Category: Healthy gut

Marissa Elman - Podcasts

Great Podcasts About Health And Fitness

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On August 8, 2020

In Fitness, Health & Wellness, Healthy gut, Marissa Elman, Microbiome, Paleo Diet

There are so many great ways to learn about fitness today. We’ve always had access to fitness books, but with the introduction of the Internet, it became much easier to consume all forms of media. We now have access to blogs like this one, as well as video websites such as Youtube and one of the most popular media forms today – the podcast. Podcasts can be a great way to learn more about fitness and get all sorts of different perspectives in a bite-sized and passive manner. The problem is that there are so many podcasts available, it can be difficult to choose one! Here’s a list of great health and fitness podcasts to help you out.

Balanced Bites

There are plenty of great podcasts out there about eating and dieting, but Balanced Bites is among the best. This podcast is hosted by Diane, a certified nutritionist consultant, and Liz, a nutritional therapy practitioner, and each episode they feature expert guests. Them and their guests will often discuss paleo diet recipes and tips as well as giving plenty of expert insight on the latest trends as well as answering listeners’ questions.

The Gym Wits

Whether you’re new to fitness or a seasoned expert looking for new perspectives, you should check out The Gym Wits. The show’s hosts are made up of a fitness expert, a fitness enthusiast, and a registered dietitian. Each week they discuss various fitness related topics such as how to build muscle while losing fat, the best classes to take, and much more. Listening to this show will help you learn more about your body as well as give you valuable nutrition and fitness tips to help you achieve all of your aspirations.

Hurdle

We all know that fitness can be difficult, whether you’re new to it or a seasoned veteran. Everyone encounters obstacles in their fitness journey and not everyone is able to overcome them. In Hurdle, host Emily Abbate discusses the obstacles her and her guest hosts have encounter in their own fitness journeys and how they were able to overcome them. This show can be an excellent source of motivation when you’re struggling, as hearing these stories can help you remember that everybody struggles from time to time, and it’s very much possible to succeed.

Jamie Matocinos Wayy2wogb8w Unsplash

Science and Weight Loss

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On July 7, 2020

In Fitness, Health & Wellness, Healthy gut, Marissa Elman

The weight loss industry is full of myths and misconceptions. Every year a new fool-proof study is on talk shows and dominates adds across all websites and social media platforms. Try to turn your mind away from diet pills and magical fruits or nutrients instead of looking towards science. Over the last few centuries, scientists have made incredible leaps and bounds when it comes to human anatomy. Check out a few different aspects of the human body and weight loss.

The Power of Water

It’s a simple fact that we need water to survive. Not only is it necessary to function, but it can also be a helpful tool when it comes to losing weight. Drinking water can boost your metabolism 24-30% over a period of 60-90 minutes. Drinking a glass of water before a meal can also help you feel fuller, therefore decreasing the chance of over-eating. 

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting has become incredibly popular in the health community over the past several years. You cycle between periods of eating and fasting, to achieve a more controlled food intake. Short term studies suggest that intermittent fasting is as effective as continuous caloric restrictions. 

Consume Less Added Sugars and Refined Carbs

Added sugar is one of the worst additions to the modern diet. Most people consume far too much sugar, and it often happens by just forgetting to look at the labels. A multitude of studies show that added sugars often like to obesity and the development of Type II Diabetes. Refined carbohydrates are also often overlooked in products and meals. Foods like white bread and pasta can spike blood sugar and lead to hunger and cravings that, in turn, can lead to an increase in food intake. 

Weight loss is an admirable goal for your health. Try putting these simple safeguards into your diet, and look for results. In the meanwhile, keep an eye out for the next article in our series, Science and Weight Loss.

Myths About Healthy Eating Marissa Elman

Myths About Healthy Eating

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On July 15, 2019

In Health & Wellness, Healthy gut, Marissa Elman

There are a lot of food and nutrition myths that can mislead individuals and ultimately result in poor health. At the very least, many of these food myths compel people to restrict their options and miss out on foods that are not as bad as they are made out to be. Unfortunately, many people still believe these myths and avoid eating perfectly healthy foods. Here are some common food and nutrition myths that have been debunked. 

 

Eggs get a bad name that is totally undeserved. Yes, they are high in cholesterol. However, countless scientific studies have shown that the high cholesterol content in foods such as eggs does not actually raise cholesterol levels. The real problem is foods that are high in saturated fat and trans fats. Eggs are also high in protein and many other vitamins and minerals. The myth that eggs are unhealthy and can raise your cholesterol levels is completely false. Eggs are actually a healthy food that should be a staple in most diets.

 

The tendency to avoid consuming butter and using margarine instead is the result of another common food myth. People believe that margarine is better because it contains no saturated fat and cholesterol. The problem is that many margarine brands contain trans fats. These kinds of fats are highly damaging to your health and should be avoided. It is better to eat natural butter than margarine laced with trans fats. 

 

Coffee has a myth attached to it that it will make people lose fluids. The loss of fluid can then cause dehydration. It is correct that coffee is a diuretic, which means it causes people to urinate. The diuretic effect of coffee is negligible, however. This means that drinking several cups of coffee a day will not dehydrate anybody. Coffee can be enjoyed without ever worrying about becoming dehydrated or losing fluids. Other beverages have been labeled as harmful for similar reasons, but the only fluid that will actively dehydrate anyone is that which contains alcohol.

 

Many people believe that eating raw, fresh fruits and vegetables is always the best way to get the most nutrients. This is not always the case, however. Cooking carrots, for example, actually increases their nutritional value. It is also obvious that some foods should only be eaten when cooked, such as potatoes. A raw diet has some benefits, as addressed in a previous post, but not all foods can or should be consumed when raw.

 

Frozen and canned foods have a bad reputation when it comes to nutritional value. The most prominent myth surrounding them is that they lose nutrients when frozen and are not as healthy as their fresh counterparts. In reality, even the fresh fruits and vegetables you find in the supermarket have probably lost a significant amount of nutrients while traveling for days or even weeks to the supermarket. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are still highly nutritious and can be a part of a healthy diet.

What Is Raw Veganism Marissa Elman

What Is Raw Veganism and Is It Healthy?

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On March 21, 2019

In Health & Wellness, Healthy gut, Marissa Elman, Raw Veganism, Vegan, Veganism

Most people who decide to become vegans do it for health reasons, although others do it for environmental and humane reasons. Veganism is different from vegetarianism in the sense that some vegetarians will eat eggs and milk products, while vegans don’t eat anything that comes from an animal. Raw veganism takes things a step further; this diet limits the vegan to eating only raw fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds.

 

Benefits of Raw Veganism

Naturally, raw vegans don’t eat any kinds of processed foods, either. This alone keeps them from ingesting toxins and chemicals that other people, including vegetarians, might be ingesting. Raw vegans believe that uncooked or just slightly heated foods are healthier than fully cooked foods.

A person can choose to be a raw vegan in order to help themselves recover from an illness or to purify their bodies for improved health reasons. This will have positive effects if it’s done for a period of time, but studies suggest that it shouldn’t be a permanent way of life.

 

Risks of Raw Veganism

The fact is, regular vegetarians stand a risk of missing out on some key vitamins and minerals because they don’t eat meat or meat products. This is the case even for those who eat eggs and dairy products. There are actually many nutrients the body needs that can only be obtained from eating meat, even if it’s just once in a while. Otherwise, there is a need to supplement the diet by taking vitamins on a regular basis.

Cooking food also makes it easier for the body to digest the food without being overworked. An overworked digestive system can lead to feelings of tiredness and fatigue as well as failure of the body to absorb certain nutrients from the food itself. Cooked food can encourage the release of nutrients that wouldn’t be released otherwise.

Lycopene is one of such nutrients that is released when tomatoes are cooked instead of eaten raw. Lycopene works as a powerful antioxidant, and it has been said to be more powerful than vitamin C. Calcium, vitamin D, and B12 are other nutrients that might be absorbed less by the body of a raw vegan. This can mean weaker muscles and brittle bones over time.

Living a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle has become trendy, especially in North America. Many vegetarians, vegans, and raw vegans have adopted these lifestyles for both health and social reasons. It might benefit them to conduct more research about the risks of raw veganism before permanently adopting this lifestyle.

The Hadza Diet: What is It and Why You Should Consider It

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On September 5, 2017

In Hadza Diet, Hadza People, Health & Wellness, Healthy gut, Marissa Elman, Microbiome

The Hadza Diet- What is it and Why You Should Consider It

The Hadza people are one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes in the world. For thousands of years, they have lived on the same land in Northern Tanzania living on a diet that consists of berries, tubers, and over 30,000 different mammals. This diet has been making ways around as people are growing more interested in how this diet can have great health benefits.

  

The Hadza diet primarily consists of eating whatever is found in the wild which include berries, tubers, honey and larvae straight from the comb, and meat from a variety of mammals. The interesting fact about this is that it also varies based on the seasons. During the dry seasons, they typically eat meat and tubers, and during the wet seasons, they eat more berries and honey.

   

This diet is starting to gain a great deal of attention, especially amongst the gut health-conscious. The reason for this is that through this diet by the Hadza people, they have remarkable healthy microbiomes meaning they have very healthy guts. The Hadza people get one hundred or more grams of fiber per day in their food on average. We typically get about fifteen grams on average. Now, this is not to suggest that you go and live the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The idea is that we need to up the intake of fiber we have per day. Justin Sonnenburg, who is a professor at Stanford University made a statement saying that “Fiber is all that’s left at the very end of our digestive tract where these microbes live, so they have [Hadza people] evolved to be very good at digesting it.” Along with eating more fiber, it is also important to only eat minimally processed foods and have in-season fruits and vegetables readily available.

   

The hope through this diet is to increase the diversity in one’s microbiome. The research done by Sonnenburg shows that the Hadza people have one of the most diverse microbiomes in the world. They compared stool samples of the Hadza tribe to those of 17 other cultures around the world which included other hunter-gatherer communities in Venezuela and Peru and subsistence farmers in Malawi and Cameroon. Through these samples, the research showed an interesting trend that the further away people’s diets were from a Western diet, the greater the variety of microbes they have in their guts which also includes bacteria that is missing from American guts. So the next time you are considering taking up a new diet, try taking up the ways of the Hadza people.

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