If, like me, you shy away from food guidelines for various reasons, you may be surprised by what I present here. A group of academics have raised concerns about prominent international food guidelines and their relation to good published science. This is important because in the absence of transparent evidence-based health metrics, people can make poor decisions about sources of nutrient-dense food. Children and the elderly are especially at risk from food that lacks the most important vitamins and minerals

Understanding how our metabolism works is important because it explains why an outwardly healthy athlete following conventional dietary and medical advice (me) can still contract a serious chronic disease.

A review of Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health – and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More by Christopher M, Palmer, MD

The gut microbiome is a vital part of the human holobiont providing a virtuous cycle of health outcomes when we nourish it properly.  There is much still to be learned about how we can nourish our gut microbiota but we do know that each of us is different and we are likely to benefit from a range of carbohydrates from a range of sources.

Previously I wrote that “I now eat for my body and my gut microbiome”. Here I try to describe the microbiome and how it works. The composition of the human microbiome is unique to every one of us, but irrespective of this we each benefit from vital core beneficial functions. We must remember its need for nourishment because without our microbiome, we just wouldn’t exist.

It is well understood now that humans and all other animals and plants on earth have evolved alongside important symbiotic microorganisms, referred to as their microbiota. In this relationship, we act as the host upon and within which our microbiota live and work with us cooperatively.

After a routine medical examination in 2017, I was diagnosed with advanced heart disease. After a years-long investigation, I’ve concluded that I’d become malnourished and as a result was suffering from serious ill-health.