Nuances of the Low-Carb Diet [new research]

👀 WOW ➡️If you’ve ever thought about trying a low-carb diet, this new study says it all.

The headline on Medscape reads:

👉👉“For Weight Loss With a Low-Carb Diet, Quality Matters”

The study looked at weight change in 123,332 people following a low-carb diet over 4 years.

Their diets were categorized by food quality, based on diet questionnaires.

The results?

✅ Those who followed a low-carb diet that had more healthy fats and plant protein with less refined carbohydrates experienced the most weight loss over 4 years.

❌ Those who followed a low-carb diet that had more unhealthy fats, animal protein, and refined carbohydrates experienced the opposite: weight GAIN.

This study was conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health and published in JAMA Network Open (PMID: 38150249).

If you’re tired of the hype and mixed messages around food and nutrition and want to figure out what YOUR body needs to feel it’s best…

Schedule an initial visit with Dr. Cantrell today! Let's get started on your journey to wellness!🍃

Reference

Liu B, Hu Y, Rai SK, Wang M, Hu FB, Sun Q. Low-Carbohydrate Diet Macronutrient Quality and Weight Change. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(12):e2349552. Published 2023 Dec 1. [link]

Foods to Combat Inflammation?

Ever heard of the “Anti-Inflammatory Diet”??

So many of the most common health issues we face today have been linked with the same thing:

🔥 Chronic inflammation.

So how do we fight it?

One way is with food 🥬🫒🍋🥑

🛑 Some foods have been shown to worsen inflammation:

Sugar

Refined carbohydrates

Fried foods

Trans fats (like margarine)

🟢 While some have been shown to combat it:

Fish (rich in omega-3s)

Nuts & seeds

Green leafy vegetables

Colorful berries

Want more natural and holistic ways to support your health?

Make sure to follow along for more posts like this one! 💙

📱 Schedule an appointment with Dr. Cantrell for one-on-one advice!

How to Move Past Food Sensitivities 💥

If you deal with food sensitivities ➡️READ THIS 👇👇

Just because you react to a food now does not mean you will never be able to eat that food again.

You read that 🧐 right.

Some people are able to optimize their gut & immune health and then happily eat foods that used to trigger them—without a problem 🥳

To be clear: I am talking about food sensitivities and NOT true food allergies here. You can see my recent posts that describe the difference.

Here are some ways to support your digestion & immune system to help calm reactivity:

✔️ Eat an “anti-inflammatory” diet, meaning whole foods that are rich in antioxidants

✔️ Support the gut microbiome with probiotic-rich foods

✔️ Chew your foods thoroughly and eat mindfully

This is only a tiny glimpse of all the things we can do to support people with food sensitivities because the solution is highly ✨individual✨

Curious about working on a root-cause approach to your health?

Schedule an initial visit and we can discuss food sensitivity protocols 💚

Wonder if it’s Food Sensitivities?

You aren’t going to like this, but TRUTH IS…

❌ There is no perfect way to test for food sensitivities.

(I’m not talking about food allergies—see my recent posts for the difference)

Here are your options:

1️⃣ The Elimination-Challenge Diet

2️⃣ Food Sensitivities Blood Test

3️⃣ Combination of Both

For the Elimination-Challenge Diet, you remove all suspected foods until you feel better and then reintroduce them one at a time to see which are problematic.

Some people notice dramatic results 🎉

But some people just get more frustrated because the diet can take a long time, and the results are not always obvious.

The blood test looks to see if your body is creating antibodies to a long list of foods.

👉👉 Combine these 2 methods together, and you might discover a simple solution to feeling better!

Interested in food sensitivity testing?

📅 Schedule an initial visit with Dr. Cantrell to get started on your path to wellness!

New Study Shows HOW the Microbiome Protects Us!

How do good gut bacteria protect against harmful ones?

📢 New research alert!!

The gut microbiome consists of hundreds of different bacterial species and strains. One health benefit is that these bacteria can protect against the invasion of harmful bacteria.

But until now, there have been unanswered questions about how this works and whether some strains are more important than others.

A new study published in Science found that it was NOT any single bacterial strain that was protective but instead the combined effect of at least 50+ strains together.

Also, the WAY the collective bacterial communities protected against harmful invaders was by consuming nutrients those invaders might need.

The takeaway?

An optimal microbiome is a diverse microbiome.

Gut health is always something we look at as part of the bigger picture of our patient’s health.

Reference

Spragge F, Bakkeren E, Jahn MT, et al. Microbiome diversity protects against pathogens by nutrient blocking. Science. 2023;382(6676):eadj3502. [link]