What you eat is very important for every aspect of your life. It’s about how you feel throughout the day, think, energy level, moods, etc.

There is no recipe or universal prescription for the best foods ever, and some of it is based on individual needs. However, some of it applies to everybody.

So, why food and sources of food are so important?

Your life depends on the nutrients you receive externally – vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc. All your biochemical reactions depend on a very specific amount of nutrients; if you don’t have them, these reactions will be either weak or incomplete or will not happen.

An example of it is your mood and your sleep – it depends on a few neurotransmitters, and one of them is serotonin. To generate a sufficient amount of serotonin, you need to have a particular amount of bioavailable forms of B12, folic acid, B6, B5, and a few other nutrients. If you don’t have enough of even one of them, your mood and sleep will be severely compromised.

Improper food sources, including commercial animal products, contaminated (by pesticides) plant-based products, processed foods, artificial additives, and others, can create chronic low-grade inflammation in your body, which can cause serious illnesses hard to detect in early stages.

Therefore it s vitally important to know what to eat and where to get it from, and it is desirable to know your food allergies and sensitivities. Equally important to know the current condition of your gastrointestinal system because it affects how you digest and process the food you eat.

If your intestinal lining is compromised, aka “leaky gut,” you will not be absorbing nutrients, and your immune system will attack unprocessed food particles, creating more inflammation.

Also, your intestines contain beneficial bacteria helping you to digest your food. It also contains pathological bacteria which can compromise your health if not in check. The ratio between beneficial and pathological bacteria should be very high, and it is best not to have any pathological bacteria.

It is essential to know your microbiome.

Functional medicine tests allow you to know all this information with precision – food allergies and sensitivities and the condition of your gut lining. This will help you design your nutrition precisely and stop chronic inflammation, which silently and slowly destroys healthy organs and creates illnesses.

I will share with you the most basic guidelines of nutrition to start with. I encourage you to contact me for the testing, including nutritional DNA analysis (none only once in a lifetime) – it will significantly improve and perhaps even save your life.

I prefer to do my nutrition and sensitivity blood tests yearly and modify my ongoing diet plan. It allows me to get the best performance out of my body to do things I like.  I’m a big fan of science and complete customization.

This is an example of a diet supporting detoxification, hormone balancing,  and weight loss goals. Please choose as many organic options as possible.

Proteins. If you eat animal sources of protein, they HAVE to be organic/wild/grass-fed. If you cannot get some of it in such form, then exclude it from your diet.

Nuts have to be soaked for at least 6 hours before consumption. You can soak them on the countertop or in the refrigerator if your house is hot and humid. First, wash them, discard the water, fill the container with fresh water and let them soak. The taste of soaked nuts is much better than dried ones. Plus, natural digestive enzymes are being released to allow the nut to start releasing all the nutrients after you eat it.

Beans must be soaked for at least 8 hours before cooking. It’s best to change the water halfway through. Beans will release enzymes that make them more digestible. Otherwise, they will start doing it in your intestines and you get bloating and gas. If you get sprouted beans, it’s even better because their enzymatic processes have already started. It is best to cook beans in a pressure cooker – it will remove lectins – the indigestible and gut-damaging enzymes.

General Guidelines

If you want to lose weight and stop inflammation, avoiding alcohol in any form is important.

To reset your body’s metabolism, I recommend going for a week without coffee. I like coffee; it is a fantastic antioxidant and source of dopamine, but it can be addictive, and you get used to it. If you stop it for a week and replace it with L-tyrosine supplementation, you still will have your dopamine for energy and mood.

It is vital to completely stop drinking soda and consuming sugar, especially artificial sources of it. Dates, honey, fruit, and stevia is ok if you don’t have sensitivity to them.

It is challenging to change your eating habits, and you are setting the grounds for a life of good health and clean living.

It’s also opening your curiosity about what else is possible for you – when you realize how much clarity and control over your life and mind you have.

Cooking methods: raw (not animal protein sources!),  steamed,  sautée, bake.

Condiments: apple cider vinegar, lemons, ume vinegar or paste, nutritional yeast, olive oil, Braggs Aminos, herbal spices, curry.

Sweeteners: Xylitol, brown rice syrup, fruit sweeteners, organic stevia & maple syrup -Limit to 2 tsp. per day

What NOT to Eat to heal inflammation

  • All grains containing gluten (wheat, oat, spelt, rye, Kamut)
  • Soy-based products  – soybeans, soymilk, tofu, tempeh, soy sauce
  • Dairy – milk, cheese, cottage cheese, cream, butter, ice cream, frozen yogurt
  • Non-dairy creamers
  • Roasted or salted seeds or nuts
  • Nightshade vegetables – tomatoes, eggplants, peppers
  • Eggs and products containing eggs
  • Corn and corn counting products
  • High and artificial sugar content foods: fruit drinks, white or brown sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, Nutrasweet and other artificial sweeteners, sorbitol, Splenda, and many others, molasses, corn syrup, all artificial sweeteners (e.g. sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, etc.), all refined sugars
  • Inflammatory foods: soda, alcohol, processed food, trans fats, hydrogenated fats, vegetable oils, etc.
  • Artificial fats – margarine, shortening, processed and vegetable oils (as much as possible)
  • Commercial salad dressings.
  • Canned vegetables, soups, bouillons
  • Powdered and packaged cooking and baking mixes
  • Farm Raised Salmon, Swordfish, Tilapia, Bluefin Tuna, Canned Albacore Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, Atlantic Halibut, Chilean Sea Bass, Grouper, Monkfish, Orange Roughy, Shark, King Mackerel,, Marlin
  • Commercial sources of animal protein. Animals raised on commercial farms might be fed a commercial diet containing hormones and treated with antibiotics.

If you like that approach to your health, please schedule your phone consultation with me, and I can answer your questions before making an initial appointment.

Dr. Maya Sarkisyan 

If this information picked your curiosity, let me know by emailing me [email protected] and ask for more interesting and relevant information.

Stay tuned and discover “The True Story About Your Health”.

 
Disclaimer: This is a general information only. Consult with Dr. Maya Sarkisyan before altering or discontinuing any current medications, treatment or care, or starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, or if you have or suspect you might have a health condition that requires medical attention. 
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