How often do you have to think about your health? What if your health was so good it was almost an afterthought because you are out there living your best life, enjoying everything your health provides for you?
Jim LaValle, RPh, CC, MNT, ND, author of Cracking the Metabolic Code, tells his patients that he wants them to be “doing” their health, not thinking about it. This is how he defines vitality, “You pick the right food because it is the right food. You exercise in whatever modality because you enjoy it and you don’t think about it. You’re just being healthy.”
Achieving vitality often begins with re-training your body to crave what it truly needs from a baseline of purity. That is why it is important to take steps to reach a baseline, maintain activation of your natural detoxification processes, and consume nutrients that support your health and well-being. When this occurs, it becomes easier to just live your health instead of worrying about it.
To help your body reset and purge toxins, it is a good idea to participate in whole food detoxification. You don’t need to starve yourself, live exclusively on liquids for days, or even only eat lettuce. During a detox, you should aim to identify food sensitivities and lower your glycemic load.
LOWER YOUR GLYCEMIC LOAD
Glycemic load is the amount of concentrated carbohydrates a meal contains from sweet or starchy foods.
A high glycemic load taxes the adrenal glands that regulate stress response and can inhibit fat burning processes that give you energy. When your adrenal glands become overloaded, your body pumps out higher levels of cortisol, significantly impacting your metabolism and causing negative changes in your sleep, hunger, cravings, and thyroid hormone activity.
To truly achieve balance, LaValle recommends reducing carbohydrates that place a high glycemic load on the body rather than eliminating carbohydrates completely. Refined sugars and flour are the biggest culprits in most people’s diet. In the initial stages of a detoxification plan, it is best to reduce or eliminate potatoes and rice too. Avoid eliminating fiber-rich carbohydrates, like beans and fruit, this often results in constipation. Add chia and flax seeds to your meals for an added fiber boost and to support a healthy gut.
Fill your plate with non-starchy vegetables, low sugar fruits, lean animal proteins and natural plant-based proteins. Add flavor with monounsaturated fats, like avocado and olive oil.
ELMINATE FOOD SENSITIVITIES
Foods that contribute to internal inflammation should be eliminated during the detox phase. These often include sugar, gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts, corn, and a classification of vegetables, known as nightshades. Nightshades include potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Not everyone is sensitive to nightshades, but a detox is a good opportunity to identify these types of intolerances.
When your body is fully detoxed from the foods that may be contributing to inflammation and impacting your metabolism, you can slowly add back certain foods to test their impact on how you feel, including your mood and energy. Food should make you feel energized.
For example, tomatoes are a nightshade. If you eliminate tomatoes for a month or two and then re-introduce them to your diet only to have heartburn or stomach discomfort, then it is best to keep tomatoes off your food list.
Refined sugars and carbohydrates are best left off your menu or severely minimized to avoid inflammatory triggers.
AVOID “METAFLAMMATION”
Jim LaValle has coined two terms to help patients better understand the risk associated with ingesting toxins from your food and environment: “metaflammation” and “inflammaging.”
“Metaflammation” or metabolic inflammation occurs when your body gets stuck in a state of low-grade inflammation as a response to disruption from one or more sources. This inflammation triggers a cascade of adverse effects throughout the body, including tissue damage. The damage LaValle calls “inflammaging” or accelerated aging as a result of inflammation.
A poor diet high in sugar and refined flour is the number one lifestyle factor that contributes to metabolic inflammation and accelerated aging. This is because these foods increase blood sugar levels and typically cause spikes lasting two or more hours after eating. Your fasting blood sugar increases as well leading to weight gain and energy crashes after meals.
To stop metabolic inflammation, begin with factors that you can immediately control, like your food intake.
GETTING STARTED
A healthier you begins with support from an expert practitioner that understands the impact food and environmental factors can have on your wellbeing. With the support of a partner practitioner of EVEXIAS Health Solutions, your path to getting well, staying well and living your best life is within reach. Find a provider near you to learn more
