Food Impact on Gut Health
Welcome to Active Human’s 8th newsletter.
Today’s newsletter is in continuation with the last 2 newsletters “How to Make Your Gut Healthy” and Why to Make Your Gut Healthy.
In the last week, I again made 4 -5 mistakes, but I will continue this protocol.
How is it going for you and what has been your experience, please let me know in the comment sections.
Today’s newsletter is “Food Impact on Gut Health” and next Saturday will be “Stress Impact on Gut Health” and the next one will be What to Do “If Gut Issues are Too Much”.
Our Food habits can be the most powerful but also the most difficult to change.
Most of us today generation have intolerance to some kind of food and some food goes well with our body type. Listening to your body, and energy level after eating them will tell you which food is your food. Whenever you doubt one food item and you feel it causing you gut issues. One way to check it is only to eat that item on an empty stomach and then not eat anything for the next 2-3 hrs and see how your bloating, and stomach tension is.
Food's main job was to nourish the body and nourish the spirit. However, in recent times, food has been used to appeal to the 5 senses: eyes, nose, tongue, ear, and imagination using color, artificial fragrance, addictive ingredients, and celebrity videos to provoke the desire.
That's why most ads and most unhealthy food packaging have * somewhere. You know the true conditions behind that *: "Enhance effects are used on this image to provoke the desire in you."
No kid, no adult can resist those ads with mayonnaise oozing out of burgers, thick mango drink slowly falling on the tongue of a celebrity, or chips chewed with the sound of the crunch by a famous cricketer.
That's one reason I removed the TV from our house after our daughter was born. I faced a lot of friction within my family. But my stand was so many visuals, so many stress-inducing sounds of daily soaps, and wrong influences by celebrity actors should not be part of our daughter's life.
My mother was not convinced to remove her morning sugary milk tea. Her argument was, that she recently got diabetes but her morning tea has been since her childhood. My argument was the amount of physical work she used to do in 1980 and the physical work she did in 2023 have all the answers.
Never believe the diet of your parents was the diet of your ancestors. Our parents are also victims of urbanization and the industrialization of food. My mother has known white/brown bread since her childhood and she doesn't consider it processed food.
We eat most junk food in the evening and dinner because our willpower is lower at that time. Whole-day stress depletes electrolytes in the body so our craving is highest and our analytical decision-making is lower.
When your body is low on electrolytes, glucose, and fats and you crave junk, substitute it with roasted salted Cashews/Fox Nut/ Pumpkin Seeds or fruits with some salt. Your craving will calm down because your body’s needs are fulfilled. These healthy snacks also have potassium and magnesium in them and when you make them salted then you add some sodium to them too.
Sodium brings outer cellular level hydration but potassium brings inner cellular level hydration. Processed food gives you high sodium but no potassium which is not a balanced electrolyte. Infact high sodium is known to reduce potassium in the body.
Processed food by design increases inflammation in the gut and then in the body because of oil used, high sodium, and additive and artificial flavors and preservatives. They can not help it.
Whatever life you are left with. Keep this awareness and invest some effort to correct your food habits. It will have a long-lasting impact on you and your family members only.
I am making changes and struggling too, but I am in. And that is why I understand your struggle too.
See you, Next Saturday,
Manish Bhagwani,
Human → Active Human
Research papers:
The Imbalance of Sodium and Potassium Intake: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9237821/
Ultra-processed food consumption, cancer risk and inflammation: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00017-2/fulltext
Potassium is for intracellular hydration: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5716641/
You mentioned "fruits with some salt" is it necessary to add salt, is there any reason behind it?