Discussions on Nutritional Supplementation, General Health and Well-Being

UPDATES FOR THE YEAR’S END

Greetings and salutations: I will briefly touch on some new material that relates to our previous newsletters and to general vitamin material that is germane to us all.

VITAMIN A: While I am not in the camp of those who believes vitamin A is dangerous at moderately high levels, I do believe in erring on the side of caution. So, based on recent data concerning the relationship between vitamins A and D, and the implication that high levels of vitamin A may deplete the body of vitamin D, I am now officially suggesting that for every 10,000iu of vitamin A that we ingest, in supplemental form, we also ensure that we take 1,000iu of vitamin D. These two nutrients do co-exist in nature, in the liver of creatures, which we used to eat as a natural source of these vitamins. This approach in turn suggests that if we are taking high amounts of vitamin D, we should consider taking some vitamin A, just in case the thesis works in reverse.

B-VITAMINS: A subject that will be covered in detail in our forthcoming (as yet untitled) book, I will just cut to the chase here. B vitamins are the most over-rated of the nutritional substances and not as benign as people believe. We have been taught to reach for extra B-vitamins whenever stress levels are high, and that any excess, being water-soluble, will just wash out of our bodies in our urine. B-vitamins are highly synthetic, pharmaceutical white powders. As such they are recognized by the body as chemicals and must be processed through the liver. This adds to the burden of the liver and an excess of B-vitamins (100mg or more) can actually raise liver enzymes in those with health issues. The average B complex contains 50mg of most of the B-vitamins; to obtain this in food would require about 25 days of eating. If we consistently take in this high a level of a nutrient, our bodies will become sloppy and lazy. They will not conserve or utilize the nutrient efficiently, assuming that your environment is so rich in this substance that it can forget about it, because there will always be lots of it around. Thus I always advise people to cycle supplements, at the very least skipping a couple days a week (usually the week-end for convenience sake). If you have stress issues consider adding some L-Theanine to your regimen. This amino acid derived from green tea is such a quick and effective calming agent that it is used instead of Ritalin in Japan.

EFA’s: Now, the fish oil market is taking a swing away from “pharmaceutical grade” and back to less processed. The current argument put forth is that molecular distillation requires high heat and in fact damages the oils processed this way. As is common in the West we start off looking at the heart disease rates in a culture that has a high omega 3 intake, from fish, and before long we are taking a fish oil pill with our steak. At least with just pressing the oil, and not distilling it, we are closer to the form the oil is at when it is obtained from eating the fish. These pressed oils are tested for mercury and other contaminants, and are usually made with small fish or salmon, which are not prone to high mercury levels anyways. Those using the cod liver will have little choice as the only way to clean up the toxins found in the liver of a large fish, like cod, is to distill it.

IODINE: As revealed in an early newsletter I am a proponent of the theory that we need much more iodine than we commonly receive in the West. Not only do the Japanese get 20 times more iodine as we do, but we in the West also have to cope with iodine blockers in the modern lifestyle, including chlorine (tap water) fluoride (dentist, toothpaste) and bromides (found in breads and fruit juices). Two new pieces of data have come my way: one implies that the Lugol’s solution form of iodine (used by those of us who take large amounts) assimilates better if it is put into an acidic medium, like fruit juice. The other reminds me that selenium is an iodine co-factor, and if one is taking high levels of iodine they should make sure they are getting some selenium (100mcg to 200mcg). Another co-factor required for proper iodine uptake is the trace mineral tin. Because the Japanese are acquiring their iodine from seaweed, it is accompanied by 70 or more other trace minerals. Once we start ingesting high amounts of isolated iodine it is a good idea to complement it with as many of the missing trace minerals as is possible. This can be obtained from alfalfa or kelp pills, but I prefer using “Concentrace Trace Mineral Drops”. This liquid supplement is inland sea water (from Utah) concentrated and with the sodium removed; thus it is much akin to the mineral profile that we would find in seaweed (which is also akin to human blood).

BLOG: Sorry about the slow state of our Blog. We will decide in the new year whether or not to continue it, but for now I will post any new newsletters on the blog as well, in order that I can respond to any comments or questions that you may have.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM NUTRISTART

Ken Peters  

Protecting against the Flu.

Greetings, again. Having finished the basic material for our book (as of yet, not quite titled) I return now to attempt to breath life into our blog. Just be glad we don’t twitter yet.

Given the current worries about the latest pandemic I thought I’d address how those of us in the supplement industry protect ourselves. Most of us of course do not get the vaccine, as it is one field where we mistrust both doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Call it paranoia, if you like, or, as I prefer, a realistic response to the hard facts; like religion, it comes down to what you believe in. I’ve never vaccinated any of my three children against anything (now healthy young adults), so it is clear where I stand.

It is said that Louis Pasteur before his death, recanted the germ theory replacing it with what is now known as the “terrain” theory. Essentially, what this means is that germs and microbes cannot find purchase in the body if the immune system is healthy and fully operational.

I spend most of my time consulting with people in a retail environment and like most of my co-workers, seldom get the flu (it’s been years; knock on wood). Occasionally a “change of season” cold, but this is mostly a mucus discharge process, and actually healthy, according to Macrobiotic principles. Those of us dealing with sick people on a regular basis should be even more prone to coming down with something, but because we are all well protected by nutritional and herbal supplements, we seldom do.

Now, aside from the supplements, we obviously need to keep our stress levels under control, as high stress weakens the immune system, along with being implicated in the majority of diseases. A certain amount of stress will be generated by buying into the whole pandemic fear-mongering, and then good old Christmas should put the stress-icing on the stress-cake. So, remember to use your adrenal-supportives (EnergyStart being one of the best), and keep some L-Theanine around for day-to-day stress (which also has anti-viral properties.)

But number one is keep your vitamin D intake up. I believe one can safely take 3 to 5,000iu daily, and up to 10,000iu for a few days (this is a conservative viewpoint). Skip weekends, as usual, unless actually in the midst of a flu. Sublingual vitamin D works the best (like “Quick D”), with softgels (taken at a meal with fat) being next best absorbed, and tablets, apparently, being the least well absorbed. For me, vitamin A is essential to complement the vitamin D (10,000iu for those who don’t squint in the sun, and 30,000iu for those who do.)

Our adequate levels of A and D will keep our mucosal membranes healthy allowing them to fight and repel invading bacteria and virus. Then we take vitamin C at least 2 or 3 times daily for the immune-enhancing glutathione spike that it provides, not to mention the adrenal support. Add to that an immune supportive formula, at least through the winter. Currently most popular are the mushroom formulas and those based on the Chinese herb Astragalus. Astragalus is the recommended choice of Dr. Andrew Weil, for warding off all flu including the swine variety.

These items keep our terrain healthy, but it is also important to have an arsenal on hand in case some of those villains get through our first line of defense. That means when the first symptoms show up we immediately get out our killing agents. For me, Echinacea is still the champ, it’s advantage being that it can both kill bacteria (and the high quality brands have been shown to also kill viruses) and kick-up immune function as well. Many people have no luck with Echinacea because they don’t take enough. The science on Echinacea begins at 180 drops (30 drops six times daily; straight, under the tongue if there is a sore throat), for fighting a cold or flu.

Some prefer Oregano oil, which I personally find somewhat repulsive, but it is a more powerful killing agent than Echinacea, as is Goldenseal however, neither of these will stimulate immune function. Oregano does appear to have an advantage when traveling by plane or any form of public commuting, and that is due to the oil lingering in the mucous membranes of the mouth. Because of this lingering effect, taking a couple of drops every hour of transit keeps the mouth and sinus areas protected against anything that might be inhaled.

Elderberry is a proven anti-viral agent, followed closely by Olive leaf. For the first signs of the flu, which include fatigue, chills and muscle aches, especially around the neck and shoulders, the best choice is Oscillococcinum, a homeopathic remedy that usually destroys a flu-bug, if you ingest it within the first 8 hours of symptoms. It is taken in three doses, 6 hours apart, dissolved under the tongue, and must be taken with a clean palate fifteen minutes on either side of using it. It is believed by some that this remedy may also work on the swine flu.

Current statistics seem to support the idea that this new flu is no more dangerous than the regular flu, as far as death toll goes. People hear the term pandemic and flash back to the Spanish flu that killed millions in the early nineteen hundreds, but what they are often not aware of is that most of those people died of pneumonia, a side effect of the flu. This was before the advent of antibiotics, and currently pneumonia is relatively easy to treat with antibiotics, if it becomes severe.

If worse comes to worse and you fall ill your best option is to rest. In fact the sooner you can rest, when symptoms show up, the faster you will recover. Sometimes we don’t slow down until our body demands it. Oh, and watch a funny movie while you are in rest mode. Laughing also dramatically improves immune function.
Peace, out.

Greetings and all apologies to my faithful readers for being so long absent. I’ve been tardy on the newsletters and the Blog over the summer, but wish to assure you that we will have a more consistent output in the near future. The good news is that during this time, and for a few months to come, I have been putting the time to good use.

We have been working on turning our newsletters into books, upgrading and fleshing them out to be more informative and up to date. I am currently finishing off the first book, to be titled “Staying Healthy In The 21 Century”. Once it goes to the publisher, in a month or so, I will get back to working on the Blog and newsletters.

We appreciate your patience and look forward presenting our new book to you, soon.

Ken Peters

R & D

NutriStart

Treating Yeast Infections…Don’t Forget To Treat the Men!

by Allana McConachy R.H.N.

Oh no, I feel that old familiar itch coming on again, and unfortunately I am not using a metaphor. What I’m referring to is the bane of every woman’s existence, the horrid, reoccurring yeast infection. A yeast infection is an imbalance of the good and bad bacteria that lives in all of our bodies, this imbalance can be caused by a whole host of things, a few to mention are antibiotics, chlorinated water, a diet high in sugar and refined food, and as I suspect, the people we are intimate with.
Each time I’ve felt a yeast infection coming on I have a combination of supplements and regimes that pretty well works every time. I take one milliliter of Pau D’arco tincture four to six times a day, loads of proboitics including a vaginal suppository by ‘New Roots’, and an external salve with yeast busting herbs (Aurora’s tea tree salve works great), as well as refrain from eating any sugar of any type including fruit, any type of refined grain, dairy, coffee, and any of the other foods that feed the over growth of yeast. More often than not this combination works like a charm but when your having to treat yourself once every few months you start to wonder what the heck is going on?!
I had started to come to the conclusion that I must have a terrible case of Candida and was going to have to go a anti Candida regime indefinitely, then I had a realization, I had been experiencing these reoccurring yeast infections for about a year and a half, just about the same amount of time me and my current boyfriend have been together.
My first reaction was to point my finger at him and growl, “youuuuuu!”
This realization prompted a good few discussions with female friends of mine who had been experiencing the same yeast issues and had noticed that theirs too had begun right around the same time they began dating their current partners. My conclusion is this, yeast infections are not just an issue for woman to treat; men need to be treated as well. Although this is not a widely discussed fact about yeast infections, they do fall under the category of sexually transmitted infections. Men generally don’t experience the same obvious symptoms that woman do but there are a whole list of STI’s that don’t always produce obvious symptoms but that does not mean there are not there. Other signs of Candida you can look for in your partner are sugar cravings, stomach bloating, foggy brain, and if they have recently been on antibiotics or drink tap water the chance that they have Candida increases.
You can treat your partner by getting them to follow a regime similar to the one I mentioned in the second paragraph, minus the suppositories ofcourse. For the topical treatment you can use a the salve or colloidal silver spray, you also can make a strong tea with anti fungal herbs such as black walnut and olive leaf, soak a wash cloth in the tea and wrap their penis with the cloth and leave it on for an hour. Lastly, remember to refrain from sexual activity until the infection has been cleared for at least three or four days.
I hope that you have these thoughts useful as I have gained much comfort from these realizations. I wish you good luck in ridding you and your partner from Candida and all the discomfort it causes.
~ Allana McConachy, R.H.N

ORGANICS

I’m going to briefly touch on the need to buy organic foods, even though I have an older newsletter on the subject, mostly for those who haven’t read the NutriStart newsletters.

I am motivated to this subject by my daughter-in-law who, now that she has a new baby, has asked me to help her compile a “list of the most important things to buy organic for myself and family.” She inquired about: beans, grains, coconut products, fruit, veggies, flour and sugar. And specifically about the value of organic processed food, if they have been processed to the point of having no pesticides left on it.

The latter is to me one of the bigger scams in the health food industry. She is right about the pesticides being on the outside of foods, and processed foods by their very nature have had the outside removed. Aside from this we should acknowledge that when you are buying garbage it makes little difference if it is organic garbage.

Not that I am purist enough to suggest that I would never eat such things, but it is good to be aware of what qualifies as food and what is junk (not “junk-food” just junk). White flour and white sugar steal nutrients and spike insulin levels; let’s not pretend that having it organic makes it any better. Organic icing sugar? Come on, who’s kidding who?

My basic response to her question was that beans, grains, seeds (including coconut) should be organic if it comes from any non-Western countries. As bad as the situation is in North America, we at least (along with other Western nations including Europe and Japan) have rudimentary protection against the worst pesticides, and have set “acceptable” levels.

Countries like China, India, Mexico, etc, have little or no control over what pesticides are used commercially. As has been said before: we have unscrupulous salesmen selling unregulated pesticides to illiterate farmers. I believe, however, that certified organic items from these countries, while perhaps not perfect, are still going to be much safer than the non-organic versions.

For fruits and vegetables I referred her to “The Dirty Dozen” compiled by the Environmental Working Group, which I will list below. For a PDF version of the complete list of 47 produce items ranked from highest pesticide load to lowest, or for an iPhone application of the same, visit www.foodnews.org.

TWELVE WORST (Highest pesticide load in descending order.)

Peach

Apple

Sweet Bell Pepper

Celery

Nectarine

Strawberries

Cherries

Kale

Lettuce

Grapes (Imported)

Carrot

Pear

RANDOM SUCCESS TIP OF THE DAY

“People whose clothes smell of Pine are perceived to be more successful, intelligent, sociable, sanitary and attractive than those who smell of lemon, onion or smoke.”

Psychology Today

THANKS FOR THE MAMMARIES

Last week the BBC had an interesting story on a man with terminal cancer who was trying an unorthodox approach to treating it. He was drinking his daughter’s breast milk. She had seen another news story about a man with prostate cancer who found benefit from this approach, and since she had just become a mother she thought it might help her father.

In the health food industry we have been selling colostrum (the first and most immune enhancing component of breast milk) products for decades. The first round was aimed at bodybuilders and the sports field but, since it didn’t really help make anyone huge, it quickly fell out of favor. The second market drive was aimed at improving immune function and has apparently succeeded, since these products sell well and feedback is good.

I used to joke that we would get a better immune enhancing product if we used human colostrum instead of that derived from cows. Now, if this catches on, I may not be far off. If human breast milk has a demonstrable benefit on cancer patients, even if it is only anecdotal and spreads through the electronic grapevine, there will be a demand for it. It will probably start with a multi-level marketing company and then move into health food stores like so many other products (Noni, Mangosteen, Goji, etc).

HELLLO? Is that opportunity knocking?

Yes, I predict third world breast milk farms, where impoverished women produce extra breast milk for rich first world clients. Hey, it was good enough for Howard Hughes (who evidently lived off of it towards the end of his life).

GOOD NEWS

Hey, maybe we’re not doomed.

There is such a lot of bad news about the environment lately, that I was pleased to find something positive in a recent reading of Discovery Magazine. It just reminded me that Nature is never as predictable as scientists would like us to believe, and sometimes her unpredictability works in our favor.

Recently, researchers discovered a race of super worms (how can you tell than I’m a science fiction fan?) in abandoned mines in England and Wales. These worms, in a relatively short period of time, have evolved to consume toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, copper and lead. The high-metal diet induced a change in their genetic make-up,  allowing them to cope with the polluted soil. “They have modified calcium pathways and secrete an enzyme that converts the metal into a less toxic form,” said Mark Hodson, a soil scientist from England, who did the DNA analysis on these worms.

What they excrete becomes easy for plants to utilize and effectively neutralizes these toxic metals. Hodson foresees a time when we may raise these worms en masse and use them to clean up contaminated areas. Which is all fine and good until the military genetically modify them to be more powerful and they escape the laboratory going on a metal eating rampage through our cities.

Does also make me wonder if we could mimic that altered calcium pathway, and enhanced enzyme production, within human bodies, by way of supplements (or drugs). Perhaps, giving us the ability to harmlessly neutralize and excrete heavy metals from our bodies. 

In late March ’09 the peer-reviewed journal Pathophysiology published an overview of 15 studies (done in six different countries) on the effects of electro-magnetic fields and radio frequency radiation on human health. 

The editorial summed up with: “Overall, the scientific evidence shows that the risk to health is significant and that to deny it is like being in free-fall and thinking ‘so far, so good’.” 

In the Swedish study it was determined that there is a 5.2 fold elevated risk of malignant brain tumors in those who begin using cell phones before the age of 20, versus a 1.4 increase in odds for older users. 

The response of Health Canada was as progressive as we’ve come to expect from them: “Health Canada currently sees no scientific reason to consider the use of cell phones as unsafe. There is no convincing evidence of increased risk of disease from exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields from cell phones.” 

The editor of the report, Martin Blank of Columbia University, disagreed with the Canadian position: “Health Canada must realize that its obligation to protect the health of its citizens requires that they alert them to the implications of the scientific findings, so that they may take pre-cautionary measures on their own.” 

I personally don’t have a cell phone, nor do I trust them. I’ve been concerned about the sea of man-made frequencies that surrounds us for years, beginning with my first gauss meter, which measures EMF’s put off by electronic equipment. Decades ago the Europeans linked constant exposure to high EMF’s to increased cancer rates, especially in children. If there is anywhere that we should err on the side of caution it is obviously with children. Failure of the Canadian Health Protection Branch to do so is unconscionable.  

In 2001 “Electrical Hypersensitivity” was recognized as a medical condition by the Swedish government. They estimated that just over 3 percent of their population was severely affected by this condition. I would suggest that this 3 percentile is our “canaries in the coal mine” and are only the tip of the iceberg.   

At this point in time it behooves us to, as usual, take care of our own well being by being proactive. Educate yourself on the potential dangers and find out what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones. And for god’s sake don’t give your children cell-phones. In ten years we are going to be inundated with a plague of brain tumors amongst our young adults. Then who is going to look after all us baby boomers with Alzheimer’s?  

I personally use an “Earthcalm” device, both something for the house and a pendent for my body (www.earthcalm.com). Deepak Chopra, last I checked, endorsed the Qlink (www.clarus.com), which is a pendent with optional house protector. Many people use the Biopro products (www.bioprotechnology.ca), which are based on Russian technology developed for their space program. Many protective devices are simply attached to the cell phone itself. 

I cannot clearly state that one product is superior to another since the science on these things is fringe, to say the least. You can’t measure their protective effects with a gauss meter, since if they stopped the actual radio waves your phone would no longer work. Most of these devices claim to create counter (or scalar) waves to neutralize the ill effects of those frequencies that are not healthy to living organisms. They are generally proven through kinesiology (muscle-testing) or thermal imaging of the brain, showing less heating up of brain material when the devices are used. Or through live blood cell analysis, which shows less platelet clumping when the devices are used than when the cells are exposed to EMF’s without protection. 

Europe has begun to produce other forms of protection from EMF’s in the form of copper based paints and wallpaper, and clothing that contains copper mesh. This is based on the idea of a Faraday Cage which is a copper mesh box used to test electronic equipment in. The mesh breaks up EMF waves so that they can’t affect the device being calibrated or tested.  

Copper mesh has been put into baseball style caps, with an earflap that unfolds for when you use the phone, and into a scarf that can be wrapped around the head when on the phone. From our current scientific model, the copper-based products are probably the most sound though not currently available in North America. 

I will close with a related quote from the inestimable Dr. Weil and a list of ailments with possible links to EMF exposure. 

“Electromagnetic pollution may be the most significant form of pollution human activity has produced in this century, all the more dangerous because it is an invisible and insensible ‘toxin’.”  Dr. Andrew Weil 

Symptoms linked to EMF sensitivity: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Fibromyalgia; depression; dizziness; headaches; tinnitus; ADD/ADHD; sleep disorders; Neurological conditions including MS, ALS and numbness, tingling and tremors. 

Other sites to check out include www.blockemf.com and www.emfsolutions.ca or simply google “emf protection.” 

There is still a lot of controversy surrounding the consumption of soy food products and today I would like to address this. Unfortunately, in these days of purchased science, one-sided arguments, disinformation and propaganda passing for objective information, it is hard to determine what the truth is. While soy marketing information offers only the positive aspects, the other side (perhaps motivated by the dairy industry?) offers only the negative material. As usual, the truth lies in between the two extremes. 

The launch of the hyper-critical material on soy products occurred under the title “Tragedy and Hype” in Nexus magazine, a periodical notorious for its “way out in left field” approach to its subject matter (which includes a lot of conspiratorial material).  

A response was issued sometime later by the “Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients” (www.tldp.com) a somewhat more respected source (though still of an unorthodox bent).  

The articles critical of soy foods tend to refer to a lot of rat and bird studies, extrapolating them to humans. Remember that rats don’t have “Thalidomide babies”, so they are not a good substitute for humans in clinical trials.   

Let’s look at one of the main criticisms that articles critical of soy trot out: the high phytic acid found in soy foods; the component that inhibits mineral absorption. The traditional use of soy in Oriental cultures balances its mineral depleting tendencies by fermenting it (miso, tamari, tempeh), to neutralize the phytic acid. As well, when they consume non-fermented soy foods, such as tofu, they eat it with seafood or small amounts of meats. The extra minerals found in animal proteins balances the tendency of soy foods to inhibit some mineral absorption. Also, a diet high in meat can provide an excess of minerals to the body (especially sodium), which some soy can help keep in check.   

Now the interesting thing here is that there is an anti-cancer product on the market called IP6, a well-researched substance (sold by more than one company) that is derived from phytic acid. So if we are looking only at one property of a substance, and only one aspect of that property, we are not going to get a complete picture. 

In Western medicine soy is considered “estrogenic” (raises the female hormone estrogen) whereas to the Oriental system it is considered “yin” or “cooling” in nature. Animal protein (meat, especially) by contrast, is known in the West to raise testosterone (male hormone) levels, and in the East is determined to be “yang” or “heating” in nature. 

We can see that soy is a good balance to a meat-based diet. Not only does it counter-act the tendency of meat to raise testosterone and over-heat the body system, but it also can reduce cholesterol levels (this is well established, scientifically), another side effect of high animal protein intake. 

So, if one has high blood pressure, or hot flashes due to menopause, both of which are “heated” conditions, soy is an appropriate way to help cool the body system. If you were pale, weak and cold most of the time, your condition, already too cool, would be worsened by soy foods (and “cooling” herbs such as North American Ginseng) and improved by more “heating” foods (and herbs, such as Chinese Red Ginseng).  

Thus, while soy may aggravate PMS due to its estrogenic nature (most PMS is due to excessive estrogen levels), it could aid menopause symptoms, a condition caused by low estrogen. The fermentation of soy foods will eliminate the estrogenic properties, so, again, miso, tamari, and tempeh do not carry any of these concerns. However, I have observed that the new generation of fermented soy protein isolates appears to be even more estrogenic than unfermented soy foods, and should only be used to raise estrogen levels. 

The real danger of excess soy consumption occurs amongst vegans and those who use it as their only real source of protein. To have the majority of one’s protein derived from a “cooling” source would over time create an imbalance in the body. Traditionally all cultures that consume soy foods also consume some animal protein. On the other hand, a diet based dominantly on animal protein would also create an imbalance by being too heating. 

Other arguments against the use of soy include the fact that soybeans contain enzyme inhibitors. These are also found in any raw seed or nut (the reason Eastern systems advise against consuming them raw) and are neutralized by simply cooking, fermenting or sprouting the food.  

It is true that soy foods dampen thyroid function and considering the vast majority of Westerners have poorly functioning thyroids it is important that people are aware of this. Again, traditionally, any culture that consumes soy foods also consumes seaweed, so it is important that if you use soy you also ensure an adequate iodine intake. This means eating seaweed regularly or at least obtaining the Recommended Daily Allowance  (150mcg) through nutritional supplementation. While this amount it is too low for optimal thyroid health (the Japanese get 20 times this much: see newsletter #13, “Iodine Madness”), it should be sufficient to offset the thyroid-inhibiting tendency of soy foods. 

Certainly there are arguments to be made against consuming soy products that are non-organic, particularly, since almost all non-organic soybeans are genetically modified. And this particular modification allows the plant to take more of the pesticide “Round-up” than the last generation of soybean. Surprisingly, the company that genetically modifies the soybean also manufactures “Round-up”. Sounds like a win-win proposition. 

As well as ensuring that we consume organic soy foods, I was informed by a friend who worked in a tofu plant that there is a distinction in quality between the tofu that uses calcium sulfate as a coagulant and those that use magnesium chloride. The calcium sulfate (which is a cheaper ingredient) is believed to impede mineral digestion from the food while the magnesium chloride encourages it.  

This viewpoint makes me recall the Hawaiian study that linked tofu consumption to Alzheimer’s disease among immigrant Japanese. Recently it has come to my attention that soybeans will pick up aluminum if it is in the soil, something linked to Alzheimer’s. And both magnesium and aluminum compete for the same receptor sites in the body. Therefore it is plausible that using magnesium in the tofu may forbid the body from up-taking any aluminum that may be found in the product. 

There are no studies on humans that show negative effects on offspring. I personally raised three healthy boys to adulthood on a relatively high soy diet, and their mother consumed a lot of soy foods before conception and during pregnancy. Our diet was essentially Macrobiotic, which is dominantly vegetarian going as high as fish on the food chain. I myself have used soy foods for the last 30 years, so far to no obvious ill effect.  

My advice to clients about soy is this: Have no more than one serving of “cooling” soy foods per day (edame, tofu or soymilk) unless you have a “heated” condition. Have all the miso, tamari and tempeh that you like. I tend not to recommend soy protein isolate any more since it is a mass produced slurry (most of it from “Ralston/Purina”) and usually not available in an organic form. Even though many of the studies that show health benefits were done with soy protein isolate, I see it as a supplement rather than a food. Say what you want about tofu but at least it has been safely consumed by men, women and children, for centuries.  

That is if you digest it well. Generally if you eat soy foods and get gas and/or indigestion, it is not for you. Another clue is your blood type. Types A and AB tend to digest it most efficiently and gain the greater benefit. And trust your taste buds. I like tofu and soymilk, as well as the fermented forms and I feel satisfied after eating them. My body likes soy foods and digests them well, so I shall continue to enjoy them.  

This opening is perhaps more personal that it need be from a strictly informative point of view. But since we are just getting to know each other I will begin with this more personal approach so that you can see where I am coming from.  

I began in this field as a Macrobiotic. These teachings, based on Japanese Zen Buddhism, were brought over to North America in the mid-70’s by Micho Kushi. I was introduced to the natural foods movement by my father (a “health-food-nut”, as they were known in those days) during my teenage years. But outside of a rudimentary grasp of the old school basics of the “super-foods” (honey, kelp, lecithin, garlic, wheat germ, etc), and the advice to avoid “white death” (refined sugar and white flour), this system never really got under my skin. 

During a short period of trying to live in Toronto I stumbled across EastWest Magazine, which was a Macrobiotic publication. They had a philosophy and I found it accessible and exciting. This lead to a brief period of studying Macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute in Boston and I continued to educate myself on the subject in the following years. Ultimately I experimented with this diet on myself, and my family, with very positive results. In later years as I moved into vitamin sales my belief system came to incorporate the western Orthomolecular paradigm, and my studies shifted to an alternative scientific modality.  

In the last decade or so as my diet worsened, due to the children leaving home and becoming a single man, I found the need for extra nutrients to be a reasonable approach.

But lately, as my understanding of Chinese medicine grows, my belief system is again shifting back to diet, nutrition and super-foods (the new generation including algae, seaweeds, mushrooms, goji, chia, flax, etc). I now believe that healthy people only need a judicious amount of isolated nutrients, and the better ones’ diet is, the less one needs these isolates, and the more we can depend on the super-foods for our extra nutrients.  

On the other hand, the Orthomolecular approach to supplementation (developed by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw in the seminal work “Life Extension”, and by Dr. Abram Hoffer and Dr. Linus Pauling, among others) still has a strong place in the treatment of ailments. (One of the best sources for this material is www.lef.org, the website of the Life Extension Foundation.) Basically what this belief system says is that vitamins, minerals and supplements should occupy the space currently held by pharmaceuticals. And I would absolutely agree, having seen miraculous things done with nutrients and atrocious thing done by pharmaceuticals. But that is a subject covered already in our newsletters.     

So, what about bananas? 

One can reduce the dietary principles of Macrobiotics (and to a lesser degree the same principles apply in Chinese medicine) to a relatively simple rule of thumb. Eat what grows within 500 miles of where you live and eat what is in season.  

Choosing between the foods available within this context is governed by the principles of Yin and Yang, which is too detailed to go into here, but it does relate to the Chinese approach of classifying foods as cooling, heating, damp, etc., and its degree of importance is based on whether one is well or ill. 

From a common sense point of view, I have always agreed with the idea of eating what would grow in our environment, since only recently could the average human travel much past 500 miles from where they live. And it is reasonable to assume that the environment provides the nutrients that the creatures that live there need to survive properly. We are certainly not going to suggest that the Inuit take to a raw food or vegan diet. Surviving in the cold requires calories in numbers that are only available from fats and proteins.  

But now I’ve found a good scientific explanation of why this theory is very valid. Thanks to Dr. John Matsen for this material, which I found in his book Eating Alive II. Dr.Matsen is a practicing naturopath in North Vancouver (B.C.) who specializes in digestive disorders. He has helped many people back on the road to good health and has an excellent reputation. You can find out more about his practice at the following rather awkward web address: http://www.ndaccess.com/EatingAlive/Page.asp?PageID=5 

I will attempt to briefly summarize his material on the subject that I am meandering towards. 

Your large intestine is where most candida yeast lives, kept under control by your friendly bacteria, which encourages an acid pH in that environment. Things that upset the pH of the colon and disrupt friendly bacteria allow the candida to overgrow leading to a wide range of ailments (including cancer, some believe). Such disruptors include antibiotics, antacids, birth control pills, chlorine, cortisone, mercury and excessive sugars in the diet. (I’m going to assume since you are reading this that you are already familiar with candida yeast and related health issues. If not, now would be a good time to do a quick search http://www.candidablog.com/. We’ll wait for you.) 

But there is another way for candida to get out of control and that is when it escapes the large intestine and takes up residence upstream in the small intestine, where the pH is such that the yeast can multiply excessively. What prevents the yeast from crossing over to the wrong side of the tracks is a valve between the small and large intestine known as the ileocecal valve. The valve closes until the food you’ve eaten has been fully digested and then releases it into the large intestine. But if this valve fails to function effectively things can get ugly. 

The ileocecal valve requires calcium for contraction (remember that calcium constrict and magnesium relaxes) and it depends on vitamin D3 for accessing that calcium. Now most of the vitamin D in the body is in an inactive state as D2 and the majority of it is stored in the liver. 

It is then up to the kidneys to convert the weak form of D2 into the active form of D3, so that the body can utilize its calcium effectively. This activation of vitamin D is critical in the winter when there is not enough sunlight to produce D through our skin. The kidneys regulate calcium levels by controlling the amount of D that is activated in the blood. They decide how much we need based on the seasons (more or less sunshine). They determine the nature of the seasons based on the ratio of the sodium and potassium detected in the blood. 

Here’s the trick. Plants generally contain more potassium the more sun they receive, so tropical fruits (and even veggies) are much higher in potassium than those growing in a temperate zone. When you eat a banana you convince your kidneys that you are in a sun-rich area. And they stop converting vitamin D into the active form. 

Even the Inuit in the far north show a variation in their blood levels of sodium and potassium between the summer and the winter. In the winter their higher animal protein intake will elevate blood sodium levels notifying the kidneys that there is less sun and a greater need for converting inactive D into active D. 

Dr. Matsen maintains that in as little as 5 days of severe vitamin D or calcium deficiency, the calcium absorption drops to such a low level that the ileocecal valve can lose its contractive ability allowing a massive migration of bacteria from the large to the small intestine, leading to candida overgrowth. 

A diet high in potassium-rich fruits and vegetables, when combined with a diet too low in animal protein or salt, can confuse the body to the point where ileocecal valve problems worsen. Lightly cooking vegetables and adding a little unrefined salt will help if it is winter. Sodium is only really to be avoided by those who eat a lot of animal protein, since it is naturally high in sodium.  

If you have a vegetable and grain based diet you should use some salt. It is only commercial table salt and cheap sea salt that are detrimental to our health. Unrefined salts contain only about 35% sodium, unlike the refined salts, which are 98-99% sodium. Natural salts (Celtic, Nature’s Cargo, Himalayan) have the sodium content balanced out by the magnesium and potassium present, as well as 70 or more trace minerals, required for a host of functions in the body. Good quality salt also helps to keep the body alkaline. 

All of this serves to support the Oriental approach to health, which advocates eating within your environment in order to stay in tune with your environment. It also supports their bias against raw foods except in certain health disorders, namely conditions categorized as “excess” or “heated”. We also now have a place to look when someone has a candida issue that can’t be explained by excessive sugar use, antibiotics, birth control pill, and mercury or heavy metals. It could be as simple as eating the wrong foods given the time of year, in essence a deficiency in vitamin D3. It will be interesting to observe the fall-out from the vegan/raw food movement in North America a few years down the road.