Beyond Diet

Ok, me and you are going to get quite personal today. I know, I know, you don't even know me that well...hahaha...but today I want to share with you a bit of a frightening experience I had several years ago that may be of great benefit to you. It's kind of embarrassing to tell, but since I know it's happened to so many other people, I’ll go for it... Have you ever had a bowel movement and been completely shocked by what came out? I mean so shocked you were like, "Yikes, what in the world?" Well for me, the shock came because I started noticing whole pieces of food in my poop. I'm talking like entire leaves of kale, blueberries, and even pieces of carrots. It was almost as if I was eating these foods and they were going through my body whole. How in the world could that happen? Well, I'm sure you've heard people say in the past, You are what you eat But this statement is actually not true. What it should say is, You are what you digest And simply eating a food does NOT guarantee your body is going to have the ability to digest it. "Isabel, what do you mean? Like my digestive system doesn't work?" Well, no. I'm not suggesting your digestive system is out on vacation, but it may NOT be pumping out the necessary enzymes you need to assimilate and digest all the healthy food you are consuming. Our bodies naturally produce a long list of enzymes to aid in the digestion process, but, due to age, stress, an unbalanced diet, poor eating habits, and exposure to artificial food additives, colors and preservatives, it is extremely common for our bodies to no longer produce the necessary amounts of each enzyme to properly digest and use the food we eat. The biggest culprit is STRESS. That is what had happened to me. I was living in New York City at the time. Trying to advance my career, trying to pay my bills, not sleeping much, and my stress level was just through the roof! That nasty load of stress was enough to make my digestive system go a bit wacky and I was just not digesting food (and this was obvious by the fact that it was showing up in pieces in my poop). The other common cause of this is aging. This one we can't do as much about. As we age, our production of digestive enzymes tend to be less and less. Of course, if you continue to make good health choices and eat wholesome foods, your loss of enzymes will be much less than someone who chooses the unhealthy route. But the inevitable is, my and your digestion is not quite where it was 10, 20, 30 years ago. So why does it even matter? Besides having whole chunks of food in your poop being pretty disgusting, how else is this affecting your body? It's affecting your health in more ways than I have time to write about in one newsletter, but the most important one is MALNUTRITION. If your body is malnourished, you are going to feel lethargic, sleepy, and cranky on most days. You know what else will happen if you're malnourished? You'll be hungry! I see this often with people who say, "I eat so much healthy food, but I'm still hungry all the time. What gives?" Many times these people are making all the right choices, but their bodies do not have the proper enzymes needed to digest all the food they're eating. How frustrating! What are we to do? Here are my top 3 tips for making sure you are digesting the foods you are eating and benefiting from their nutrients with each bite. 1. Stay away from those foods and products that are going to have a negative impact on your body’s ability to produce digestive enzymes. As listed above, artificial food additives, colors and preservatives are the worst culprits. Next on that list would be hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. Stop putting stuff in your body that's not going to allow it to function at its best and give it fuel that is going to keep it running like a fine tuned machine. 2. Chew, chew, chew your food. I know what it's like to "inhale" a meal. I have 2 kids under the age of 4 and, sometimes, if I'm not paying attention, I have literally swallowed a piece of steak whole (which I do NOT recommend). Make sure you're taking the time to chew every piece of food you put in your mouth, maybe even put the fork down a few times! Digestion begins in your mouth and you want to have your food be mush before it goes into your stomach. 3. Use a quality digestive enzyme at every meal OR for meals that are a bit larger and heavier, or during times of stress. My life is pretty hectic and with my history of poor digestion (most likely due to extremely unhealthy eating habits in my childhood and high stress levels in my 20s), I choose to use a digestive enzyme 3 times per day. The biggest difference I have seen is that I am satisfied and full with my meals for several hours after each meal. Of course, my food choices are healthy, but now I have peace of mind knowing my body is actually digesting the healthy food I'm giving it. But, I should tell you, finding the right digestive enzyme blend was no easy feat. Some were good, some were bad (and a waste of money), and I never found one that was right where I needed it to be...an effective combination that would take care of digesting proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and everything else in between. It just so happens I know some really trustworthy folks who approached me not too long ago about what I would really want in a digestive enzyme product. I was actually honored that they came to me, even though I know them pretty well. They know how unbelievably strict I am with the quality of anything I recommend and really respected that. So I worked with them on formula after formula until I was 100% satisfied with their formulation. Do you know how I knew I was fully satisfied? I did all of the testing on myself. Yes, I always use myself as the human guinea pig before I make any recommendations to you. The company that I worked with is the renowned nutrition company BioTrust Nutrition, and the digestive enzyme product that resulted is called AbsorbMax. I now take AbsorbMax every day with each meal (3 a day). Even after I was 100% sure, I still waited 90 days of consistently using the product before I allowed myself to tell anyone about it. Finally I am super excited to share this information with you, and I even convinced the folks at BioTrust to offer my subscribers a really cool Buy 2, Get 1 Free discount along with free shipping on every order for the next few days. Just use the coupon code bdfree at checkout to get free shipping on your entire order. Isabel's own Digestive Enzyme – Special Offer This Week Only In order to ensure you are properly digesting your food, I strongly recommend using the 3 tips I shared with you and making digestive enzymes an integral part of your healthy routine. Get the digestive enzymes I personally use below, and be sure to use the coupon code bdfree at check out to secure free shipping on your entire along with your Buy 2, Get 1 Free discount. Get Your Beyond Diet Approved Digestive Enzyme Here In health and happiness,