"Green" Nutrition

Wiseman

Not what you might think.....

I've recently been exposed to a local nutritionist who is helping a friend, and my wife, with dietary and supplement adjustments to try and help health  issues...arthritis for my wife...anyway, I talked to her about our sport, my experience, my goals...

The gist of her recommendations are...cut out ANY soft drinks ( I WAS an addict, but I've broken this surprisingly ez), cut out artificial sweetners due to thier affect on nutrient absorption, focus on fruits and veggies, minimize animal protein and , finally, supplement with BarleyLife and related products to obtain key nutrients and antioxidants. The products are MLM, which I'm not crazy about but if they work, I get over that. Lastly, she has us both testing daily urine Ph, as she explained that slightly alkaline is better than acidic.

Good news is that I've created some great new habits....just wanted some nutrition WSM's to weigh in on the barley/leafgreens and Ph thing...thanks for any feedback.

penlynwilson

I'm glad to hear that you've got some great new habits nutrition-wise. Here are my thoughts:

- I don't believe the ph thing at all. The reason your urine changes ph is because that is one way your body adjusts its ph level. The ph of your urine is of. . .your urine, not your body.
- Overall, I'd ask her for the research articles that backup her recommendations. I'd be sure they were published in peer-reviewed journals and not done internal to a the company.
- I agree with minimizing artificial sweeteners, but not because they affect nutrient absorption. I haven't seen any research articles supporting this. I'm not saying they aren't there (I did a quick search), but I didn't see any.
- Not sure about minimzing animal protein. Animal-based proteins are the highest quality proteins out there - high quality, highly digestable, etc.
- I'm not sure why you need a supplement like BarleyLife for other key nutrients and antioxidants. Honestly, I've never understood how companies are able to squeeze tons of nutrients from whole foods into a powder or pill.

I would also investigate her credentials. There are a lot of great nutritionists out there. There also a lot of not great nutritionists. Anyone can call themselves a "nutritionist." Dietitians, on the other hand, have to have an undergraduate BS in Nutrition, go through an internship, then pass the national certification exam. We also have to maintain a certain number of continuing education hours. Dietitians are ethically bound to be evidence-based (base our recommendations on the research). This can be frustrating because the research lags behind.

Wiseman

Thanks Penny. Great stuff.

Wiseman

One more thing...I've noticed a HUGE difference in how my body feels after cutting out aspartame sweetened products...less headaches, far less aches and pains, quicker recovery from workouts. I'm eating more fruits and veggies, but removing aspartame from diet is single most dramatic change.

penlynwilson

William: I can totally understand that. I don't have research to back it up, but I think that all the processed, non-natural foods are not good for us. Our bodies evolved with foods that came from the ground and from animals. When we introduce foods that are chemically altered (like all the substitute sweeteners), our body says "what the heck is this?" and tries to deal with it the best it can. Getting this stuff out of our diets lets our bodies function as they were meant to.