 Index of Topics: (Click to go directly to topic) 1. Benefits of Fruits, Vegetables & Whole Grains It may well be true that the daily consumption of 5-10 servings (serving = ½ to 1 cup, depending on food density) of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables will help or completely heal almost any dis-order, dis-ease, or dis-function of the human body. Our body will take from the whole food any and all of the nutrients it needs and leave those it does not.
So why must we eat several servings daily of fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed, unirradiated, and uncooked (as much as possible) and free of pesticides and herbicides? Just some of the benefits that seem most obvious, are listed below. This is a daily requirement for bountiful health. Whole (with fiber, vitamins, and minerals still intact) grains, legumes, seeds and nuts provide some of these benefits as well, especially in minerals and fiber. Processed or overly cooked versions of these really do not benefit us much, as they are so depleted of the enzymes, vitamins, and minerals they had before being processed.
The human body requires at least 25-35 grams of soluble and insoluble fiber every day. Without that fiber, the digestive tract will become diseased. Why?
How do you get it...daily? The best way to get 25-35 grams of fiber daily is to eat all of the servings of fiber-filled vegetables and fruits recommended by virtually every health organization in the U.S. And regularly eat vegetable proteins rather than or in addition to free range meat for protein. Eat lots of beans, brown and wild rice, quinoa, amaranth etc. rather than fiber-less food. Something many people don’t realize though, is how to shop for all of your groceries with an eye toward fiber and the key nutrients, avoiding the bad fats and overly processed foods. Why, for example would you buy bread or a soy food without fiber? Those are key opportunities to contribute to the fiber intake, just by eating a food that you eat (or will soon be eating) anyway. When the fiber is processed out of a food that used to have fiber in it, then the vitamins and minerals are processed out too. Grains and beans are full of fiber, minerals, zinc, and the incredibly important B vitamins. Processed grains and beans aren’t. Many people are under the false impression that all juices are good for us, even the ones with just a little bit of “Juice”. Not true at all! The magic of fruit includes the fiber, and the still present antioxidants, minerals, and other nutrients. Commercial juices, even the cute expensive ones, are devoid of the fiber, so the sugar goes right in to the blood stream. Many times the Vitamin C is long gone. Make a serious attempt to eat sugar only when fiber is part of the food. A really good example of that would be to eat the whole apple, not the juice. Raw organic oatmeal, sweetened by you, is much preferred to the packaged varieties. Infants and toddlers drink juice with their parent's falsely held belief in the nutritional qualities of the fruit juice. Unless the child is eating the apple, not just drinking the juice, it is now widely accepted that water is the better choice. The hazards of the sugar far outweigh the benefits of the vitamins supposedly in the juice. This point is sometimes controversial with the parents of juice loving children, but juice drinks are doing a great deal of damage to our kids. If you have questions, contact me or research the point in current nutritional literature. Many ear tubes, allergies, asthma, and hyperactivity could be avoided with this important guideline. Some parents look at me with disbelief about this, but juice makes kids sick and teaches them that they shoulddrink sweet drinks. So the little juice baby graduates right to coke and skips water completely. OOPS! Snacking just begs for an apple, tangerine, orange, banana, mango, pineapple chunks, watermelon or cantaloupe, organic yogurt with seeds mixed in, nuts and seeds of various kinds (especially walnuts and pumpkin seeds for their zinc), celery or carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, organic peanut butter on celery or an apple, broccoli dipped in a mix of flax oil and lemon with herbs, radishes, avocado slices, papayas, raisins, apricots, dried or fresh, prunes (look for the new lemon and orange essence prunes), high fiber bread with humus spread on it, a bit of left over slaw, pickled vegetables prepared in advance, organic grapes (But not from Mexico, Central or South America), popcorn made without hydrogenated fats, berries of all kinds. Fiber decelerates the metabolism of sugar into blood stream and cleans out the intestinal tract. Chose foods with fiber in them. Literally, when shopping, buy the bread or soymilk or cereal, or snack, or food in the restaurant that provides the most fiber. Choose the brand with the best fiber to sugar ratio. The rampant increase in digestive disease cancers and disorders as well as arteriosclerosis and strokes seen in our culture could be attributed to the kind of foods we eat. Since most of us eat 2-3 meals daily, with 1-2 snacks, planning to get the required fiber is not that hard, but it does take planning. I have one more snack secret, in a little wafer with soluble and insoluble fiber, trivalent chromium, fructooligosaccarides, garcinia cambogia, and is sweetened with stevia. It is a very healthful addition to almost anyone’s life, with a special benefit for ADD/ADHD, insulin resistance, diabetics, hypoglycemic sufferers, those wishing to lose weight, those deficient in chromium, and athletes. Chromium is a key mineral, a co-factor to insulin, which is crucial for the metabolism of sugar. I will discuss it in the mineral section, though it is a key to one of my favor fiber sources. Malabar Tamarind + Fiber, what a great idea!One way to assist weight loss is to inhibit fat production by taking substances that are lipogenic inhibitors. One such agent is a natural component of the fruit of the Malabar tamarind (Garcinia Cambogia). The component is hydroxycitrate. The tamarind is a yellowish fruit that is about the size of an orange and it is native to South India. The dried fruit contains abut 30% hydroxycitric acid. Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) is chemically similar to citric acid with certain added benefits. HCA has been shown effective in inhibiting the body's tendency to store fat, decreasing appetite, improves and regulates energy levels by increasing the production of glycogen (healthy energy storage) in the liver and speeding up the ability to burn calories. Many weight loss products can cause significant side effects, such as insomnia and hypertension, but HCA on the other hand is safe. The Malabar tamarind (Garcinia Cambogia) is a popular common ingredient in many South Asian dishes. The benefits to the weight watcher are found in the fact that it slows the conversion of carbohydrates into fat, allowing more carbohydrates to be eaten before being converted to fat. It stored more glycogen, benefiting athletes. It very naturally suppresses appetite before a meal or in times when only a snack is available. (Click on the banner ad on this page, to read about one called “Thins”, and can be found here, that is a great supplement, which provides soluble and insoluble fiber, chromium, hawthorn berry and more. I use them extensively for my family and clients.)
Nutrition Made Simple calls for at least 1-2 TBSP PER DAY of Barlean's Lignan Rich Organic Flax Oil. Because of their highly anti-inflammatory quality, up to 2 tbsp. could be beneficial. There are numerous solidly researched references for reading which cite the benefits and the requirement to supplement them daily. Most people recommend Organic Flaxseed Oil as the best source, because of the risk of rancidity with the fish oils. I like Barlean's brand because of its quality, efficacy, and ease of order. Omega-3 E.F.A.'s regulate many crucial body functions and are powerfully anti-inflammatory. Please note that Flax seed oil has a 3:1 ratio of LNA (Omega-3) to LA (Omega-6). Both Omega 3's and 6's are needed, but much more Omega-3's are needed in supplement form, because of the prevalence of Omega-6's in our daily foods. Go to NEWSLETTERS to print a more complete text on this very important subject. Some key areas affected are:
Eaten in healthy amounts, soy can be a tremendous addition to a man or woman's diet. According to numerous sources, the health benefits of whole food soy result largely from the isoflavones, a powerful group of phytochemicals. Contact me or go to NEWSLETTERS of this web site for a copy of the "The Soybean-Estrogen Paradox." They include: decreased cholesterol levels; decreased risk of heart disease; bio-available calcium and better calcium retention, thereby preventing Osteoporosis; protective against many forms of cancer, including breast and prostate, and diminished Menopausal Symptoms. In organic form, the soybean is a good idea! Eat organic whole food forms like tofu, soymilk, edamame, tempeh, miso, and high quality organic soy protein powders. Some of the smoothie mixes are a well-balanced meal, just be sure that other forms of soy are consumed too. I have found one really well-balanced, delicious, and satisfying smoothie meal replacement mix called “COMPLETE” that I enjoy. It has a tremendous number of wonderful health benefits, providing some key fiber, phytonutrients, phytoestrogens, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, lean calories, and a delightfully versatile ability to drink plain or mixed with several fruits. And it is a delicious pre-workout or meal replacement idea. For the menopausal crowd, it works well in reducing hot flashes and night sweats. It is also good for patients of all kind, those with impaired eating and digestive problems as well as for people with diabetes and hypoglycemia. Mixed with flax oil and soymilk, it is just great! You can read about it by clicking on here. “COMPLETE”
Anti-nutrients are foods that harm or debilitate our bodies. Sugars that quickly enter the blood stream, like processed sugars, suppress the functioning of the immune system. According to Fred Pescatore, M.D., in "Feed Your Kids Well": Even as little as a tablespoon (1 tsp. for small children!) of sugar can impair a child's ability to fight off infections and oxidation. For adults it takes a bit more, but much less than most people realize. Much can be written about this, but the big picture is that sugar feeds the bacteria/ yeast, etc. and encourages disease/oxidation by acidifying the body. It also turns into the hard saturated fats we are supposed to avoid, in our bodies. Sugar kills, really. Biochemically, simple sugars are acids. Healthy tissue has a pH level above 6.0 or 6.5, while blood plasma must stay in the very narrow range of 7.35-7.45, or death occurs. Sugar and phosphorus increase the acidity of the body, while more alkalizing minerals like magnesium and calcium increase the alkalinity of the body. So meats, sugars, and soft drinks are acidifying while, fruits, vegetables, seaweed and algae are alkalizing. Sugar can be a huge problem without our even realizing how much we take in. So, a diet high in sugar can contribute to many illnesses that might otherwise be thought to occur for different reasons. Look at the "Prevention Tree" in the Prevention section of this web site for more thoughts on this subject.
Hydrogenated, partially, fully or "Trans" fats are highly toxic to adults and even more toxic to children. These are oils/fats that have had hydrogen forced into them, chemically altering the fat so that the body can not really use it and reacts negatively to it.
The purpose for hydrogenation is to preserve the oil and make it more solid at room temperature. Heated and reheated oils from fast food restaurants affect the body in a very similar way. These affected fats are very highly correlated with many cancers and every autoimmune and inflammatory disorder we know. Just some of them are: Lupus, Fybromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Crohn's disease, Diabetes, Colitis, Ulcerative Colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and Osteoarthritis. Other problems which can be triggered are hormonal imbalances and other hormonal disorders of all kinds; mental acuity/disorders including ADD and ADHD, depression, mental confusion and memory functioning. Heart and arterial disease, including atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are also triggered by these fats. It is estimated that most American children by the age of 3 have fatty acids in their arteries. It is further estimated that 70% of today's American children, by the age of 12, already have beginning stages of hardening of the arteries. Hydrogenated fats are almost certainly a big part of the reason for that. Other causes include heated (rancid) fats from fried foods, excess sugar intake and a lack of antioxidants in their bodies to reduce the rancidity of the fats. Furthermore, they negatively impact the body's ability to use the Essential Fatty acids (E.F.A.'s) found in the Nutrition Made Simple program. Eating the right fats is critical for our health. Read “Fats That Heal Fats that Kill” by Udo Erasmus, and you’ll never eat hydrogenated fats again.
Enzymes are required for every function in the body from digesting food to making the heart contract to push blood through the body. Here we are focused on digestive enzymes. Without a daily supply from food sources, [from the 5-10 servings of RAW fruits, vegetables, grains and the 20-30 grams of vegetable proteins recommended by the Nutrition Made Simple Plan], most people's enzymes stores are insufficient to digest their food, depriving the body of the very nutrients we are in need of for life. Probably the two most significant writers on this subject are Dr. Edward Howell (M.D.), a genius before his time, and Humbart (Smoky) Santillo, M.H., N.D. writes in Food Enzymes, The Missing Link to Radiant Health: "Enzyme levels, particularly in our immune system, are severely depleted due to the over consumption of processed and cooked foods, and the toll that stress, environmental pollutants, and other life-negative factors have on our lives." Cooked, irradiated, and micro-waved foods are lacking in those enzymes, leaving the digestive organs coated and/or filled with undigested food which is putrefying inside of the body, causing toxins, gas, heartburn and degenerative diseases. Both short and long term problems result, including chronic infections, asthma, allergies, chronic headaches, chronic inflammation, digestive diseases (all), cancer, and many other specific and non-specific problems.
A body deficient in digestive enzymes will eventually result in significant problem. They are very helpful in improving health by insuring better digestion of food and allowing the nutrients to be usable to the body's cells. They facilitate the break down and elimination process, keeping the digestive tract, blood stream and detoxifying organs (e.g. the liver, kidneys, and spleen) clean and functioning. Enzymes are one of the best secrets the fruit and vegetable supplement that I use and recommend. Though I try to eat as much raw food as I can myself daily, the enzyme factor in these concentrates is roughly 22X the amount of enzymes I would get in the same foods from the health food store. So, supplementing these whole foods to get the enzymes alone would be worth it to me. Enzymes are one of the reasons it works so well and so fast in making significant improvements the immune system's functioning. It is just another aspect of why raw fruits and vegetables are so far reaching in their ability to prevent disease, restore energy, and improve health. Enzyme levels, particularly in our immune system, are severely depleted due to the over consumption of processed and cooked foods, and the toll that stress, environmental pollutants, and other life-negative factors have on our lives. Cooked, irradiated, and micro-waved foods are lacking in those enzymes, leaving the digestive tract coated and/or filled with undigested food which is putrefying inside of the body, causing toxins, gas, heartburn and degenerative diseases. Both short and long term problems result.
Minerals are crucial to good health, and are very difficult to balance using mineral supplementation rather than whole food sources. It is estimated that about 80% of us are deficient in chromium. Deficiencies are highly correlated with arteriosclerosis and diabetes There have been significant increases in the rates of the diagnoses of Type II diabetes and hypoglycemia in our adult AND child population. The lack of enough fiber and chromium would seem a likely correlated deficiency. Other minerals that which are difficult to insure adequate amounts of are zinc, magnesium, silicon, potassium, selenium, and manganese. I don’t think most people are actually deficient in calcium, iron, or phosphorus. But the key here is that minerals absolutely work together and are found within the plant matrix in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, green foods, and their juices. Once extracted into an isolated mineral, the balance is lost. Cofactors are crucial, pH conditions, antagonistic metal/mineral relationships, and lost protective binders from foods, like the often maligned, but actually protective phytates and oxalates, are lost.
Because multi-mineral vitamin sources don’t provide the balance and therefore are more difficult to use beneficially, Nutrition Made Simple focuses on getting minerals almost completely from Whole Food sources. A diet high in some minerals and deficient in others can, cause severe imbalances which cause insufficient nutrient absorption, inflammation, the development of degenerative diseases, and even death. Minerals need to come from whole food as much as possible, and some foods should be avoided entirely. Soft drinks are an example of a "food" that causes severe problems, whether they are sugar or artificially sweetened. The pH balance, from the phosphorous can cause a cascade of disease inducing events to occur. Soft drinks should ideally be avoided by adults and, absolutely, by children. Enriched grain based foods, like rice and bread are deficient in correctly balanced minerals. Organic fruits and vegetables are the best-balanced source for minerals. Books and books are written about Calcium and the absorption of this crucial and easily deficient mineral. Seek to get your calcium from organic deep green leafy vegetables and legumes, rather than from meat and dairy products for best results. Make certain that abundant sources of zinc and chromium are part of the food you eat also, as those are crucial and often deficient minerals for Americans.
Some of the common classes of phytonutrients include:
Whole foods are the absolute only way to get these in the diet. The NUTRITION MADE SIMPLE program is designed to make sure we eat and/or supplement them all. Eating them in a salad or apple, or pear, or orange, or broccoli, etc. is best. But concentrated fruit and vegetable powders have been proven to work. Good nutrition and health does require variety, so one apple a day will help, but 10-20 different forms of produce daily is much better… to cover all the bases every day.
The most significant group of vitamins to discuss here are the B-Vitamins. Because they are so important, and so much depends on their rate of use, level of need, and level of absorption, it would be imprudent of me to say categorically, that each of my readers would get, on a daily basis, all of the these nutrients. They are as a group, water soluble, generally easily destroyed by cooking, and not well stored, easily depleted by illness, stress, poor digestion, high glycemic foods, diets that cause stress to the body, and other factors. Folic acid, B1, and B2 are well provided for if you eat green foods and take the Fruit and Vegetable supplements. But B6 may, for at least awhile, not be sufficient, for some, without further supplementation. B vitamins are necessary for everyone, but the amount of need varies from person to person. Teenagers, pregnant mothers, and people with eating disorders, people with digestive and absorption issues, alcoholics, women using birth control pills, pregnant women, and smokers should plan to eat brewer’s yeast, truly whole grains, minimally processes organic soy products, and lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. The supplements are very important in fulfilling these needs for someone who just can’t give up their breads, pastas, and other processed foods. Excess estrogen reduces the B6 stores, so women taking hormones need even more B6 food intake. You can read a more detailed account of the B-Vitamins, their functions, and food sources and where they are found in the Nutrition Made Simple program in the newsletters section.
Antioxidants & Free Radicals ... The Antioxidant Cascade.
Greens and Green Foods can be a significant supplement for many people. They are powerfully nutrient dense filled with all the key minerals, most of the antioxidant families, fiber filled, and a great source of some of the best detoxification supporting nutrients that we know of. They are protein filled, and also contain some GLA, an Omega-6 fat and one of the key fatty acids discussed above. I personally take them for the Chlorophyll and alginates support the cleansing of the gut and can be a wonderful tool for increasing gut and blood pH levels. I also find them very helpful for people who have low iron, magnesium, and calcium levels, as a booster, rather than suggesting that the client take an isolated mineral supplement. The one I have found for myself and my clients is Barlean’s Greens. I encourage my readers and clients to see this as an addition to the fruits, vegetable, berries, nuts, seeds, and soy products previously recommended. This is a great one! In vegetable capsules or powder. They are gluten free. From the company literature: Barlean's Greens
Serving Size:
Ingredients: BioGreen™ 15:1, Spirulina, Organic Flaxmeal,RiceX Rice Bran, Chlorella C. G. F., Sea Vegetables, OrganicSpinach, Organic Parsley, Astragalus, Schizandra, Acerola cherry,Rosemary extract, Green Tea extract, Curcumin extract, Stevia,n€zimesTM Digestive Enzyme blend.* *Biogreen is a Triple Potency Concentrate.
Water is the most important nutrient for life! Without water, you will die in less than a week. With water, greater benefits of the nutrients you eat, better filtering of the toxins in your body, which must find their way out, fewer aches and pains, better sleeping patterns, fewer infections, and the list goes on. If you do only one thing for your health, drink 8-10 eight ounce glasses of FILTERED water daily. The actual estimate is to take your body weight, divide by 2 and that gives the daily water intake one needs. The benefits of water could fill a book and the health costs of not drinking enough water another. But what is the healthiest choice? Is tap water good enough? Filtering your own water, in my opinion, is really your best option. And until you experience the difference in showering in chlorine free water, you will be missing a great health opportunity. It might seem exorbitant, but it is not. For drinking though, distilled and reverse osmosis are choices others tout, I believe that the good minerals we get from water are crucial to our health. Since we were hunters and gathers on this planet, a large portion of our minerals have come from water. That is still a necessary source for those minerals, despite the additional toxins now in the water supply. By adhering to the basic nutritional tenants of this Nutrition Made Simple diet, we are able to build our body’s strength from the inside, so it is easier to deal with the toxic assaults to our bodies from the outside. It is my opinion that a well-made granulated carbon filter is the most efficient, economical, and healthy choice one can make. The brand I choose is from a well-known filter company. You can read about them on the company's filter web site at www.nsafilters.com. Please contact me if you like more information, so you get the best price. I really recommend one for the kitchen and the shower. Especially if you suffer from dry skin, rashes, eczema, or psoriasis. Some people have changed to bottled water, which is potentially also a problem. The water has been de-chlorinated and left for weeks, months or longer for the bacteria and other pathogens to grow again. The bottled water industry is a mostly self-regulated, highly profitable industry, taking most of its water from municipal water systems and carbon filtering it. That part is fine, but the water left without chlorine, over time, will simply grow bacteria again. Carbon filtering in your own home is probably the best overall alternative and is much less expensive than bottled. Since it is filtered at the time, or near the time of consumption, it is probably the best choice.
As a prior cancer patient who experienced one of the most debilitating therapies known to mankind, a bone marrow transplant, I wanted to find a complete whole food program that covered all my bases, eating and supplementing sufficiently well to insure myself that I would never have cancer again (or any other serious illness)! Tall order you say. Yes it is, but it is possible to positively hedge your bet as it r |
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The Program I am putting before you contains adequate levels of each of the minerals we need with a special focus, where additional needs exists. So, if you follow this plan, eating the produce suggested, taking the concentrated produce, the soy based foods, the flax seed oil, and the added pumpkin, sesame, and flax seeds, and the snack wafer, or some other good, daily source of chromium, most people will have the minerals they need. But because people always question me about where I get my minerals from if I don’t take a multi-mineral supplement, I want to show you this.
Every degenerative disease is believed to have at least some component of its cause in oxidized body cells. (See the explanation free radicals, the cause of oxidation below). Fruits, vegetables, Omega-3 oils, whole grains, and vegetable proteins, like soybeans, spirulina, chlorella, quinoa, etc. all contain antioxidants, other vitamins, and many thousands of other food actives. These phytochemicals are essential for life and included names like, carotenoids, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, B-Vitamins, tocopherols (Vitamin E), anthocyanins, glucosinolates, terpenes, phenols, indoles, isoflavones, sulphorophanes, flavenoids, flavenals, thiols, lignans, allylic sulfides, isoprenoids, and many more. They are classified as they are discovered into categories, which at any time could include a newly discovered nutrient or complete category. But don’t worry, because with Nutrition Made Simple, all of them are in there. There are many that science does not know much about, that are also in there. That is why they say to eat all your colors. Blues and purples (cabbage, berries and grapes); greens (all produce has an underlying green color from its foliage, but the greens, kale, spinach, and dark green lettuces are meant here); White (cauliflower and indole-3 carbinols); yellows (squash, papaya, melons, tamarind) and red (includes oranges, tomatoes, berries, melons, apples, cherries, and more). The colors are in there, as long as you do your part and eat the produce and supplement as I have asked. I can share some very powerful research to prove my confidence that these nutrients are present and working in this eating plan. Just ask me.
Carotenoids (Beta Carotene is only about 11% of the total, there are hundreds of them)
Why Green Foods? It's hardly a secret that our modern world produces food desperately lacking in minerals, vitamins, fiber, enzymes, carotenoids and antioxidants. Ever since the former Surgeon General, Mr. C. Everett Koop, pro-claimed the significance of poor diet and its relationship to disease, we’ve all been made fully aware of his now famous recommendation. A Minimum of 5 Servings of Vegetables and Fruits Daily! As sound as this advice is, it's far more practical to consume a concentrated and convenient source of plant derived foods.
Green food supplements, when properly formulated, are among the world’s most nutrient-rich and beneficial superfoods. A quality green food supplement is a concentrated storehouse of these important phytonutrients and the minerals, vitamins, fiber, enzymes, carotenoids, and antioxidants that are stripped from modern day food. As Barlean's Greens emerges as the standard in green superfoods, your source of these valuable nutrients is just a spoonful away.
