Health and Nutrition
Juliana’s Health Was Ruined When She Consumed Three Health Foods Excessively.
She explained how so-called health foods led to digestive discomfort, excessive fat gain, insulin resistance, and metabolic disorders.
Who could have thought the love of bread, juicing, and fiber supplementation could cause so much grief?
Coming from a Spanish background, Juliana grew up in a family that ate three meals a day, mainly using a Mediterranean type of diet, including vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, and healthy fats.
Her mum mainly used to cook with olive oil and sometimes with butter for specific meals. They didn’t have the concept of snacks in the 1970s. She regrettably started snacking and supplementing nutrients in the mid-1980s by the influence of her friends.
Interestingly, until the 1980s, she experienced no digestive issues or weight problems. Juliana was accepted to a prestigious university in another city, to her excitement.
She left home to pursue her studies. She made many friends and joined various social circles.
Life was intense with studying her favorite discipline, nutrition science. She desired to become a scientist changing the world’s eating habits for healthier diets.
A majority of her friends were following sole plant foods. She started as a vegetarian and became a strict vegan cutting all animal foods.
Juliana said there was nothing wrong with being a vegetarian or a vegan. However, she mentioned three mistakes that ruined her metabolism and caused severe health issues.
When I asked her what they were, she said excessive plant juices, whole bread, and supplemental fibers. Let me summarize our conversations so you can get some valuable insights.
Fruit and Vegetable Juices
As a qualified and holistic nutritionist, Juliana said for many years, we blindly believed that fruit and vegetable juices were healthy drinks without questioning the molecules creating havoc in our metabolism in concentrated and excessive amounts.
She was a fan of Tony Robbins in the mid-1980s. His recommendation of fruit juice in the morning and 20 minutes before tough meetings in the book “Awaken The Giant Within” grabbed her attention. Tony said the best investment would be a juicer at home.
Juliana bought the most expensive juicing machine contributed by her flatmates, believing a juicer would be the best investment for their health. She said while some advice from Tony worked in her professional development, this specific point was detrimental to her health. I asked her why.
Juliana loved the effects of fruit so much and decided to become a fruitarian for a while. Anecdotes of some fitness enthusiasts inspired her without questioning their credibility and motives.
The problem, in her words, was her unawareness and lack of knowledge about essential nutrients which did not exist in fruits. Not understanding the detrimental effects of high blood glucose in those days had led to insulin resistance and metabolic disorders for her and her flatmates. Their metabolism got sluggish.
I asked her what was wrong with concentrated fruit and vegetable juices.
In addition to excessive glucose in the bloodstream, she said toxic plant molecules such as lectins, oxalates, glycosides, phytotoxins, mycotoxins, solanines, furocoumarins, including various neurotoxins and cytotoxins, caused her digestive and immunity issues.
She said these natural toxins in small amounts, when consumed with whole vegetables and fruits, would not create a problem, but concentrated and excessive amounts in juices passed her threshold.
Therefore, she and her friends had severe issues with juicing. After an hour of drinking fruit or veggie juice, they felt excessive hunger and experienced mood swings due to blood sugar fluctuations.
As a holistic nutritionist, she does not advise her clients to juice. Instead, she recommends eating several servings of vegetables and fruits in their diet, balanced with adequate bioavailable proteins and healthy fats. She regretted reducing protein and entirely cutting healthy fats in her diet in her younger years.
Wholemeal and Multigrain Bread
Juliana loved bread. Her mum and grandparents used to bake bread which she adored in her childhood. The smell and taste of bread created robust neural pathways in her brain.
Whenever her family visited a restaurant, they ordered bread and butter before the main meal. However, she hadn’t experienced issues with eating bread in her younger years.
During her studies at the college, she learned about wholemeal bread as her lecturers and friends said they were a healthier alternative with low GI, low FODMAP, and less gluten.
Since she believed wholemeal bread was healthier, she consumed them excessively to satisfy her hunger as she did not consume enough proteins and healthy fats. Therefore, she ate wholemeal bread even before starting the main meal. Later she included multigrain bread.
Interestingly, the more wholemeal and multigrain bread she consumed, her belly grew prominent. Her friends were the same. They went to the free gym in their school.
In addition, they joined the running club, but their belly did not stop growing. Their lecturers advised them to eat less and exercise more. Unfortunately, the advice did not work because she couldn’t handle her hunger due to increasing her exercise.
The more physical training she did, the hungrier she felt. As her stress levels accumulated, she couldn’t distinguish between emotional and physical hunger anymore.
Supplementary Fiber as Tablet and in Smoothies
Juliana said she was an idiot, thinking she needed more fiber even though her plant-based diet had already included excessive fiber.
However, as her lecture notes informed her about the criticality of fiber for health, she decided to consume supplementary soluble and insoluble fiber in tablet format. Moreover, she added fiber powder to her fruit and vegetable smoothies.
She said cardiologists recommended fiber. However, as they were credible professionals saving people’s lives, she never questioned the effects of excessive fiber in the digestive system.
Later she understood that medical professionals did not do nutritional research themselves, but they utilized study results conducted by nutrition scientists and clinical dieticians and made their recommendations based on the nutrition research.
This awareness led her to investigate fiber. The more she researched, the more problem she identified in nutrition science. Many papers she read were biased and funded by food and supplement companies.
Juliana still believes in the importance of adequate fiber from food, but she does not recommend fiber supplements to her clients. When she stopped fiber supplementation, her digestive issues improved.
She was amazed when she learned that some cultures like the Inuits survived without fiber. When I told Juliana my diet did not include fiber, and I did not supplement it, she was surprised and decided to explore the topic as part of her belated Ph.D. program.
I suggested that she watch this video by Dr Paul Mason that summarizes the credible research on the effects of fiber in our digestive system. I wished Juliana to create a compelling thesis on this murky topic.
Conclusions and Takeaways
These three so-called health foods caused Juliana to gain excessive fat and made her insulin resistant at a young age. I was not surprised as this happened to me too.
Like Juliana, I used to drink a liter of fruit juice and another liter of vegetable juice made of parsley, celery, spinach, and kale. However, as a lover of plants, I neglected avocados due to fear of fat. On the other hand, Juliana loves avocados as they are her natural fiber and healthy fat sources.
Like her, I used to eat a lot of bread at home and in restaurants. In addition to consuming three servings of vegetables, fruits, and loaves of bread, I was supplementing with fiber, believing that it would be good for my health.
Unfortunately, like Juliana, I gained significant weight, ruined my digestive system, and became insulin resistant. Cutting proteins and healthy fat was a big mistake for Juliana and me growing our visceral fat and unbalancing our hormones.
Knowledge is power. However, practicing what we learn makes a real difference in our desired results. Both Juliana and I learned a lot with our curious minds and took the courage to challenge the status quo, and designed our lifestyle based on our needs.
Like Juliana, I believe in balance in nutrition and exercise. Anything excessive or deficient can cause unnecessary problems and create undesirable situations.
Juliana mainly follows a plant-based diet that suits her lifestyle. And I follow an animal-based diet, which helps me thrive. We respect each other’s lifestyles.
When she visits me, I offer her vegetables, and I visit her she sets the barbecue in her backyard for me. I don’t consume alcohol anymore, but Juliana still drinks a half glass of wine for pleasure and other reasons.
Our common denominator is having customized diets meeting our nutritional needs covering essential nutrients such as amino acids, healthy fats, minerals, and vitamins. After suffering many years, we are now insulin sensitive and have excellent metabolic flexibility. As a result, we both managed to keep a healthy weight despite our mature ages.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. Taking personal responsibility for our health and longevity is essential. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
Disclaimer: Please note that this post does not include health advice. I shared my conversations, observations, experience, and perspectives for information purposes only. If you have disease symptoms, please consult your healthcare professionals.
If you enjoyed this story, you might check this recent piece titled How a Single-Mum Reversed Her Obesity and Built up a Unicorn Business. I wish you a healthy and happy life. I shared similar life lessons from friends in the attached collection.
Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers
I aim to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
One of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Major Diseases.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
Disclaimer: Please note that my posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
If you enjoy writing and storytelling, you can join Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal as a creator to find your voice, reach out to a broad audience, and monetize your content.
You may also check my blog posts about my articles and articles of other writers contributing to my publications on Medium. I share them on my website digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 24K+ writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.
