To share several newsletters at once with friends, patients, or clients, the issues for the past 4 weeks have covered the following topics:

• Time-restricted eating and the gut biome

• Benefits of drinking tea

• Improving sleep

• Ways to strengthen bones

1. They are available on the Simple Science newsletter website, or as one nice PDF here. I’ll try to put together a PDF for each 4 newsletters.

2. Some of the newsletters also have separate highly detailed workbooks.

Quick takes

• Food is an important source of meaning and purpose coming from tradition, or pleasure and connection, as well as the underpinning of good health.

• Some recommendations:

  • Eat 30 different plants per week: this provides a good variety to feed your gut bacteria;

  • Eat 5-9 portions of fruits and vegetables per day: this provides enough compounds to help you deal with environmental toxins;

  • I recommend pressure cooking lectin-rich foods like grains and legumes; there are even cookbooks for this!

  • Some foods provide building blocks for cells that can’t be manufactured by the body: enough protein matters in this sense, as does healthy fat;

  • I have lived through the low fat, low carb, paleo, ketogenic, and now high protein “trends.” I have tried them all!! I think we can learn something from each one, but none give us all the answers.

Favorite finds

• My favorite diet app is Cronometer. I like that it has many choices available for unprocessed food, and I like how fast it learns “your” foods. You can figure out the total calorie and macronutrient content, as well as get a vitamin, fiber, and other nutrient analysis.

• I’ve created a workbook to help you analyze your diet and set goals.

• One issue I discuss in the Deep Dive is the need for sufficient omega 3 fatty acids in the diet. The most important are DHA and EPA. We have guidelines for ideal omega 3 levels, and anyone can test their own affordably.

• One concern for people who love fish is the mercury content. While having highly toxic levels is rare, low-level toxicity is also a concern. I’ve enjoyed fish from Seatopia which claims lower mercury levels.

• Another goal of healthy eating is feeding a variety of useful gut bacteria. Tests are multiplying but one reputable one is Nirvanabiome.

Deep Dive

Since ancient times, food has served three primary purposes: survival, family bonding, and ethnic identity.

When science entered the picture, food became reduced to calories. Later, we recognized three major components: fat, carbohydrate, and protein. Years passed before we discovered micronutrients - minerals like iron and zinc, vitamins, and even hormones (vitamin D, for instance, is actually a hormone). Most recently, we've uncovered phytonutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory substances that cannot be synthesized in laboratories. The discoveries continue, as we now know that microRNA (not mRNA of vaccine fame) from food can pass undigested into our bloodstream and influence specific gene expression.

Food does more than provide calories - it communicates with our genes. In fact, I would argue that calories are not even food's primary feature.

Quantity and Quality

There is really no way to know how much food you need unless you record your intake carefully for a few days and then at the end of that time (for those of you who want to lose weight, it could be a whole month) you see whether you have lost or gained weight. Then you know for sure what energy balance might look like for you. There are also calculators that take your resting metabolic rate as a starting point (which you might need to get a body composition DEXA scan to figure out), and then add multipliers based on activity and exercise levels. But in the end, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

There is ongoing debate around the concept of calorie restriction and longevity. Some studies have been overinterpreted. I don’t think a final decision is available. We’ll tackle longevity in an upcoming newsletter. Low calories have adverse consequences for energy, mood, muscle maintenance, and probably bone quality as well.

Quality

While calories certainly matter for obesity, health requires far more than maintaining a healthy weight. What your food should do for you extends beyond providing “adequate but not excessive” calories. We recognize that junk candy cannot match the benefits of fresh, local, colorful produce, calorie for calorie. Yet our fixation on calories keeps some of us trapped in consuming cheap processed foods, and some have been known to evaluate food based on “cost per calorie.” High fructose corn syrup provides the cheapest calories available.

It is true that given that 15% of Americans face food insecurity, discussions about food quality often feel inappropriate. However, we should work to make healthy foods affordable and available for all, rather than become trapped in arguing that proponents of food quality are not sensitive to the concerns of lower income folks.

Some have also remarked that by focusing on saving money at the grocery store, we’ve effectively transferred food costs to medical care. We spend less on food but more on medical care - a critical issue. Would someone who gained weight eating carrots, broccoli, sardines, and walnuts develop obesity-related illness? Such cases are rare and unstudied. However, we know a thin person subsisting on candy has virtually no chance of maintaining good health. The laws of biochemistry, combined with our understanding of vitamins and phytonutrients, make this clear.

Many Roles for Food

Here are essential functions your food should serve:

• detoxification,

• fighting oxidation,

• supporting beneficial gut bacteria,

• reducing inflammation,

• providing nutrients,

• regulating hormones,

• providing essential building blocks

• pleasure and connection.

Detoxification

Food activates genes that efficiently remove unwanted chemicals from our bodies, from environmental toxins to our own waste products, including potentially carcinogenic substances like certain estrogen metabolites.

Most beneficial foods in this category include: cilantro, ginger, rosemary, berries, broccoli sprouts, onions, cruciferous vegetables, green tea, flaxseed, and turmeric.

Fighting Oxidation

Daily biochemical reactions create damage through "reactive oxygen species." These must be neutralized by plant antioxidants to prevent cell death and disease.

Beneficial foods include colorful produce, especially purple varieties like wild blueberries, purple cabbage, and black rice. A diverse mix of colorful vegetables, brassicas, and leafy greens provides optimal protection. Five portions daily is a great start, and up to 9 portions provide useful benefits.

Supporting Beneficial Gut Bacteria

Our gut bacteria outnumber human cells 10 to 1 and produce up to 50% of the proteins in human bloodstream. They are crucial for vitamin production, immune regulation, metabolism, detoxification, and inflammation control.

Fostering a healthy gut ecology requires a two-part approach. The first step is usually to set up the conditions under which a healthy bacterial ecology can develop. The second step involves feeding these bacteria with fiber and phytonutrients.

Setting up conditions for a healthy biome:

1. Sufficient stomach acid needs to be present to sort through and destroy some of the bacteria we swallow;

2. There needs to be enough “real estate” in the gut for a healthy biome, that is, there should not be excessive levels of harmful bacteria. Sometimes we discover this only when our other steps have failed to address chronic symptoms.

3. We need to know there isn’t an environmental issue like stress, chronic or recurrent antibiotics, or mold/mycotoxin exposure that is unbalancing bacteria on a frequent basis.

4. We need to seed the gut on a frequent basis with exposure to soil and the outdoors, as well as fermented foods and/or helpful probiotics.

Once a reasonably healthy ecology has been established, we need to feed these bacteria. Beneficial foods include sources of soluble and insoluble fiber like apples, flaxseed, asparagus, eggplant, fennel, and Jerusalem artichokes. Since there are at least 10 fiber types, dietary variety matters: aim for 30 different plant-based foods weekly, including legumes and grains, herbs and spices, nuts and seeds.

Legumes and whole grains (pressure-cooked to reduce lectins) complement the foods mentioned above. An Instant Pot offers convenient pressure cooking, and is made of stainless steel, thus avoiding exposing eaters to harmful chemicals like PFAS.

Reducing Inflammation

Many foods help regulate the immune system by influencing gene expression and supporting biochemical reactions. This is crucial as many modern diseases stem from immune system imbalance. A healthy biome trains the immune system away from overactivity or underactivity.

Beneficial foods include: herbs and spices, particularly turmeric, cinnamon, oregano, and parsley. Turmeric mainly impacts gut bacteria, but consuming it with a high fat meal improves absorption into the bloodstream.

Providing Nutrients

The “recommended dietary intakes” (RDI) are based on the minimum necessary to avoid certain diseases. Optimal health often requires more.

Dairy is a fine source of calcium: the important factor in making sure bones can take up the calcium is making sure vegetables are plentiful. Broccoli and other leafy greens also add calcium, but people should enter their diet into a diet app to see how much calcium they are really getting. More calcium is needed when getting more protein.

Hormone Regulation

Undereating and overeating result in undesirable levels of hormones like cortisol and insulin, potentially causing muscle loss and/or weight gain.

Overeating carbohydrates causes the blood glucose to rise, and if this isn’t matched by activity to use up the glucose in question, excess insulin may be needed to keep the glucose to a healthy level. When this situation recurs frequently over time, the risk of diabetes increases.

Sex hormones like estradiol can be impacted by practices like “seed cycling.”

Providing Essential Building Blocks

Our bodies cannot produce certain "essential" elements, including certain fatty acids and amino acids.

Protein intake throughout the day is crucial since the body cannot store it. Without adequate protein, the body breaks down muscle or reduces production of vital compounds like neurotransmitters, leading at times to problems with either psychological or cognitive health. The protein amount needed varies by age and goal: people who exercise and chronically ill people may need more protein. Patients with chronic renal insufficiency may need less, depending on age and frailty.

Essential fatty acids in cell membranes facilitate cellular communication. Most people lack sufficient omega-3 fatty acids. Omega 3s are also present in nuts and seeds, but in a precursor form that some people convert to a usable form more readily than others. This also becomes harder to do with advancing age. Tests for omega 3 fatty acid levels are widely available.

However, those who eat enough fish to have good omega 3 levels sometimes have excessive blood mercury. Some people detoxify (remove from their body) the mercury more efficiently than others, thus we can’t recommend a specific number of portions of fish. We know certain fish including swordfish, tilefish, and tuna can be very high in mercury.

Carbohydrates in the setting of low activity can result in prediabetes, a common condition. Carbs are not “essential” in the same meaning of the word, but having sufficient carb intake plays a role in being able to exercise optimally, by avoiding the condition of “low energy availability,” a situation that can lead to serious overtraining. The percentage of calories coming from carbs will thus depend on a person’s activities and glucose tolerance.

Beneficial foods that provide building blocks include: olives and olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, and fish. Grass-fed meat offers more balanced omega-3 to omega-6 ratios than grain-fed meat. Omega 3s can best be obtained by eating certain cold water fish (SMASH: sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, and tuna), though algae-based supplements are available for vegans.

Pleasure and Connection

Sharing meals with family or friends can be fun! and strengthens social bonds. While often overlooked in our 21st century lives, this social connection remains vital to health.

Bon Appetit!

COOKBOOKS

Since there are no references in this week’s newsletter, here are some of my favorite recipe books. I am promoting the use of a variety of book buying websites, but ordering these at your favorite independent bookshop is obviously preferable to ordering them online, whenever possible.

Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook, Vegetable Heaven, and Still Life with Menu

Caitlin Weeks, Nabil Boumrar, and Diane Sanfilippo. "Mediterranean Paleo Cooking: Over 150 Fresh Coastal Recipes for a Relaxed, Gluten-Free Lifestyle." Victory Belt Publishing, 2014.

Alice Waters’s books, such as The Art of Simple Food, and Chez Panisse Vegetables.

Deborah Madison’s books, especially Vegetable Soups.