Vegetarianism Explained.

Vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular. The word of mouth is animal foods are bad for us. But is a vegetarian diet really a good idea? What are its strengths and drawbacks? Is vegetarianism better for the planet? What does science have to say about all of this? And, more importantly, what does nature have to say about it?

Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride is a medical doctor with two postgraduate degrees: Master of Medical Sciences in Neurology and Master of Medical Sciences in Human Nutrition.

She graduated as a medical doctor in Russia. After practicing for five years as a Neurologist and three years as a Neurosurgeon she started a family and moved to the UK, where she got her second postgraduate degree in Human Nutrition. She practices in the UK as a nutritionist and not as a medical doctor.

Thousands of people around the world follow the highly successful GAPS Nutritional Protocol to help themselves and their families. You can learn about GAPS on www.gaps.me

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of “Gut and Psychology Syndrome,” offers a fresh look at vegetarianism. She provides up-to-date scientific information about how plant and animal foods work in the human body and how we can eat to thrive. She dives into a variety of topics including agriculture, soil degradation, the power of plants to detox our bodies, and how to be a healthy vegetarian!

Loosing Weight? Here Are A Few Ways To Measure Your Progress.

1. BMI

Why it works: A rough estimate of whether the number on your scale is healthy based on your height and weight, your Body Mass Index (BMI) is a good indicator of your risk factors for certain conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

DIY: To determine your BMI, plug your numbers into this BMI Calculator. Here is the link https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/adult-widget/iframe.html

For example, Mary is 5 Foot, 4 inches and weights 135 pounds.

Her BMI is 23.17, which is in the Normal range.

You can use the same link to find out your starting point on the BMI chart below.

The 7 most important intermittent fasting rules:

1. Beverages: Water, tea, and coffee are fine to have while fasting. Drinking water while fasting is beneficial. Certain types of tea may actually help you fast for longer and decrease hunger. Dr. Berg recommends green tea. Coffee is fine, but don’t overdo it.

2. Supplements: Taking certain supplements while fasting is important. This includes taking vitamins, electrolytes, B vitamin in the form of nutritional yeast, trace minerals, nutritional yeast, and omega-3 fatty acids. A green drink without fiber (like wheatgrass juice powder) is fine. Avoid protein powders and branched-chain amino acids. You can try bone broth or MCT oil, but they don’t work well for everyone. MCT oil will shift to burning MCT not your own body fat, but is good for the transition into keto.

3. Really hungry: Don’t eat unless you are really hungry. If you meet your fasting goal, but you are not hungry, and you feel like you can go longer, then go a little longer. But do not go too far to the point where you are weak, tired, irritable, or dizzy.

4. Fast: The longer the fast, the more important it is to refeed slowly. If you do a fast for 48 hours or longer, make sure that when you do eat, it is just a small amount of food. Then wait and gradually have more to avoid bloating.

5. Insulin resistance: A good indication of how bad your insulin resistance may be is how long you can fast. If you can fast easily, your insulin resistance may be much better. If you cannot fast for very long, you may still have insulin resistance, and you just have to give it more time and keep working at it. (Slowly increase the length of the fast until you reach your desired fasting hours.)

6. Intermittent fasting: Always do healthy keto with intermittent fasting (fast for 16 hours and have two meals in the eating window. For example noon and 6 p.m.) The healthy keto diet may help keep your insulin low when you do eat and may provide a wide range of health benefits. (Do not cut calories unless you are satisfied.) A high-carb diet could minimize the effects of intermittent fasting.

How To Start Keto Correctly – For Beginners

Your goal is to switch the fuel your body is running from burning sugar to fat fuel.

The hormone insulin determines whether you are going to burn fat or burn sugar. Keep insulin low to burn fat. When it goes higher your body will burn sugar.

To lower insulin lower your carbs and eat less meals, they can be larger meals just not as frequent.

Why, because every time you eat you trigger insulin. Every time you eat carbs you trigger insulin. The goal is to lower your insulin.  The combination of less meals and low carbs is very, very powerful. 

What are you going to eat in a meal?