Five minutes with Totem, n°1

Avoid sugar when you take antibiotics

When you are sick on antibiotics, your eating often goes off track. You do not feel very hungry. And when hunger comes back, you end up eating something sweet for a bit of energy, because the body is tired.

Bad idea, according to a study published in late September in Nature.

Researchers in New York followed 173 adults hospitalized for a transplant. They recorded what each person ate, meal by meal. More than 9,000 meals in total. Then they analyzed their stool.

Without antibiotics, sugar did not change the microbiota.

On antibiotics, everything changed. Each serving of sweets was linked to a less diverse gut flora, about 24% lower. And to the growth of a bacterium called Enterococcus faecium. It lives quietly in everyone's gut, in small amounts, without causing trouble. But when antibiotics weaken the flora, it can take over. It is known for resisting antibiotics and causing infections in fragile people. It is not a bacterium you want to see multiply.

In mice, it is even clearer. On antibiotics, sugar multiplied this bacterium by 33 in six days.

The most likely explanation is simple. Antibiotics clear out your flora. Sugar feeds the bacteria that fill the empty space.

Keep in mind, these were very sick patients. And in humans, the study shows a link, not proof.

Here is what you can take from it.

During a course of antibiotics, your microbiome is weakened. You need to be careful about what you feed it. I always advise prioritizing fruit and protein, and staying away from sugar. Not for life. Just during the phase when you are sick, when the effort really counts.

And during the course as well as right after, lean on lacto-fermented foods and probiotic drinks.

Read the study: nature.com

This week's reflection, choosing yourself

A lot of my clients are going through the same thing right now.

"Come on, have a drink." "Don't be difficult."

Around family, friends, social moments, they slip off track a little. Not because they want to. Just because they do not want to bother anyone.

What I often tell them is to take their place. And to accept bothering people a little.

Explain clearly to people who you are today. What you no longer feel like doing.

At first, some will complain. Others will give you advice you did not ask for. And often, their criticism says more about their own struggle with discipline.

But if you hold your ground, the people around you eventually get used to it. And then there is no problem left.

Some people will no longer match the life you want. See those a little less. Others will show up. See those a little more.

Stay the course.

Just because you are at a party, a wine fair, or drinks at a friend's place does not mean you have to drink with them. You know that ahead of time. Bring your own drink. Say no. Set the rules from the start.

Just because you are at a work dinner does not mean you cannot say "sorry, I don't eat fried food anymore." Or even "I am intolerant to fried food and gluten." That already saves most of the situation. And it is not really a lie, since the whole human species is.

Stop being afraid of being a pain. You have the right not to want something.

That is your sovereignty.

The recipe that caught my attention this week

Kari sach moan, Cambodian red chicken curry

A red paste pounded in a mortar, lemongrass, turmeric, galangal, kaffir lime, then chicken, coconut cream, and vegetables that simmer. Simple, fragrant, and it fills you up.

Full recipe: totemdiet.com/blog/kari-sach-moan-cambodian-red-chicken-curry.html

See you soon,

Marc