You CAN beat gout . . . . if you really want to.  Like many things pertaining to our health, it is a matter of priorities.  However, even those that are less prone to be proactive with their health and more prone to blindly take medication after medication that their doctor might prescribe, find themselves confused by gout.  Why?  Primarily, because their doctor might be confused by gout.  In fact, the "exact cause" of gout is unknown according to the medical community.

Let's take a look at what is widely accepted:

• Gout is a painful form of arthritis that occurs when high levels of uric acid build up in the blood and that causes joint inflammation.
• Higher-than-normal uric acid levels can occur when the body produces too much uric acid or cannot eliminate uric acid effectively.

Although it may seem that our medical community has abandoned personal accountability for a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition for the prevention or reversal of the majority of the health issues in America, they all will agree that it has the most benefits.  There is no difference when it pertains to gout.  However, in our "prescribe first" society, medicines to treat high uric acid levels are often the first course of action rather than going to the source and solving the problem.

Without getting too technical, high uric acid is a result of poor protein synthesis.  Many doctors that do look at nutritional intake typically recommend a low protein diet.  This may seem okay in theory; but, a lack of good quality protein at the proper amounts is already a huge part of the declining health in America.  Also, if you are not eating adequate amounts of protein, you are likely feeling "less full" and when you reach for your next snack or meal, it will be a high carbohydrate meal.  Carbohydrates break down to glucose in the blood which spikes your bodies release of insulin.  Inflammation is fueled by insulin.  This is not a very good way to deal with an inflammatory condition.

Only having one kidney myself, my uric acid levels were high.  Fortunately, I never suffered from gout.  But, high uric acid levels are associated with kidney stones and was very important to control.  So, here is simply what I did to get uric acid levels under control:

1. INCREASEd OMEGA 3'S - I Reduced my consumption of Omega 6 fatty acids (very inflammatory) and increased consumption of Omega 3 fatty acids (very ANTI-inflammatory).  It is important that a very high quality, pharma grade fish oil supplement is used for this.  I also bumped up my intake of fresh, wild caught fish (NEVER eat farmed fish).
2. INCREASED PLANT PROTEIN - In addition to adding much more dark green vegetables to my daily life, I added a couple shakes per day that were high quality isolated soy.  This was also part of getting proper cellular nutrition.  This helped me get the proper amount of protein needed daily to maintain optimal health (1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass).
3. SUPPLEMENT WITH AMINOGEN - Simply put, Aminogen helps break down proteins into smaller peptides for easier assimilation.  The protein shakes I added to my life contain Aminogen and I supplement in addition to that.
4. DRINK MORE WATER - I increased my water intake to .5 ounces for every pound of body weight.  This is the amount of water everyone should drink daily to remain properly hydrated and help with elimination.
5. ELIMINATED SIMPLE CARBS - Simple carbs aggressively spike insulin and inflammation.

Not only are my uric acid levels optimal, but I lost 60 pounds of fat in 5 months doing this!!!  That will help anyone's joints feel better!!!

Jeff Bryant is a dedicated Personal Wellness and weight loss coach living in Caledonia, Michigan (suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan) who has a "focus on good health first" approach to weight loss and disease resistance.  He has dedicated his work to offering hope to those that feel lost in their health journey by providing coaching, education and nutritional products to help people reach their highest God given health potential.  CLICK HERE for a free consultation!

We have heard about getting proper nutrition and the old cliche of "You are what you eat!"  You can ask your family, friends, co-workers, doctor or that person you know that is really fit and seems like they exercise 8 days a week and you will likely get a different opinion from each of them.  You will hear things like "Eat whatever you want, except carbs" or "Vegan is the way to go" or "Only eat meat with a side of meat and the occasional egg".  REALLY?  Is that what people are really putting their bodies through?

I will do my very best not to bore you with standard dictionary definitions or over-embellished personal opinions. The simple explanation is that Cellular Nutrition is giving your body what it needs so that it can take care of itself, heal itself and protect itself from the inside out.  All cells pretty much operate the same as it pertains to assimilating nutrients in and discharging them.






Why is Cellular Nutrition Important?
We have no choice but to live in our current environment.  We have to breathe, we have to work, we have families and likely a doctor that is pushing the latest greatest drug at you to treat the symptoms of your "condition".  Every day our bodies have to deal with the excessive production of free radicals caused by over pollution and stressful lifestyles.  We can limit the production of these free radicals by not smoking, limiting stress, avoiding toxic chemicals, etc.  But, our bodies still come up short and we need balance.  We need enough antioxidants in our bodies to neutralize the free radicals.

For most of the past century, nutritional medicine and supplementation has been focused on replenishing a nutritional deficiency.  Countless tests have been done and trillions of dollars have been spent to determine what nutrients we need to supplement.  None of which was targeted at what has been proven to be the root cause for over 70 chronic degenerative diseases . . .OXIDATIVE STRESS!  I am going to repeat that so it sinks in.  Oxidative Stress had now been shown beyond a shadow of a doubt by way of medical research to be the ROOT CAUSE of over 70 chronic degenerative diseases such as:  heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's dementia, macular degeneration, lupus and M.S. just to name a few.
 
Cellular nutrition is simply providing ALL nutrients to the cell at optimal levels. This allows the cell to determine what it actually does and does not need and we don’t have to worry about determining which nutrients the cell is deficient in. We simply provide all of the important nutrients at optimal levels.  Any nutritional deficiencies will be automatically corrected, all the other vital nutrients will be brought up to their optimal levels and excess nutrients will be discarded.

                                                                 

Cellular nutrition is providing the body with all the antioxidants along with the supporting B vitamins and antioxidant minerals at optimal levels. This is "preventive medicine" at its best because we can literally attack the disease process at its core by preventing Oxidative Stress from occurring.  Like many, I believe that the very best way to get the antioxidants and micronutrients that we need for optimal health is through eating our fuits and vegetables.  

But, there is a huge problem with this!!!

Our fruits and veggetables have signficantly lower amounts of these necessary nutrients than they did just 100 years ago.  Some estimates range from as low as 28% to as high as 76% fewer vitamins and minerals in our produce today.  Even if we do consume our daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables (which the large majority of people do NOT), we are still coming up short.  We would also be consuming large amounts of pesticides that play a role in free radical production.  However, not having the time to be sure you are getting what you body needs through food, does NOT negate your body's real needs for these nutrients.  That is where a vitamin supplement comes in and is NECESSARY for optimal health.  A complete pharma grade, water soluable multi-vitamin source should be an every day staple for everyone!

This is an integral part of Cellular Nutrition!

This all sounds great.  Have all the nutrients readily available in my body consistently so that I can live a long, active, healthy and happy life!  However, what good are the nutrients in my body if they are not being assimilated into the cells?  After all, our cells are the intended end users of everything we eat.  Nutrients are absorbed into your body in the small intestine.  Your small intestine is lined with little hairs called villi (plural of villus).  In most people, the villi has become damaged or what is called "energetically impaired" due to stress, alcohol, oxidative stress, preservatives, fats, additives and drugs (to name a few reasons).  Over the years, your villi breaks down and your body absorbs less and less of the nutrients you need from the food you eat.  Because of this lack of absorption, your body tends to feel starved of nutrients and tends to store fat instead of burning fat.  This not only makes it harder to lose weight, but it also means fat isn't being burned for fuel and overall energy levels are low for everyone.  There is only one supplement available that has been proven to aid in repairing villi and nutrient abosrption and it is called Cell Activator from Herbalife.  

So, better eating accompanied by proper nutritional supplementation can immediately impact your health and energy today and going forward.  When all of the necessary nutrients are provided to the cell in a complete and balanced nutritional supplement, the combined effect is phenomenal. The potency of these nutrients in optimizing our body’s natural antioxidant, immune, and repair systems is certainly possible. Oxidative stress can be controlled and our health can be protected.

Making a small shift in your everyday lifestyle can really change your health and change your life!  They are not hard to make when you make them one at a time.  

Jeff Bryant is a dedicated Personal Wellness and weight loss coach living in Caledonia, Michigan (suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan) who has a "focus on good health first" approach to weight loss and disease resistance.  He has dedicated his work to offering hope to those that feel lost in their health journey by providing coaching, education and nutritional products to help people reach their highest God given health potential.  CLICK HERE for a free consultation!

Every once in a while there is someone who just "gets it".  That person is taught what lifestyle changes that need to be made and they run home and clear out their pantry and freezer.  Then they race to the store and spend 4 hours reading every label they can to replace the items that made the list of items they will now eat going forward.  It's organic this and grass fed that.  Protein and fiber always trump their decision making and their protein choices comes from plant, seed, nut, animal and dairy.  They stop consuming HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and artificial sweeteners.  They get the key vitamins and nutrients into their bodies regularly throughout the day from a pharma grade source.  Their digestion system gets healthy, they get healthy and reach a weight within normal ranges.  They have more energy then they had when they were a teenager.  Their life is forever changed and they never look back!

Wouldn't that be great if that were you or I?  

The fact is, that just doesn't (or very rarely) happen.  For most people, it is a wrestling match with ourselves, our schedules, our families and our comfortable routines and habits.  However, I have changed my life and I have helped countless others change their life without making these overwhelmingly drastic changes overnight.  All you need to do is start making small shifts.  When you begin making small shifts in your lifestyle, you alter the course you were on and it is now headed toward a healthier you.  Have a look at the graph below and reference it as you read this post.
 
 

If your lifestyle is traveling left to right on this graph and want to get higher up the graph toward your ultimate health and nutritional goals, then you need to be intentional about making small shifts.  Your health today might be at a 1 and you want it to be a 20.  So, you start tracking and, by doing so, you have changed the trajectory up towards your goal.  You give up the sugary carbohydrate based cereals and breads for breakfast and start the day with a high protein smoothie (low sugar and low carb, of course).  You are now moving a little closer toward your goal.  Feeling better after a few days, weeks or months and you incorporate exercise (there are HUGE benefits to exercise).  Now we are moving and gaining momentum.  You might take another step to add sugar intake to your food tracking to cut way down on that and you realize that HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and artificial sweeteners are actually poison to your body and you vow not to consume them . . . EVER!  Once a small change has been adopted into your lifestyle, you make another and another and so on.  These are actually very tiny shifts used for example and most people make these changes relatively quick. 

But, you have to be intentional about it.  It doesn't just happen!

At first, I didn't really care for whole wheat bread.  Now, the taste of white bread makes me sick.  Why?  Because I was intentional about making that small shift.  You see, nothing changes if nothing changes!  And, YOU have to be the one to start changing it!

Make a priority list of what small shifts you need to start making.  Start making those changes and checking them off your list.  If you need help getting started, CLICK HERE.


Jeff Bryant is a dedicated Personal Wellness and weight loss coach living in Caledonia, Michigan (suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan) who has a "focus on good health first" approach to weight loss and disease resistance.  He has dedicated his work to offering hope to those that feel lost in their health journey by providing coaching, education and nutritional products to help people reach their highest God given health potential.  CLICK HERE for a free consultation!

I.  Protein Controls Hunger
In the chart below, you will see how starting your day with a high protein breakfast will help you control your hunger throughout the day.  A high carb/sugar breakfast is not setting you up for a successful fight against hunger pangs.  In addition to that, those that skip breakfast do not get their metabolism (calorie burning furnace) going until they do eat.



 
Protein helps control glucose and insulin levels so that even when you do have a "treat" that is high in sugar and lacking in sufficient protein, it will reduce the sugar "highs and lows".  High levels of protein also send the signal to your brain that you are full my maintaining higher levels of a hormone called leptin (from the Greek work leptos which means thin).  When leptin levels drop, you get hungry.  When they rise, you feel full.  Because leptin is actually created by your fat cells, your levels drop as you lose fat.  So, you can actually feel hungrier with the more fat that you lose.  According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,  "An increase in dietary protein from 15% to 30% of energy at a constant carbohydrate intake produces a sustained decrease in ad libitum caloric intake that may be mediated by increased central nervous system leptin sensitivity and results in significant weight loss."  Basically, higher protein intake helps you lose weight and fight the increase in hunger that you experience with fat loss.  
 
 
II.  Protein Maintains Lean Muscle Mass
Your body is made up of approximately 60 trillion cells.  These cells form together to create tissue.  These tissues form together to create organs, muscles and systems in your body.  Every day about a million of those cells are dying and being replaced by what is put into your mouth.  Protein is made up of 22 amino acids and these amino acids are the building blocks for each and every cell.  If you are not consuming enough protein, then your body will break down your current lean muscles to get the amino acids necessary to develop and grow new cells.  Voted Best Doctor in America by his peers, Dr. David Heber recommends 1 gram of protein be eaten for every pound of lean body mass (LBM) that you have to maintain the optimal health.  On average, that is 150 grams for men and 100 grams for women (requirements vary based on LBM).  
 
III.  Lean Muscle Burns More Calories Than Fat
The lower your percentage of body fat, the higher your percentage of lean muscle mass.  If a 6 foot, 200lb man that has 18% body fat is sitting on the couch next to a 6 foot, 200lb man that has 24% body fat, then he is burning more calories than his chubby buddy just by sitting there.  His resting metabolic rate (RMR) is higher and just by existing, he is burning more calories.  That means when the super skinny buddy that has trouble even gaining weight shows up with a pizza and they both eat 2 slices, he is automatically going to burn it off quicker.  So, commit to getting a higher percentage of your body to lean muscle mass (lower body fat percentage) so you can indulge every once in a while and it will not go straight to your hips or gut over night.

TIP:  Make sure that you are getting your protein from various sources;  plant (non-GMO, isolated soy), animal (eggs and lean meats; preferably organic grass fed) and from dairy (whey and casein powders, hard cheeses) especially if you exercise often.

MYTH:  "High protein diets are really bad for your kidneys and liver."  I have only one kidney and have had my blood and urine labs checked every 3 months since making a lifestyle change that incorporated higher protein daily and losing a bunch of fat and inches.  My kidney and liver function improved when conuming higher amounts of quality protein while maintaining proper hydration.  I consume half my body weight in ounces of water.  I am a little over 200lbs and I consumer well over 100oz of water every day along with 150-170g of protein every day from all 3 sources mentioned above (dropped body fat percentage by 14% in 10 months).

Jeff Bryant is a dedicated Personal Wellness and weight loss coach living in Caledonia, Michigan (suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan) who has a "focus on good health first" approach to weight loss and disease resistance.  He has dedicated his work to offering hope to those that feel lost in their health journey by providing coaching, education and nutritional products to help people reach their highest God given health potential.  CLICK HERE for a free consultation!