Today it seems that every woman is concerned about bone health. Recently, on a commercial for a popular osteoporosis medicine, the actress stated that one morning a month was plenty for setting aside time to take something for bone health. If you choose your foods with bone health in mind, you may not have to set aside any time to think about it at all.
What is the # 1 reason you have bones? Would you answer "To hold you up and help you move"? That is actually the # 2 reason.
The primary reason for the bones in your body is to provide a massive warehouse of calcium and other minerals to support life. There is more calcium in the body than all other minerals combined. When blood calcium levels go up, your body can immediately store the extra in this bony warehouse. When blood calcium levels drop, your body can go right to that warehouse and liberate calcium to stabilize the blood.
Calcium supplements are sold more than any other mineral, but there is so much more involved in getting calcium from the gut to the bones than simply taking a supplement. Calcium is absorbed and stored in a 3-part process:
The first step is to put good calcium and mineral rich foods in your body. Minerals come from the earth. Your best source of nutrition is from nutritious foods grown and produced in earth that is fertile and not laden with chemical pesticides and other artificial soil support.
When calcium enters the stomach, it can either be absorbed, or not. The key ingredient to absorption is stomach acid. A person using acid-blockers and antacids may be unable to absorb the minerals they need. Many people believe that because they have to take antacids, they have too much stomach acid already--this has been shown quite often not to be the case.
Once the calcium has been absorbed by the GI tract, vitamin D steps in and puts the calcium into the blood. Like a truck delivering and receiving goods at the warehouse --Vitamin D is responsible for transportation in both directions. When calcium is needed in the blood, it will activate the transportation. If there is none available in gut from food, it will take it from the body tissue to get what the blood needs.
The third part of the process is almost always missed in any discussion of bone health, and that is the role that fats play. You cannot transport calcium into body tissue without essential fatty acids. They do the work of the final step. Specific fats, known as Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly those found in cod liver oil, are important in building strong bones. Cod liver oil also has vitamin D needed to transport calcium.
Your diet should include all the nutrition you need for good bone health. If it does, then you can think about your summer holiday, rather than worrying about osteoporosis, or taking medication.
nwhic.com
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
nutrition 101 - organic foods
From the nutrition 101 lunch talk on 4/12/2007 at my office:
Food, whether liquid or solid, is the source of all nutrients required by the body to perform it’s many biochemical processes, and, without these required nutrients, the chemical processes are unable to come to fruition. Since nutritional deficiencies are normally not life-threatening at first and take time to manifest themselves, most people tend to ignore subtle warning signs. As a result, existing deficiencies may eventually manifest themselves in varying degrees of illness through a pattern of symptoms, depending on the state of the persons health…
…However, body processes may become so unbalanced that the standard potency of food is insufficient, or the food available lacks the required nutrients and minerals. As a result of today’s use of poor food and food manufacturing choices the use of whole-food concentrates over an adequate amount of time is often necessary to correct the resulting deficiencies, promote healing, and return the body to a state of homeostasis.
Two present day examples of commercially-produced foods that lack the nutrients found in their organic counterparts include the tomato and spinach. One study revealed that commercially-produced tomatoes contain 1 mg of iron and 0-5 mg of vitamin C, while organically-grown tomatoes have 1,938 mg of iron and 125-250 mg of vitamin C. Commercially produced spinach contains 49 mg of iron: its organic equivalent contains 1,584 mg.
We are often asked by those who want to begin buying organic foods where is a good starting point. Since pesticides are fat soluble which means they are stored in fat and fatty foods, an excellent beginning to health with organic foods is in the choices of foods that are primarily fat. (Pesticides are being shown as a primary source of chemical obesity because of their horrible effect on normal fat metabolism).
Dairy products are a good start. Organic butter is an excellent and important fat choice. Good for spreading on breads and using at low temperatures for cooking. Olive oil is another fat to use in the home. Very good for low to low-medium temperatures as well as dipping. We use coconut oil for cooking at medium to medium high temps. It is an excellent oil for health and will support digestion and heart health well. We also include in our daily diet a cod liver oil supplement (Carlson’s or Nordic Naturals), as directed on the bottle. With this daily intake of fats, you have all the essential and non-essential fats in your diet as you need. (An allergy to shell fish may mean you cannot take Cod liver oil. There are other foods that can provide these essential fatty acids if this is the case).
Nuts and nut butters are also an important place to make a switch to organic, again because of the high fat content.
The body is a self-healing mechanism. It is capable of healing, repairing, and reconstructing itself when provided with adequate amounts of good water, air and proper food.
http://nwhic.com/
Food, whether liquid or solid, is the source of all nutrients required by the body to perform it’s many biochemical processes, and, without these required nutrients, the chemical processes are unable to come to fruition. Since nutritional deficiencies are normally not life-threatening at first and take time to manifest themselves, most people tend to ignore subtle warning signs. As a result, existing deficiencies may eventually manifest themselves in varying degrees of illness through a pattern of symptoms, depending on the state of the persons health…
…However, body processes may become so unbalanced that the standard potency of food is insufficient, or the food available lacks the required nutrients and minerals. As a result of today’s use of poor food and food manufacturing choices the use of whole-food concentrates over an adequate amount of time is often necessary to correct the resulting deficiencies, promote healing, and return the body to a state of homeostasis.
Two present day examples of commercially-produced foods that lack the nutrients found in their organic counterparts include the tomato and spinach. One study revealed that commercially-produced tomatoes contain 1 mg of iron and 0-5 mg of vitamin C, while organically-grown tomatoes have 1,938 mg of iron and 125-250 mg of vitamin C. Commercially produced spinach contains 49 mg of iron: its organic equivalent contains 1,584 mg.
We are often asked by those who want to begin buying organic foods where is a good starting point. Since pesticides are fat soluble which means they are stored in fat and fatty foods, an excellent beginning to health with organic foods is in the choices of foods that are primarily fat. (Pesticides are being shown as a primary source of chemical obesity because of their horrible effect on normal fat metabolism).
Dairy products are a good start. Organic butter is an excellent and important fat choice. Good for spreading on breads and using at low temperatures for cooking. Olive oil is another fat to use in the home. Very good for low to low-medium temperatures as well as dipping. We use coconut oil for cooking at medium to medium high temps. It is an excellent oil for health and will support digestion and heart health well. We also include in our daily diet a cod liver oil supplement (Carlson’s or Nordic Naturals), as directed on the bottle. With this daily intake of fats, you have all the essential and non-essential fats in your diet as you need. (An allergy to shell fish may mean you cannot take Cod liver oil. There are other foods that can provide these essential fatty acids if this is the case).
Nuts and nut butters are also an important place to make a switch to organic, again because of the high fat content.
The body is a self-healing mechanism. It is capable of healing, repairing, and reconstructing itself when provided with adequate amounts of good water, air and proper food.
http://nwhic.com/
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