When it comes to taking care of ourselves, the information out there is endless and confusing…Is Keto the right diet or does it actually damage your liver. Is caffeine a health food or does it destroy your gut. Honestly, you can find any information supporting or arguing one ‘healthy’ thing versus another.
There is information we can’t argue with and that is the three pillars of health that have been more clearly emerging in the past few years. What are the three pillars of good health?
- Gut Health
- Blood Sugar
- Inflammation
If we spent more time focusing on these three areas, we could eliminate some very life altering diseases that are, at best, manageable, if not curable.
Our gut contains good and bad bacteria as well as important acid and enzymes that assists in carrying nutrients throughout the body. We create a toxic gut environment with the foods we consume and the medications we take and the stress we struggle to manage. Nothing will destroy healthy gut microbes faster than sugar and sugar substitutes. Sugar has a way of not only killing good bacteria but feeding the bad, so you quickly become imbalanced, and over run with bacteria that is toxic to your body. Your gut health is also a regulator in skin health, metabolic health, immune health and brain health…so if you want to make your life better, start with your gut.
Blood sugar is another valuable marker of good health. If your diet is mostly sugars, refined carbs and processed foods, your pancreas will work overtime to release insulin as a way of managing all that sugar. As this process happens over and over, the cells will become resistant to the insulin. This will directly affect the pancreas and the liver. Insulin resistance is more common than we realize and you don’t have to be very overweight to feel its effects. High insulin will increase your risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, fatty liver and PCOS- Polycystic ovary syndrome.
Cleaning up your diet may very well kill two birds with one stone…a diet of clean protein, good fats and plenty of fruits and vegetables will feed the good bacteria in your gut and reduce insulin resistance.
Inflammation! One of the big markers for good health. Just about everyone has experienced inflammation at one time or another. Inflammation is caused by one of two things…either toxicity or deficiency. If you are struggling with joint pain, skin issues or any ‘itis’, or if you find yourself with an endless supply of steroid medication, odds are, you are inflamed. When your body encounters something that shouldn’t be in your body, like a virus or toxin, it sends in inflammatory cells to fight and heal, but when the body is overwhelmed with toxicity, the inflammation becomes chronic and damage, rather than healing, occurs.
Here are some health conditions that are associated with increased inflammation.
- Alzheimer’s
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Heart Disease
- Diabetes
- Arthritis
This is the short list. Food is a major culprit contributing to increased inflammation but there are some lifestyle factors to consider as well. Obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, too much exercise, chronic stress and obesity all increase our inflammatory levels. You can opt for medications to help control this but a change in diet and lifestyle is always going to benefit it you more.
If you eliminate all of the obvious toxins, then start looking at deficiencies you may have such as Vitamin D, A and C. It would be best to check with your doctor and even get a referral to a nutritionist. Together, they will help you get your health back on track.
The answer to good health is never changing yet diet fads come and go. Keeping life simple, our diet clean will eliminate so many preventable diseases and conditions. Commit today to start out small. Change one negative thing this week and see the subtle effects for good that will come.
