How the Right Foods May Lead to a Healthier Gut, and Better Health (1 Viewer)

[Allan]

If you can only make one dietary change to have the greatest benefit to your health it may simply be to avoid processed foods. The best advice might be that if our grandparents didn't eat it, we shouldn't.

Scientists know that the trillions of bacteria and other microbes that live in our guts play an important role in health, influencing our risk of developing obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and a wide range of other conditions. But now a large new international study has found that the composition of these microorganisms, collectively known as our microbiomes, is largely shaped by what we eat.

By analyzing the diets, health and microbiomes of more than a thousand people, researchers found that a diet rich in nutrient-dense, whole foods supported the growth of beneficial microbes that promoted good health. But eating a diet full of highly processed foods with added sugars, salt and other additives had the opposite effect, promoting gut microbes that were linked to worse cardiovascular and metabolic health.

The researchers found that what people ate had a more powerful impact on the makeup of their microbiomes than their genes.

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[calamity]

If you can only make one dietary change to have the greatest benefit to your health it may simply be to avoid processed foods. The best advice might be that if our grandparents didn't eat it, we shouldn't.



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We've been all about ditching the processed foods. My wife cooks most everything we eat from scratch. The one exception is lunch. When working, I still like to grab burgers and pizza now and then.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I have done well for myself once I went with a modified paleo diet. Pretty much paleo, but with unmodified whole grains (meaning I personally cook whole grains such as quinoa or barley, but nothing processed)

I feel excellent, my jogging immediately went up in distance and I never run out of energy during the day.

 

[Allan]

Yes, it can. My cousin has diabetes. We together were on a diet. Instead of sugar, we ate fruit, fructose and agave syrup. We tried to eat only healthy food. Also, her health wouldn`t improve if I didn`t buy rybelsus. Now we are much better (as my cousin has become healthier and so am I) but we continue try to eat only healthy food.

The NHS is recommending and paying for a very low calorie diet for people with Type 2 Diabetes. The recommendation is based on the success of the Newcastle University Study that found a restricted diet can reverse T2D.

I did this about 2 years ago (after checking with my doctor and a dietitian) after I was newly diagnosed with Type 2. I went from 225 lbs to 190 lbs in quite a short period of time - about 10 weeks. Now I'm 172 lbs. I'm 6'1" so my BMI is in the normal range. I keep it there with a Mediterranean Diet focusing on whole foods and avoiding high simple carb foods such as pasta etc. I've eliminated almost all other sugar, only what you might find in an apple for example.

So after 2 years my bloodwork shows normal insulin sensitivity and I'm off both blood pressure medication and statin.