Increasing your intake of vegetables, particularly green leafy choices, can improve your health. You can sauté kale, chard or mustard greens to ease digestion.
A major component of both physical and psychological well-being is to have a happy, functioning digestive system.
This means your appetite is good and you stop eating when about 80% full, to not over-eat, which prematurely ages our bodies over time. Also, you have a bowel movement every day (nothing better than pooping before having to get out the door!), and nothing hurts after eating. One component of having a happy belly (thus setting yourself up for living your best life) is to eat vegetables every day. The thing about veggies is that they go bad (rot, ferment) quickly. This is a sign that they are healthy foods. All real food will eventually break down into compost. A Twinkie (or other processed food) will sit on your back porch for years, intact. A squirrel may run off with it, but it won't decompose on its own because processed food typically contains preservatives to make the food more "shelf stable." Ideally you will commit to buying produce several times a week, then chop and cook and eat it!
There are hundreds of species of bacteria in your intestines, and they are vital for your health. Collectively these good bugs are called the microbiota. Each species plays a different role in your health and requires different nutrients for growth. Generally speaking, a diverse microbiota is a healthy one. This is because the more species of bacteria you have in your intestines, the greater number of health benefits they contribute to. A diet consisting of different food types can lead to a diverse microbiota. Unfortunately, the Western diet is not very diverse and is rich in fat and sugar. About 75% of the world's "food" is produced from only 12 plant and five animal species. (Think wheat, corn, soy, sorghum, potatoes; also, pork, chicken, beef).
Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of nutrients for a healthy microbiota. Fruit, because of being high in fructose, should ideally be eaten alone-fruit makes a perfect snack and ideally not eaten on top of protein. Veggies are the single most nutrient dense category of food (minerals, vitamins, healing pigments) as well as being high in fiber. Fiber cannot be digested by the human gut, but it IS the main nutrient for the good bugs in your gut, which stimulates their health and growth. Beans and legumes, in particular, are very high in fiber. Other high fiber foods include artichokes, green peas, broccoli, celery, apples, steel-cut oats. A number of studies have shown that vegetarian diets benefit
the gut microbiota; this may be due to their higher fiber content. One study found that a vegetarian diet significantly decreased disease-causing bacteria, such as E. coli.
You don't have to become a vegetarian to promote health and longevity. Here in Alaska, we are privileged to often have access to wild salmon and venison and other game. These are high-quality proteins which can help you rely less on processed meats, which undeniably contribute to various cancers. But I would challenge you to get vegetables into your diet every day, ideally twice a day.
I like to take some time every weekend to prep my veggies ahead. I choose three to six roastable and robust veggies such as mushrooms, onions, celery, zucchini and other squashes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, peeled yams, rutabaga, peeled beets, green beans, kale stems, potatoes, colored peppers. The list is much longer but you get the idea. Choose a pleasing array of veggies and cut them up into bite-sized pieces. Place in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, turmeric, oregano, marjoram, thyme, a touch of cayenne or paprika. Drizzle with olive oil (no need for "virgin" which is best for using raw, such as in a salad dressing) and toss. Put into baking pans so the blend is only one veggie deep, then bake at 375 degrees F for 35 minutes or until they start to smell good. When cooled a bit, place into 1-serving sized glass tupperware. They will keep nicely in the fridge for at least a week and if needed can be frozen for a month or more. These servings of delicious roasted veggies are a standard part of lunch for me during the week-delicious and nutritious!
Another way to get more veggies into your diet is to make green smoothies. I'm not a big fan of juicing, unless you need to semi-fast because of a more serious illness, because juicing removes all the healing fiber from the juicy foods. I prefer smoothies, where the fiber content is preserved. This may sound weird, but you can make a salad, then put that into the blender which improves the ease of digestion. Many people with a touchy digestive system cannot tolerate raw foods such as salads, because raw food, while often healthy, is more difficult to digest. Human's discovery of fire, and cooking, is one of the main reasons we have much bigger brains than other primates today; because cooking not only sterilizes food, it starts to break it down, making it easier to digest, thus allowing for much improved absorption of nutrients. You may have heard of a Spanish soup made from tomatoes and other raw veggies called gazpacho. Look it up for recipe ideas (there are many) and if you want a movie recommendation on the side, this soup has been rendered immortal in my mind by Pedro Almadovar's brilliant movie "Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown." Laugh out loud funny while still conveying an important social message.
Emily Kane is a naturopathic doctor based in Juneau. Contact her online at http://www.dremilykane.com.
