Gut Microbiome Affects Your Brain

Gut Microbiome Affects Your Brain

Gut Microbiome Affects Your Brain

The Gut-Brain-Axis (GBA) references the communication between your brain and your gut. The GBA is how your gut Microbiome affects your brain. Your gut consists of the stomach, small intestines and large intestines. Your gut is commonly referred to as “your second brain” because there are 500 million neurons that communicate from the gut to the brain; this is actually 5 times more neurons than neurons from the spinal cord to your brain! Very important, the communication is bi-directional – your brain communicates to your gut what is going on and your gut communicates to your brain what is going on.

Also, your gut uses more than 30 neurotransmitters that are identical to neurotransmitters found in your brain. These neurotransmitters affect how you think and how you feel. As an example, the majority of your serotonin, 90%, is actually found in your bowels and not the brain. Serotonin is the key neurotransmitter in depression. Most depression has everything to do how the gut Microbiome affects your brain. The other neurotransmitters that are in your gut and influence your brain are: dopamine, norepinephrine, glutamate, acetlycholine and nitric oxide along with others.

Third, the development of our gut in utero comes from the same tissue that develops the central nervous system. Both your gut and your brain develop out of the neural crest. This common place of origin may be the reason for the shared neurotransmitters too.

Research Studies on Gut Microbiome Affecting Your Brain

In recent years, there has been increasing amounts of research proving how the gut Microbiome affects your brain. This research shows that communication from the gut to the brain is influenced by the Microbiota of the intestinal tract. These studies have revealed that people with different types of gastro-intestinal disorders, such as IBS, IBD, Crohn’s disease, collitis, have altered bacterial strains from people who do not have gastro-intestinal disorders. And since this is a bi-directional communication pathway, communication from the brain to the gut plays a role in effecting the Microbiota of the gut also. This has been evidenced by several studies that looked at how stressful situations altered the gut Microbiota in humans as well as rats.

In a very informative article in the Journal of Medicinal Food, the author Leo Galland writes in his conclusion that studies on patients with liver cirrhosis and short bowel syndrome saw enough pathological changes to their brains that these researchers “speculate on possible adverse effects of gut microbes in alcohol dependence, CFS, fibromyalgia, RLS, ASD, schizophrenia, mood disorders, and degenerative or autoimmune neurologic disease.”1 CFS(chroinc fatigue syndrome), RLS(restless leg syndrome), ASD(autism spectrum disorder). These researchers had noted negative effects to the central nervous system that were “attributed to alterations in bacterial community structure (dysbiosis), SIBO, and increased intestinal permeability.”1 SIBO(small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). For more detailed information on Liver health and your Microbiome please click.

There have been a number of studies showing how different bacterial strains alter brain chemistry.  Since your gut uses around 30 neurotransmitters that are also used in your brain, it has been learned that different bacteria alter which and how much of these neurotransmitters get produced. Unhealthy strains of bacteria cause different neurotransmitters to be produced that are out of balance from the neurotransmitters that are produced from healthy strains of bacteria that keep your brain in balance and functioning well.

IBS is now Considered a Gut-Brain-Axis Problem

The more research that is being done on the Microbiome, the more we learn how your gut Microbiome affects your brain. As a result of all the research looking at the Microbiome and it’s effects to your overall health, researchers are attributing increasing amounts of health problems to the gut Microbiome. As an example, now IBS (irritable Bowel Syndrome) is actually considered a Gut-Brain-Axis problem, not just an intestinal disorder.

This is years, actually decades in the making for Western Medicine, which has all these prior years separated the different organs for all diseases/disorders. While it has been the Wholistic Health Care providers, Acupuncturists/Herbalists, Naturopaths, Ayuervedic Practitioners, who always saw the whole picture. Because of course you can’t separate out any part of the body from having an effect on other parts. It is 1 organism because of all the communication that goes on within it.

1 Galland, L. 2014 Dec 1. The Gut Microbiome and the Brain. Journal of Medicinal Food, 17(12): 1261-1272. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4259177/

Liver Health and Your Microbiome

Liver Health and your Microbiome                           Liver Health and Your Microbiome

The human Microbiome is your body’s environment – the inside and the outside. Your body’s environment is what keeps you healthy, or what allows diseases to occur. Everyday you make choices that affect your Microbiome. Your body’s environment consists of the bacteria, fungi, viruses, protists and archaea that live in your body and on your body. We are supposed to have health promoting organisms, bacteria, viruses, etc., but if the health promoting bacteria become outnumbered by un-healthy strains of bacteria, viruses, or fungi, inflammation ensues.Your liver health and your Microbiome are integrally connected. Inflamed tissues are an altered Microbiome, which then is an easier environment for un-healthy organisms to thrive in. The longer the environment is inflamed for and houses pathogenic bacteria, viruses,    fungi, protists and archaea the more the environment gets altered, making it progressively easier for  un-healthy strains of organisms to thrive which then leads to disease. Think of the perfect storm, and the merging of environments that are catalysts to each other.

How Does Your Microbiome Affect Your Liver?

Liver health and your Microbiome are directly effected by your intestinal tract – and it’s own Microbiota. From the intestines blood is routed to the liver through the hepatic portal vein. This blood being delivered has the absorbed nutrients from digested food and also carries toxins and medications from the intestinal tract to the liver. Studies have shown the liver being effected by bacteria and fungi in people with unhealthy bacterial and fungal over growths in the intestinal tract. These pathogenic organisms do trans-locate and then cause problems to the liver which cumulatively can contribute to cirrhosis.

Multiple studies on people with cirrhosis have all proved that compared with people who do not have cirrhosis, the people with cirrhosis have bacterial strains not found in the people who do not have cirrhosis. Also, the people with cirrhosis have  many different types of strains of bacteria, not just 10-20, but upwards of 30-40 of these are strains of bacteria that people that don’t have cirrhosis do not have.

Liver Health and Your Microbiome as relates to Bacterial Toxins

A very common toxin from bacteria is called the Lipopolysaccharide. This toxin does trans-locate from the intestinal tract to the liver and it is known to cause liver damage as well as damage to other parts of your body. Often the term “endotoxin” is used in reference to toxins generated from bacteria. It is known that Lipopolysaccharides, endotoxins, cause changes to the immune system, the lymph system, brain chemistry, the kidneys, the heart, the arteries and veins, reproductive hormones as well as the liver.

A great research study by Seki and colleagues proved that the intestinal bacteria/ microflora was the main source of Lipopolysaccharides entering the liver through the portal hepatic vein and this proved to be “an important prerequisite for the development of liver fibrosis during chronic liver injury.”1 This research is very important in showing how your liver health and your Microbiome are integrally related. For more detailed information on how the gut Microbiome affects your brain please click here.

In another great article in the British Journal of Pharmacology, “The multiple organ dysfunction syndrome caused by endotoxin in the rat: attenuation of liver dysfunction by inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase.”2 The researchers found that Lipopolysaccharides “caused a profound hypotension associated with decreases in cardiac output and oxygen delivery, lactic acidosis, renal and liver dysfunction, and thrombocytopenia.2. This means that blood pressure was reduced enough to cause a low heart rate resulting in not enough oxygen to the entire body resulting in lactic acid build up negatively effecting the kidneys and liver and causing low platelets resulting in lack of clotting.

Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis is prevalent worldwide, and mostly preventable. Liver cirrhosis is the result of a combination of a number of chronic liver diseases. Cirrhosis happens over a number of years. And once liver cirrhosis occurs, the cells of the liver die and either a person gets a liver transplant or they die. Because it does take years for cirrhosis to develop, and there are not glaring symptoms until there is a really big problem, most people do not even realize they might be heading that way.

Contributing Factors to Poor Liver Health

A diet high in processed foods is very taxing to the liver because of the man-made chemicals in processed foods. A diet high in trans-fats is also very taxing to the liver. All pharmaceutical medications, even over the counter medications, are very demanding on the liver and with long-term use end up causing liver problems. It is possible to keep your liver healthy through your lifestyle and Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse can teach you that lifestyle.

Create Liver Health

Liver health and your Microbiome are mostly under your control. You can live a lifestyle that prevents you from getting cirrhosis. Eating foods that are plant based, especially deep green leafy vegetables, are very good for your liver and do make a difference to keeping the cells of the liver healthy and able to break down substances. Seeing a porfessonal Herbalist to help maintain your liver health and your Microbiome can keep you very healthy and make a tremendous difference to your entire body.

1 Seki E, De Minicis S, Osterreicher CH, Kluwe J, Osawa Y, Brenner DA, Schwabe RF. TLR4 enhances TGF-beta signaling and hepatic fibrosis. Nat Med Nov 2007; 13(11):1324 – 32; dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm1663; PMID: 17952090

2 * Thiemermann C, * Ruetten H, * Wu CC, * Vane JR.: Br J Pharmacol. 1995 Dec;116(7):2845-51.
The multiple organ dysfunction syndrome caused by endotoxin in the rat: attenuation of liver dysfunction by inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase.

Foods Affect the Human Microbiome

Foods affect the human Microbiome by supplying and allowing either healthy organisms or unhealthy organisms.

Foods Affect the Human Microbiome

“Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”  the very famous quote by Hippocrates that is about 2,500 years old. They didn’t have the word “Microbiome” then, but Hippocrates clearly saw how foods affect the overall health of a person because foods affect the human Microbiome.  And today, that is still true. In fact, even through this 2,500 years and the development of Western Medicine, now modern research is reaching the same conclusion that doctors from thousands of years ago knew; and that is – your body needs to be treated as a whole, because it is 1 organism. That really is the bottom line when it comes to all the research on the Microbiome.

Another saying you have heard is, “You are what you eat.” This is because the foods that we eat get broken down by organisms, bacteria and fungi mostly, into substances that are the fuel for all of our cells. Natural foods- vegetables, fruit, grains, beans, ( And yes, even animal proteins.), are composed of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, that our body’s easily metabolize and are able to use (But not cow’s  milk and the products made with cow’s milk.). If your diet consists of foods supplied by nature, and mostly unprocessed plants, your Microbiome is most likely dominant with healthy bacteria and fungi, as natural foods support these organisms.

Modern Research Reveals

In the last 10 years, a number of research studies have been able to decipher the different types of bacteria that live within the intestinal tract. Across the board these studies show differences in organisms that live in people with digestive problems compared to people who do not have digestive problems. Which makes sense since the environment in the intestines of people with digestive problems will be different and house different types of organisms than people who do not have digestive problems. Now also as a result of recent research there is a clear picture of how intestinal health effects liver health.

I tell my patients that their intestinal tract is like a compost bin. You start by putting foods into it and then one day you see there are some little bugs crawling around. Then a few weeks later you see those bugs and some new ones. And then one week you notice earth worms. Yet, you never put earth worms into the compost bin. How did they get there? They got there because the environment allowed it. Our intestinal tract is the same way. Our intestinal tract, the large intestines specifically, is the organ that is the dumpster, it carries the waste products out of our body. So, it makes sense that there will be bacteria there. What matters is what types of bacteria are there. And since this is the depository from the foods you ate, of course what foods you ate makes All the difference to what that waste is.

The Western Diets Influence on the Microbiome

The Standard American Diet, SAD, is thee cause of our health crisis today, it actually started  several decades ago. And regardless, instead of changing the SAD and becoming a healthier country, right now in 2017, the U.S has not reached that turning point yet of making changes to not keep making these same health mistakes. American’s have steadily increased their consumption of sugar, processed foods, animal protein and fat. The SAD has also been the cause of digestive disorders for millions of people, as numerous studies have proved that the SAD allows unhealthy, pathogenic organisms to thrive in the intestinal tract. These studies are proof that foods affect the human Microbiome.

This is available to read in the Journal of Royal Medicine, “The number of diverse gut microbial species is diminished in nearly all modern chronic conditions studied. The ‘Western diet’, rich in animal protein, fats and artificial additives, and lacking in fibre, beneficial microbes, plant phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals, is thought to drive these conditions by encouraging gut dysbiosis. Evidence from recent dietary intervention studies suggest adopting a plant-based, minimally processed high-fibre diet may rapidly reverse the effects of meat-based diets on the gut microbiome.”1

Products found in processed foods, emulsifiers specifically, have been shown to alter the intestinal environment causing inflammation in the intestines of mice. The mice were given small amounts of 2 commonly used emulsifiers. Chronic inflammation ensued which then changed which types of bacteria  were living in the intestines of the mice. As a result of these changes, the mice became obese and had metabolic syndrome. The authors concluded, “These results support the emerging concept that perturbed host-microbiota interactions resulting in low-grade inflammation can promote adiposity and its associated metabolic effects. Moreover, they suggest that the broad use of emulsifying agents might be contributing to an increased societal incidence of obesity/metabolic syndrome and other chronic inflammatory diseases.”2 Foods clearly impacted the Microbiome of mice, and foods affect the human Microbiome too.

 Plant Foods Increase Bacterial Diversity

Raw unprocessed foods provide our body’s with a variety of bacteria because the phytonutrients in those plants are nutrients that those bacteria also want. So, that is one of the ways we get diverse and mostly health promoting bacteria. The raw and unprocessed foods affect the human Microbiome in the positive way we need. When food gets processed, of course all the types of bacteria get eliminated and we do not get any from that processed food. It’s just like anti-biotics, which go into our body’s and wipe out numerous types of bacteria, even the healthy ones we are supposed to have because anti-biotics, like food processing, is  non-discriminating.

1 Pallister, T. Spector, TD. 2016 Sep. Food:a new form of personalized (gut microbiome) medicine for chronic diseases? Journal of Royal Society Medicine, 109(9):331-336.                                            doi: 10.1177/0141076816658786, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27609798#

2 Chassaing B., Koren O., Goodrich JK., et al. 2015 Mar 5. Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome. Nature, 519(7541):92-96,                              doi: 10.1038/nature14232 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25731162

Human Microbiome

Create a Healthy Human Microbiome

A healthy Microbiome results in your overall health.

The human Microbiome is your body’s environment – the inside and the outside. Your body’s environment is what keeps you healthy, or what allows diseases to occur. Everyday you make choices that affect your Microbiome. Do you know what things alter the human  Microbiome? Read on to learn more.

The Human Microbiome – 101

Your body’s environment consists of the bacteria, fungii, viruses, protists and archaea that live in your body and on your body. There are distinct Microbiomes for your skin, lungs, body fluids, mammary glands, ovaries, mouth, and your digestive tract.These distinctive environments are called Microbiota. In each of these distinct human Microbiota, there is supposed to be health promoting organisms, bacteria. But if the health promoting bacteria become outnumbered by un-healthy strains of bacteria, viruses, or fungii, inflammation ensues. Inflamed tissues are an altered Microbiome, which then is an easier environment for un-healthy organisms to thrive in. The longer the environment is inflamed for and houses pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungii, protists and archaea the more the environment gets altered, making it progressively easier for un-healthy strains of organisms to thrive which then leads to disease. Think of the perfect storm, and the merging of environments that are catalysts to each other. An un-healthy Microbiome leads to over expression of genes for diseases.

The Gut Microbiota and Your Brain

You might be asking “How is brain chemistry effected by the intestinal Microbiome?” First, consider that your gut is commonly referred to as “your second brain”, this is because there are 500 million neurons that communicate from the gut to the brain; this is actually 5 times more neurons than neurons from the spinal cord to your brain! .

There are more intriguing facts to learn than there is room for here because the human Microbiome is very complex and the gut-brain axis absolutely fascinating. For more detailed information on how the gut Microbiome affects your brain please click.

Foods Affect the Human Microbiome

Numerous research studies have now proved how interrelated our Microbiome is with the foods we eat. Studies showing how non-caloric artificial sweeteners change the Microbiome. Hundreds of studies showing changes to the human Microbiome form the Western diet. And studies showing what happens in the human Microbiome from eating plant foods. All these studies are eye-opening and should be read by everybody. Take a closer look by clicking foods affect the human Microbiome.

Liver Health and Your Microbiome

Consistency, the key to great health

We all know that when we are consistent with something, we reap the results. Your health is the same. A diet with only healthy foods in it supplies your body daily with phytonutrients that your body needs. An easy and successful way to learn how to eat very healthfully is right here for you in Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse.

This is easy to stick to and there is a huge difference between just changing your foods and doing  Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse. because of the herbal formulas that go along with this program. These herbs will make differences to your Microbiome that you will not get by just changing your foods. That is why everybody feels Great on this Cleanse!

I Feel Great!

I feel great! You can feel great!

I Feel Great!

And you can too! Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse, which is based off my lifestyle, and how I have helped my patients for over 20 years, is why I feel great – all the time! You can feel great on Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse just like everybody else who has done this cleanse already. You can feel great, and you will understand why most of the people who have done Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse have repeated it several times. It is the combination of the herbal formulas and the foods that make this so effective. Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse can help you lose weight and reset your body.

Ancient Wisdom to Feel Great Now

It is highly recognized that the Ancient Asian Cultures revered good health and treasured their older population. It was always a priority to nurture the human body and keep it vital as people aged. This was accomplished through their knowledge of herbal medicine and use of foods. This is Ancient wisdom that can, and by some of us, be used today to help people feel great! I feel great because this Ancient wisdom is part of my life daily.

I became an Acupuncturist/Herbalist because I wanted to help people with their health naturally.  I wanted people to be healthy and enjoy their lives!  Ancient wisdom from early medical systems was powerful and still valid for our bodies today. It is truly wonderful to be able to help all the people I help through the use of herbs and food. Herbs can dramatically change health conditions, a wide array of health problems. There is lots of research proving great changes from herbs.

I Want You to Feel Great!

Really! I sincerely want you to feel great! That is why I created Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse. I feel great from eating this very healthy and still yummy diet/lifestyle and taking herbs. I helped many patients to feel great in this same way. I talk to them about their diet and how to make changes and then give them herbs. My patients were feeling great and repeatedly told me I should write it down for others. The result is  Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse so that you can feel great! You can learn healthy eating habits.

Going Through the Holidays Healthy

I love the holiday season! I love that we get to spend more time with friends and family. I love how people are in really happy
moods!
Of course, with this time of year, food and drink are a big part of almost every celebration you will attend.
It is very possible to stay healthy through this time of year. One of the best things you can do to help yourself is drink a lot of water. I usually tell my patients to drink 3 liters of water/day. It’s a great goal going into the new year. When the weather gets colder and people contract bacterial and viral infections, these are the infections that so easily spread through an office or a family. If you can increase your water intake to 3 liters a day, it will make a very big difference. When you are drinking a lot of water, it continues to flush out your mucous membranes. So, your sinuses, and throat and even your lungs benefit by all that water by making it harder place for bacteria and viruses to live. If your mucous membranes don’t get flushed as much and your diet causes a sticky film to coat them then it is a much easier place for organisms to cling to and breed. And make you sick.

You can go through the holidays healthy by making the right choices in taking care of yourself. Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse can help you to make those right choices.

Taking Stock in Order to Make Changes

Its funny how things come full circle. Thee best diet for you is the foods that our ancestors ate 2 generations ago and before that.

Yes, we have as humans progressed as a race in so many ways! And it truly is nice to be able to live in this time and be able to enjoy the many ways that progress has shaped our lives currently. I sincerely love living in a time when people are more accepting of others as they are. I appreciate our understanding of how different brains learn so that we can better help our kids. It’s so helpful to live with the technology and all the modern conveniences that make our lives so efficient.

We have been living for several decades this way. And once things have changed on a large scale, at a point, it is necessary to take a step back to re-evaluate where we are at from all those changes. It’s important to look at those changes and see how our life has been altered because of them. What have they done to change the lives of us humans? What is good about them? What is bad about them?

This is the point where you keep the good brought about from the forward progress and it is also the time that we need to really see what is bad about what progress has brought our way and let that go. We definitely keep the progress in human rights, and continue to move forward with it. We keep the technology and continue moving forward with it. Yes, for all of our science development as well. The only category that progress has brought us into that we should not continue on is in the category of food.

This is where it is important to take a step back, and look, really take a serious look, at what our foods have done to millions of people. These foods, that have raked up our most expensive health costs ever; these foods that have brought chronic diseases to kids that historically were diseases older adults would get- is this the vision of progress that we want for people? No!

When I think of progress, I think of life made better because of who we become as human beings. The majority of foods being eaten by most Americans currently is not that positive type of progress. The progress of the food industry is a progress that we should not continue.

I don’t know why anybody needs to wait any longer before making changes to their lifestyle to be healthy. This is thee perfect time right now to make the decision to eat better for the rest of your life! This is thee perfect day to commit to yourself and to your family, that your health matters, and their health matters. Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse is your step-by-step guide walking you through these life-changes. It really is made that simple for you.

I hope you chose health! I hope you chose to do my program Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse

Why You Should do this 30 Day Vegan Cleanse

You may be wondering why you should do a 30 day vegan Cleanse. There are actually many reasons to embark on this life-changing adventure!

I designed this Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse because I sincerely want your body to get into a very healthy state. Being healthy is not a fast 2 day or  even 7 day change in your lifestyle. To truly bring your body into a healthy state takes a lifestyle that is a health promoting lifestyle on a consistent basis. 30 days is consistent enough that you will feel a dramatic difference. I want you to feel that dramatic difference and think to yourself, “I never want to feel like crud again!” And that is why this cleanse was designed as a 30 Day Vegan Cleanse.

You will feel great while doing this Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse because over this 30 days, your body will have  those days of eating foods that your body needs. Yes, there are numerous 2 day cleanses available to do, but where is the real value for you? Where is the real value for your health? Where is the real value for your family’s health? Where is the real value  once you have completed a 2-day cleanse that really only has you starving yourself until you drink a shake 1-2 times/day? What have you learned? Nothing! This is why you should do Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse!

By doing Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse you will be preparing your foods. You will be packing up the healthiest of lunches to go with you for the day. You will be coming home and nurturing your body with foods that will give to your body everything it needs after a long day.  Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse will have you coming home to dinners will also be the perfect foods to give your body all the nutrients it needs to have a restful nights sleep. Because all the foods are only helpful for your body and brain. This already are great reasons why you should do Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse!

As you go through this process, you learn. You the have the knowledge, experience and ability to stay healthy for the rest of your life. That is where there is tremendous value for you, And for your family.

I sincerely hope that when you have completed  Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse, that you will continue to eat very healthfully. As I know, and you can see on my website, Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse, many of the people who have taken this Cleanse, have kept these foods in their regular diet. I sincerely hope that after you do Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse, it is only the beginning of a healthy lifestyle for yourself and your family.

How do You get Your Edge?

The Edge…everybody is always looking for an Edge. Something that will give them an advantage over their competition. Something that will make them feel better, perform better. Most people drink coffee for that Edge.

Ryan Braun found his Edge with performance enhancing drugs, PED’s. Lance Armstrong, of whom I was a huge fan and supporter, also wanted an Edge. He too used PED’s. It was a huge let down. It was also very costly for both athletes.

I’ve got the Edge you are looking for. My Full Body 30 Day Vegan Cleanse will give you that Edge. Which is exactly why most of the people who have already done this program have repeated it a second, third and even fourth time. They love how they felt while they were on it. They loved how much energy they had. They loved the improvement in mental sharpness.. They loved the weight loss.

You don’t need over the counter meds to feel good. You just need to eat better. If you feed your body food that will only do good things to your body -you will function at your potential.

Are you ready to get your Edge?

Healthy Parenting Part 2

This is the second post I am writing with regards to parenting and food. I hope you had a chance to read the first post I wrote directly on healthy parenting. It has a number of very important details about how the body is adversely effected by fast foods. I am continuing here because there really is so much that all people should know about fast foods and how harmful they are to our body.

In my posts from this point on, I will be referring to fast food as “Fat food”. Because that is what it is and that is what it does.

Love your kids enough to give them healthy meals all the time.

It is truly a shame that 1 in every 3 kids today is obese. There were never this many obese kids decades ago. It is very sad to see. It is also very hard for them because they have challenges to deal with that young kids shouldn’t have.  Concurrent with the obesity epidemic in youth is the incredible rise in diabetes.

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases among children in the United States. There are about 215,000, or 0.26%, of all people younger than 20 years old who have diabetes. These is 1 out of about every 400 kids and adolescents- with type 2 diabetes. A disease that never used to effect kids, only adults when they were older. Until 10 years ago, type 2 diabetes accounted for less than 3% of all cases of new-onset diabetes in adolescents. Currently, 45% of cases are attributed to type type 2 diabetes in adolescents. That is stark!

The epidemic did not just appear suddenly. This epidemic was been in process for 50-60 years even. What is new about it though, is that never before in human history have human beings collectively experienced such a dramatic and heartbreaking reality.

“Fat food”  consumption during the last 50-60 years has escalated dramatically. In fact, the rise in Fat food consumption is parallel to the rise in obesity, From the early 1970’s when there were approximately 30,000 Fat food locations, to 1980 when there were 140,000 locations. Just that increase in Fat food restaurants is amazing!!! Scarier still is that in that same time frame the sales of Fat food rose about 300%!

Fat foods are loaded with more calories than a kid should be eating at one meal. (The fact is even adults are consuming more calories in 1 Fat food meal than they should consume too.)
Fat foods all give kids a very large does of trans fats. Trans fats eaten on a regular basis will lead to high cholesterol, being over weight, and even diabetes.

Fat foods also have a lot of added sugar. The un-necessary added sugar does of course contribute to weight gain. Sugar will effect a teenagers mood. The increased sugar will effect their skin, many teens already have acne and sugar will absolutely increase that. The sugar from the Fat food meals along with other sugars in their diet can of course be a path to diabetes.

The bigger picture here is, how are kids learning to eat these days? How are they learning to take care of themselves for their future…?