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 Dietary 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.
The increase of chronic disease in all age groups is due to the metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance). 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.
www.glycoscience.org is the best place to learn about glyconutrients. Click on the "Glyconutrients" tab and follow the links.
Walther Meyer MD., CMD.
Nutrimed@tds.net
