clean eating Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Proper Nutrient Intake Promotes Longevity, Study Suggests

AHA Publisher — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 07:00:26 +0000

News Staff via NaturalHealth365 – We’ve all heard it’s important to take in enough vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. A healthy, balanced diet is essential to looking and feeling your best. But how are longevity and diet related? Keep reading to find out how your nutrient intake can affect mortality risk. In fact, according to one study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the answer is quite interesting – with a catch. Can Nutrient Intake Promote a Longer Life? If you don’t consume enough nutrients, it could lead to health problems in the long run. But what about nutrition for longevity? This is what the Annals study sought to determine. Researchers tried to find out if there’s a link between adequate nutrient intake and reduced mortality. They followed 27,000 adults over the age of 20 from the United States over several years. Researchers questioned participants about their nutrient intake from both food and supplements. Nutrient intake was considered “adequate” when intake was at or above the estimated average requirements. They then looked for correlations between nutrient intake and mortality. The study concluded that adequate vitamin K and magnesium intake led to a lower risk of death than inadequate intake. Additionally, sufficient vitamin A, vitamin K, zinc, and copper intake appeared to lower heart disease risk. Supplements vs. Nutrients from Food … Which One Is Better? The study suggests nutrient intake may be linked to a lower risk of mortality. However, there was a caveat to these results. The reduced mortality risk was only seen with nutrients that came from food, not dietary supplements. Those who took nutrient supplements didn’t appear to have a decreased risk of mortality or heart disease. So it would seem that the best source of nutrients is the food you eat. Moreover, taking too much calcium in supplements was associated with higher cancer risk. So taking in more nutrients than necessary could actually be harmful to your health. How to Get the Most Nutrients in Your Diet? Of course, don’t misunderstand the message here; dietary supplements can be vital for those who can’t get enough intake through food alone. For example, people with certain health conditions or food allergies. Folic acid is an essential supplement for pregnant women as it helps prevent fetal birth defects. Nutrient supplements have their place when needed. Even if there’s no evidence that nutrient supplements increase longevity, nutrient supplements can significantly improve the quality of your life and may be necessary. Supplementing with essential nutrients like CoQ10, magnesium, and vitamin C is linked to better heart health. You can also up your nutrition intake through food by consuming lots of whole, organic meals. Some foods, like microgreens, are particularly rich in nutrients like zinc, vitamin B6, and magnesium. To strive for the best possible health, choose a diet packed with organic (chemical-free) vegetables, fruits, and non-toxic fats or protein. Whenever possible, minimize (or avoid) processed foods, grow your food or look for high-quality, locally sourced organic food. Undoubtedly, eating a balanced (clean) diet will help you live a long and healthy life. So try making some changes today … what have you got to lose? Sources for this article include: LiveScience.com ACPJournals.org

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe

AHA Publisher — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:00:13 +0000

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DMN, CNS – One of the biggest misconceptions of a clean eating meal plan is that you can’t eat treats. That’s silly! In fact, one of the my favorite parts about eating well is that I can actually enjoy my favorite foods because they’re made with healthier, wholesome ingredients. There’s no need to worry about questionable additives or sugar spikes. And one of the most popular treats, of course, is chocolate cake. Whether it’s for a birthday party, an after-dinner dessert or just a way to satisfy a sweet tooth, you really can’t go wrong with this amazing Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake rather than one with shortening or white flour or — even worse — from a boxed mix. Using gluten-free flour makes this two-layer cake a great choice for people who are cutting back or have an aversion to gluten without sacrificing taste. Combined with an easy, homemade chocolate frosting, you’ll never go back to your old chocolate cake recipe. Make my Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake today! How to Make Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Let’s get things started by preheating the oven to 350 F. Then grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans — this will prevent the cakes from sticking and make it easier to remove when they’re baked.Then, mix the gluten-free flour, coconut sugar, cacao, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a big bowl. Next, add in the coconut milk, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla, and mix it all up. This step really sets apart this gluten-free chocolate cake from other recipes. Coconut milk is known to keep your heart healthy and help build muscles, while coconut oil, one of the healthiest foods on the planet, reduces inflammation and boosts the immune system. How good does this batter look?! Carefully pour it into the two cake pans and slide them into the oven. Let them bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.If you haven’t prepared the frosting yet, this is a good opportunity to do so. Once the cakes are baked through, remove from the oven and let them totally cool before removing them from their pans. Now we’re ready for the best part: frosting time! Spread the cold frosting over one cake, and then stack the other cake atop it. Spread frosting over the second, top cake and marvel at this delicious, Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake. This yummy cake is well worth the time — it’s so simple to make and as good for you as a cake can be. You could mix up the frosting, make just one layer or experiment with making these as cupcakes. I know this will be your go-to gluten-free chocolate cake recipe. Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe DESCRIPTION Using gluten-free flour makes this two-layer cake a great choice for people who are cutting back or have an aversion to gluten without sacrificing taste. Combined with an easy, homemade chocolate frosting, you’ll never go back to your old chocolate cake recipe. INGREDIENTS 2 cups gluten-free flour 2 cups coconut sugar 3/4 cup cacao powder 2 teaspoons baking powder 1–1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup coconut milk 1/2 cup melted coconut oil 2 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 spiced chocolate frosting recipes INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Mix flour, sugar, cacao, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Add coconut milk, oil, eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Distribute batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 30–35 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to cook through. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing from cake pans. Spread cold frosting evenly over one cake and then stack other. Cover with frosting again and serve. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Axe click here.

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What You Eat May Change the Way That Antibiotics Affect Your Gut

AHA Publisher — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 02:55:45 +0000

Sally Robertson, B.Sc. via News Medical – Net – “Doctors now know that each antibiotic prescription has the potential to lead to some very harmful microbiome-related health outcomes, but they do not have reliable tools to protect this critical community while also treating deadly infections.” A new study by researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island has found that diet can influence how the gut microbiome is affected by treatment with antibiotics. The scientists examined how antibiotics change the gut bacteria in mice and then looked at how diet may exacerbate or mitigate these changes. “For a long time, we’ve known that antibiotics impact the microbiome,” says study author Peter Belenky. “We have also known that diet impacts the microbiome. This is the first paper that brings those two facts together.” Belenky says the goal of his laboratory’s work is to identify new ways to protect the microbiome, which may alleviate some of the worst antibiotic side effects. The Gut Microbiome The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of bacteria that benefit the host. They aid the breakdown of dietary fiber and maintain overall intestinal health by competing with harmful bacteria for resources that would be essential for their survival such as nutrients and space. Although antibiotics save the lives of countless people who are infected with harmful bacteria, these drugs can also disrupt this community of beneficial bacteria that live in the human intestine. This, in turn, can lead to other life-threatening infections. Belenky, who is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Brown’s, has been studying the effect fo antibiotics on the gut and looking for ways to counteract imbalances in the microbiome that can lead to potentially life-threatening infections such as C. difficile. “Although antibiotics disturb the structure of the gut microbiota, factors that modulate these perturbations are poorly understood,” writes the team. Reducing the Detrimental Effects of Antibiotics Through Diet As recently reported in the journal Cell Metabolism, Belenky and colleagues have now demonstrated that although the antibiotics they used did perturb the composition and metabolic capacity of the murine gut microbiome, this disruption could also be exacerbated or minimized by making changes to the animals’ diet. Belenky and colleagues already knew that bacterial metabolism is an important regulator of antibiotic susceptibility in vitro and probably plays a significant role within the host. They applied a metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approach to investigate associations between antibiotic-induced taxonomic and transcriptional responses within the mouse microbiome. For the study, lead author Damien Cabral and colleagues treated three groups of mice with different antibiotics, namely amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin or doxycycline. They then charted how the composition of the animals’ gut microbiomes changed and how bacteria adapted at the metabolic level following treatment. Amoxicillin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat strep throat and ear infections, significantly reduced levels of bacteria in the gut and also changed the genes that the remaining bacteria use. Ciprofloxacin (often used to treat urinary tract infections) and doxycycline (commonly used to treat sinus infections), also altered the gut microbiome, although those changes were less pronounced. The team found that the antibiotics significantly altered the expression of key metabolic pathways at the whole-community and single-species levels. Notably, one type of beneficial bacteria, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, flourished in response to amoxicillin treatment. This bacterium upregulated polysaccharide utilization to aid the digestion of fiber, a change that seems to enable it to bloom in the altered ecosystem and somehow protect against the antibiotic, says Belenky. Generally, the bacteria downregulated the use of genes involved in normal growth processes such as producing new proteins and DNA. They also upregulated their use of genes that are essential in stress resistance The Effects of Glucose (Sugar) Were Clear Interestingly, the researchers found that adding glucose to the animals’ diet — which is usually low in simple sugars and high in fiber — increased susceptibility of B. thetaiotaomicron to amoxicillin. “In vitro, we found that the sensitivity of this bacterium to amoxicillin was elevated by glucose and reduced by polysaccharides,” writes the team. This suggests that diet can provide some beneficial effects that may protect gut bacteria from the adverse effects of antibiotic use. According to Belenky, the findings represent a step toward helping humans to better tolerate antibiotic treatment: Revealing New Opportunities However, “now that we know diet is important for bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, we can ask new questions about which nutrients are having an impact and see if we can predict the influence of different diets,” he says. Belenky warned that the study only looked at rodents and much remains to be learned about the interplay between host diet, microbiome metabolism and susceptibility to antibiotics. Belenky and team are currently investigating how different types of dietary fibers may impact how the microbiome changes following antibiotic treatment, as well as how diabetes may affect the microbiome’s metabolic environment and vulnerability to antibiotics. To read the original article click here.

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