by Dr Minkoff October 25, 2022 4 min read
Digestion is the engine of our health.
It’s how we get our energy, nutrition, vitality.
But when it goes off, it can throw our whole system out of whack.
Ultimately, many digestive issues can be traced back to a low level of stomach acid. Stomach acid sets the stage for the rest of the process
Even heartburn and GERD, conditions that feellike there is too much acid are actually symptoms of too little.
And this is where pharmaceutical solutions go wrong. Most inhibit acid production, compounding the underlying problem.
We need simple, easy, natural solutions.
So what can you do?
To restore your digestive balance, there are a few key places where you can make small alterations for big results:
WHAT you eat, HOW you eat, WHEN you eat, and BEFORE you eat.
Most people focus on “before you eat” supplements: it’s easy, external, doesn’t require behavior change.
But this is only one step in the process. By integrating each of these aspects, you can restore your digestion naturally.
Diet is one of the most impactful steps you can take to lower your stomach pH and restore your digestion. A clean diet rich in vegetables, fiber, and healthy protein does wonders for all aspects of health.
MINIMIZE: excess alcohol, sugar, grains, dairy, factory-farm meat, chemical exposure (pesticides, pollution, etc.)
EAT MORE: vegetables, especially the leafy greens, fiber to help regulate your gut microbiome and bowels, and healthy protein like lentils, sustainably sourced fish, and organic, humanely treated meat. (factory farm animals have very high levels of stress hormones and antibiotics in the meat, which has a negative impact on your health.)
Once you’ve got your gorgeous big plate full of organic vegetables, clean protein, we encounter another problem area for busy, modern individuals.
Many people eat in a rush, gobbling down food in mere minutes.
If your stomach is a small fire, these massive pieces of partially chewed food are huge wet logs.
They need to be broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks to burn well. So relax, take your time enjoy your food. Feel the taste and the texture.
This translates into two important action steps:
The timing of when you eat is a little-known secret of robust digestive health – not to mention overall health, immunity, detoxing, energy, and even muscle building.
Digestion actually turns off other important body processes like detoxing, healing, building new protein and enzymes, and resetting your digestive system. Every athlete needs recovery time – so does your stomach.
Fasting and Intermittent fasting are powerful ways to give your body a chance to clean itself, rebuild, and rebalance[1]. These are deep topics, so here is quick overview.
Intermittent fastingis a protocol that keeps your food consumption into a tight window of time, generally between 6 and 8 hours in a day. This gives your body a nice long rest to fully absorb the food, cleanse, and heal itself. For example, if your first meal is at 10am, your last meal of the day would be around 5pm.
Fasting is the total abstinence from solid food. A 3-5 day fast can powerfully activate your immune system, trigger major detox, reset your digestion, but even a 1-day fast can bring many benefits. Be sure to inform yourself and consult your health professional before undergoing a major fast.
Avoid Eating Before Bedis recommended advice for everyone. Digestion uses a lot of your body’s energy. It diverts it away from other important activities like growing, healing, and cleaning. These are all processes that primarily occur at night while you sleep, so eating before bed can actually disrupt your natural biorhythms and impact your health. It may not always be possible, but try to eat at least 3 hours before going to sleep.
Before you eat, you can give your stomach a little boost to help it get ready for all the hard work of digestion.
Here are 3 natural remedies for getting your digestion into high gear:
The natural secrets presented here are not new – these have stood the test of time. They have helped humans for centuries.
With patience and persistence, they can help you as well.
Anton SD, et al., Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Understanding and Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2018 Feb;26(2):254-268.
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November 13, 2023 5 min read
There are key things causing hormonal disruptions in men and women today, even in our children, affecting their overall growth.
Testosterone levels have been dropping for decades while estrogen levels have risen sharply. Levels of growth hormone and progesterone are lower and cortisol levels are too high. And hormonal imbalances are now much more than just being deficient in one or another hormone.
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And they're increasing each year.
While this affects muscle-building and fat loss significantly, its effect goes far beyond this to our sleep, stress levels, overall health and how fast we age.
In this article we cover what's happening and what you can do about it.
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In this article we covered the link between cholesterol and heart health or, more specifically, the lack of any link.
Now I want to go a bit further here, because there is something else that has gotten confused in this subject: saturated fats.
There is an idea that saturated fats raise cholesterol and so blood pressure, and this isn’t the case.
Your body needs saturated fats. About 25% of each of your cells are made from saturated fat. And they wouldn’t function without it.
Even more, it’s necessary if we want soft, healthy skin.
But there is another type of fat which has been confused with saturated fats, and which is very destructive: Trans Fats.
We aren’t hearing as much about them today, but they exist in many processed foods and we need to check for them as they cause inflammation in the blood vessels that does lead to high blood pressure.
So let’s see what these are and what they do.
November 13, 2023 4 min read
You’ve probably heard of the Cholesterol Hypothesis.
This is a hypothesis that higher levels of cholesterol, particularly LDL Cholesterol, are associated with higher rates of Heart Disease.To prevent heart disease then, we take drugs known as statins that lower our liver’s ability to produce cholesterol.
This hypothesis has been so deeply ingrained in our understanding of how the body works, that the idea of challenging it is almost laughable. (Even though it’s still just a hypothesis after all these decades.)
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