Let's talk about eliminating the Big 6.

A lot of times individuals come into my office and they asked me about diet, nutrition, and what they can do to change their health for the better. One of the things that we do is talk about eliminating the Big 6.

The Big 6 are wheat, corn, soy, dairy, sugar, and peanuts.

Individuals will say, "that's everything that I eat". Maybe...and that's probably why you're inflamed.

They also ask, "what else is there to eat?" Well, you basically have all of your vegetables, complex carbs, such as brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, and beans. You have all your protein sources, and you have all your fruit sources.

In a general day, you should have your meat, fruit, vegetables, and you can have complex carbs. When you do this, you're going to lead a healthier, less inflamed life.

The next question people ask me is, "why are the big six inflammatory, why do they cause problems"?

When we take wheat, corn, soy, and peanuts, those are all ones that, in the late 60s to early 80s, have been genetically modified and changed to be able to use pesticides and herbicides with them.

Also, they were changed to thicken the outside layer, the lectin layer. This lectin layer is intended to keep them safe from bugs. If you take a wheat kernel with a lectin layer that is very thin, the bugs can eat through it very easily. As we thicken the lectin layer, on the outside edge, bugs cannot eat it as easily.

These modifications have gone on with corn, wheat, soy, and peanuts. Therefore we have more lectin, which is one of the things that we can't break down in our bodies very easily. It begins to cause us irritation in the bowels. When we get the irritation in our bowels, we swell up. 60% of our lymph nodes are in our digestive area, and if you have any issues there, you're going to swell. Taking those ingredients out makes a large difference.

Dairy for the most part, has more estrogen and more hormones in it now, which is going to cause swelling and retention of fat. Dairy also thickens mucus. If we're trying to get fluid moving around our bodies, it's going to thicken and going to make more lymphedema, or more swelling. That's why dairy is an issue.

Many people ask me, "with dairy eliminated, what are we going to do for calcium"? You actually can get more absorbable calcium from vegetables, than you can from dairy. Spinach, and leafy greens, will give you more usable calcium than you would get from dairy products. That is why we get rid of the modified grains and why we get rid of the dairy.

The sugar is also inflammatory. Sugar basically excites cells, makes more fluid around them, makes more fluid retention, and actually makes us more yeasty. Individuals with sugar intolerances tend to have a lot more yeast infections, you'll see the white coating on their tongue, they may be experiencing nail fungus, skin rashes, and that kind of thing, when they have too much sugar.

Reducing our sugar helps us be healthier and less inflamed. It also helps our digestive tract work better, our pancreas work better, and even our brains work better, when we are getting the right amount of sugar.

Eliminating the Big 6, and moving towards a healthier diet is going to help you be a lot healthier and less inflamed.

Dr. Thoma is a functional medicine physician in Chesterfield Missouri.  His specialty is helping individuals identify the root cause of their health concerns. 

Together with his wife, Jennifer, they own PuraWell.  PuraWell is a health and wellness company focused on  guiding you to take control of your healthcare so that you can live longer, healthier.

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