Today's Nutrition

Today I want to talk about something I suffered with and recovered from so I am intimately familiar with this topic that I used natural means to reverse 50 years ago when I was facing a hysterectomy. PCOS now renamed PMOS.  But underneath the topic, I want to stress that science is never done, we must continue to improve and discard the outdated and less satisfactory ways of dealing with disease.

Akkermansia muciniphila.

I know, That’s quite a name. I want to start by saying this is not another miracle probiotic story. I don’t believe there is one food, one supplement or one bacterium that suddenly fixes our health. But Akkermansia is fascinating because it gives us another glimpse into just how connected the gut is to the rest of the body—and particularly to our metabolic health.

Today, we're talking about something I hear all the time:

“I'm eating better. I'm exercising. I'm trying to lose weight. But this belly fat just will not go away.”

And maybe you've been told, “It's your cortisol.”

Well, today I want to unpack that because there's truth there—but there's also a lot of misinformation.

We have been told that losing weight is simply a matter of calories in and calories out. Eat less. Exercise more. Have more willpower. And certainly, calories matter. We cannot completely ignore the laws of energy balance. But after working in nutrition for 50 years, I can tell you that the human body is much more complicated than a calorie calculator.

Your body is a living, breathing, adapting biological system. And the question isn't simply, “How many calories did I eat today?” We need to ask: What kind of food did those calories come from? What did that food do to my hunger? What did it do to my blood sugar and insulin? Did it nourish my muscles? Did it leave me satisfied—or searching the cupboard two hours later or wanting to finish the meal with something sweet?

Kids are back in school. We’re spending more time indoors. Somebody at work starts coughing, a grandchild comes home with a runny nose, and pretty soon it seems like everybody in the family has something.

But here’s a question I find fascinating.

Why can two people be exposed to exactly the same virus, and one gets sick while the other one doesn’t?

Obviously, there are lots of variables involved. But I think we spend so much time talking about the germ that we sometimes forget about the host.

In other words, what condition is your immune system in when that germ shows up?

Today I want to talk about something that I think could completely change the way you look at your health. Things that helped me reverse my own metabolic disease     50 years ago,

You know, I love the book Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means, and I love the basic premise of it because it reinforces something I have believed, experienced for myself and my clients and taught for many years: many of the diseases we think of as completely separate problems may actually have some of the same underlying metabolic roots.

Turn the package around.

Forget the beautiful picture on the front.

Forget “natural.”

Forget “high protein.”

Forget “keto friendly.”

Forget “made with whole grains.” Or gluten free or organic, or whatever

Forget the little green leaves they put on the package to make you think something wonderful just came out of somebody's garden!

Turn it around and look at what's actually in it.

Because today we're talking about ultra-processed foods, food additives and something called GRAS—Generally Recognized As Safe.

Longevity.

Everybody wants to know how to live to 100. What should I eat? What supplement should I take? Should I fast? Should I take NAD? Should I sit in a sauna, jump into an ice bath, wear a continuous glucose monitor and track every minute of my sleep?

But I think we're starting with the wrong question.

Where did this belly come from?”

Maybe you're 48, 55 or 65, and suddenly your body doesn't seem to be following the same rules anymore.

You're eating pretty much the way you've always eaten.

Maybe the number on the scale hasn't even changed that much.

But your pants don't fit.

Your waistline is disappearing.

And the weight that used to settle around your hips and thighs seems to have packed its bags and moved straight to your belly!

And inevitably I hear:

“I'm doing everything I used to do, and it isn't working anymore.”

There's a reason for that. Menopause belly isn't simply about calories.

Calories still matter, of course. But during the menopausal transition, we're dealing with changes in estrogen, muscle, insulin sensitivity, sleep and stress—all at the same time.

Now, if I had mentioned creatine 20 years ago, you probably would have pictured a young guy in the gym trying to build enormous biceps. But today we're having a very different conversation about creatine. The new conversation is about women and healthy aging. We're talking about preserving muscle as we age.

We're talking about menopause. We're talking about the brain. We're even talking about what happens to our brains when we don't get enough sleep.