| This property is unique; vitamins and minerals, for example, can be overconsumed and at the point a person exceeds his threshold, they actually become a toxin to the body and can have many adverse effects. As a result plant-based enzymes are considered to be among the safest supplements you can buy.
Please note that the recommendations in this book are in no way intended to replace recommendations or advice from physicians or other health care providers. They are intended to support your path to optimal health. |
Dr. Mary Dan Eades
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 In some medical courses, physicians learn about vitamins and minerals and how they work from a biochemical standpoint, but nowhere in our training did anyone ever make clear what a potent weapon against disease food, vitamins, and minerals can be. And how much more cost-effective by comparison to virtually any prescription medication. And so the task of understanding this field fell to us to do ourselves.
My husband qualifies as one of the world's most voracious readers, certainly the most broadly read of any person I have ever known. And that made our job easier. |
| Pauling, and whatever role it may play in your war on aging and disease, vitamins and minerals alone cannot save you from an overall unhealthy lifestyle. I think Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg said it best: "Vitamins are like seat belts. Wearing a seat belt doesn't give you a license to drive recklessly, it just protects you in case of an accident. Vitamin supplements work in the same way: they don't give you a license to eat poorly and otherwise abuse your health, but provide an added cushion of protection. |
| By that I mean that if you begin with sound general dietary composition, you will reap far greater and more predictable benefit from the vitamins and minerals you add to that basic framework. Let me illustrate for you.
Say, for example, a group of nutritional researchers turns out a beautiful scientific study on the beneficial role of a particular vitamin—it could be any vitamin—on a certain medical condition. |
| John's wort and echinacea now household words, it is important to familiarize yourself with the major herbs, just as you would the major vitamins and minerals. Research has revealed—or, should I say, confirmed, since many of the treatments have been used in some cultures for centuries—the amazing benefits of herbs to prevent, manage, or treat dozens of conditions and diseases, with virtually none of the side effects of conventional medicine.
In Section II, you will find the real heart of the book. |
Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, FRCP (C) and Dr. Harold D. Foster, PhD
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 Indeed, humans today seem to be genetically identical to their pre-agricultural, Paleolithic ancestors, with the same demand for vitamins and minerals, but eat a different diet of predominantly processed foods. Pre-agricultural man ate a diet that contained vitamins and mineral levels that were several times higher than current RDA recommendations. The Paleolithic RDA ratio for vitamin C, for example, was approximately 6.7 higher. That is, the average Paleolithic diet probably provided almost seven times the current recommended daily allowance for ascorbic acid. |
Dr. Steven R. Gundry
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 Most patients hospitalized with heart disease or diabetes show a similar nutritional profile: they're overfed but undernourished, with remarkably low levels of quality protein and vitamins and minerals revealed in their blood work. They wound up in the hospital because their genes are trying to dispose of them.
Okay, we've identified several areas of behavior (overeating, inactivity, overex-ercising, and smoking) that might trigger killer genes to go on the warpath, but how would they go about activating the destruction of the body they inhabit? |
Ray D. Strand
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 Nutritional medicine, supplementing our diet with vital antioxidant vitamins and minerals, is the only means we have to supercharge our body's natural defense and immune system.
Nutritional medicine protects our health by enhancing the natural defense systems God has created for a polluted world. When we provide the proper nutrients at the optimal levels that the body needs to function, it can do what God intended.
Once you understand the concept of oxidative stress and its deleterious effect on your body you will want to learn how to have victory over it. |
Ron Garner
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 Commercially-produced fruits, and especially vegetables, are now deficient in vitamins and minerals due to the overfarm-ing of soils and the use of chemical fertilizers. These may satisfy our acquired tastes and hunger, but unfortunately, their mineral and vitamin content does not satisfy the body's cellular requirements for nutrition.
Advantages of Fresh Raw Fruit and Vegetable Juices
The advantages of consuming fresh raw fruit and vegetable juices over eating the actual fruits and vegetables are that they: are an alkaline meal with concentrated nutrients. |
| The reason the stomach secretes insufficient acid is because the body lacks the necessary vitamins and minerals to produce it. The Roseburg study conducted by Victoria Boutenko (see The Green Breakthrough, chapter 15) demonstrated that increasing the natural production of stomach acid appears to be related to the intake of raw green vegetables, the requirement of which is far greater than cooked and raw food eaters typically consume. This problem can be overcome by introducing raw green smoothies into the diet. |
| Animals that were fed enriched white flour products died first because the enrichment of this flour is from synthetic vitamins and minerals. Raw whole wheat contains approximately fifty main nutrients whereas refined white flour contains no more than two or three.
Too Much Protein
Our bodies use protein to make, repair, and replace tissue. The structural materials of cells are proteins reinforced by minerals. Contrary to popular opinion, the body does not use protein from its tissues for energy. |
| Without live enzymes in food, our bodies must manufacture them from vitamins and minerals in our own tissues to be able to digest the nutrient-deficient processed foods we eat. Whenever we prepare foods by canning or overcooking, we are killing the live enzymes. When we consume these foods, we are depleting our body's nutrient reserves.
Taste Enhancers
Many ingredients, referred to as additives, are combined with foods to increase eye and taste appeal. There is much research data on the harm that chemical food additives do to human health. Taste-enhancers are aptly called "excitotoxins. |
Tom Bohager
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 In addition, a new substance called Bioperine, a phytonutrient, has been shown to increase the absorption of specific vitamins and minerals. It has also been shown to stimulate thermogenesis, which is the metabolic process that produces energy at the cellular level, and thereby increase the energy that can be used for nutrient absorption (see chapter 4). |
Andreas Moritz
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 Any of these drugs can strip valuable vitamins and minerals from the body. When two or more of these drugs are combined— especially in an older patient—the risk of developing anemia rises almost exponentially. Anemia is a serious condition that can dramatically increase mortality risk for patients with chronic health problems, such as heart disease and cancer.
Many doctors and patients underestimate the risks associated with anemia. Anemia is a deficiency in the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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 Physical/Cognitive Performance
During a 12-week drug monitoring study, efficacy and tolerability of a Rhodiola extract combined with vitamins and minerals (vigodana®) was assessed in 120 adults suffering from physical and cognitive deficiencies. The patients received a daily dose of 2 capsules. A statistically significant improvement (p<0.001) was demonstrated for physical and cognitive deficiencies. The preparation was well-tolerated (Gruenwald et al, 2007). |
| Macular Degeneration, Age-Related
¦
The Lutein Antioxidant Supplementation Trial (LAST) examined the effect of lutein alone or in combination with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals on atrophic age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). This 12-month, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial enrolled 90 veterans from two veterans' medical facilities. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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 Then we need the necessary co-factors, vitamins and minerals, to make all this chemistry work optimally. This proper food intake improves our energy, our mood, and our decision-making ability and reduces cravings. Poor food intake is a self-perpetuating problem. Your body is starving for the right nutrients, and will continue to crave whatever quick fix is handy to allay it temporarily. However, you never really feel fully satisfied, so you continue on the junk food rollercoaster. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 A terrific reference book on vitamins and minerals.
You: An Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger by Mehmet Oz, M.D., and Michael F. Roizen, M.D.
An all-around great book for the general public. Anything that has Mehmet Oz's name on it is worth reading.
Natural Medicine, Optimal Wellness: The Patient's Guide to Health and Healing by Jonathan Wright, M.D., and Alan Gaby, M.D.
This is a great reference book by two of the iconic figures in complementary medicine. |
| Back in 1968, two-time Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling coined the term orthomolecular medicine to refer to the practice of using optimal amounts of substances like vitamins and minerals that are "natural" to the body. (The body, for example, knows quite well what to do with vitamin B12 or with the amino acid tryptophan, both of which it encounters every day of its life. The body does not normally encounter, for example, Prozac or Prevacid. |
| But research in vitamins and minerals and other "natural" substances doesn't lend itself to the same kind of design as research on drugs, and therein may be one of the many problems with getting this information out there. We're used to having a symptom, taking a drug, and seeing the symptom disappear. Nutrients work differently. For one thing, they generally work in combination, much like the way they're found in nature. For another, they work more slowly and more subtly, repairing the mechanisms that caused the symptom in the first place. |
| Is it medicine that is limited to vitamins and minerals as they occur in nature? That would leave out every supplement mentioned in this book, since
The Stress Connection
One part of natural medicine thankfully does not fall into the "gray" area—it's clearly smack dab in the middle of any definition of natural you can come up with. It's unambiguous and essential and occupies a central place in the treatment of almost any disease or condition I can think of.
I'm talking about stress management. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Any drug that causes an increase in urination can drain the body's levels of water-soluble nutrients, including B vitamins and minerals such as magnesium and potassium. The major offenders here are drugs used to treat hypertension, particularly the diuretics that reduce blood pressure by flushing more water out of the body.
OTHER FACTORS THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO DRUG-NUTRIENT DEPLETION
Traits both inborn and acquired can raise your chances of becoming nutrient-depleted due to the medications you take. For example:
• Being under chronic or intense stress, either physically or mentally. |
| In this chapter, we'll be looking at each of the various nutrients, including the fuel-supplying carbohydrates, the building-block proteins and fats, and the catalysts and cofactors, otherwise known as vitamins and minerals. We'll finish with a list of the basics that will get you—and keep you—in vibrant health.
I also hope to inspire you to get started with a basic, well-rounded supplement program to provide a rock-solid nutritional foundation. Then, as you read later chapters on individual drugs, you can fine-tune your program. |
Andreas Moritz
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| Most of the foods consumed by most people in modern countries are highly acid-forming, which means that they damage blood vessels and deplete the body's vitamins and minerals. |
| You may ask: "But what about the so-important vitamins and minerals?" The Andes populations with their high standards of health and stamina obviously preferred taste to nutritional values. They knew that most bitter substances are poisonous and they trusted their taste buds more than any theories of nutrition.
Ayurveda, the most ancient health science in the world, categorizes foods only according to their tastes and after effects. It emphasizes that if the body receives all the six tastes, i.e. |
Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, FRCP (C) and Dr. Harold D. Foster, PhD
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| But our 'longevity genes' function best when the body is provided with vitamin B-3 (nicotinic acid and or nicotinamide or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), as well as anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals, and protected from toxic metals and xenobiotic chemicals.
Dr Williams died when he was 95 years of age. Toward the end of his life, he was nearly totally deaf and blind, but his mind was as sharp as ever. Dr Williams confided in Dr Hoffer that he was very sorry he had not started taking vitamins early in his life. He was sure that they would have prevented both of his major infirmities. |
Andreas Moritz
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| But how could the original inhabitants of our planet have survived for so many thousands of years without having sufficient vitamins and minerals in their diet? They made certain that only very few toxins could enter their digestive systems. With so little toxicity to deal with, the small amounts of nutrients contained in their foods were almost sufficient to keep up the healthy functioning of their physiology. Their bodies produced the rest. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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| It was once believed that given a balanced diet, people could get the required levels of vitamins and minerals from proper food intake. Randall Fitzgerald, author of an expose on the food industry called The Hundred-Year Lie, begs to differ. The food sources of vitamins simply don't pack the same punch in terms of nutrients that we once thought. As a result of chemical additives and advanced methods for processing foods, the nutritional value of food just does not measure up anymore. |
Andreas Moritz
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| So they fed the common breakfast cereals enriched with the most important vitamins and minerals to young, healthy laboratory rats. The researchers divided a total of 240 rats into two groups; one group received cereal and water and the other one normal food and water. The experiment lasted for 45 days. The result was totally unexpected and devastating. The rats that were fed with cereals, which according to common nutritional sense and advertising should have turned them into strong and vital grown-up rats, were close to death. They suffered from fatty livers, anemia and high blood pressure. |
Dr. Arthur Janov
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 It is true that certain vitamins and minerals help, but where is the overall theory that helps us make sense of it? We are trying to steady the ship without accounting for the waves. The cognitivists and insight therapists are plying a trade that skims along the surface while convinced of its depth. The so-called "depth" psychology is really a matter of ideas, which allude to certain deep feeling states without corroborating evidence. If they have never seen the depth, as we have, it is easy to make that mistake. |
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