Dysbiosis is one of the underlying causes of rheumatoid arthritis, and antioxidants are key players in reducing it. In this episode Clint explains how Brazil nuts can help ease the creation of antioxidants and therefore prevent inflammation.

• Exercise and antioxidants creation
• The role of selenium, which is present in high doses in Brazil nuts, in the process
• The correct daily dosage to balance selenium intake and saturated fat
• Selenium deficiency in soil and how it affects nuts content
• A breakfast recipe with Brazil nuts
• Put it all together with the full Rheumatoid Solutions system

Clint Paddison here with another tip on reversing rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. Today we are going to talk about Brazil nuts or quite possibly just one Brazil nut per day, and how can Brazil nuts help to reverse symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis? Well, it’s quite interesting, actually, and we need to take a step back into the underlying mechanism of what’s driving rheumatoid arthritis before we can then add to that picture why Brazil nuts can actually play an integral role in assisting us with reversing some symptoms.

Let’s start by saying that one of the underlying causes of rheumatoid arthritis if we go right back to the very, very start, is we’ve got dysbiosis, which means there is an imbalance of the optimal configuration of microbes in your large intestine, which is your colon. Now, in that part of the body, we’ve got trillions of microbes, and the beneficial microbes produce substances which repair the monocytes, which are the epithelial cells, and prevent the translocation or the migration of the contents of your bowel into your bloodstream. This has been proven over and over again and is consequentially one of the drivers of rheumatoid arthritis. Because the particles of the cell membrane of the pathogenic bacteria that get into your bloodstream have a substance which is called an endotoxin, a lipopolysaccharide that is highly inflammatory and highly immunoreactive. The substances, this endotoxin can circulate in the bloodstream and end up in our joints. When it does end up in the joints, the body sends in the immunoreactive response. This is where it gets really interesting is that the response that gets set in is in the format of white blood cells. Now, specifically, the leukocytes of the white blood cells create free radicals as a way of combating the perceived threat, in this case, this endotoxin at the joint level. In rheumatoid arthritis patients, it’s been measured that this endotoxin is in elevated concentration in synovial fluid inside the joint, this is well supported scientifically. It’s also well supported scientifically that the more translocation from the gut or the lumen contents into the bloodstream and the more leaky gut, as it’s called, corresponds to more disease activity.

What happens then when we’re creating these free radicals from the white blood cell (leukocytes) at the joint level to combat the endotoxin that’s traveled from our gut through a leaky gut into our bloodstream and ended up in our joints? Well, the free radical production causes the joints to undergo a slight amount of breakdown. Because the free radicals that are there to destroy the endotoxin, destroy the bacteria from which it is associated with causes some collateral damage that is like damage to left and right. It just so happens that cartilage gets involved. So no of your tissue gets involved and so on, and therein we experience the breakdown of our joints.

What can we do about this? What is the antidote to free radicals? Okay, we know what that is, it’s antioxidants. So a free radical is just something that is missing an electron, and it’s the outer shell of its atom. And so how do we correct for that? Well, that free radical situation will do anything possible to try and steal another electron because it wants to rebalance itself, it’s an imbalanced situation that nature abhors. And so in that scenario, it will steal electrons from our tissues. So we need to provide more antioxidants or free electrons to the area. Interestingly, if we simply eat more blueberries or we eat more leafy greens, which are good examples of foods that are rich in antioxidants, this will not translate to a leukocyte level, more antioxidants. What do we actually need to do? We need to build up our cellular level of antioxidants or intracellular antioxidants, not dietary antioxidants. And to do that, we have to exercise. Okay. Now exercise. And I know we’re a long way from Brazil. Nuts. We haven’t got to Brazil. But by exercising, we build up what is called glutathione. And glutathione is the main antioxidant in the body because it’s produced intracellular, I mean, internally of the cell and intracellular glutathione own is able to be therefore more present at a cellular level when white blood cells or the leukocytes are causing free radical damage to our joints and tissue. So we exercise. Now, how do Brazil nuts come in? Brazil nuts are a precursor to the manufacturing process of glutathione. So without Brazil nuts. Well, let me back up here. Without selenium, which is rich in Brazil nuts, then we can have an inadequate amount of glutathione production, even under the right circumstances, such as being physically fit and building our antioxidant enzymes via exercise. I do other videos about how to use exercise to do that, but we need selenium, which is rich in Brazil nuts to be able to manufacture our glutathione under the right conditions.

So where does that leave us? How many should we eat? Well, first of all, Brazil nuts are not the only source of selenium. We can also get it from cereal grains, we can also get it from legumes and low levels in fruits. So if we eat a diverse, plant based diet, we will meet our daily requirement of selenium. However, because glutathione is such a crucial component of reversing inflammation with rheumatoid arthritis. It’s so important, it’s up there with equalize your microbiome, and increase your antioxidant enzymes, of which glutathione is the main one. So this is two things, we want to do everything we can to support glutathione production. And that means, in my view, having a very ample amount of selenium in our diet. So just one Brazil nut, these ones are a bit small. In my case here in this bag of smaller Brazil nuts, 2 Brazil nuts can meet your daily requirement of selenium. And so those two Brazil nuts, you can then not even have to think about it and just know that your body is adequately supplied with that key micronutrient. You don’t want to go and eat heaps and heaps of Brazil nuts because they’re higher in saturated fat, and therefore if you eat too many of them, it can actually have a negative impact on your cellular membranes. And there is also a poor ratio of omega 6:3 as do all nuts and seeds, with the exception of flaxseed. We don’t want to go overboard on them, we want to eat them at the amount that we need to get the nutrients that we want out of them. And then we’re done. We don’t need to go overboard.

Interestingly, around the world, there are different countries with selenium deficiency. New Zealand is a country with selenium deficiency, I think China is another, you’d have to check that. But generally, it’s something that is a little prevalent throughout the world. One reason is that our soils have been depleted of a lot of nutrients. So Brazil nuts in Australia have not got enough selenium in them despite that being their sort of big calling card because the soil is depleted of selenium. All of Brazil nuts in Australia are imported from overseas, the one that I’m holding now is from Bolivia. So that’s interesting, right? So the world soils have had deficiencies in these micronutrients as they’ve been harvested year on year, after year, and never rested.

That’s why in my view, we should have a Brazil nut a day, and once you’ve been through the elimination process, which is the ideal process to drop inflammation, to eliminate food sensitivities. You can then add a Brazil nut, and test it back into your diet. If you don’t get an inflammatory reaction from the Brazil nut, you’re good to go have it every day. I put it on my breakfast and I find it’s nice to add a little crunch to my oats in the morning and you are good to go. If you can’t tolerate the Brazil nut yet, don’t worry because as you improve your microbiome by keeping inflammation low, and eating enough foods, specifically prebiotic foods that can create short-chain fatty acids to allow your gut to heal. Then you’ll be able to decrease all of your food sensitivities with time, including a Brazil nut, which in the big picture is fairly easy to get in when you’re ready to test it and you’ll be able to have a diverse diet enabling you to get rid of all those food sensitivities.

If you like this video, give me a like, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you want a complete program that takes care of all the micronutrients, all the minerals, vitamins, all the essential fatty acids that you need and learn how to exercise, including exercise programs that are completely laid out for you in a PDF format to follow each day to maximize your health and minimize symptoms. Make sure you’re a member of our Rheumatoid Solutions system. And we also do live calls and we make sure we keep you on track. Head over to www.RheumatoidSolutions.com. If you’re not a member, I encourage you to take your life to the next level, crush some inflammation. Love to have you join. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.