THE KEY=GUT HEALTH
I have been coaching a good friend and his family on a HEALTH JOURNEY since about 2013. Each year they have made steady progress and have often been an inspiration to me to stay on track throughout the years. At the start of 2017, he told me he would like to focus on reducing his belly fat. I definitely left him with encouraging support for his goal. But in the back of my mind I was honestly a little skeptical, because I have always read and heard that we cannot spot reduce fat, say from the belly, butt or flabby under arms. I’d heard it was possible to use exercise to maybe firm up an area, but to noticeably spot reduce fat, I was totally unaware of any reliable methods for doing so.
When I got home, I told my wife about my new challenge. She told me that she had just recorded an episode of Dr Phil. Dr Travis Stork was on the show promoting his new book
“THE LOSE YOUR BELLY DIET”. I was definitely skeptical, because after years of ups and downs trying to lose weight, I had concluded that the word DIET was more about short term progress followed by failure. Big on selling books short on long term results. But having that TV show come on as a solution to a challenge I had just encountered is what me and many of my friends call A GOD SIGHTING. (A coincidence too powerful, to not have some kind of divine engineering.) So I watched the show multiple times and then went out and bought the book. I am not a reader; I have read maybe a handful of books throughout almost 40 years of my adult life. And I do not have much confidence in the word DIET as so many have proved to be temporary fads. Not sustainable long term. But this book was not big, only about 150 easy to read pages plus a few pages of tasty, healthy recipes. As I read the book I realized that it really was not a DIET but a lifestyle that Dr Travis had lived. And it was also very similar to the healthy lifestyle that I had success with since about 1999. Big on including WHOLE GRAINS and LEAN PROTEINS, minimal red meat. More about what we should eat than what we should not eat. And it was counter to the latest fads of NO CARB and WHOLE 30 diet plans that excluded important nutrients and saw short term progress followed by failure.
Dr Travis explains that our guts are full around a 100 TRILLION MICROBES including around 1,000 different species of bacteria. Some bad bacteria. But also a lot of good bacteria that are essential for all around good health. Affecting many areas of our health including stress, anxiety, allergies, gut inflammation and belly fat. He suggests calling the good bacteria LITTLE BUDDIES. When we don’t do a good job feeding our good bacteria, LITTLE BUDDIES enough nutrients they can die off or be overtaken by the bad bacteria. Or if our LITTLE BUDDIES are starved for their essential nutrients, they may begin to feed on the mucus membranes that line our intestines which can lead to inflammation throughout our body and many kinds of health problems.
The good news is that by making just a few simple diet adjustments, we can see improvements in our gut health within just a few days.
Dr Travis stresses the importance of having lots and lots of healthy LITTLE BUDDIES. This can be done by consuming lots of PREBIOTICS. As I understand it. Prebiotics are foods that provide the LITTLE BUDDIES that we already have with the nutrients they crave to feast on. The healthier our LITTLE BUDDIES are, the more they multiply and are able to dominate the inflammation and bad health causing bad bacteria.
Dr Travis also stresses the importance of having a large variety of LITTLE BUDDIES. A good way to add variety is to consume a variety of foods that contain LITTLE BUDDIES. It is likely that if we consume a variety of foods containing LITTLE BUDDIES we likely add to the variety of LITTLE BUDDIES within our bodies. Foods such as yogurts, and some fermented foods such as live culture Sauerkraut contain LITTLE BUDDIES. Canned Sauerkraut does NOT contain LITTLE BUDDIES. The key is to look for the words LIVE or ACTIVE cultures, probiotics or enzymes on the label. We can also gain probiotics by taking a probiotic supplement. I prefer to try to get my prebiotics and probiotics naturally.
All yogurts and foods that say LIVE or ACTIVE cultures, enzymes or probiotics contain LITTLE BUDDIES or live microbes. All live microbes are likely beneficial to our health. Probiotics are microbes that have actually been tested and proven to have a healthy effect.
Prebiotics are fruits, vegetables, and WHOLE grains. While many low carb and gluten free diets minimize or eliminate most or all grains. Dr Travis stresses the importance of consuming a variety of WHOLE GRAINS. The key word WHOLE. Our LITTLE BUDDIES thrive on WHOLE grain fiber and some may perish without it.
In summary a Prebiotic is a food the feeds the LITTLE BUDDIES we already have. A Probiotic is a food that actually contains additional LITTLE BUDDIES and thus adds to the variety of LITTLE BUDDIES that we have.
With Dr Travis recommendations in mind I try to consume many WHOLE GRAINS, Prebiotics and Probiotics. One meal that I occasionally have for breakfast and sometimes for supper is a
GUT HEALTH BOMB CEREAL BOWL.
I combine at least 3 low sugar WHOLE GRAIN cereals, Low Sugar Craisins and Probiotic Yogurt to get a boost of Prebiotics and Probiotics. I add PB2 peanut butter powder, blueberries and cinnamon to add low calorie rich flavor. Instead of dairy milk, I stir a small squirt of STEVIA into yogurt and combine that with some UNSWEETENED ALMOND MILK. The combination adds low calorie, low sugar sweetness, Calcium, Protein and Probiotics. I squirt the STEVIA into the liquid and stir it in thoroughly before pouring on the cereal. STEVIA can not be applied to dry cereal and evenly distributed because it all soaks into a small area of the cereal, so it is important to stir it into another liquid before adding to dry cereal. The bowl contains a total of about 500 calories, 30g of fiber and about 10g of protein. It completely satisfies my appetite for several hours and gives me a nice boost of energy. And it is loaded with rich tasty flavor. The combination likely provides the little buddies I already have with a variety Prebiotic fiber and the Probiotics hopefully add to my variety of LITTLE BUDDIES. I definitely feel quite full without the bloat sometimes caused by sugars and non-whole grains.
If I'm interested in fewer calories, I'll sometimes use 1/3 CUP of each cereal for a total of 1 full cup of cereal.
If I want a meal with more PROTEIN, I'll usually have 1 can of Sardines for low calorie lean meat protein and then have have the GUT HEALTH BOMB CEREAL BOWL as a desert.
I'm sure some of you are thinking SARDINES. GROOOSSS!! In my opinion Sardines are one of the cleanest healthiest sources of abundant Protein. The key to great flavor Sardines is BONELESS, SKINLESS, OLIVE OIL. The boneless, skinless makes the flavor much more mild, the olive oil reduces the fishy smell and improves the flavor and adds more healthy fat.
Just can't do Sardines. Eggs are also an excellent source of Protein. 2 eggs are less than 200 calories no matter how you fix them. Even eggs fried in canola oil or olive oil are still ok as long as we do not fry them in bacon grease.
I encourage you to check out the photo illustrations below. The photos show my gut health bomb bowl of cereal and a few of the key pages from the book.
I also encourage you to pick up a copy of the book “THE LOSE YOUR BELLY DIET” by TRAVIS STORK. It is definitely the best thing I have ever read for HAPPY HEALTHY LIVING. I believe that I have been living 20 PLUS year track record of proof that the concepts of the book work.
THE KEY=GUT HEALTH
I have been coaching a good friend and his family on a HEALTH JOURNEY since about 2013. Each year they have made steady progress and have often been an inspiration to me to stay on track throughout the years. At the start of 2017, he told me he would like to focus on reducing his belly fat. I definitely left him with encouraging support for his goal. But in the back of my mind I was honestly a little skeptical, because I have always read and heard that we cannot spot reduce fat, say from the belly, butt or flabby under arms. I’d heard it was possible to use exercise to maybe firm up an area, but to noticeably spot reduce fat, I was totally unaware of any reliable methods for doing so.
When I got home, I told my wife about my new challenge. She told me that she had just recorded an episode of Dr Phil. Dr Travis Stork was on the show promoting his new book
“THE LOSE YOUR BELLY DIET”. I was definitely skeptical, because after years of ups and downs trying to lose weight, I had concluded that the word DIET was more about short term progress followed by failure. Big on selling books short on long term results. But having that TV show come on as a solution to a challenge I had just encountered is what me and many of my friends call A GOD SIGHTING. (A coincidence too powerful, to not have some kind of divine engineering.) So I watched the show multiple times and then went out and bought the book. I am not a reader; I have read maybe a handful of books throughout almost 40 years of my adult life. And I do not have much confidence in the word DIET as so many have proved to be temporary fads. Not sustainable long term. But this book was not big, only about 150 easy to read pages plus a few pages of tasty, healthy recipes. As I read the book I realized that it really was not a DIET but a lifestyle that Dr Travis had lived. And it was also very similar to the healthy lifestyle that I had success with since about 1999. Big on including WHOLE GRAINS and LEAN PROTEINS, minimal red meat. More about what we should eat than what we should not eat. And it was counter to the latest fads of NO CARB and WHOLE 30 diet plans that excluded important nutrients and saw short term progress followed by failure.
Dr Travis explains that our guts are full around a 100 TRILLION MICROBES including around 1,000 different species of bacteria. Some bad bacteria. But also a lot of good bacteria that are essential for all around good health. Affecting many areas of our health including stress, anxiety, allergies, gut inflammation and belly fat. He suggests calling the good bacteria LITTLE BUDDIES. When we don’t do a good job feeding our good bacteria, LITTLE BUDDIES enough nutrients they can die off or be overtaken by the bad bacteria. Or if our LITTLE BUDDIES are starved for their essential nutrients, they may begin to feed on the mucus membranes that line our intestines which can lead to inflammation throughout our body and many kinds of health problems.
The good news is that by making just a few simple diet adjustments, we can see improvements in our gut health within just a few days.
Dr Travis stresses the importance of having lots and lots of healthy LITTLE BUDDIES. This can be done by consuming lots of PREBIOTICS. As I understand it. Prebiotics are foods that provide the LITTLE BUDDIES that we already have with the nutrients they crave to feast on. The healthier our LITTLE BUDDIES are, the more they multiply and are able to dominate the inflammation and bad health causing bad bacteria.
Dr Travis also stresses the importance of having a large variety of LITTLE BUDDIES. A good way to add variety is to consume a variety of foods that contain LITTLE BUDDIES. It is likely that if we consume a variety of foods containing LITTLE BUDDIES we likely add to the variety of LITTLE BUDDIES within our bodies. Foods such as yogurts, and some fermented foods such as live culture Sauerkraut contain LITTLE BUDDIES. Canned Sauerkraut does NOT contain LITTLE BUDDIES. The key is to look for the words LIVE or ACTIVE cultures, probiotics or enzymes on the label. We can also gain probiotics by taking a probiotic supplement. I prefer to try to get my prebiotics and probiotics naturally.
All yogurts and foods that say LIVE or ACTIVE cultures, enzymes or probiotics contain LITTLE BUDDIES or live microbes. All live microbes are likely beneficial to our health. Probiotics are microbes that have actually been tested and proven to have a healthy effect.
Prebiotics are fruits, vegetables, and WHOLE grains. While many low carb and gluten free diets minimize or eliminate most or all grains. Dr Travis stresses the importance of consuming a variety of WHOLE GRAINS. The key word WHOLE. Our LITTLE BUDDIES thrive on WHOLE grain fiber and some may perish without it.
In summary a Prebiotic is a food the feeds the LITTLE BUDDIES we already have. A Probiotic is a food that actually contains additional LITTLE BUDDIES and thus adds to the variety of LITTLE BUDDIES that we have.
With Dr Travis recommendations in mind I try to consume many WHOLE GRAINS, Prebiotics and Probiotics. One meal that I occasionally have for breakfast and sometimes for supper is a
GUT HEALTH BOMB CEREAL BOWL.
I combine at least 3 low sugar WHOLE GRAIN cereals, Low Sugar Craisins and Probiotic Yogurt to get a boost of Prebiotics and Probiotics. I add PB2 peanut butter powder, blueberries and cinnamon to add low calorie rich flavor. Instead of dairy milk, I stir a small squirt of STEVIA into yogurt and combine that with some UNSWEETENED ALMOND MILK. The combination adds low calorie, low sugar sweetness, Calcium, Protein and Probiotics. I squirt the STEVIA into the liquid and stir it in thoroughly before pouring on the cereal. STEVIA can not be applied to dry cereal and evenly distributed because it all soaks into a small area of the cereal, so it is important to stir it into another liquid before adding to dry cereal. The bowl contains a total of about 500 calories, 30g of fiber and about 10g of protein. It completely satisfies my appetite for several hours and gives me a nice boost of energy. And it is loaded with rich tasty flavor. The combination likely provides the little buddies I already have with a variety Prebiotic fiber and the Probiotics hopefully add to my variety of LITTLE BUDDIES. I definitely feel quite full without the bloat sometimes caused by sugars and non-whole grains.
If I'm interested in fewer calories, I'll sometimes use 1/3 CUP of each cereal for a total of 1 full cup of cereal.
If I want a meal with more PROTEIN, I'll usually have 1 can of Sardines for low calorie lean meat protein and then have have the GUT HEALTH BOMB CEREAL BOWL as a desert.
I'm sure some of you are thinking SARDINES. GROOOSSS!! In my opinion Sardines are one of the cleanest healthiest sources of abundant Protein. The key to great flavor Sardines is BONELESS, SKINLESS, OLIVE OIL. The boneless, skinless makes the flavor much more mild, the olive oil reduces the fishy smell and improves the flavor and adds more healthy fat.
Just can't do Sardines. Eggs are also an excellent source of Protein. 2 eggs are less than 200 calories no matter how you fix them. Even eggs fried in canola oil or olive oil are still ok as long as we do not fry them in bacon grease.
I encourage you to check out the photo illustrations below. The photos show my gut health bomb bowl of cereal and a few of the key pages from the book.
I also encourage you to pick up a copy of the book “THE LOSE YOUR BELLY DIET” by TRAVIS STORK. It is definitely the best thing I have ever read for HAPPY HEALTHY LIVING. I believe that I have been living 20 PLUS year track record of proof that the concepts of the book work.