Core strength vs. Gut health

Core strengthening vs. gut health

Many people embark on new years resolutions to reduce belly fat and tone up those abs with core strengthening exercises, crunches, sit up etc. This is misguided. The best way to reduce and shrink your belly is to reduce the inflammation in your gut, digestive system, stomach and intestines. The digestive system will swell when there is inflammation brought on by inflammatory foods. So if you want to do exercises, that’s great but your gut won’t shrink until you have reduced inflammation in your gut.

You need to eliminate the seven deadly sins of inflammation for at least 8 weeks just to see what is causing you problems. The 7 deadly sins are: wheat (gluten), dairy, sugar, tree nuts, corn, soy and alcohol. Some people even stay away from eggs, big predator fish like tuna and salmon and shell fish, especially if you eat them all of the time. This also assumes you are not eating any junk or processed foods.

This is called an elimination diet. You do it for 8 weeks, slowly introduce one food at a time after ward. Add back in one ingredient a week and see which one upsets your stomach or gives you bad symptoms.

We recommend that you completely stay away from wheat, dairy, sugar and alcohol if you want to reduce belly fat and keep inflammation to a minimum in your body. Do this long enough to lose the belly fat and you will see a host of other symptoms resolve and fade away like allergies and asthma, pain and eczema and yes excess weight.

So what do you eat? Meat and vegies and a little fruit for the meat eaters and for the vegetarians, whole grains like rice, quinoa and beans and vegetables and a few fruits. Doing these style diets will resolve many health issues. The typical American diet is filled with chemicals pesticides, herbicides and food additives. Sooner or later this inflames the gut. The gut is the source of many neuro-transmitters. These cells help determine our moods. Our brain function and our moods are greatly affected by our gut health. So you might feel better emotionally too

So if you want rock hard abs, to lose weigh or just to feel better emotionally consider an elimination diet! You will be glad you did. Call our office for help and guidance with food allergy testing and elimination diet guidance!