Series on boosting immunity: Up First, Circadian Rhythm Fasting

I am watching a series of classes on changing the way you eat for immunity. Supplements can sometimes be good, but it is not a complete way to boost immunity. It starts with what you eat...of course!

It went over the usual microbiome info first. It is initially established by natural birthing, breastfeeding, etc. (I may have missed how to revive it if this was not done early in life, or she never went over that.) Then, she went over how it is important to protect the microbiome.

External factors come into play, not just internal factors. She said to eliminate as many artificial scents as possible (cleaners, air fresheners, scented detergents, etc...already done here) & how exhaust & second hand smoke, drinking out of plastic water bottles (BPA or not), etc. damages it. We are using less plastic as time goes on, but it is difficult to eliminate it all. Most of these things she mentioned are minimal here already, so that's not an issue in or around our home, at least. Agricultural spray in the summer is more of a factor & is beyond our control.

"Circadian rhythm fasting" was up next. Have any of you done this? It is eating food only when the sun is up and is one type of intermittent fasting. It is an old way of eating in most cultures, she claimed. This was the "homework" for the first class.

My question was about sun up at 8, down by 4 in the winter. She said in that case, to be done eating at 5:30 or 6 (or be done eating 3-4 hours before bedtime, 12 h fast if you can't quite do a full circadian rhythm fast because of work or something that can't be helped). Any liquids (except alcohol) afterward are fine, so that's when I will give myself healthy, tasty liquids. You eat once again when the sun rises. She said it will help balance blood sugar, sleep, digestion & bloating & more. I think I can make this change and will try it. This sounds workable here. It will feel like I am cooking all day (cooking for 6 meat eaters takes time), but I will have a long evening to relax.

She says it is more difficult in summer to keep to the schedule due to the bright, long days.

I will add other notes in this thread as I go through the other classes this week.

Comments

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    This sounds like a really good series.

    I have been trying to stick to the intermittent fasting more lately in an effort to control weight and add more nutrition to what I do eat. I'm trying to do 16 hours of fast and eat for 8. A bit of a struggle.

    I hadn't thought about just eating in the daylight hours, though.

    I look forward to more posts on this subject.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning I have been doing intermittent fasting but not that way. All my life I have made sure I ate breakfast. Fruit or pizza or leftovers. This sounds like an easier way of eating. Right now I have been fasting part of the morning and then eating a carrot and 1/2 apple for lunch and then more for dinner. Sounds like I should be starting the other way around. Thanks for sharing this information it is very helpful!

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @LaurieLovesLearning over the past few years, I’ve had the time to research health, best practices etc. I want my wife and I to be around for a long time, healthy and living the dream! Time & time again I came across intermittent fasting, gut micro biome, healthy foods. You are what you eat & your food is your medicine, came up all the time. This is how I stumbled upon TGN!

    I am the cook in our house and the apprentice “medicine woman” and this is what I’ve come up with. Our usual day is ; start the day with herbal/mushroom tea. Between 9-10am, breakfast- substantial & I try to pack in as much “good stuff” then. A small snack and cup of tea or coffee around 1-2pm and dinner around 6.30pm. Herbal tea after dinner. So I try and stretch out the intermittent fasting hrs to about 14hrs between dinner & breakfast. So circadian rhythm fasting we’ve been doing without realising it.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @torey I figured that it is a pretty easy to remember rule, and starting now as the daylight hours are less, may help with that habit.

    I have been heavy for many years (it started with being on a med while expecting (for 2 kids anyway and over 8 years), and never being able to lose that weight. Of course, more piled on top afterward too. Some other cause was chronic stress as well.

    I am no longer on that garbage (thyroid meds), which made me sick during the pregnancies and resulted in one miscarriage. It's a bad news med!

    Now, I am having more issues connected to the weight (at least I think that is the cause), and would like to see if this might help. Whatever I do, it has to fit, or it will be short lived. I also don't believe in dieting. I need a real lifestyle plan, not a fleeting bandaid.

    You are welcome, @dipat2005!

    @JodieDownUnder That's pretty cool.


    One thing that she mentioned that I am remembering now is the saying of eating like a king (breakfast), then a prince (lunch), then a pauper (supper). I am not too sure that that would work very well here, but I might be able to borrow some ideas I used way back when to lose weight.

    My breakfast was a piece of bacon, 1 egg, a small slice of cheddar cheese, 1 slice if whole grain toast with real butter, 2 pieces of a navel orange and a glass of milk. The thing is, this gets expensive if I end up having to do it for everyone!

    Lunch usually is our in between meal (it used to be a pretty fancy salad or homemade pudding if we had too much milk) or leftovers or something.

    Supper is always heavy because that's when my husband is home. On weekends, meals are heavy (meat & potatoes heavy) for that reason too. He and our one son need meat protien for their bodies to function optimally. If they don't have it, they are noticeably more tired or in our son's case, his legs get quite weak & pained (we found this out when he had tonsillitis and he couldn't eat much).

    Anyway, I will have to give an update on today's class later this evening. There is supposedly our first big storm of the season blowing in tonight & we have a lot to finish...tidying up...outside. We are making good progress and I think we might just get done! 😄

  • MissPatricia
    MissPatricia Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    I always believed in eating a big breakfast as it sounded right. Barbara O'Neill teaches that, and I really like her. Since I improved my diet, eating more fruits and vegetables, organic, non-GMO, grass-fed, pasture-raised, I don't feel hungry when I wake up. I take my medicines (thyroid and heart), wait at least 1/2 hour, then eat a bit of chocolate, or a piece of bread, or just cream in my coffee until I am hungry. When I am good, I eat an egg as that provides protein. That one egg usually fills me up for a few hours. Later, I eat some almond butter with some butter or a piece of toast. Dinner is meat, potatoes usually, and at least one vegetable, preferably more. I did lose weight this way.

  • Tave
    Tave Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I learned about intermittent fasting this year, and it made sense. Fasting really helps, but the first day after is always horrible with a bad headache. This way, I can stretch out the detox to something less debilitating.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited November 2021

    Well, I watched 2 AND 3 today. Yesterday got busy into the late evening, but we got our pre-winter clean up done! There was wind, freezing rain, sleet, graupel (love that word!), and now I think we are fully into snow and it is starting to collect on the ground.

    The takeaways/homework for these days is keeping hydrated with water and curbing basic inflammatory foods (dairy due to stagnating lymph & mucus production, gluten due to gut leaking/microbiome health, corn & soy due to GMO, & processed sugar/too much sugar).

    DAY 2:

    You don't want stagnant lymph. Water helps. She recommends the 1/2 of body weight in ounces of water idea. No high calcium in the water (hard water) because it is hard on the kidneys. Recommends a water softener that puts magnesium in. The name escaped her, update tomorrow.

    Nervous system & endocrine system work together. Emotions (disregulation, stress, any trauma, big, small or ongoing) are often the root of disease, taking energy away from healing processes.

    DAY 3:

    Eat unprocessed (not factory processed). No modern wheat. But she thinks that natural sourdough eincorn might be okay, but still doesn't recommend it. She said to search out a book by Karen Kane, "The Art of..." and I missed the rest of the book's name. By the way, einkorn is 30% higher in protien than modern wheat...what more does it actually have more of that we need that is overlooked?

    I do wonder about kamut. I don't think giving up even ancient grains is a balanced nor wise approach. They contain a lot of vitamins & minerals that we need and are short of.

    Eat microbially diversified & colorful, but don't cut out full food groups (this fails with her confusing take on grains, and possibly dairy).

    I asked about fresh raw dairy. She said a few people can do it, and for some it can have benefits, but for some it still gives mucus & affects the lymph. She said if it is fresh, raw & doesn't appear to bother someone, raw milk kefir/fermentation will be helpful.


    Side rant. Yes, I am jumping up and down with fists clenched. No, not really:

    I personally have issues with vilifying raw dairy & all grains in general. I think that doing this cuts out on too much natural vitamins, minerals & such and is misinformed. Not all of the facts have been considered when doing so. I think questioning, being absolutely fully informed & not cherry picking to fit the normal narrative/fad is very important. But that's my philosophy with everything. 😉

    I firmly believe, after doing lots of research on the subject, that where the big problems occur is with store milk (or even just fresh raw dairy milk where the cows are given a prepared supplement), and whole grain & whole wheat factory/bakery breads that are both the commonly available products to most people. The milk has so much more bad going on than just homogenization & pasteurization. It is a different product than raw milk, no doubt.

    As far as the grains, these are not the same as true, fresh ground whole grain breads. There is lots of junk added and it is just fancy glue made from sprayed and sometimes empty (no bran/wheat germ) grains both of which bodies can't process well. To this is added preservatives, one of which is actually used in funeral homes! Yeah, yuck.

    I am not surprised that people have issues with the common offerings of dairy and grains, considering. It gets so frustrating when the whole real background/truth of *why* these are bad never hits the health fad/expert at healthy eating crowds. The store does not offer these altered foods in their basic & proper form and that's what this flawed belief that is so prevalent in these circles is based on...instead of the real food.

    I am a proud country gal and these are basic and sustainable foods in addition to grass fed meat & fruit & veg gardens.

    Okay, my rant is done. Sigh.


    The webinar hostess cautioned about severely restricted, narrow diets long term (unless of a short duration, closely monitored with lab tests & observation) due to lack of sustainability & possible oral intolerance (creating a new sensitivity). My questions/opinions on dairy & grain easily fit this area of concern.

    Eat many types of vegetables. Historically, up to 20 types were eaten (we should list 20 veg). Most of us now only eat a small fraction of those 20 and don't expand on that.

    She touched on "orthorexia" which is a disordered way of healthy eating (whatever healthy eating is defined as by you). It is an obsession/fear of eating the wrong thing. Perfectionism comes into play.

    There is also a connection between the brain & food. This is connected to the limbic system in how the brain views threats, wherefore is connected to a perceived threat eliciting a psycho-emotional response.

    Hidden food culprits - identifying triggers. You can do an elimination diet, but you need to keep in mind that a reaction can take up to 2 weeks (my addition: actually, it can be up to 3 months if you have consumed it regularly over a long period of time). Keep a detailed log & pay attention to all symptoms. One interesting thing she said is that you might react to a non-inflammatory food due to leaky gut & a poor microbiome.

    Interestingly, she said more fruits are okay in sun & warmer climates as it is naturally a larger part of the diet due to the sun's affect on the microbiome in those areas...yet not all cultural diet norms are healthy. Interesting, but a bit wishy-washy (my opinion).

    Blood sugar affects the immune system.

    You can support the body with herbs. Yep! We know that very well here!

    Q & A time:

    It is okay for a circadian rhythm diet to allow for blood sugar regulation for a few weeks by eating every two hours. "Hangry" tiredness indicates a need to do this until regulation is done.

    Don't feed kids or yourself kid carb snacks. It sets them up for problems later. Choose veg, etc. instead. Better choices. Even at meals, serve kids in courses...veg, protien then complex carbs.

    Kombacha can do a histamine reaction & contains lots of sugars.

    Two days of class left. Hopefully I can keep it shorter & I don't anticipate any more rants. Stay tuned.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning I'm really enjoying listening to what you're learning in this class. I've heard of a couple of different types of fasting diets. But this is a little different, so I'm intrigued.

    I've put on a little bit more than I'd like this past year and a half. We were working to get our previous house ready to sell and then it sold in a blink of an eye. Then, we were looking for a new place and getting ready to move. Now we're trying to get our new place finished. And during this whole time, our regular eating pattern has been interrupted. We've been eating out more due to convenience and ease. And unfortunately, much more prepared food as well because I've been unable, with time constraints, to make our usual homemade meals. I'm trying to do better but am limited still because I don't have a complete working kitchen.

    So I wonder if doing something like everyone is talking about on this thread, might help with eating better and losing a little bit of weight in the process, much of it sounds rather simple. I look forward to hearing what others do and what else you get out of this class of yours.😊

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @JennyT Upstate South Carolina I added a bit more near the top about einkorn & kamut. My husband found some great info & I felt that it was appropriate to add a little of what he found.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning Either I've watched that series or one like it in the past. I've learned a lot from watching several different series on these topics.

    I have done intermittent fasting as well. I lost 13 pounds very easily doing a 36 hour fast then eating what I'd saved from cooking for my family either for my breakfast or lunch depending on when the 36 hours was up. Then eating normally the rest of that day & the next and then doing another 36 hour fast after that. I did that routine several times.

    I've also done 3 five day water modified fasts. Modified because I ate 500 calories for dinner so my husband would stop freaking out.

    Einkorn has been a wonderful find for us. It doesn't affect my husband's blood sugar and my gluten free daughter can eat it with no issues.

    I make kombucha every week and have for 3 or 4 years now. Yes, it does take a cup of sugar for each gallon of fermenting tea but once it's done fermenting it's lightly sweet. And if I leave it too long it tastes like vinegar so I don't think the sugar that it starts out with is an issue because it feeds the scoby and is mostly gone by the time I add fruit for a second ferment.

    One thing I learned years ago from watching these different series is to stop eating processed foods, eating out, and stop drinking sodas. We eat mostly organic vegetables and fruit and a little organic or grass feed meat and have been for several years now. I get a box of veggies and fruit delivered once a week and a box of meat every other month delivered. We all feel better. Our aches and pains are mostly gone and we have tons more energy. Even my daughters when they were younger commented on how people don't realized they feel bad from what they eat and drink. It's a real eye opener.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @kbmbillups1 Thanks for your input. I really appreciate your insight. I find it interesting and will certainly take what you've said into consideration.

    I don't care for kombucha, but you know, what you say makes sense. Fermentation will definately use up that sugar. Could it be that bought kombucha is not as good? I have heard of very high alcohol content in many store brands and talk of pasteurizing it to avoid it continuing to ferment on the shelf, which defeats its live ferment purpose.

    I find that she has interesting advice, but it is somewhat flawed as I think her knowledge is based on commonly available store bought/factory food (so not "real" food) that of course, won't be in its basic/natural state. She didn't seem overly joyful when she connected that I was probably one of those (annoying) "homesteader" types that will openly question certain comments, and with firm facts. Little does she know that farming has been & is our life and not a fad. We have been doing these things long before it was popular to do so. I had done these things growing up and my true homesteader-farmer grandparents did before that. It is/was just life.

    Processed, eating out, drinking pop and high sugar has not been a regular part of our life for 19 years. I agree that if you are regularly eating processed (synthetic/artificial additives are heavy), that it changes your thinking, attitudes/emotions, body functions and more. Food tastes way better without these addictive things in them as well.

    The hostess is Nancy Crowell, but I suspect much of these talks are parroting the same stuff most others parrot, so parts sound familiar. I am trying to listen for new to me tidbits. What she is saying seems to work for her clients, she claims, and I have no doubt when you eliminate the processed foods (including what imitates/stands in for for dairy & grain type foods these days). She knows a lot, but there are holes in the facts as I've already stated.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning No I haven't listened to her but you're right several people I've listened to do say a lot of the same things. Before all the craziness of the last 2 years I listened to a lot of those health summits and docuseries. Like you I learned a lot but also questioned some of what I was hearing.

    As far as store bought kombucha I don't like most of them. GT's is the only one I've found that I really like. Most of them taste more like flavored sparkling water to me. GT's has a line of kombuchas at Sprout's that you have to be 21 in my state to buy because it has a tiny amount of alcohol in it. I prefer their regular ones. That's the only one I know that has a measurable amount of alcohol in it. As far as pasteurizing them that would kill all the good stuff and the reason for making them and drinking them like you said. I guess the same thing that's been done to milk etc.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting conversation. I find it very hard to stick with any diet strategy. Honestly, since I've been single (2003) I eat at varying times and sometimes my meals are...odd. Clearing out the fridge leads to unusual combinations.

    I try to eat healthy (surprising hard since I started working in a hospital kitchen), but honestly, I eat what I want, when I want it - given what's on hand or easily available.

    I know I should pay more attention, and I'm skeptical of programs the vilify any food group. Still, I find value in the discussion. Thanks for sharing.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning I heard much about the benefits of einkorn. But honestly, I'm afraid to try it. I'm severely intolerant of gluten. Thankful not as severe as being celiac but not far from it. It can take months for my body to get rid of it. I then have all the symptoms from my body reacting negatively towards it and even for a time after it's purged completely from my system. Dairy, corn, and soy are others I need to strictly avoid as well. Hence the way I've been feeling these last couple of years. By not being able to do my own cooking and relying on restaurants and quick packaged items I've gotten myself into a terrible rut.

    But all this talk, and my current miserableness, has me motivated to make a plan. @kbmbillups1 I too, before covid, listened to all sorts of seminars and such about healthy eating. I also questioned some things said because they often said to avoid such and such. But true real food was never discussed. So remembering what I know and using what I've learned on this thread as a refresher, I may not be able to implement it all right away, but I intend to be proactive. Thank you all. I look forward to hearing more.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    I wasn't hungry last night, uncharacteristically for me, so I didn't eat supper. I had eaten a bit at 4pm, but nothing substantial afterward. I did have a small snack, however and I dud have liquids. I wanted those! What I found is that I didn't have any bloat this morning. I haven't had that for a very long time! Needless to say, that was pretty exciting. 😄

    @JennyT Upstate South Carolina I don’t know that you should be afraid. I have a severely celiac friend (she is part of the foundational members of the celiac association here) who had einkorn when she went to Italy. She found out that she could eat it and was so very excited about that (I heard a lot about it when she got back). She ate a lot of pizza there! Try just a tiny, tiny bit and if that works, try more. It is the only way you will ever know for yourself.

    I think reintroducing it is a matter of trying just a little bit and paying attention. That's how I started coffee again after 10 years. I used to drink some before our wedding, but quit a month before & had water only. Lots of water to try to drop a bit of weight. A week or so later, I tried it again and the result was horrible. It made my stomach feel like a heavy rock took up residence. It hurt so bad that I quit drinking it altogether. Even 1/8 of a cup, decaf or not, was nasty. When I figured that I wanted to try it again, it was a sip, then a bit more and I increased it gradually. It is now an occasional treat that I enjoy fully.

    As far as raw dairy, most people don't drink it. I suspect some intolerances could come from never having had it. I also wonder if introducing a little at a time might teach your body to tolerate something like that. Raw milk has everything it needs to help you digest it. I would not be surprised if doing this and listening carefully to your body would work.

    In the case of raw milk, however, make sure the source is clean (strained well, we use a paper milk filter and a flour cloth)...made cold quickly after milking, & kept between 0°C & 4°C, so 32°F - ? (that is what your fridge should be set at, and that is not the dial numbers...get a fridge thermometer). Know what exactly the cows are fed and that it is completely natural & normal feed (no soy, corn, etc.). It makes a world of difference. You may also prefer to start with a raw fermented (yogurt/kefir) milk. This will give you all sorts of extra beneficials as you test the waters.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    I firmly believe in the power & nutritional goodness of real & basic food. Our bodies were created for just that.

    An interesting thought here though, I know that the Inuit do best on their traditional diet of (sometimes) raw marine meats, wild game (birds & caribou), maybe bear, birds' eggs & forages. Canadian West Coast First Nations people still do best on their traditional diet of salmon, sea life, forages, etc. They ate what was locally available to them, likely also with some trading with other groups. I wonder if @torey has any insight having interacted with some of those folks in her area.

    I do think there is some merit in looking at certain traditional real food diets of certain people and recognizing that certain groups did do better with those specific diets. I don't know that all translate well to bodies of other people groups though. It would make for an interesting study to see how various traditional foods suit the needs of where a person finds themselves or how one peoples' foods affect another people groups bodies.

    I didn't feel like listening to anything today, so I will double up on the classes tomorrow and post it here.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @JennyT Upstate South Carolina My daughter has to eat gluten free. She doesn't have celiac either. We had her tested which is how we found out. She can tell when something has gluten in it even though it supposedly doesn't. She can eat anything I make with Einkorn flour with no issues. I make pizza dough, bread, breading, brownies, & cookies with it.

    You can buy a small bag of it on Amazon to try it out. When making the brownies and cookies I just substitute Einkorn for regular flour but I don't use as much water or whatever liquid.

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning probiotics are used to revive the microbiome. The goal is to have 80% good bacteria and 20% bad in your gut. Most people have no where near that ratio. Some say probiotic supplements are best to restore your gut. Others myself included say fermented food and beverages are better ( and far less expensive). Beverages include kefir, kombucha, rejuvelac (the simplest to make). Foods include fermented vegetables which are the easiest place to start.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I was given a book a few years ago that talked about the importance of eating a traditional diet for optimal health. I can't find the book at the moment (of course) but the basic idea was to eat a diet that is similar to what our immediate ancestors were consuming. Our ancestors learned what made them feel better, stronger and healthier with what they had at hand. Over the years our bodies have developed the ability to digest and more completely use those foods. However, I don't recall it having anything to say about people who are from mixed ethnic backgrounds or people who have migrated and lived with different food sources for the past couple of hundred years.

    The availability of ethnic food from around the world has become available to most people and then there is fusion food mixing two or three different ethnic foods into a new dish. I am a foodie and love trying new foods. But that is a very occasional thing. I see some people eating out almost every night at different places. Don't quite know how the body is able to decide how to process all these different things coming at it. It must be like an invading army in their stomachs sometimes.

    Working with a local First Nation has given me the opportunity to discover what foods were available in this area for a subsistence diet and how they were used to maintain health. Seasonal eating was a big thing. Even though many foods were preserved for winter, there were quite a few things that were only eaten when in season. This translates to other indigenous cultures around the world. Despite some nations having conflicts with their neighbours trade was a hugely important factor in the ability to survive. Salt and "grease" were just two of the items that would have been traded by coastal first nations for products only available in the interior or at higher elevations. Recently, I came across a document put out by the First Nations Health Authority in BC. It was all about the importance of eating traditional foods and how much nutrition was available with just those foods. This is a link if anyone is interested.

    Like @LaurieLovesLearning I'm fully on the side of raw milk. I was raised on raw milk as were both my children. When first fed homogonized milk, my daughters both reacted badly to it. Many people (not everyone) who have been diagnosed as lactose intolerant would be able to consume raw milk products, if they were available. Yogurt is an important fermented food (along with other fermented dairy products). If you eliminate all dairy then you are losing that source of beneficial bacteria. Similarly, if people had access to ancient grains instead of hybrid ones, many (not all) would be able to add these to their diets. When you start any kind of a process that alters, removes or kills part of the whole food you are reducing its benefit for human health. We should be getting the biggest nutritional bang for our buck.

    I think the availability of processed foods is at the root of most of our immunity problems. We aren't eating what makes us feel better, stronger and healthier. Just grab and go. Humans (including me) are a lazy bunch and will take the easy route when offered, whether it is a ready made burger instead of a homemade salad or a pill instead of brewing a cup of tea. Particularly when we are living such busy lives. So its not just a matter of eliminating all grains from our diets or all dairy products.

    When it comes to factory farming, we are losing many of those different varieties of veggies that we used to consume. Factory farms grow one kind of something that sells well (and stands up to long storage and transportation). Different varieties and less popular foods go by the wayside and often can now only be found in home gardens. We are being programmed to eat the products that are most economically viable instead of what is nutritionally better for us. Modern wheat falls into that category. Wheat has been hybridized for extended growing seasons, ease of seeding, ease of harvest, ease of refining, best storage properties, etc., etc., without any consideration for its nutritional base.

    I'm sure there are many other good suggestions in this program to get us all to a better state of health but to eliminate food groups overall isn't necessarily going to increase our immunity.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited November 2021

    @annbeck62 I read recently that probiotic supplements often contain high counts of often many types. Often, these fight against each other and/or never make it past the stomach. They can be very expensive and not help in the end. I have never had any of those supplements before someone recommended them. I found that they did absolutely nothing...and were expensive. I agree with you that foods are the best way to go and are the most bioavailable.

    I have never heard of rejuvelac before. Could you post on it in the Kitchen section under Ferments? Tell me more there. Thanks!

    @torey I downloaded & skimmed the document. It looks like something I will want to look at more thoroughly later.

    You filled in the blanks of what I was trying to say. I am glad that we are in the same camp, so to speak. I just find it frustrating when people hop onto a bandwagon without asking questions & thoroughly researching before spreading their opinions so widely. Others come along and make connections (whether right or wrong, based on assumptions), get stuck on a thought without a true solid foundation, and build their world on that. I really appreciate getting down to the nitty gritty and finding the truth about any one thing. You learn so much and it can be very beneficial and rewarding.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    You've all convinced me, thanks @LaurieLovesLearning & @kbmbillups1.😉 I know a place that sells einkorn locally. I'll get some to try, they also sell raw milk and I'll see about getting some to make yogurt with. I sorely miss yogurt it would be wonderful if it works out.

    Looking forward to your synopsis on the next lessons @LaurieLovesLearning.

    @torey I believe what you said about the traditional diet and our ancestors. My husband's grandmother was from Germany and his grandfather was from Bulgaria. They used to tell stories about "the old country" and what they ate and how they lived. I always loved hearing about it. They always had certain dishes that were similar to what they had over there. I always loved eating over. The food, although often quite simple, was absolutely out of this world. I always ate too much.😋

    When I think of the story about the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and the Native American Indians, that's what I think about every time. Although I never realized it until now. They showed the first settlers what grew well and what would help them survive.😁

  • Tave
    Tave Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks for the notes, @LaurieLovesLearning. Great information.

    I agree with raw milk, as long as it's not from a factory farm that injects the cows with hormones. I grew up on raw goats' milk, and I miss it.

    Grains don't do me good, but using the traditional sourdough method does help.

    Kombucha and water kefir cause a severe reaction, so I don't touch the stuff. Then a homeopath told a friend that the probiotics from kombucha go straight through because they're not designed for humans. It may have other benefits, but long-term probiotics aren't one of them.

    Looking forward to the rest of the story.😎

  • nicksamanda11
    nicksamanda11 Posts: 755 ✭✭✭✭

    What made the most sense to me in life is to eat when I'm hungry, chew slowly, and stop when I'm full. And that's it- not complicated.