use food to support your busy lifestyle
We all know it’s better for us to maintain a healthy diet, eat vegetables and try our best to cut out the so-called junk foods. But how do you support this on a busy lifestyle? Whatever you may be juggling in life, one of the best ways to support your body is by fueling it with the right foods. When we get used to a diet of convenience, our body will lack the necessary nutrients it needs to keep up with our busy lifestyle. This leaves us run down, stressed, fatigued. The combination of constant stress and poor diet can leave us susceptible to a multitude of chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 Diabetes, autoimmunity and more. Anyone who says that a poor diet does not correlate which chronic health issues doesn’t understand the basics of human physiology. Our body is literally made up of the food we eat, and it plays a huge impact on the strength and health of our hormones, immune system, our heart health, and the way our body removes and eliminates toxins.
In nutritional therapy, blood sugar regulation, a properly functioning digestive system, and fatty acids are three of the foundational priorities that are usually addressed. These foundations play a HUGE role in the overall health of our bodies and if something is off, it can cause many unfavorable consequences. I’m going to explain how diet plays an impact on each of these, and why it’s so important that a busy person fuels their body with a properly prepared nutrient dense diet, and the consequences if they don’t.
Blood sugar, digestion and the Endocrine system
Blood Sugar
Blood sugar is so important to maintain, especially when you’re busy and on the go. One of the major reasons it’s important for endocrine health is due to the endocrine system being responsible for managing the organs that create our hormones. When living a busy lifestyle, it’s very easy to get used to the hustle and do everything on the go, not taking a minute to relax which can cause our stress hormones to rise. When we’re stressed and blood sugar is imbalanced, it’s impossible for those hormones, especially our adrenal glands, to function properly. “Any attempt to normalize hormonal imbalances is futile until blood sugar/adrenal issues are addressed (NTA, 2020)”. This is because when blood sugar is too high or low, the body is working overtime to regulate it, causing our hormones to become out of whack. Because adrenal function is so important in our bodies, when these glands become taxed, other hormone functions tend to take a back seat so that the adrenals can work to regulate our blood sugar. This then causes important hormones such as those produced by the thyroid (which controls metabolism) and gonads (which control the reproductive organs) to become weakened since the adrenals are borrowing from them. This is part of the reason thyroid disorders, fertility issues and other hormonal problems are so common today.
Digestion
Proper digestion is so important if you want a healthy endocrine system. Many of the organs involved in the north to south process of digestion need the support of hormones from the endocrine system to perform their roles. If the body is dealing with high levels of stress and an elevation of the hormone cortisol, important body functions like digestion will be turned off so the body can work harder to manage the stress. Digestive stress can also interfere with the absorption of certain minerals. This is a huge problem for hormones because every endocrine gland and organ has a mineral in which it is dependent on to work optimally (NTA 2020). If someone is dealing with an issue like leaky gut (intestinal permeability), it is likely that those minerals are not being absorbed, causing endocrine dysfunction. I’m sure you’ve heard, “you are what you eat” but the truth is, when suffering with digestive issues, it goes more like “you are what you absorb”. Healthy hormonal function is also reliant on proteins and fatty acids that come from our food so we need to be able to absorb these as well to avoid endocrine dysfunction. For all these reasons, it’s so important for those living a busy lifestyle to prioritize eating meals in a relaxed and mindful state, not while stressed or rushing from one task to the next. This will help with properly digesting food, and feeling more satisfied as you move along your busy day.
The relationship between immunity, digestion, and blood sugar
Digestion
Digestion plays such a huge role in the health of our immune system. When digestion is working properly, hydrochloric (stomach) acid acts as a barrier and line of defense toward pathogens or bacteria that make their way into the body (NTA, 2020), destroying them before they can cause problems. But when something in the digestive chain is broken, our immune system can become weakened as a result. Now that our defenses are down, we can be exposed to bacteria that can make it’s way into our bloodstream, causing a host of issues like irritable bowel diseases, autoimmunity, food allergies and sensitivities. Our gut lining then becomes weak and even the healthiest of foods can cause an inflammatory response in the digestive system. To avoid these issues, the goal is to eat a diverse diet to provide the digestive tract with plenty of healthy bacteria, making sure to eat nutrient rich carbohydrates for fiber as well. Remember the steps to eat for healthy digestion in the endocrine section above and avoid adding stress to your already busy days. The healthier your gut microbiome (the bacteria living inside you), the healthier you will be as the good bacteria will crowd out the pathogenic bacteria that are up to no good, and keep the cells in your digestive tract healthy and strong!
Blood Sugar
In order to best support your immunity, it’s so important that the body’s blood sugar is regulated and at a normal range. It can be tempting and convenient to grab and go meals when you’re busy, but making a habit out of this isn’t always the best choice to fuel a busy lifestyle. Eating heavily processed foods regularly can cause blood sugar levels to get too high, which suppresses the immune system by allowing its innate response to become weakened (Berg, 2020). This causes more pathogens (bacteria that can make us sick, like viruses), to get through our cells when normally the immune system should be killing off those viruses. Another issue higher levels of sugar in the blood can cause is glycation. This is basically a caramelization of your cells, blood vessels, etc. Glycation brings upon oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, which can also cause chronic disease (example: type 2 diabetes). Glycation can also occur when consuming fats and proteins with sugar (i.e. a beef burger or chicken tenders with sugary ketchup or barbeque sauce). If you’re going through a busy season in life, it’s so important to stick with food that makes you feel good so you get sick less often, and continue to carry on with the things you need to do.
Fatty acids and blood sugar; how they affect Cardiovascular health
Fatty Acids
The dietary fats we consume play a huge role in our cardiovascular health. Another reason to avoid quick convenient meals like fast food is the low quality oils used that can harm our heart health and function. If we choose to consume healthy fats from foods like eggs, grass-fed beef, avocados, and salmon, our hearts will have an amazing ratio of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids to keep it healthy and strong. But, if we are consuming refined sources of fatty acids like industrial corn, vegetable and seed oils, and trans fat, we risk that ratio being imbalanced, causing inflammation and possible issues to our cardiovascular system. Add these risk factors to the possible stress of a busy lifestyle and a really dangerous situation may arise like clogged or hardened arteries, congestive heart failure or worse, heart attack. Recent studies are showing that high cholesterol on it’s own isn’t the issue, it is the total number of LDL particles (or LDL-P) in the arteries that assess the risk of heart disease (NTA 2020). Similar to the way digestion can be compromised through a weakened intestinal lining, the cardiovascular system becomes compromised when the walls of the blood vessels are weakened due to the stress of high LDL particles. So while stress may be unavoidable when you’re a busy person, make sure to eat foods and fats that will make your heart happy.
Blood Sugar
Yet another reason to plan meals and snacks on the go rather than grabbing fast food is that higher levels of blood sugar also affect the health of the heart. While it may not seem very obvious that poor blood sugar regulation and heart issues are related, balanced blood sugar certainly does have a role in heart health. Chronic issues caused by blood sugar imbalance, such as type 2 diabetes, can also be linked with cardiovascular issues like high blood pressure. Due to the inflammation that blood sugar elevation causes, when not controlled, these issues can begin to damage the blood vessels of the heart (Nucleus Medical Media, 2018), which is how heart disease can develop. This damage to the blood vessels can also make it easier for atherosclerotic plaque to form (NTA, 2020), which is a hardening of the arteries and restricts blood flow to the heart. High blood sugar can also interfere with nutrients being delivered to your heart tissue, further weakening your cardiovascular health. The longer you have a disease like diabetes and issues with blood sugar regulation, the greater your risk of heart disease.
Blood sugar, digestion, and your ability to detoxify
Blood Sugar
You’ve probably seen plenty of online advertisements for quick fix detox teas or supplements. It may be easy to fall for the claims these products make, especially when you don’t have the time to change your lifestyle. The good news is if you begin to make some small changes like eating more nutrient dense foods, and getting proper rest, our bodies naturally detox all on their own. One important area of support for detoxification is blood sugar regulation. When toxins enter the body, there are several systems which make sure that they are filtered out and eventually removed. The liver is in charge of filtering our blood but when sugar levels are high, this can cause stress to the liver while it works to keep things under control. If the liver is not working properly, toxins can build up in the bloodstream, causing other issues. High blood sugar can also deplete B vitamins (NTA 2020), of which some are needed for the functions of the liver (B6) and detoxification (B2). Too much of anything can become a toxin in our bodies, as it causes stress on the body while it tries to filter it out. So higher blood sugar not only taxes the liver as it works extra hard to filter the blood, but also causes more toxins to creep in since it messes with the vitamins needed for proper liver function.
Digestion
Almost as important as watching our blood sugar for detoxification is supporting our digestive system. Our digestive system plays a huge role when it comes to removing toxins, waste removal is a big part of what our digestive system does! Much of the way it works is to “clean” the food we eat, and make sure no pathogenic bacteria is sneaking in. If toxins are ingested, the digestive process will assure that the invaders are eliminated as waste. But when our digestive system is not working properly, or our intestinal lining is compromised, the opposite will occur. The body will begin to hold onto these toxins. For example, if you are someone who suffers from a leaky gut, toxins from your digestive tract are leaking out into your bloodstream, causing even more inflammation. You may not even be able to digest nutrients from food, making it harder to heal your leaky gut symptoms, “if a person isn’t digesting, even the most perfect diet can clog the body’s detoxification pathways (NTA, 2020)”. So remember, one of the best ways to combat this is to eat foods that will support your digestive system, rather than inflame it. Figure out a slower day in your week that you can use to prepare some meals and snacks that you can bring along with you on your busiest days. Make the time around meals a priority and don’t rush through it to assure your food is well digested and enjoyed!
I hope this information better helps connect the dots on why nutrition makes such an impact on health outcomes, especially when you’re living a busy lifestyle. If you are concerned you may be headed towards some of these chronic health issues, start by slowly making small changes. Eat more whole foods, cook at home as much as you can, work on improving your gut health, and don’t forget to eat in a relaxed and mindful state rather than rushed or distracted. The journey is never easy, but it’s always worth it when you take ownership of your health and begin to see positive changes take place.
We’ll talk soon!
Aria
