12 Days of Nutrition
Table of Contents
Nutrition Challenge
Nutrition is extremely important to oral 🦷 and overall health 💪. On our social media platforms, we did 12 days of nutrition challenge. We hope these tips will help you protect the health of your teeth and body.
If you find this article helpful please share these tips with your family and friends.
CHEW RAW VEGGIES🥬, FRUIT🍎, AND NUTS 🥜
- Proper chewing of raw and “tough” foods stimulates proper growth and development of the jaw, airways, and facial structures and aids in digestion.
- Chewing on healthy raw foods like carrots, celery, apples, and raw nuts to stimulate proper jaw growth. Also, chew your food thoroughly (30 times if you can) to support digestion.
ADD A VARIETY OF PLANTS TO YOUR DIET 🥬🍎🥜
( SHOOT FOR 7-8 SERVINGS PER DAY)
- This includes veggies, nuts, beans, seeds, herbs, spices, fruits, & grains.
- Research shows that diversity of plants in one’s diet is the greatest predictor of gut health and overall health.
- This is because the diversity of plants in your diet is directly correlated to the diversity of healthy bacteria in your gut!
- There are over 400,000 plants on the planet, and 300,000 of them are edible!!! Most americans eat a variety of 20 plants at best.
- Plants are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals, which all fight disease and promote overall health.
EAT THE RAINBOW! 🌈
- Phytochemicals are responsible for the different colors found in plant foods. These phytochemicals offer a variety of health benefits including improving immune function, protecting cells from cancer, reducing inflammation in the body, and helps regulate hormones, and much more!
- Eat the rainbow to ensure that you are getting all of the benefits of each different color!
ADD IN PLENTY OF HERBS AND SPICES 🌿
- Herbs and spices are nutritional powerhouses. Simply adding herbs and spices to your meals is a great way to add plant diversity to your meals and benefit your health in a variety of ways!
- Note that it is important to get organic herbs and spices. Conventional herbs and spices often have hidden sugar, fillers, and unwanted preservatives. Get organic to ensure you have the best quality herbs in your cabinet!
- BUDGETING TIP: use up the spices you have in your cupboard, and as you run out of them simply replace them with organic herbs and spices. Walmart and sprouts have organic herbs and spices for really cheap!
DON’T FEAR HEALTHY FATS 🥜🌱🥑
- Fats help your body and teeth to absorb all of the good vitamins and minerals found in plant foods. This is especially true for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. You can eat all the kale in the world, but if you aren’t eating it with fats you will be missing out on a lot of the nutrients in the kale. Vegetables plus healthy fats are the best combos!
- Good sources of healthy fats included: Nuts 🥜, seeds🌱, avocados🥑
- Extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter 🧈, unrefined coconut oil🥥, avocado oil🥑.
- Food sources of fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, & K: Grass-fed butter🧈. eggs🥚, cod liver oil, fish🐟, raw dairy products, sunlight, nuts🥜, seeds🌱, avocados🥑.
- AVOID refined vegetable and seed oils, and cheap dairy and butter.
LIMIT SUGAR AND PROCESSED FOODS 🚫🌭🍟
- Sugar and processed foods feed the bad bacteria in the gut and increase inflammation and disease in the body. Studies have shown that sugar suppresses the immune system for hours!
- Limiting processed foods and refined sugars and replacing them with more veggies and whole foods is one of the best ways to improve your health.
FEED YOUR GUT
- Get plenty of fiber (diversity of plants, flax seeds, chia seeds)
- Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha)
- Bone broth (Organic and grass-fed is best)
- High-quality probiotics & supplements if needed
The Fermentation Process:
- The fermentation process predigests the proteins in food including lactose and gluten, which makes them easier to digest and less of a burden on the digestive system. Fermentation will make it easier for you to digest dairy and gluten and makes these products healthy for your gut!
- Fermentation has been shown to help with autoimmune diseases & strengthen the immune system
- Helps you maintain a healthy weight through beneficial microbes
- Reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and overall illness Improved mood and brain activity
- Helps your body handle process sugar
- Reduces sore muscles
CONSIDER FASTING 💪
- Taking breaks from eating food allows the body to devote more energy to detoxification, immune function, digestion, cleaning the blood, and much more. It also benefits the teeth to have a break from sugar and acid so the mouth can rebalance and strengthen the teeth.
- Intermittent fasting can increase energy, improve mental clarity, aid in weight loss, and improve longevity.
- Fasting is NOT recommended for women of childbearing age as it can affect fertility by sending messages to your body that there is a famine and that it is not safe to reproduce. Intermittent fasting is a great option for men and older women who want more energy and weight loss.
WHY SUPPLEMENTS ARE NECESSARY 💊
Ideally, we would be able to get all of the nutrients we need from food.
Unfortunately, most of the food available to us today has been grown in very nutrient-depleted soil and sprayed with pesticides and chemicals. The fact is we live in a nutrient-depleted and toxic world, and our food is not what it used to be.
Because of this, it is extremely helpful to add good-quality supplements to your diet.
- Vitamin D+K
- A good multivitamin / mineral complex
- Omegas
- CoQ10
- Gut health: high quality probiotic + digestive enzymesERE
- Magnesium if you have any stiff muscles
- Make sure they are high quality supplements! We have the best quality available for your convenience at Total Care Dental
READ LABELS! 🏷️⚠️
- If a food has a label with ingredients you cannot pronounce, it is probably full of synthetic chemicals that aren’t good for you.
- Aim to only buy foods with 5 or fewer ingredients, and all ingredients that you can pronounce 🙂
- Eighty-three research studies have concluded that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables actually improves immune function.
- Conversely, a diet rich in processed foods and man-made sugars can suppress the immune system.
BUY ORGANIC / LOCAL WHEN POSSIBLE
- Buying local food from a farmer you trust, or growing food in your own garden is always the healthiest option, but that isn’t always possible. If you need to buy from a grocery store, it is important to know the difference between organic and non-organic foods.
- Why buy organic? Organic doesn’t mean a food is “healthy”, it just means that the food hasn’t been grown and processed with pesticides and chemicals. The chemicals in Roundup that kill the bugs in our food also kill the bacteria in our guts and can be harmful to our health. Glyphosate, for example, is the main ingredient in roundup and has been linked to various health problems. Glyphosate destroys the microbiome and can lead to gut and brain issues. And it’s sprayed on almost all of our food. Various studies have linked increased pesticide exposure to various health issues.
- As Dr. Michelle Jorgensen, DDS says: “I would rather eat a food that fills me with nutrients, than something that fills me with chemicals.”
- Biggest tip: always buy organic if it is close to the same price or cheaper. If you have to choose between buying organic vs. non-organic, follow the EWG’s “dirty dozen” and “clean 15” lists to know what to prioritize.
“DIRTY DOZEN LIST” PRODUCE TO ALWAYS BUY ORGANIC
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
OTHER THINGS TO GET ORGANIC:
- Grains: wheat, bread, pasta, oats, rice, quinoa, etc. (often doused in glyphosate)
- Nuts, seeds, and dried fruit
- Processed foods or anything with a barcode
- Animal products: meat, milk, yogurt, cheese
- Herbs and spices!! Non-organic herbs and spices often have tons of fillers, chemicals, and preservatives
FRUITS/ VEGGIES ON CLEAN 15 LIST- DON’T STRESS ABOUT THESE
- Avocados
- Sweet corn
- Pineapple
- Onions
- Papaya
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Eggplants
- Asparagus
- Cauliflower
- Cantaloupes
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Cabbage
- Honeydew melon
- Kiwi
- Fruits and veggies that you wash thoroughly
- Any products you don't breathe, eat or apply to your skin
EAT-IN SEASON WHEN POSSIBLE! 🌱🌻🍂❄️
- Nature gives us foods in each season depending on what our bodies need. In the winter, nature provides foods that are warming, filling, and that strengthen the immune system to get your body through the winter months. Nature is pretty amazing!
- Foods in season in December: root vegetables, winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, celery root, pomegranates, oranges, citrus. include warming herbs and spices.
- Good quality animal products to include: grass-fed beef and bone broth, grass-fed butter, pasture-raised organic chicken, eggs, and poultry, full-fat organic milk, and yogurt
HEALTH IS MORE THAN JUST NUTRITION.
FOCUS ON THE OTHER THINGS IN LIFE THAT NOURISH YOU
- Family, rest, joy, spirituality, stillness, hobbies, friendships, etc.
- True health is not stressful or restrictive- health should be expansive and joyful!
- Food is more than fuel. It can be medicine. But it is also family, community, celebration, joy, & food that connects us as the human family. You can always make & choose healthier options & enjoy treats in moderation.
- Don’t let “being healthy” keep you from living your life & spending time with those you love.
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Nutrition is extreamly import to oral 🦷 and overal health 💪 and for the next 12 days we will be sharing tips to living healthy and happy!
Share these tips with your family and friends and let us know how good nutritional habits have benefited you and your loved ones.💬 📱
Cheers from Total Care Dental & Wellness
JesseAnn
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