Vitamins & Minerals (Ans. to BarbaraD)

[Guest guest]

Hi Barbara and other members,

Welcome to all the new members who have just joined! Make sure you read the

past posts to catch up.

Everyone wonders what vitamins and minerals to take. I've been studying

nutrition for 28 years and still wonder also. When you read about nutrition

and popular magazines and literature, you will find hundreds of products being

touted for the relief of various illnesses, for energy, for body-building,

etc. For example, there is a recent book out about Glucosamine sulfate for

arthritis and joint problems. I have used it for a knee injury and would

recommend it to someone for arthritis, but I don't use it now. It's not a raw

material that your body needs (which I refer to as a nutrient), but is an

intermediate chemical which can be very beneficial if you are deficient in it.

I really believe, however, that our bodies are very capable of making it if

the proper nutrients or raw materials are provided to our bodies in our diet.

There are approximately 90 nutrients that our bodies need. You could think

of those 90 nutrients as links in a chain. If one of them is deficient, the

chain breaks. For us that chain is our health. We can have 89 of the

nutrients, but if one is missing, we can sicken and die. Most of us are

deficient in many nutrients at once-is it any wonder we're not performing at

our best and are sick. The important thing is that you have to get all 90

nutrients!

About 40 or so of these 90 are trace elements which are prevalent in sea

vegetables and animals but which are often lacking in inland areas.

Vegetarian animals typically find mineral or salt " licks " which provide these

minerals from the ocean (usually old oceanic deposits). Carnivorous animals

don't have to worry about getting these trace minerals, because the animals

they feed upon have accumulated these minerals. A carnivore typically eats

the mineral rich internal organs like the liver first and even chew up the

bones to get all the calcium and other minerals it requires. I've even heard

that vegetarian animals like squirrels and rabbits will chew up bones from

dead animals that they find, to get the minerals from the bones.

A lot of people do not get these trace minerals because of their eating

habits. Vegetarians have a particularly hard time because most soils are

depleted from farming without mineral replacement and naturally occuring

absences of certain minerals. Some minerals like chromium are deficient in

U.S. soils and since chromium is necessary to prevent diabetes and obesity,

the U.S. has an epidemic of those conditions.

Even people who eat meat as part of their diet often eat only the mineral

poor muscle meats and become deficient in certain minerals. The broad

spectrum of the human diet has evolved to meet nutritional needs and if a

person doesn't partake of that broad spectrum, they can very easily become

vitamin or mineral deficient.

Seafood, including sea vegetables, are excellent sources of all the trace

minerals and are the easiest way to get all the trace elements. Seafood isn't

cheap and many people feel they can't afford it, but considering the health

costs, it really is the cheapest and best way to live. I have never had

health insurance and would rather put that money into good food and

supplements. There is just absolutely no way to be healthy without getting

the trace elements your body needs. That's why I make sure to take a trace

mineral supplement everyday to ensure that I get them.

Some of the other 50 nutrients are essential amino acids which you will get

if you get plenty of protein. It is very difficult to get enough protein to

stay healthy, particularly on a vegetarian diet. We need the equivalent of

two cans of tuna every day to meet our protein needs. The other side is that

you have to exercise. If you eat the protein you need and don't exercise, you

will get sick from colds and flu, because these organisms feed on the unused

protein that you eat. If you eat tuna, eggs, seafood and the vegetarian

protein foods you will get all your amino acids and trace minerals.

The major minerals are probably the most important for us to concentrate on

because deficiencies of those have immediate and catastrophic effects on us:

hypo and hyperthyroidism, diabetes, arthritis, and all the other so-called

degenerative diseases. These minerals include: calcium, magnesium,

phosphorus, sodium, potassium, copper, iron, manganese, and zinc. Then there

are the major trace elements: chromium, selenium, sulfur, chlorine, cobalt,

iodine, vanadium, and molybdenum.

We all should supplement with calcium and magnesium because we don't chew up

bones or eat enough greens. Phosphorus is plentiful in our food. Sodium--we

need salt, so just use table salt. Don't go on a low sodium diet.

Potassium--eat fruits and vegetables. Copper-we have to eat lots of seafoods,

liver, etc. or supplement (copper deficiency is why we got hyperthyroidism).

Iron--women need it, but most men don't. Most diets have manganese-but be

aware of it. Zinc--very important and we all see to not get

enough--supplement this. Hypothyroidics especially need this to get their

thyroid production up.

Chromium is deficient in U.S. soils--important to supplement.

Selenium--important to supplement. Sulfur-in eggs, garlic, and onions.

Chlorine--in table salt.

Cobalt (in Vitamin B-12). Iodine--absolutely essential--people with

hypothyroidism are typically deficient--take lots of kelp. Vanadium and

molybdenum--in the trace mineral supplement.

Vitamins are also very important and I'll go into them in more detail in

another post. For right now, this is important. Don't take over 2000 mg of C

a day--high C levels interfere with copper and calcium absorption. Always

take your B vitamins in a B-Complex because taking one of B-1, B-2, B-3 or B-6

can depress the levels of the other vitamins.

The very most important thing you can do is to go to a local health food

store or book store and get the Fourth Edition of the Nutrition Almanac by

Kirschmann (McGraw-Hill). This is the bible of all nutrition. It lists

diseases and tells you what supplements may be beneficial. It describes all

the nutrients and tells you what the symptoms of deficiency are like. In the

back it lists most all foods and tells you the major nutrient quantities in

them (although there are minor errors here and there).

Get this book and read up on copper, zinc, iodine, calcium, magnesium, and

chromium for a start, and then study all the nutrients and set up your own

program for supplementation. Take a typical day's diet and look in the back

and find our how much of each nutrient you are getting. Familiarize yourself

with all the nutrients and be aware that you have to build that chain of

nutrients with no missing links.

Another book I think everyone should read is " Reclaiming our Health " by

Robbins (author of Diet for a New America). This is an incredible book which

indicts the AMA for basically denying us all health and keeping us in a state

of illness and dependency upon AMA members. This book is very well researched

and will be a major motivator for you to take control of your own health.

Don't be a sick cash cow for your doctor for the rest of your life. Learn

about the nutritional essentials for health, eat right, supplement when you

have to, and live an incredible life!! There are only 90 little things

between being sick and being healthy and doing whatever you've ever wanted to

do. I think that no matter what is wrong with you, you can be 100% in 6

months or less.

Just remember that everyone in health care wants you as a customer and they

are not not financially motivated to get you well. It's a sick way to look at

it (to use a pun), but that's the present world we're in. Only you can get

you healthy. I can and want to help you, but it's ultimately up to you. And

don't worry about money. I have and always will spend my last dollar for

nutrients to get healthy. When you're healthy, you have the energy to make

tons of money. Sacrifice anything else, but not your health.

Sorry for getting preachy, but I think it's important. Understanding what we

need in the way of diet and supplements is a great topic and we all need to

talk more about this. Get the Almanac!

Hope to hear from all of you! Your friend,

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