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Steps To Health and WellnessConcepts of Nutritional Medicine: An Integrated Theory of Nutrition Steps to Health and WellnessWhat Does "Eat a Good Diet" Really Mean? Essential Plant Sugars HOW TO GET THESE GLYCONUTRITIONALS! Learn More About Glyconutritionals from GlycoStory.com/nutrimed |
It is pretty hard to get a serious argument about the marvel of the human body, but it is also obvious that our bodies are not working up to their marvelous potential. Our chronic disease epidemics make it apparent that we are doing something wrong. I have not found anyone who disagrees with the common knowledge that we don't exercise enough and that we don't eat right.
The human body was designed to eat natural food. Natural food is food that has not been processed. Processing food destroys essential nutrients. Chemicals are added back to the food to increase shelf life and to replace a few synthetic vitamins. Natural food is living food, which has natural bacteria and nutrients. These are destroyed with food processing.
Nutrition is more that eating enough calories. We have about 16 trillion cells in our body and nutrition is an individualized cellular event. Each cell in our body needs to be fed. Most of our illnesses are due to nutritional deficiencies within our cells. Healthy cells make healthy tissues, healthy tissues make healthy organs, and healthy organs make healthy bodies.
As a rule the vegetables and fruits that we buy are shipped long distances and are picked before they are ripe and nutritious. Much of our food is processed and pasteurized, also destroying nutritional value. We also are no longer getting as many nutrients from the food we grow. It now takes 8 oranges to get the nutrition of one orange 50 years ago.
We are eating the wrong kind of fats. Good fats are removed from processed foods. The foods are made to taste good with artificial flavoring and sweeteners and high glycemic ingredients. We have an imbalance of the unsaturated omega 3 and omega 6 fats, getting an excess of omega 6 fats from vegetable oils. We have been told that saturated fats are bad for us, which is critical misinformation. We need good saturated fats for the stability of our trillions of cell walls. Good Fats make up a major part of the phospholipids component of our cell membranes.
We are living in an environment of toxins, and are ingesting excitotoxins like MSGs and aspartame in our food and drink. These toxins cause injury to our cells, creating free radicals, which cause more cellular injury.
We are eating more calories and burning fewer of them because we are not as active physically. We are not drinking enough water and are substituting high glycemic (sugary) drinks. There is a 40% increase in fatal heart attacks in people who do not drink 4 glasses of water daily compared to heart attack victims who drink more than 4 glasses of water.
All of these factors have been a major cause of our obesity and chronic disease epidemics and are causing a major health crisis.
This hypothesis suggests that one does not get obese without developing insulin resistance. Insulin resistance comes from eating high sugar foods, to which the body responds to by making more insulin. Cells get used to the extra insulin and it takes more and more insulin to keep blood sugar under control. Insulin resistance causes an injury to our cellular communication mechanism, probably by injuring the glycoprotein cellular receptors.
Insulin resistance can be brought down to normal limits by 1. exercise, 2. eating low glycemic foods, 3. eating healthy fats, and 4. avoiding excitotoxins like MSGs and aspartame in our food and drink.
Insulin is toxic to our cell receptors and distorts or destroys the signaling capacity that the glycoprotein receptors are designed to transmit. Unless that receptor is rebuilt with the right sugars, our immune system and healing potential will not function properly. Insulin is also a key hormone that, if elevated, upsets the body's hormone balance. It also 'locks' the fat in fat cells, making it unavailable to burn as energy
We can regain our insulin sensitivity by taking the 4 steps above, but still not be healthy, because the high insulin levels have destroyed critical cell receptors. When the cells are rebuilt, the cells in our body do not have the right nutrients, or cell parts, available to re-establish effective cellular communication. Commonly these are glyconutrient deficiencies, which also are the cause of poor immune response.
Exercise is essential for health because it brings down insulin resistance, and allows our body to metabolize (burn) our fat and start back on the road to health.
The injured cells need to be rebuilt with glyconutrients, healthy fats and proteins, food-form vitamins and minerals and adequate water. It is doubtful if we can get enough of these glyconutrients without dietary supplements.
Walther Meyer MD, CMD
The first step toward any goal is a desire to reach it. Health and wellness can be a gift, but most often is something you need to obtain, often with considerable effort.
It is very difficult to reach any goal without an understanding of how to get there. Present day marketing would have you believe that there are thousands of different ways. Judging from the increasingly alarming statistics of our chronic disease epidemic, it is obvious that what we are doing is not working.
There is beginning to be a consensus out there that improvement in health care will not happen until individuals take personal responsibility for their health and make the right lifestyle choices. Much has been written about the need for adequate water intake, the need to keep stress under control, get proper rest, and the need to exercise. Information about the proper diet still is stuck on the institutionalized misinformation of the Nutritional Guidelines, which have not changed significantly for the last 30 years.
These food guidelines ignore the nutritional science discoveries of the last 3 decades. The new nutritional science of glycobiology (10 years old), the concept of insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, and the concept of cellular nutrition are not recognized in the food pyramid concept. (See The Nutritional Guidelines; Fact or Fraud)
The increase of chronic disease in all age groups is due to the metabolic syndrome. The severity of this syndrome can be measured by a blood insulin test. Test levels vary between 2 and 25. Levels of 4 to 6 are ideal and levels of 6 to 8 are OK. Levels of 10 and above are a warning that it will be only a matter of time until one of the chronic diseases will manifest itself.
Elevated insulin levels can be brought down to normal with exercise and eating foods that do not elevate your blood sugar enough to call on your body to produce more insulin. There is a significant wild card here in that excito-toxins like MSG and aspartate also stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin. These chemicals have been added to much of our prepared food supply. They are put into foods for taste enhancers and artificial sweeteners, and need to be avoided like the plague.
High insulin levels are toxic to cells because they cause glycation (oxidization) of the fine sugar filaments on each cell (cell receptors). These receptors enable cells to communicate cellular needs and keep tissues healthy. These glyconutrients come from fresh ripe fruits and vegetables, which are often deficient in our diets and therefore frequently need to be supplemented.
These last 3 paragraphs tell much of what you really need to know about nutrition. Understanding these concepts will enable you to take control of your health and reach your goal of health and wellness.
Walther Meyer M.D.
E-mail:info@nutritionalmedicine-wm.com
Phone: 715-748-3197.
Many times patients have asked me this question. When I reflect on it, I'm embarrassed to recall how often I have given a vague answer and then referred them to a dietician.
Most doctors, like me, have had little training in nutrition. Even though we frequently suggest a good diet - good nutrition - we really have not done a good job of defining what that term means.
My thinking about it has changed a great deal recently. I have begun to think of nutrition in a different way, and not so much in the amounts of protein, fats, and carbohydrates that we eat. The 'food pyramid', which has been the main dietary model for many years, has been a one-size fits all approach and does not reflect the different metabolic profiles that people have. It also does not reflect cellular needs for specific nutrients.
We know that there are essential proteins (amino acids), and essential fats (fatty acids). Until recently, it was not known that there are also essential sugars (carbohydrates), and that all three of these foods are needed for optimum cellular function (good health). These foods are not taken into our body and simply burned as fuel, but are broken down in the digestive process and, at the cellular level, specific molecules are reassembled. Until recently, it was thought that carbohydrates were mainly used and burned as energy, but now it is understood that specific sugar molecules combine with specific proteins within the cell to form a multitude of different glycoproteins. They act as cell receptors and enable cell to cell communication. To be healthy the body needs good cell to cell communication. Without this the immune system is unable to function properly, neurotransmitters do not function correctly, and the ability of the body to heal itself is impaired.
In a 'good diet', protein is usually plentiful. Typically in the American diet we eat too many saturated fats. Unsaturated fats are available in certain grains, vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and fish for examples, and to obtain them is not a big problem if an effort is made. The big problem comes with not getting enough of the essential sugars. All of the carbohydrates (sugars) in our diet come from plants. There are little of these sugars in the plant until the fruit or vegetable is within a few days of being ripe. Much of the usual vegetables and fruits found on the supermarket shelf are picked before full ripening. Processing also further destroys these rather fragile nutrients.
There is more and more evidence that supplementing these glyconutrients is probably the only way to assure that our bodies will have enough of these essential sugars for optimum cellular function and health.
We now know that certain proteins, fats, and sugars are essential. Eating all of these essential nutrients is what constitutes a 'good diet'. Having a 'good diet' will provide all of the 'nutritional tools' needed to support the body's great ability to heal itself and keep us healthy.
Walther W. Meyer MD
E-mail: info@nutritionalmedicine-wm.com or call at 715-748-3197
50 years ago, it was pretty much assumed that most people were getting a good diet. How true that was I don't know, but now days, the experts say that it is very difficult to get proper nutrition. This is not only because of 'fast foods', but also because most people do not get 9 to 12 fresh fruits and vegetables daily, and those that we get are frequently picked before they are ripe and are often prepared in a way that destroys their nutrient value.
Much of the food we eat is grown on land that has been farmed for many years. Fertilizing with 3 common elements can make a pretty good-looking fruit or vegetable, but the 4-5 dozen trace elements that should be in the plant are missing because they have not been added back to the soil.
Plants are our only source of the eight essential sugars that are needed for a healthy diet. These plant sugars (saccharides) are usually deficient if they are not from vine ripened plants. The body needs these sugars which combine with proteins within each cell to form glycoproteins. Glycoproteins coat every cell in our body and act as cell messengers. They are necessary for a healthy immune system, they act as antioxidants, act as neurotransmitters, and help our body to heal.
There are an increasing number of scientists who feel that the lack of these essential plant nutrients is related to the development of chronic disease of all kinds. There is increasing evidence that we need to take these nutrients as supplements for continued health and to help our bodies to regain health when we are deficient in these nutrients.
If you have interest in hearing more about these nutrients and how to be sure that you are getting all the nutrition that your body needs to be healthy, let me know.
Walther W. Meyer MD
E-mail: info@nutritionalmedicine-wm.com or call at 715-748-3197.
The only company that has these patented products, with the 8 essential sugars, is Mannatech Inc. They do not allow a hot link to their Web site because of their inability to control linking sites that may not be in conformance with DSHEA regulations.
They have a number of nutritional products focusing on Optimal Health, Lean Body System, and Sports Performance.
Contact me to get a hot link to find out about the products of this unique nutritional research and development company. If you have special needs, e-mail me or call at 715-748-3197. I can then direct you to specific products that might be of special benefit for your health needs. A (Power Point) slide show on Healthy Aging is also availble here.
Walther W Meyer MD, CMD
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