“With the way food is today, it’s a fact that you need to consume around 4,000 calories of food per day in order to get all the nutrition your body needs. That is around 3 times more than an average man or woman needs in order to maintain a healthy weight so not only is it expensive, you will get fat in the process.”  Sarah Ross

What is a pill to you?  Medicine?  Food?  Either?  Can some foods be considered medicine?  Should they?

On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.  (Rev. 22:;2b, NLT)

I happened to run across an incredibly insightful article regarding the need to supplement last week and really felt compelled to share it with you.  Unfortunately, I do not know the author, Sarah Ross, nor is the link given at the end of her article functional.  So there is no practical way to contact her to for further permission other than given in the last paragraph of the article.  Nevertheless, I felt the the information Sarah presents is so “right on” that I chose to go ahead and make it available to our loyal DG readers.

The Road to Wellness is Paved with ‘Pills and Potions’

Nutrition and supplementation plays a major role in the overall health process. The 20th century brought about some major medical developments in the sickness industry, which helped fight infectious disease, improved the effectiveness of antibiotics and immunizations and resulted in a doubling of the average lifespan.

However, the older you get the more medication you seem to need and the sicker you become. So where’s the benefit to living longer when your quality of life deteriorates?

The 21st century is focusing medical developments on the wellness industry — helping people live better and live longer through natural yet scientifically developed nutritional supplements.

Wellness is more than just the absence of disease, it causes cellular radiance; radiating good health from the inside out because you are giving your body everything it needs so that every cell functions at its very best.

The foundation of good health is good nutrition which means making sure your body has all the macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat) and micro nutrients (vitamins, minerals, trace elements) it requires to function like a well oiled car.

Our current food supply has some major challenges. Many people live in remote areas and food loses a lot of its goodness and suffers as a result of the lengthy transportation of food to these remote areas. Fast food outlets are everywhere. People are too busy to cook so they eat away from home or choose takeaway foods that are higher in calories, animal fats, salt and sugar. And many foods that are available are so processed that they have minimal nutritional value and micro-nutrients. This is why there’s a strong focus on the importance of dietary supplements to provide what’s missing from our food.

When it comes to micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, trace elements) it’s important to give your body no less than exactly what it needs or it will not function properly. All those important processes your body performs daily through your liver, kidneys, digestive system, heart, stomach, etc. will labor under the lack of lubrication and nutrition. Just like putting cooking oil in your car’s engine, it may run okay for a while but eventually,

Read the rest of this entry »

“I was extremely fit and strong, and made much of our food from scratch, yet my body was still nearly destroyed.  I took no vitamins, believing the lie that they only caused expensive urine.”  Sharon L Graham

What are you willing to sacrifice so that you can nourish your body with the most comprehensive and high quality supplements?

…my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6; NIV)

I did long distance cycling.  I took several aerobic classes each week.  I ran (jogged) six days a week.  In the winter months I did cross country skiing as well as down hill skiing.  I was fit and strong.  I also enjoyed preparing much of the food we ate from scratch.  I made our own yogurt, bread, and granola.  I made our own pasta sauce from the tomatoes we grew in our garden.  I even made our ketchup.  I picked ample berries and other fruits in the summer months and froze them to use all winter long.  I also dried various fruits and vegetables in a food dehydrator and enjoyed those in the winter months.

Yet, in spite of all the good things I was doing, I still began developing some very bizarre physical symptoms.  My hip and knee joints began screaming at me that they no longer wanted to run.  It was harder and harder to get out of bed each morning with stiffness and soreness becoming a constant companion.  Common items such as detergents and cleaning products brought headaches, a burning, sore throat, and even mental confusion.  My once strong and fit body was having a revolt.

Many of you know much of my story.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with what happened, I’ll offer the condensed version.  We now know that my immune system was being severely damaged from the chemicals in our fairly new home as well as from a large, new church building of which we frequented often.  We also know that various chemical exposures while working as a nurse played into this growing nightmare as well.

My body literally became allergic to most all things in the environment.  It saw common, everyday items such as plastic, synthetic fibers, perfumes, and detergents as “foreign” substances and as something it must attack.  That caused destruction at the cellular level in my body which in turn brought major inflammation, infection, and destruction.

In spite of my healthy diet and rigorous exercise, my body still succumbed.  The training I had as nurse still echoed in my head saying that vitamins only caused expensive urine.  That was nearly twenty five years ago and I’ve learned a “tad” from that journey.  Thankfully, and to God be the glory, my body has been restored.  Among the many things God used during the restoration process was a number of vitamins and supplements.

The basic unit of the body is the cell.  Life begins in the cell.  If the cells are unhealthy, when they multiply, forming other cells, those cells will also be unhealthy.  (Like begets like.)  It’s impossible for the body to heal when the basic cellular unit is being harmed or lacking the nutrients it needs to multiply healthy cells.  After trying many, many supplements and spending thousands of dollars, I began to grasp this concept.  It was only after providing my cells with the nutrients they needed, and ridding my body of the things causing destruction, that my body could heal.  For me, supplements are a matter of life and death.  I choose LIFE!

Prayer Power
Father, I pray that my words will inspire and educate.  I pray against anyone feeling condemnation or guilt.  May our readers be empowered with this information.

Link of the Day
Bias Against Natural Products

Blessings on you as you seek Him for why you should take supplements.

Previous in Series-/

“When it comes to buying dietary supplements, you essentially have two choices: buy according to price, or buy according to quality. If you buy the cheapest supplement, you’ll end up with an inferior product that may not improve your health. Therefore buying the cheapest is a waste of your money. In fact, the lowest-price products may contain impurities or additives that could actually make you worse.”  Connecticut Center for Health

What things that you routinely use do you purchase according to price?  What things according to quality?

Those who cheat with dishonest weights and measures are detestable to the LORD your God.  (Deut. 25:16; NLT)

Yesterday, we left off by saying that there was one more major aspect of vitamins and minerals that contributes greatly to the rampant confusion and continued stream of mis-information, i.e., quality.  The following discussion of this major issue leans heavily on the article written by my friend Richard Goutal.

You may have selected the right kind of vitamin and mineral product only to end up with something quite unexpected.  Unfortunately, just choosing from the shelf can be like spinning the wheel of fortune.

Over the last 20 years, thousands of supplements have become available in stores and on the Internet.  And the quality has not been consistent nor reliable.  In 2004, for example, Consumer Lab analyzed 11 echinacea products — echinacea is an herbal supplement many believe helps to reduce colds.  Of the 11 samples, five failed.  They either had unacceptable levels of lead in the supplement, or they had lower amounts of the echinacea ingredient than was claimed on the label.  Incidentally, one of the failed products was marketed by a well-known and respected, healthy foods grocery store.

The Consumer Lab results are not especially surprising when you know that the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center had examined 59 echinacea products that they purchased locally just two years previously.  They found that NOT ONE sample matched the promise on the label.  Six had no evidence of echinacea in the product at all!

In 2004, Consumer Lab looked at 1000 supplements of different kinds.  25% simply did not contain what the label claimed!  In addition, many had heavy metals or pesticide residue — hardly what one expects in a health supplement.

And, very relevant to the headlines in the last few years, is the surprising and often deliberate, addition of hidden ingredients, especially in diet products or products designed for athletes.

More specific to the topic of our series, in 2007 Consumer Lab looked at 39 vitamin and mineral products.  Once again a substantial number of products were not reliable.

Today’s link give some guidelines that consumers should follow as they decide where and what supplement products to purchase.  There are a few companies out there that stress quality procedures that meet or exceed the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).  With a little effort, you can learn who they are.  You just need to learn to ask questions and expect reasonable answers.

But you must also be willing to pay more for those supplements than you would at the local discount store.  In fact, it is rare that you will find the kind of quality you want in any retail store.  In many of the cheaper brands, the major cost component of the product is the packaging.  And it is not stretching the truth too much to suggest that the packaging would be more nutritious than is the contents.

Well, that about wraps it up for our look at vitamins and minerals.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about anything we’ve written here.

Prayer Power
Father, none of us like to get “taken” when we make a purchase.  We ask that You pour out Your gift of discernment into each and every one of us so that we can not be duped into exchanging our hard-earned finances for valueless junk.

Link of the Day
What You Need to Know When Buying Nutritional Supplements

Blessings on you as you begin the research necessary to be a wise steward.

Previous in Series-/ /-Next in Series

“These techniques [industrial farming] give growers higher yields, and consumers get less expensive food. But now it appears there’s a hidden long-term cost — lowered food quality.”  Mother Earth News

Whose report will you believe?

By wisdom the LORD founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens.  (Prov. 3:19; NLT)

How many times have you heard people supposedly in the know that money spent on supplements is a waste?  Just eat a well-balanced meal and you will get all the nutrients you need.

I say “supposedly in the know” because the evidence is rapidly mounting that researchers have known since the 1940’s “that yield increases produced by fertilization, irrigation and other environmental means used in industrial farming tend to decrease the concentrations of minerals in those plants.”  Surprised?

Here are some startling stats from today’s link:

• In wheat and barley, protein concentrations declined by 30 to 50 percent between the years 1938 and 1990.
• Six minerals have declined by 22 to 39 percent in 14 widely grown wheat varieties developed over the past 100 years.
• Official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data shows that the calcium content of broccoli averaged 12.9 milligrams per gram of dry weight in 1950, but only 4.4 mg/g dry weight in 2003.
• A study of phosphorous fertilizer on raspberries found that applying high levels of phosphorus caused the yield to double and concentrations of phosphorus to increase in the plants, but meanwhile levels of eight other minerals declined by 20 to 55 percent.

Along those same lines, allow me to quote some from our new book, UNCOMMON Wellness Coaching.  “In 1951, two peaches supplied a woman’s RDA for vitamin A. Today she would have to eat almost 53 peaches to get the same amount of vitamin A. And the same with oranges. Now you would need to eat at least 10 oranges to get the same amount of vitamin A that your grandparents got in one.  So it’s impossible to eat a healthy, balanced diet if the nutrient value in the food is gone.”

Bottom line…supplementation is not an option!

Prayer Power
Father, sadly we must acknowledge that our quest for higher yield and lower costs is now coming back to haunt us.  Just one more example of man thinking that he had a better way than the Original Manufacturer.  Please forgive our presumptuous attitudes.

Industrial Farming is Giving us Less Nutritious Food

Blessings on you as begin to do the research to take responsibility for your own health.

“Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”  The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002;287:3127-3129

What have you heard about the need for nutritional supplements?

Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  (1 Cor. 3:16; NAS)

Yesterday, we were excited to announce our coming e-book and seven-part webinar course on one of our most impassioned topics — wellness!  If you were able to be with us, we hope you felt our excitement — if prior commitments kept you from being with us we recorded the session and our link today will give you access to that recording so that you too can feel some of the excitement that was in the air yesterday.

To quickly review, Dr. Randy Peck, Sharon, and I gave an overview of the upcoming weekly webinar course and our e-book that will lead you through the six major factors that determine a person’s wellness.  That series will begin on Wednesday, April 8, again at high noon EDT.  Details on how to be a part of that series are included with the recording of yesterday’s webinar.

Recall that on Monday I briefly discussed water as the first major factor to wellness, Tuesday I covered exercise, yesterday I covered Superfoods, and today, let’s look at the the fourth major factor to wellness, supplementation.

Yes, you do need to add supplements to your daily regimen.  Even the American Medical Association came out in 2002 and reversed their long standing position against the need for supplements.  They now admit that the nutrient value of our food supply has diminished so drastically that it is virtually impossible to get all the nutrients one needs from food alone.  You’ve probably heard that only two peaches a day would have supplied a woman’s vitamin A RDA in 1951.  Today she would have to eat more than 53 peaches to meet this same requirement.  Peaches anyone?   And peaches aren’t the only food to show a loss.

OK, so you need to supplement.  Now you may accuse me of being a little self-serving here, but I do need to let you know that all supplements are not created equal.  In fact, this problem has gotten so bad that Congress has now passed a law that requires a manufacturer to be able to prove that what is advertised to be in the container is indeed in the container.  What a novel idea!  Sarcasm aside, when buying supplements, you have to be aware that the lowest price is usually not the best value.  I’ll leave it at that.

But again, the fourth step is simply to supplement what you eat with a daily regimen of nutrients.  What nutrients you ask, and whose are good?  Bottom line, find someone with enough experience to be credible and then trust them.  Everybody has their own strong opinions about what is best.  But just like with quality food, you must expect to pay a little more for quality supplements.

So there you have it, four simple steps.  There’s a couple more, stress management and rest, that we will cover in the webinar course and in the e-book, but will not cover here in our DGs.  The four we’ve listed this week really are simple, aren’t they?  So simple, in fact, that they’re easy not to do.  Or like most New Year’s resolutions, easy to start with a bang and fall off the wagon a couple of weeks into the game.

The solution?  Tomorrow, I will conclude this mini-series with a discussion of the magic key to the four simple steps.  There is a way to keep you “on that wagon.”  It’s just as simple as the four steps, but at the same time, incredibly powerful.  See you tomorrow!

Prayer Power
Father, the food You provided for us and intended for us to eat is indeed perfect.  But through a number of economic-driven choices, our food supply is no longer able to sustain us as it was intended.  We thank You for giving mankind the wisdom and the ability to supplement our diets with those missing nutrients.

Link of the Day
Access to Recording of Our 4/1 Wellness Webinar  (After 10a ET)

Blessings on you as you purpose to supplement your diet with additional nutrients on a daily basis.

“Drugs never cure chronic diseases.”  Lorraine Day, MD

Have you contemplated cutting back on your personal health goals?

Folly delights a man who lacks judgment, but a man of understanding keeps a straight course.  (Prov 15:21; NIV)

We’re hearing it everywhere we turn…people are cutting back on their spending.  Shifts and changes are being made in how and where people are spending their money.  Financial crunches can create stress among families and in the body itself.  Stress creates inflammation and inflammation brings cellular and tissue breakdown resulting in illness and dis-ease.

I’ve had clients wanting to cut back on their personal health goals by reducing their gym memberships, stopping their coaching commitments or cutting back on their vital nutrient supplementation.  Don’t be tempted to think that cutting back on these crucial areas of your life will bring any benefit.  What may seem like a short term economic “fix”, could well end in disappointment and even tragedy down the road.

Daily, I read articles proving how necessary certain supplements are for our health and well-being.  A nutrition newsletter that I read last evening stated how critical anti-oxidants and fatty acids are in the prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease.  Nutrition Journal published a study showing that people who take multiple supplements have fewer health problems than those who do not.  NutriNews devoted an entire publication to the worldwide epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency.  On and on it goes.  Probiotics are needed for any type of normal digestion and elimination.

So, in looking at your overall health and well-being, why not look at ways that you can insure yourself with the best nutrition and care so that you can remain in optimal health.  Taking care of your physical body is not an option, even though many people act like it is.  How many times do you eat out in a week or a month?  Could some of that money be spent on taking care of your “temple?”  Prepare a simple meal at home for much less than eating out, freeing up funds to maintain your health goals.  May I challenge you to seriously examine your health priorities?  What is standing in the way of you taking the best possible care of the only body you will ever have?

Prayer Power:
Father, we thank You that You are our provision and we thank You for our amazing physical bodies.  May we do all that we can to take care of them in a way that brings glory to You.

Link of the Day
From Farm to Table: Nutrient Losses in Fruits and Vegetables

Blessings on you as you look for ways to support and care for your body.