My Green Diet

Two research studies came out a couple weeks ago both implicating TMAO (trimethylamine-N-oxide) as a biomarker of cardiovascular risk. One study was in the New England Journal of Medicine and the other in Nature Medicine; they can also be seen at Medscape. 

Now, that may sound boring, but interestingly, both studies show the major dietary source being RED MEAT. What happens is the choline and carnitine in the red meat is converted by the intestinal bacteria to TMAO. Note that carnitine is also a common additive to energy drink and diet supplements.

The important point is our gut microbes are the biggest endocrine organ in our body. They can make biologically active compounds (in this instance, TMAO), and they contribute to disease processes. 

Millions of healthy bacteria colonize our guts from the moment we are born. Changes in the composition and abundance of these bacteria affect the entire immune system and can predispose us to a variety of diseases.

It seems that the type of gut bacteria that converts carnitine to troublesome TMAO, flourishes with the more red meat you typically eat. So, remarkably, vegans and vegetarians, even after consuming a large amount of carnitine, did not produce significant levels of TMAO, whereas omnivores consuming the same amount of carnitine did. This leads us to conclude, the bacteria living in our digestive tracts are dictated by our long-term dietary patterns. 

Healthy guts are so important! We decide what we put in out mouth and it has such a huge impact on our health. 

I am not telling you to never have another hamburger again, course if you don’t, good for you. But, for the rest of us, I hope this is a good reminder to eat red meat sparingly. It matters far more what you eat on a daily basis than what you have once in a while. 

with love for your guts, Mary

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Warning: This post is not about eating Green… but it is about health… and football… and because my husband is the expert on sports at our house, thanks to him for this…

Congrats to Ziggy Ansah for being the 5th pick of the NFL draft!

Ezekiel Ansah hails from Ghana, where he was baptized by a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). He later ended up at BYU majoring in actuarial science. Ziggy wanted to become the next Lebron James, but was cut from the basketball team twice. He ran track instead until he was convinced to walk on to the football team. Ziggy had never seen American football while he lived in Ghana. His first day of practice, 3 years ago, he didn’t even know how to put his pads on. The first two years, he primarily played special teams. He didn’t even start this year until about the fourth game and ended up being the 5th pick in this years draft and is instantly a multimillionaire. More on his cool story here.

Friends ask us a lot when we are going to start our boys in football.  My oldest isn’t even 6, yet, and I sometimes I feel pressured to put him on everyone’s team. However, my husband didn’t play until freshman year of high school and neither will my boys. Doug put pads on at 14 years old and got drafted in 2002. I personally think that is a big part of the reason the most serious injury he  sustained in his entire career was a torn groin muscle.  Ziggy is example number 1 that kids don’t need to grow up playing tackle football. I think playing football at a young age puts kids at an unnecessary risk for injuries. Concussions being the most serious of these.  Also, intense early play can potentially burn them out on a not so fun game (I will concede that some may think this is the most fun game ever. Doug is not one of those people). So, if you want your son to play in the NFL, put him in other skills that will develop his athleticism like soccer, basketball, and baseball. If your child is a good enough athlete, he will make it in high school football, even if he’s never played. Ziggy is a great athlete, but got cut from the basketball team twice. Basketball is a skill and needs to be practiced. Football is a game for athletes. Young children should spend their time developing their athletic ability, not banging their heads against each other. They need those brains very much! Speaking of those precious brains, I hope you are feeding them lots of healthy fats!

What do you think about children playing football? 

PHOTOS CREDIT

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