Getting Your Gut in Shape

Our GI systems are quite remarkable organs. Technically your GI system begins in the mouth and ends in the rectum/anus area. My favorite part is the small intestine. It is like it's own little ecosystem. Each section processes a specific set of nutrients from the foods we eat. And in those areas are a delicate balance of microflora (healthy gut bacteria) and yeast that helps promote the breakdown and utilization of the foods we eat.

If you can, imagine a long tube. Inside this tube are millions of little hairs. The tube is the lumen of the small intestine and those little hairs are actually called microvilli. See below:










(Image from the Encyclopedia of Science)
After years of improper nutrition, taking antibiotics and other medications, and not trusting our bodies to tell us when we are hungry and satisfied, the little ecosystem that sustains us gets out of balance and loses its focus.

Many of you have health goals of gaining more energy, feeling less fatigued, and realizing what peace with food looks like. Part of your journey to achieving these goals is to get your gut into shape.

Here are a few tips to start the balancing act:
1. Balance the Yeast: When it comes to sugar, go o'natural by choosing succanat, maple syrup, honey, molasses, or brown rice sugar in place of refined or brown sugars-even in baking.
2. Improve the function of those microvilli by choosing whole grains, following the plate model at each meal, and reducing the amount of wheat you eat. Try different grains like quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat (kasha).
3. Balance the Bacteria by taking 1-2 probiotics each day (separately) for at least 3 months or longer. Don't settle on any probiotic at the store. Look for one that has 4+ different TYPES of bacteria, not just a large number of one or 2 types.

Farmer Market Blooms

We are nearing summer (even though the weather may not always feel like it) and that means that most farmers markets are up and running! This is a great time of year to get outside, enjoy time communing with others, try new foods, and even buy plants for starting a garden.

I wanted to share a resource with you this week: The Seattle Farmer’s Market Website. Specifically, I have linked you to a portion of the website that introduces new food and products each week. Scrolling through the page can be slightly daunting, especially if you are new to it, so I wanted to explain a few things:

1)      At the top of the page you will see “New This Week”

This section introduces food and products new to the markets this week.

2)      The next section is the “The full list”

This part of the site offers an extensive list of what is available at the market besides the new items above. The subsections are divided by food types: vegetables, fruits, fresh eggs, cheese/dairy,  meats and poultry, grains and flours, wines, seafood, dried items, breads, pastries etc. The headings at the bottom of the page start to blend together because there is just a smorgasbord of great items available. Categorizing them looks like a task of its own!

3)      Under the section above you will see: “available at UD” or “at WS” or “UD, WS, BW”. These abbreviations stand for the various farmers’ markets available in the Seattle Area. The abbreviations stand for the following markets:

BW	Broadway (Sundays, 11am - 3pm, May 8 through Dec 18, 2011) Broadway & Pine at Seattle Central Comm. College on Capitol Hill, 98102
CC	Columbia City (Wednesdays, 3pm - 7pm, April 27 through Oct 19, 2011) 37th Ave S & S Edmunds St, South Seattle, 98118
LC	Lake City (Thursdays, 3pm - 7pm, June 2 through Oct 6, 2011) NE 125th & 28th NE, next to the Library off Lake City Way, 98125
M	Magnolia (Saturdays, 10am - 2pm, June 18 through Oct 8, 2011) 33rd Ave W & W Smith Str in the Magnolia Village
Not open yet	Phinney (Fridays, 3pm - 7pm, June 3 through October 7, 2011) 67th & Phinney Ave N, in lower lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Ctr, 98103
UD	University District (Saturdays, 9am - 2pm, Year-round) Corner of 50th and University Way NE, in the University Heights lot, 98105
WS	West Seattle (Sundays, 10am - 2pm, Year-round) California Ave SW & SW Alaska, in the heart of the West Seattle Junction, 98116

I hope you are able to visit and enjoy a farmers’ market sometime in the next few weekends! Whether you try something new, find something interesting, buy plant starts, or just do some “window shopping”, we would love to hear about your experience. Please share your comments with us.

From Kimberly...

Hi Everyone,

For my first blog post with Creating Peace With Food, I would like start by thanking you for how welcoming you have been to me. It has been a joy getting to know so many new and wonderful people.  If you are visiting our site for the first time and you are seeking to develop peace with food, please know there is hope! I am fortunate to witness behavior change at its best in this work-the battles and the beauty of developing lasting change. You can do it too!

Today, I would like to highlight a useful tactic in the beginning stages of behavior change. This can apply to any behavior whether it is jumping from feeling angry to yelling at someone or automatically tearing through a bag of chips just because they are available.

Step 1: Awareness

When is the behavior happening? Is there a pattern? What tends to trigger the behavior?

Step 2: Observe without judgment (to make a change we may first have to find out the progression of our behavior).

What happens from start to finish: from the initiating event/thought, to the habitual chain of the behavior(s), through the aftermath (how you think, feel, and act after).

Both of these steps can be EXTREMELY challenging and may take time. We are so used to just shutting off our brains and going through the motions; the last thing we feel like doing sometimes is facing the fact that we continue to behave in a way we don’t actually want to.

From the above steps, do you see an area of your behavior chain that you can challenge or change? Maybe you can steer clear of your trigger, or challenge thoughts that arise that you previously gave no thought to.

In future blogs we will revisit these ways to initiate change and build upon them!

Peace,

Kimberly

Busy Busy Busy

Has it really been so long since my last post!  Wow, time does go by faster when your head is down. At least I have lots of great news to report as a result of my absence.

January to April time is a busy season for us dietitians. In addition to taking on many wonderful new clients, I've expanded by business. My official business name is now...Creating Peace with Food. And I've hired a fabulous dietitian to help me handle the extra clients. 

Meet Kimberly Yamanaka RD, CD

I'd like to introduce you to Kimberly. Her passion is to help others live a more abundant life by developing nourishing and fulfilling relationships with food. She holds a double Bachelors of Science from Central Washington University in Dietetics and Japanese. Her previous experience blends right in with the specialties at CPF. Since graduating from her internship at Oregon Health and Science University, she has worked to educate and nourish local teens and families through Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. She has worked with individuals struggling with eating disorders as well as helping families find balance through lifestyle modification.

And there's more! (I feel like I'm on an infomercial!)

Creating Peace with Food (CPF) has recently teamed up with The Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Center of Seattle (located in Bellevue, WA) to help their patients gain more awareness about the link between nutrition and their personal illness. Kimberly and I are very excited to begin this new partnership.

Eating Disorder Awareness Week!

A message from the National Eating Disorder Association:

Eating disorders are serious illnesses, not lifestyle choices.

Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, biological and social factors. As our natural body size and shape is largely determined by genetics, fighting our natural size and shape can lead to unhealthy dieting practices, poor body image and decreased self-esteem. While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are about much more than food. Recent research has shown that genetic factors create vulnerabilities that place individuals at risk for acting on cultural pressures and messages and triggering behaviors such as dieting or obsessive exercise.

In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Approximately 15 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder.

Education, early intervention, and access to care are critical. There has been a rise in incidence of anorexia in young women 15-19 years old in each decade since 1930; over one person’s lifetime, at least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of an eating disorder. In the United States, we are inundated with messages telling us that thinner is better, and when we “fit” our culture’s impossible beauty standards, we will be happy. Did you know that 80% of all ten year olds are afraid of being fat? As a culture, it is time for all communities to talk about eating disorders, address their contributing factors, advocate for access to treatment and take action for early intervention. You can make a difference: do just one thing to initiate awareness, education and discussion about eating disorders in you community. If we all do something, we’ll have a tremendous impact!

Help is available, and recovery is possible. While eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses, there is help available and recovery really is possible. It is important for those affected to remember that they are not alone in their struggle; others have recovered and are now living healthy fulfilling lives. Let the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) be a part of your network of support. NEDA has information and resources available via our website and helpline:

NEDA www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
NEDA Helpline: 800 931-2237