Many of us, especially those who have a more American diet, suffer from various gastrointestinal disorders such as Leaky Gut, Crohn’s Disease, IBS (Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome), generalized bloating and food sensitivity – and well the list goes on and on. Often many diagnoses are given to people based on certain “symptoms” but many symptoms of various disease overlap, and these are not necessarily a guaranteed diagnosis. In addition, there are many metabolic disorders that stem from the malfunctioning of the gut-axis that can then stem into further complications systemically – this includes heart related diseases.
The standard practice has been to control diet, promote healthy lifestyle activities, and medicate when necessary. Despite the advances in medical science, we have seen the prevalence of GI related issues rapidly increase in the United States.
When we study disease in training as Shamans, we study civilization and world diseases, and a good example of a culture that has very little gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular related diseases is that of the Okinawans in Japan. The highest number of Centenarians live there, and it is thought this is due to the fiber rich diet and lifestyle activities.
https://www.drlamcoaching.com/blog/centenarian-diet
There are two types of fiber that a person needs in their diet soluble and insoluble fiber, and often those in Okinawa have an intake of around 100mg of each one daily. The average American is lacking almost all insoluble fiber, and has very low fiber in their diet – it is thought that only about 7% of adults receive their daily needed fiber.
https://nutrition.org/most-americans-are-not-getting-enough-fiber-in-our-diets/
The absolute best way to obtain all necessary nutrients, especially fiber, is from eating natural certified organic foods, and avoiding processed foods as much as possible. That being said, completely altering your diet is not an overnight process – just the thought of it can be overwhelming. The important thing to do in learning about how to be “healthy” and live a better a life is focus on one thing at a time.
Not getting enough fiber is considered one of the most dangerous issues with the average diet in America, and the consequences can be dire.
Lack of Fiber Symptoms on Gut and Heart Health, Immunity and More | livestrong
Trying to change your entire diet and lifestyle can be an overwhelming chore, and for many nearly impossible. There are thousands of articles online that share “the best tips for being healthy” and then another article completely contradicting what was just read. I personally believe that the sheer amount of fluff and misinformation online overwhelms many people, and they simply end up giving on trying to be healthy – this is why again it is important to focus on a singular thing at a time, so we can avoid being overwhelmed.
We can treat each “topic” as a separate research paper. Do your own research on it, find out why and how it is beneficial to your health, don’t just blindly trust someone else’s writing, even if they have been right before. The most powerful tool we have as humans is the ability to critically think and understand things. When we learn the why and how behind healthy activities, it empowers and motivates us to take action.
Easy way to get your Daily Fiber!
Soluble Fiber: 1 tsp corn fiber and 1 tsp of psyllium husk. Take them at separate times (ex. the corn fiber in morning and the psyllium husk in evening).
- This coats and protects Lumen of small intestine, and acts to firm stools.
Insoluble Fiber: ¼ cup – ½ cup daily of: Oat Bran, Wheat Bran, Rice bran equal parts.
- You can blend these 3 together equal parts and put it in eggs, ground beef when you make burgers, soup or stew, smoothies – will barely notice it’s there. Take the insoluble fiber grind it up extremely fine in a coffee grinder, and mix it all together.
- This sloughs off the old cells in intestines, allowing for fresh cells to coat the area and allow for proper absorption of nutrients, it also increase peristalsis to maintain healthy bowel movements to flow through the digestive tract.
By introducing these into your diet on a daily basis, it’s likely you will feel a dramatic improvement in your digestive health within a week – I speak of this from my own experience, and that of my clients as well.