| In my last article, we discussed the seven causes of | | | | you see several studies showing that giving patients |
| all disease and I briefly mentioned the 20 Steps To | | | | "vitamin C" (ascorbic acid) doesn't help to prevent |
| Perfect Health. If you haven't taken the time to look | | | | colds. Or you see a study claiming how important |
| over or better yet, print out this list, I strongly | | | | vitamin E is; meanwhile, another study shows that |
| recommend you do so. You can find the list on my | | | | rats who are bred to be deficient in vitamin E and |
| website, listed below. Print it out and put it on your | | | | who are given vitamin E die sooner than those not |
| refrigerator. It's designed as a checklist, so work your | | | | receiving the vitamin. On the surface, this is confusing |
| way through until you've either done everything on | | | | and conflicting information, but when you understand |
| the list, or until your health is at the level you want it. | | | | this a little deeper, it all makes sense. Giving synthetic, |
| Today, I'd like to discuss with you one of the most | | | | fractionated vitamins (which is what was done in |
| important items on that list: Taking whole food | | | | these studies) rarely has the desired effect on a |
| supplements. Now, a lot of people take supplements | | | | body that was designed by nature. |
| these days, but I find they're usually taking the | | | | Minerals are similar. We must get our minerals from |
| wrong stuff. First, they decide what to take based | | | | plants. We cannot lick the rust off a car bumper and |
| on an article they read or some other generic | | | | say we got our iron for the day. Nor can we chew |
| resource. For example, they'll arbitrarily decide to take | | | | up some limestone and call that our calcium |
| vitamin C, vitamin D and calcium, while completely | | | | supplement. Plants turn rock minerals into the sort of |
| ignoring the hundreds of other nutrients needed for | | | | minerals that we can use. And yet, most calcium |
| good health. And second, they take supplements that | | | | supplements you find are calcium carbonate, which is |
| are chemical in nature (in fact most supplements | | | | literally limestone! Your body cannot absorb this form |
| come from pharmaceutical manufacturers) and | | | | of calcium and even if it could, it would require a |
| designed by people. With no disrespect to those who | | | | tremendous amount of energy to transform it into a |
| design supplements, these people's knowledge about | | | | form of calcium you could actually use. These |
| nutrition is wholly inadequate when compared to | | | | supplements are a complete waste of money. |
| Mother Nature's. In an ideal world, we would get all | | | | For my first several years of practice, I tried using |
| our nutrition from our food. Unfortunately, most of | | | | these synthetic, fractionated, man made vitamins and |
| us don't eat like we should and even if we did, with | | | | minerals and saw no results whatsoever. It didn't |
| the gradual loss of nutrients from the soil and | | | | take long for me to become frustrated and I started |
| non-organic, a.k.a. "conventional farming methods," our | | | | looking for other ways health could be achieved. I |
| food no longer contains enough of the nutrients | | | | eventually stumbled upon my answer. Supplements |
| needed for health. So the need for supplements is | | | | that come from nature. |
| now a well-established fact of life. The question is, | | | | The supplements I use now come from food. As a |
| which supplements? | | | | matter of fact, they ARE food, just ground up and |
| Almost without exception, the supplements you buy | | | | made into pills. They're grown on an organic farm in |
| in a store are man made. These chemicalized vitamins | | | | Palmyra, Wisconsin. The company has been around |
| are not the same thing as what is found in food. In | | | | since 1929 and they are meticulous about their |
| many cases, the starting materials are non-food | | | | processes from the farming to the bottling of the |
| sources, but even if they start out as food, once | | | | finished product. Doctors who use these products |
| they're separated from their synergists they no | | | | become raving fans because they see amazing |
| longer work like they should. As an analogy, if I took | | | | improvements in their patients' lives. The company is |
| your watch off your wrist, took it apart and gave | | | | called Standard Process. This is not meant to be a |
| you all the pieces back, would you be happy? Would | | | | commercial for them. I have no financial interest in |
| the watch work the same? No. Despite having all the | | | | the company at all. I just find their products to be |
| parts, the synergy, i.e. the whole being more than | | | | the very best supplements in the world. I could not |
| the sum of the parts, would be lost. It's the same | | | | get the miracles I see in my patients without these |
| with nutrition. But it's actually worse than this. With | | | | incredible whole food supplements. |
| vitamin C, for example, they don't even give you the | | | | It's very likely, even if you're a supplement buff, that |
| entire vitamin, let alone its synergists. With vitamin C, | | | | you've never heard of Standard Process. This is |
| they only give you the antioxidant portion of the | | | | because they only sell to healthcare providers. It |
| vitamin, called ascorbic acid. This is essentially the | | | | takes a lot of knowledge and training to understand |
| protective outer layer of the vitamin complex. This is | | | | how to use these products properly and the labels |
| like giving you the banana peel, but not the banana. | | | | they use do not make self-prescribing for the lay |
| So to make up for this fact, they give you huge | | | | person a legitimate option. |
| doses, something that never occurs in nature. Your | | | | So what do you do? Well, first of all, you need |
| body sees this huge dose as a toxic amount of a | | | | someone guiding your nutrition. I have someone |
| fractionated vitamin and is forced to deal with it. In | | | | guiding me. I suggest you do the same. Find |
| order to utilize as much of it as possible, your body | | | | someone in your area that carries Standard Process |
| will pull the required synergistic elements from your | | | | supplements and get in to see them. Have them |
| reserves in an attempt to re-assemble whole vitamin | | | | assess you and find out what you need to be taking. |
| C complex. Eventually, these reserves will be | | | | has a function that will refer you to someone in your |
| depleted and you will be left with a vitamin C | | | | area. Just put in your name, email and zip code and |
| (banana) deficiency and a huge excess of ascorbic | | | | they will send you a list of healthcare providers in |
| acid (banana peels) lying around. The same thing is | | | | your area that carry their products. |
| done with vitamin E where the d-alpha tocopherol | | | | If you've never gotten the results you were after |
| fraction is used instead of real whole vitamin E. | | | | with nutritional supplements, I'm not surprised. I never |
| D-alpha tocopherol is actually only one-eleventh of | | | | had either, until I tried using whole food concentrates. |
| the entire vitamin E complex. Using just this fraction | | | | These products are literally a different breed |
| makes it 99 percent ineffective and even harmful to | | | | altogether. Give them a try. Once your doctor or |
| your body. | | | | practitioner finds the right recipe of supplements for |
| Perhaps you've been confused by nutrition research | | | | you, your health will blossom. It has to. That's how |
| in the past. You see one article that claims people | | | | nature works! |
| who are deficient in vitamin C catch more colds; then | | | | |