Nutrition means different things to different people. To some, it means to live to eat. To others, it means eating to live. The more I learn about food, herbs and nutritional components, the more I realize that this fund of knowledge can be employed to change the course of many illnesses. Real food consists of life forms that we depend upon for existence. Unlike our plant cohabitants, we cannot capture our own energy. Essential amino acids and other structural materials are needed to grow, repair and defend. These must come from the outside. Protein, fat and carbohydrates, once ingested, are broken down and reassembled.
Magnesium, the fourth most abundant element in the human body, must be present in adequate amounts for over 245 enzymatic reactions.
Lack of Selenium in the soil can result in foals dying unless supplemented at birth.
Without the building blocks and the basic chemical energy and components necessary for assembly, the body's structure will crumble.
Without the required building blocks, chemical energy and components, antibodies will not be available for defense.
Without building blocks, chemical energy and vital components for multiplication, motility and transformation, there will be insufficient cellular response crucial for defense.
Without building blocks, chemical energy and chemical components essential for repair, the body's organ systems will fail over time.
Other examples include:
Physical components of food affect the health of the GI tract. Increased bulk reduces degenerative disease of the bowel.
Absorptive properties of carbohydrates and dose affect the development of Metabolic Syndrome. This is a condition of distorted hormonal status beginning with excessive carbohydrate intake, followed by insulin excess and resistance. Other associated conditions include obesity, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. Adult onset diabetes often follows.
Patients' chemical systems are all similar, but effectiveness of individual enzyme pathways can vary genetically. Enzymes systems can vary quantitatively and qualitatively, with outcomes of their shortfall affecting function. The ability to mount an effective tanning response to sunlight is an excellent example. This illustration can be expanded to as numerous as there are enzyme systems for each need. The lack of an enzyme in Phenylketonurics causes mental retardation. The avoidance of an amino acid in the diet eliminates this tragic outcome. In the toxicological hypothesis of the cause of autism, a genetic variation in the metal handling enzyme systems is believed to be responsible for some children developing the syndrome with the same exposures that others have had without the problem.
Our bodies neutralize toxins using enzyme systems. Adequacy of function is dependent upon nutrients. Sulfur containing amino acids can be depleted when the body is confronted with a toxin excess. These nutrients are also used in the production of proteins. Repletion of these nutrients has a beneficial effect on clearance of accumulated toxins while playing other roles as varied as that of the proteins synthesized. Those with genetically sub-optimal detoxification systems are the proverbial miners' canaries, alerting us that as the environment becomes more hostile, we all may need to adapt.
The liver, the chemical powerhouse in the body, does most of the heavy chemical activity. This generates free radicals requiring support that can be provided by a good, balanced antioxidant program. The ultimate goal is to maximize the body's own antioxidant defense system.
By administering unique (patented) matter which is not part of the metabolism to begin with, and seeking to impose that chemical's activity upon our bodies' systems, side effects can be expected to occur as evidenced by warnings accompanying such materials. We need to start focusing more on the intricacies and the wonder of this creation that is us, helping strengthen the weakened and faulty systems through modalities that are augmentations of our own chemistry, using substances that were meant to be in the system. Progression from the use of interventions with least risk to those with more risk, taking full advantage of the benefits of natural interventions prior to instituting more aggressive pharmacology allows full benefit of all possibilities. An increased likelihood of positive results and a much reduced risk of side effects is the result.
When the favorable substances can be assimilated through the GI tract and the harmful kept out, much benefit can be gained. If the GI tract is not functioning as it should, measures need to be taken to enhance its role of keeping the good things in and the bad things out. As the importance of nutrition and its many benefits becomes apparent, GI function at the level of absorption and defense becomes an ever important component of survival and quality of life.
When GI function is less than optimal with both absorption and defense compromised over time, IV nutritional and detoxification support may be required. Facilitation of the body's own systems of repair and detoxification result in more accurate expression of the recovery programmed into our systems.
When toxins are not amenable to the body's own efforts to remove them, active intervention, or detoxification, becomes indicated. Like peeling the layers of an onion, the systems most likely to be deranged are prioritized and dealt with in a systematic way.