Category Archives: Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet

Acid Reflux Healing, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods

Just how erosive is erosive GERD / Acid Reflux? What can we do about this problem?

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Hi there. Kathy Pirtle’s substitute blog writer Paul Yeager has resurfaced for the 2nd of three days that Kathy Pirtle is away at the Weston A. Price Conference in Chicago!

Today I’d like to write about erosive gerd / acid reflux.

Just how erosive is erosive GERD? Is it really more erosive than nonerosive acid reflux? What defines it as more erosive? Is nonerosive gerd really *completely* nonerosive? Or is one just more erosive than the other? Just how advanced is modern science in making these kinds of distinctions? Well, I was interested in understanding the answers to these questions, so I started searching PubMed for some solid research literature.

Surprisingly like many things in modern science, I found the “most cutting-edge” answer I could find to be puzzlingly full of seemingly circular logic, with hordes of observations seeming to be made based on assumptions with little or no reference material. It surprises me that such studies even make it into PubMed, but then again, how scientific is science? Is science not based fundamentally on observations, or perhaps more often *our perceptions*?

For instance, Sir Isaac Newton and others found the acceleration rate of gravity to be quantifiable as 9.8 meters per second squared. He could throw an apple up into the air 10,000 times and predict with reasonable certainty that it was going to accelerate towards the earth at that rate. But then Einstein came along. And then Niels Bohr. And Schroedinger, etc. They–and then we (by going to space, studying eclipses, etc.)–discovered that that “law” had only been the result of living within the confines of our earth’s gravitational field–it still of course had an application, but it wasn’t *completely true* everywhere, all the time.

And such is HARDLY the case concerning distinctions such as those between erosive gerd and nonerosive gerd–here we’ll find that the conclusion simply completely contradicts the initial assumptions. At least with Newton, he started out with the “hunch” that there was something uniform about gravity and then found out he was pretty much right. Here we start out with the assumption that erosive gerd is more erosive than nonerosive gerd (or better yet that erosive gerd is just plain erosive and nonerosive isn’t) but we seem to find out, well… I won’t spoil it just yet. I’m just going to copy-paste the study I found below:

”

Relevance of ineffective esophageal motility with erosive and nonerosive gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Foroutan M, Doust HM, Jodeiri B, Derakhshan F, Mohaghegh H, Mousapour H, Poursaadati S, Kiarudi MY, Zali M.

Department of Gastroenterology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. swt_f@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION: Ineffective esophageal motility (IEM) is a frequent finding in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It is responsible for delayed acid clearance as it affects esophageal emptying and saliva transport. Since erosive GERD is a more severe disease than nonerosive GERD, it may be associated with IEM, which delays esophageal clearance. Objective : We investigated the role of IEM in patients with erosive and nonerosive GERD. METHODS: We enrolled 100 patients with heartburn and a primary diagnosis of GERD referred to the GI motility department of RCGLD of Shahid Beheshti University between January 2002 and January 2005. Based on endoscopic findings, the patients were classified into two groups of erosive GERD and nonerosive GERD. Manometry and 24-hour ambulatory pH-metry was performed in all patients. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients completed the study: 31 (40.3%) with erosive GERD and 46 (59.7%) with nonerosive GERD. IEM was present in 38.7% of patients with erosive GERD and in 28.3% of those with nonerosive GERD (p=0.18). A low lower esophageal sphincter pressure was present in 45.2% of patients with erosive GERD, and in 45.7% of those with nonerosive GERD (p=0.97). Abnormal acid reflux was present in 32.3% and 41.3% of patients with erosive and nonerosive GERD, respectively (p=0.42). CONCLUSION: There was no difference in the prevalence of IEM between patients with erosive and nonerosive GERD. IEM could be an integral part of GERD and may not always be associated with mucosal injury.
”

Now wait a minute. The study says at the top “Since erosive GERD is a more severe disease than nonerosive GERD, it may be associated with IEM, which delays esophageal clearance.” But WHY is erosive GERD a more severe disease than nonerosive GERD?! The study just assumed that was known right off the bat! And then after making such assumptions, the study actually winds up proving that this IEM (“ineffective esophageal motility”) is actually only a little more than 10% more prevalent in the erosive gerd control group?! So first we have an assumption that erosive gerd is more “erosive” than nonerosive gerd, and then we have evidence to show that nonerosive gerd is actually ALMOST AS EROSIVE AS EROSIVE GERD!

This is entirely broken circular logic!

Here’s why I suspect the logic is broken: because as the study clearly provides statistics to support (which is the statistic showing that 28.3% of the supposedly nonerosive gerd group HAD “ineffective esophageal motility” aka EROSION), nonerosive GERD is actually VERY EROSIVE!

And what would happen if that many more people with gerd (which we know from Kathy and John Turner’s ebook on a true diet for acid reflux make up 1 in 5 people in the population at large) were to be told by doctors that their “plain ol’ not-a-big-deal gerd” (which they’re currently happy swallowing a purple pill for) is in fact EROSIVE–yes, only 10% less erosive than “erosive GERD” (har har, yah whatever) but EROSIVE all the same? Actually, erosive would be a more apt description for GERD altogether…

They might think “woah, this is a serious disease!” And guess what? This IS ALREADY a serious disease, because as the above study clearly proves, nonerosive gerd is “erosive.” Just 10% less erosive than “erosive gerd.” 😉

So what can we do about this erosion, both of our GI tracts and of our ability to think clearly (with its attempted subversion by the poor logic in studies such as that above, AND by inferior food choices)? This is another reason many doctors might not want folks to think their gerd is creating erosion, because what we CAN do is change our diets.

We can start eating nutrient-dense, traditional foods consisting of the building blocks of optimal digestion and optimal assimilation, these being the true cornerstones of good health all around. These foods are the foods that countless ancestors of traditional isolated peoples have been eating for millenia: saturated animal fats high in cholesterol and therefore GOOD, bone-broth from cartilaginous and marrow-rich bones with its high content of colloidal stomach-acid-ATTRACTING (yes, that’s GOOD for gerd! not bad!) properties, truly lacto-fermented foods with its high content of probiotics, enzymes, and lactic acid, plenty of high-quality protein from pastured animals, and a wide array of plant-based vitamins and minerals from seasonally-attuned veggies like squash, zucchini, collards, kale, etc.

We can make these changes now, regardless of whether our acid reflux has been labeled erosive or nonerosive–which as we have seen, is largely a misnomer anyhow, possibly even designed simply to keep people thinking their nonerosive gerd is no big deal.

Acid Reflux Healing, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods

What might GERD aka Acid Reflux, and Bad Breath have in common?

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Hi there. My name is Paul Yeager and I’m a close friend of Kathy Pirtle’s. I also happen to be the developer/webmaster for PerformanceWithoutPain.com. Both Kathy and I have been eating nutrient dense, traditional foods for years now and we in fact met initially over the Internet, as the result of our crossed healing paths. We also both happen to be classical musicians with an immense love for music.

Kathy asked me to do a little writing on the blog in her stead, as a result of her immense dedication to as-close-to-daily-as-possible blog writing. I have to say, in all my years of reading–and then developing–blogs of various sorts, I have NEVER in my almost 20 or so years of life on the Internet seen *anyone* write such high-quality material on such a constant basis, and on such an important issue as this one.

So, when she asked me to be her substitute blog writer, I was greatly humbled and made sure to tell her, as I am telling you, that I am not the kind of writer she is, but that I would try my best to measure up. However, having gone through quite a bit of health crisis and resulting healing crises of my own, I do feel qualified to write on a few things (just not as elegantly and clearly), so I went ahead and created myself another administrative blog account named paulchfs–chfs stands for Certified Healing Foods Specialist by the way–and so here I am.

I’ve learned from Kathy and others some remarkable things about acid reflux, and this has been an incredible learning curve for me, not only because I know what she and others are saying is strikingly true about powerful, traditional, nutrient-dense foods healing acid reflux–from first hand experience–but also because the new things she keeps telling me about this disease make me realize that to some very degree, I am very much STILL healing from it!

Not only that, but I think I, just like the rest of society to some degree, tend to disregard many of the facets of this disease as “normal” when such a state of health is in fact, not normal at all. Kathy’s work continues to guide me in this way.

One thing that continues to startle me is that 1 in 5 people have acid reflux disease; ONE IN FIVE. Go back and read that again, because it means there’s a one in five chance you have acid reflux disease! That’s just a “delicious hors d’ouevre” of the plethora of startling acid reflux facts and statistics Kathy’s got around. Another is that last year there were 470,000 hospitalizations and 1.9 million visits to the emergency room for this illness.

The last one doesn’t startle me quite as much because I am actually amongst those people; just three or four years ago, I went to the emergency room with this illness! My acid reflux had turned into what the ER doctor labeled “acute gastritis” and he just told me I had too much stress and to go home and take it easy. Let me tell you, there’s a lot more to this disease than “go home and take it easy.” I mean sure, the life of a professional violinist and computer coder geek is stressful, but if there are 1.9 million visits to the ER over this thing, than that obviously isn’t a complete explanation!

Thankfully, I started talking to people like Kathy more than ER doctors. Kathy has enlightened me also to the fact that asthma and ear infections are a symptom of gerd, and all throughout my childhood I suffered from chronic ear infections and asthma! (By the way. all of this incredible information and more, along with what kind of acid reflux diet to have on a regular basis, will soon be able to be found in her ebook via the previous link.)

In relation to acid reflux and these symptoms of it I now know about, my health-life begins to make a lot of sense. Basically, I realize now that I had BAD acid reflux all my life until, about five years ago, I found out about and started constantly consuming traditional foods like fermented cod liver oil, bone broth from cartilaginous and marrow bones from pastured animals, lacto-fermented sauerkraut and other fermented foods (fermented the way our great-great-grandparents made things like this, not just jars of pickles from off the store shelf), and powerful healing fermented drinks like beet kvass and kombucha.

Also incremental to healing my acid reflux was the fact that I realized, with Kathy’s help and the help of Sally Fallon and Mary Enig’s books and the Weston A. Price Foundation, that saturated animal fat is GOOD FOR ME! That’s a lengthy subject all on its own, and for another post.

By now you might be wondering OKAY OKAY so what might acid reflux and bad breath have in common? Well get this: there are approximately 20 people a day google-searching for “gerd bad breath” –advertisers are willing to pay OVER a dollar per click to get potentially interested buyers to find them via their google search for “gerd bad breath” (oh, being a web developer is fun stuff)!

Along with my asthma and chronic ear infections, all my life prior to beginning to heal my gerd/acid reflux, is it possible that this has been another of my symptoms as well?! My mother and sister have complained of my bad breath literally ALL my life, until the complaints began to finally sizzle out STARTING five years ago when I got on traditional foods and began to heal my gut.

And that is what acid reflux and bad breath seem to have in common: they are both results of poor digestion and malnourishment. Both occurred all MY life UNTIL I began to fix my digestion with traditional foods in the ways that Kathy Pirtle eBook describes. This ebook also described chronic belching and flatulence as a symptom of this disease, and these are things that I’m not afraid to admit largely healed as well when I stopped eating Standard American Diet and ultimately switched to a traditional foods, Weston Price diet.

And also admittedly, these things (chronic belching, flatulence, and bad breath) are things that will come back if I begin to fall off the wagon (i.e. I love to eat Thai food out at restaurants out on occasion, but I know that if I do, these signs–and eventually gerd itself–will return since my digestion is “sliding backwards”). And now I know I’m not alone on my thinking that gerd and bad breath have something to do with each other–I’m simply amongst a statistic to add to Kathy’s incredible acid reflux statistic-heap: 20 people a day are google searching for gerd bad breath! That’s 20 * 365 = 7300 people a year! Coincidence?

Ah, the beauty of the Internet.

Ciao, Paul

Acid Reflux Healing, Allergies, Digestion and Healing Diet, Asthma and Acid Reflux, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, USDA Dietary Guidelines, Nutrient Deficiencies and Degenerative Illness, Vegetarian Diets

Consumer trends in healthy eating are a fast tract to digestive disorders and malnourishment.

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The following report from the International Food Information Council demonstrates just how thorough the high-fiber/low-fat dictate has infiltrated the choices that the general public makes about healthy eating. This list puts vegetables/salads,  fruits and whole grains as the top three picks. These foods are difficult to digest and low in nutrients in comparison pastured animal foods. Eating low-nutrient, hard-to-digest foods as the main part of the diet puts you on the fast track to digestive disorders and malnourishment. Considering that 60 million people have acid reflux–or 1 in 5 people–and that this condition alone is so common that we have billions of dollars spent dedicated to advertising meds for it–this should serve as a wake up call that this approach to eating is not working.

Simply put–“All disease begins in the gut.” Hippocrates and “All disease comes from malnourishment,” Dr. Weston A. Price.

How consumers approach functional foods: Survey

By Lorraine Heller, 13-Aug-2009

Related topics: Consumer Trends

Whole grains, fiber and protein are top of the list for consumers looking to improve their diets by eating more of a specific type of food, according to a new survey of Americans’ approach to functional foods.

The latest report by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) finds that out of those Americans trying to improve their diets, 79 percent are changing the types of foods they eat, 69 percent are changing the amount of foods consumed, and 19 percent are changing their use of dietary supplements.

“The 2009 Food & Health Survey found that healthfulness, among other product attributes, is an important factor that influences consumers’ purchasing decisions. When consumers are choosing foods for themselves and their children, they are interested in healthful components such as fiber, whole grains, protein, vitamin C, and calcium, which all play a role in building strong bodies and improving overall health,” wrote IFIC.

This is the sixth survey conducted by IFIC since 1998 in order to track consumer awareness and attitudes to functional foods.

Commissioned by IFIC, Cogent Research of Cambridge, MA, conducted an online survey of 1,000 American adults in May this year. Questions were either open-ended (unaided), or participants were prompted and asked to rate specific responses.

More foods for more health

Around 55 percent of participants (553) said they are changing the types of foods or food components they eat in an effort to improve their health. Of those, 64 percent said they are eating more of a particular food.

The foods consumers cited most often (unaided) as products they are trying to eat more of include:

  • Vegetables/salads (60 percent)
  • Fruits/fruit juices (53 percent)
  • Whole grains (11 percent)
  • Protein (9 percent)
  • Fish/seafood (7 percent)
  • Fiber (7 percent)

When asked to rank the top three food components they look for when choosing foods for themselves (aided), consumers opted for:

  • Fiber (37 percent)
  • Whole grains (34 percent)
  • Protein (28 percent)

For those purchasing foods for their children, the top components were (aided):

  • Calcium (39 percent)
  • Vitamin C (31 percent)
  • Whole grains (26 percent)

Functional food awareness

The survey also revealed a slow but steady increase in people’s awareness that functional foods are foods with benefits that go beyond basic nutrition (89 percent in 2009 compared to 85 percent in 2007).

The top ‘functional foods’ named by consumers (unaided) are: fruits and vegetables, fish/fish oil/seafood, dairy (including milk and yogurt), meat and poultry, herbs/spices, fiber, tea and green tea, nuts, whole grains and other grains, water, cereal, oats/oat bran/oatmeal, and vitamins/supplements.

As in previous surveys conducted in 2007 and 2005, nine out of 10 consumers were able to name, on an unaided basis, a specific food or food component and its associated health benefit (92 percent in 2009 and 2007 and 91 percent in 2005). This compares to 84 percent in 2002; 82 percent in 2000; and 77 percent in 1998.

The survey also examined consumers’ top health concerns and the foods they think address these. It also looked at people’s perception of nutrigenomics – or personalized nutrition – as well as the communication and sources of information on health and nutrition.

For more  information on a nutrient-dense foods and a healing diet see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Calcium Absorption, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Water and Hydration

Is drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water a day a good idea?

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Although drinking the “healthy” recommended 6 to 8 glasses of water a day to stay hydrated sounds like a great idea, this may cause problems for your health. Water may not be as hydrating as you think. If you consider that when you drink a lot of water, you are in the restroom a lot–maybe this means that all that water isn’t really doing the job you want it to do. Maybe your body tries to rid itself of this excess and the kidneys are working overtime! Drinking too much water often pulls minerals from the body and can create electrolyte imbalances.

Before refrigeration, people drank beverages that were much more hydrating, nutritious and helpful to digestion. Fermented drinks like kombucha, beet kvass, and countless other lacto-fermented drinks were consumed that were high in nutrients, enzymes and probiotics. Cultured dairy like yogurt and kefir were a mainstay of the diet as were bone broth and bone broth soups–all of which are loaded with health benefits.

You may also be surprised to learn that low-fat diets tend to make people thirsty. Water is a byproduct of fat digestion–so being thirsty all the time may indicate that your body needs more traditional fats. Traditional fats are critical to nutrient absorption and they offer you a natural source of hydration at a much deeper cellular level.

As a guideline, daily total liquid consumption–including foods and beverages–should equal about 8 cups. By adding more fermented and cultured beverages, bone broth and traditional fats to your daily diet, you will stay naturally hydrated and be improving your health with nutrient-density.

Our book, Performance without Pain, has a wealth of recipes for broths, fermented and cultured beverages. For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods see www.performancewithoutpain.com or our new ebook on acid reflux diet.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Allergies, Digestion and Healing Diet, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Enzymes and Healing, Fermented Foods and Digestion, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods

Kefir or yogurt–Which has the most benefit for digestion?

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Of course, the best kefir and yogurt in the world is made of whole-fat raw milk from pastured animals.  Both kefir and yogurt are wonderful sources of enzymes, probiotics and nutrition. People who are lactose intolerant can most often tolerate cultured dairy–especially if it is from raw milk, as the lactose is nearly gone.

However, kefir has some benefits that yogurt lacks. The beneficial bacteria in kefir will colonize better in the intestinal tract where that of yogurt tends to move through the system. Also, kefir has a beneficial yeasts that eat candida such as Saccharomyces Kefir and Torula Kefir, which help balance the intestinal flora by penetrating the mucosal lining. They form a virtual SWAT team that housecleans and helps strengthen the intestines. Kefir is therefore an incredible partner in overcoming  compromised gut flora.

Kefir’s active yeast and bacteria may provide more nutritive value than yogurt by helping digest the foods that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy. The curd size of Kefir is smaller than yogurt, so it’s also easier to digest

It’s very easy to make your own yogurt and kefir with a good source of whole raw milk–see www.realmilk.com. If you cannot obtain that, you can use a high quality whole organic milk–preferably unhomogenized. You can obtain fantastic cultures from www.bodyecology.com. Just follow the instructions on the package. Our book, Performance without Pain, has recipes as well.

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Acid Reflux Healing, Allergies, Digestion and Healing Diet, Bone Broth Soups, Breast Health and Cancer Prevention, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Inflammation and Healing Diet, Mood Disorders and Diet, Performing Artist's Health, Recipes for Traditional Foods

Bone Broth Soup–A great recipe for one of the best foods in the world

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Regularly eating bone broth soup has many wonderful health benefits. There is an old Latin saying, “Good broth raises the dead.” So what are the magical attributes to this slow food that have given it such an honor?

Bone broth is one of the easiest foods to digest. It is loaded with a wide array of easy-to-assimilate critical nutrients like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, cartilage, marrow, amino acids and vitamins. The cartilage in broth will help you heal your own cartilage. Bone broths are also rich in gelatin, which can aid digestion and help to heal the intestinal tract.

In today’s world where everyone seems to have calcium and other nutrient deficiencies, good old-fashioned bone broth is the form of these nutrients that we can best utilize.

Bone broth can be made from chicken, fish or beef bones (for beef and chicken, pastured is best–free-range, organic is next best. For fish–wild-caught.) The most important thing is to add a little vinegar or wine to the water when simmering the bones as it pulls  the nutrients out of the bones and into the broth. Here is a wonderful bone broth soup recipe made from beef bones.

Rich Beef and Vegetable Bone Broth Soup

1 oxtail
1 knuckle bone
several marrow bones
several soup bones
2 T. vinegar
1-2 lb. stew meat
2 -3 large onions-chopped
4 large carrots-sliced
4 large beets-sliced
1/4 lb. Swiss chard-chopped
1 large bunch of parsley-chopped
other vegetables of your choice
2 cups dry red wine
filtered water to cover bones
Celtic Sea Salt to taste

In a large stock pot or crock pot, take the bones and cover them with water and put in the vinegar. Cover the pot and let the water come to a boil. Turn to simmer. When the meat from the soup bones and oxtail is cooked, take the meat off these bones and set aside in the refrigerator. Put bones back into same pot and continue simmering for about 24-36 hours!! (This is how you get nutrient-rich broth.) You may have to add water from time to time. After 24-36 hours, strain the broth and skim off the fat. Add the wine, meat from the bones, stew meat and vegetables. Simmer for about 2 hours. Salt to taste. (For easy lunches take a thermos of soup! Never heat in the microwave–it destroys the nutrients.)

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathyrne Pirtle

Children's Health, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Mood Disorders and Diet, Performing Artist's Health, Singer's Health

Concentration, mood and digestion–what’s the relationship?

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Artists know very well that the ability to concentrate is critical to both practicing and performing. However all of us need these concentration skills to do well in our everyday lives. In addition mood instability that curtails a sense of well-being may impact our success. Today the cutting edge treatments for working with children who have autism, ADD, ADHD and mental health issues is a dietary protocol based on nutrient-dense foods that also maximizes digestion and absorption. This is because this scientific community has proven that this approach has offered remarkable advances in the reversal of all of these problems. These very same advances for serious ailments in children have a direct relationship on how we can look at what is helpful for optimal concentration and mood in less critical health situations.

When the diet is high in difficult-to-digest foods like high-fiber, complex carbohydrate and processed foods or sugar, digestion can slow down and cause an overgrowth of candida in both the stomach and the intestinal tract. The byproduct of sugars broken down by yeast (candida) is alcohol and acetaldehyde. The byproduct of poorly digested gluteomorphine protein from gluten grains is a morphine-like chemical. Need I say more! That alcohol and morphine would affect both the mood and the ability to concentrate even in small amounts is obvious. Acetaldehyde will bind itself to proteins we consume and make their nutrients unavailable to the body. Additionally, these foods become very addictive because of the chemicals they produce under these circumstances.

Therefore–changing your diet to foods that are easy-to-digest and nutrient rich is the best way to insure that your body and mind are able to function at peak performance.

Optimal digestion requires certain components.

  • The first is good intestinal flora, which helps us to break down our foods and keep the intestinal walls and villi functioning well for optimal nutrient absorption. Foods that enhance good gut flora are old fashioned probiotic, high-enzyme  foods like cultured dairy–whole fat kefir and yogurt; lacto-fermented vegetables–homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets and cultured drinks like kombucha and beet kvass.
  • Second, a diet rich in nutrient-dense foods such as meats, poultry, eggs and dairy from animals eating their natural diets and traditionally made bone broth soups
  • Third, a diet that includes traditional fats like butter, cream and coconut oil which help with nutrient absorption, cell integrity and hormone function.
  • Fourth, adequate vitamin A and D from natural sources like cod liver oil, egg yolks and liver also for nutrient absorption

For more information on healing and building optimal health with nutrient-dense, traditional foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Acid Reflux Healing, Allergies, Digestion and Healing Diet, Children's Health, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Gluten Free Diets and Healing, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods

Carbohydrate addictions–it’s not all in your head.

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Food addictions can be much more than just talk–they can be real biochemical dependencies that may be signs of health issues. Today, many people are addicted to carbohydrates, like breads, chips, cookies, candy, soda pop, etc. From the aisles of “organic” junk food products in our health food stores to literally hundreds of  junk foods that sit on the shelves of grocery, discount and countless other stores, and the billions of dollars that are spent on advertising these products especially to growing children, it is almost unfathomable that these types of “foods” were by-and-large created in the last 60 years. But why do people crave them?

Because there was no refrigeration, our ancestors consumed many foods that were preserved through lacto-fermentation like yogurt and kefir and fermented vegetables, such as traditionally prepared sauerkraut and pickled beets, which contained probiotic bacteria that helped to maintain a healthy digestive system. With refrigeration and the industrialization of our food supply we stopped making these probiotic foods and started consuming more and more new-fangled food creations. These new fascinating “foods” have wreaked havoc on our digestion and the health of our population as they are very nutrient deficient and hard to digest.

When we consume foods that are hard to digest–even organic foods, digestion slows down in our stomach and stomach acid diminishes. Low acid in the stomach can cause an overgrowth of candida . In addition, without adequate stomach acid, the gluteomorphine proteins in gluten containing grains may not to be properly broken down before they reach the small intestine. In the small intestine the resulting byproduct of poorly digested carbohydrates is alcohol and acetaldehyde as well as morphine-like chemicals. We all know that alcohol and morphine are extremely addictive substances. Acetaldehyde is a very toxic chemical that can bind itself to proteins and make them unusable as nutrients. Therefore, carbohydrate addiction is a real chemical problem and without healthy digestion, candida overgrowth and poor gut flora will ultimately cause intestinal damage and malnourishment.

The best way to end the candida cycle and food addictions is to focus on eating a diet of easy-to-digest, nutrient-dense foods. Foods with real nutrients will eventually help you end the cravings as digestion and nutrient absorption improves. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Acid Reflux Healing, Allergies, Digestion and Healing Diet, Asthma and Acid Reflux, Breast Health and Cancer Prevention, Children's Health, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Gluten Free Diets and Healing, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Inflammation and Healing Diet, Mood Disorders and Diet, Performing Artist's Health, Singer's Health

Do you get hungry two hours after eating breakfast?

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If you are getting hungry two hours after eating breakfast, you may be choosing the wrong kind of foods for your morning meal and this may be a sign that you have absorption problems as well. Let’s look at both of these important issues.

First, a breakfast of cereal, toast or a bagel with non-fat spreads and a piece of fruit may not be the breakfast of champions! For years before I got deathly ill with a digestive disorder, my favorite breakfast was bagels, no-cholesterol “buttery flavor” spread and a piece of fruit. Another choice was a bowl of cold cereal. However by 10AM, I was very hungry again. This is not good. A healthy breakfast is not one that would leave you hungry in just a few hours.

Instead, a breakfast with higher amounts of protein and fat from traditional foods will literally nourish you until the afternoon and will offer far greater levels of nutrients. In our book we recommend a few great breakfasts that besides being nutrient-dense, will also help improve digestion. Smoothies made with 16 oz. whole fat kefir or yogurt (preferably raw milk from grass-fed animals), 2-4 raw egg yolks (from pastured chickens–not commercial eggs), fruit and 1 T. coconut oil are a fabulous breakfast. Another is old fashioned bacon (organic, no-nitrate) and eggs (from pastured chickens). Nutrient density is the key to building optimal health and maintaining blood sugar meal to meal. Nutrient-dense foods have ample high-quality traditional fats, protein and carbohydrates.

However, another reason that you are hungry just two hours after eating may be that you are suffering from inflammation in your intestinal tract. Inflammation is usually caused from bacterial imbalances in the gut flora like a candida overgrowth. When inflammation is present, nutrient absorption will be hampered and a person will feel hungry very quickly after eating a meal. After years of malabsorption, malnourishment is sure to follow.

For optimal health we need eat foods that are high in nutrients and also those that will support good digestion. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,
Kathryne Pirtle

Children's Health, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Dogs and Cats and a Nutrient-Dense Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Vegetarian Diets

What does the health of cats and humans have in common?

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Concurrent pivotal  research in the 1930s by Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Francis Pottenger determined that there was a profound relationship between nutrition and fertility in both humans and cats. Dr. Price found that in the 14 healthy populations he studied, women had no fertility issues or problems in pregnancy or childbirth, and their children were very sturdy. In fact he noted that the Eskimo women had one healthy baby after another. However, people from these same cultures who had moved away and obtained access to “modern foods” –pasteurized milk, white flour, refined sugar and vegetable oils, had fertility and pregnancy problems, and the children born from these mothers had structural imperfections like narrowed faces and crooked and crowded teeth as well as health problems–the very same issues that he had seen in his own patients in the United States.

During this same time period, Dr. Francis Pottenger was working with nutritional healing for the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases at the Pottenger Sanatorium in Monrovia, California. He always focused healing on a proper diet based on the principles discovered by Weston A. Price, and served liberal amounts of liver, butter, cream and eggs to his patients.

He also kept colonies of cats who had had their adrenal glands removed to help him determine how much adrenal cortex to give to his own patients. He found that when the cats consumed a species appropriate diet of raw milk and raw meat that they thrived from one generation to the next. However, if they received either a diet of pasteurized milk and raw meat, raw milk and cooked meat or pasteurized milk and cooked meat that the cats developed degenerative conditions. In fact, with these problem diets, in the second generation, the cats had narrowed faces and crooked and crowded teeth, and in the third generation, the cats could produce no more young!

These astonishing independent yet parallel outcomes between both Dr. Price and Dr. Pottenger can teach us the keys to the exponential percentage of fertility problems that we are seeing today. Both humans and cats who have superior nutrition will have no fertility problems and their offspring will be healthy. But when nutrition is inadequate, the first sign is in fertility problems, structural problems and the presence of health issues.

What we must wake up to understand is that widespread fertility problems are truly a sign of something very wrong with our foods and nutritional beliefs. And if we are really honest, by not choosing and supporting a supply of nutrient-dense foods, this lack of fertility really will ultimately translate into extinction. What both Pottenger and Price revealed can help us to be determined to help to turn the clock back.

For more information on a nutrient-dense diet, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle