Despite years of research and trial and error, many people still have no idea what an inadequate intake level of vitamins and minerals are ,which could place us at an increased risk for chronic illness, but can we take too much?
The discovery of vitamins was formulated in the early 1900’s by a Polish Biochemist known as Casmir Funk, who after reading an article about how “Brown Rice Eaters” had lower risks of a condition known as Beri-Beri (a Thiamine,B1 deficiency),than those who ate the fully milled product.
He isolated a substance he called an “amine” group on the husk of the nutrient dense brown grain and since it was necessary or “vital” for maintaining good health, he called it Vital-Amine, which later translated to Vitamine to todays translation as we know it, Vitamins. However, the true potential of these wonder workers never became apparent until the 1940’s,when a paper came out from two medical doctors, William J McCormick and Frederic Robert KLENNER, who later became the pioneers of curing viral diseases with mega-doses of vitamin C proved it was possible. If you were to go back about 75 years, you’d see scores of papers that show high doses of nutrients can cure disease. But because they were published in journals not recognized by the United States National Library of Medicine, the so-called largest library in the world ,they refused to index them, which is probably why you haven’t heard of them.
“Down To Earth Facts”
For the most part our diet can only consist of two different sources: Plant based Protein or dietary (Animal) based protein. Animal based protein is that protein which comes from animals, such as pork, beef chicken, fish and so on. Plant based is as it suggests…Plant based. As we move forward in todays society, greater demands have been put on farmers and the meat industry to produce more food, which in turn raises the demand for more livestock feed.(Did you know that the amount of corn the worlds cattle consume would feed 8 BILLIOIN people? That’s almost a billion more than the Earths population?)
Our soils are becoming Desserts. Over the years, we have over-farmed the land and have not rotated crops in an attempt to meet these demands. This results in Soil nutrient depletion. Soil depletion affects your health whether you’re eating nutrient–deficient plants or eating meat from animals that have consumed nutrient–deficient plants, it’s as simple as that. The soil used to contain a total of 52 minerals and trace minerals, but with the coming of the Industrial Revolution in 1760,it wasn’t long after that, that soil conditions were beginning to diminish. “When plants are deficient, they lose their defenses and weaken and then the bugs come and attack the plant, and other diseases and funguses AND when that happens the farmers go crying to the chemical companies and say that the bugs are coming and their crops are dying, and the chemical industries are more than happy to sell them herbicides and larvicides and fungicides and growth stimulants and other concoctions to kill the bugs” Says Charlotte Gerson of the Gerson Institute. “Not only are we eating food that’s nutrient deficient, now it’s toxic.” Enter, Vitamins
“True or False”
When it comes to vitamins, those of us who do take them will tell you they’re taking the “RDA” or “RDD”, the Recommended Dietary Amount or Dosage as it were, which appears to account for a little peace of mind. Did you know according to the Mayo Clinic, the RDA for vitamin C is only 65-90 mg a day, with an upper limit of 2000. We went from not having any vitamin supplements.in the last 112 years to having them over the counter and readily available, yet still many remain doubtful.
My own Experiment
Back in the days of my late 30’s,I never really had much interest in vitamins, let alone the knowledge that came with it. I did however know from past experience that whenever I was sick with a cold, I was usually out of commission for up to 7-10 days, treating it with whatever was in the medicine cabinet, Tylenol, Aspirin or Dristan nasal spray Did I mention I was a smoker too? Until I came across an article one day that said when we are sick, our body uses up vast amounts of vitamin C in order to manufacture the white blood cells needed to fight off infection. Our bodies need this to fortify the armor of a strong immune system, thereby making it essential to our diet.
It wouldn’t be long before I’d had a chance to put my recently acquired knowledge to the test. I came home one afternoon and began to notice the preliminary symptoms of cold coming on…sniffles, headache, sneezing. Remembering the article I had recently read, I rushed to the foodmart and bought as many cans of frozen orange juice as the cart would hold. I would drink as much orange juice and water as I could for the duration of the cold, marking a “X” on the calendar for each day I was sick. Meals were infrequent and consisted only of chicken soup and a few dry crackers, but no medication or drug of any kind was taken to help it. I remember putting an x on day 3 of the calendar. By the morning of the fourth day I woke up and felt like a million bucks. The sniffles and sneezing were gone and I could finally breathe through my nose. It felt a little dry and cracked inside, but the congestion was gone and that was the day I became a believer in vitamin C.
A Final Note
Living to a ripe old age is not as difficult as we might think. It takes as much energy to put toxic, nutrient deficient foods into our bodies as it does, say an Avocado or a salad. Starting out small with a few more fruits and veggies each week added to our diet and getting support from your family Doctor or Dietician can set you off on a good road to better health and longevity. Correcting the errors of the past and picking up some new disciplines for the future will continue to reward you in the years to come.
” Optimum nutrition will be the medicine of tomorrow”
- Dr. Linus Pauling,
- 48 PhD’s
- 2 Nobel Awards.
