http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Ever since AmazonFresh launched, my grocery game has never been the same. Somehow, the online shopping behemoth has made picking up a gallon of milk as easy as impulse buying an inflatable pizza-shaped pool floatie — all from the comforts of my couch.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
A few months back, I put Swerve under the proverbial microscope. This time I’m looking at a relative newcomer in the alternative sweetener field. Allulose is quickly growing in popularity, since it’s both naturally occurring and virtually identical to table sugar in taste and texture. Then there’s the claim of sidestepping many of the ill-health effects associated with many other sweeteners.
I know many of you are with me when I bring a sizable dose of skepticism to these kinds of bold proclamations. So, I did my own research, asking whether it’s truly the full-flavor, guilt-free choice many suggest it is. And, if it is (or if it comes close), I wondered, what are its best uses in the kitchen?
When it comes down to it, allulose isn’t all that unlike glucose or fructose. The three are all monosaccharides, the simplest form of carbohydrate. Like glucose and fructose, allulose is also naturally occurring—unlike the vast array of artificial sweeteners on the market today. Still, as we know, “natural” doesn’t always mean “healthy.”
Fructose, for example, is synonymous with fruit. Conventional wisdom teaches us that fruit is healthy, but Primal folks are well aware that increasing consumption of fructose is associated with a plethora of health risks from diabetes to cardiovascular disease. And considering allulose has virtually the same chemical makeup as fructose, that might raise some eyebrows.
But chemical legacies aside, there appear to be some key differences between allulose and its monosaccharide cousins. Unlike fructose and glucose, which are found in abundance in the foods we eat, allulose is a very rare sugar that’s hard to find in nature—popping up in only a few foods like wheat, figs, raisins and jackfruit.
Next, allulose (aka psicose) is an epimer of fructose. In essence, this means that while allulose has the same atomic makeup as fructose, it has a minor structural variation. This miniscule difference supposedly has far-reaching effects, however, with preliminary trials showing that around 70% of allulose is excreted in urine and that it has very low fermentability in the gut—meaning you’re less likely to experience gas, bloating, and digestive upset after eating it. (Those who react to other natural alternative sweeteners probably know what I’m talking about here.)
Because so little allulose is utilized by our bodies for energy, the caloric implications from consuming it are supposedly quite minor. While it has 70% the relative sweetness of sucrose (table sugar), it has only 0.3% of the energy. Marketers are calling allulose a “zero calorie” sweetener, and in this case they’re not stretching the truth too much in saying so.
In terms of manufacturing, however, allulose does share another similarity to fructose: it’s primarily produced from corn, along with several other plants. These days, much of the science surrounding allulose is focused on the most efficient enzymatic catalyst for converting fructose into psicose, in order to maximize extraction (and therefore profits).
The notion that a sweetener might have benefits beyond, well, sweetness is nothing new. Xylitol, for example, is a prebiotic that has been shown to balance blood sugar and lower cholesterol, while erythritol (the main sweetener in blends like Swerve) promotes healthy vascular function and good oral health.
Several studies show that allulose is beneficial for those suffering from type 2 diabetes. In a 2015 study, researchers fed diabetic rats with either water containing 5% allulose, or straight water as a control. Sixty weeks into the study, the diabetic rats fed allulose demonstrated “maintenance of blood glucose levels, decrease in body weight gain, and the control of postprandial hyperglycemia” compared to the control group. Significantly, insulin levels were also maintained in the allulose group, while pancreatic cells were preserved.
Other animal studies have produced similarly promising results, with trials showing that allulose administration helps to lower blood sugar levels and minimize insulin secretion following a sugary meal. It also appears to inhibit the tendency to overfeed on sugary foods and to improve insulin resistance over time.
Research in humans is a little thinner on the ground, but those conducted indicate that moderate doses (5 g or more) of allulose have the potential to prevent blood glucose and insulin spikes after eating other sugars. Interestingly, allulose taken by itself, without any other sugars or foods, doesn’t appear to have any effect at all on blood glucose or insulin concentrations.
Interestingly, beyond the hypoglycemic abilities of allulose, there are also reports that it can directly aid in fat loss. In a 2015 study published in the Journal of Food Science, obese mice fed allulose for 15 weeks experienced a reduction in body and liver weights, total fat mass and abdominal visceral fat without any reduction in muscle mass. Another study published in 2016 found that mice on a high fat diet who were fed allulose for 16 weeks experienced significant reductions in body weight and body fat, to the point where there was virtually no difference to the “healthy” control group.
And this year, a study was published showing that high doses of allulose (7g twice daily) resulted in significant reductions in BMI, abdominal fat and subcutaneous fat in overweight humans. This study aside, the jury’s still out on body composition benefits in humans. We’ll see if further studies demonstrate these kinds of results.
Other potential health benefits of allulose include oxidative stress protection, enhanced energy expenditure, and reduced inflammation. While the overall picture looks pretty good, I’ll be watching the continuing research. As always, manufacturers have an interest in encouraging studies that report favorable health benefits. I’m optimistic, but I’m not sold…just yet.
For the most part, there’s nothing to indicate that allulose is anything less than safe for humans. For what it’s worth, the FDA considers allulose to be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), and most studies have noted no significant adverse side effects beyond the usual responses to excessive doses.
A 2015 study that looked at the safety of long-term allulose consumption in rats concluded that it exhibited no dietary toxicity, while a strangely large number of studies in dogs showed that both single dose and long term consumption of allulose caused no harmful effects. At extremely high doses (4g/kg), dogs did exhibit vomiting and diarrhea, but it’d be difficult to consume that level of sweetness for any period of time.
In humans, toxicity tests are once again few and far between, but the general consensus is that allulose is perfectly safe. Longer term study (and longer term consumption of allulose by consumers) will show whether it’s truly side effect free.
As an epimer of fructose, allulose tastes virtually the same as the sugars you’ll find in an apple or banana. With the exception of sugar syrups, most allulose is sold in granulated form, meaning you can use it much the same as you would granulated sugar.
Keep in mind, however, that it’s around 70% less sweet than sucrose (table sugar), so you’ll likely need a little more to achieve the same level of sweetness. But, then again, if you’re Primal, you probably don’t crave as much sweetness anyway…so why not start with the same dosage as regular sugar and see how it works for you?
Thanks for reading, everyone. Have you used allulose? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
The post Primal Guide to Allulose Sweetener appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Grocery shopping, prepping ingredients, and actually doing all the cooking can be a lot of work — but that can be nothing compared to the task of cleaning up. Perhaps it’s because the big event (the meal itself) has passed, but tackling a dirty kitchen is often the last thing I want to be doing.
Which is why, when I got to interview Alex Guarnaschelli as part a partnership with Lysol Daily Cleaner, I of course had to ask a pro: What tools and tricks make cleanup less complicated for her?
http://chriskresser.com/
In this episode we discuss:
Show notes:
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Chris Kresser: Dr. Fishman, welcome to Revolution Health Radio. I’m so happy you could join us. I’ve really been looking forward to this.
Dr Harvey Fishman: Thank you so much for having me, Chris. This is wonderful.
Chris Kresser: So, my audience has been well aware of the gut microbiome for many years. We’ve also talked about the skin microbiome. We talked about the vaginal microbiome, the lung microbiome, more recently the nasal microbiology, and so it’s not surprising to learn that there is also an ocular microbiome. I’m really looking forward to talking to you more about this and how it contributes to eye disease. Because in the conventional world, the options for preventing eye disease in the first place and then addressing them, I think, have come a long way but maybe still leaves something to be desired. I’d first love to start out with just hearing a little bit more about your background, how you became interested in the ocular microbiome in your work as an ophthalmologist, and what led you down this path.
Dr. Fishman: That’s great. So, I have a pretty interesting background, where I started off in the world as a physical chemist, studied neuroscience. I was in an analytical chemistry microfluidic laser lab at Stanford and really got interested in how to measure molecules almost at the single molecule level. We were looking at vesicular and synaptic release, neurotransmitters, and what the chemical basis of learning and memory was.
You’ve heard of the gut microbiome—and maybe even the skin, nasal, and vaginal microbiome. But did you know that the eyes also have a microbiome and that it plays a key role in ocular health?
That was sort of my background, and then I sort of did some interesting work in neurobiology, looking at retinal cells and how they grow and their regeneration, so I’ve had a lot of sort of technical background and analytical chemistry background. And then the last couple of years, I started getting very interested in the microbiome of the intestine and the gut, which led me into this whole world of what is actually happening in the eyes. Is there an ocular microbiome and is there a biome that controls disease in the eye that similar to that in the gut?
What’s interesting is that I didn’t necessarily sort of think about it in those ways. I actually got into my research that I’m working on right now is we’re actually looking at how to measure cancer on the eye. We’re using some of the analytical techniques that I developed or had been working on for my whole sort of academic career, which is how do you measure very small amounts of materials in microenvironments, and so I naturally led to this concept of how do you measure cancers on the eye. We started using similar techniques and sort of the illumina high throughput sequencing technology using 16S rDNA and rRNA to look at different things on the cancer. Chris has led me right into how they are looking at the microbiome and that’s sort of what got my interest sparked. The other thing that’s sort of interesting is I’ve been working with a company called Microbiome to do some studies where I’m actually looking at intestinal microbiomes and how that compares to disease in the eye. That’s sort of a whirlwind tour of how I got interested.
Chris Kresser: Right. It’s a fascinating background, and as is often the case, it seems like in some way you could have never designed this career path or predicted it would happen, but when you look at it in retrospect, it seems like each step kind of perfectly informed the next step.
Dr. Fishman: That’s right. It’s actually really interesting; I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I’d be doing genomics, and in fact one of my previous advisers always laughs because I’m doing genomics and I was a physical chemist and a microanalytical guy.
Chris Kresser: Right, right.
Dr. Fishman: Whippersnapper.
Chris Kresser: Right. So let’s talk a little bit about the ocular microbiome and what we know about it so far and what we don’t know about it. Do we have any sense of the number of species, microorganisms, what the functions of the ocular microbiome are? I imagine it’s significantly less developed as a field of study than the gut microbiome, but what do we know so far?
Dr. Fishman: It’s really the beginning of this field. What’s interesting about the microbiome of the eye is that we’ve been interested in, as ophthalmologists, not me personally, but at the ophthalmology community, we’ve been very interested in the bacteria that lived on the eye. The reason is that most of our intraocular surgeries like cataract surgery, vitreoretinal surgery, corneal surgery, when you make incisions into the eye, most of the serious infections that occur, occur because the exogeneous either bacteria that live on the lashes, the eyelid margin, or in the cornea. And so we’ve been very interested in this for years, and they’ve done a lot of interesting work, but the concept of the ocular microbiome, whether there’s like some low-level core bacteria and microbiological species that lives on, in, and around the eye, that’s really kind of a new concept.
One of the papers that has come out just recently was actually by Mark Wilcox. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it; it was a major paper in 2017, and they looked at basically the temporal stability and composition of the ocular surface microbiome. It was probably one of the best papers, if not the sentinel paper in the field. What they found is … well, there’s a couple of things they found, that first of all the ocular biome is very different, if at all, than the microbiome of the intestine. One of the things that they found is that in addition to other work that’s been done, is that it’s actually a pretty low number of species. I mean, there’s a diverse number of species, but it’s a low number. It’s just a regular number. And then there was some work that was done by Russell Van Gelder who’s also shown similar work, but basically they started to talk about a bacteria microbiome that’s just very small in number.
Chris Kresser: It’s interesting; there is some parallel too with the gut. For most of the 20th century, we were very well aware of the existence of pathogenic bacteria, parasites and other organisms that could cause dysfunction in the gut, and most of the focus there was on identifying those pathogens and then treating the disease, eradicating them if possible with antibiotics or treating the diseases that were caused by them, whereas now at least, the awareness has shifted, and to some extent toward how do we support and nourish the protective microbiome and look at it more in the context of an ecosystem where we understand that if the health of the ecosystem is the primary focus, then that may actually be the most effective way of protecting against pathogenic activity.
Do you think that something similar is going to happen with the ocular microbiome or that it’s just too— because it’s not as significant in terms of the volume of the number of organisms and we may not have as much ability to influence it with things like diet and lifestyle, we’re not going to go down a similar path there?
Dr. Fishman: It’s a great question, and that’s really what a lot of … myself and many other people are working on—whether you can influence it. I have some anecdotal discussions on that, papers as well, that actually would suggest that you may be able to do the exact same thing for the ocular health as you do for the gut health. Let me give you a couple examples. There are some really significant diseases of the eye, like, for example, dry eye disease, which is actually an area that I’m super interested in and really focusing a lot of my academic and clinical research. Dry eye disease is … they think there’s a very big component of how the ocular microbiome interacts with the cornea and the lid and so forth, but there are also a bunch of other diseases like episcleritis, chronic follicular conjunctivitis, pterygium, or surfer’s eye, scleritis, even things that are as interesting as macular degeneration and glaucoma, a lot of people are starting to have … some of these diseases are actually idiopathic, not macular degeneration necessarily, but like episcleritis and dry eye disease. There are these so-called idiopathic diseases. What we think is that it’s really controlled by dysbiosis of microbiome.
Chris Kresser: Wow, that’s interesting. For listeners, idiopathic means “we don’t really know.” It’s a fancy way of saying, “We don’t know where this comes from or how it starts.” It’s fascinating and by now not surprising, given what we talked about at the beginning of the show, we know now about the microbiome is not just in the gut. There’s microbiology and virtually in any surface that interacts with the exterior world, whether it’s the gut, the inside of the gut, technically is outside the body. We’ve talked about that on the show, which is always kind of fascinating, especially if you haven’t thought about that, and then the lungs, which of course interface with the exterior environment, and the skin, the vagina, there’s a penis microbiome, and clearly these organisms are playing some important role and clearly there’s something about the modern lifestyle that is antithetical to the health of microbiomes. I imagine with the ocular microbiome, is it influenced by the same factors? Does systemic antibiotic use contribute to a degradation of the quality of the ocular microbiome? Are any kind of eye products that people use like drops, can they interfere? What do we know about that?
Dr. Fishman: Right. Those are great. Certainly areas that people are looking at. In the eye, there are so many aspects of the eye in terms of the ocular microbiome of the eye that makes it complex because the thing about the microbiome of the eye is that it’s not only that we think a core microbiome exist in a very low level, there’s a lot of other bacteria and other species of organisms that sort of “contaminate” those measurements and also the surface.
One of the interesting things, there’s a lot of sort of noise, in the sense that there’s the noise from contaminants at any one time on the eye can overwhelm the signal of the actual microbiome. But what does seem to occur is that it’s very possible that when people have sort of acute issues is because they do get some sort of dysregulation of their normal biome by this sort of contaminant. The sort of things that can really change the ocular surface biome is exactly the source that you’re mentioning. If you use makeup, if you use products—Latisse, for instance, the Latisse, which people use to make their eyelashes grow longer contain a lot of— basically cause of the eyelashes that have more inflammation, more debris on them and that those are basically culture plates for bacteria on the eyelashes. That really does change it.
A lot of what you’re mentioning really is sort of the dry eye disease realm, which is that all these different products that people use, including unnecessary eye drops or things like viral bacterial conjunctivitis, which you wouldn’t use an antibiotic but that changes the microbiome. The other thing that is very fascinating is parasites. It turns out Demodex, I’m sure you—maybe we had many shows on Demodex, but Demodex is a big, big deal, and there is an interesting sort of life cycle of Demodex in the lashes and how that relates not only to the skin microbiome, but actually of people who have dysbiosis of their intestine. It’s just incredibly fascinating and it plays into the whole ocular rosacea story as well.
Chris Kresser: Not too long ago we had a periodontist, Al Danenberg, who’s been through my clinician training program and is a really knowledgeable guy. He has looked at the connection between the gut microbiome and the oral microbiome and has found from his perspective and from what the research is showing that when there’s a disruption in the oral microbiome, it’s usually or often driven by dysfunction of the gut microbiome rather than the other way around, although certainly we know that infections in the mouth can influence the gut and other parts of the body, but because stomach acid protects against, hopefully if it’s sufficient, a lot of what we would swallow and the saliva from the mouth that the relationship is probably more strongly influenced in the other direction. Has there been much work done on the influence of the gut microbiome on the ocular microbiome?
Dr. Fishman: That’s a huge area that people … there’s a lot of really interesting work, but just to kind of go back to what you said, there was a really interesting paper that came out that talked about the oral microbiome linked to neurodegeneration and glaucoma.
Chris Kresser: Ah …
Dr. Fishman: We actually know that there are people with worse oral disease and dental disease. Actually, you have higher rates of primary glaucoma than other people, and that was a very well done study that was recently published. Essentially one of the things that we’ve known forever, and as a medical student, we learned very early in the game, the connection between ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and uveitis. You may have touched upon before, but that is one of the most clear-cut associations that we have enough knowledge. In fact, ophthalmologists often sometimes will look … brilliant clinicians … when the person comes in and we see uveitis and then we do a little bit of the history and it turns out that they have Crohn’s and then we send them to the GI specialist and the GI guy thinks we’re brilliant. We’ve discovered Crohn’s disease by looking in their eye and yet there are a few associations.
What’s interesting is that there are multisystem disorders, autoimmune diseases that are associated with uveitis that are absolutely related to the gut and in other areas. That’s an area that NIH is doing a very—there is a big push to look at the association. In particular, some of the work they’re doing with T cell activation, both protective T cells and non-protective T cells, and how it influences uveitis, and they’ve been looking at some really interesting experimental autoimmune uveitis models, the EUA, so to speak, and they looked at how the regulatory T cells in the gut and other tissues really affect the uveitis and so forth.
Chris Kresser: I think there are probably a fair number of listeners who are not that familiar with disease. Uveitis being an inflammation of the middle layer of the eye, right?
Dr. Fishman: That’s right.
Chris Kresser: With the connection between the gut and depression for example, the speculation is that in terms of the mechanism is that inflammatory cytokines are produced in the gut and they enter the bloodstream, perhaps because the barrier is permeable and they travel through the blood and they cross the blood–brain barrier and they suppress the activity of the frontal cortex, and that’s one way gut pathology can lead to anxiety and depression.
In the case of the connection between the gut and eye disease, let’s take ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s, which are both autoimmune GI pathologies. Is the speculation that the systemic inflammation caused by the autoimmune disease is what’s causing the inflammation in the eye, or is it that something related to a disruption of the microbiome leading to maybe the production of certain chemicals or inflammatory cytokines or something that’s more specific to the microbial ecology of the gut is the contributing factor, or do we just not really know?
Dr. Fishman: One of the thoughts, and there was a paper that … and these are all interesting, really recent papers like 2015 to 2016, but there’s that commensal microbiota and bacteria in the gut that activate T cells. These T cells then circulate and then actually pass into and through the retina, in other parts of the eye, to then activate directly. It’s definitely via the immune system, but there are very specific immune cells that actually can penetrate into the eye. There’s always been that thought that the eye is immunologically pristine, and that really is obviously not the case, but there are very selective T cells that can in fact get into the eye or pass into the eye, and so that’s what we think that is going on, is that there’s a dysregulation in the microbiome of the gut.
As you pointed out, you get T cell activation, and then it actually activates the local immune system in the eye. Actually, a really interesting situation that we see with respect to that, we actually can see diseases like sympathetic ophthalmia, which is a disease where if you injure one eye, activation of the T cells from one eye actually can go to the other eye, and you can actually lose the other eye, so you could actually have a question where are you …
Chris Kresser: Oh, wow.
Dr. Fishman: Yes, it’s awful. That’s why people have to get their eyes enucleated or taken out when they have a trauma. They have to do that within about 10 to 15 days or sooner because they can get this autoimmune activation that can actually blind them in the other eye. It’s just fascinating how that works, but that is sort of the same idea in the gut that you get with activation, and it causes inflammation. One of the things that we know, Chris, and this is my own personal experience in my practice, and I’ve seen this over and over and over again, is that my uveitis patients, they always come in with an active disease, almost always some kind of a gut-related situation that sets off their uveitis or inflammation. They’ll come in and I’ll say, “What did you do last week?” “I was in Las Vegas and then we ate a lot of carbohydrates,” and these are patients who are very strict about being on a gluten-free diet, and they just say they cheated, so to speak, they had a bad weekend, fun weekend, but now they’re paying the price and then they come back and they get uveitis. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen that. It’s just clear cut. That’s actually withm in particular, HLA-B27 uveitis. I don’t know if you have covered that, but that’s a big area.
Chris Kresser: I love to hear a little bit. I’m familiar with HLA-B27 and AS, ankylosing spondylitis, and the connection there. In fact, in our clinic, we will often test patients for HLA-B27 if they have joint pain, and if they test positive for Klebsiella bacteria on the stool test, I forget the name of a physician in London who discovered that connection, but then we’ll often put them on a low-starch diet and will treat the Klebsiella, and their joint pain will go away, or at least that will significantly improve. Tell me more about HLA-B27 and the eye.
Dr. Fishman: That’s our biggest immune screening. We screen for that in every single uveitis patient and screen for HLA-B27. In fact, 50 percent of every non-necrotising anterior uveitis, which is just a fancy word for basically idiopathic, meaning we don’t know what the cause is, it’s almost always related to an HLA-B27-positive uveitis, and so we see that all the time. Those patients are particularly sensitive to changes in their diet, and a lot of those patients, I will really push for strong control, at least in my practice. We always start off with a gluten-type restriction because that seems to be one of the big areas that sets off uveitis. HLA-B27 is such a prominent factor in most of our inflammation. You can also get sclerites with HLA-B27, you can get uveitis, you can get episcleritis, any of the autoimmune diseases around the eye seemed to be linked to that marker.
Chris Kresser: Just for the listeners, if your eyes are glazing over here, we’re geeking out a little bit, but I want to back up. HLA-B27 is a gene, and it’s one that plays a really important role in immune function. Its prevalence varies around the world in different ethnic groups and populations. I think it’s about 8 percent in Caucasians, maybe this 2 to 9 percent in Chinese, 4 percent North Africans. As I was mentioning before, the association that I was most familiar with, I’m really fascinated to learn about the connection with uveitis is with ankylosing spondylitis. Back in the ’80s, there was a physician in London, whose name I’m unfortunately forgetting at the moment, and he was treating patients with AS, and by accident some of them he put on a low-carb diet for weight loss, and their AS improved dramatically. He did some more research and he found that there is a greater abundance of Klebsiella in stool samples of patients with AS, and then he found that Klebsiella bacteria that have preference for starch, and the patients that he put on a low-carb diet were of course eating a lot less starch. The low starch intake starved the Klebsiella and reduced the Klebsiella, which then reduced the autoimmune attack against the HLA-B27-expressed enzymes that were in the joints, and that’s reduced the symptoms of AS, or ankylosing spondylitis, but there was later research that showed that sometimes can be connected to Crohn’s disease. You just told me that Crohn’s is connected to uveitis. Things like this, there’s a very interesting connection going on here, and that it may possibly a low-carb, low-starch diet, if it works for AS and HLA-B27, might be effective for uveitis.
Dr. Fishman: Absolutely. I basically, in a very non-scientific way, have my patients try these diets and often they don’t want to go on to these heavy-duty immunosuppressants like methotrexate or Imuran. They want a natural … not natural, but they want a way to control the inflammation not to do these other sources. They will grab it, and a lot of the way I practice is I’ve learned so much from the multitude of patients who tell me, maybe the patients who have seen you as well, I learn from them what works, and I can then pass it on to other people. But in terms of the gut association with HLA-B27, it’s fascinating when you were mentioning Klebsiella, it turns out that Klebsiella as well as other bacteria … and in particular, there’s a big connection with blepharitis and dry eye disease. In fact they did a study where they looked at patients—Bacillus was the other one—they looked at a setting where they looked at patients who had dry eye disease, and it turned out that Bacillus and Klebsiella were the huge association with blepharitis and dry eye disease. Just as an aside, another very interesting thing, because I’m very interested in dry eye disease and a lot of people with ocular rosacea, there is that story that the microbiome of your gut are being eaten, so bacteria that actually get eaten by the parasites, which hurt the Demodex on your eyelashes and your hair follicles, they eat the bacteria, then the parasites puke up the bacteria, and then the products and the exogenous components from the bacteria then irritates the eyelashes and the meibomian glands, which are glands in your eyelid, cause severe dry eyes. That’s this interesting lifecycle between bacteria, Demodex. The other thing that I’ve looked at, and I know that you guys have talked about SIBO, and there seems to be this association with SIBO, bacteria, blepharitis, Demodex and ocular rosacea and dry eye disease.
Chris Kresser: Fascinating. I mean, there’s so many directions, but it all really comes back to, I mean, I think one of the things I like to emphasize, these discussions are fascinating and they’re important, and these lines of research are really crucial to figuring out what’s going on, and at the same time it comes back to the same basic steps that we need to take. Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet, make sure you’re taking care of your gut microbiome, avoid unnecessary antibiotics.Make sure to eat plenty of fermented foods and fermentable fibers. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the complexity of all of these connections, but the good news is that usually it’s just the same simple steps that we need to take in order to protect our health.
Dr. Fishman: Absolutely. One of the things that we found, and you’ll just be amazed, ophthalmologists, we have been running the largest nutritional study in the history of mankind, and it was for macular degeneration. That statement is not a trivial one. I don’t know if you’ve talked about this, and essentially the use of lutein as the advancement in your diet. There are a lot of interesting connections between the intestine and macular degeneration, and there’s a big suggestion that the intestinal dysbiosis as seen in AMD patients … and when you’re doing these supplementations, you’re really supplementing the intestinal microbiome to reduce inflammation in the retina, which is actually the cause of macular degeneration, so it’s just incredibly fascinating. Every time I leave my patient, I feel that there are two things I want you guys to leave this office with because I don’t have the bandwidth, obviously, that your practice has in terms of … I have this focus on different things, but I tell them spinach pills, which is just spinach and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acid is a very interesting controller of eyelid health and dry eye disease despite the fact that there was a recent paper that came out that disputed that, and I would really argue that that was not a very well-done … it was a study that was well done, but they had a lot of problems with it. My two big go-to things at least in my practice are spinach and fish.
Chris Kresser: That certainly fits into the context of the nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet. It’s really fascinating to me how the change, I think, that’s happening in medicine, not just in functional integrative medicine but even in conventional medicine, that we started out allopathic medicine grew out of this Cartesian dualistic framework, where the body is basically just a bunch of disconnected parts that are kind of loosely connected, but not really influencing each other, and now we’re really starting to understand that under traditional systems of medicine, they certainly didn’t get everything right, but the one thing that they did get right was this idea of holism, that every part of the body is connected to and influences the body as a whole.
Now we’re seeing this, I think, really play out. Look, it’s Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis increase your risk of eye inflammation. We now have the inflammatory cytokine model of depression that shows that inflammation in the gut can cause inflammation in the brain and symptoms that mimic depression. We’ve got connections between dysfunction in the HPA axis and stress and all kinds of skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. I mean, the list goes on and on, and now we’re adding to this the connection between the oral microbiome and the gut microbiome and inflammation in the eye, which even just, I think, 20 or 30 years ago would have been completely dismissed as a woo-woo kind of out-there stuff. It’s just encouraging to me that we’re really starting to move, no matter what kind of perspective on medicine, we’re talking about into a more holistic view of the body.
Dr. Fishman: There was an interesting paper where one researcher looked at treating, it wasn’t a corneal ulcer, but they were treating sort of a conjunctivitis using a probiotic eye drop.
Chris Kresser: I was going to ask you about that.
Dr. Fishman: There’s a disease called vernal keratoconjunctivitis, and that’s a pretty tough one to treat. Vernal means spring, and basically it’s allergic conjunctivitis. A lot of kids get it, and the way we typically treat that is with steroids and so forth, which you obviously don’t want to do for children. There was a paper back in 2008 where they looked at using a probiotic eye drop, and they found it was equivalent to some of the other drops that they were using, which to me makes complete sense. I had a very interesting case recently of a patient who had actually an open globe. She actually had some sort of a tube that was put in for glaucoma, and it eroded through the conjunctiva. Bottom line, you see an open globe and she had opened up for essentially six months and nothing happened. She didn’t get an infection, nothing. For whatever reason, she had a very well-controlled ocular biome.
One of the interesting questions that we’re now looking at is how do the intestinal, oral, or skin biomes relate to the ocular microbiome? I think it’s a pretty clear situation, and we know and I’ve had private conversations with some pretty famous microbiologists, anything that comes out of your intestine is going to be in your eyes, so basically just think of it that way. I mean, it doesn’t sound great, and I joke with my patients, “You’re basically getting poop in your eyes, and it happens all the time, every single day.” That’s what happens, not to be completely crap, but that is the connection.
Chris Kresser: Yes, yes. That’s interesting. The probiotic eye drop reminds me of, I talked about this before, the nasal microbiome and the connection between the nasal microbiome and sinusitis. Dr. Susan Lynch at UCSF has done some really interesting work in this area. She did a fascinating study that was both animal and human, and they had an animal model of sinusitis, and they found that the main difference between animals with sinusitis and the controls was not—and this was true in humans too—was not the presence of certain pathogens. It wasn’t that the people with sinusitis had much higher levels of fungus or certain species of pathogenic bacteria. The biggest difference between the two groups was microbial diversity.
Dr. Fishman: Right.
Chris Kresser: The people who were the controls, the people who didn’t have sinusitis, had a much richer diversity of healthy protective bacteria, whereas the people who had sinusitis had a lower diversity, even when the presence of pathogenic species was basically the same. There was no difference between the two groups. The difference was that the healthy people had much higher levels of protective bacteria, and then she went a step further, and in the animals, they treated them with antibiotics until they were basically depleted of the microbiome in both the healthy controls and the animals with sinusitis. And in one group of animals, they didn’t do anything. They just let the bacteria grow back as they would, and then the other group, they inoculated them with a protective species, Lactobacillus sakei, which they had observed in higher numbers in the healthy controls. And those animals that were inoculated with that nasal probiotic didn’t develop sinusitis or anything the other animals that were not inoculated with that. That really actually speaks to probiotics in both maintaining and then restoring a healthy microbiome as being a more effective strategy than using antibiotics or antimicrobials to try to get rid of pathogens.
Dr. Fishman: Right. When you mention those two things, there were two interesting things that come to mind. The first one, just to let you know that there was a paper that came out in Nature in 2016 which said exactly the same thing. They were looking at Sjӧgren’s disease—for your listeners, it’s one of the most severe forms of dry eye disease and other dry parts of your body. They found the exact same finding, that people with the severity of Sjӧgren’s disease was inversely correlated with microbial diversity in your gut.
Chris Kresser: Wow.
Dr. Fishman: And with just as clear as day. It was just super clear that this was the case. We know, and I know from my own clinical experiences, that people who have, do have, a much higher control level, people who do a better job in terms of their diet, people who are more precise about the food that they eat and so forth, do much better with dry eyes. Dry eye disease, for the longest time, we’ve been treating dry eye disease with omega-3s or any type of fatty acid, but any sort of derived can lead to that. What I always mention is that, is it actually the omega-3 acting directly in your eye, or is it basically an activation, a biological cascade, that then causes the improved function in the eye? I clearly believe that it is a cascade effect because there is no way that just a simple little fish oil capsule could have that much of an improvement in people with dry eye disease.
Chris Kresser: Right, right.
[Crosstalk]
Chris Kresser: Go ahead, please.
Dr. Fishman: Yes. I just have one other really interesting comment, which was one of the things that is interesting is that you talked about treating infections with basically displacing the bad bacteria with “good bacteria” and so forth, and that whole concept, which makes a lot of sense. One of the things that we’ve seen is that in eye disease, especially in ocular surgery, we routinely treat our patients basically from medicolegal reasons with antibiotics prior to surgery.
Chris Kresser: Right.
Dr. Fishman: It turns out that the studies are coming out that there’s no data whatsoever to support those claims.
Chris Kresser: Yes.
Dr. Fishman: Those are billions of dollars a year in an antibiotics that were sold by pharmaceutical companies to basically do nothing and maybe, who knows, but maybe actually not even improve outcomes, but maybe make outcomes worse by selecting for bacteria that if it does get into eye, it actually would be a much worse situation.
Chris Kresser: Right.
Dr. Fishman: That’s really interesting data that we have.
Chris Kresser: That happens, of course, not just in the world of the eye, ocular issues, but of course in the dental surgery, where patients will often come and say, “Oh, I’m about to get this dental surgery. My dentist is just prescribing antibiotics prophylactically.” Of course I’ve had the thought, “Well, okay, does this become a self-fulfilling prophecy?” Because we know that disruption of the oral microbiome with antibiotics can actually predispose you to an oral infection, and so by prophylactically prescribing an antibiotic is not really prophylaxis, or is that actually more likely to develop an infection? And as you said, not only have you reduced your body’s ability to fight the infection, if it does happen, by reducing the number of beneficial protective bacteria, you’ve also potentially contributed to creating a more resistant strain of pathogenic bacteria by killing the ones that were least … the types of pathogenic bacteria that were least robust and just leaving the ones that were more robust.
Dr. Fishman: Well, there is some evidence that suggests that may actually be the case. I mean, with eye surgery, we use povidone iodine before surgery. That is the gold standard and at least cuts down sort of universally all … it doesn’t select, do you know what I mean? You’re not selecting for bacteria. You’re basically wiping it out. Antibiotics, on the other hand, are probably selecting for it. That’s a good example where that period self-selecting bad bacteria really might be coming true. It’s very interesting where we’re going, especially with the eye, because there are still many “idiopathic” diseases and infections that really relate to the biome, not only of the eye, but also the gut being the cause of it.
Chris Kresser: Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll go to the dentist and you’ll get a dental probiotic instead of antibiotic for an infection. Maybe you’ll go to your ENT for an ear infection, and instead of putting antibiotic ear drops, they’ll put in probiotic ear drops. You’ll go the ophthalmologist and instead of getting antimicrobial treatment, you’ll get probiotic eye drops. Seems that’s not far-fetched at this point.
Dr. Fishman: Not at all. In fact, you might argue we’re already doing that through indirectly by using our gut as a way to … [crosstalk]
Chris Kresser: Right. To modulate.
Dr. Fishman: Correct.
Chris Kresser: Well, this has been really fascinating, Dr. Fishman. I’ve enjoyed talking with you, and I think the listeners are really going to get a lot out of this, and it’s hopeful. I feel hopeful to know that there are folks like you who are exploring these new frontiers and really kind of pushing the boundaries and questioning some of the most basic assumptions that we’ve made and finding a new path forward that could lead to better, safer treatments. Where can folks learn more about your work or if people are in the Bay Area? It sounds like you definitely are still seeing some patients. Tell us where people can learn more.
Dr. Fishman: Sure. Well, they can always find me on my website, which is www.fishmanvision.com, and they can get involved in my practice in multiple ways. I definitely see patients. Half the time I’m seeing patients, half the time I’m doing research.
[Crosstalk]
Chris Kresser: It looks like they can do some video consultation as well. Is that right?
Dr. Fishman: Yes. For people in California, I can do video consultations if they can’t make it to the office. Especially for dry eye disease, it’s very helpful.
Chris Kresser: Right, right. Great. Well, keep us posted on your research. We’d love to hear it, stay in touch, and have you back on the show at some point and just keep track of your work. These are really exciting developments.
Dr. Fishman: I really appreciate the opportunity, and I wanted to thank you because we’ve shared some patients, and their lives have actually changed because of the work that you’re doing with them, so thank you.
Chris Kresser: Fantastic. It’s my pleasure. Take care.
Dr. Fishman: Okay, thank you.
The post RHR: The Ocular Microbiome, with Dr. Harvey Fishman appeared first on Chris Kresser.
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I know firsthand it can often be a challenge to cook dinner for just two people. My husband and I have become experts at halving recipes or simply embracing leftovers, but to be completely honest, both can be a pain sometimes. What about a meal that perfectly serves two without leftovers for days? These 10 recipes are just that.
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There’s obviously lots to love about IKEA. The 79-cent dish towels! The IKEA Family program! All the fun groceries! Our list literally goes on and on. We do, however, also have a list of the things we do not love at IKEA. That list is a lot shorter, but we’re pretty firm on it.
Here are the three things Kitchn editors simply will not buy from IKEA. Take a look and then weigh in with your thoughts.
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I love meal planning. It is one of my favorite ways to feel prepared for each week and reduce my daily stress. But meal prep? The final step in meal planning where you chop veggies, make dressings, maybe even cook some meals? I’m really bad at it.
Finding time — even just a few hours — over the weekend to cook is probably as hard for you as it is for me. Lately, I’ve been relying on the freezer aisle to help me prep parts of our meal plans to save me time during the week. Here are a few of my favorite freezer staples that help me skip meal prepping on the weekends.
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
Meet Jaime.
Apologies in advance if her story makes you cry.
But don’t worry, it’s not the ugly crying from watching Inside Out or Toy Story 3. The inspiring kind of crying that makes you go “there’s hope for humanity yet!”
I met Jaime in person at one of our big events we’ve done in the past, Camp Nerd Fitness, and I remember two things specifically: she was very nice, and very shy 🙂
Little did I know that event would be the “radioactive spider” that bit Jaime and gave her permission to transform herself into a real life superhero.
I’m proud to say that Jaime is a member of our Nerd Fitness Academy (on sale 50% this week only here), but I guarantee this story is full of information you can start to implement TODAY.
STEVE: Jaime! Holy crap you have changed since we met in 2016! We’ll get to all the good stuff shortly, but I want to start by painting the picture of who you were before. Tell me your origin story!
JAIME: I have struggled with my weight my entire life.
I was an overweight kid, enough so I went with my mom to Weight Watchers when I was 10.
If I wasn’t trying to lose weight then I was gaining weight: I’d lose 50 – 80 lbs and then gain it all back.
My highest recorded weight was 330lbs.
I was pre-diabetic, on medication for high blood pressure, had pain in my hips, back and knees and was generally miserably unhappy.
STEVE: Thanks for sharing that with us: it’s amazing how childhood experiences can impact our lives for decades after. For you, it sounded like 3+ decades of struggle – what was a typical day like for you before you changed?
JAIME: I would hit snooze about a million times before getting up at 4:15am so that I could catch the bus into the city.
Usually my only exercise would be walking to and from the train station. I would visit the cafe across the street from my office and get a pretty large breakfast.
At work, anytime I would get up from my desk I would have pain in my hips. If I took the stairs to deliver anything to a coworker my knees would protest.
I was also living off Diet Mountain Dew.
For lunch I would go out to Moe’s Southwest Grill at least three days a week: a burrito bowl with extra meat and a bag of tortilla chips.
I would also snack at work, because they were everywhere: candy, chips or granola bars.
When I got home, I would eat dinner and then just sit on the sofa, playing on my iPad, or scrolling Facebook over and over. Then I’d sneak off to my room with some candy or ice cream.
I’d stay up way too late and then do the same thing the next day.
STEVE: We’re creatures of habit, and it sounds like you managed to find yourself stuck in an unhealthy, but comfortable rut. So what changed?
JAIME: I actually found Nerd Fitness back in 2012; I would read the emails, and I think I tried doing Paleo a few times, and it just didn’t stick for me.
(Steve’s note: it doesn’t stick for most people! Here’s why…)
I remember giving the free workouts a try but honestly at my size (330 lbs), just the warm-up was a workout. I’d be so sore that I would end up skipping the next workout and then give up.
I was still collecting underpants: gathering more and more information without taking action yet.
I eventually joined the NF Academy in January 2014, but didn’t do much with it for close to two years.
But I kept reading. And waiting.
And then I saw the announcement for Camp Nerd Fitness, an in-person long-weekend event taking place just up the road from where I lived! I wanted to go so badly but consistently talked myself out of it. I thought I was probably too big to go, and definitely not fit enough.
So I skipped the first two years, and finally, when it came to the 3rd Camp NF in 2016, I used 20 seconds of courage and signed up.
I knew that motivation was going to be high when I got back from Camp so I went and signed up for a gym membership, trainer and everything.
STEVE: So what happened at Camp NF, and what happened after?
JAIME: I really loved Camp NF.
I consider it the beginning of my transformation.
I spent the majority of my time in the mindset classes, which I knew I needed help with before I could fix my body. I tried yoga and BJJ, but was so sore and tired that I was passed out in my bunk before anyone else.
After returning from Camp, I set out to implement as many of the lessons I had learned.
To start, I got more involved in the private Academy Facebook group and the Camp Nerd Fitness group. I even started checking off some quests in the Academy!
As for my nutrition, I began by trying to eat the same healthy foods I enjoyed eating at camp: veggies, meat, fruit, and healthy carbs. I wasn’t tracking or logging anything to start, because I knew that would overwhelm me.
Next, I addressed my breakfast: I used to go to a little cafe across the street from my office and get breakfast, so I started swapping my old breakfast (eggs, bacon, a big pile of potatoes and a biscuit) for a lower calorie Veggie omelette. I eventually quit going all together and started packing my own breakfast and lunch and healthy snacks!
After I conquered and solidified those changes, I started logging my food so that I had a better grasp on how many calories I was consuming every day. I had logged in the past and always had success with it, and this time, it actually stuck.
As far as training after Camp, I used the Camp motivation to start working with a coach, twice a week. I ran into some issues when pushing myself TOO hard with weight training, so we backed things way off and switched to more of a bodyweight training approach. After that, I incorporated about 30 minutes of cardio on my off days.
STEVE: You told us about what life used to be like…What’s a typical day like for you NOW?
JAIME: I now get up at 3:30am without snoozing (thanks sunrise alarm clock!). I also make my bed to give me some momentum.
I’m at the gym by 4:30AM, which is great because there’s nobody there.
I then head to bus stop and head into work. I bring my breakfast, lunch, and snacks with me so I’m not tempted to buy unhealthy foods.
I’ll try to take a short walk during lunch, weather permitting.
After work, I don’t spend nearly as much time sitting on the couch. I make sure to repack my gym bag for the next day, which takes all of 5 minutes.
Before bed I’ll review how my day went, look at my schedule for the next day, and decide how I want to spend the little bits of free time: it’s usually either reading or studying.
For the most part I am happier. I feel more confident in certain situations. I’m off blood pressure meds, and I’m no longer prediabetic. No more pain in my hips when I get up from my desk…unless I killed my legs at the gym!
STEVE: I love this: building systems, packing your bag the day before, reviewing your day and planning the next one. This is a leveled-up life for sure!
I know you’ve been a moderately active member of our private online communities – it’s how I found out about your success! What do the NF Academy and Camp NF communities mean to you?
JAIME: I think the communities are worth the price of admission on their own, even if you don’t follow the workouts or fully utilize all the Academy has to offer.
They are some of the best places on Facebook.
I’m mostly a lurker, but I’ve always considered both groups a safe place to go for advice and support.
There’s also a “100+ lbs to lose” Academy subgroup which has become very active recently – I’m trying to keep the positive momentum with a July challenge.
STEVE: Thank you for stepping up and leading that charge, Jaime. It’s really great to see and we are lucky to have you in the Rebellion!
Okay, so it’s Outsiders Month here at Nerd Fitness – what sort of things are you doing now that you never would have done in the past?
JAIME: In February 2017, I signed up for a Spartan Race in DC on September 9th with a bunch of other NF Rebels I had met at Camp and in the Academy (including NF’s lead trainer, Jim Bathurst).
I made the mistake of signing up first and watching YouTube videos after – I was scared but I’m so glad I signed up.
To prepare for that race, I also signed up for the Triple Peach, which is the Peachtree Road race (10K), PNC 10 Miler, and The Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon:
I was able to do each of those races and by the time the Spartan rolled around I was down 120lbs. The Spartan Race was so much fun!!! I was crazy nervous but once I got myself over that first wall, it was on! I did so many things that I never thought I would be able to do.
As far as other activities I’m now able to do…
I can hang from my arms, no pull-ups yet but I’m working on it. I went rafting in a two man kayak, I tried indoor rock climbing, and I was able to easily fit in all the rides at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter…so magical 🙂
STEVE You’ve changed dramatically. I also know this is a lifelong journey, and old mindsets are really tough to overcome. What do you still struggle with?
JAIME: I struggle with letting myself be “done” with losing weight. The excess skin left over from being heavy for so long distorts how I see myself sometimes. It makes me feel “fat” and that voice in my head tells me that maybe I should lose a little more.
I know this is just my mind playing tricks, so I don’t listen to it.
Thanks to the Nerd Fitness article on meditation, I’ve been working on meditation and my mindset since December 2016. Thanks Headspace! The biggest difference is that I feel that much of the internal struggle I used to have with myself over food is gone.
I used to get to a point in every previous weight loss attempt where I just couldn’t fight with myself anymore and that is when the backsliding would start. Now, if a craving pops up it isn’t something that I feel I have to immediately act on, I have some space to make a decision.
The unexpected struggle: who am I as this new, fit, healthy person? I’m 40 and at a healthy weight for the first time in my life. The world treats me differently and I’m trying to learn how to be. I find that I’m still trying to act invisible, head down, no eye contact.
There is also a good bit of fear of gaining it all back. I did start Therapy in February and I do feel more comfortable in my new skin. There is less fear because I know I have the tools I need.
STEVE: Jaime, that’s incredible. Mental health is so important and I know this is a huge step for you, I’m really glad you’re taking the time to work on yourself that way too. So this is amazing.
So inquiring rebels want to know: what’s next for you?
JAIME: I recently got certified as a personal trainer! I haven’t done anything with it yet, but I just feel like I know enough to be dangerous. I just want to keep moving forward and get stronger.
I’m also getting more serious about my powerlifting. I had been squatting for a while but was getting more nervous the more weight I put on my back. I wanted to be sure my form was on point and I hadn’t really had any decent instruction on deadlifts, so I starting training with a powerlifting coach.
I’m about 9 months into it and I really enjoy it. So far my biggest moment was deadlifting 135lbs, which was my total weight loss. I didn’t realize how heavy that was until I was holding it in my hands.
I’m thinking about maybe trying out a powerlifting meet. I haven’t even said it out loud yet….
STEVE: Jaime, I have no doubt that some day in the future I’ll be seeing you share a photo from you at your first powerlifting meet, and maybe even one day hear that you’re training clients yourself!
I’m so proud of you, and I was giddy to be able to share this story with our community. Thank you!
I love Jaime’s story so much.
Here is a woman who has been struggling with her weight since she was a little kid, including trips to Weight Watchers with her mom at 10!
3 decades later, after gaining and losing the same 50-80 pounds over, and over, and over…something was different. Jaime is now a COMPLETELY different person, and I couldn’t be happier to have her be such a powerful and supportive member of our community.
I want to draw attention to 6 things specifically that I think are the reasons why this attempt to transform succeeded where every previous attempt had failed:
#1 JAIME KEPT TAKING BABY STEPS
As I heard more of Jaime’s story, I noticed pattern that became more and more prevalent.
She keeps taking very small steps in the right direction.
And it might have been weeks, months, or years between steps…but they are all steps, nonetheless.
She also used 20 Seconds of Courage (a rallying cry for us Rebels) at key moments when she was afraid to try something.
Jaime started reading Nerd Fitness in 2012. She then continued to read the articles but struggled to take action for two years. That’s okay!
She joined the NF Academy in 2014. She started reading the content, she joined the community, and still didn’t go all in for another two years. That’s okay!
In 2016, she decided to attend Camp Nerd Fitness, where she took more baby steps, working on her mindset and trying a few activities that didn’t scare her.
After Camp NF, she took another baby step: making slightly healthier food choices without thinking about anything else.
When it came to her breakfast, she made baby steps there too: from unhealthy paid breakfast, to slightly healthier option, and then she started bringing her own food.
After she built that momentum, she started logging her food and educating herself further.
She slowly leveled up her workouts, and signed up for increasingly challenging races that allowed her to build confidence:
So in each instance, Jaime mustered up just 20 seconds of courage to sign up for something before she could talk herself out of it!
I have no doubt that within the next few years, I’ll be hearing from Jaime about her coaching clients and how much fun she had at her first powerlifting meet – all because she keeps taking baby steps towards her new goals!
#2: JAIME USED MOTIVATION TO BUILD MOMENTUM
Most people watch an inspiring video, attend a conference, read a book, or listen to a podcast and get all excited about changing their lives, saying “Things are going to be different now!”
So they start exercising, or running every day, or working on a project that’s important to them. And this sticks for a few weeks until life gets busy, and they realize that they have slipped back into old habits and are back at square one.
I call this “The Afterglow”: an increased period of motivation after a life-event where somebody is inspired to change. This afterglow eventually burns out as life returns to normal.
Jaime instead focused on “The Everglow:” she put her efforts into making her changes PERMANENT. By using this period of increased motivation to build systems and habits, she made sure that her progress and momentum became routine.
In other words, the fire that burned after camp is still burning today.
As we know here at Nerd Fitness, motivation is fickle and abandons us when we need it most.
So Jaime built systems and discipline and didn’t rely on motivation:
By using this period of increased motivation to put safeguards, systems, and processes into her life, Jaime minimized the hurdles between her and continuing to build momentum through action.
She removed friction that allowed her to build momentum.
Additionally, she ADDED friction between her and the things she wanted to avoid: she started bringing her food from home so she wouldn’t be tempted to eat unhealthy food.
#3: JAIME INVESTED IN HERSELF
Simply put, you value what you put your hard-earned money in, and value much less what you get for free.
I don’t just mean financially either; how you choose to invest your time, and how you choose to invest your attention will tell me a lot about you.
Jaime recognized that by making financial investments into certain activities, she was much more likely to do them:
Jaime has chosen to spend her disposable income not on more games or material goods, but rather on things that bring her joy and that reward her back.
I also understand that Jaime might have more disposable income than many reading this email, so I’d also point out that Jaime made an investment that didn’t cost any money.
Instead of wasting her most valuable resource (her attention) on scrolling incessantly through Facebook or playing games on her iPad, she instead invested that resource into improving her life: reading books or studying to improve herself.
What you choose to spend your time and money on shows me what you choose to prioritize in your life. Jaime used to prioritize eating unhealthy food, sleeping in, and mindless wasting time on her ipad.
She now spends that time on bettering herself, supporting other people who want to lose weight, and working towards becoming a trainer herself!
#4: JAIME PUT HER FOCUS ON HABITS
We are creatures of habit, and we are products of our environment.
After decades of gaining and losing the same 50-80 lbs, Jaime recognized a universal truth:
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
In other words, if you want to succeed differently, you need to TRY differently!
So Jaime changed her approach this time around: instead of focusing on the number on the scale or how quickly she could reach her weight loss goal (a strategy that had failed her a dozen times in the past), she forgot all of that and instead focused on habits.
In other words, she knew that if she could structure her daily routine the right way, her weight would take care of itself! It’s important to think in terms of “days and years,” not “weeks and months”:
So that’s what she did. She went from letting her routine determine her life, and instead started actively building a routine that worked for her.
Jaime picked small habits at one time and fixed them like a car mechanic restoring an old vehicle:
I asked Jaime specifically which habits were crucial to her.
Habits that got Jaime here:
#5: JAIME SURROUNDED HERSELF WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
The journey to a healthier life can be a lonely one.
This is especially if you are surrounded by people who aren’t trying to better themselves, and don’t care about your successes or struggles.
Jaime had been struggling for decades to lose weight before she found a community that spoke her language and helped her succeed in a way that she understood.
I’m proud to say that Nerd Fitness was that community for Jaime, and I’m thankful she’s chosen to pay that favor forward by being an active member and helping people who are where she used to be.
In addition to joining our online communities, Jaime also joined a running club in her community, she attended a Spartan Race in another state with rebels she met at Camp Nerd Fitness, and has trainers and people at her gym that she sees regularly.
If you’re afraid of trying something new, recruiting allies or a wingman/wingwoman is the best way to muster up the courage to go!
So if you are on a fitness journey, make it a multiplayer game! You don’t have to do this alone, and you are more likely to succeed when you surround yourself with people that pick you up rather than pull you back down.
You’re the average of the 5 people you associate most with. Think about your friends, family, and coworkers: are they actively helping you to be better, and vice versa?
Think of it like the Avengers or Justice League: a super group of people that are going to make your superpowers shine.
Here’s how Jaime transformed herself into an actual superhero and became an inspiration to an entire community:
This should get you started:
I want success for you in the way that Jaime found it: with a supportive community at her side.
I want to get an email from you a year from now saying that THIS article was the ‘radioactive spider’ that gave you permission to be different and start changing your life.
After all, you’re under no obligation to be who you were before you read this article. Start to put these words into practice, and your body will start to transform and look the way you feel on the inside.
If you’re in a position to make an investment in yourself, we’d love to have you in the Nerd Fitness Academy, which has helped 50,000 people like Jaime transform.
It has 7 levels of workouts, 10 levels of nutrition, boss battles, quests, and you can actually level up your character as you level up in real life!
We even have a separate subgroup for people that need to lose more than 100 pounds, and Jaime has emerged as a supportive leader of that community.
Thanks for reading this success story, and I can’t wait to hear yours a year (or 5 years!) from now. We’ll still be here, and I can’t wait to share it.
Feel free to leave any questions for Jaime or words of encouragement in the comments below!
Go nerds!
-Steve
PS: Although our Academy is a Do-It-Yourself self-paced course, we know some people want more specific instruction or need more accountability.
Jaime is a member of our Academy but has also been working with a trainer for these exact reasons!
If you’re somebody that wants somebody to check your form, teach you how to exercise correctly, build a workout program that fits YOUR busy schedule, and even helps you make better food choices, we have a really popular Online Coaching Program!
You can schedule a free call with our team on the NF Coaching page to see if we’re a good fit for each other!
PPS: I’m sure we’ll get a million questions about this: we aren’t quite sure yet when we’ll do our next Camp NF or Nerd Fitness event, but we are definitely aware of how powerful this community is when we can all gather in real life.
When we can get back to doing events, we’ll let you know!
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http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Whether it’s a sweet mountainside chateau or a cool urban apartment, the French are less about space than they are about style. And their kitchens reflect that — usually more minimal and on the smaller side, with just the right equipment to execute a simple, delicious meal. So we decided to take a virtual stroll through some French Airbnbs in hopes of finding some smart organizing ideas that’ll make our own kitchens très chic.
Here are the 10 lessons we took away.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
I have a keen eye for slow cooker meals that satisfy in every season, and for summer, corn chowder is my go-to. You’ll find me cozied up on the couch with a creamy bowl of sweet corn chowder, watching the lightning strike as the afternoon storms come rolling in.
To me, an easy summer dinner is one that requires minimal prep, doesn’t heat up the house, and is ready when I am. This corn chowder, complete with a bright and lemon-y bell pepper and corn relish, checks all those boxes.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
Book your class NOW!
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