Eat more vegetables for strong bones and a healthy body!

How many times have we heard this from so called health experts? 

In fact, from a young age we are told that vegetables are healthy and that they need to be consumed in order for optimal health.  Even cartoon shows such as Popeye filled us with the idea from an early age that if we eat all our spinach, we can be strong and healthy like Popeye.

Yet, as children, we instinctively dislike the taste of almost all vegetables and would not eat them if it were our decision.  Unfortunately, overtime, our natural instinct to dislike such foods becomes weathered as they are forced upon us at almost every meal.

A lot can be learned from children. They are completely innocent and have not yet been influenced by outside opinions.  They act solely on instinct and do what feels natural to them.  The fact that almost all kids hate vegetables upon first tasting them is not a coincidence, but is due to a very pure and sensitive palate.

With that all being said, those who suffer from digestive disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) may benefit from taking advice from children.  Maybe vegetables are not what they’re all cracked up to be.  In fact, perhaps those with digestive issues such as IBS could benefit from avoiding such foods.

The Problem With Vegetables

Here is the problem with vegetables; all vegetables contain extremely high amount of anti-nutrients which can cause damage to the intestinal lining.  When the intestines and mucosal lining become  damaged, this often leads high amounts of intestinal inflammation.  When this occurs, individuals will often suffer from chronic digestive disorders such as IBS.

Unfortunately, consuming high amounts of plant foods such as vegetables will almost always overwhelm the body with high amounts of anti-nutrients.  These anti-nutrients found in most vegetable foods typically consist of oxalates, goitrogens, and lectins.  However, when we expand into the plant kingdom and begin to include foods such as legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains, we can observe a dramatic increase the amount anti-nutrients.

Although cooking reduces the anti-nutrient content present in vegetables, it typically still doesn’t make much of a difference when an individual is suffering from a compromised digestive system due to IBS.  In fact, many with conditions such as IBS can be allergic to oxalates which can make their digestive symptoms much worse.

It should be mentioned that all store bought vegetables are a result of man made hybridization.  This simply means they do not occur naturally in nature.  For example, broccoli is part of the mustard family and comes from a genus of plants called brassica.

In nature, most the plants belonging to this genus are toxic in large amounts and are not something you would want to consume a lot of.  Yet, through man made hybridization, we have manipulated these plants to produce less toxic offspring.  However, the key word to notice here is less toxic, meaning these plants still can produce a toxic effect in the body.

Thyroid, IBS, and Vegetables

As well as being able to cause severe intestinal inflammation, vegetables can also contribute to thyroid disorders such as hypothyroid in the body.  In fact, if you eat lots of cruciferous vegetables, you are not only putting stress on your intestines, but your also slowly destroying the health of your thyroid.

This is because darky leafy green vegetables, that we are all told to eat more of, contain extremely high amounts of plant toxins in the form of goitrogens.  Research has confirmed that goitrogens can destroy the thyroid and can cause conditions such as hypothyroid (1).  Yet, we have health enthusiast eating copious amounts of green leafy cruciferous vegetables all in the name of health!

Furthermore, it’s well known that low iodine intake can enhance the damaging effects that goitrogens can have on the thyroid.  Interestingly, it’s been well known since the 1930’s that the soil in the United States was at risk of becoming depleted of essential minerals if changes were not made.  In fact, the famous Dr. Weston Price was one of the first to observe this and warned of the dangers that could follow if we continued down this path.

Unfortunately, when we fast forward to today, we can see that nothing was done.  In fact, almost all food now-a-days is grown on NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) soil.  Which simply means only three micro-nutrients are added back into the soil.

As a result, not only do individuals risk developing digestive orders with a higher vegetable intake, but the likelihood of developing a thyroid condition increases significantly in the presence of insufficient amounts of iodine and a high consumption of goitrogenic foods.

Are Vegetables Bad?

Despite all the negatives that come from eating vegetables, they aren’t necessarily bad.  In fact, when the gut is well balanced, these foods cause little to no problem in small amounts.  In fact, it should be mentioned that every single tribe and culture found living in a traditional setting always consumed some form of vegetation (except Eskimos).

However, the vegetables consumed by these people were definitely like nothing you would find in the supermarket.  Special preparation methods would have been taken in order to remove toxins and to increase the digestibility of these plant foods.

With that said, if you’re going to consume vegetables, always make sure they’re well cooked in some type of healthy animal fat.  This will help lower the toxic compounds in the vegetables and make them more digestible. 

However, if you suffer from conditions such as IBS, it may be in your best interest to avoid all forms of vegetables until the gut is properly healed.

The Best Diet for IBS

If you suffer from IBS, it’s important you follow a correct gut healing and IBS friendly style of eating.  This means consuming a diet that is rich in gut healing foods and low in gut irritating plant foods.  Luckily, we’ve gone over diet before and an outline of the best foods for IBS can be found on our Diet Protocol Page.

However, we cannot emphasis enough how important it is for those with IBS to be consuming high quality organic animal foods.  Animal foods are rich in the necessary vitamins, minerals, and amino acids needed for repair in the body.  In fact, animal foods contain ZERO anti-nutrients and will not cause intestinal inflammation.

Also, consuming bone broths with each meal can have an extremely therapeutic effect on the gut and can help seal the gut lining.  Broths can help attract digestive juices which can help in the facilitation of digestion.

Interestingly, bone broths can help the body stay hydrated due to its high amounts of naturally occurring electrolytes.  Again, a complete list of the most beneficial foods for IBS can be found on our Diet Protocol Page.

Begin Cooking Healthy Home Cooked Meals

If you suffer from IBS or any other digestive disorder, it’s extremely important that you begin to cook all your own meals.  This will lower the chance of consuming hidden ingredients that may irritate your IBS condition.

For those interested, we’ve created our Intestinal Health Cookbook to give people the tools they need in order to create tasty and gut friendly recipes.  Our cookbook contains over 20 different recipes which are both delicious and can be great for rebuilding the gut.

Try Fermented Vegetables

Instead of consuming vegetables with all of your meals, try consuming fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, miso, natto, and kimchi instead.  The fermentation process naturally reduces the anti-nutrient content present in the vegetables and makes them more easily digestible.  Also, raw fermented vegetables are an excellent source of live microorganisms (probiotics) that can help repopulate the gut.

In fact, it’s been estimated that one tablespoon of sauerkraut contains over 6 billion live microorganisms.  Traditionally, fermented foods always played a part in the diet.  It wasn’t until the invention of refrigeration that these foods stopped being a part of our diet.

When first trying fermented foods, it’s extremely important that you take it slow.  Start with as little as a teaspoon a day and slowly work your way up to higher levels.  This will give your body a chance to adjust to the new food.  Eating large amounts with no previous experience with fermented foods can shock the digestive system and lead to unwanted symptoms.