February 2011 

" Don't let weeds grow around your dreams. "
 ~ Noelle Vrana

Are You Malnourished?


Have you ever suffered from chronic conditions and asked yourself the age-old question "Why me?" Ailments such as allergies, asthma, food sensitivities, acne, headaches, psoriasis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (POS), irritable bowel syndrome, and many others can be not only unbearable, but also unnecessary and don't have to be endured.

The common denominator in all of these conditions and illnesses is nutritional deficiencies. We all know that a healthy person can handle exposure to various diseases, toxins, bacteria and parasites. In fact, when the body is in top shape, it's likely that the disease won't occur in the first place.

You can think about the body in the same way farmers think about the soil for their crops. It needs to be nourished with a variety of nutrients and minerals in order to grow crops that are resistant to pestilence and disease. Our bodies need to consume a variety of healthy foods that provide the same nutrients found in rich soil for us to be resistant to disease.

We’re basically exploring two nutritional concepts: 

• First, whether malnutrition decreases the body’s immune defenses below what they would normally be. The evidence indicates that any form of malnutrition, from protein and calorie deprivation to vitamin or mineral deficiency increases the likelihood of developing infections and prolonging the healing process.
  

• Second, whether improved nutrition as defined by orthomolecular (nutritional) medicine increases the body’s defenses above what they usually are. orthomolecular practitioners believe greater nutritional health will increase defenses to the point that the incidence of a large number of diseases is decreased and if disease is already present, then healing is accelerated.
  Our bodies have adapted over thousands of years to thrive on food that is whole, alive, non-toxic, variable, local, and scarce. In contrast, our modern diet is, for the most part, artifact or broken down, so the protein, fat and carbohydrates are processed to look, smell and taste like food when they are actually a mixture of chemicals. 
  

Much of the food today is also dead—meaning that the enzymes have been removed or suppressed for better storage by pasteurizing, canning, cooling and freezing. We have made many foods toxic, by using chemicals to enhance the taste, smell, and appearance of foods. For example food dyes like Red #40 are injected into the skins of oranges to make them appear brighter and more colorful. 

Modern foods are monotonous in that the high tech food manufacturers actually depend on only a few staples like sugar, wheat, corn, oats, milk, and cheese to create more than 20,000 different products on our supermarket shelves. And while our staples are limited, we have created a surplus of junk foods with it, which is believed to be the major cause of our current obesity epidemic. 

Finally, today’s food is exotic. It grows in one climate and is shipped to another (for instance, we buy bananas from the tropics in our local grocery stores). One of the dangers of eating exotic foods is that you don’t necessarily get the vitamins and minerals you need to thrive in your climate/region from foods grown in other places.

We can overcome the deficiencies of our modern diet with five simple practices, according to the author of Doctor Yourself, Andrew Saul, PhD:

1. Don’t eat any junk food (watch for sugar and additives)

2. Avoid any food that causes a reaction, such as hives, IBS, headache, or fatigue

3. Eat a variety of whole foods at regular intervals, starting with a healthy breakfast

4. Take high quality vitamin and mineral supplements

5. Prepare and drink fresh, organic juice as often as possible (Carrot/Apple is excellent for its beta-carotene and vitamin C content). 

If you have a chronic condition, your immune system needs strengthening. Your food and lifestyle choices play a primary role in creating a healthy immune system. The following tips will give your immune system a natural boost:

• Take lots of vitamin C to help defend against viruses and bacteria (Wheatgrass juice is very high in vitamin C).
  

• Conquer chronic fatigue by getting to bed early and darkening your room (the darker your room, the more melatonin your body makes and the better you sleep).
  

• Take a good multivitamin twice a day. Research has shown that people who take supplements have higher numbers of immune T cells and natural killer cells, plus enhanced antibody response and immune cell activity.
  

• Drink lots of vegetable juices—even if you don’t like vegetables, anything tastes good when you add an apple to it! Carotene in high doses strengthens the immune system by helping the body to build more helper T cells.

Incorporating some sprouted grains and beans gives you protein with vitamins, minerals and fiber. Yogurt contains calcium, phosphorus, beneficial acidophilus and bifidus bacteria, protein and B vitamins—note: Getting plain yogurt and adding your own fresh fruit will increase your enzyme intake and help you avoid all the extra sugar in fruit-filled yogurts. Add in some whole wheat (if you aren’t gluten sensitive), barley, oats and brown rice for the fiber, vitamins, minerals, protein and complex carbohydrates. Last, but not least, eat plenty of fresh fruit and raw vegetables. They are loaded with fiber, potassium, and bioflavanoids, as well as vitamins and minerals.

And one last thing to remember: Don’t feel you have to incorporate all these changes at once. Wherever you are in your eating and lifestyle, making one small change each week will have you feeling healthy, revitalized, and much more resistant to disease before you know it.

Black Bean, Rice, and Yam Wraps