Howtoquitgluten
Howtoquitgluten
recipes
Herby Vege Crackers……………………………………………3
Ginger Crunch……………………………………………………6
Lemon Brownie………………….………………………………..9
Blueberry Friands…………………………………….……….…..12
Armaretti Biscuits……………………………………………….....17
Chocolate Torte…………………………………………………..20
Vegetable Fritters…………………………………………….…..21
Buckwheat Pasta…………………………………….…………..22
1
mind food
What’s The Go With Paleo ……………..……………….....26
Leaky gut/Dysbiosis……………………………………………37
2
herby vegetable crackers
1 Cup organic sundried tomatoes, soaked in 1. Place all ingredients in a food processor,
cold water for 24 hours, retain soaking water and blend into a smooth paste. Taste and
adjust seasonings to suit.
2 small dried chilies, soaked in water for 24
hours 2. Place 1/3 mixture onto a sheet of baking
paper and spread lightly, then place another
2 organic carrots, scrubbed and roughly
sheet on top. Using a rolling pin carefully roll
chopped
the mixture evenly into a thin ¼ inch
rectangle.
2 cups sunflower seeds, soaked for 24 hours,
drained
3. Carefully peel back the top sheet and
then smooth down with larger knife.
3 cups golden linseed, soaked overnight with
the tomatoes
4. Score the mixture into cracker sizes and
2 tbsp unpasteurized miso, optional 5. Dehydrate in a fan oven at 50◦ for 8-18
hours, until crisp. Flip over and break along
Splashing of tamari, or shoyu the scored lines, to speed up the process.
2 tbsp garlic granules or 4 cloves chopped Tip: Add other dried flavours like basil, mixed
3
buckwheat Sprouted Muesli
4
keeping you slim and trim buckwheat pancakes
Despite the name, buckwheat is not wheat in fact it’s not even grain. It’s a gluten
free fruit seed in the rhubarb family. Highly nutritious, it is high in protein, iron and
potassium. It also has a long transit time in the gut giving it a low glycemic index so
it is great for dieters too!
5
ginger crunch
3/4 Cup Sunflower Seeds, raw 1. Preheat oven to 170 C, or 338 F
1/2 cup cashew nuts, raw
2. Grind together in a food processor until
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, raw
breadcrumb size: Sunflower seeds, cashew
1/2 cup sesame seeds, hulled
nuts and pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup coconut flour (chickpea or spelt
may be substituted) 3. In a mixing bowl add the rest of the dry
3/4 cup ground almond ingredients
3/4 cup erythitol or sugar (coconut sugar or
4. Add eggs and butter
rapadura or sucanat is best)
1/2 cup fine organic desiccated coconut,
5. Mix together well and press into a lined
sulphite free
baking tray 20cm x 20cm until its about 1
2 rounded teaspoons ground ginger powder
1/2 cm thick. Ensure you press firmly.
1 tsp each of guar gum and xanthum gum
(or 2 tsp of either) 6. Fan bake for 10 -12 mins until the edges
Big pinch Himalayan Salt are golden and your kitchen smells divine!
2 large eggs
7. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
200gms melted butter or coconut oil
Top with ginger icing.
6
banana chocolate & walnut muffins
This is a fabulous muffin that is not only dairy and gluten free, its grain free. Sound
too healthy to taste good? Noooo! These are so delicious you will be baking them
all the time!
7
coconut bread
This is a bread that has so many wonderful attributes, it’s gluten free, grain free,
dairy free, low reactive, is Genius Diet approved, BED and GAPS approved and for
many who are who are on specialty healing diets, this bread will save you!
It is so simple to make you can whip it up in a couple of minutes and let it bake.
A little coconut flour goes a very long way so try to stick to the correct qualities and
you won’t end up with a dry loaf.
2 cups cooked Alison’s Pantry Tri Quinoa 1. Preheat your oven to 170ºc or 325ºf
1 cup sifted coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder 2. Grease a loaf pan and add a layer of
1 tsp salt (do not use too much salt as the baking paper widthways.
coconut flour takes on the flavour easily)
7 large eggs 1. In a mixing bowl add your flour, salt and
200 gm melted coconut oil, melted butter or baking powder.
ghee
2. Make a well and add the eggs, coconut
oil then whisk briskly until smooth and
combined.
8
lemon brownie
Ohhh... so delicious and best of all this lemon brownie stays moist! Naturally it's also
grain and cane sugar free so it ticks to Paleo boxes.
9
chocolate fudge brownie
A perfect brownie should be chewy on the outside and gooey on the inside. To
achieve the chewy outside you need the correct amount of sugar, so get the gooey
inside you need to cook it at the right temperature for the right amount of time.
2 cups organic virgin coconut oil (not melted 1. Preheat your oven to 155ºc bake, or 305ºf
but softened is okay, you do not want it too and grease a 20cm x 30cm baking dish.
runny as the sugar will sink and you will not
achieve the right consistency) 2. Chop the palm sugar into smaller chunks
½ plus 1 tbsp cocoa powder and place into a food processer with the oil,
350 grams palm sugar (or coconut sugar) cocoa and salt. Whizz until the sugar is
3 large eggs dissolved. While the processor is running add
Pinch salt the eggs one at a time.
Note: Palm sugar can be purchased as Asian 3. Once combined remove blades then add
food stores in small blocks. It is particularly crispy walnuts if you are using them, then
nice in brownies and fudge as it has a very pour into your prepared baking dish.
fine smooth texture once it is whizzed up.
4. Bake for 20 mins, then switch to fan bake
for an additional 20 mins. It will still be soft
but it should have crisped up around the
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blueberry friands
These are one of the best gluten free treats you can eat. While they are high in fat,
this helps balance the sugar. These are an occasional food – don’t eat them
everyday, but when you do, bless them and enjoy!
180 grams of butter, melted and cooled a bit 1. Preheat oven to 180C.
6 Egg whites, lightly beaten with a whisk, so
they are fluffy 2. Melt the butter slowly in a small pot. Using
1 ¼ cup of ground almond a pastry brush, brush the friand tins with some
1 ½ cups organic icing sugar, sifted, plus of the butter coating them well. If they
extra for dusting. (I use rapadura icing sugar aren’t non-stick, then also use baking paper
made in my blender) around the outside of them.
¾ cup of fine coconut
2 tsp organic vanilla essence 3. In a bowl, fluff up the egg whites with a
1 cup frozen berries whisk, then add the remaining butter and
vanilla essence. Add the sifted icing sugar,
ground almond and coconut and mix to
combine.
11
peanut butter & chocolate power cookies
My goodness, these are so delicious they won’t last long enough to cool down! They
are however not cheap to make either so be warned that they are addictive!
This looks like a strange recipe, but they are fantastic and gluten free. They are so
quick and easy to make a child can so them. Perfect to whip up if you don’t have
anything in the cupboard!
1 cup ORGANIC peanut butter (you can 1. Combine all the ingredients together and
use a combination of cashew, almond or then using two spoons, gently place
peanut butter) teaspoonfuls onto a well-greased baking
¾ cup soft brown sugar tray.
1 cup 70% dark chocolate pieces
2 tbsp white rice flour or chickpea flour 2. Bake at 160c for eight mins or until lightly
1 egg, lightly beaten golden and risen.
1 tsp baking soda Be careful not to burn them!
¼ tsp salt
3. Place onto a cooling rack (important if
you don’t want soft biscuits), cool and then
store in an airtight container.
12
tropical orange coconut cake
Perfect for that afternoon tea where you want to wow your friends and family
with something a little bit different! This cake is nourishing to body and soul.
Serve with a little homemade crème fraiche, yoghurt or whipped cream! This is
also divine straight from the oven served with homemade ice-cream!
13
cashew fruit drops
These are the most delicious chewy biscuits and one is simply not enough! And they
are gluten & grain free, baked in true Paleo style, these cookies are your next family
favourite!
Master this whole food cookie technique, then create your own version and flavour
combination!
1 1/2 cups of cashew butter (made from 2 1. Beat all ingredients together until smooth.
cups of cashews whizzed until creamy)
2 eggs 2. Place teaspoonful’s onto a lined baking
1 tsp baking soda tray and make a well with wet fingers.
3/4 cup coconut sugar (or other natural
sugar) 3. Place 1/2 tsp of jam (see below) into the
2 tbsp coconut flour center.
1/4 cup tapioca starch
4. Fan bake @ 165 c or 98 f for 12 -15 mins.
Jam ingredients
1 cup of frozen berries (boysenberries are 5. Place onto a cooling rack to cool, then
lovely!) store in an airtight container.
1/4 cup coconut sugar
To make jam: Place ingredients into a small
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chocolate & coconut Slice
15
amaretti biscuits
2 cups ground almond 1. Whisk the egg whites until soft peak stage,
1 cup caster sugar add half the sugar and beat until stiff peak
2 egg whites stage. Gently fold in the remaining sugar
2.5ml/1/2 tsp almond essence and the almond essence.
Icing sugar to dust
Gluten free white flour to dust tray 2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and
dust with gluten free flour, then pip half-
moons or small rounds the size of a walnut.
Sprinkle with the icing sugar and allow to
stand for 2 hours.
16
louise cake
this is a classic kiwi favourite and this version while the natural sugars make the
meringue brown, does offer a much healthier version that is also fabulous in taste!
This is low is sugars, and is also grain free and gluten free
17
Jam
Meringue
Topping
1. Sprinkle fine or threaded coconut to top.
18
chocolate torte
This easy recipe came from our friends John & Anna who have a passion for
organic, ethical and good honest food.
It’s gluten free, can easily be made dairy free and is so good you’ll want to keep
making it. And the best thing is that it’s really not that bad for you! In fact it could
be argued that the antioxidants from the chocolate make it good for you.
It’s best served with ice cream of whipped cream, or with a berry compote as a
dairy free option.
It can be served as a cake cold, or as a warm desert in winter. Most 60% plus cocoa
chocolate does not contain dairy so do check if you are dairy intolerant also. I love
to use Rapunzel 85% chocolate but it can be bitter so more sugar is needed.
19
vege fritters
These are so delicious and somewhat addictive! A sure winner for getting vege into
kids and they are gluten free too! The quinoa flour boosts the protein level making
this a really balanced snack.
Make sure the oil is up to temperature so that they don’t soak up too much fat. If
however the oil is too hot is may reach smoking point. If this happens discard the
oil and start again.
2 red onions, finely sliced rings 9. Combine vegetables, coat in water and
2 courgettes, grated rub the flours through with your fingers to
1 tin organic corn kernels, drained combine into a sticky consistency.
1 tbsp ajawain seeds
½ tsp chili powder
10. Fry small soup spoon sixed patties, in
2 tsps dried garlic and paprika granules
organic deodorized coconut oil and butter.
½ cup water, maybe more
¾ cup chickpea flour
½ cup quinoa flour
20
buckwheat pasta
This pasta is so delicious! Buckwheat contra to its name is not wheat and does not
contain any gluten, in fact it might surprise you to find out it’s not a grain at all, and
it’s in fact a fruit seed! It’s related to rhubarb and sorrel. So this is a gluten free dish
that is worth making if you have a problem with gluten or not.
There are too many health benefits of buckwheat to note, so to name a few
buckwheat is beneficial in the prevention of Breast Cancer, cardiovascular disease
and in balancing blood sugar levels, making it useful for diabetics. Buckwheat is
high in protein and contains all eight essential amino acids. Buckwheat is also rich in
many B vitamins as well as phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper and
manganese. And it’s high in Alpha-Linolenic Acid, which is one of the two essential
fatty acids we must have in our diet to be healthy.
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buckwheat pasta with asian greens
6-8 large cloves of garlic, sliced 1. Gently fry the garlic in a little of the sesame
few tbsps sesame oil oil, and then add the pumpkin seeds and fry
¼ cup pumpkin seeds them until they pop. Keep stirring.
¼ cup sesame seeds Add the sesame seeds and fry a little more.
good splashing of tamari or shoyu
1 bunch spring onions 2. Add the broccoli and stir fry for a bit, then
½ head of broccoli, cut the rough outside off add the spring onions, keep stirring through
the stalk and then slice stalk and head into to combine. Add a tbsp of shoyu or tamari
small pieces and stir through, cover with a lid for a bit and
2 bunches of small bok choy let the broccoli sweat down for a couple of
mins.
22
delish sesame & almond crackers
These are so quick and easy to whip up and you can really play around with the
flavours. Try grating fine shavings of parmesan cheese on top, or a light sprinkle of
garlic granules, or hot smoked paprika. You could even add dried herbs to the
mixture for a different flavour, or replace the sesame oil with olive oil for a lighter
flavour, and you can replace the half the sesame seeds for poppy seeds.
You can easily double this mixture too, they keep well in an airtight container.
1 ½ cups blanched almond meal 3. Mix all the ingredients together well and
½ cup hulled sesame seeds roll between two sheets of baking paper as
1 egg, whisked up til it’s fluffy and pale thin as you can get them. This should roll out
Large pinch of salt to about 45cms in length by the width of the
1 tbsp sesame oil baking sheet. Try to get the sides square by
cutting and pasting.
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What’s the go, with Paleo?
With the rapid increase in food intolerance, digestive complaints, obesity, heart disease and
cancers, traditional diets are taking the world by storm and for good reason. Otherwise
known as ‘Ancestral Eating’ more and more nutritionists are turning back the clock and
focusing on a diet of traditional foods.
So what are the health benefits of traditional diets? Natural weight loss, balanced blood
sugar levels, improved cardiovascular health, more energy that’s balanced across the day,
a strong immune system and increased cognitive ability, balanced hormones and improved
moods. Your diet does dictate your quality of life, so feed your body the highest quality
foods you can and reap the rewards!
While there are a number of different approaches to this, the basis of all these diets is to
eliminate processed foods such as refined sugars, newfangled fats and oil such as soy,
canola, rice-bran and rapeseed oils, as well as chemicals in foods. Where traditional diets
vary is whether or not to consume grains, legumes and diary. The Paleo diet also eliminates
grains, legumes, dairy products and fermented foods. The Weston Price diet allows grains if
they are soaked, fermented and or sprouted first so they are more digestible in the body. It
also allows traditional raw diary, and legumes if they are also prepared properly such as
thorough soaking. This eating style also encourages fermented foods, which offer a rich
source of natural probiotics.
Both diets encourage adequate protein and traditional fats, including animal fats and other
saturated fats such as coconut oil. These fats have been demonized for the best part of the
last century however the scientific community is beginning to take a dramatic turn around www.wholefoodsecrets.com © copyright Deborah Murtagh
on a stance that many considered the biggest diet blunder in history!
How does this vary from what Dieticians promote to be a healthy diet? Dieticians are bound
by rules that force them to promote the official dietary guidelines. This is a
grain/carbohydrate rich, lower fat diet, which originated at the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA). Many argue it was designed to support grain based agriculture and not
human health. Since it’s origins we have become fatter and unhealthier than ever before.
Apart from the dramatic increase in processed sugars, modern health issues are said to be
due in part to the fact that grains also convert to glucose (sugar), and a diet high glucose
producing foods such as grains, can cause a myriad of health complaints.
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Traditional diets when balanced correctly are naturally very low in the these types of foods
and promote a low to no grain diet, but use plenty of fresh natural foods such as vegetables,
organic meat, poultry, seafood, nuts and seeds including ancient ‘grains’ quinoa, amaranth,
buckwheat (which are actually seeds), natural sugars and some fruit, and healthy fats like
olive oil and coconut oil. While this may sound restrictive, there is no need to miss out on any
of your favourite foods, it’s simply a case of knowing the alternatives. When you know how
to prepare healthy bread, nourishing crackers, delicious cakes and slices; the world of
Ancestral Eating becomes a wonder world of new flavours and tastes. So get experimenting
and open your kitchen to a whole new culinary experience!
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Flour Nutritional information & History Flavour When to use / avoid
Amaranth Amaranth is thought to be first cultivated Farley strong, use Use often although
Flour by the Aztecs 5,000 years ago. It has with other flours. it is quite
outstanding nutritional value including expensive.
being higher than milk in calcium &
protein. It also contains the supporting
calcium cofactors magnesium & silicon.
26
Flour Nutritional information & History Flavour When to use
Chickpea The chickpea provides more vitamin C, Can be strong Often, this is a
(gram) flour nearly double the usual amount of iron, & raw, but once great all-rounder
three times more fat than most legumes. cooked it tends and very good in
It is a high protein flour with a low GI, & is to take on the sweeter foods like
more digestible than soy flour. flavours it is cakes and biscuits.
cooked with. Not great with
Best in savoury leavened breads
dishes although though so use with
can be fabulous other flours in
with sweet as breads.
well.
Coconut This is an excellent flour that should Sweet coconut Often, this is a
Flour become your basic main-use flour at flavour, very fabulous flour to
home. It is highly absorbent so you only pleasant! use daily. It makes
need to use 1/3 cup to replace 1 cup of fabulous bread
standard flour. It is highly nutritious also when mixed with
and is extremely high in fibre with a coconut oil and
whopping 5grams per 2 tablespoons. By eggs, and bakes
adding coconut flour to your baking you delicious muffins
also lower the glycemic index as the fibre and cakes.
will aid in slowing the digestion of the
food down. In fact coconut flour
contains 58% fibre and 14% coconut oil,
the remaining consists of water, protein
and carbohydrate. It is also beneficial for
weight loss as it boosts your metabolism
and it helps you feel full and naturally
keeps blood sugars low.
Cornmeal A great flour for breads, although it does A sweet, corn Blended with other
tend to be high GI & very dry to use in favour, lends flours its okay in
cooking. It will soak up a lot more itself to savoury & small amounts.
moisture than most other flours & sweet.
therefore produce a more crumble Avoid if following
product. GAPS, SCD, or if
Corn Flour High GI, used as a thickening agent, can Neutral. Occasionally.
be good in GF biscuits & sponges. To get
the white corn flour it is chemically Avoid if following
processed so nutritionally not the best. GAPS, SCD, or if
you have leaky
gut, diabetes or
weight issues.
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Flour Nutritional information & History Flavour When to use / avoid
Millet Flour Millet is one of the only alkalising grains The flavour can Often! While this
around, most are acid forming. From this be quite strong. has a high
point of view, it is considered the best to Glycaemic Index is
integrate into any healthy diet. It has a also alkalising so
lovely texture in cooking with a soft unless you have
crumb outcome. It does go rancid quite blood sugar or
quickly & therefore bitter instead of weight issues,
sweet. Discard in this case & buy fresh. millet should be
Best milled fresh. We have puffed millet used often.
for breakfast often.
Oat flour Some Coeliac’s can tolerate small Lovely, sweet. If you can tolerate
(contains amounts of oats. If you have tried & you oats & oat flour,
gluten) can tolerate it, you are very lucky as this use no more than
is fantastic flour for cooking with. Most of once a week for
my muffins contain oat flour. You can gluten intolerant
then also tolerate Scottish oatcakes – people. For non
yummy with blue cheese! Oats are low gluten sensitive
GI & highly nutritious. We often make people, several
100% oat flour pancakes for breakfast. times a week is
fine.
Potato High GI, but very useful in GF cooking. Neutral. Use sparingly, it is
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Flour Nutritional information & History Flavour When to use / avoid
Rice Flour Brown rice flour is better of course as it is Light, neutral Blend with higher
higher in nutrients & has a lower GI. It has flavours protein, more
a different taste in that it imparts a lively nutritious flours.
seed-like taste. However it is still not a
great flour for protein & I always try to
blend it with other higher protein grains
such as Quinoa & chickpea flour. White Avoid if following
rice flour has a lovely light texture when GAPS, SCD, or if
used in combination with other flours in you have leaky
bread, also as a lovely biscuit flour. gut, diabetes or
Remember though that the GI will be weight issues.
high. Brown rice flour will go rancid
though whereas white flour will not as the
oils have been removed. Rice flours are
essential in GF cooking to improve
texture.
Spelt Flour Spelt flour to me is the best flour in the The best, superior If you are able to
(contains world for taste & texture! It is known as to any wheat tolerate this, only
Gluten) the uncle of wheat & was cultivated prior flour! use once a week!
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Tapioca Tapioca flour is very fine & very white – Neutral. Sparingly like any
Flour which generally means it has been very starch.
refined. It is extracted from a cassava
variety rich in starch. The purified starch Avoid if following
makes an excellent thickener & glaze GAPS, SCD, or if
although once reheated it will thin again you have leaky
like arrowroot does. As it is a starch it is gut, diabetes or
safe to presume it would have a high GI, weight issues.
so combine with other flours & use
sparingly. Good as a part ingredient in
bread.
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the first seven steps towards your healthy kitchen
1) BACK TO BAKING:
Clear out processed foods and start baking!
● Learn the art of raw foods to make delicious seeds and nut bars
● Learn to bake new and exciting muffins, sour dough and sprouted breads and pancakes
with coconut flour and almond flour
● Make your own fruit and raw yoghurt rollups in a dehydrator for kids
● Make your own delicious healthy kitchen breakfast cereals
● Make your own salad dressings, vinaigrette, mayonnaise, aioli etc using healthy cold
pressed oils and free-range egg yolks
● Make your own specialty sauces like teriyaki, sweet n sour etc whenever you need them.
DO NOT buy readymade!
3) MAKE YOUR OWN SPREADS AND DIPS:
It’s so much cheaper to make your own fresh dips and spreads than it is to buy them. Most
only take a few minutes to make and you’ll end up with a much higher quality product. DO
NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE ACCUMULATION OF BAD FATS THROUGH CONDIMENTS!
● Make your own hummus with white navy beans or even marrows! Try plain, sundried www.wholefoodsecrets.com © copyright Deborah Murtagh
tomato, olive, pumpkin and feta, cumin, chili, Moroccan Mix etc
● Make your own pestos & herby pastes
● Make your own raw cheese – it’s so much easier than you might think, start by
learning feta, camembert, ricotta
● Make your own raw yoghurt
4) MAKE YOUR OWN SPICE MIXES:
Spice is the flavour of life! Learn the art of blending spices on the spot when you need them.
Learn the basics of Indian, Chinese, Moroccan, Mexican, Japanese etc
● Blend spices for dips
● Blend spices for lamb, beef, fish, chicken, etc
● Blend spices for marinades
● Blend spices for healthy homemade remedies, herbal teas, common ailments etc
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5) MAKE YOUR OWN BEVERAGES:
Making homemade beverages is both nutritious and satisfying! Do not buy fizzy drinks, energy
drinks, juices (with a few exceptions) etc
● Make your own fizzy drinks – water kefir
● Make your own kombucha tea! Delicious and brilliant for the liver
● Make your own Green Smoothies!!!!
● Make your own cocktails and mixers
7) EDUCATE YOURSELF! The first subjects to know and all of which we’ll cover over the coming
months are:
● The Truth About Fats – Forget everything you’ve ever read or heard from mainstream media
and food companies!!!
Any product that is naturally oily, the product will be able to be cold pressed and not
chemically extracted! Oils from products that are not such as rice bran and canola MUST BE
AVOIDED! As a general rule, avoid vegetable oils, especially soy oil, canola, rapeseed, and
non virgin heated oils.
Use the following fats and oil: A rough guide for use is fats for cooking, oils for dressings
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● The Danger of Genetic Engineering – Completely Avoid!
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the healthy gut
When asked what a healthy diet is I am always cautious giving a reply, because the truth is
usually overwhelming. Most patients I meet believe they have a healthy diet but soon learn
that a media driven ‘healthy diet’ and the facts are miles apart.
Sadly it is often not until chronic disease strikes that most people stop to question their diets.
Why wait? In truth chronic disease is already striking the body, you just aren’t aware of it yet.
When people tell me their families are healthy, and they never get sick, most people don’t
know what it means to be well. To be truly healthy is to be pain free with no niggling aches,
having perfect bowel motions, glowing skin, and a crystal sharp mind. It is to sleep like a
baby and awaken refreshed and inspired about the day. To have a body that’s strong and
fit and never tires. And hormones that are stable with balanced moods and a sense of calm.
Do you know what it’s like to be truly well?
gut bacteria
Wellness and health begin in the gut. Within is a delicate balance of around 500 trillion
microflora, ten times that of the 50 trillion cells in the body.
Highly intelligent and sophisticated bacteria communicate with the gut wall receiving
information from the gut brain as to what the body’s nutritional requirements are then set to
work on supplying these to the blood. This helpful bacteria play a number of vital roles in the
digestion of food, how we absorb nutrients, how we respond and react to foods and most
importantly they control 80% of our immune system. They even produce vital nutrients in
particular vitamin K, and Biotin (B7). They work by feeding off the foods we eat and their
excretions are the very nutrients we survive on. It is my personal belief that beneficial
While it is unknown exactly how many bacteria there are, anywhere between 300 and 1000
can be found in the gut and work in a symbiotic, harmonious relationship to keep their host
healthy. They need us to be healthy as much as we need them to be healthy. When all is
working well this is a marriage made in heaven. This is still a relatively new field of science
with many investigative studies currently being carried out. No doubt we will someday know
more about what many call The Forgotten Organ.
Bonnie Bassler a molecular biologist from Princeton University has discovered that bacteria
communicate by excreting chemical signalling molecules called autoinducers. They have
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one type of language used amongst their own species like a secret code, and another
which enables them to communicate in a universal language amongst bacterial species.
This communication is called quorum sensing and it essentially enables bacteria to function
as a multi-cellular organism. Collectively bacteria are able to influence genetic expression.
Individually bacteria are considered not to have any influence over the human body, as
they are far too small compared to their giant host. However they are constantly splitting
and dividing enabling them to multiply rapidly in numbers, and scientists now believe that
once there are enough of them they are able to have dramatic influences over their host.
It’s as though they wait patiently for enough of them to gather before manifesting their
potential on the organism.
Unfortunately while there are good healthful bacteria, there are also opportunistic or
pathogenic bacteria that cause more harm than good which also communicate via
quorum sensing. The number one way to protect ourselves from these pathogenic bacteria
is through eating a diet rich in cultured and fermented foods in order to keep these
pathogenic bacteria at bay. Many chronic diseases are linked to pathogenic bacteria, one
way healthful bacteria work to keep the immune system healthy is to fight off these
unwanted invaders. However given the right conditions these pathogenic organisms can
overload the gut and hijack the immune system which also has a negative effect on the Gut
Brain.
The Gut Brain is embedded in the gut wall and participates in a rich dialogue with the brain
during the entire journey of food through the 30-foot-long digestive tract, from the
oesophagus to the anus. It is a network of 100 million neurons, more than the spinal cord. It
has neurotransmitters and proteins that zap messages between these neurons along neural
nets like those found in the brain. It remembers, learns and produces ‘gut feelings’.
Importantly, neurotransmitters are in the guts brain, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and
glutamate in fact 30 neurotransmitters are used by the gut. Two dozen brain proteins called
neuropeptides are found in the guts brain. In fact they have even found a type the body’s
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natural opiates are in the gut, there’s even a rich source of Benzodiazepines that have a
similar effect as Valium and Xanax. Scientists don’t know yet how these Benzodiazepines are
produced. It’s possible the gut bacteria make them, or certain foods produce them.
The guts brain plays a major role in our happiness and misery.
Many gastrointestinal disorders like colitis, IBS originate from problems within the guts
brain. Indigestion and acid reflux are symptoms the gut isn’t functioning correctly.
What you eat has a direct effect of the Gut Brain just as much as what you eat has a direct
effect on your Brain. This is a new field which I believe will unravel the mysteries of foods and
moods and why some bring us up while others take us down!
My yoga teacher once told me that Buddhists Monks would never take an anti parasitic herb
to kill parasites, they would simple meditate and raise their vibrations to a point the parasites
were no longer a match and would decide to leave voluntarily. I love the thought of that!
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leaky gut / dysbiosis
Dysbiosis is commonly referred to as Leaky Gut and it is just that a gut that leaks. In the gut,
the single cell wall of epithelial cells should be joined tightly together to create the only
barrier from whatever is in the gut. If the barrier is damaged, undigested fats, toxins, some
bacteria and foreign proteins in the gut may penetrate through the wall of the unhealthy gut
causing an inflammatory response throughout the body.
Two major proteins we know about are Casein (dairy protein) and gluten (found in wheat’s,
barley, rye and oats). Both these proteins leach through the wall of an unhealthy gut. The
body recognises these as proteins, instead of being properly broken down into amino acids,
they remain whole. The body, unsure what they are, perceive them as possible pathogenic
bacteria or virus and acts as though a foreign invader is coming in for attack. The body’s
natural response is to attack back. In the process the immune system goes into overdrive to
fight off the invading proteins. This can result in serious infection, inflammation and/or
activation of the immune system. This can also result in autoimmune diseases, food
sensitivities, mal-absorption of nutrients leading to various diseases, joint pain including
rheumatoid arthritis, skin conditions, asthma, eczema, heart disease, inflammatory bowel
disease and dozens more.
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Dear Student
Thanks for supporting the movement towards a healthier and
happier world!
And don’t forget to check out our other Udemy Courses – more
coming soon!
Thanks again for joining me, I look forward to connecting with you
online!
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