Here are five not-so-obvious warning signs that something may have gone wrong with your food. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms please check your foods for hidden ingredients, especially gluten if you are sensitive. I know there are more obvious signals that are unlikely to be missed like vomiting or losing consciousness but let’s focus on the warning signs for exposure that are likely to go unnoticed shall we?

1. Really really tired
Have you ever been really really tired? I’m talking about the kind of tired where you could sleep a full night of ten hours, get up for two, go back to bed for a nap, wake up for a while and then go back to bed at the end of the night? Tired where your arms and legs are really really heavy? Stay in your pyjamas all day? Or your yoga pants double as pyjamas for several days? If being tired is interfering with the flow and productivity of your day of course make sure you are sleeping well at night, check your thyroid levels and thyroid hormone conversion, check your adrenals but… all of these things could be off because you have been exposed to something. A toxin, an allergen, a chemical.. These insidious ingredients could be hiding in a supplement or food source or they could be in the environment surrounding you. Did you know that gluten free and even certified gluten free products can contain the rest of the wheat, just leaving out the gluten protein specifically?  Yup.  The point is if tiredness creeps up on you and is becoming a problem don’t get lost in blaming yourself for being lazy and don’t let time just pass you by while you are missing out on life. Make sure to double check your environment for mould and chemicals in your cleaning supplies. Make sure to check your supplements for hidden sources of ingredients that you are allergic or sensitive too. In my case the last exposure was gluten through supplements but I have also heard about this happening from seafood based ingredients or corn based ingredients in supplements. Take care of yourself. If you are too tired to live your life there is something wrong and chances are it’s not “your fault”.

2. Negative self talk
This one is a doozy. The truth is negative self-talk and mental patterns are very much influenced by our biochemistry. This is why when a person is experiencing depression they simply cannot think their way out of it. We all have tapes that play in our brains.  Our ability to turn the tape off is completely dependent on the down-regulation of certain genes through good methylation and anti-inflammatory processes.  Being stuck in a loop can be great for practicing a skill but is terrible when that loop is negative.  Our brains get stuck in this differently depending on our genetic predisposition, current state of health, nutrition, digestive bacteria and triggers that activate genes more toward OCD tendencies.  I have been fascinated by the chemicals created by yeasts and bacteria that can affect our brain function and nervous systems, for example Arabinose, Quinolinic Acid, D-Lactic Acid and Propionic Acid. These are just examples of some of the chemicals and substances that are very normal in our environment to help you see that this is not some far-fetched connection. If you notice changes in your thought patterns they could be caused by an imbalance of bacteria or a chemical or allergen in your environment or food. Again if this is interfering with your day-to-day activities it is not normal and there are answers. Of course it is a good idea to seek the help of a professional counsellor if you are experiencing damaging self-talk. We all need a little help. Don’t forget to check for hidden exposures that can change the way you are thinking however. Your brain doesn’t malfuncion. A person’s brain inclined to do this is a real benefit when looking for foods in the wild or keeping watch at night, real survival stuff.  your brain is doing the best that it can to function and we must seek to find what is getting in the way and overstimulating certain pathways. Changing mindsets can be difficult when biochemistry is involved.

3. Brain fog
A mentor once asked, “Why do you use the term brain fog? Nobody knows what that is.” I said “Trust me. If you’d ever experienced it you would know exactly what … wait a minute… what was I talking about again?” Do you ever walk into the kitchen, open the fridge and then wonder what it was that you were supposed to be getting there? Do you ever wonder if you said something out loud or if it was just in your head? Tell me – right now – where are your keys? Brain fog. Again biochemistry and toxins can change the way our brains work. If you are already eating organic, avoiding the top allergens, getting regular exercise and sleeping enough perhaps the fuzzy-headedness is not a diet/lifestyle problem. Digestive bacteria can produce something called Lipopolysaccharides and if we have leaky gut they can create autoimmunity in many body systems including our brains and nervous systems.  The lipopolysaccharides can even be found in Bacillus probiotics.  Usually fine but maybe not with leaky gut.  Eep and uck!  Check your supplements!!! Check your environment!! We need your brain!!!

4. Body symptoms like rashes/weight gain/headaches
Any unexplained body symptom… take note of it. Not everything needs to lead to a full blown investigation for everyone. That being said if I get a weird rash or recurring headaches you can redouble your efforts (this time) to check for exposures. Rashes, weight gain and headaches can all be signs and symptoms of the body trying to rid itself of something and beginning to be overloaded. If you have a way to lessen the “bad’ stuff going in so that the body has time to recover you can help yourself. Some skin rashes and other body symptoms are of course bacterial, viral or something systemic that need to be seen by a doctor or specialist… but if they can’t tell you the CAUSE of the rash or headache do not just let it sit. Do not just accept strange symptoms as normal.  Helping with phase 2 detox can help to reduce these symptoms and protect our livers but don’t ignore the signs from your body.  For phase 2 detox you can look into turmeric and also the bacteria B. infantis and L. plantarum.

5. Stolen Digestive Chi
Not hungry? Stuck? Not feeling the fires of digestion getting you going in the morning or like ever? Our digestion is supposed to be activated in the morning. If you are not hungry in the morning and even throughout the day something is going wrong. Take every opportunity to resolve the problem before it contributes to something even less convenient. You know how to work on cleaning up your diet so add to that an investigation for hidden allergens or toxins that could be stealing your digestive fire.  This can definitely happen.  Remember if something is going wrong every day it is probably related to something that happens every day, a food or eating pattern, an exposure.  Put yourself first and keep on digging.

If you are working with a practitioner there are three tests I would like to tell you about:
The Cyrex Array for gluten sensitivity:
https://www.cyrexlabs.com/CyrexTestsArrays/tabid/136/Default.aspx

The Great Plains Labs Organic Acid Test:
(giving information about substances like D Lactic Acid and Oxalates affecting your biochemistry)
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/organic-acids-test/

The Great Plains Labs Chemical Test:
(New but revealing, just to see how many chemicals are still floating around in our bodies even after choosing to eat organic)
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/gpl-tox/

I am a big fan of the following Vibrant Wellness tests for this specific investigation:

Mycotoxins

Food allergens

Food sensitivities

Gut zoomer 3.0

Please spend time thinking about whether something in your food or environment could be affecting your mental and physical health. It will make me feel like we can still help each other.

Keeping Positive Through Chronic Autoimmunity; An Interview with Maura Kennedy

Mindset. We’ve all heard our beliefs and outlook are critical to our health. Even my rheumatologist, brilliant at western conventional medicine told me that “if you are doing something that makes you unhappy for more than three hours a day you will eventually get sick”. I’m not sure how to quantify that and for the longest time the whole MINDSET piece was something I put off. You see for me it is easier to change my diet and go to pilates than to change my outlook.

But just how does our outlook actually affect our health?

First our outlook affects our willingness to try new approaches or take the actions required to reclaim our health. Hey if we already think something won’t work we’re not going to bother right? Or if we do bother we may not be bothering 100%, all in.  Or if we try something with the expectation of failure that’s pretty much what will happen. As Yoda says, “There is no TRY”.

Secondly if our outlook contributes to overt or underlying stress then we will eventually experience its’ damaging effects. Stress can affect digestion and absorption, it can affect blood sugar regulation, cognitive function, pH, muscle breakdown, our adrenal glands and our thyroids… of course none of it in a good way.

Maura Kennedy has been an inspiration in her ability to stay positive no matter what she is feeling on a physical level.

In this interview you won’t find a sales pitch, you won’t find all the answers. You will find two friends talking about the struggles of chronic illness, relationships, recovery and state of mind. You will also find three simple things that you can do every day to help improve your state of mind.

Know that you are not alone.

See you in the interview below.

CLICK HERE to download the interview

In attempting to classify the good, bad and ugly commercial almond milks (see video presentation HERE) I continued to come across the same ingredients. Some are the old villains, your basic sugar and carrageenan but there were several others that continued to show themselves on the ingredient lists. Over and over I was reading gellan gum, algal flour, locust bean gum, tricalcium phosphate and more. The following is the lowdown on those ingredients. I suppose there is no perfect anything in the world but while we’re being pragmatic it is great to be informed about the ingredients that we are compromising on and choose the best alternatives possible.

Without further ado and in alphabetical order 🙂 :

Algal Flour – This ingredient has the potential to actually be not bad at all. When I first read this on package ingredients I just figured it was a new fancy term for basically carrageenan. This is not the case. There are two types of algal flour that seem to be the most commonly in use, one that is high in fats and one that is highest in proteins. The protein based algal flour utilizes both microalgae and fermentation to create their product. The higher protein algal flours have a good amount of 19 different amino acids, especially high in glutamic acid which is of interest to many people working on their digestive health. The lipid profile for the higher-fat algal flours seems highest in Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid and Palmitic Acid. I am seeing this ingredient in foods where manufacturers are looking to replace animal fats or the taste of animal fats. So I am still not totally sure about the manufacturing process of any of these algal flours, even just the basic question of how do they make them not green and taste like spirulina?? I am also not sure of the impact on human health as these are relatively new ingredients.

Cane Sugar – Cane sugar, maple sugar, agave (admittedly in its own class), any of these sweeteners come with their own risks over time and depending on your blood sugar metabolism this will have to be something you choose. Now that there are unsweetened varieties of most of these milks we do have options. I know that the sugars that are added to non-dairy milks are used to approximate the sweetness of milk from any mammal but arguably we are not cows and we are (in body) adults so I’m not sure as to the wisdom of continuing to mimic a taste that may not be age or species-appropriate. That being said I’m not sure xylitol or erythritol or stevia are necessarily better options. This would be a good one for the comments below. This one’s up to you!

Carrageenan – This ingredient probably still is in many almond milks but I’m happy to say that it wasn’t in any of the milks that I found at Whole Foods on this particular expedition. While I am a proponent of including sea vegetables in a healthy diet I cannot stand behind this single extracted ingredient that has been shown to both increase gut permeability and contribute to colon cancer risk factors.

Gellan Gum – Relatively new on the scene, gellan gum lacks sufficient study for me to be convinced of its safety over time. One study published in the J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) in 1997 showed damage to rats’ microvilli after ingestion over a period of time. I think for anyone who already has digestive issues this ingredient may be one to avoid.

Calcium Carbonate – It seems like this ingredient is here for our benefit but as a food manufacturer I must say that it likely is not. Adding calcium carbonate is the cheapest way to make the nutrition “facts” look awesome. It is a good way to say “contains 50% more calcium than dairy milk” but first of all let’s look at absorption: Many studies that find calcium and D supplementation to be helpful for bone health do not specify the types of calcium used and a number of studies have found calcium carbonate supplementation ineffective. Studies have, however, shown supplementation with other forms of calcium such as calcium citrate and calcium bisglycinate to be better absorbed and more effective. Yet other studies have shown the opposite to be true (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3999951/) Most of the studies on calcium supplementation and cardiovascular risk have so so so many variables like lifestyle, exercise, other dietary factors and more. In conclusion I’m not convinced calcium carbonate helps our bones or presents a cardiovascular risk. I usually choose to avoid it.

Guar Gum – This ingredient is actually made from a food, from a bean that is actually edible. This is good news. Some side effects of taking this ingredient in excess include gas and bloating. I would personally watch out for this one if I was experiencing any sort of intestinal imbalance. That being said I like it better than xanthan gum and gellan gum.

Locust Bean Gum – This gum is made from the seeds/beans of the carob plant. It may be listed as carob bean gum. Similar to guar gum, a side effect of taking this in excess can be too much gas/bloating. It may well feed some of our bacteria that would be better unfed depending on the person. It takes an imbalance to feed an imbalance.

Potassium Citrate – I believe this is added as a pH buffer. This ingredient is also often supplemented. It is a uric alkalizer (makes urine more alkaline).

Tricalcium Phosphate – This ingredient is tiny reflective particles that make products look white. They are small and can do damage to the digestive lining. Let’s all write to or visit Whole Foods and ask them to take this ingredient out of their 365 brand almond milk.

Vitamin A Palmitate – This may involve palm oil so may be of ethical concern rather than a health risk.

Vitamin D2 – We don’t need D2. We need D3. Vegan D3 is now available for being added to products. D2 is cheaper. ‘Nuff said.

While some of the above ingredients are not terrible, almond milk is something that many of us drink on a daily basis so even at values “less than 2%” there is very little that we get a free pass on eating regularly. Even if the ingredients listed here are not harmful it is important to know that they are not there for your benefit or your health. Ingredients are often included to make products look whiter, brighter, stay fresh longer or have a thicker consistency.

The companies that make these milks must first and foremost be businesses and make a profit in order to survive and continue to grow. The bottom line is that they need to sell us something that we will buy. Our choices have already changed the marketplace. Our choices change everything. Let’s do the best that we can.
Check out this weeks’ Bone Builder Nut and Seed Milk Recipe HERE


Here are ten keys to recovery over your holiday break this year, no matter how short it is.  Whether you are spending time alone or in the eye of a flurry of visitors please take time to recharge.  Even extroverts who get energy from social situations have to take care of their health personally.  Find something to nourish yourself and gift yourself health and self-care for the new year.

Greens (get green)

Go for about 7 cups of greens daily if you can, in your smoothie or salads or blended in soups. If you are oxalate sensitive stick to the lower oxalate greens (or ferment them), if you are sensitive to FODMAPS stick to the more benign greens like butter lettuce and spread them out throughout the day. Greens, for me, include veggies from the sea as well. Kelp, dulse, nori, sea lettuce and other sea greens are mineral and protein powerhouses that for many people are hugely beneficial. I like to get mine from BC Kelp or Maine Coast Sea Vegetables.

Greens are mineral rich, alkaline, full of vitamins and prebiotics, good bacteria, are alkalizing, immune boosting and replete with fiber to lower blood sugars depending on what they are eaten with and can help to detoxify by moving unwanted materials out of the body. Yes, that is NOT a typo.  Those digestive bacteria that we cannot buy in a pill or capsule are found on fresh fruits and veggies, particularly greens.  If you are looking to increase the digestive bacteria that break down oxalates you will find them on cabbages and other brassicas.  Healthy fats and greens are arguably the most hormonally nourishing foods too, helping you get through times of stress and even retain balance afterward.  If there are greens that are difficult for you to take because of digestive or thyroid reasons there is always something at the root cause.  For now eat what agrees with you and continue putting yourself first by investing deeply in your root cause health.

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