Top Selling Supplements and Important Considerations When Choosing Posted on November 30, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Top Selling Supplements and Important Considerations When Choosing As with anything else, usually quality varies widely. With supplements it is essential to know the details for each. There are many versions of some nutrients. Some versions cannot be absorbed well by the body and a few may actually have detrimental effects to certain individuals or populations. Continue reading →
Understanding the role of cholesterol in children’s health: essential yet still misunderstood. Posted on November 29, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Understanding the role of cholesterol in children’s health: essential yet still misunderstood. Most adults are still guided by the past 50 years of misinformation with respect to the role of cholesterol in human health. The notion that this waxy substance is purely atherogenic and is responsible for most cardiovascular diseases, persists. Cholesterol is essential for both adult and children’s health. The human body is well equipped to manufacture enough for its needs. While no dietary supplementation is required, there is also little efficacy to those efforts to lower it. Letting the body synthesize what it can and not suppressing the process appears to be the safest, healthiest approach across all ages. Continue reading →
Crohn’s Disease, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), and Enteral Nutrition: Liquid Hope is the best of both worlds. Posted on November 14, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Crohn’s Disease, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), and Enteral Nutrition: Liquid Hope is the best of both worlds. The past 3 years have seen numerous research investigations come to the same conclusions: Crohn’s disease is a function of both an individual’s diet and their microbiota. Many individuals suffer severe flare-ups with exposure to long chained carbohydrates from specific starches and grains that survive upper GI digestion and end up feeding the wrong bacteria in the mid to lower GI. There is an increasingly popular approach to mitigating these conditions with strict enteral nutrition therapy (1). Continue reading →
Major International PURE Study Reveals Major Risk Factor: A high carbohydrate diet is associated with increased all-cause mortality. Posted on November 9, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Major International PURE Study Reveals Major Risk Factor: A high carbohydrate diet is associated with increased all-cause mortality. With what is possibly the largest macronutrient-disease association study ever conducted, researchers discovered that the more dietary fat populations consumed, the better. Over 135,000 participants from 18 different countries on 5 different continents were followed for 10 years. This prospective follow-up study investigated how carbohydrate, fat, and protein levels influenced all cause mortality as well as risk for a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Continue reading →
Living with ALS – Jay Smith Posted on November 3, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Living with ALS – Jay Smith When I was diagnosed with ALS at the age of thirty-six, I was told that I would have less than two years to live. With no treatment or a cure, the disease robs you of all your physical abilities until you can no longer breath. Well that was three years ago. I’m happy to report that while I can no longer walk, talk, move my arms, or eat, I still live an active and productive life thanks to technology, mindfulness, and nutrition. If you plan to live with this disease, you will inevitably lose the ability to eat and forced with the decision to either get a feeding tube or starve. When it came time for me to get a feeding tube the one thing that had me worried was the “food” that would enter my body. The doctor explained the procedure and talked about the formula that would be my sole source of nutrients. I’ve always been into healthy eating so the thought of eating basically a can of corn syrup with a multivitamin blended in didn’t sit well with me. We were told that we could blend our own meals but in raising two young kids with a wife that works full time, that didn’t seem realistic. Since I could no longer safely eat, I had the procedure and started my new formula diet. It didn’t take long to realize that the formula diet didn’t sit well with my body. It left me feeling lethargic, bloated, and stopped up. That is how I discovered Liquid Hope. This month marks my one-year anniversary of my Liquid Hope diet and I have been able to maintain my pre-diagnosis weight, stay active and healthy, and continue to live productively despite my physical limitations. I also haven’t been so regular in my entire life. That last bit might not be the most glamorous sentence I’ve ever written but I know my grandmother would have been envious. I don’t need prune juice, laxatives, or some crazy homemade concoction to maintain the status quo. There are a lot of things to worry about with this disease and I’m thankful my nutrition isn’t one of them. Sure, I look forward to the day that ALS is treatable and I’ll be able to wash down an entire plate of nachos with an ice cold beer. Until then, I’ll keep on living with this “terminal” illness through positivity, surrounded by love, and with healthy living. ~ Jay Smith