Our gastrointestinal (GI) tract is an ecosystem – a collection of microorganisms that differ in number, type, and function throughout it. There are approximately 10 times as many microorganisms in it (approximately 100 trillion) as there are cells in the body. While most of the microbes are bacteria, the gut can also harbor yeasts, single-cell eukaryotes, viruses, fungi, archaea, and small parasitic worms. The majority is found within the large bowel where they contribute to digesting food, fermentation of undigested food components, especially carbohydrates/fiber, absorbing and synthesizing nutrients like phytonutrients, and to fecal bulk. Some of the most commonly found or recognized genera of gut bacteria in adults are Bifidobacterium,…
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How To Get Children Involved In A Healthy Nutrition
I am the mother of a very active 4-year-old, who eats a whole, plant-based diet. In other words, she consumes 95% of her daily calories from whole plant foods – vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, tubers, legumes, and grains. For us, giving her healthy foods means to keeping her diet as natural, unprocessed, balanced and as whole as possible, in order to provide her body with sufficient energy, a healthy immune system, the proper absorption of nutrients, and in order to be able to prevent diseases right now, and much later in life. The foods she eats are rich in complex carbohydrates, fats, and protein with other health-promoting nutrients such as…
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New Year. New Goals
During the holidays I took a break from social media, my job and all my administrative issues. I wanted to spend quality time with my husband, daughter, relatives and friends. I also needed that time for myself to reflect on and review what I had done throughout the year. I wanted to analyze which goals I had reached, which ones I had left unfulfilled, and how I had followed through with my plans, and from there I wanted to connect with my inner voice to make an evaluation. It is through this exploration of my successes and failures that I can begin to define my new goals with purpose. Also,…
