leaned towards gut health. I came across Candida and started to look into that more. What it was, how you get it, why you get it, how you feel if you have it etc. There’s so much information, so many stories out there. You can read for days about the same stuff, so sooner or later your brain will become overloaded or exhausted.

There’s only one of you

All bodies are unique. We have different prerequisites, are born in different places (under different conditions), our mineral and vitamin foundation varies and our hormones shift during different days. So, to compare ourselves to others is like copying a haystack. My heart tells me that everyone should be vegan. But my brain says otherwise, at least until you’ve been checking or correcting imbalances in the body.

Some areas you need to look into, before I would recommend a diet are;

Are you female or male?

How old are you?

How much body fat do you have?

How much training experience?

Are you deficit in any of the essential minerals or vitamins?

Do you have regular periods?

How is your gut health?

And then a full-body exam with liver tests and so forth.

From there, I could get a better picture of what’s going on in your body and recommend what I think would be suitable for you right now. So, my message to you is: don’t go on a diet that doesn’t feel right for you. Don’t do something only because your closest friend succeeded with that specific diet. If you try something and it doesn’t feel right or make you feel worse, switch to another.

Different food affects us differently

To give an example. If you start the ketogenic diet it may feel great initially, but then worse or like it did before you started the journey. Hormones and the shift between them often cause that, and research has shown that the Ketogenic diet can raise estrogen and cortisol levels in women (link to article), so it all comes down to your starting point in those areas. Maybe the diet doesn’t fit for you as well as it does for your boyfriend’s hormones.

Another example is a vegan or vegetarian diet. If you have a sensitive gut like leaky gut or not enough good bacteria, there’s a chance your body can’t absorb all the nutrients. It may raise some of the minerals while others get suppressed. For example, the body has a really hard time absorbing zink so things like cereals and a lot of fiber may not be for you (phytate in some fiber inhibits zinc uptake).

I would suggest you do some research before you start something long term. Make sure you have checked with your doctor before. And if you can, your hormones, minerals and you’re your overall health. Due to the fact, that there’s no “one solution fits all”, is the reason why I give different tips and talk about what’s been working/is working for me. But in the end, it’s your body, so you know what’s work best for you.

I also want to point out that a “diet” doesn’t have to be something that makes you lose weight. It’s not what it’s all about! When I say diet, I mean a long term eating style that makes you feel as good as you can and deserve — a way of living for optimal health.