The Nutritional Solution: what is the most important nutrient in the body?

The Magical Elixir

Do you know what the second most  common nutritional deficiency is in America?  Lack of vitamins?  Lack of minerals?  Poor digestion?  Well, these are all extremely important, and deficiencies in these areas cause untold suffering and lead to many diseases and ill health, but are not on the very top of the list in terms of nutritional deficiency.  The second most common deficiency is an essential fatty acid deficiency (and this will be the topic of a later blog entry).  The most common nutritional deficiency, however,  is water – good, wholesome, pure, given-from-nature, natural water.  You can last many days without food, but only about three days without water.  Water makes up between 55 to 65% of our total body mass (the actual amount varies with the size of the person, their age, their gender, etc.).  This means that a 140 pound person has about 84 pounds of water weight.

We live on a water planet, where 71% of the surface of the earth is made up of this special and unusual liquid. When I look at the human body, I see that we are really a quite accurate reflection of planet earth.  We are, as is the earth, made up of fully functioning ecosystems within ecosystems within ecosystems.  Our organs, our tissues, our cells are energetic, vibratory, interactive systems that function on many micro, macro and meta levels of relationship between themselves and the greater “outside.”  It is no accident that our bodies reflect a similar percentage of water and that the water in our bodies is nearly identical in many ways to the chemical make-up of most of the water on the planet – salty seawater.

Water plays a vital role, in some way, shape or form, in nearly every chemical interaction in the body.  We truly are an electrical (or vibrational) being – our cells and processes communicate via electrical impulses and water acts as the “battery” medium for this transference of energy.

Functions of Water

Water has an amazingly long list of important functions, each of which is critical to healthy biological processes.  Some of the important ones listed in Water: The Ultimate Cure by Steve Meyerowitz, include:

• Improves oxygen delivery to the cells
• Transports nutrients
• Enables cellular hydration
• Moistens oxygen for easier breathing
• Cushions bones and joints
• Absorbs shocks to joints and organs
• Regulates body temperature
• Removes wastes
• Flushes toxins
• Lubricates joints
• Improves cell to cell communication
• Maintains normal electrical properties of cells
• Empowers the body’s natural healing process

Water Loss

In humans, the body can make about 8% of its water needs through metabolic processes, using hydrolysis and hydration (chemical processes of breaking off water molecules and recombining them).  Other animals, such as desert Kangaroo rats and camels can make and/or store much high quantities of water for long term use.  We are not camels.

Because our water needs are so high, we have a constant need to replenish.  This, coupled with the choices that many people make regarding their beverages, is what leads to chronic (and sometimes acute) dehydration issues for so many.

Humans lose about a liter of water a day just through breathing (although I don’t suggest you stop breathing just to conserve water).  About 24% of our water loss is through the skin and about 60% is excreted through the kidneys.  The GI system moves nearly 10 liters of water per day, mostly through the process of creating water through hydrolysis (the breaking apart of water from other constituents) in the gut through digestive processes (much of this is reabsorbed later in the small intestine and colon).

Dehydration

As in any other healthy functioning system of the body, there is a natural balance that is in effect, in this case between water in and water out.  And, as is often the case with so many people, this balance has been changed significantly in modern life. 

The majority of Americans today live with chronic (or worse) dehydration.  A rule of thumb to tell if you’re getting enough water to be adequatley hydrated is to take your weight and divide it by two to get the number of ounces of water you should be drinking (a 150 pound person should take in about 75 ounces of water per day).  Of course on hotter days, or with more physical exertion, this number would be higher. 

Most people don’t drink nearly that much water.  To make matters much worse for many people, what they do drink actually takes water from the body.  Drinking fluids that contain diuretics, taking many medications that are diruretic and eating certain foods, all remove water from the body’s needed stores instead of adding to it.  Commonly consumed diuretics include all caffeinated beverages, beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks and many types of fruit juices. 

To get a more accurate sense of how much fluids one should be taking in, you need to take your body weight, divide it by two (to get the starting point for water intake), and then add 1 1/2 ounces of water for each ounce of diuretic you are taking in.  For every 8 ounce can of Coke or other soft drink you’re drinking, you’d need to drink an additional 12 ounces of water to just break even (which doesn’t include the many other nutritional problems involved with drinking soft drinks).

If water content drops by as much as 2%,  people become fatigued (what is the main complaint of many people? – they’re too tired all the time).  A 10% drop will cause severe health problems (digestive, immune, musculo-skeletal issues) and a drop of more than 10% can cause death.  There are early signs and more mature or later signs of problems related to dehydration, as follows:

Early
Signs                                                                                             

• Fatigue                                                                                                                  
• Heartburn
• Joint Pain
• Back Pain
• Migraines
• Fibromyalgia
• Constipation
• Colitis

Mature
Signs

• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Depression
• Cravings
• Cramps
• Headaches

If you experience several of the above (especially on a regular basis), you might want to look closely at your quality and quantity water intake. 

There are many other issues related to water and health that will be covered in later posts, including sources of good water, containers that should be and shouldn’t be used, filtering systems and so on.

So, let’s drink a toast to your good health, with lots of pure, clean and healthful water.

Now, for the Rest of the Story – Part 4, Dysfunction in the Lower GI

As we’ve seen, taking acid blockers can actually be quite harmful, in the long run, to the upper GI system, especially to the stomach and lower esophagus.  As we’ll now see, the lower GI also takes a hit when things farther “north” aren’t working properly.

Most people (and this would include most doctors and other medical practitioners) just don’t recognize the serious ramifications to much of the rest of the body, from a digestive system that is out of balance.  Digestive dysfunction can lead to issues relating to allergies, arthritis, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, cardiovascular issues, mood disorders (including ADD and ADHD), autism, dementia, cancer, autoimmune diseases and a lot more. 

In the words of Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, “having a healthy gut means more than simply being free of annoyances like bloating or heartburn! It is absolutely central to your health. It is connected to EVERYTHING that happens in your body.”

This is why, as Nutritional Therapists, we almost always start from “north” to “south”, beginning with the digestive system.

Intestinal Fortitude

In a proper functioning GI tract, chyme enters the duodenum and its acidic pH triggers the release of pancreatic juice.

 Under conditions when the chyme pH is not correct (as described in last month’s blog), the hormone secretin is not excreted adequately to trigger the release of pancreatic juice.

 Then, sodium bicarbonate is not released to raise the pH of the chyme, and it burns the mucosal lining of the upper small intestine, which may lead  to duodenal ulcers.

 As you’ll recall, the inside of the small intestine (or gut) is covered with small, finger-like projections called villi and micro-villi, much like a Terry-cloth towel.  Any undigested food in the small intestine will wear away at the villi, eventually allowing large molecules of proteins and fats to pass through the gut, which will overwhelm the immune system.  What should have been nourishing food now becomes a major assault on immunity and systemic inflammation.

This wearing away of the thin (one cell layer) inner lining of the intestine is called “leaky gut”, and if that barrier is damaged, you can become allergic to foods you otherwise would be able to digest perfectly well, your immune system will become overactive, and it will begin producing inflammation throughout your body.

Not A Lot of Gall?

Dysfunction of the gallbladder is related to poor quality fats or low-fat diets in conjunction with too little stomach acid.

Fats are primarily digested by bile salts and pancreatic lipase in the duodenum.

 Fat in the chyme stimulates the release of CCK (cholecystokinin), which stimulates the gallbladder to release bile.

 Low fat diets do not stimulate the release of bile, causing the bile to get old and viscous.   In this situation the gallbladder tries to contract, but is unable to release the sticky bile.  Many people experience severe gall-bladder pain when this occurs.

No bile leads to no absorption of fats, and this has a cascading effect throughout many other systems of your body, including cholesterol imbalances, effects on the immune system and many hormones.  Fats help build cell walls, control the inflammatory process and much, much more.

 This is not a “No Brainer”

There is also the situation of your second brain – an entirely different nervous system that resides in your gut (it’s true, we really do have “gut feelings”). Your gut actually contains MORE neurotransmitters than your brain. In fact, the gut has a brain of its own. It is called the “enteric nervous system”, which initially developed alongside your “main” brain; it is a highly sophisticated part of your overall biology and is wired to your brain in intricate ways.

Messages are constantly traveling back and forth between your gut-brain and your head-brain, and when those messages are interfered with in any way your health will suffer.

 

The End of the Line

Finally, and once again, the large intestine deals with the leftovers from all of the rest of Digestion.

Mal-digested foods are often full of parasites, microorganisms, and undigested fats.  As this mal-digested debris tries to pass into the colon, the ileocecal valve (between the small and large intestines) can get clogged or jammed open. 

Poorly digested foods degenerate the colon, disrupting the healthy flora (called dysbiosis).  As the colon weakens, inflammation, and loss of tone occurs leading to many forms of bowel disorder along with poor nutrient absorption.

Without healthy flora, butyric acid is not produced, which weakens the cells of the colon.  This leaves the colon subject to inflammation, diverticulitis, and loss of tone. This in turn, can lead to issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, crone’s disease, colitis, celiac disease.

Each has its own unique causal mechanisms, but all are exacerbated by poor digestive process.

Now, the main foundation has been set.  As you will see in future posts, many other dysfunctional issues will come right back to problems and connections with digestion.  Truly, the way to a person’s heart (and kidneys, cardiovascular health, immune system, hormones, moods, brain function and on and on) is through their stomach (and related organs of digestion).

Feeling Queasy About Digestion?

Now that we’ve looked at how a digestive system should work, let’s  look at what is all-too-much the reality for most people in our culture today.  Some 60-70 million people in the US are affected by digestive diseases, (this does not count the millions of other digestive ailments that are not classified as disease).  14 million people are hospitalized each year for digestive problems (9% of all hospitilizations) and 6 million people go through digestive hospital diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (14 percent of all hospital procedures).  This is clearly no small or laughing matter (not even a belly laugh).     

 Perhaps the largest class of over-the-counter and prescriptions medications taken today are for digestive related ailments.  Just think of the tons of antacids, acid blockers, gas relievers, bloat relievers, anti-flatulance medications, etc. that are consumed each year (each day??).  And think of the millions of gastric and gut procedures that are done each year from endoscopies to colonoscopies to by-passes (see above).   Many(most??) of these should not be needed if we just knew how to care for our gut by choosing and properly preparing healthful nutrient dense foods that support good digestive functioning.

 So, what happens that creates such dismal digestive health for so many, and what can be done to improve matters – actually to improve things very significantly?  Most digestive problems start from years of abusing our “inner” tube with poor diet, poor eating habits, unconsciousness and stresses of all kinds.

 Remember that digestion starts in the mind/brain, even before we start to eat.  That means that a good place to start to heal digestive disorders is through our thoughts and actions, before a meal.  We have two parts to our autonomic, or “automatic” nervous system.  The first is our fight-or-flight, get ready for action system, called the sympathetic nervous system.  This one is related to stress, which amongst other things, greatly slows down our digestive processes.  The second is the parasympathetic system, which is activated when we are calm, relaxed, meditating, in prayer, etc.  When we get ready to eat, we want to be in parasympathetic mode – this is why so many pre-industrial cultures had customs and traditions that include prayer, slowing down, connecting with family and friends, etc.  It leads to good and healthy digestion.  As a culture, we are sympathetically stressed, eating quickly, swallowing without chewing, eating on the run, being unconscious about eating, and, of course, eating fast food. 

 If you don’t take the time to properly chew your food (about 30 seconds), the brain doesn’t get the message to trigger the proper digestive processes.   Adequate saliva production is not triggered, which affects enzyme production in the mouth affecting the initial breakdown of carbohydrates.  This really is the start of a chain reaction that goes all the way through the digestive system.  Lack of salivary enzymes can reduce the pancreatic enzyme amylase, so that starches are not completely broken down in the small intestine, leaving undigested starches that enter the colon, that can feed candida and other dysbiotic organisms farther down the digestive tract.  Sounds like a mess, doesn’t it?  Well…things can get even worse.

So, what about stomach acid?

 If you watch TV commercials, it would seems as if everyone in America has way too much stomach acid and we all need to do everything we can to bring it down to a reasonable level (and of course, so we can eat anything and everything we want to without ill effects).  In fact, as mentioned above, acid blockers and antacids are amongst the top prescription and over-the-counter medications taken today.

 But, in reality, the stomach is really all about acid; it should be highly acidic to function optimally, and there are all kinds of problems that are created if it isn’t acid enough.  The normal pH of a healthy stomach is between 1.5 and 3.0 (battery acid has a pH of about 0.8) and acid blockers and antacids will almost always bring that up to a higher or more alkaline level.   The problem with most Americans in this regard is not too much stomach acid, but rather, not enough.  Studies have shown that approximately 90 percent of Americans produce too little stomach acid, or HCl.  Dr. Jonathan Wright, MD, came to this conclusion using a small telemetric device dropped into the stomach of thousands of patients.  Dr. George Goodheart, DC, came to essentially the same conclusion using kinesiology and functional assessments.  Factors such as stress, excess carbohydrate consumption, nutrient deficiencies, allergies, and excess alcohol can inhibit HCl production.

 So, what happens if you do not produce enough HCl?

The gut, and particularly the stomach with a very high acid level, is our first line of physical defense against entering pathogenic microorganisms.  Lowering of HCl reduces or eliminates much of that defense.  Yeast, prions, viruses, parasites, etc., are all little proteins, and when the pH is correct in the stomach, pepsin (an enzyme) digests these little microorganisms and they become food.  When the pH is not correct, an environment is created in which these organisms thrive and raise havoc, not only in the stomach, but throughout the digestive system, and ultimately, throughout the body.

 If there is not enough acid in the stomach, foods do not get broken down (carbohydrates will ferment, fats rancidify and proteins will putrefy).  These maldigested foods cause a reflux, or backward flow, into the esophagus.  This is not caused from too much acid, as is commonly thought, and rammed down our throats (literally) by the pharmaceutical and much of the medical industry, but by not being acid enough.  Acid blockers and antacids just exacerbate the problem.  If the stomach acid were strong enough, the digestion would take place normally, and pass on into the small intestine without that constant feeling of indigestion, bloating, gas and nausea.  The reason the esophagus experiences the burning is because the partially digested foods do not transit properly, and then move back up toward the esophagus.  They are acid (maybe pH 4-5), but not acid enough for good digestion.

 Next time, we’ll look at the effect of maldigestion on the rest of the gut, from the small intestine to the colon, and discuss what can be done to bring the entire system back into balance.

A Lot to Digest – part 2 (the long and winding road)

So,  we’ve covered the movement of food/nutrients from the “brain” (as we initially think and perceive the meal we’re about to ingest), into the mouth, down the esophagus and into the stomach, where the first major digestive processes take place.  If our digestive system is healthy, and our liver, gallbladder, pancreas and other supporting organs are functioning optimally, the Chyme, created in the stomach, is now ready to move into the part of the body specifically designed to transfer the nutrients through the blood stream into every cell in our body.   The next part of the journey reminds me a bit of the old 1930’s jazz song by Louis Armstrong, and others: 

The music goes ’round and around
Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho
And it comes out here

Are you ready for some intestines? 

The small intestines are about 25 feet in length and if spread out, would cover an entire tennis court.  They are made up of the duodenum, the jejunem and the ileum, each having important and distinctive functions. 

 

 The duodenum is largely responsible for the breakdown of food in the small intestine, using enzymes from the pancreas.   As the Chyme enters the duodenum, it is also responsible for regulating the rate of emptying the stomach with the help of two major digestive hormones. Secretin and cholecystokinin (or CCK) are released from cells in the duodenal lining as a result of the high acidity and the fats present when the pyloric sphincter or valve (between the stomach and duodenum) opens and releases gastric Chyme for further digestion. These cause the liver and gall bladder to release bile, and the pancreas to release bicarbonate and digestive enzymes such as trypsin, lipase and amylase into the duodenum as they are needed.

The first two parts of the small intestine, the duodenum and jejunum are responsible for most digestion and assimilation, with continued assimilation in the ileum.  These first two sections of the small intestine are completely lined with small finger like projections called villi , where most absorption takes place. If you looked inside the upper intestines, the surface area would look much like a terry-cloth towel, which greatly increases the surface area for optimal absorption (yeh, just like a towel).  Each villus contains a network of capillaries in which the broken-down food particles are absorbed and carried into the blood stream.

Once again, muscular contractions move the Chyme along. Whenever a section of the small intestine becomes stretched, peristalsis (waves of contractions) occurs at spaced intervals. This not only moves the Chyme along but also mixes it with digestive secretions. At the end of the small intestine is the ileocecal valve (another valve separating parts of the digestive system so that material doesn’t easily move the wrong way).   As with the connection between the stomach and the small intestine, various hormones and feedback mechanisms regulate the passage of Chyme through the ileocecal valve into the large intestine. When the ileum becomes stretched and full, the valve opens to allow the passage of Chyme and if the large intestine is too full, the valve remains closed until the bowel empties.

The small intestine meets the large intestine at a sharp right angle bend. To the left is the cecum, a kind of holding tank, and to the right the bowel. Attached to the cecum is the appendix, once considered a non-functioning or “vestigial” organ but now recognized as serving an important immunological function. The appendix contains a high concentration of lymphoid follicles that produce antibodies to help keep the bacteria of the colon from infecting other areas of the body, such as the small intestine and the bloodstream, particularly in early life.

The large intestine or colon is five to six feet long with a diameter of about two inches and is divided by sharp turns into three major parts–the ascending colon on the right hand side of the body, the transverse colon which runs from right to left across the upper abdomen, and the descending colon which carries the mass of digested food downward to the rectum. The purpose of the large intestine is threefold: storage of waste materials and undigested food from the small intestine–not just the breakdown products of what we take in but the residue of secretions, sloughed-off cells and dead bacteria that accumulate during the digestive process; the absorption of water and electrolytes from the food residue; and the further decomposition of solid materials by the action of millions of bacteria. Combined contractions of circular and lengthwise muscles surrounding the colon roll over the fecal materials to ensure that all of it is exposed to the intestinal wall, so that all the fluid can be absorbed. Special cells, called goblet cells lining the large intestine, secrete mucus that protects the walls of the intestine, help maintain alkalinity and provide a medium to hold the fecal matter together.

The final stage of this incredible journey is the movement of the now solid fecal matter from the transverse colon via strong contractions down the descending colon and into the rectum, a process that occurs only a few times each day–usually upon arising in the morning or immediately after breakfast. When these movements force a mass of fecal matter into the rectum, the desire to evacuate is felt.

So, why so much time and space on digestion?  Because it is so critical to almost everything else that goes on in the body.  I’ll be referring back to this information to describe various healthy and dysfunctional conditions, and how they can be supported for continued or improved health and well-being.  Next time, we’ll look at some of the problems that occur with the digestive system that plague millions of people throughout the world, especially in westernized countries,  that can be helped with improved nutrition.

Thanks to Sally Fallon and the Weston A. Price Foundation for parts of the above description
www.westonaprice.org

A Lot to Digest – part 1 (it’s alimentary, my dear Watson)

It is often said that the eyes are the window to the soul.  Well, in the same vein, I see that on the physical level, the mouth can be seen as the doorway to good health.  Almost everything that gets into our body, other than what we breathe, to nourish us — or that creates problems and dysfunctions — comes in through the mouth and digestive system.   It is said that we are what we eat, but it is much more accurate to say that we are what we assimilate.  What passes from our digestion into our blood stream and then into our cells is key to almost everything there is about good health. 

 It is estimated that we have somewhere between 40 and 75 trillion (that’s with a T) cells in our body; every one of them is dependent on good raw materials in the form of nutrients that we eat.  Simply put, if we don’t eat well and/or our digestive system is not functioning properly, our cells, and therefore our organs, and therefore we, can’t function as efficiently, as effectively and as healthfully as we are meant to.

Digestion is so important to good health  that I want to spend a little time going over what a properly functioning digestive system would look like and how it would function (even if you have a really good diet, if you aren’t digesting properly, you will still be malnourished).

 So, what is the pathway to good health?  Well, let’s start top-side, with the brain and mouth, and move south.

 Digestion doesn’t technically begin in the mouth, as most people would think – it actually begins in the brain when food is seen, smelled or even imagined.  A whole series of neural signals are sent out when food is even “on the menu”, so to speak.  Saliva creation is one of the first digestive processes that occur when we think about or imagine food – even if the food isn’t physically present.  Saliva contains enzymes that start the breakdown of simple carbohydrates and some fats while the food is still in the mouth. Mucous in the mouth helps to create a bolus, or “food packet” that makes it easier to swallow. 

Other neural signals are sent to the stomach, pancreas and small intestine to alert them that “food is on the way” and to prepare for the upcoming digestive processes. 

Chewing well is important – maybe even critical – to overall digestive health.  This is because chewing our food completely takes a big burden off of other parts of the digestive system (particularly the stomach and small intestine), allows time for proper mixing with the salivary enzymes and helps allow the body to go into a “parasympathetic” or relaxed state, which also greatly aids in good digestion and assimilation.  If your mom ever chided you for not chewing your food completely before you swallowed, this was yet again another time when she was right.

After the food is chewed well and swallowed, it passes from the mouth into the esophagus and then into the stomach.  It does so in a compact ball-like lump or packet called a bolus.  It enters the stomach through the upper valve, or sphincter into the cardiac chamber.  The stomach will swell in size according to the size of the meal and will knead or mechanically massage the bolus as secretions of enzymes and hydrochloric acid (HCl) begin in earnest to break down the nutrients into ever smaller fragments so that they can eventually be assimilated. 

The stomach has two main jobs – to store the food in a “holding area” until it is ready to pass into the small intestines, and to chemically mix the food with digestive enzymes and HCl, forming a thick fluid slurry called chyme.  Most of the digestion that occurs in the stomach works on proteins, which are the most complex and, in many ways, most difficult of all of the macro-nutrients to break down.  If we don’t produce enough HCl, then we can’t properly digest proteins while they are still in the stomach.  Too little HCl also effects the assimilation of other important nutrients, which I’ll discuss in future postings.

We’ve covered a lot of “territory” so far on our digestive journey, with still much more to go.  In the next posting we’ll follow the chyme through the intestinal pathway to see how food gets translated into nutrition.

Ancestral Connections

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to get started with this blog.  There are so many topics and ideas relating to good and healthy nutrition that the subject itself can (and does) feel very overwhelming at times.  One of the “Big Ideas” I keep coming back to, over and over, in terms of a “big-picture” look at the complexities of food, health, nutrition and the human condition, is the relationship between what we eat and our basic, genetic, anatomical and physiological make-up.  We actually are “designed” to run most effectively and efficiently on a very specific subset of nutrients that are in tune with the four million year old genetic template of our ancestors; nutrients that for most people in most cultures today are not fully present (and often-times almost non-existent) in the typical daily diet. 

 

There have been three major periods or “epochs” of human diet over the millennia, with as many combinations and permutations and cross-fertilizations as there are human cultures and groupings.  The first (and by far the longest and most influential in terms of our genetic connections with nutrition) is the time of the hunter-gatherer, roughly from about 4 million years ago to about 10 – 12,000 years ago.  This time period set the foundation for who we are as a nutritional species; what the needs are at the system, tissue and cellular level.  Nora Gedgaudas, in her recently published book, Primal Body—Primal Mind goes into great detail describing the nutritional-physiological relationship of our paleo ancestors.  Some 95+% of our genetic patterns are still based on this time period, and for the most part, they are extremely different from what most modern humans eat today.  By far and away the majority of foods and nutrient types that most people take in today were not available to our paleo ancestors, which means they were not available for the largest part of our genetic history.  This includes all dairy products, all cereal grains, all processed foods, most fruits and vegetables, most vegetable oils and almost all sugars and other sweeteners.  Essentially, what we’re eating today is alien to our systems.

 

The second dietary epoch started about 10,000 years ago with the agriculture revolution.  By domesticating animals and plants (especially dairy animals and cereal grains) our dietary input shifted markedly — and our physiology is still trying to catch up.  This was the first step in a long road to chronic disease and dysfunction.  Paleontologists and anthropologists have discovered that there was a significant decline in stature and bone structure of humans during the first part of the agricultural revolution, that parallels an increase in grain-based diets (see Cordain and others: Origin and Evolution of the Western Diet. American Society for Clinical Nutrition. 2005).  Many people today suffer from conditions that result from allergies and reactions to various proteins and other substances in grains and dairy products that our paleo ancestors never experienced.  Ten thousand years seems like a long time, but in evolutionary terms, based on our four-plus million year old ancestry, it isn’t long enough for significant genetic change at the dietary level (Cordain et. al., 2005). Our digestive systems, our sugar-handling relationships, our immune responses, our hormones and our circulatory and nervous systems are all still trying to make sense (and not too successfully) of the major changes in diet experienced over the past 10 millenia. 

 

The last major dietary change (and by far, probably the most drastic) is extremely recent (mostly during the past 200 or fewer years) and has had the most telling and most deleterious impact on our physiology and our health.  This is the age of industrialized, processed, manipulated, adulterated ingredients that most people in the westernized world consume today.  Many, perhaps most, of these “food” items probably should not even be technically called foods – and the relative proportion of these altered nutrients is increasing in our diets at an exponential rate.  Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who witnessed first-hand the effects of modernizing diets on the tooth and jaw structure of his patients, ventured throughout the world in the 1930s comparing indigenous people eating their native and “primitive diets” with their neighbors, cousins, brothers and offspring who were assimilating western diets of processed and canned foods.  His studies and observations are some of the most powerful examples of the effects of diet and nutrition on the human body, mind and spirit.  See Dr. Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration for a clear, enlightening (and yes, sad and sometimes frightening)  description of a major transition in our dietary history. 

 

I will go into much detail about this last dietary milestone, describing how what we eat (and sometimes how we eat) has led to the health and nutritional disasters of our time – and also, more importantly, how we can move back into balance with ancestral diets that are more in-tune with our genetics and biology.

Getting Started

Imagine a time and a place when what we ate supported our natural and intrinsic health and vitality.  A place and a time where we (as a human population) were in balance with the nurturing products of nature in such a way that our physiological needs were essentially met; all of our biological systems (digestion, cardiovascular health, hormonal balances, fatty acid needs, etc.) were supplied with the correct nutrients for vital and long-lasting health.

 

For most of us, that time and place is hard to imagine; especially hard to imagine in a really personal and tangible way.  Our families, our peers, our cohorts and friends all seem to be touched (directly or indirectly) by one or more of the major maladies of modern culture – heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic pain, digestive disorders, obesity, depression, anxiety, stress, etc., etc.  – to such a great extent that it seems to be part and parcel of our everyday lives.  It’s as if this were the “natural” condition.  And all of this, despite the fact that we “supposedly” have the most technologically advanced medical and health system the world has ever seen.  Most of us know that while we are told that “we are the greatest country in the world” over and over, and part of us actually believes it (or wants to), that there is something drastically wrong with the big picture; something askew between our supposed “abundance” and our ability to remain in balance with the sources of vital nutrition that are supposed to support us.

 

Now, imagine being blessed with all of the tools and techniques available that could quickly and easily determine the kinds of nutritional and physiological support that our bodies (and minds) need and want.  Tools such as the knowledge and connection with what our ancestors ate to remain in vital health and well being; methods of “asking” the body to give feedback as to what, specifically, is out of balance, and what kinds of nutritional support is required to re-balance it; tools that help us to tune into our behaviors, moods and emotional states in such as way as to determine, again, how to bring forth balance and vitality.  It’s my belief that we have all the tools (and then some) to move all of us into a better state of health and well being.

 

Part of the purpose of this blog is to explore the gap between the above first two paragraphs.  Was there a time when our ancestors were really in balance, nutritionally, with their environments in a long-term and sustainable way?  And if so, what has brought us to such a divergent outcome and what can we do to move back into balance?  Another purpose of this blog is to explore the resources we all have available to us to “turn things around” in our own lives and (hopefully) in the lives of those we are close to. 

 

I would like to explore, partly, what brought us to where we are, and more importantly, to look at what we are able to change to “right the sinking ship” of poor health and dysfunctional physiological processes.  We’ll look at some of the major “myths”, stories and down-right lies about health and nutrition that have been created and perpetrated over time, at some of the specific tools that can help many to “rebalance” the ship, and at specific foods, herbs, supplements and “ways of eating” that can move us from dysfunction to wellness.

 

Please comment freely, ask questions and make specific requests for future topics.