Food rules

Food Rules
to Restore Your Gut Bacteria and
Health
Dr. Fathi Neana, MD
Chief of Orthopaedics
Dr. Fakhry & Dr. A. Al-Garzaie Hospital
March, 16 - 2021

"Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food"
Hippocrates 460 BC - 370 BC
"No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any
other means”
Moses Maimonides, the great
12th century physician
Tomorrow's Medicine
‫يقول‬ ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫رسول‬
‫يقمن‬ ‫أكالت‬ ‫آدم‬ ‫ابن‬ ‫بحسب‬ ،‫بطن‬ ‫من‬ ‫شرا‬ ‫وعاء‬ ‫آدمي‬ ‫مأل‬ ‫ما‬
،‫صلبه‬
‫لنفسه‬ ‫وثلث‬ ‫لشرابه‬ ‫وثلث‬ ‫لطعامه‬ ‫فثلث‬ ‫محالة‬ ‫ال‬ ‫كان‬ ‫فإن‬
.
‫رواه‬
‫الترمذي‬
‫وصححه‬
‫األلباني‬
Messenger of Allah ( ‫ﷺ‬
) say: "No man fills a container worse than his stomach.
A few morsels that keep his back upright are sufficient for him. If he has to,
then he should keep one-third for food, one-third for drink and one-third for
his breathing.“ [At-Tirmidhi].
‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫رسول‬
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬

Do not treat food with medicine, Let the food be the medicine,
and the Medicine be the food
Dr. Sarah Hallberg May 4, 2015
What are the gut microbiota and human microbiome?
By Markus MacGill - Reviewed by Saurabh (Seth) Sethi, MD
MPH
Last updated Tue 26 June 2018
Let thy food be thy medicine….when possible
Renger F. Witkamp Klaskevan Norren
European Journal of Pharmacology Volume 836,
5 October 2018, Pages 102-114
Tomorrow's Medicine

Gut Microbiota for Health
World Summit March 23-24, 2019

Microbiota the forgotten organ

Environment
External environmental
Epigenome
Record of the chemical
changes to the DNA and
histone
Microbiome
Internal environmental
Life
Consciousness-Spirit
Epigenetics, Gut Microbiome and the Environment,
a sensitive interplay

Manifestations vs. the Root cause
Figure 1. Speculated health implications of gut microbiota. NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver
disease; NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; HS, hepatic steatosis; IBD, inflammatory bowel
disease; IBS, irritable bowel syndrome; UC, ulcerative colitis.

PART I
What should I eat?
PART II
What kind of food should I eat?
PART III
How should I eat?

There is much that scientists are still to learn about our gut microbiota – including what
a healthy gut microbiome should look like – particularly as this may vary for each of us.
However there are a few areas that they are in agreement about
•A healthy gut tends to be associated with more diverse microbiota
•Diversity in our microbiota is achieved through a varied diet
•A plant based diet will promote healthier microbiota
•Sugars and refined starch promote the growth of undesirable bacteria and microbes
•Processed foods, preservatives and food additives harm our gut microbiota
Now while this is fairly easy to follow – it can become a little more difficult when we try
and put it into practice as we’re constantly bombarded with messages telling us what to
eat – that appeal to our carvings – our hunger and the need for convenience in our busy
stressful lives.
So to try and help we’ve taken inspiration from Michael Pollan’s rules for healthy eating
and created a list of our favourites – including a few more of our own:
24 Food Rules to Restore Your Gut Bacteria and Health
BY JOHN CAIRN ON 2018-03-01

Contents
•24 Healthy Eating Rules To Restore Your Gut Health
•1. Eat Mostly Plants – Especially Leaves
•2. Only Eat Food That Will Rot
• 3. Use Meat to Flavour or as a Treat
•4. Eat Animals that have Themselves Eaten Well
•5. Eat Colours
•6. Only Eat Junk Food you have Cooked Yourself
•7. Shop the Edge of the Supermarket – Avoid the Aisles
•8. The Whiter the Bread – the Sooner You’ll be Dead
•9. Don’t Eat Anything Your Great-Grandmother Wouldn’t Recognise
•10. Sweeten & Season Your Food Yourself
•11. Don’t Forget to Eat Oily Fish
•12. Have a Glass of Wine with Dinner
•13. Enjoy Meals with People You Love
•15. Don’t Eat Food that is Advertised
•16. Eat Food With 5 ingredients or Less
•17. Plant a Vegetable Garden
•18. Eat at the Table, Never in a Car or Standing Up
•19. Eat When You Are Hungry, Never When You Are Bored
•20. Always Leave the Table a Little Hungry
•21. Eat What is in Season
•22. Drink Water
•23. Leave Something on Your Plate
24. All Things in Moderation, Including Moderation Itself

A lack of plant fibre is consistently linked with obesity,
metabolic syndrome and chronic disease.
As Michael Pollan points out “vegetarians are notably
healthier than carnivores, and they live longer.”
As well as being rich in fibre, leafy greens such as
Kale, Swiss chard, mustard greens, spinach, arugula,
are surprisingly rich sources of vitamins and nutrients .
As many as 40% of American adults are deficient in
vitamins A, C, K, and E as well as minerals such as
calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese and fibre.
These vitamins and minerals are all important to our gut health, our
immune system, our cardiovascular health and even our skin – and all of
which are found in abundance in leafy greens such as spinach, kale,
arugula, and swiss chard
1. Eat Mostly Plants – Especially Leaves

Or as Michael Pollan says, “Dont eat food that doesnt
rot.” Processed foods are designed to make food last
longer. More often than not the more processed a food
is, the more preservatives and emulsifiers it will contain
(and therefore, less susceptible to rot).
Preservatives and Emulsifiers are chemicals that are
designed to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria – and
stop food going off. This is fine for preserving the shelf
life of a bottle of mayonnaise – however when we eat
that mayonnaise the additives – perhaps unsurprisingly
have a similar disruptive effect on our gut bacteria.
Look out for additives in any processed foods you buy
– or better still avoid processed foods and only eat food
that will rot.
2. Only Eat Food That Will Rot

Aside from the ethical questions over intensive
animal farming methods and animal welfare, there
are many environmental arguments as to why we
should eat less meat – from its contribution to an
inefficient food system, the pollution of American
water supplies, and to the increasing prevalence of
antibiotic-resistant diseases.
We are not suggesting you should stop eating meat
– or that it is bad for us – a little meat won’t kill you,
but it’s better approached as a side dish than as a
main.
A diet that emphases vegetables and plant fibre
over meat and dairy will lead to much better health
for your gut and body in general.
3. Use Meat to Flavour or as a Treat

As Michael Pollan highlights – the diets of the animals we
rear for food (meat, dairy, or eggs) affects the quality of
that food.
Should we expect animals fed on a high energy diet,
growth promoting hormones and antibiotics, housed in
cramped conditions without access to daylight – to be
good for us and provide the nutritional benefits?
The food industry’s focus on maximising yield and
minimising cost has resulted in changes to the diet of
most of the animals we rear for meat – in ways that
damage their health and with similar consequences for
our health.
Ruminants such as cows and sheep that have evolved to
eat grass, yet we insist on feeding them grain. The food
from these animals will contain much healthier types of fat
(more omega-3’s, less omega-6’s) as well as appreciably
higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants.
4. Eat Animals that have Themselves Eaten Well

The idea that a healthy plate of food will feature several
different colors is a good example of an old wives’ tale that
turns out to be good science too.” says Pollan:
The colors of many vegetables reflect the different antioxidants
and phytochemicals they contain – all of which feed our gut
bacteria and help reduce inflammation.
As pointed out by DeWayne McCulley, the author of Death to
Diabetes, anti-inflammatory foods can help to reduce the
negative effects of cellular inflammation and oxidation.
Red foods including tomatoes, watermelon, cherries, radishes, beetroot and peppers. These
are foods that are likely to be rich in the antioxidants anthocyanin and lycopene, – all good for
heart health.
Orange and yellow foods get their pigment from beta carotene, which is converted to vitamin A
when digested and is vital for good bones and healthy skin.
Green vegetables are rich in vitamins C, K and E, which can all help support the immune
system, healthy eyes and bones and reduce your risk of chronic diseases.
While Blue and purple fruits and vegetables get their color from anthocyanins.
Blue foods like blueberries have compounds that act as anti-inflammatories, reducing the risk
of disease in your esophagus and colon
5. Eat Colours

Cooking ‘junk food’ from scratch – will help you cut out
many of the harmful ingredients present in fast foods
and processed snacks – such as emulsifiers,
preservatives, excitotoxins, artificial colours and
flavours – as well as hydrogenated fats and oils – all
of which harm our gut.
If you’ve ever made junk food at home, you have to
wash the ingredients, peel, slice, fry, mix and then salt
and season. You will make a mess but it will be fun.
However most importantly – even with all the oil,
butter, fat, salt and sugar you’ll be using – you will be
producing healthier food – free of additives and flavour
enhancers – than you will find in commercial
foods. What is more – as you cook from scratch
(reheating a jar or tin doesnt cut it) you will be more
mindful of the ingredients you are using – and your
palette will become more sensitive
Eat anything you want, just cook it yourself.
6. Only Eat Junk Food you have Cooked Yourself

The edge of the supermarket or grocery store
contains all the fresh fruit and veg, fresh meat and
dairy – near the loading docks, where it can be
replaced when it goes bad.
The aisles meanwhile are home to processed foods
and sugary drinks – foods that don’t go off and that
harm your gut.
Work your way round the edge of teh supermarket
first filling your trolley or basket with real food that
goes off.
Shop the aisles for whole grains, pulses and
packaged whole foods – such as tinned tomatoes,
beans.
Buy real food that goes off!
7. Shop the Edge of the Supermarket – Avoid the Aisles

Foods and beverages that have been prepared
by corporations contain far higher levels of salt
and sugar than any ordinary human would ever
add” says Pollan.
If you season and sweeten foods yourselves
you’ll find you’ll be consuming far less salt,
calories – as well as avoiding other harmful
additives.
Better still if you cook the food from scratch – in
which case you’ll also be omitting all the additives
and favour enhancers that are so common in
commercial food and even restaurants.
8. Sweeten & Season Your Food Yourself

Now this old wives tail couldn’t be more relevant
today. White bread is little more than starch – a
slightly more complex form of sugar but broken
down just as quickly and with the same effect on the
body.
Switching to brown or whole meal breads provides
fibre we need to reduce inflammation and for the
health of our gut and slows down the absorption of
starch.
9. The Whiter the Bread – the Sooner You’ll be
Dead
Fiber – of which there are many types – works wonders for our gut – soluble fiber
feeds our healthy gut bacteria and is transformed into Short chain fatty acids such
as butyrate – that helps to reduce inflammation and restore the health of our gut
lining. It also helps fill us up and helps reduce excess.

The message here is to eat food, not food
products.
The invention of margarine is a great example –
marketed as a healthier version of butter, we’re
now learning about how harmful margarine and
other spreads laced with trans fats really are – and
how grass fed butter isn’t bad for us after all.

Sadly the message is slow to filter through and
we’re all too susceptible to advertising and
marketing messages telling us to eat new products.
If it didn’t exist 70 years ago then its not real food
and you should avoid it.
10. Don’t Eat Anything Your Great-Grandmother Wouldn’t
Recognise

There is one food you should be eating (which
you probably aren’t) – and that is oily fish.
Fishes such as Mackerel, Herring, Salmon,
Trout and Sardines are all high in healthy oils
such as omega 3’s and packed with other
vitamins and nutrients.

In addition oily fish such as whitebait, canned
sardines, pilchards and tinned salmon are
good sources of calcium and phosphorus
which can help keep our bones strong.
11. Don’t Forget to Eat Oily Fish

12- Dark chocolate or fresh
berries (vs. red wine)

A glass of wine is good for you. Red wine is especially rich in polyphenols
and anti-oxidants – which help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.
Irish physician Samuel Black first noticed how the French suffer a relatively
low levels of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in
saturated fats – an observation later credited to their Mediterranean diet
and red wine consumption.
Alcohol in moderation- and red wine in particular has been shown to be
better for longevity than abstinence.
Dark chocolate or fresh berries to get the same
polyphenol benefits . - Polyphenols are plant
compounds that have been linked to health
benefits like lowering blood
pressure and cholesterol. Many polyphenols
aren’t absorbed by the body and instead end up
being digested by bacteria in the gut.
12- Dark chocolate or fresh berries (vs. red wine)

Dinners with family and friends build relationships.
They help your kids do better in school, they
benefit your relationships with your partner, your
colleagues and your friends.
Families traditionally ate together, around a table
and not a TV, at regular meal times. It’s a good
tradition.
“Remember when eating between meals felt
wrong?” Pollan asks.
Sadly studies suggest that the majority of
American families eat together less than 1 in 4
meals together, missing out on sharing this
valuable time as a family.
13. Enjoy Meals with People You Love

Food has got cheaper over the last few decades,
and we’ve been spending a smaller percentage of
our income on it. Now we’re eating more and more
calories but getting less nutritional value from it
and our food wastage is mounting. Americans
spend, on average, only 6 percent of their income
on food, down from 24 percent in 1947, far less
than any other nation.
Our farming practices and food industry is focused
on quantity and yield at the expense of quality,
variety and value. Eat less and waste less but be
willing to pay a bit more for foods with more flavour
and nutrition.
Pay a bit more for that wild salmon, the grass-fed
beef, and the organic milk but reduce the amount
you consume (particularly for red meat) – and the
amount that goes to waste.
14. Pay More, Eat Less.

94% of advertising budgets for food are for
processed food. Real food is not being
advertised” says Pollan. The farmer doesnt have
money to advertise his broccoli.
Advertising is fuelling the profits of the large
corporations such as Nestle, Coca-Cola, Pepsi
and Kraft-Heinz. These companies don’t produce
healthy food!
Whats more – avoid any food that claims to have
health benefits – these claims such as “No added
sugar” or “contains whole wheat” can create the
false impression that a product is healthy when
it’s not.
15. Don’t Eat Food that is Advertised

This rule is intended to help differentiate between
lightly processed foods – such as olive oil, flour and
yogurt – and highly processed foods such as ready
meals, chips and fast foods.
When we say 5 ingredients we mean on the label –
not in the recipe. The number of ingredients a
packaged food contains is a very good indication of
how processed it is – and therefore how bad it is
for you.
Whats more you should be extra fearful if you don’t
recognise or worse still can’t pronounce any of the
ingredients on the label.
16. Eat Food With 5 ingredients or Less

Plant a Vegetable Garden if You Have the
Space, a Window Box if You Don’t. Our
relationship with food and nature has been
severed with the advent of industrial agriculture.
The soil is rich in microbes and getting our
hands dirty – as well as eating foods that we
have planted and grown at home – is a
rewarding activity with untold benefits for our gut
health.
Whats more your grocery bill is likely to increase
if you are buying a lot of fresh food. By growing
some of your own vegetables you can cut down
on costs. You can even grow some vegetables
all year round in a green house or even on your
kitchen windowsill.
17. Plant a Vegetable Garden

“Anything that arrives through a car window
isnt real food” Likewise anything you can grab
“on the go” while hopping between meetings
or snacking on the way home – most likely
isnt food either. Food is to be enjoyed and
that requires more respect for meal times and
environments.
Sadly the average American eats one in every
five meals in their car, one in four Americans
eats at least one fast food meal every single
day.
18. Eat at the Table, Never in a Car or Standing
Up

Two studies, reported at the British Psychological
Society highlighted the effects of boredom on
food choices and both found people are more
likely to reach for junk food after completing a
boring task.
“These results are in line with previous research
[and]strengthen the theory that boredom is related
to low levels of the stimulating brain chemical
dopamine and that people try to boost this by
eating fat and sugar if they cannot alleviate their
boredom in some other way” Said Sandi Mann,
the studies author
19. Eat When You Are Hungry, Never When You
Are Bored

It is not just what you eat but how you eat.
The Japanese have a saying – eat until you are
four-fifths full.
Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in
Germany they say, ‘Tie off the sack before it’s
full.
“Always Leave the Table a Little Hungry” means
that you should get in the habit of restraint and
moderation and not eat too much
20. Always Leave the Table a Little Hungry

One of the biggest benefits of eating seasonally is
that you save money on food.
At the peak of the harvest it costs less for farmers
and the supply chain to get the food to you local
store.
However the other notable benefits are that if you
buy food that’s in season it will be fresher, having
been picked more recently and travelled less
distance to you and therefore taste better and be
better for you.
It may seem like common sense, but with the
incredible supply chains meeting demand for exotic
foods – it’s one of those things many of us ignore
when we’re shopping.
21. Eat What is in Season

Drink Water! There are two messages here –
the first is that water is what our bodies need to
hydrate and function well – and very often we aren’t
hydrating ourselves enough. Drinking more water
can actually help us loose weight.
The second point here is that every where we go
we are confronted by a range of drinks – sodas,
high in sugar or low sugar, vitamin drinks, sports
drinks, high sugar coffees. None of these do us any
good – they whether high in sugar or artificial
sweeteners they do our gut untold damage. Drink
water – it is much better for you and might help you
lose weight.
22. Drink Water

Most of us grew up with the phrase “Finish
everything on your plate!” or words to that effect
repeated over and over…” Well for many of us
these words have stuck and we – rightly perhaps
don’t like to see wastage.
(Aside perhaps from Texans who – I was proudly
informed when I visited – have a tradition of leaving
food on the plate to signify their wealth!)
Well rather the underlying message hear is not to
condone or encourage wastage and signify wealth
and excess – but rather for us to make a conscious
effort to recognise when we are full or better still
nearly full – and stop eating at that point.
23. Leave Something on Your Plate

One of my favourite sayings – I cant remember
who or where I first hear this from – but it applies
to all walks of life.
Exercise self restraint most of the time – but
reward yourself when you deserve it – and don’t
let your discipline prevent you from enjoying the
odd indulgence.
As has been noted in many studies –stress has
been found to be just as harmful as a bad diet –
so remember to enjoy life and treat yourself once
in a while
24. All Things in Moderation, Including Moderation Itself

Int J Health Sci (Qassim). 2018 Mar-Apr; 12(2): 61–69. PMCID: PMC5870322 PMID: 29599697
Links between the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recommended foods and disease management:
A review in the light of modern superfoods
Sharique A. Ali, Naima Parveen, and Ayesha S. Ali
Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer
Figure 1
Superfoods beneficial
to health

Table 1: Showing the links between superfoods and their health potentials

‫تعالى‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫قول‬
:
ُ‫ك‬َ‫ت‬َ‫ن‬‫ي‬ ِ
‫ز‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ذ‬ُ‫خ‬ َ‫م‬َ‫د‬‫آ‬ ‫ي‬ِ‫ن‬َ‫ب‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ي‬
ِ‫ج‬ْ‫س‬َ‫م‬ ِ‫ل‬ُ‫ك‬ َ‫د‬‫ن‬ِ‫ع‬ ْ‫م‬
‫د‬
ْ‫س‬ُ‫ت‬ َ
‫ال‬َ‫و‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ب‬َ‫ر‬ْ‫ش‬‫ا‬َ‫و‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ل‬ُ‫ك‬َ‫و‬
َ
‫ال‬ ُ‫ه‬َّ‫ن‬ِ‫إ‬ ۚ ‫وا‬ُ‫ف‬ ِ
‫ر‬
َ‫ين‬ِ‫ف‬ ِ
‫ر‬ْ‫س‬ُ‫م‬ْ‫ل‬‫ا‬ ُّ‫ب‬ ِ‫ح‬ُ‫ي‬
(
31
)
‫االعراف‬ ‫سورة‬

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