4 Superfoods You Need to Try for Gut Health, Blood Sugar, and Longevity Ep 134

Every endurance athlete remembers the moment when things finally click. Your swim feels

smoother, your pacing makes sense, your fueling works, and suddenly the sport feels not only

easier, but more fun. And for many athletes, that moment happens at training camp.

That's exactly why we created the endurance-edge triathlon training camp,

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and finally connect the dots in your performance. We swim in crystal clear mountain water,

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recovering, learning, laughing, and eating some seriously amazing chef-prepared food.

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and reserve your spot with just $100 deposit. Come train hard, learn a ton, and leave stronger

than you ever imagined. I'll see you there. Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Find Your Edge

Podcast. Because this episode is about food, of course, I'm going to be so excited because this

is all about super foods you need to try. And I promise there are no gimmicks, just good science,

and whole foods in this episode. So if you want to see some of the things that I've got,

then head over to YouTube, and you can watch that there. So let's waste no time and dive right in.

Okay, I seriously want to shout this from the rooftops. The first super food that you need to try

is oat bran. It is seriously the unsung hero of the oat world, if you will. In fact,

if you're looking this on YouTube, you can see the picture I took is literally in my kitchen,

which is why it's terrible photography. I am not a good photographer at all, but I could not find

any stock photos with oat bran. And you can see, like literally off of the product,

oat bran has a creamy soothing texture and a pleasantly nutty flavor that is remarkably satisfying.

And let me tell you why. It is amazingly rich insoluble fiber. So the difference between

insoluble versus soluble fiber insoluble creates more bulk in your stool. Sorry for everyone

for talking about food, but that's what I like to do as a dietician. I want happy guts, y'all.

Happy guts. And then soluble fiber absorbs more moisture. So creates softness in your stool.

So if you are somebody who's constipated, this is your new best friend. It's also rich in beta

glucose and it's rich in protein. Y'all, there are seven grams of protein per third of a cup

dry of oat bran, which is the equivalent of one ounce of chicken or one ounce of fish.

So this is a truly fantastic food that's high in fiber and high in protein. And again,

it is truly satisfying. So if you're somebody who struggles with cholesterol,

seriously, this is your best friend because of that soluble fiber. It also helps stabilize

blood sugar because of those wonderful beta glucose and protein and fiber, which in turn means that

it satisfies your appetite. So if you're somebody who has a voracious appetite or even looking

to do some weight management or even some weight loss, this is your new nutrient dense versatile

friend. So what is the texture like? It's very similar almost to grits, maybe not quite as

coarse, potentially as grits, although of course you can get grits cut to any different shape.

But it has a richer flavor than just plain oatmeal. My favorite way to do this, I put water in there,

put it in the microwave for about a minute and I stir in peanut butter, about a teaspoon

of molasses and a little bit of cinnamon and oh, it's delicious. This is like one of my favorite

morning foods. Now if you like savory, you can do that too. So just like oats, just like something

like rice, it's like a blank slate and it just wants you to give it some love. So savory,

I would do this with maybe some diced breakfast sausage or diced breakfast ham and maybe some

sauteed onions, maybe some parsley, maybe some garlic, perhaps some scrambled eggs or some fried

eggs on top. So just give it a try, seriously. Where are you going to find it? By the way,

it's hiding because it's not super popular. It's not like oats or doesn't have a large

opportunity to, you know, be flashy and sexy like a lot of the shelf space items that you're

going to see at the regular grocery store. This can easily be found online too, but it's typically

going to be on the bottom shelf by the oats, by the big containers of oats or in the top shelf.

And if you are somebody who cannot do gluten, they do come gluten free too.

All right, so that was super food. You need to try number one super food. You need to try number two

is broccoli sprouts. What makes these amazing? It's this very specific compound. One of them is

called myrocinase. It's in this family of vegetables called the brassica family. So in this

brassica family is broccoli, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, brussel sprouts, cabbage. So anything that

if you overcook it, it's probably going to stink like sulfur, which is because it contains something

called sulfuraphane. That's all the sulfur going out. So we don't want to overcook these foods.

Collards is another one. There is this very specific sort of cascade coming from glue caraphanon

using myrocinase as the enzyme to be able to help convert it to sulfuraphane.

Sulfuraphane is seriously a superpower. And we see this all the time in our longevity nutrition

coaching group for which genetic testing is included. And what makes that so fantastic

is learning about yourself and your genetic propensity for detoxification as an example.

Sulfuraphane will help you detox or regulate some of your hormones as well. So it's great to have

this information in conjunction with your genetic testing. Regardless, sulfuraphane is not only

anti-carsinogenic. It's anti-inflammatory. It's immunomodulatory. It's antibacterial. It's heart

protective. It's brain protective. I mean, come on, y'all. This is like amazing. Now specifically

with broccoli sprouts. They are richer in that myrocinase enzyme than any other braska,

any other cauliflower, brussel sprout, kale, collard, then you can get your hands on by anywhere

between 10 and 100 times more. Like, these are rock stars. Broccoli sprouts are seriously rock stars.

On that note, if you're like, oh my gosh, I cannot stand sprouts because if you've never heard of

a broccoli sprout, there are a lot of microgreens out there. And you're probably most familiar with

something like alfalfa sprouts. So there are, again, lots of different types of sprouts. Broccoli

sprouts just happens to be one of them. But if you're like, no, I am eating those sprout things,

that is just beyond my pay grade. But you will eat something like broccoli or cabbage or whatever.

If you are cooking them, make sure to either very lightly cook them. And even better, add a little

bit of mustard seed, which helps retain that sulfuricane production dramatically. So a little

pro tip there. Now these broccoli sprouts, they're very easy to grow on your own. You can buy kits

of them on the internet. You can also purchase them already made at your local farmers market.

At your local grocery store, although they are a little harder to find. But if you're in the rally

area, they are in the rally farmers market. And if you just Google microgreens producers,

you will pop up with wherever you are in the country or wherever you are, wherever you live.

You will be surprised, hopefully, that there are some really great microgreens producers out there.

And they are the folks who you want on your side. So when I've gone to the rally farmers market and

met the gentleman at the farm stand there, he literally has pallets that he has in his backyard

in his shipping containers of microgreens. And he literally chops them right there in front of you,

puts them in the container and off you go with super fresh broccoli sprouts. This is very important

that you try to have fresher because fresher is better. In most cases, but certainly in this case,

you can put them on a salad, you can throw them in a wrap, you can put them in a smoothie,

but be sure that you consume it pretty quickly. So like within a half an hour to get all the benefits

of that mirocinase and sulfurity. All right, so our third buddy on the block that we're going to try

is fava beans. So it truly is the new pulse on the block. So hopefully you're eating beans because

they are such super powerhouses, but there's some really promising research, promising research

that's coming out as plant-based peptides. You've probably heard of things like collagen peptides.

Well, this one is plant-based peptides derived from the fava bean. So there's a very specific compound

that's been developed. It's called pepda strong. It's in a currently in a designs for health protein

bar that if you are part of my strength training crew on money and Wednesday morning,

I bought some and had everybody try it. So it's interesting that it's being researched right now

to fuel strength and recovery. So kind of some interesting things that are coming out there.

If you don't want to try it as pepda strong, then just try it as the actual bean. And honestly,

you can use them in any application. You would use something like pinto beans. You can throw them

on a salad. You can make them into things like refried beans. You can put them into three bean

salads. I mean, the list goes on with beans. I hope you're eating beans. In some way,

shape or form, they're so insanely high in fiber. They're more filling and they're just a great

food all around. All right. Last one on the list is Jerusalem artichoke or some of you may know them

as sun chokes. So you can see this great picture here. They kind of look a little bit like a ginger

root. Obviously, they don't taste like ginger. But the Jerusalem artichoke is one of the primary

natural sources of inulin. So that's a prebiotic. And if you don't remember what a prebiotic was,

I will send you back to our gut health podcast, which explains the difference between probiotics

and prebiotics. So prebiotics support gut health by stimulating the growth of beneficial

intestinal bacteria, as well as short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, which is one of your main

sources of fuel for your intestine. And this is coming from the actual food, not the isolated

inulin that you might see in things like prebiotic sodas these days. So other potential benefits

of this is that it can regulate your cholesterol or your lipids. It can regulate your blood sugar,

help with weight management, support anti-inflammatory measures, and even support things like iron

absorption, which happens in the level of the gut, helps to regulate constipation and even

regulating mood support. Because think about it. If in your gut, you're creating most of your

neurotransmitters, that is going to be so beneficial for both your brain and your mood.

So the texture is kind of crunchy. It's a little bit, I would compare it to sort of like a water

chestnut. Really great on raw applications, like you can slice them up and put them on salads,

you can put them in wraps, you can put them on sandwiches, and they're great on things like

cooked, like you would do a water chestnut, but just know that the texture will soften a little bit.

So it just depends on how you want it. All right, so those are your four super foods that you

need to try. And I am of course dying to know how did it go? What did you think? Do you need

some support? Hey, I tried oak bran and it was too thick or how do I make it thinner? We've got

the tricks for you. So I want to hear all about it. And also do you want to hear more episodes

like this? So shoot us a DM over on Instagram or head to our webpage to the contact us page.

So at the endurance edge on our Instagram and Facebook page. And I hope this helps.

And let me know what you think. Thanks again for listening. See you guys next time.

Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to

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