Healthy bodies: Part Four

Going back to last week, I want to remind you of the basic formula for good health: Support, Stop Poisoning, and Detoxify. Today we will look deeper into support.

Last week we talked about basic supplementation. This is the first step in giving your body what it needs to keep itself strong and healthy. We told you that the basics in our house include the Plant Enzymes and the Complete Vitamins Plus. Although you don’t have to choose the Enriching Gifts brand of products my research has found that for most people they are the best products on the market today. Part of the reason I feel this way is because I know the formulator, and I know his level of integrity. There is nothing in these products that he doesn’t put in his own body, and recommend for his family.

The next step in support is to make sure you are getting the proper nutrients. When you say nutrients some people think of vitamins and minerals, but others think only of the macro nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Those people want a formula of how much of each they need, and that’s as far as they want to think on nutrition. Unfortunately, as I pointed out in Part 1, we don’t have the luxury of thinking that way anymore. Now we need to look deeper into the substances our foods are made of.

The next step in support is to make sure you are getting the proper nutrients. When you say nutrients some people think of vitamins and minerals, but others think only of the macro nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Those people want a formula of how much of each they need, and that’s as far as they want to think on nutrition. Unfortunately, as I pointed out in Part 1, we don’t have the luxury of thinking that way anymore. Now we need to look deeper into the substances our foods are made of.

Along with the proteins, carbohydrates and fats our bodies need vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber. Without taking anything away from your current eating habits (though if you want to start eliminating processed and refined foods you will be a step ahead) let’s look at ways you can increase those four substances. We have already talked a little bit about vitamins, minerals and enzymes, but we have just scratched the surface.

The Complete Vitamins Plus is considered my foundation; it makes sure there are no sink holes in my health. For the roof of my health building I look to antioxidants. For me this means either Metabolic Complete or Red Heart Algae. To be honest I have a hard time deciding which one I like better. Both are rich in antioxidants, but the Metabolic Complete is a more rounded formula than the Red Heart Algae. Both are based on the writings of Linus Pauling, who won the Nobel Prize for his studies of antioxidants. According to Linus Pauling the lack of antioxidants can contribute to any number of debilitating diseases, including cancer. By the same token, getting the right amount of them can give your body what it needs to fight back if it is already ill. Am I saying that to fight cancer all you need is one Metabolic Complete every day? NO! What I am saying is that if you are not getting enough antioxidants through either diet or supplementation your body will not have what it needs to fight disease. If you have all the dry ingredients for a cake, but no moisture, will you want to eat that cake? No, it will just be a bowl full of dry powder, even if it does taste good.

Besides supplementation you need to include foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber. It happens that they are all packaged in conveniently in the form of fruits and vegetables. First you need to know their source. Conventionally grown fruits and vegetables you buy at the grocery store have been shown to be lacking in all three. Organically grown, either in your own garden or from a local grower has been shown to have more of these nutrients. The other thing to remember is that you want to eat them as close to nature as possible. This means fresh, raw or only slightly cooked. The longer a fruit or vegetable sits the less vitamins and enzymes it contains. The more a fruit or vegetable is cooked the fewer enzymes it contains. In our world today getting your foods this way seems counter intuitive. We are taught that fruits are messy, so you need to just drink the processed, pasteurized juice. That juice will provide the taste and plenty of calories, but it will not provide all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and especially fiber that your body needs. It is better to deal with a drippy orange than to drink a glass of processed, pasteurized orange juice, or even a fresh squeezed glass of orange juice. God packaged the orange and other fruits to contain fiber for a reason. Our bodies need the fiber for better digestion and absorption. It also goes to the third part of our basic formula, detoxification. Do not neglect the fiber in your diet.

Simply adding a piece of fresh fruit or raw vegetable at the beginning of every meal is a great start. I haven’t talked about eliminating anything yet. Adding something good to the beginning of each meal has been shown to reduce the bad things consumed during or after the meal. Let’s look at a simple scenario. If you start a meal with a fresh fruit salad and follow that up with a green salad before your main dish are you going to eat as much of the meat and potatoes? Are you going to really want that big rich desert at the end? You are not denying yourself the main dish or the desert; you are just not as interested in them. This is the beauty of starting a healthy lifestyle by adding to instead of taking away from your current regimen. You can begin feeling better, and being healthier without feeling denied of anything. You may even begin to lose weight just by adding the right foods before you indulge in the wrong ones. The key is to pick the most nutritious foods possible.

If you are not used to all the fiber that the raw fruits and vegetables contain you may become a little constipated. Although I don’t want to get into detoxification yet, I also don’t want you to be miserable and give up the healthy body lifestyle before I get around to explaining both the importance of detoxification and the ways to accomplish it. So, for the moment I will go back to supplementation specifically for this problem. For myself I use Daily Detoxification.We will get more into the why’s and how’s later.

In this new healthy lifestyle do you need to eat meat? We mentioned that the macro nutrients include protein. For a lot of people that means meat, eggs or dairy products. If you really don’t like meat or have a moral objection to the process today of growing and harvesting meat products there are ways around it. You would be surprised at how much protein there is in fruits and vegetables. We all know that legumes, beans and peas, contain protein. We are told that they are ‘incomplete’ proteins. We also know that grain products such as wheat, corn, rice, barley, and other grains contain protein. They are also known as ‘incomplete’. Nuts also have a lot of ‘incomplete’ protein, as well as a lot of fat. Most people stay away from nuts because they are afraid of the fats. The wonderful thing is that you can combine these types of food and get almost all the types of proteins you need for your body to thrive. You just have to make sure your portions are right. You can’t eat a pot of beans and a bite of rice. Your body will only be able to utilize the proteins that combine with the ones in the rice; most of the others will be wasted. Balance is the key here, and it will take a bit of education to get it right. One thing you may struggle getting enough of on a completely vegetarian diet is Vitamin B12. This is mainly found in animal products. One way to ensure you are getting enough of this vitamin is to take a good B12 supplement. This is because many Americans today have trouble absorbing B12 through their digestion. I take mine between meals for two reasons. The B12 gives me an energy boost, which helps me turn down that piece of cake, cookie or candy that calls my name when I am in a slump. The second reason is the taste. Not only is it sweet, which also helps me avoid sugary items, but the minty taste acts as a breath freshener as well. It’s a win, win, win situation.

Next week we will go into what to take out of your daily routine. I have a feeling many of you are starting that already, and don’t even realize it yet.