Believe Big > Nutrition Therapy

Improving Gut Health: Small Dietary Changes Can Make a Big Impact

April 6, 2023 Blog, Nutrition Therapy, Podcast Comments Off on Improving Gut Health: Small Dietary Changes Can Make a Big Impact

Believe Big’s latest podcast episode features Dawn Swann, a certified integrative health coach, who discusses the importance of gut health in preventing cancer. Swann shares her personal journey of healing her gut and provides tips on making simple changes in diet to improve overall health. The podcast highlights how the key to optimal health is a process of continual learning and small steps.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the conversation:

  1. Dark chocolate can be beneficial for emotional health, as long as it’s low in sugar and made with a clean sweetener like coconut sugar or coconut oil. Nuts with a higher fat content, like walnuts and macadamia nuts, can also help with emotional health.
  2. Many people have misconceptions about what it means to eat healthy. It’s important to educate ourselves about the hidden sugars and other additives in processed foods and supplements.
  3. Having an integrative practitioner or health coach can be helpful in figuring out what foods are best for your individual body chemistry.
  4. It’s important to be aware of the glycemic index of fruits and to pair them with other foods appropriately.
  5. Eliminating or reducing starch and sugar in your diet can help prevent health issues like insulin resistance, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

Listen to the full episode here:

According to Swann, over 70% of our immune system is found in our gut, making gut health crucial for our overall well-being. The food we consume has a direct impact on our gut health, and a poor diet can lead to various health problems. She suggests that one should change their attitude towards food and focus on feeling better rather than just counting calories.

Swann recommends making small changes in the diet that will have a significant impact on gut health. One way to achieve this is by focusing on whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, as they are rich in fiber and other essential nutrients. Another way to improve gut health is by reducing the intake of processed foods, sugar, and unhealthy fats. These foods are known to cause inflammation in the gut, leading to various health problems, including cancer. Swann recommends replacing processed foods with nutrient-dense options such as nuts, seeds, and lean protein.

In addition to dietary changes, Swann suggests that we should focus on improving our sleep patterns. Good sleep is essential for the body to heal and repair itself, and lack of sleep can lead to various health problems, including a weakened immune system. Swann recommends practicing good sleep hygiene, such as avoiding electronic devices before bedtime, keeping a regular sleep schedule, and creating a relaxing sleep environment.

Lastly, Swann emphasizes the importance of increasing knowledge about nutrition to achieve optimal health. She suggests that we should learn about the nutrients our bodies need and make informed choices about the foods we consume. This will not only improve our gut health but also improve our overall health and well-being.

In conclusion, improving gut health is crucial for our overall health, and small dietary changes can have a significant impact. By focusing on whole foods, reducing processed foods, improving sleep patterns, and increasing knowledge about nutrition, we can achieve optimal health and prevent cancer and other diseases. Incorporating these simple changes into our daily routine can lead to a healthier and happier life.

Connect with Dawn on her website:
http://dawnswann.com/

Suggested Resource Links:

RECIPE – Chocolate Almond Butter Yogurt Bark:

  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened yogurt
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond butter ( or nut butter of choice)
  • 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup ( can omit )
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips ( I use Hu or Lily’s)

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, then mix first 3 ingredients in a bowl. Spread yogurt mixture onto sheet pan.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave 20 second intervals to avoid burning or in a double boiler, then drizzle onto yogurt mixture and swirl with a knife.
Freeze for about 4 hours then break into bark and enjoy! Store in freezer.

Optional add ons:  shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds or berries.

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Bieler’s Vegetable Broth Recipe (For Detox & Cleansing)

October 4, 2022 Blog, Nutrition Therapy, Recipes Comments Off on Bieler’s Vegetable Broth Recipe (For Detox & Cleansing)

Our dear friend Dawn Swan recommended this healing vegetable broth recipe she often recommends to her clients, friends and family. Dawn is an integrative nutrition health coach.

What is Bieler’s Vegetable Broth?

Bieler’s broth was invented by a doctor named Henry Beiler as a medicinal soup to help promote healing and detoxification in the body. Dr. Bieler claimed that this soup would help restore the correct acid/alkaline balance in the body. He speculated that it also helped balance the sodium/potassium levels in the body.

Benefits of Bieler’s Vegetable Broth

The benefits of this vegetable broth are in its nourishing qualities and not its taste. This broth is used in many cleanses and detox protocols. Cancer patients often use it for an easy source of nourishment that is easy on the stomach. You can also use it to calm down allergies (see tips for an add-ins below).

I also turn to this recipe during illness. The high vitamin C and K content make it great for supporting the immune system.

This Broth Traditionally Contains

  • Zucchini – A natural source of potassium and sodium, vitamin C, and vitamin B6
  • String beans – Also a good source of sodium and potassium, as well as chromium, phosphorus, and choline
  • Celery – Excellent source of vitamin K, potassium, folate, and pantothenic acid (B vitamins)
  • Parsley – A multivitamin in a single plant! Parsley is a great source of vitamin K, vitamin C, antioxidants, and beneficial volatile oils. It is said to be cleansing and nourishing to the body.

The true “Bieler’s Broth” recipe contains only the ingredients above and it is wonderful just like that. When allergies hit, you can a few extra ingredients to help calm them down. These are all optional but add flavor and additional nutrients.

  • Nettle – A natural remedy for allergies. Add a few leaves of wild harvested nettle to this broth. It is easy to find during the warmer months. You can also harvest and freeze some for winter months.
  • Dandelion – Known as a liver cleansing herb. Dandelion greens seem to help allergies and are great for the skin. Harvest these from your yard too and freeze some in ice cube trays for winter months.
  • Garlic – Adds great flavor, but also benefits the body in many ways.

How to Make Bieler’s Vegetable Broth

This broth is quick and easy to make. Gather the ingredients above and you can make it in under half an hour. Here’s how:

 

INGREDIENTS

1x2x3x

  • 4cups water
  • 3medium zucchinis (roughly chopped)
  • 4stalks celery (roughly chopped)
  • 1 string beans
  • 1bunch parsley (stems removed)
  • ¼cup nettle leaf (optional)
  • ¼cup dandelion greens (optional)
  • 1-2cloves garlic (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Place water, celery, zucchini, string beans, and nettle, dandelion, and garlic if using in a large pot and bring to a boil.
  2. Boil for about 10 minutes or until all vegetables are bright green and tender.
  3. Remove from heat and add parsley.
  4. Use an immersion blender or food processor to blend until smooth. A Believe Big favorite is the Vitamix blender.

NOTES

For a more nourishing and filling soup, use broth instead of water. Feel free to add any desired spices, though for illness and allergies, I find that the bland and basic soup seems most calming.

NUTRITION

Serving: 1.5 cupsCalories: 56kcalCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 3.6gFat: 0.5gSaturated Fat: 0.1gSodium: 43mgFiber: 5.1gSugar: 3.6g

 

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Alcohol and Your Health

May 25, 2022 Nutrition Therapy, Webinar Comments Off on Alcohol and Your Health

Alcohol can be a touchy subject for folks, even more so than sugar for some.  Check in with yourself on how this topic resonates for you – how difficult is it to think about reducing or eliminating alcohol for the benefit of your health right now?  Hopefully, it’s not a difficult choice but I want to honor and make space for the fact that it can be for some.  If you feel like this topic hits a nerve for you, consider listening to the Chris Beat Cancer podcast interview with Annie Grace back in Jan 2020. It’s a raw & very honest conversation about alcohol and the role it plays in your life.

 

So what’s all the fuss about alcohol and cancer risk?  Let’s unpack this topic by

  • Statistics/facts about alcohol & disease
  • understanding how the body processes alcohol
  • Understanding alcohol’s effects on the body
  • Looking at how alcohol causes cancer
  • How alcohol depletes essential nutrients & impairs absorption of others
  • How alcohol damages the microbiome — Alcohol & Gut inflammation 2017

It has been estimated that approximately 2 billion people worldwide drink alcohol on a daily basis, with more than 70 million people having a diagnosed alcohol use disorder (World Health Organization 2004). GI Microbiome 2015

Alcohol damages nearly every organ in the human body and is responsible for causing more than 60 different diseases.  Alcohol consumption is responsible for 5% of all death annually, but of those, 13% are due to cancer.  For obvious reasons, alcohol is causally linked to cancers of the digestive tract — all the way from mouth to rectum — as well as liver cancer and breast cancer in women.

The risk of these cancers is increased even in people who have only one alcoholic drink per day. (Essay – Lazaro).

Light alcohol drinking (up to one drink per day) increases the risk of cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus and breast, but not of the liver, larynx, colon and rectum.

Click here to listen to our latest webinar where we cover all the information above.

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Strawberry-Balsamic Arugula Salad

August 10, 2021 Nutrition Therapy, Uncategorized Comments Off on Strawberry-Balsamic Arugula Salad

Strawberry-Balsamic Arugula Salad

•2 cups baby arugula, organic
•½ cup shredded cooked chicken breast, organic
•½ cup fresh strawberries, sliced, organic
•½ cup chopped Granny Smith apple, organic
•2 tablespoons light balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
•2 tablespoons toasted walnut pieces
•Half Avocado

In a medium bowl combine arugula, chicken, strawberries and apple. Drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle with walnuts and top with Avocado.

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7 Health Benefits of Antioxidant-Rich Tart Cherries

May 24, 2019 Nutrition Therapy, Uncategorized Comments Off on 7 Health Benefits of Antioxidant-Rich Tart Cherries

The Montmorency cherry (or tart cherry) is the most popular sour cherry in the United States and Canada, and is extensively used in cherry pies, jams, preserves and as a juice, among other uses. Montmorency cherries are less sweet than regular cherries, but they have better health benefits than sweet varieties like Marasca cherries.

While both cherries have a variety of phytochemicals contributing both color and antioxidant activity to the fruit, tart cherries contain more. For instance, both sweet and tart cherries are a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. Tart cherries also contain vitamin A. Here are some of the properties of these tart cherries.

  1. Strong antioxidants: Montmorency cherries’ anthocyanins and other antioxidant compounds provide the consumer with up to 5000 – 8000 ORAC units per one-ounce serving, depending on the concentration. ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities in food, and 5000 – 8000 ORAC units equals the entire day’s recommendation of antioxidants for an average adult.
  2. Pain relief: The antioxidants in Montmorency cherries may help ease the pain of arthritis and osteoarthritis. In fact, anthocyanins specifically have been compared to ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen for their anti-inflammatory properties. They may also reduce the uric acid and the pain related to gout.
  3. Post-exercise recovery: Recent studies have shown that Montmorency cherry consumption effectively reduces inflammation, muscle damage, and muscle soreness following bouts of exercise. It also accelerates exercise recovery.
  4. Improved sleep: Tart cherries are a natural source of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle. Tart cherry juice may also increase the availability of tryptophan, an essential amino acid and a precursor to serotonin, which helps with sleep. According to studies, consuming tart cherry juice twice a day for two weeks helps increase sleep time by about 84 minutes among older adults with insomnia compared to the placebo. Their sleep tended to be more restful, too.

The following are potential benefits of tart cherries that need further support outside of the laboratory.

  1. On cardiovascular disease risk: Tart cherries may reduce cardiovascular disease risk due to its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Animal studies have shown a reduction in unhealthy triglyceride levels, but more research in humans is needed. 
  2. Possible anti-cancer properties: The antioxidant compounds found in tart cherries have been shown to reduce cancer growth and proliferation in cell cultures in laboratory studies. This has been demonstrated in human colon cancer cell lines, but more research is needed to establish effectiveness in humans outside of the lab.  
  3. On diabetes: Studies in animals have shown that cherries lower body weight and abdominal fat, which is the type of fat linked with increased heart disease risk, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. For now, we are waiting for the outcomes in human studies.


    Cherries are a seasonal product, available in June and July, but in order to get all the benefits from tart cherries year round, you can purchase cherry juice and dried cherries, which have similar properties to fresh cherries. When purchasing tart cherry juice, aim for 100% juice and avoid juice from concentrate. Frozen cherries’ antioxidant content is somewhat lower than that of fresh cherries; canned cherries’ antioxidant content is lower still, but remains significant.

SOURCE: https://ackermancancercenter.com/blog/7-health-benefits-of-antioxidant-rich-tart-cherries

The recipe of the week is a delicious way to get your daily quota of antioxidants by the end of breakfast. Enjoy!

Cherry Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Montmorency tart cherries
  • 1/2 cup Montmorency tart cherry juice (100% juice)
  • 1 cup fresh or partially frozen strawberries
  • 3 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate
  • 1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt (or vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt)
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • Ground nutmeg, to taste

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients, except nutmeg, in a blender and whip until smooth.
  2. Pour into glasses and sprinkle with nutmeg.
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Learn More About Natural Medicine!

September 16, 2017 Nutrition Therapy Comments Off on Learn More About Natural Medicine!

A Step-By-Step Approach to Healing & Preventing Cancer

 

Chris Wark’s Square One Healing Cancer Coaching Program is a wonderful resource! The course is inspiring, incredibly well put together, and covers everything you need to know about choosing a natural healing path to battle cancer. The modules are educational and full of hope!

 

 

The first Coaching Module goes went LIVE on September 12th!
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Try this Healthy Citrus Green Smoothie!

August 1, 2017 Nutrition Therapy Comments Off on Try this Healthy Citrus Green Smoothie!

Looking for a new addition to your smoothie recipe collection?

Citrus Green Smoothie

Yields 4 cups

  • 1 peeled lemon

  • 1 peeled orange

  • 3 cups dino kale/rainbow chard

  • 1 frozen banana

  • 2 cups water

  • Pinch of Stevia

  • Half a cucumber

  • Handful of cilantro

  • Chunk of peeled ginger

Blend and enjoy!

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Apple “Cookies”, A Healthy Seasonal Treat

November 3, 2016 Nutrition Therapy Comments Off on Apple “Cookies”, A Healthy Seasonal Treat
These seasonal treats are a great snack for healthy, delicious eating! Try them with your favorite apples for tasty variations.
Ingredients: 
Crisp apples
Organic, all natural nut-butter of your choice
Raisins
Shredded coconut
Dark chocolate pieces
Directions:
1) Cut the apples into thin slices
2) Smear nut-butter onto each apple slice
3) Sprinkle with raisins, coconut shreds, and dark chocolate, and enjoy!
*Recipe adapted from Fit2Order Maryland 

Learn more about nutritional therapy: www.believebig.org/nutrition-therapy/

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Integrative Medicine Meeting in Germany

October 31, 2016 Mistletoe Clinical Trial, Nutrition Therapy Comments Off on Integrative Medicine Meeting in Germany

In September we had the opportunity to travel to Stuttgart, Germany to attend the Integrated Medicine Meeting. The Integrated Medicine Meeting was a gathering of over 250 professionals hosted at the headquarters of Helixor, a producer of Mistletoe. Our team met with experts in the fields of integrated medicine from all over the world to learn of new research and case studies in oncology. We toured the Helixor mistletoe extract production facility and learned how the plant is harvested, stored, and how the extract obtained from the plant. Our team toured the Helixor arboretum and learned about each specific species of mistletoe and the growth and maturation process. We also participated in a poster session and presented on the upcoming Mistletoe Clinical Trial at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

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Thank You Friends!!

October 13, 2016 Fundraiser, Mistletoe Clinical Trial, Nutrition Therapy Comments Off on Thank You Friends!!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for coming to our first Cook & Kiss Cancer Goodbye Fundraiser!  Because of you, we raised $20,000 and nearly met our goal of $25,000!  We are so very grateful for your support!  We work with patients each day that depend on the financial assistance we offer and the support of our patient advocates and staff.

The night of the cooking class we received this email and wanted to share it with you.

“From the bottom of our hearts, my husband and I would like to thank you for your graciousness and guidance toward the Namaste Health Center. As I wind down my last week here (and although very tired but satisfied and grateful) I realize how very different my life would be had I not found Believe Big and this path. God is so good and I’ve learned a lot about healing in many areas. Thank you so much for the grant you have given us. Your work is blessed and we will continue to pray for Believe Big’s endeavors moving forward.”

As Jimmy shared, generous donors like you enable Believe Big to do BIG things!  Currently, we are very low on wellness grant funds and we are $68,000 away from fully funding the mistletoe clinical trial with the Johns Hopkins Hospital that is due to begin THIS December!  Both of these are critical needs for us to continue to provide hope, help, and healing to patients and their families.

We are standing at a ground breaking moment in the medical world and it’s exciting to see this all beginning in Baltimore.  As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, please keep Believe Big in mind for your end of year giving!

Believing Big!
Ivelisse

PS- If you would like to view all photos from the evening please check out our photo album HERE.

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