Heal Your Gut With This Simple Tool
Carrots are pretty darn amazing. I discovered the hidden health benefits of carrots long ago when I was turned on to Ray Peat’s work. He talks about how the fiber in carrots are helpful for aiding the excretion of harmful bacteria in the gut.
This is a big deal because the fiber that we’re recommended to eat to maintain a “so called” healthy diet does not have the same properties as the fiber you find in the carrot.
Instead the fiber that’s recommended by mainstream nutritionists (starchy grains, green leafy veggies, fermented foods and cruciferous veggies) run the risk of sitting in the gut and putrefying if digestion is too slow. Leading to issues like leaky gut and bacterial overgrowth.
Carrots are pretty darn amazing. I discovered the hidden health benefits of carrots long ago when I was turned on to Ray Peat’s work. He talks about how the fiber in carrots are helpful for aiding the excretion of harmful bacteria in the gut.
This is a big deal because the fiber that we’re recommended to eat to maintain a “so called” healthy diet does not have the same properties as the fiber you find in the carrot.
Instead the fiber that’s recommended by mainstream nutritionists (starchy grains, green leafy veggies, fermented foods and cruciferous veggies) run the risk of sitting in the gut and putrefying if digestion is too slow. Leading to issues like leaky gut and bacterial overgrowth.
The difference is, carrots contain anti-fungal properties as well as a unique antimicrobial fiber that acts as a natural detoxifier by binding to toxins in the intestines (absorbing bad bacteria, aka, endotoxins).
This beneficial fiber also aids the body in excreting excess estrogen which could be why you get the most benefit from eating your carrots raw.
But what’s even more interesting is that when you make a carrot salad the beneficial fiber can be way more effective at eliminating toxins, aiding digestion and raising your metabolism than just eating the carrot alone.
How it all works
Hormonal Balance
Improving digestion with beneficial fiber improves hormonal balance by aiding in eliminating excess estrogen in the gut which tend to get recirculated through the intestinal walls if digestion is too slow.
Too much estrogen circulating in the body can then cause harmful side effects and increase your percentage of fat body since estrogen gets stored in your fat cells.
Why is excess estrogen a problem?
Excess estrogen can be a problem as we get older because there’s not enough progesterone to oppose the estrogen (which is a natural process that happens after a woman’s menstrual cycle has ended).
As women get older their ability to produce progesterone diminishes so it’s a double edge sword. You produce less progesterone to oppose the estrogen and the estrogen gets recirculated through the gut if your digestion is compromised.
If estrogen continues to get recirculated without being excreted you end up with severe premenstrual, menopause symptoms, thyroid issues and slow digestive motility. This all leading to a slower metabolism with more fat storage and less muscle growth.
Hence the midlife crisis for women, the thing all women dred as we approach middle age, getting fat (without having the ability to exercise and calorie count it away).
Liver Support (detox)
It’s all about liver support. Your liver is your main event and the one organ you want to pay close attention to. Because if you support your liver many other organs and systems will function well as a result.
According to Ray Peat, “A carrot salad eaten daily can assist the liver and GI tract in the detoxification process and elimination of endotoxin and excess estrogen, thus improving the function of your metabolism.”
Carrot salad in the making
70% of your hormonal conversion happens in the liver.
That may be an even bigger deal.
Your liver is your gateway to hormonal balance and efficient energy production.
That’s why it’s important to support your liver with the right foods. Foods that will aid your liver in it’s function of releasing and excreting toxins thus taking the burden off the liver so it can do it’s job of hormonal conversion and aiding the body in energy production by supporting the thyroid (since your thyroid regulates your metabolism).
The beneficial fiber from raw carrots, cooked bamboo shoots and well cooked mushrooms can provide this.
If you struggle with bacterial overgrowth, low thyroid, digestive issues, premenstrual symptoms, menopause symptoms, inflammation, low energy and autoimmune response I highly recommend you include this in your daily routine. I’ve seen digestion improve substantially within a week of eating the raw daily carrot salad.
Daily Carrot Salad - The Recipe:
Grate 1 medium size carrot lengthwise
Add 1 tsp of organic refined coconut oil (or melted if it's not refined) or olive oil
Add 1 tsp of white rice vinegar
Add 1 to 2 pinches of sea salt and a little pinch of pepper ( I like Jacobsen Sea Salt - they have a variety of flavors which help to change the flavor up)
Mix it up and enjoy!
Variations:
Did you know that carrots come in an array of different colors. Visit your local farmers market and see what you find. Using yellow or purple carrots is a great way to avoid too much beta carotene.
Kate Deering recommends grating an entire batch of carrots and soaking them in water before use. This keeps them fresh as well as aids in reducing the amount of beta carotene.
You change the flavor by adding different flavors of sea salt or spices to it.
Benefits of a daily carrot salad include:
Aids the liver in the detoxification process by carrying the toxins away via the carrot fiber
Stimulates the digestion
Increases thyroid hormone conversion
Decreases stress hormones; adrenaline and cortisol, as well as, aldosterone and serotonin
Relieves premenstrual symptoms
Contains an indigestible fiber that's antimicrobial and antibacterial which pull out endotoxins (bad bacteria) in the gut. Making your gut flora a much healthier place.
When you cut your carrot lengthwise (even after you chew it) you get the benefit of it pulling out endotoxin much more effectively and lower in the digestive tract.
The raw carrot is effective at detoxing excess estrogen in the gut and prevent estrogen from getting reabsorbed in the gut, thus creating hormonal balance.
Eat your carrot salad between meals, between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner.
Benefits of Essential components of the daily carrot salad
The coconut oil or olive oil aids in offsetting the unsaturated fat in the carrot as well as stimulates the metabolism by lowering your requirement for vitamin E, suppressing bacterial overgrowth and healing the intestinal wall.
The vinegar aids in digestion and stimulating HCL.
The salt aids in keeping adrenaline, aldosterone and serotonin levels down, stimulates the bowel, provides minerals your body needs, increases metabolism, maintains a healthy blood sugar and makes your salad taste better.
5 Simple Strategies For Increasing Your Metabolism
When I talk to my clients about nutrition initially, the first question I ask them is,
“How frequently are you eating?”
They usually say not frequently enough and some even admit to waiting up to five hours between meals.
Could the key to a healthy metabolism really be as simple as food frequency?
When I talk to my clients about nutrition initially, the first question I ask them is,
“How frequently are you eating?”
They usually say not frequently enough and some even admit to waiting up to five hours between meals.
Could the key to a healthy metabolism really be as simple as food frequency?
I find it’s the most underestimated factor in most people's nutrition programs. Many people are simply not eating enough throughout the day.
Maybe it’s our busy stressful lives or fad diets (like intermittent fasting and keto) that promise instant results or maybe we’re just totally distracted and forget to eat all together.
Whatever the reason is, the consequence of doing this over and over again will lead to a metabolic slow down. And trust me, when that happens it’s hard to get back up.
Let me explain… the issue is blood sugar regulation.
I think eating clean organic foods is incredibly important, but if your metabolism is slow and you’re not already eating consistently enough to balance your blood sugar (to avoid hypoglycemia) on a daily basis, you’re simply not going to be able to meet your body’s metabolic needs (energy requirements).
This creates inflammation and a perfect storm for metabolic slow down.
It’s a problem because chronically stressing your systems day in and day out (with a byproduct of adrenaline and cortisol) leads to a whole cascade of symptoms. Many of which you’d be pretty surprised to know.
Irritability
Mood swings
Brain fog
Low energy/fatigue
Digestive issues
Bloating
Muscle mass loss
Sleep issues
Rapid heart beat
Diminishing ability to recover
Low thyroid function
Skin issues
Hair loss
Weight gain
Can’t gain weight (depleted state)
Severe issues, like fibromyalgia, diabetes, MS, etc.
And the list goes on
The simple act of not eating frequently enough puts you at risk for chronic hypoglycemia. This sets the stage for hormonal imbalance, severe mood swings (we call this getting hangry at our house) autoimmune disease and hypothyroidism which can make it basically impossible to lose weight.
Dr. Broda Barnes talked about this in his book, “Hope For Hypoglycemia”. He discovered after seeing many people who had been turned away from their doctors (telling them either nothing was wrong with them or that they were clinically crazy) that it had more to do with blood sugar regulation and supporting the liver by supplying it with enough glucose for hormonal conversion.
Glucose is also our major fuel for the brain.
Your brain only runs on glucose so it makes sense that you begin to lose cognitive abilities and get irritable when you need fuel.
When you get foggy brain, your brain is talking to you. It’s telling you it needs more fuel.
There's a chance you may drop some weight with diets like intermittent fasting and keto, but it’s due to you putting your body under an unnecessary stress that will slow your systems (digestive, thyroid, metabolic rate) down to conserve energy (because your body thinks it’s starving)
There’s then a greater chance you’ll gain the weight back and it becomes harder to keep it off because now you’ve damaged your metabolism.
It’s a pretty significant sacrifice with dire consequences if you if you ask me.
I’m here to tell you there’s an easier way to do this.
I think what sounds like a more viable solution is to heal your metabolism by gradually training your body use energy more efficiently again (like you did when you were a kid).
If you do this first, excess weight will come off when the metabolism and thyroid are healed and the liver is working efficiently again. You can do this simply with the right foods in the right amounts and at the right times.
Here’s my simple strategy for increasing your metabolism
1. Eat Frequent smaller meals:
I know you’ve probably heard this one before but it’s true. The quickest and most easy way you can begin to raise your metabolic rate it to eat every two hours or add a snack between your meals.
When you’re training your body to run on glucose (for more efficient energy production) instead of adrenaline it’s important to eat every two hours until your body is able to run more efficiently. If you go too long without food you run the risk of going into a stress hormone mode, raising your cortisol levels. Doing this too often and you can slow your thyroid which regulates your metabolism. You can avoid this hormonal fluctuation by eating frequently enough to meet your body’s metabolic needs on a daily basis.
2. Eat Breakfast:
You’ve probably heard this one too.
Eating breakfast will break the fast of the night and help you curb your cortisol response so it's at a manageable level for the morning time. If you drink coffee, eating food with your coffee in the morning helps you offset the adrenaline response after you've consumed caffeine.
Adding organic heavy cream or half-n-half and gelatin to your coffee will slow down the adrenalizing effects of the caffeine. The fat you get from the heavy cream and the protein you get from the gelatin will help your body better metabolize the caffeine and you’ll reap the benefits.
3. Food Prep:
I can not stress this more. Getting prepared ahead of time can be what saves you in the end.
Plan ahead so you’re prepared for anything.
Prepare your meals and snacks for the week. So many times we end up in a situation where we find ourselves unprepared with no food (aka, hangry)
You can easily avoid those moments where you find yourself suddenly in a panic with nothing to eat. By planning ahead, shopping on the weekends and having enough snacks on hand to keep your blood sugar regular throughout the day you’re golden.
I also suggest organizing and cleaning out your kitchen from time to time or even seasonally. Cleaning out your fridge and pantry pretty often so you can reset and feel more clarity when it comes to your food preparation.
4. Don't skip a macronutrient
This one you may not have heard before but I assure you it’s one of the most important factors.
Mainly because there’s so much promotion in the way of cutting a macro out to gain quick results (example, cutting your carbs)
The simple truth is that your body needs all three to function optimally. Now can you make better choices when it comes to the types of macros you choose, yes you can.
Mind you, the better choices for carbs that will not fluctuate blood sugar are fruits, roots and dairy (not grains).
My recommendations regarding macros initially are to include 1 serving of protein from clean animal sources (not just meat, dairy and eggs too), 1 serving of saturated fat and 1 serving of the carbohydrates I listed above in every meal.
As you get to know your metabolism, you can begin to play around with the ratios a bit. Keeping a balance of macronutrients helps you avoid any unnecessary blood sugar fluctuations.
Fun fact: You can get lots of accessible protein from white potatoes and mushrooms too.
5. Keep your body fueled when you exercise:
This is important because your blood sugar will drop when you workout.
Eat before, during and after your workout.
Exercise has the potential to create inflammation and lactic acid in the body and cause a temporary drop in blood sugar. In order to minimize this response I always suggest eating a small easy to digest meal 30 minutes before your workout.
You could even sip OJ with gelatin added to it during your work out and eat a meal right after.
Some suggestions for what to eat before your workout can be:
Fruit and milk (smoothie)
Eggs, Cheese and fruit
Cottage cheese and fruit
Greek yoghurt and fruit
The Many Benefits Of Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is one of my favorite super foods. With natural anti-oxidants which protect your body against free radicals, it’s my top choice for a healthy fat.
Veggie oils like soy and canola tend to increase free radicals in the body because of the extremely high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids they contain. This can noticeably speed up the aging process and create inflammation.
Why coconut oil is healthy for you...
Unlike destructive veggie oils, coconut oil can actually slow down the aging process and prevent free radicals from being released through free fatty acid oxidation.
Coconut oil has the potential to balance hormones by boosting metabolism naturally and stimulating the thyroid. Since the thyroid is the master regulator of the metabolism, stimulation of the thyroid can lead to weight loss.
Coconut oil is one of my favorite super foods. With natural anti-oxidants which protect your body against free radicals, it’s my top choice for a healthy fat.
Veggie oils like soy and canola tend to increase free radicals in the body because of the extremely high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids they contain. This can noticeably speed up the aging process and create inflammation.
Why coconut oil is healthy for you...
Unlike destructive veggie oils, coconut oil can actually slow down the aging process and prevent free radicals from being released through free fatty acid oxidation.
Coconut oil has the potential to balance hormones by boosting metabolism naturally and stimulating the thyroid. Since the thyroid is the master regulator of the metabolism, stimulation of the thyroid can lead to weight loss.
It’s a great saturated fat which is solid at room temperature. Saturated fats are needed throughout the year and especially when there is less sunlight available. Coconut oil can help your body absorb fat soluble vitamins, like vitamin A and D, which can only be absorbed with saturated fats.
Coconut oil has also been proven to lower cholesterol naturally. A healthy cholesterol level is needed in order for the body to make essential hormones that keep you young and healthy.
The many ways I use coconut oil...
I enjoy cooking with it, but you can a spoonful of it or even brush your teeth with it. It’s an excellent choice to use with higher heat cooking too.
Coconut oil acts as a natural anti-fungal and anti-viral in the body. You can use it on your skin and as a mouth rinse.
I mix it with vitamin E to create my own natural toxin free lotion. Use it as a sunscreen in the summertime since it naturally blocks the harmful rays and lets the healthy rays in.
Buying coconut oil...
When buying coconut oil make sure you get organic. Sometimes the processing of coconut oil can be toxic so if it's organic they don't use petroleum to refine it.