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. High insulin causes an injury to our cellular communication mechanism, probably by injuring the glycoprotein cellular receptors. These injured glycoproteins are very inflammatory and cause tissue inflammation.
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 and have caused inflammation in these tissues. When the cells are rebuilt, the cells in our body often 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.
If you go to www.GlycoScience.org, click on Glyconutrients, and follow the links, you will get a good explanation of why we have this chronic disease epidemic.
Walther Meyer MD, CMD
Walther Meyer MD., CMD.
Nutrimed@tds.net
