Soup is probably my husband’s favourite thing to eat, ever. If I made soup (or stew for that matter) every day for the rest of our lives, he would be thrilled. Talk about simple pleasures eh? Luckily I love soup too – for many reasons! I get chilled easily, and when I get chilled, there’s no recovering without a hot cup of something. Soup absolutely fits that bill! More importantly, soup is an incredibly easy way to get a TON of nutrients into your body at once. Have you ever noticed that if you were to take a huge salad and cook it down for a few minutes, the volume dramatically reduces? Well soup takes it even further – you can jam gazillions of nutrients into each bite by throwing in all sorts of veggies, seasoning it with fresh herbs and using homemade broth. Why homemade broth you ask? Well it is a magic elixir that cures everything. Stay tuned for a post on exactly what allows me to make that claim, (UPDATE: check out my post on Bone Broth here) and in the meantime, go ahead and check out this one instead! To sum it up in a few words:
Bone broth heals joints, repairs the digestive tract, protects our cardiovascular system, encourages healthy skin and nails, and is a concentrated source of minerals required for every system in the body.
Since the last few weeks have been incredibly stressful for us (good stressful! We launched Beatty Naturopathic!), I have been doing everything possible to get as many nutrients in us as we can. And since stress causes leaky gut, I’ve been eating soup daily to keep my gut locked up tight to protect my body! So far it seems to be working – neither of us have gotten sick!
I have a variety of soups that I make, but I always come back to this simple favourite: Thai Butternut Squash Soup. Rich and creamy, this nourishing soup makes a fabulous snack or meal. I often eat it for breakfast! As always, I’m using my favourite brand of Thai ingredients:
Aroy D
Their curry pastes are one of a kind. Perfectly clean ingredients – no additives, stabilizers or unnecessary junk. I’ve gone on and on about their coconut milk before, but I’ll say it again: there’s no other brand that compares! With only 2 ingredients (coconut milk and water) it has the best flavour and zero gut irritants!
Bonus: this recipe can be made vegan if you use a veggie broth instead of the (magical elixir) bone broth!
Thai Butternut Squash Soup
2014-12-11 18:09:40
A rich, creamy and incredibly nourishing soup. Gluten, grain and dairy-free, with a vegan and nightshade-free option!
I recently was engaged in a conversation where I was informed that vegetarianism is what will feed the world, and while I was making a better choice by choosing ethically raised meat, I was sacrificing the environment for trying to achieve optimal health. And boy did that get me thinking. (UPDATE I wish I had this article then: Letter to a Vegetarian Nation). I do not claim to know everything about nutrition, in fact anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely LOVE to learn, and continue to do so on a daily basis. I spend hours every day (non-paid since I’m self-employed) reading and studying every piece of information I can, trying to be as unbiased as possible (which I’ll admit, can sometimes be challenging), to make the best choices I can. I also try to take science and knowledge out of textbook scenarios and apply them to my small life/community, my country and the world in its entirety.
Why do I do that? Because that is how I was raised.
We had 2 rules in my family growing up:
Family comes first.
Always do the best job you can.
There were never any asterisks on those rules, they simply were, as they are. Honest, grounded, foundational rules. They provided the framework on which every one of my achievements was built. I nailed job interviews. Got solid grades (not perfect, but the best I could) which opened up doors. Prioritized my family and my (now) husband’s family, who in turn support us through thick and thin and without which, we would not be where we are today.
Always do the best job you can.
This is the biggest lesson I try to impart on my clients. Doing the best you can, with the resources you have available, with the knowledge you have right now. And when you know more and have more? Then do a bit better. It’s easy to get caught up in what my Coaching Teacher called “shoulding” yourself. You know, “I should do this…”, “I should be doing that…”. If we all stopped “shoulding” ourselves and simply started making the best choices we can, right now, the world would be an even more incredible place.
Optimizing Your Health = Sacrificing the Earth?
On the same train of thought, I began thinking about the definition of “optimizing health” and whether striving for that was inherently incompatible with being respectful to the earth and in turn, human kind. For a split second, I started questioning some choices I have made, but instantly shook myself out of that because when I look back to where I started, at the beginning of my personal health journey, I believe with every cell in my body that I am doing the best I can for myself, my family, my environment and my fellow humans. I tried very hard to be vegetarian – oh I wanted to be one so bad. I even started getting repulsed by meat, even though I had always enjoyed it growing up, because I wanted to be a vegetarian. I felt guilty eating meat because I was told it was destroying the environment. I was scared because I was told it would give me heart disease and cancer. And something else happened.
My body fell apart.
Very few people other than my husband truly know what I used to go through. More days than not I was levelled by a migraine by 4:30pm. Nauseated, in tears, writhing on the couch in pain. Nothing worked – alcohol, caffeine, NSAIDs, muscle relaxants, acupuncture, heat, ice…nothing. Digestive pain so excruciating it would wake me up in the middle of the night, I could barely stumble to the bathroom. Nothing would happen, but lying on the cold floor for about an hour was the only way I could tolerate the pain. Destructive self-talk that resulted in a sad relationship with my body and food. Crippling anxiety that threatened my relationships with friends, family and my amazing partner. Anxiety that threatened my relationship with myself and the incredible world I am so lucky enough to be a part of.
Over the course of 5 years, with the support of my incredible partner and family, I slowly recovered my health and found incredible joy and empowerment in the fact that predominantly through food, I was able to literally change who I was. Change what had come to define who I was. Change the path I was down, which was sure to end up in a very bad place.
What were the biggest changes I made?
Here are the foods I eliminated, in order. And not because any dietary philosophy told me to, or a book suggested it. But because over the course of 5+ years, I was an experiment of 1 and I could not ignore the results.
Dairy – which was causing epic digestive pain
Gluten – total body inflammation, puffy joints, not fitting in my clothes
Legumes – debilitating migraines, even in the smallest amounts (ie. rooibos tea, guar gum)
Whole grains – while I can still tolerate them in small amounts, anything more than a few bites results in damage to my digestive tract caused by constipation that lasts for 3-4 days (sorry if that’s TMI)
Corn and alcohol – again, in small amounts these are fine, but both trigger anxiety if I overdo it. Even a few glasses of wine will cause me to wake up the next morning with the weight of the world on my chest.
As you can see, with the exception of nuts and seeds, these foods make up all plant-based protein sources. The foods I was so desperately trying to eat for the sake of my own body and the environment, were slowly but surely breaking me and preventing me from being a contributing member of society.
I unintentionally stumbled into the paleo lifestyle out of necessity. And while many people condemn this lifestyle (and yes, I mean lifestyle, not just diet) for being a way to ease their conscience when eating meat, that could not be further from the truth in my case. When I look back to where I’ve come from, oh my goodness I am proud. I am so healthy, almost migraine-free, free from digestive pain, and my anxiety, while it still likes to rear its ugly head from time to time, hasn’t been in control of my life for a good while now. And that self-talk that was so destructive? It was kicked to the curb about 8 months after making the decision to jump in 100% into a lifestyle that makes me the best version of me possible. And now what is that allowing me to do?
Contribute to my community, help other people and make even better choices.
I had the confidence to become an entrepreneur.
I have the sympathy, empathy and experience to gain the trust of others to allow me to guide them to their own recovery.
I now have the financial ability to purchase ethically raised food to take better care of the environment.
I am able to spend time, creating free content for clients, friends, family and strangers, to help them be better versions of themselves, so they can be better contributors to society.
By living my truth, I am able to change lives.
All because I did the best job I could, with the resources I had at the time, which continued to grow as I continued to learn. So yes, I will continue to eat ethically raised meat, because aside from the fact that it is nutritionally complete (ie. no supplements are needed) it allows me to make a difference in the world.
And my promise to the world, is to continue to do the best I can, to take care of this incredible planet we get to call home and to continue to help change lives to allow other people to do the same thing.
Picture a tree – a big, strong, beautiful tree. How did the tree get so magnificent? The most important requirement for it to grow strong and healthy, is the soil it is planted in. Along with the sun, the soil is the source of life for the tree. It is where water and nutrients are absorbed from. It hosts microorganisms which convert decaying matter into life-giving nutrients and pull nitrogen out of the air so the plant can utilize it. It is what provides the foundation for the tree to spread its roots and grow tall and strong. If the soil is sub-optimal, the health of the tree will be as well. If the soil is infected with pathogenic microorganisms, the tree will die. If the roots are damaged, it will not be able to absorb the nutrients from the soil, and the tree will die.
The digestive tract is the soil in which the rest of our body is planted.
By healing the digestive tract, you set the stage for healing every other part of the body. The very first thing we do with every client who comes into our office is heal the gut. Without proper absorption and delivery of nutrients, there is simply no way to heal the rest of the body. Heal the gut and everything else starts to fall into place. Oftentimes individuals see a complete recovery by focusing on gut health, but sometimes more work is required. In those cases, we still focus on the gut first, because regardless of what condition you are suffering from, your body requires nutrients to heal, recover and build new tissue. A damaged digestive lining = poor nutrient absorption = poor or nonexistent recovery.
On top of this basic understanding about the important role of the digestive tract in overall health, there has been a lot of fascinating research coming out lately about the power of healing the digestive tract to heal the body on all sorts of levels – from malnutrition and allergies to autoimmune disease. With the term “leaky gut” becoming increasingly common, I wanted to take the time to explain what exactly it means and why it is so dangerous.
Leaky Gut 101
Our gastrointestinal tract (sometimes referred to as digestive tract, GIT or simply “gut”) is a long tube that runs right through our body. It begins in our mouth, continues down our esophagus, into our stomach, through the small intestine, then large, into the rectum and finally out. While it may seem like it is inside our body, the inside of our GIT is technically still the outside of our body. Think of it like a long straw running through our entire torso. Or for another slightly bizarre analogy, think of the human body like a funny-shaped donut!
When we eat food, a complex chemical process is set in motion. Simply, it starts in our mouth, where we mechanically break down large pieces of food into a paste. Chemical digestion also begins here by the presence of amylase, an enzyme required to break down starch. In our stomach food is further broken down by stomach acid and pepsin, enzyme which breaks down protein. The mass of partially broken down food and stomach acid is called chyme. Once enough stomach acid is present in the stomach, it triggers the pyloric sphincter to open up and allow the chyme to move into the small intestine. The presence of the stomach acid effectively turns on all of the machinery (i.e. activates pancreatic enzymes) our body needs to break down the food into its smallest particles so our body can utilize it. Once broken down into the smallest parts, receptors pull these food particles into the cells in the gut lining, and then transfers them into the bloodstream via capillaries surrounding the intestinal lining. This is the most important part. You know that old adage “you are what you eat”? Well it is only partly true. The lining of our GIT is designed to be very tightly regulated. It only allows the smallest pieces of food to get across and into the body. When it recognizes a fully broken down food particle, it absorbs it directly into the GIT lining, where it then gets transferred into the blood stream and delivered to the rest of the body. If food isn’t broken down into its base components, absorption won’t happen. So what that saying should be is “you are what you absorb”.
This is how it is supposed to work.
As you can see, there are many steps to this process, so there are many places it can go wrong. Here are a few examples of how and where things can go wrong:
Mouth: If food is not chewed properly, there is not enough surface area for the stomach acid to do its job, which in turn will make the digestion and absorption in the small intestine very challenging. Food that should be utilized by the body, goes undigested, moves into the large intestine where it ferments, causing digestive distress (among other more serious concerns) before it is excreted.
Stomach: If insufficient stomach acid is produced by the body, food can’t be broken down entirely. Since stomach acid is needed to transition the chyme into the small intestine, food will stay in the stomach longer than it should, where it ferments. Bubbles are forced out through the mouth, splashing the little stomach acid that there is up the esophagus causing pain and irritation. When it eventually moves into the small intestine, the enzymes are not able to be properly turned on, so incomplete digestion and absorption occurs. Additionally, we rely on stomach acid to protect us from pathogenic microorganisms, most of which cannot survive the acidity of our stomach. If there is insufficient stomach acid, or if we intervene medically and eliminate stomach acid altogether, you significantly increase your risk of getting sick.
Small Intestine: If the body does not have the building blocks it needs to create digestive enzymes (which it obtains through optimal nutrition and digestion), they will not be present in sufficient amounts to break down the food into its smallest parts. As a result, absorption and utilization of nutrients by the body will be sub-par. One of the most dangerous effects of incompletely digested food in the small intestine, aside from malnutrition, is the structural damage that can occur to the gut lining. Undigested food feeds bad bacteria, which in turn overgrow and start releasing nasty toxins. These toxins, as well as certain types of foods and undigested food particles, start to deteriorate the gut lining. The cells in the lining start to separate, allowing direct transit from the inside of the gut to the bloodstream. This is technically called increased intestinal epithelial permeability but is referred to casually as leaky gut. Undigested food particles, pathogenic bacteria and environmental toxins suddenly are able to bypass the strictly regulated absorption process and go directly into the bloodstream, where they do not belong.
Why is leaky gut so dangerous to the rest of the body?
1. Decreased Immune System Function. When foreign particles enter the body, your immune system turns on and sends all of its forces to protect the body from these invaders. The result? A fatigued immune system. If the immune system is always turned on due to leaky gut, what will happen when a virus infects the body? It won’t be able to fight it! What about over a long period of time? Cancer cells are accidentally created in the body on a daily basis, and our immune system diligently destroys them to protect us. If our immune system is too burnt out from fighting foreign invaders, it won’t be able to do this job either. Finally, certain foods have actually been found to trigger an over-active immune system, which can lead to autoimmune conditions.
2. Inflammation. Some of the unfriendly bacteria and environmental toxins that get into the bloodstream will trigger an inflammatory response in the body. While our liver is supposed to take care of these toxins for us, it is often overburdened by chronic exposure to toxins in our food, air, water and cleaning/personal care products, so its function is sub-optimal. What does this mean to the body? Well it depends. Every body is unique, so where chronic, low-grade inflammation attacks varies from person to person. Common areas are:
joints (stiffness, pain, arthritis)
muscles (soreness, poor recovery from workouts, cramping)
cardiovascular system (elevated cholesterol, plaques, subsequent elevated blood pressure)
endocrine system (bad PMS and menopause symptoms; thyroid, adrenal and sex hormone imbalances)
inability to lose weight (can be caused primarily by inflammation, or secondary to hormonal imbalances)
As you can see, leaky gut sets the stage for disease, so maintaining proper gut health is crucial for optimizing your body’s function. So, what can you do to take care of your digestive tract? The good news is by making some simple dietary and lifestyle changes, you can begin to heal your leaky gut within days! In part 2 I discuss what specific things (food and otherwise) to avoid to protect your intestinal tract!
Soup is probably my husband’s favourite thing to eat, ever. If I made soup (or stew for that matter) every day for the rest of our lives, he would be thrilled. Talk about simple pleasures eh? Luckily I love soup too – for many reasons! I get chilled easily, and when I get chilled, there’s no recovering without a hot cup of something. Soup absolutely fits that bill! More importantly, soup is an incredibly easy way to get a TON of nutrients into your body at once. Have you ever noticed that if you were to take a huge salad and cook it down for a few minutes, the volume dramatically reduces? Well soup takes it even further – you can jam gazillions of nutrients into each bite by throwing in all sorts of veggies, seasoning it with fresh herbs and using homemade broth. Why homemade broth you ask? Well it is a magic elixir that cures everything. Stay tuned for a post on exactly what allows me to make that claim, (UPDATE: check out my post on Bone Broth here) and in the meantime, go ahead and check out this one instead! To sum it up in a few words:
