Savvy Food and Health, 10/23/19: What to Eat and NOT to Eat, Healthy Diets for Gut Microbiome, SpareEats, Chronic Stress Leaves Genetic Imprint

What to EAT? What NOT to EAT?

3 Foods You Should Throw Away Forever was reported by Tim Rees for Medium/Noteworthy – The Journal Blog, 8 October 2019.

A good diet is as much about what you don’t eat as it is about what you do. In the developed world we’re overfed yet undernourished. Junk has taken over. This is because we concern ourselves with calories first and believe by maintaining a certain amount below a given number everything is hunky-dory. That’s the excuse we need. And all the while we miss the real reason we eat, to obtain nutrients. If you eat nourishing foods -unfashionable or a pain to prepare by today’s standards- the calories will take care of themselves. And, for the most part, so will your health. Below are the 3 foods to THROW AWAY FOREVER:

- - Highly Refined Grains
  - Added Sugar
  - Vegetable Oils

*********************************************************************************************************************************

Which foods are beneficial for a healthy gut microbiome? was posted by Ana Sandoiu for MedicalNewsToday, 21 October 2019. New research finds an association between healthy bacterial compositions and certain dietary patterns and food groups. What is more, the findings suggest that “diet is likely to become a significant and serious line of treatment” for many medical conditions.

The term “gut microbiota” describes the trillions of microorganisms that live inside our guts, affecting how well we absorb nutrients from our food, how efficiently our immune defenses work, and even the extent to which we feel anxious or relaxed. As an increasing body of evidence shows, the balance between healthful and unhealthful bacteria in our gut influences a much wider range of health factors than scientists previously believed. These include aspects as diverse as blood pressure, the aging process, and the likelihood of developing anxiety or depression. So, keeping our gut healthy is important not just for digestive health but also for overall physical health and even mental well-being.

In this context, researchers from the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands set out to examine which diets and food groups have the most beneficial effects on gut health. UMCG’s Laura Bolte is the lead researcher of the study, which the team presented at the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week in Barcelona, Spain.

The Mediterranean diet benefits gut health. Specifically, the team linked diets rich in bread, legumes, fish, and nuts with lower levels of harmful bacteria and inflammatory markers in the stool. They also linked the intake of red wine, legumes, vegetables, fruits, cereals, fish, and nuts with higher levels of anti-inflammatory bacteria.

Plant based diets were associated with high levels of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) — “the major nutrients produced by bacterial fermentation,” which have several beneficial effects on the metabolism. Researchers have found low levels of SCFAs in people with ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory conditions of the intestines. The researchers also found that plant protein aided the biosynthesis of vitamins and amino acids.

In contrast, a high intake of red meat, fast foods, and refined sugars was linked with lower levels of beneficial bacteria and higher levels of inflammatory markers.

This is such a GREAT concept … hope it comes to the US! Buy fresh unsold food from restaurants; save money and waste was published by Abigail Klein Leichman for Istael21c.org, 10 October 2019. The new SpareEat app (currently in Tel Aviv and locations in Europe) lets restaurants and markets offer surplus food at the end of the day at a huge discount.

SpareEat was launched for iOS and Android in August, starting with 16 restaurants, hotels, bakeries, grocery stores and cafés in Tel Aviv. By September 1, about 2,000 people had already downloaded the app and additional businesses are in the pipeline.

“From the business side, it is all about reducing food waste, increasing revenues, bringing in new customers and bringing a fresh and eco-friendly image to the brand. From the customer side, it is all about reducing food waste and at the same time buying fresh and good food at a very reduced price,” Fischer tells ISRAEL21c.

Participating businesses make up predefined boxes containing single portions of items often left unsold.

The app’s dashboard allows the business to check and confirm orders and pick-up times, adjust the contents of the boxes if necessary, and track sales statistics. SpareEat earns a commission from the business for each transaction.

For customers, the free app uses geolocation to display nearby participating businesses. The minimum retail value of each box is shown along with the price to be paid, which can be as much as half off.

Monkeys: Past social stress impacts genes, health was reported by Ana Sandiou for MedicalNewsToday.com, 22 October 2019. New research in rhesus monkeys shows that when they experience social adversity for a significant period, the long lasting effects remain in their genes. The findings shed light on how humans also respond to socially stressful experiences.

Jenny Tung, a professor of biology and evolutionary anthropology at Duke University in Durham, NC, and Luis Barreiro of the University of Chicago, IL, are the two corresponding co-authors of the study. The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As the authors explain in their paper, experts have long known that environmental conditions, such as chronic stress, can influence a person’s physical health and longevity. Some scientists believe that chronic social stress, in particular, can trigger a proinflammatory state.

In general, the authors explain, social experience is a significant predictor of how prone people and other social mammals are to disease because stress leaves an impact on a cellular level. So, in other words, past experiences of social adversity left an indelible genetic print, and the same is likely true of humans. “We all have baggage,” says Prof. Tung.