So what have I learned over the last 90 days?
Fact: 80% of your immune system is in your gut. It consists of good bacteria versus bad bacteria. A healthy ratio of 85% good and 15% bad. Apparently that is the ratio that resides in the world, (air, land and sea.)
We all play a host scenario to everything. Our solar system is a host to the Galaxy. The earth is a host to the sun and it's gravity. The earth is a host to us humans. Bacteria and amoebas need humans to survive. We all need each other in a very delicate balance.
The only time something get sick is when this balance is not correct.
So healthy is a balance of good and bad to a ratio of 85% desirable to 15% undesirable.
And that is everything in life. Love, Friendship, relationships, jobs even vacations and fun!
Scenario, you and your spouse are on vacation, it rains a little bit in the morning but then the sunshine comes out and makes the entire day so amazing. Without that rain in the morning, that ray of sunshine that made your day would not exist. It's a crazy ratio/balance that has to exist.
So on that note, let's look at health.
To be healthy, you have to be in balance. Remember this when you try to go on a crazy diet of eating only one thing. That is not balance. You have heard of eating balanced meals. This is an important! A balance has to be achieved. Eating 85% healthy and 15% bad is a balance.
When we eat healthy foods, we have to actually know what healthy truly is.
When we eat bad foods, we have to truly understand what bad food is.
Those two statements are extremely crucial when making choices when you eat.
Chocolate: is it good or bad? Research has shown that high-quality dark chocolate is a healthy choice because of the probiotics and the nutrients in this food. However, a milk chocolate candy bar is not a healthy choice because… Well, you know why.
The funny thing is, a majority of what you're reading in my blog you already know. The question that you are having is why can I not achieve a healthy weight loss/body fat loss and maintain my energy.
Nine times out of 10, this is strictly a balance issue.
Are you ready to understand balance?
This is what I have been struggling with for a majority of my adult life. I would lose weight, See a difference on the scale, my clothes would be fitting looser, I would feel happy and have a sense of achievement. But then… Seemingly for no reason, I would find myself eating a donut, grabbing a soda, maybe a beer with the guys, enjoying a birthday cake/pizza party, and always say that "life just got in the way". WTF?
We just change the balance of 85% good and 15% bad the wrong way. Our balance got out of whack. But why?
We are a host to 10 trillion bacteria, microscopic organisms and things we just don't want to believe. We as humans only have 1 trillion human cells. We are outnumbered 10 to 1!
Science fact: our brains have a direct connection to our gut. Our gut also has a direct connection to our brain.
That means, our brains send signals to our guide and, I want to stress this, the intelligence of these trillions of bacteria colonies have a direct connection back to our brains.
Have you ever told yourself that you are going to lose body fat go on a healthy diet and achieve greatness? Of course you have, you would not be reading this if you have not. My friends that have contributed to my research have also verified this next paragraph.
Scenario: today I am starting a new diet. I will lose at least 5 pounds a week and go to the gym and exercise! For the first three days it's very easy, you feel the sense of achievement and you know in your mind you will do this. About seven days in, you find it a little more challenging as you feel tired but you still have hope that you have the mental capacity for mind over matter. Two weeks in, you're finding it very difficult not to eat those fresh donuts that are brought into work by your coworkers, you noticed the McDonald's, Starbucks, and other fast food chains along the way to work that you never noticed before or used to be your place of enjoyment. But you still resist. Now three weeks and you have lost many inches around the waist, the scale is starting to plateau after an amazing 20 pound weight loss… You were growing extremely exhausted and it's almost impossible for you to go to the gym or work out like you did when you first started. Now somewhere before the end of the month, for some strange reason, you find yourself in that Krispy Kreme store, fast food restaurants or worse, sitting in the parking lot of McDonald's eating a big Mac, you look down and honestly do not even remember ordering the food and ask yourself what the hell? Why am I eating this? I'm on a diet! Where is my self-control? But the food you were eating is causing you to have more energy, you feel happier and you wonder why you started this in the first place because you feel so exhausted when you're on this "diet". YMI beating myself up to feel exhausted and tired and worse yet, when you bring that bag of carrots in for lunch, all your friends are eating the foods that you remember make you happy.
I know that scenario has happened to you because it is happened to me. Even people that lose 100 pounds will fall back into this mindset. But is it your mindset? It may not be your mindset. Your bad bacteria craves sugar and many of the chemicals in processed carbohydrates. Remember when I said you have a direct connection to your gut and your gut has a direct connection to your brain? Your gut flora, a.k.a. whatever bacteria is dominant, send signals to your brain to eat more of the food that it wants.
Have you ever use the term trust your gut? Or I have a gut feeling?
Your good gut bacteria wants you to be alive and healthy. However, it can be overrun by your 15% bad bacteria quite easily if you do not feed your good gut Flora with probiotics and pre-biotics.
Okay, what are probiotics and pre-biotics?
Pre-biotics are the food you're good gut Flora, 85% good gut Flora, needs to eat to stay healthy. Fiber. When you eat fiber, that is food that is not digestible by humans, but is digestible and a food source for your good gut Flora.
I thought fiber was to help keep me regular?
Because your good gut Flora helps move your bowel waste through, it is easy to say it keeps you regular.
I eat fiber bars, is that healthy?
Fiber bars unfortunately our full of sugars which feed your bad bacteria.
Where can I get high-quality fiber?
Vegetables and fruits.
Okay, where is this balance you were talking about?
I'm glad you asked that question. A balanced healthy diet means that you are feeding your good bacteria so it over populates your bad bacteria keeping your ratio of 85% good to 15% bad.
So when you eat, it is not really for you. When you eat it is for your body to break down and use vitamins, minerals and nutrients to repair your body and to feed your immune system which is your good bacteria in your gut. 80% of your immune system is your good bacteria that lives in your gut.
Let me make this clear, 80% of your immune system lives in your gut. To be healthy, you need a healthy immune system. Fiber from fruits and veggies are the food that your good gut Flora/bacteria needs to eat to stay healthy.
Sugar and processed carbohydrates feeds the bad bacteria that can overrun your good bacteria and make you sick.
Regular exercise, playing with the kids, playing basketball, swimming, walking with friends… Help keep your cardiovascular system healthy. That moves oxygen to cells and nutrients, vitamins and minerals to repair your body/cells. It also removes waste materials, dead cells and unhealthy bacteria out of your system.
Sleep: helps rejuvenate your body, produce healthy hormones and reduce unhealthy hormones/stress.
In a nutshell:
Healthy means,
1. feed your good gut Flora/bacteria
And how do we do this? For mentation. Fermentation is the process of pulling good bacteria out of the air and populated on two fruits, veggies, meats and even fish. You can populated on the majority of fruits to make delicious drinks. And I'm not talking about alcohol either.
Fermenting your foods means you are getting plenty of probiotics. Probiotics are good bacteria. You deliver the fiber and good bacteria all at once. Your body forces with good bacteria. It drowns out the bad bacteria. You become healthy and your sickness goes away.
2. Regular exercise.
Move around and play. That is all you need to do. Basketball, biking, walking, hiking, swimming… Anything that gets you moving. It helps maintain good hormone level, cardiovascular, sends all the vitamins and minerals and oxygen to your entire body. It makes you happy :-)
3. Sleep/rest
There have been many studies about sleep. Because some people need 6 to 7 hours of sleep and some people need 8 to 9 hours of sleep, the average is eight hours. Because we are all different, you know how much sleep you actually need to feel rested and alert. It is a personal choice and you know your own body.
One serving of fermented veggies that you can make at your house with salt water and veggies in a mason jar, will provide 10 trillion probiotic bacteria. You can culture and make your own yogurt which has trillions of probiotic/good bacteria.
You can make nonalcoholic, fermented drinks for your entire family that are full of good bacteria.
Ferments some ginger, in three days you have real ginger ale. You can also use that to make real root beer. Beer, made from roots and is fermented slightly, root beer. Nonalcoholic, your whole family can drink including children. Amazing probiotics that are fun to drink. Get sodas out of your life immediately!
Because all these bacteria are wild and in the air, I am starting a new blog, wild fermentation.
I will show you step-by-step how to make your life amazing with truly a balanced diet.
I have a full-time job, a part-time job, I am going to school/college full-time, I have a family, wife and children and I still have time to be healthy.
No excuse.
I will see you for 3 more days on this blog and I will link to my new blog very soon.