The food we eat is a very powerful part of our wellness toolbox but did you know that food can also impact inflammation in our body and cells? Learn more about the link between food and inflammation and how it may impact your diabetes management.
Speaker: Desiree Nielsen, RD
Speaker: Desiree Nielsen, RD
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[Music]0:12
hello and thank you for joining us today my name is Jennifer bino and it's a pleasure to mix my personal life and my0:19
professional life a little bit today I'm honored to support my team here at diabetes Canada who are bringing this0:25
amazing event to you um in addition on a personal note I've lived with type 1 diabetes for over 35 years I was0:32
diagnosed as a teenager and once having jumped that hurdle of learning all about diabetes and diabetes Management in the0:39
late 1980s I became very quickly fascinated with the role of nutrition it0:45
truly is a Cornerstone of diabetes management because of my diagnosis and emerging fascination with Nutrition0:51
management I went on to study nutrition and become a registered dietitian and worked in diabetes education early on in0:57
my career after so many years personally and professionally some might say I'm a bit of an expert as a person with1:04
diabetes and maybe as a dietitian as well but I'm always learning and today is no exception it's my pleasure to1:12
introduce today's keynote speaker Desiree neelen who will be making walking us through inflammation diet and1:18
diabetes Desiree is a registered dietician with a focus on plant-based nutrition and digestive health she's the1:25
author of two Canadian best-selling plant-based cookbooks eat more plants and good for gut as well as the host of1:31
an evidence-informed Wellness podcast the all sorts podcast she lives in Vancouver where she owns a private1:38
practice with a non-diet weight neutral approach to nutrition and health Desiree1:43
is a mom of Two and a sometimes neglectful Gardener over to you1:49
Desiree hello everyone as Jennifer mentioned my name is desire neelsen I am1:55
a registered dietitian coming at you from my kitchen here in East Vancouver2:01
and I am so excited to share this presentation with you all because I got2:06
my start as a dietician working in chronic inflammatory disease and so2:13
chronic inflammation and the role the diet and lifestyle have to play have always been a big clinical interest of2:19
mine but also a part of my practice so today we're going to shift that lens to diabetes and take a look at how chronic2:27
inflammation has a role in both type 1 and type two diabetes but also how diet2:33
plays into that so that's me I'm Desiree like I said I've been a dietitian for2:39
over 15 years now always here on the West Coast I have had a private practice2:45
for over a decade now where we focus on chronic inflammatory and digestive concerns and of course plant-based2:51
eating because I'm a plant-based person I have a couple of cookbooks which I'm2:56
there we go covering up right now eat more plants which which came out in 2019 and good for your gut which came out in3:02
2021 and then I even have a new book called plant magic coming out in April3:08
of next year one of the reasons why the cookbooks are so important to me is that I realized very early on as a dietician3:15
is that I can provide nutritional information and education but you still have to go home and figure out what to3:21
make for dinner for yourself and your family and so if I can create delicious3:27
easy to prepare recipes with nutrition in mind then you can exhale just follow3:32
the recipe and know that you're feeding yourself and your family something really nutrient dense I also have the3:38
following disclosures so as a dietitian in private practice who does social media I have worked with multiple food3:46
and supplement companies as a spokesperson or as a collaborator on social media on an ongoing basis I'm3:53
also the author of books on nutrition and inflammation and I have received a speaker fee from diabetes Canada for4:00
this learning activity so here's what we're going to talk about today beyond the high4:06
anti-inflammatory I have to say you know part of me has gotten away from talking about anti-inflammatory Nutrition a4:12
little bit on my social media feeds because it's become such a buzzword and so filled with pseudoscience and4:19
misinformation that I want to ensure that I'm not helping to perpetuate any of these myths so today is going to be a4:25
lot about myth busting what is inflammation how is it connected to diabet abetes what's the actual science4:31
behind nutrition's connection to inflammation plus of course a lot of wacky internet myths to ignore and some4:38
very simple practical ways to make change we're not just going to talk theory today this is news you can use4:45
things that you can take home in your life today to help start to make changes4:50
and then we'll talk about the opportunity for Q&A so what's this inflammation thing4:55
we're talking about the first thing you need to know is that inflam infation is not always a bad thing when we talk5:03
specifically about anti-inflammatory nutrition we immediately think that inflammation is5:09
somehow awful and never a good thing and we want to eradicate it whenever possible the first thing you need to5:15
know is that it is impossible to eliminate inflammation and that's a very good thing because inflammation is a5:22
normal response of your immune system when there is damage in the body the5:28
immune system turn turns on inflammation but there's acute inflammation and chronic inflammation and you can kind of5:34
think of acute inflammation like your body's paramedics great example is that if you're cooking in the kitchen and you5:41
accidentally cut yourself with a knife that redness that heat that swelling you5:46
feel and you see is inflammation that is acute inflammation rushing to the area5:52
to engulf any bacteria that might have been on your skin surface or on the knife to help to send6:00
all of the you know little chemicals and Messengers that your body needs to start to like sew up and mop up that cut6:06
inflammation is a great thing when the threat is present it turns on and when the threat is not present it turns off6:14
that's when it's acute that's when it's helpful chronic inflammation is a little different it's actually a very different6:20
pathway and chronic inflammation is more like the bull in the china shop so it6:25
goes around and makes a lot of noise it breaks a lot of stuff and it ends up causing more6:31
damage than help that's what we want to try and moderate that's what we want to6:37
try and focus our diet and lifestyle activities to help to calm chronic6:43
inflammation and we'll talk about why this is important in a minute so what causes chronic inflammation if I talked6:50
about inflammation as being a response to damage it doesn't just happen out of6:55
nowhere the immune system is efficient it's not going to turn on if you don't7:00
need it right so there's got to be some sort of damage that the body is attempting to respond to with7:07
inflammation and this can be increased body fat particularly around the7:13
midsection stress we greatly underestimate the effect of stress in7:18
our lives and the damaging effect that it can have on our long-term Health our7:24
gut bacteria also play a role we'll talk a lot more about that in this presentation gut barrier dysfunction7:30
which you might have seen on the internet as quote unquote leaky gut which sounds like a madeup internet thing it's actually legit and we'll talk7:37
a little bit more about what it is and how it impacts inflammation later certain disease States like diabetes can7:45
influence inflammatory States as well as dietary pressures what you are or are not eating and then inactivity so as you7:53
can see as much as I am a dietitian and I would love to say if you eat a certain7:58
way it will be 100% taken care of by nutrition that's not the case most of the chronic diseases we experience most8:05
of the chronic conditions including inflammation that we experience are8:11
multifactorial we have to take a holistic view we have to think about our stress we have to think about our sleep8:17
we have to think about how we move or don't move our bodies as well as what we're8:23
eating so what is the connection between diabetes and8:28
inflammation and does inflammation even play a role in diabetes we actually see this in the literature both in type two8:35
and in type 1 diabetes so we know that the presence of chronic inflammation8:40
plays a role in the onset and progression of type two diabetes and we8:46
also observe in type 2 diabetes a chronic lowgrade inflammation in both8:53
the fat and muscle cells as well as in the liver and the pancreas and we know8:58
that having this oxidative stress and inflammation in diabetes contributes to9:04
Future risk factors such as heart disease as well as impaired wound healing and nerve damage but what about9:10
type one we actually know that inflammatory cells are involved in the original destruction of pancreatic beta9:17
cells and that the autoimmune process remember when I talked about the immune system being efficient and it's not9:23
going to turn on or attack if it doesn't need to well in autoimmunity there is9:29
there is a little bit of a breakdown of appropriate immune response and so we see this autoimmune process in diabetes9:37
contributing to chronic inflammation in addition lifestyle derived inflammation9:42
so if you have type 1 diabetes and through all of those factors we talked about before dietary pressures9:48
inactivity stress lack of sleep that can increase insulin resistance which can9:55
make your insulin therapy more challenging10:00
so we have to talk about blood sugars and inflammation and we're going to cover this a little bit in the myths10:06
section but I want to get into it in a foundational way here because there is so much misinformation about the role10:13
that blood sugars play in chronic inflammation so we have to State off the10:19
top that yes chronic hyperglycemia so chronic high blood sugars is an10:26
inflammatory state which is just one more reason why getting our blood sugars10:32
under control and hitting our targets with diabetes is so so important and10:38
when it comes to what plays into rise of blood sugars right if we didn't eat our blood sugars wouldn't rise that wouldn't10:44
be a very good idea so the foods we eat do impact our blood sugars we know this10:50
when we have diabetes and that means being mindful of the glycemic load of10:57
foods versus glycemic in index and we're going to talk about that distinction later on in the in the what to eat11:03
section but being mindful of glycemic load is a good idea however and this is a big however11:11
it's very incorrect to label higher glycemic index Foods as inflammatory and11:18
I see this I see influencers on social media talking11:23
about how oats are not a healthful food which could not be further from the truth11:29
and further from Decades of science we need to ensure that we don't11:35
connect any rise of blood sugar with inflammation yes we want to be mindful11:42
of glycemic load but just because your blood sugars rise at all doesn't mean11:48
you're stoking the fires of chronic inflammation and just like how we eat11:56
and our diabetes can influence inflammation influ chronic INF12:01
inflammation can influence our diabetes and how we respond to the foods we eat12:08
and our blood sugars because we know that chronic inflammation affects how12:13
the body regulates blood sugar response so when there is a lot of chronic inflammation in the body it actually12:21
decreases the insulin sensitivity in our cells which means we're going to be more12:27
insulin resistant we're going to have a harder time managing our blood sugars12:33
what's more it also impairs the release of insulin in the pancreas so not only12:40
are we having difficulty getting the insulin out of the pancreas and into the bloodstream but then our tissues and our12:47
cells are less responsive and I know that this can seem now like a catch 2212:53
because if you have diabetes and your blood sugars are higher that's stoking chronic inflammation but if you have13:00
chronic inflammation that's making it harder to control your blood sugars is this a zero sum game it's not just13:07
because we see that this is true we need to know two things one that controlling13:12
our blood sugars is not as cut and dried as the internet would like you to believe this is really important because13:19
I think we see this very biased unscientific information that can cause13:24
us to blame ourselves when we're having difficulty getting our sugars under control but know that there's so much13:30
going on clinically that makes that challenging but the second thing that's really important is knowing that hey if13:38
we know what contributes to chronic inflammation and we know that lowering chronic inflammation would be really13:45
good for our diabetes and really good for balancing our blood sugars then hopefully that motivates us to make some13:51
changes because we know that as we move towards these changes that's only going to be a benefit for our13:57
body so so let's talk diabetes and let's take a little detour into our ascending14:04
colon where trillions of bacteria live this is an incredible thing you know we14:10
we were you know so so taught to be scared of germs and bacteria but you and14:16
bacteria are co-collaborators in your life and in your health and the trillions of14:22
bacteria living in your digestive tract transform the undigested fibers from14:27
plant Foods fruits and vegetables and legumes into helpful compounds called short chain fatty acids they're exactly14:36
like they sound they're tiny little fats and they have a whole bunch of benefits14:41
bacteria also contribute to the health of your digestive barrier so when we talked about that leaky gut and how14:47
leaky gut can influence chronic inflammation one of the things you have to realize is that your digestive tract14:54
even though you think it's inside of you because you don't see it is actually from from entrance on through exit15:00
continuous with the outside world so to your body your gut is the outside world15:07
and so that barrier between you and the outside world AKA your gut is as15:12
critical for keeping you well and keeping your immune system calm as your skin is think about it when you cut15:19
yourself in the kitchen inflammation comes to play because that Skin Barrier15:25
is compromised when the digestive barrier is compromised that can also15:31
increase chronic inflammation so having good gut bacteria to help protect the15:37
gut and keep that barrier strong is super super important what's more we see15:43
that both in type one diabetes and type two diabetes we do see in the literature15:49
patterns uh that are different from people without diabetes and they tend to be enriched in types of bacteria that15:57
sort of stoke the fires of inflammation a little bit more than we would like to see and one of the reasons for that is16:04
that some of these bacteria have molecules on their Co on the outer coat of their cell so bacteria sort of have a16:11
skin just like we do and these molecules called LPS or16:17
lipopolysaccharides are associated with inflammation and insulin resistance in16:22
type two diabetes and they may contribute to Type 1 diabetes as well and we also see in the research those16:28
short chain fatty acids when we have lower levels of them because we don't have enough of the good bacteria that16:35
make them when we have low levels of short chain fatty acids we tends to be associated with poor health16:43
outcomes so now that we know what inflammation is and what contributes to16:49
it let's zero in on the thing that I know best which is nutrition the science16:54
of how nutrition impacts inflammation and we're going to start with some hard truths here because what we think17:01
anti-inflammatory nutrition is is very different from what it actually is if17:06
you start scrolling on Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok and you look up you17:12
know influencers talking about inflammation you're going to see all sorts of things like gluten is17:19
inflammatory or fruit is high in sugar and it's inflammatory and they are 100% wrong so17:26
let's get into it what is anti-inflam if it's not that what is anti-inflammatory17:32
nutrition the one thing that you need to realize is that no one food or one meal17:39
will cause or correct chronic inflammation when we have diabetes17:45
therapeutic nutrition is going to cover two bases first to help improve blood17:52
sugars and get them into targets and then the second is the positive like17:57
your body body isn't made and your health isn't made by what you do not eat you have biological requirements for you18:04
know nutrients like iron to to build red blood cells and be vitamins to help you18:11
harness the energy from food part in addition to keeping blood sugars under18:16
control another piece of therapeutic nutrition is helping to provide the nutrients you need for your overall18:24
health and nutrients that can help to lessen inflammation and so we are always18:29
talking about pattern over plate it's something I'm fond of saying which means18:35
it's not about one food it's not about one meal it's about the overall pattern18:40
day in day out weeks after months after years and that pattern is rich in whole18:47
plant Foods this is not about dietary labels this isn't about being a18:53
carnivore or an vegan this is about however works best for you you eating a19:00
high plant food diet which is lower in hyper processed so the ultra processed19:06
foods like the snack foods those kind of things I'm not talking about a can of beans but we're talking about more the19:12
snacks and the fast foods and then lower in animal Foods however makes sense for19:17
your life and there is also no one anti-inflammatory diet so if you're like19:23
oh give me a list of like what is exactly the Foods on an anti-inflammatory diet19:28
we actually don't have data to say this is it eat this and only this what we do19:36
have is other dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet that have been also19:41
studied for their positive impa impact on inflammation um and we do have a19:46
little bit of data from my world of Digestive Disease but nothing that's gold standard yet and so again pattern19:53
over plate we know that an anti-inflammatory diet is about about being nutrient dense versus energy dense20:02
so we don't need food with lots of calories but not a lot of nutrition we20:07
need whole plant foods that are rich in nutrients without a ton of energy and20:13
it's totally in line with basic healthy eating guidelines so this is not information that's going to look new20:19
this is lots of fruits lots of vegetables whole grains nuts seeds20:25
legumes we want to choose other things moderation so this isn't a bam this20:31
isn't elimination this is fewer hyper processed foods less red meat less high20:38
fat Dairy generally speaking this is something we can all sort of get behind no matter how we like to20:46
eat so let's get into the nitty-gritty now that I've said you're like yes yes yes I know I know pattern over plate20:53
let's just like eat all the nice things what's the science actually say let's get into specific20:59
I always start with fats because fats are almost never a part of this21:05
inflammation question unless we're talking about Omega-3s and Omega sixes21:10
most of our energy goes there it should go somewhere different if you look on the internet what we're going to think21:16
causes inflammation is seed oils we're going to talk about why that's not true later on in the presentation what21:22
actually contributes to inflammation is too much fat in general particularly21:29
saturated fats which come from red meat tropical oils like coconut and palm and21:36
high-fat Dairy when it comes to sugars again people say sugar is inflammatory21:42
anything that turns into sugar like grains like fruit is inflammatory no no no what actually21:49
causes inflammation is a again a pattern this isn't your you know birthday cake21:56
in a week of generally nutrient-dense eating this is a pattern of hyper processed carbs so when most of the22:03
foods you consume are conveniences are really carb rich or22:10
fast foods and excess added sugars that's a pattern that's going to22:15
contribute more to inflammation it's not about one food something else that we22:20
generally don't talk about with respect to inflammation is fiber and we know that low fiber diets are associated with22:28
increased inflammation and most of us in North America are consuming what would22:34
be described as a low fiber diet the average intake of fiber in North America is about 15 grams a day whereas the22:41
evidence suggests that we should be consuming between 25 and 38 grams a day if we're under 50 years of age we need22:49
our diet to be high in fiber as well as high and fermentable carbohydrates to22:54
feed the beneficial bacteria we talked about why bacteria are important this is why one of the reasons why fiber and23:02
whole plant foods are so important is because when we feed beneficial bacteria23:07
those beneficial bacteria keep our digestive tract strong they make those short chain fatty acids and all of this23:13
starts to make a little bit more sense and then finally phytochemicals so when23:19
we eat whole plant Foods fruits vegetables nuts seeds legumes um whole grains there we go I23:26
got them all they all contain naturally occurring compounds that have antioxidant and23:34
anti-inflammatory actions and this isn't about extracting something and putting it in a pill because generally those23:40
things don't work very well but when we are consuming again a pattern of foods23:45
that are high in these phytochemicals all those little positive influences add23:51
up to help us lessen inflammation so this is probably the23:57
time where we should talk about added sugars versus natural sugars because I know there's a lot of confusion here it24:03
is very important for you to know that even in diabetes there is no guideline24:10
or recommendation for limiting the naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables none none24:18
whatsoever however there are very solid guidelines and very solid evidence for24:24
reducing added sugars what's an added sugar it's not what you might expect24:29
this includes things like fruit juice concentrates honey maple syrup coconut24:34
sugar I see as a dietitian but also as a recipe developer I see online so often24:39
oh here eat my healthy cookies they're not made with refined sugar but instead24:45
they have two cups of coconut sugar well two cups of coconut sugar versus two cups of cane sugar it's the same thing24:51
right as a dietitian I want to see you consume fewer added sugars in total and24:57
diabetes Canada recommends no more than 10% of calories from added sugars over the course of your day and another25:04
recommendation that I love because I don't typically um promote calorie counting in my own practice is a a hard25:12
sort of like teaspoon or gram limit on sugars so the American Heart Association25:18
recommends no more than nine teaspoons daily or if you're looking at nutrition fax panels 36 grams of sugars for larger25:27
more active bodies which we typically describe as men and then six teaspoons daily or 24 grams of added sugars for25:34
smaller less active bodies or women and as I sort of alluded to before25:40
how we eat is not just about providing nutrients for our bodies how we eat also25:47
impacts the bacteria living in your gut and there's this saying you are what you eat right so you are what you eat you25:54
digest you absorb it into your bloodstream but we only digest and absorb between 80 to 95% of all the food26:02
and drinks we consume what happens to that 5 to 20% it26:08
travels through your digestive tract and anything that travels through your digestive tract gets exposed to your gut26:15
bacteria and anything your gut bacteria get exposed to they can be transformed by it they're either going to eat it or26:22
not eat it and that will determine which kind of bacteria want to call you home26:27
we talked about how those bacteria are so important for the health of your digestive barrier but also how your26:32
nervous system and immune system remember immune system is inflammation26:37
how both of those systems function and so when we talked about fat and we talked about how most people are26:44
concerned with Omega-3s and Omega sixes and we're going to clarify that later but why we should be more concerned with26:51
saturated fat which nobody talks about with respect to inflammation here's one26:56
of the reasons why this can be an issue High saturated fat diets can increase LPS in27:04
circulation remember how we talked about that LPS those lipopolysaccharides that can be on the outer skin of bacteria and27:12
how those can Stoke inflammation consuming high saturat so27:17
lots of high fat Dairy lots of red meat lots of hyper processed foods high in27:22
saturated fat they can increase the amount of the LPS that gets into your27:29
bloodstream and when that happens the body recognizes that as foreign and it27:35
attacks it with inflammation so the thing that you need to know because there's a lot of science here and I like27:42
to share the science because I think when we understand the why we're more27:47
motivated for the what I could say just eat your fruits and vegetables I mean is that new when was the last time you27:52
heard a dietitian tell you to eat your fruits and vegetables right but when you see oh the fruits and vegetables contain27:58
fiber they also contain fermentable carbohydrates those feed the bacteria28:04
those keep my digestive system strong and keep inflammation at Bay in the28:10
immune system then you start to see how this all comes together so what do you actually need to remember here you want28:17
to eat the food that feeds the kind of bacteria you want more of in your gut and good bugs like plants high fiber28:25
high and fermentable carbohydrates the stuff that makes you gassy it's true a little bit of gas is totally normal and28:32
a very good thing so yes I want to close this by28:39
saying yes Canadians generally do eat too many added sugars but no sugar is28:44
not toxic or inflammatory like I said before a teaspoon of sugar in your salad28:50
dressing to make your salad super delicious so you want to eat more salad28:55
that's a very good thing it does doesn't work like a magic eraser to take away all the health29:02
benefits so let's get into myths now like the no carb diet that's me29:09
walking away and this very unpopular fact but29:14
this is fact based in decades of science our blood sugars are supposed to rise it29:23
was how we were biologically designed and so we get into a little bit of29:30
tricky territory when we have diabetes because yes our blood sugars are meant to rise but if our blood sugars rise too29:37
much if we are insulin resistant if we are chronically high blood sugar that's29:45
also an inflammatory state that increases our risk of side effects things like cardiovascular disease or29:51
nerve damage later on so what's the sweet spot for us and how do we determine the foods we need to stay in29:58
that sweet spot one of the tools that has been given to us in the research is30:05
glycemic index and glycemic load and I've seen this being co-opted on the30:13
internet to provide a lot of misleading30:18
advice and incorrect advice and so let's get into it what is the GI or glycemic30:24
index it measures the blood sugar rise over time for a given food and so the GI30:32
of a food is always for a reference amount so it's the same weight of30:37
food and then you go over time right so like one hour or two hours and a high GI30:44
food is going to cause blood sugars to rise up really fast and then to crash in30:51
theory and that's the important Point here and low GI carbs are going to give30:56
you a little sustained bump so it makes sense okay low GI we probably want and high GI we31:04
probably don't want right except the problem with high GI versus31:11
what is known as glycemic load which measures the actual glycemic31:17
impact of a food is that there are foods that are high GI that don't actually raise your blood31:24
sugars a lot things like carrots or watermelon and the reason for31:31
that is that the glycemic load measures the potential of the food to raise your31:37
blood sugars like the glycemic index against how many carbohydrates are31:44
actually in that serving so yes if you ate like a whole like a couple of pounds31:52
of carrots or watermelon that's going to be a high GI and a lot of carbo hydrate31:58
and that would actually increase your blood sugars quite a bit but most of us eat just a little bit and that little32:05
bit doesn't actually have a lot of carbohydrate so it doesn't actually raise our blood sugars that much and low32:12
gii SL low glycemic low nutrition is evidence-based in diabetes however we32:19
also need to consider the total dietary effect because we generally don't eat32:25
Foods in isolation except for maybe a random apple or a small handful of32:32
carrots the other thing we need to think about is the hacks you see on the32:37
internet are probably not what you want to follow in addition to people who are32:43
talking about blood sugars Rising as always being a bad thing remember your32:48
blood sugars Were Meant to rise alongside It is Well blood sugars are32:54
spiking spiking causes diabetes it doesn't and here's a hack to make sure33:00
that doesn't happen right they invent a problem they freak you out about it and33:06
then they give you a solution that is theirs and uniquely theirs and one of the hacks that's going around is33:11
drinking apple cider vinegar AKA ACV and33:16
it's become a popular internet hack the idea that you drink uh some apple cider vinegar before a meal to lower your33:23
blood sugars in reality after acid is there's always there's always a kernel of Truth33:30
here acid is one of four factors that helps to lower the glycemic impact of a33:35
meal the factors are acid but also protein fiber and fat so when we build a33:44
meal we add some protein maybe a little bit of chicken maybe a little bit of33:50
lentils we have fiber from whole grains or vegetables we add a little bit of fat33:57
fat maybe it's a little bit of cooking oil or some avocado or some nuts and34:02
then yeah absolutely we can add some acid some fruits have high acidity but we can also add lemon juice or a little34:09
bit of vinegar sounds like a really delicious salad to me doesn't it you we34:14
in the process of making a balanced meal cons consider all four factors and you34:20
never have to choke down an actual shot of apple cider vinegar which in all34:26
honesty is also associated with some very real dangers not only is it really bad for your tooth enamel but it can34:32
also burn your esophagus and what the influencers don't tell you as they are sharing all of the success stories of34:40
their hacks they don't tell you about the people who have been harmed by it and that's a very real concern when34:46
you're consuming information on the internet so you need to know not only do you not need to choke down something34:52
that doesn't taste that delicious it's also not very safe for you34:57
the other one that's quite pervasive in this Camp of blood sugars rise is always bad are grains causing inflammation so35:06
one the blood sugars we talk about but two there's a lot of misinformation35:11
about things like gluten which is found in wheat barley and Rye or lectins which is found which are found in many plant35:18
Foods it is incorrect categorically35:23
unscientific and non-evidence-based that gluten causes inflammation in anyone except for35:30
those with celiac disease which is an autoimmune disease that has a gluten35:37
trigger and when we look at grains grains are not all the same thing there35:44
are hyper processed refined grain products which absolutely have a high35:49
glycemic index and a high glycemic load and we have grains in their most natural35:56
state which is whole we're talking about the quinoa the Millet the whole wheat36:01
bread the whole wheat pasta whole grains have a very different impact on our36:07
blood sugars than hyper processed and refined grains so we need to know that36:14
whole grains are absolutely associated in decades of research with a lower risk36:20
of chronic disease and decreased inflammation because high fiber foods like whole grains feed the microbiome36:28
high fiber whole grains help moderate you know that nice little sustained bump in blood sugar high fiber grains help36:36
produce that and high fiber hole grains are generally more nutrient-dense they are also much richer in protein than we36:42
realize another factor that moderates blood sugars they contain tons of B36:47
vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc again to help support our metabolism so36:53
that it responds appropriately to the foods we eat36:58
and nope I told you I was coming back to this one seed oils do not cause inflammation 15 years ago when I got my37:06
start as a dietitian we were on about this seed oil thing and I have to admit that myself based on the evidence at the37:13
time was convinced that consuming more omega-6 fatty acids which we find not37:20
just in seed oils but in meat as well as whole grains and almost all nuts and37:25
seeds were potentially pro-inflammatory 15 years later we have so much more37:32
evidence to confirm not only are omega-6 fats and the foods that they contain37:39
them like seed oils not only are they not inflammatory we have data to show that37:46
omega-6 Rich oils like sunflower seed oil and canola oil are actually37:51
anti-inflammatory particularly when we replace hyper processed refined High GI37:59
carbohydrate Foods or saturated fats with omega-6 oils and this is really38:06
important because there is an enormous amount of Wellness elitism that constantly finds fault with38:14
foods that are affordable and available to all like sunflower and canola oils if38:21
you can't afford avocado oil or you can't afford olive oil these Foods foods38:27
are absolutely affordable and will not contribute to inflammation so we can all38:33
exhale breathe a s of relief and know that we're doing a good thing for our bodies so let's talk about now that38:40
we've sort of like gone through the theory we've seen the science we've talked about some myths what can you38:46
actually do in your diet today and in an ongoing basis to help lessen chronic38:52
inflammation let's get into it the first thing you need to know is that there are very few rules in nutrition good38:59
nutrition is 100% individualized so even everything that I39:04
say here although it is evidence-based may or may not be right for you a classic example I encourage people to39:12
consume a lot of nuts and seeds because they're very nutritious but what if you have a peanut allergy that's the39:18
individualization peanuts are not right for you because you have an allergy but perhaps you can consume almonds or39:24
perhaps you can consume pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds it's really important to get individualized advice whenever we39:31
can because that's what going to be what's best suited for you now having said that there are a couple of global39:39
rules that are always correct always always always things like drink water39:44
for example and the first and most important rule which I've already mentioned a couple times in this39:49
presentation is pattern over plate and this is the kind of plate to39:55
make your pattern most often again it's about most of the time not about hard40:01
rigid rules that we have to adhere to 247 365 and this again seems like such a40:08
dietition thing that it must not be effective or powerful but it's deeply40:15
evidence-based this is what we call the plate method no counting calories no counting grams of anything if you can40:23
adhere to the plate method most often it is the most profound way to help you40:29
balance your blood sugars and ensure that your meals are nutritionally balanced half your plate fruits and40:36
vegetables a quarter of your plate proteins and a quarter of your plate whole grains and starchy vegetables and40:43
then a little dot there because you want to have a little bit of fat in there to help moderate blood sugars and improve40:48
flavor of the meal and improve fat soluble nutrient absorption when you do this it's not40:55
about never eating a high gii food it's not about any other rules in nutrition41:02
Good Foods bad foods it's about creating a better energy balance more nutrient dense versus41:09
energy dense getting that protein fiber and fat in there for blood sugar balance41:14
and providing adequate nutrition the second rule of nutrition41:20
just eat more plants we get into this well I eat this way and I eat that way and this is me41:27
and that's you no matter how you eat really you don't got to put a label on it wherever you are on the spectrum of41:36
plant-based eating just shift towards more plants it is so profound in terms41:44
of increasing nutrient density increasing fiber increasing fermentable41:50
carbohydrates and it's important to not get this one twisted because one of the41:55
biggest challenges after 15 years of counseling people in nutrition is that one of the biggest42:03
challenges we face in making personal nutrition choices is something called42:09
nutritionism and this is the idea that we get caught up in the minutia of this42:15
nutrient or that nutrient or this good food or this bad food and we lose the42:20
forest for the trees we abandon these kind of boring42:25
traditional but evidence-based habits and strategies like the plate method or like eating42:32
more plants for the shiny hack right so instead of saying oh I'm going to use42:37
the plate method I'm going to consume my oats with some frozen berries which are42:44
high in fiber that's increasing my fruit and vegetable I'm going to add some42:49
healthy fat in the form of peanut butter or maybe some ground flax that will also42:55
increase fiber to balance my blood sugars instead we look on the internet and someone says oh I don't like oats43:02
because they're carbs and they make your blood sugar Spike no that's not the case stick to the tried and true and don't43:09
get caught up in that minutia the other thing that I see in private practice is43:15
that we tend to you know we can have these conversation what is the rule eat43:21
more whole plant Foods fruits vegetables nuts seeds whole grain43:27
and then I get questions saying okay so tell me about the breakfast cereal that I should eat43:32
which one has the most fiber tell me which cracker is healthier tell me which granola bar is healthier um tell me43:39
which like packaged side dish is healthier and do you see what's happening here absolutely these foods43:47
can play a role in our life they're convenient and they can be nutritious and I'm not saying we don't eat them but43:53
we forget about the oh I could just eat an apple right now with a little bit of peanut butter but I look for the you44:01
know the granola bar instead or well I could just you know buy this salad kit44:09
and like have these ready-made vegetables and have a nice salad on the side instead you're like okay so what44:15
sort of like Side Package side dish should I buy fruits vegetables nuts seeds whole44:23
grains in their whole form as much as possible these are not they don't have44:28
any fancy marketing on the package to continue to remind you how good for you they are and we tend to get really44:36
caught up in marketing and a shiny package that says high in fiber or high in protein but we forget that the whole44:42
foods are where it's at and that's the foundation of a nutritious44:48
diet so let's talk about fiber a little more because fiber is considered a protective factor in type two diabetes44:54
and there are also many different fibers with plant foods which again if you're like okay so what fiber supplement45:00
should I take or which fiber enriched cracker should I consume we want to get45:06
our fiber ideally from a variety of whole plant Foods because there are so many different fibers with so many45:12
different activities some sweep the gut clear keep you moving some help bind45:19
stuff like cholesterol to help you remove it from the body and flush it out some feed your gut bacteria some keep45:25
you full and satisfi if IED and your blood sugar is more stable so if we're just trying to get that from a single45:31
isolated supplement we're going to lose all of the other benefits of a variety45:36
of fiber so we want to think of Whole Foods first and foremost and then a45:42
variety of Whole Foods and what does a high-fiber day actually look like it's a lot simpler45:49
than you think so I wanted to give this option you know like a very simple breakfast two pieces of spread of GRA45:55
bread with peanut butter and sliced Apple that doesn't look like an unusual breakfast right pretty normal you know a46:01
higher fiber bread is going to get you there or a lunch a nice sweet potato with lentil and spinach salad again as a46:08
snack instead of like a granola bar thing just grab a little handful of almonds super high protein fiber46:16
vitamins really nutrient dense it's going to keep your blood sugars balanced and then like an easy chicken curry with46:22
some brown rice and some frozen broccoli because again when it comes to I talked a little bit about46:28
affordability Frozen fruits and vegetables are incredible and we live in a Northern country where not everything46:34
is in season all year round Frozen is a very great nutritious option that is46:39
often more affordable than fresh and I want you to embrace that the other thing to embrace and really helps with respect46:47
to variety is eat in season because when things are in season they are more46:53
abundant and the price is lower so you know we don't eat strawberries in46:58
January because they're too expensive for example and like in the cooler months that's when we're looking at root47:03
vegetables like rutabagas and sweet potatoes and celery root like all these47:09
things are Granny's used to prepare we need to get back into them they're incredibly nutrient dense they're very47:15
affordable they're locally grown like it's a win-win all around the other thing we want to talk47:22
about in terms of making choices we want to watch sat ated fat we want to watch47:28
excess added sugars and salt so we talked about this already so this is really about um eating less fried food47:36
less butter less cheese fewer high-fat red meats and keeping sugar sweetened47:42
beverages uh wa like to a minimum if at all watching your baked goods watching47:49
packet Pat pack package snacks sometimes you just get tongue tied after half an47:54
hour and keeping your dessert erts moderate this isn't about saying no forever remember pattern over48:02
plate and then of course extra credit I mentioned this once before and I'll reiterate it now food doesn't work like48:09
a magic eraser no one food will lower inflammation without addressing the whole dietary pattern but we do have48:17
some data on some particularly interesting foods that have anti-inflammatory activi so if you want48:23
to include them as part of your whole plant food dietary pattern it definitely48:30
couldn't hurt the first category is flavonoid rich foods flavonoids are a48:35
type of phytochemical that we have quite a bit of research to support their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory48:42
nature these are things like berries coffee yes coffee maybe without seven48:48
pounds of sugar and cream in it but the coffee itself is not a harmful beverage48:54
it's a bean extract it's a plant food cocoa green tea onions apples all of49:00
those foods are rich in flavonoids spices and aromatics things like turmeric ginger garlic dried parsley are49:09
particularly high in phyto chemicals but honestly get your spice drawer open and49:16
stop measuring in sprinkles start measuring in spoons everything from cumin to Cinnamon to chili powder all49:24
spices and herbs are really beneficial they also make healthy food taste49:30
incredible so be heavy-handed with your spices and herbs and then yes finally we49:36
talk about omega-3 we sort of talked about the Omega 6 piece of it and how we don't need to worry about49:43
omega-6's because we know that seed oils do contribute to anti-inflammatory diet49:48
patterns but let's talk about Omega-3s quickly omega-3 fatty acids are an49:54
essential fatty acids when we say essential that means we need to consume them our body doesn't make them and50:01
there aren't a lot of foods that are high in omega-3 fats so essentially cold water oily fish like salmon mackerel50:08
sardines and seeds such as hemp flax and chia and so in the research now we see50:17
that as long as you get enough omega-3 fatty acids that appears to be much more50:22
important than avoiding omega-6 fats for maintain Ming that inflammatory50:27
balance which is why I created something called the daily three and I love this50:33
it's just a really simple positive nutrition strategy to help you get more50:38
nutrition into your day my daily three are Omega-3 Rich seeds green leafy50:44
vegetables and beans and lentils we already talked about why the omega-3 Rich seeds are important try to50:50
get two to three tablespoons a day flax is the most cost effective of the bunch50:56
if you buy whole flax it's literally pennies of serving and then you can grind it yourself in an old coffee51:04
grinder and it's a wonderful way to uh get Omega-3s and some helpful fiber and51:09
minerals into your life green leafy vegetables literally if it is green and51:15
leafy everything from bok choy to arugula to broccoli to dandelion greens51:21
try and work your way up to two cups daily if you can Frozen spinach is the absolute win here by frozen spinach51:28
without any seasonings or sauces if you've ever seen how much51:34
spinach wilts down into nothing frozen spinach is the hack a hack you can51:39
actually use because it's already sort of like preconcentrated and really really affordable then I would say you51:45
don't need two cups but a half a cup of frozen spinach maybe a cup if you're feeling saucy is an incredible51:51
nutrient-dense addition to meals and then beans and lentils you know many cultures depending on your background51:57
already have like a really hearty Reliance on beans and lentils others don't consume them at all and I would52:05
like to encourage you to consume them you want to start slow though if you're new to beans and lentils eat just a52:10
quarter cup a day because they're very strong fibers and fermentable52:16
carbohydrates so you want to ensure that you let your digestive system adjust and52:21
then you only increase your dose as your body uh gets used to them so here we go what do you need to52:29
know what's the news you can use chronic inflammation is a key feature in diabetes and it can make blood sugar52:35
regulation difficult but how we eat can influence inflammation through blood sugar balance and immun supportive52:41
nutrients and feeding our good gut bacteria use the plate method and the52:46
daily three as your simple and evidence-based hacks for better52:52
nutrition and eat more whole nutrient dense plant Foods rely on inexpensive52:58
Stables like dried beans rely on frozen vegetables all of these things are53:03
incredibly nutritious and make it easier to eat well and if you saw all that and53:09
you've got questions well I've got answers for you on November 18th for the live Q&A so I hope you will join me53:16
thank you so much for taking this time out of your day to get nerdy about nutrition with me I hope you've learned53:22
something new and interesting and helpful and I look forward to seeing you at the live53:32
[Music] Q&A
[Music]0:12
hello and thank you for joining us today my name is Jennifer bino and it's a pleasure to mix my personal life and my0:19
professional life a little bit today I'm honored to support my team here at diabetes Canada who are bringing this0:25
amazing event to you um in addition on a personal note I've lived with type 1 diabetes for over 35 years I was0:32
diagnosed as a teenager and once having jumped that hurdle of learning all about diabetes and diabetes Management in the0:39
late 1980s I became very quickly fascinated with the role of nutrition it0:45
truly is a Cornerstone of diabetes management because of my diagnosis and emerging fascination with Nutrition0:51
management I went on to study nutrition and become a registered dietitian and worked in diabetes education early on in0:57
my career after so many years personally and professionally some might say I'm a bit of an expert as a person with1:04
diabetes and maybe as a dietitian as well but I'm always learning and today is no exception it's my pleasure to1:12
introduce today's keynote speaker Desiree neelen who will be making walking us through inflammation diet and1:18
diabetes Desiree is a registered dietician with a focus on plant-based nutrition and digestive health she's the1:25
author of two Canadian best-selling plant-based cookbooks eat more plants and good for gut as well as the host of1:31
an evidence-informed Wellness podcast the all sorts podcast she lives in Vancouver where she owns a private1:38
practice with a non-diet weight neutral approach to nutrition and health Desiree1:43
is a mom of Two and a sometimes neglectful Gardener over to you1:49
Desiree hello everyone as Jennifer mentioned my name is desire neelsen I am1:55
a registered dietitian coming at you from my kitchen here in East Vancouver2:01
and I am so excited to share this presentation with you all because I got2:06
my start as a dietician working in chronic inflammatory disease and so2:13
chronic inflammation and the role the diet and lifestyle have to play have always been a big clinical interest of2:19
mine but also a part of my practice so today we're going to shift that lens to diabetes and take a look at how chronic2:27
inflammation has a role in both type 1 and type two diabetes but also how diet2:33
plays into that so that's me I'm Desiree like I said I've been a dietitian for2:39
over 15 years now always here on the West Coast I have had a private practice2:45
for over a decade now where we focus on chronic inflammatory and digestive concerns and of course plant-based2:51
eating because I'm a plant-based person I have a couple of cookbooks which I'm2:56
there we go covering up right now eat more plants which which came out in 2019 and good for your gut which came out in3:02
2021 and then I even have a new book called plant magic coming out in April3:08
of next year one of the reasons why the cookbooks are so important to me is that I realized very early on as a dietician3:15
is that I can provide nutritional information and education but you still have to go home and figure out what to3:21
make for dinner for yourself and your family and so if I can create delicious3:27
easy to prepare recipes with nutrition in mind then you can exhale just follow3:32
the recipe and know that you're feeding yourself and your family something really nutrient dense I also have the3:38
following disclosures so as a dietitian in private practice who does social media I have worked with multiple food3:46
and supplement companies as a spokesperson or as a collaborator on social media on an ongoing basis I'm3:53
also the author of books on nutrition and inflammation and I have received a speaker fee from diabetes Canada for4:00
this learning activity so here's what we're going to talk about today beyond the high4:06
anti-inflammatory I have to say you know part of me has gotten away from talking about anti-inflammatory Nutrition a4:12
little bit on my social media feeds because it's become such a buzzword and so filled with pseudoscience and4:19
misinformation that I want to ensure that I'm not helping to perpetuate any of these myths so today is going to be a4:25
lot about myth busting what is inflammation how is it connected to diabet abetes what's the actual science4:31
behind nutrition's connection to inflammation plus of course a lot of wacky internet myths to ignore and some4:38
very simple practical ways to make change we're not just going to talk theory today this is news you can use4:45
things that you can take home in your life today to help start to make changes4:50
and then we'll talk about the opportunity for Q&A so what's this inflammation thing4:55
we're talking about the first thing you need to know is that inflam infation is not always a bad thing when we talk5:03
specifically about anti-inflammatory nutrition we immediately think that inflammation is5:09
somehow awful and never a good thing and we want to eradicate it whenever possible the first thing you need to5:15
know is that it is impossible to eliminate inflammation and that's a very good thing because inflammation is a5:22
normal response of your immune system when there is damage in the body the5:28
immune system turn turns on inflammation but there's acute inflammation and chronic inflammation and you can kind of5:34
think of acute inflammation like your body's paramedics great example is that if you're cooking in the kitchen and you5:41
accidentally cut yourself with a knife that redness that heat that swelling you5:46
feel and you see is inflammation that is acute inflammation rushing to the area5:52
to engulf any bacteria that might have been on your skin surface or on the knife to help to send6:00
all of the you know little chemicals and Messengers that your body needs to start to like sew up and mop up that cut6:06
inflammation is a great thing when the threat is present it turns on and when the threat is not present it turns off6:14
that's when it's acute that's when it's helpful chronic inflammation is a little different it's actually a very different6:20
pathway and chronic inflammation is more like the bull in the china shop so it6:25
goes around and makes a lot of noise it breaks a lot of stuff and it ends up causing more6:31
damage than help that's what we want to try and moderate that's what we want to6:37
try and focus our diet and lifestyle activities to help to calm chronic6:43
inflammation and we'll talk about why this is important in a minute so what causes chronic inflammation if I talked6:50
about inflammation as being a response to damage it doesn't just happen out of6:55
nowhere the immune system is efficient it's not going to turn on if you don't7:00
need it right so there's got to be some sort of damage that the body is attempting to respond to with7:07
inflammation and this can be increased body fat particularly around the7:13
midsection stress we greatly underestimate the effect of stress in7:18
our lives and the damaging effect that it can have on our long-term Health our7:24
gut bacteria also play a role we'll talk a lot more about that in this presentation gut barrier dysfunction7:30
which you might have seen on the internet as quote unquote leaky gut which sounds like a madeup internet thing it's actually legit and we'll talk7:37
a little bit more about what it is and how it impacts inflammation later certain disease States like diabetes can7:45
influence inflammatory States as well as dietary pressures what you are or are not eating and then inactivity so as you7:53
can see as much as I am a dietitian and I would love to say if you eat a certain7:58
way it will be 100% taken care of by nutrition that's not the case most of the chronic diseases we experience most8:05
of the chronic conditions including inflammation that we experience are8:11
multifactorial we have to take a holistic view we have to think about our stress we have to think about our sleep8:17
we have to think about how we move or don't move our bodies as well as what we're8:23
eating so what is the connection between diabetes and8:28
inflammation and does inflammation even play a role in diabetes we actually see this in the literature both in type two8:35
and in type 1 diabetes so we know that the presence of chronic inflammation8:40
plays a role in the onset and progression of type two diabetes and we8:46
also observe in type 2 diabetes a chronic lowgrade inflammation in both8:53
the fat and muscle cells as well as in the liver and the pancreas and we know8:58
that having this oxidative stress and inflammation in diabetes contributes to9:04
Future risk factors such as heart disease as well as impaired wound healing and nerve damage but what about9:10
type one we actually know that inflammatory cells are involved in the original destruction of pancreatic beta9:17
cells and that the autoimmune process remember when I talked about the immune system being efficient and it's not9:23
going to turn on or attack if it doesn't need to well in autoimmunity there is9:29
there is a little bit of a breakdown of appropriate immune response and so we see this autoimmune process in diabetes9:37
contributing to chronic inflammation in addition lifestyle derived inflammation9:42
so if you have type 1 diabetes and through all of those factors we talked about before dietary pressures9:48
inactivity stress lack of sleep that can increase insulin resistance which can9:55
make your insulin therapy more challenging10:00
so we have to talk about blood sugars and inflammation and we're going to cover this a little bit in the myths10:06
section but I want to get into it in a foundational way here because there is so much misinformation about the role10:13
that blood sugars play in chronic inflammation so we have to State off the10:19
top that yes chronic hyperglycemia so chronic high blood sugars is an10:26
inflammatory state which is just one more reason why getting our blood sugars10:32
under control and hitting our targets with diabetes is so so important and10:38
when it comes to what plays into rise of blood sugars right if we didn't eat our blood sugars wouldn't rise that wouldn't10:44
be a very good idea so the foods we eat do impact our blood sugars we know this10:50
when we have diabetes and that means being mindful of the glycemic load of10:57
foods versus glycemic in index and we're going to talk about that distinction later on in the in the what to eat11:03
section but being mindful of glycemic load is a good idea however and this is a big however11:11
it's very incorrect to label higher glycemic index Foods as inflammatory and11:18
I see this I see influencers on social media talking11:23
about how oats are not a healthful food which could not be further from the truth11:29
and further from Decades of science we need to ensure that we don't11:35
connect any rise of blood sugar with inflammation yes we want to be mindful11:42
of glycemic load but just because your blood sugars rise at all doesn't mean11:48
you're stoking the fires of chronic inflammation and just like how we eat11:56
and our diabetes can influence inflammation influ chronic INF12:01
inflammation can influence our diabetes and how we respond to the foods we eat12:08
and our blood sugars because we know that chronic inflammation affects how12:13
the body regulates blood sugar response so when there is a lot of chronic inflammation in the body it actually12:21
decreases the insulin sensitivity in our cells which means we're going to be more12:27
insulin resistant we're going to have a harder time managing our blood sugars12:33
what's more it also impairs the release of insulin in the pancreas so not only12:40
are we having difficulty getting the insulin out of the pancreas and into the bloodstream but then our tissues and our12:47
cells are less responsive and I know that this can seem now like a catch 2212:53
because if you have diabetes and your blood sugars are higher that's stoking chronic inflammation but if you have13:00
chronic inflammation that's making it harder to control your blood sugars is this a zero sum game it's not just13:07
because we see that this is true we need to know two things one that controlling13:12
our blood sugars is not as cut and dried as the internet would like you to believe this is really important because13:19
I think we see this very biased unscientific information that can cause13:24
us to blame ourselves when we're having difficulty getting our sugars under control but know that there's so much13:30
going on clinically that makes that challenging but the second thing that's really important is knowing that hey if13:38
we know what contributes to chronic inflammation and we know that lowering chronic inflammation would be really13:45
good for our diabetes and really good for balancing our blood sugars then hopefully that motivates us to make some13:51
changes because we know that as we move towards these changes that's only going to be a benefit for our13:57
body so so let's talk diabetes and let's take a little detour into our ascending14:04
colon where trillions of bacteria live this is an incredible thing you know we14:10
we were you know so so taught to be scared of germs and bacteria but you and14:16
bacteria are co-collaborators in your life and in your health and the trillions of14:22
bacteria living in your digestive tract transform the undigested fibers from14:27
plant Foods fruits and vegetables and legumes into helpful compounds called short chain fatty acids they're exactly14:36
like they sound they're tiny little fats and they have a whole bunch of benefits14:41
bacteria also contribute to the health of your digestive barrier so when we talked about that leaky gut and how14:47
leaky gut can influence chronic inflammation one of the things you have to realize is that your digestive tract14:54
even though you think it's inside of you because you don't see it is actually from from entrance on through exit15:00
continuous with the outside world so to your body your gut is the outside world15:07
and so that barrier between you and the outside world AKA your gut is as15:12
critical for keeping you well and keeping your immune system calm as your skin is think about it when you cut15:19
yourself in the kitchen inflammation comes to play because that Skin Barrier15:25
is compromised when the digestive barrier is compromised that can also15:31
increase chronic inflammation so having good gut bacteria to help protect the15:37
gut and keep that barrier strong is super super important what's more we see15:43
that both in type one diabetes and type two diabetes we do see in the literature15:49
patterns uh that are different from people without diabetes and they tend to be enriched in types of bacteria that15:57
sort of stoke the fires of inflammation a little bit more than we would like to see and one of the reasons for that is16:04
that some of these bacteria have molecules on their Co on the outer coat of their cell so bacteria sort of have a16:11
skin just like we do and these molecules called LPS or16:17
lipopolysaccharides are associated with inflammation and insulin resistance in16:22
type two diabetes and they may contribute to Type 1 diabetes as well and we also see in the research those16:28
short chain fatty acids when we have lower levels of them because we don't have enough of the good bacteria that16:35
make them when we have low levels of short chain fatty acids we tends to be associated with poor health16:43
outcomes so now that we know what inflammation is and what contributes to16:49
it let's zero in on the thing that I know best which is nutrition the science16:54
of how nutrition impacts inflammation and we're going to start with some hard truths here because what we think17:01
anti-inflammatory nutrition is is very different from what it actually is if17:06
you start scrolling on Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok and you look up you17:12
know influencers talking about inflammation you're going to see all sorts of things like gluten is17:19
inflammatory or fruit is high in sugar and it's inflammatory and they are 100% wrong so17:26
let's get into it what is anti-inflam if it's not that what is anti-inflammatory17:32
nutrition the one thing that you need to realize is that no one food or one meal17:39
will cause or correct chronic inflammation when we have diabetes17:45
therapeutic nutrition is going to cover two bases first to help improve blood17:52
sugars and get them into targets and then the second is the positive like17:57
your body body isn't made and your health isn't made by what you do not eat you have biological requirements for you18:04
know nutrients like iron to to build red blood cells and be vitamins to help you18:11
harness the energy from food part in addition to keeping blood sugars under18:16
control another piece of therapeutic nutrition is helping to provide the nutrients you need for your overall18:24
health and nutrients that can help to lessen inflammation and so we are always18:29
talking about pattern over plate it's something I'm fond of saying which means18:35
it's not about one food it's not about one meal it's about the overall pattern18:40
day in day out weeks after months after years and that pattern is rich in whole18:47
plant Foods this is not about dietary labels this isn't about being a18:53
carnivore or an vegan this is about however works best for you you eating a19:00
high plant food diet which is lower in hyper processed so the ultra processed19:06
foods like the snack foods those kind of things I'm not talking about a can of beans but we're talking about more the19:12
snacks and the fast foods and then lower in animal Foods however makes sense for19:17
your life and there is also no one anti-inflammatory diet so if you're like19:23
oh give me a list of like what is exactly the Foods on an anti-inflammatory diet19:28
we actually don't have data to say this is it eat this and only this what we do19:36
have is other dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet that have been also19:41
studied for their positive impa impact on inflammation um and we do have a19:46
little bit of data from my world of Digestive Disease but nothing that's gold standard yet and so again pattern19:53
over plate we know that an anti-inflammatory diet is about about being nutrient dense versus energy dense20:02
so we don't need food with lots of calories but not a lot of nutrition we20:07
need whole plant foods that are rich in nutrients without a ton of energy and20:13
it's totally in line with basic healthy eating guidelines so this is not information that's going to look new20:19
this is lots of fruits lots of vegetables whole grains nuts seeds20:25
legumes we want to choose other things moderation so this isn't a bam this20:31
isn't elimination this is fewer hyper processed foods less red meat less high20:38
fat Dairy generally speaking this is something we can all sort of get behind no matter how we like to20:46
eat so let's get into the nitty-gritty now that I've said you're like yes yes yes I know I know pattern over plate20:53
let's just like eat all the nice things what's the science actually say let's get into specific20:59
I always start with fats because fats are almost never a part of this21:05
inflammation question unless we're talking about Omega-3s and Omega sixes21:10
most of our energy goes there it should go somewhere different if you look on the internet what we're going to think21:16
causes inflammation is seed oils we're going to talk about why that's not true later on in the presentation what21:22
actually contributes to inflammation is too much fat in general particularly21:29
saturated fats which come from red meat tropical oils like coconut and palm and21:36
high-fat Dairy when it comes to sugars again people say sugar is inflammatory21:42
anything that turns into sugar like grains like fruit is inflammatory no no no what actually21:49
causes inflammation is a again a pattern this isn't your you know birthday cake21:56
in a week of generally nutrient-dense eating this is a pattern of hyper processed carbs so when most of the22:03
foods you consume are conveniences are really carb rich or22:10
fast foods and excess added sugars that's a pattern that's going to22:15
contribute more to inflammation it's not about one food something else that we22:20
generally don't talk about with respect to inflammation is fiber and we know that low fiber diets are associated with22:28
increased inflammation and most of us in North America are consuming what would22:34
be described as a low fiber diet the average intake of fiber in North America is about 15 grams a day whereas the22:41
evidence suggests that we should be consuming between 25 and 38 grams a day if we're under 50 years of age we need22:49
our diet to be high in fiber as well as high and fermentable carbohydrates to22:54
feed the beneficial bacteria we talked about why bacteria are important this is why one of the reasons why fiber and23:02
whole plant foods are so important is because when we feed beneficial bacteria23:07
those beneficial bacteria keep our digestive tract strong they make those short chain fatty acids and all of this23:13
starts to make a little bit more sense and then finally phytochemicals so when23:19
we eat whole plant Foods fruits vegetables nuts seeds legumes um whole grains there we go I23:26
got them all they all contain naturally occurring compounds that have antioxidant and23:34
anti-inflammatory actions and this isn't about extracting something and putting it in a pill because generally those23:40
things don't work very well but when we are consuming again a pattern of foods23:45
that are high in these phytochemicals all those little positive influences add23:51
up to help us lessen inflammation so this is probably the23:57
time where we should talk about added sugars versus natural sugars because I know there's a lot of confusion here it24:03
is very important for you to know that even in diabetes there is no guideline24:10
or recommendation for limiting the naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables none none24:18
whatsoever however there are very solid guidelines and very solid evidence for24:24
reducing added sugars what's an added sugar it's not what you might expect24:29
this includes things like fruit juice concentrates honey maple syrup coconut24:34
sugar I see as a dietitian but also as a recipe developer I see online so often24:39
oh here eat my healthy cookies they're not made with refined sugar but instead24:45
they have two cups of coconut sugar well two cups of coconut sugar versus two cups of cane sugar it's the same thing24:51
right as a dietitian I want to see you consume fewer added sugars in total and24:57
diabetes Canada recommends no more than 10% of calories from added sugars over the course of your day and another25:04
recommendation that I love because I don't typically um promote calorie counting in my own practice is a a hard25:12
sort of like teaspoon or gram limit on sugars so the American Heart Association25:18
recommends no more than nine teaspoons daily or if you're looking at nutrition fax panels 36 grams of sugars for larger25:27
more active bodies which we typically describe as men and then six teaspoons daily or 24 grams of added sugars for25:34
smaller less active bodies or women and as I sort of alluded to before25:40
how we eat is not just about providing nutrients for our bodies how we eat also25:47
impacts the bacteria living in your gut and there's this saying you are what you eat right so you are what you eat you25:54
digest you absorb it into your bloodstream but we only digest and absorb between 80 to 95% of all the food26:02
and drinks we consume what happens to that 5 to 20% it26:08
travels through your digestive tract and anything that travels through your digestive tract gets exposed to your gut26:15
bacteria and anything your gut bacteria get exposed to they can be transformed by it they're either going to eat it or26:22
not eat it and that will determine which kind of bacteria want to call you home26:27
we talked about how those bacteria are so important for the health of your digestive barrier but also how your26:32
nervous system and immune system remember immune system is inflammation26:37
how both of those systems function and so when we talked about fat and we talked about how most people are26:44
concerned with Omega-3s and Omega sixes and we're going to clarify that later but why we should be more concerned with26:51
saturated fat which nobody talks about with respect to inflammation here's one26:56
of the reasons why this can be an issue High saturated fat diets can increase LPS in27:04
circulation remember how we talked about that LPS those lipopolysaccharides that can be on the outer skin of bacteria and27:12
how those can Stoke inflammation consuming high saturat so27:17
lots of high fat Dairy lots of red meat lots of hyper processed foods high in27:22
saturated fat they can increase the amount of the LPS that gets into your27:29
bloodstream and when that happens the body recognizes that as foreign and it27:35
attacks it with inflammation so the thing that you need to know because there's a lot of science here and I like27:42
to share the science because I think when we understand the why we're more27:47
motivated for the what I could say just eat your fruits and vegetables I mean is that new when was the last time you27:52
heard a dietitian tell you to eat your fruits and vegetables right but when you see oh the fruits and vegetables contain27:58
fiber they also contain fermentable carbohydrates those feed the bacteria28:04
those keep my digestive system strong and keep inflammation at Bay in the28:10
immune system then you start to see how this all comes together so what do you actually need to remember here you want28:17
to eat the food that feeds the kind of bacteria you want more of in your gut and good bugs like plants high fiber28:25
high and fermentable carbohydrates the stuff that makes you gassy it's true a little bit of gas is totally normal and28:32
a very good thing so yes I want to close this by28:39
saying yes Canadians generally do eat too many added sugars but no sugar is28:44
not toxic or inflammatory like I said before a teaspoon of sugar in your salad28:50
dressing to make your salad super delicious so you want to eat more salad28:55
that's a very good thing it does doesn't work like a magic eraser to take away all the health29:02
benefits so let's get into myths now like the no carb diet that's me29:09
walking away and this very unpopular fact but29:14
this is fact based in decades of science our blood sugars are supposed to rise it29:23
was how we were biologically designed and so we get into a little bit of29:30
tricky territory when we have diabetes because yes our blood sugars are meant to rise but if our blood sugars rise too29:37
much if we are insulin resistant if we are chronically high blood sugar that's29:45
also an inflammatory state that increases our risk of side effects things like cardiovascular disease or29:51
nerve damage later on so what's the sweet spot for us and how do we determine the foods we need to stay in29:58
that sweet spot one of the tools that has been given to us in the research is30:05
glycemic index and glycemic load and I've seen this being co-opted on the30:13
internet to provide a lot of misleading30:18
advice and incorrect advice and so let's get into it what is the GI or glycemic30:24
index it measures the blood sugar rise over time for a given food and so the GI30:32
of a food is always for a reference amount so it's the same weight of30:37
food and then you go over time right so like one hour or two hours and a high GI30:44
food is going to cause blood sugars to rise up really fast and then to crash in30:51
theory and that's the important Point here and low GI carbs are going to give30:56
you a little sustained bump so it makes sense okay low GI we probably want and high GI we31:04
probably don't want right except the problem with high GI versus31:11
what is known as glycemic load which measures the actual glycemic31:17
impact of a food is that there are foods that are high GI that don't actually raise your blood31:24
sugars a lot things like carrots or watermelon and the reason for31:31
that is that the glycemic load measures the potential of the food to raise your31:37
blood sugars like the glycemic index against how many carbohydrates are31:44
actually in that serving so yes if you ate like a whole like a couple of pounds31:52
of carrots or watermelon that's going to be a high GI and a lot of carbo hydrate31:58
and that would actually increase your blood sugars quite a bit but most of us eat just a little bit and that little32:05
bit doesn't actually have a lot of carbohydrate so it doesn't actually raise our blood sugars that much and low32:12
gii SL low glycemic low nutrition is evidence-based in diabetes however we32:19
also need to consider the total dietary effect because we generally don't eat32:25
Foods in isolation except for maybe a random apple or a small handful of32:32
carrots the other thing we need to think about is the hacks you see on the32:37
internet are probably not what you want to follow in addition to people who are32:43
talking about blood sugars Rising as always being a bad thing remember your32:48
blood sugars Were Meant to rise alongside It is Well blood sugars are32:54
spiking spiking causes diabetes it doesn't and here's a hack to make sure33:00
that doesn't happen right they invent a problem they freak you out about it and33:06
then they give you a solution that is theirs and uniquely theirs and one of the hacks that's going around is33:11
drinking apple cider vinegar AKA ACV and33:16
it's become a popular internet hack the idea that you drink uh some apple cider vinegar before a meal to lower your33:23
blood sugars in reality after acid is there's always there's always a kernel of Truth33:30
here acid is one of four factors that helps to lower the glycemic impact of a33:35
meal the factors are acid but also protein fiber and fat so when we build a33:44
meal we add some protein maybe a little bit of chicken maybe a little bit of33:50
lentils we have fiber from whole grains or vegetables we add a little bit of fat33:57
fat maybe it's a little bit of cooking oil or some avocado or some nuts and34:02
then yeah absolutely we can add some acid some fruits have high acidity but we can also add lemon juice or a little34:09
bit of vinegar sounds like a really delicious salad to me doesn't it you we34:14
in the process of making a balanced meal cons consider all four factors and you34:20
never have to choke down an actual shot of apple cider vinegar which in all34:26
honesty is also associated with some very real dangers not only is it really bad for your tooth enamel but it can34:32
also burn your esophagus and what the influencers don't tell you as they are sharing all of the success stories of34:40
their hacks they don't tell you about the people who have been harmed by it and that's a very real concern when34:46
you're consuming information on the internet so you need to know not only do you not need to choke down something34:52
that doesn't taste that delicious it's also not very safe for you34:57
the other one that's quite pervasive in this Camp of blood sugars rise is always bad are grains causing inflammation so35:06
one the blood sugars we talk about but two there's a lot of misinformation35:11
about things like gluten which is found in wheat barley and Rye or lectins which is found which are found in many plant35:18
Foods it is incorrect categorically35:23
unscientific and non-evidence-based that gluten causes inflammation in anyone except for35:30
those with celiac disease which is an autoimmune disease that has a gluten35:37
trigger and when we look at grains grains are not all the same thing there35:44
are hyper processed refined grain products which absolutely have a high35:49
glycemic index and a high glycemic load and we have grains in their most natural35:56
state which is whole we're talking about the quinoa the Millet the whole wheat36:01
bread the whole wheat pasta whole grains have a very different impact on our36:07
blood sugars than hyper processed and refined grains so we need to know that36:14
whole grains are absolutely associated in decades of research with a lower risk36:20
of chronic disease and decreased inflammation because high fiber foods like whole grains feed the microbiome36:28
high fiber whole grains help moderate you know that nice little sustained bump in blood sugar high fiber grains help36:36
produce that and high fiber hole grains are generally more nutrient-dense they are also much richer in protein than we36:42
realize another factor that moderates blood sugars they contain tons of B36:47
vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc again to help support our metabolism so36:53
that it responds appropriately to the foods we eat36:58
and nope I told you I was coming back to this one seed oils do not cause inflammation 15 years ago when I got my37:06
start as a dietitian we were on about this seed oil thing and I have to admit that myself based on the evidence at the37:13
time was convinced that consuming more omega-6 fatty acids which we find not37:20
just in seed oils but in meat as well as whole grains and almost all nuts and37:25
seeds were potentially pro-inflammatory 15 years later we have so much more37:32
evidence to confirm not only are omega-6 fats and the foods that they contain37:39
them like seed oils not only are they not inflammatory we have data to show that37:46
omega-6 Rich oils like sunflower seed oil and canola oil are actually37:51
anti-inflammatory particularly when we replace hyper processed refined High GI37:59
carbohydrate Foods or saturated fats with omega-6 oils and this is really38:06
important because there is an enormous amount of Wellness elitism that constantly finds fault with38:14
foods that are affordable and available to all like sunflower and canola oils if38:21
you can't afford avocado oil or you can't afford olive oil these Foods foods38:27
are absolutely affordable and will not contribute to inflammation so we can all38:33
exhale breathe a s of relief and know that we're doing a good thing for our bodies so let's talk about now that38:40
we've sort of like gone through the theory we've seen the science we've talked about some myths what can you38:46
actually do in your diet today and in an ongoing basis to help lessen chronic38:52
inflammation let's get into it the first thing you need to know is that there are very few rules in nutrition good38:59
nutrition is 100% individualized so even everything that I39:04
say here although it is evidence-based may or may not be right for you a classic example I encourage people to39:12
consume a lot of nuts and seeds because they're very nutritious but what if you have a peanut allergy that's the39:18
individualization peanuts are not right for you because you have an allergy but perhaps you can consume almonds or39:24
perhaps you can consume pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds it's really important to get individualized advice whenever we39:31
can because that's what going to be what's best suited for you now having said that there are a couple of global39:39
rules that are always correct always always always things like drink water39:44
for example and the first and most important rule which I've already mentioned a couple times in this39:49
presentation is pattern over plate and this is the kind of plate to39:55
make your pattern most often again it's about most of the time not about hard40:01
rigid rules that we have to adhere to 247 365 and this again seems like such a40:08
dietition thing that it must not be effective or powerful but it's deeply40:15
evidence-based this is what we call the plate method no counting calories no counting grams of anything if you can40:23
adhere to the plate method most often it is the most profound way to help you40:29
balance your blood sugars and ensure that your meals are nutritionally balanced half your plate fruits and40:36
vegetables a quarter of your plate proteins and a quarter of your plate whole grains and starchy vegetables and40:43
then a little dot there because you want to have a little bit of fat in there to help moderate blood sugars and improve40:48
flavor of the meal and improve fat soluble nutrient absorption when you do this it's not40:55
about never eating a high gii food it's not about any other rules in nutrition41:02
Good Foods bad foods it's about creating a better energy balance more nutrient dense versus41:09
energy dense getting that protein fiber and fat in there for blood sugar balance41:14
and providing adequate nutrition the second rule of nutrition41:20
just eat more plants we get into this well I eat this way and I eat that way and this is me41:27
and that's you no matter how you eat really you don't got to put a label on it wherever you are on the spectrum of41:36
plant-based eating just shift towards more plants it is so profound in terms41:44
of increasing nutrient density increasing fiber increasing fermentable41:50
carbohydrates and it's important to not get this one twisted because one of the41:55
biggest challenges after 15 years of counseling people in nutrition is that one of the biggest42:03
challenges we face in making personal nutrition choices is something called42:09
nutritionism and this is the idea that we get caught up in the minutia of this42:15
nutrient or that nutrient or this good food or this bad food and we lose the42:20
forest for the trees we abandon these kind of boring42:25
traditional but evidence-based habits and strategies like the plate method or like eating42:32
more plants for the shiny hack right so instead of saying oh I'm going to use42:37
the plate method I'm going to consume my oats with some frozen berries which are42:44
high in fiber that's increasing my fruit and vegetable I'm going to add some42:49
healthy fat in the form of peanut butter or maybe some ground flax that will also42:55
increase fiber to balance my blood sugars instead we look on the internet and someone says oh I don't like oats43:02
because they're carbs and they make your blood sugar Spike no that's not the case stick to the tried and true and don't43:09
get caught up in that minutia the other thing that I see in private practice is43:15
that we tend to you know we can have these conversation what is the rule eat43:21
more whole plant Foods fruits vegetables nuts seeds whole grain43:27
and then I get questions saying okay so tell me about the breakfast cereal that I should eat43:32
which one has the most fiber tell me which cracker is healthier tell me which granola bar is healthier um tell me43:39
which like packaged side dish is healthier and do you see what's happening here absolutely these foods43:47
can play a role in our life they're convenient and they can be nutritious and I'm not saying we don't eat them but43:53
we forget about the oh I could just eat an apple right now with a little bit of peanut butter but I look for the you44:01
know the granola bar instead or well I could just you know buy this salad kit44:09
and like have these ready-made vegetables and have a nice salad on the side instead you're like okay so what44:15
sort of like Side Package side dish should I buy fruits vegetables nuts seeds whole44:23
grains in their whole form as much as possible these are not they don't have44:28
any fancy marketing on the package to continue to remind you how good for you they are and we tend to get really44:36
caught up in marketing and a shiny package that says high in fiber or high in protein but we forget that the whole44:42
foods are where it's at and that's the foundation of a nutritious44:48
diet so let's talk about fiber a little more because fiber is considered a protective factor in type two diabetes44:54
and there are also many different fibers with plant foods which again if you're like okay so what fiber supplement45:00
should I take or which fiber enriched cracker should I consume we want to get45:06
our fiber ideally from a variety of whole plant Foods because there are so many different fibers with so many45:12
different activities some sweep the gut clear keep you moving some help bind45:19
stuff like cholesterol to help you remove it from the body and flush it out some feed your gut bacteria some keep45:25
you full and satisfi if IED and your blood sugar is more stable so if we're just trying to get that from a single45:31
isolated supplement we're going to lose all of the other benefits of a variety45:36
of fiber so we want to think of Whole Foods first and foremost and then a45:42
variety of Whole Foods and what does a high-fiber day actually look like it's a lot simpler45:49
than you think so I wanted to give this option you know like a very simple breakfast two pieces of spread of GRA45:55
bread with peanut butter and sliced Apple that doesn't look like an unusual breakfast right pretty normal you know a46:01
higher fiber bread is going to get you there or a lunch a nice sweet potato with lentil and spinach salad again as a46:08
snack instead of like a granola bar thing just grab a little handful of almonds super high protein fiber46:16
vitamins really nutrient dense it's going to keep your blood sugars balanced and then like an easy chicken curry with46:22
some brown rice and some frozen broccoli because again when it comes to I talked a little bit about46:28
affordability Frozen fruits and vegetables are incredible and we live in a Northern country where not everything46:34
is in season all year round Frozen is a very great nutritious option that is46:39
often more affordable than fresh and I want you to embrace that the other thing to embrace and really helps with respect46:47
to variety is eat in season because when things are in season they are more46:53
abundant and the price is lower so you know we don't eat strawberries in46:58
January because they're too expensive for example and like in the cooler months that's when we're looking at root47:03
vegetables like rutabagas and sweet potatoes and celery root like all these47:09
things are Granny's used to prepare we need to get back into them they're incredibly nutrient dense they're very47:15
affordable they're locally grown like it's a win-win all around the other thing we want to talk47:22
about in terms of making choices we want to watch sat ated fat we want to watch47:28
excess added sugars and salt so we talked about this already so this is really about um eating less fried food47:36
less butter less cheese fewer high-fat red meats and keeping sugar sweetened47:42
beverages uh wa like to a minimum if at all watching your baked goods watching47:49
packet Pat pack package snacks sometimes you just get tongue tied after half an47:54
hour and keeping your dessert erts moderate this isn't about saying no forever remember pattern over48:02
plate and then of course extra credit I mentioned this once before and I'll reiterate it now food doesn't work like48:09
a magic eraser no one food will lower inflammation without addressing the whole dietary pattern but we do have48:17
some data on some particularly interesting foods that have anti-inflammatory activi so if you want48:23
to include them as part of your whole plant food dietary pattern it definitely48:30
couldn't hurt the first category is flavonoid rich foods flavonoids are a48:35
type of phytochemical that we have quite a bit of research to support their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory48:42
nature these are things like berries coffee yes coffee maybe without seven48:48
pounds of sugar and cream in it but the coffee itself is not a harmful beverage48:54
it's a bean extract it's a plant food cocoa green tea onions apples all of49:00
those foods are rich in flavonoids spices and aromatics things like turmeric ginger garlic dried parsley are49:09
particularly high in phyto chemicals but honestly get your spice drawer open and49:16
stop measuring in sprinkles start measuring in spoons everything from cumin to Cinnamon to chili powder all49:24
spices and herbs are really beneficial they also make healthy food taste49:30
incredible so be heavy-handed with your spices and herbs and then yes finally we49:36
talk about omega-3 we sort of talked about the Omega 6 piece of it and how we don't need to worry about49:43
omega-6's because we know that seed oils do contribute to anti-inflammatory diet49:48
patterns but let's talk about Omega-3s quickly omega-3 fatty acids are an49:54
essential fatty acids when we say essential that means we need to consume them our body doesn't make them and50:01
there aren't a lot of foods that are high in omega-3 fats so essentially cold water oily fish like salmon mackerel50:08
sardines and seeds such as hemp flax and chia and so in the research now we see50:17
that as long as you get enough omega-3 fatty acids that appears to be much more50:22
important than avoiding omega-6 fats for maintain Ming that inflammatory50:27
balance which is why I created something called the daily three and I love this50:33
it's just a really simple positive nutrition strategy to help you get more50:38
nutrition into your day my daily three are Omega-3 Rich seeds green leafy50:44
vegetables and beans and lentils we already talked about why the omega-3 Rich seeds are important try to50:50
get two to three tablespoons a day flax is the most cost effective of the bunch50:56
if you buy whole flax it's literally pennies of serving and then you can grind it yourself in an old coffee51:04
grinder and it's a wonderful way to uh get Omega-3s and some helpful fiber and51:09
minerals into your life green leafy vegetables literally if it is green and51:15
leafy everything from bok choy to arugula to broccoli to dandelion greens51:21
try and work your way up to two cups daily if you can Frozen spinach is the absolute win here by frozen spinach51:28
without any seasonings or sauces if you've ever seen how much51:34
spinach wilts down into nothing frozen spinach is the hack a hack you can51:39
actually use because it's already sort of like preconcentrated and really really affordable then I would say you51:45
don't need two cups but a half a cup of frozen spinach maybe a cup if you're feeling saucy is an incredible51:51
nutrient-dense addition to meals and then beans and lentils you know many cultures depending on your background51:57
already have like a really hearty Reliance on beans and lentils others don't consume them at all and I would52:05
like to encourage you to consume them you want to start slow though if you're new to beans and lentils eat just a52:10
quarter cup a day because they're very strong fibers and fermentable52:16
carbohydrates so you want to ensure that you let your digestive system adjust and52:21
then you only increase your dose as your body uh gets used to them so here we go what do you need to52:29
know what's the news you can use chronic inflammation is a key feature in diabetes and it can make blood sugar52:35
regulation difficult but how we eat can influence inflammation through blood sugar balance and immun supportive52:41
nutrients and feeding our good gut bacteria use the plate method and the52:46
daily three as your simple and evidence-based hacks for better52:52
nutrition and eat more whole nutrient dense plant Foods rely on inexpensive52:58
Stables like dried beans rely on frozen vegetables all of these things are53:03
incredibly nutritious and make it easier to eat well and if you saw all that and53:09
you've got questions well I've got answers for you on November 18th for the live Q&A so I hope you will join me53:16
thank you so much for taking this time out of your day to get nerdy about nutrition with me I hope you've learned53:22
something new and interesting and helpful and I look forward to seeing you at the live53:32
[Music] Q&A
Category Tags: Diet & Nutrition, General Tips, Healthy Living;