The history of vitamins is surely an interesting one. I still don’t know much about it but I do know that there were a lot of vitamins that were labeled that no longer “make the cut”. This is often either because the vitamins became reclassified or they were found to be synthesized by the human body thus not essential to obtain from the diet. On this latter point, just because something can be synthesized from the body does not mean such synthesis is optimal. So paying attention to what substances received a label of being a vitamin still offers clues to important nutritional factors for humans. In this list only vitamins K1 and K2 are still considered vitamins.
Recipes I came across in September 2012
I’m not the biggest recipe gatherer but sometimes I see some recipes that catch my eye so I thought I should try to collect them periodically, perhaps monthly.
Foods that support phase II liver detoxification
The liver requires numerous nutrients for phase II detoxification. The liver is versatile, in that it does need all of these nutrients which makes it so humans can detoxify with a wide variety of diets. Still some foods seem especially important to the process of liver detoxification. Originally I had planned to write out the foods that supported each detoxification pathway but that proved difficult to read and digest. So I decided to reverse the presentation. Here are some foods to support various phase II liver detox pathways.
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Nutrition can be a slow process
I think one of the issues in doing work with people and their nutrition is that health deterioration due to poor nutrition can be slow. People often seek nutritional advice only after the effects of their dietary choices have reached a place of significant health impairment. Of course, recovery from that point can be much more difficult, and more gradual, than if those individuals had started caring for their nutrition earlier. But I think it can be difficult to convince people who feel pretty good, whose symptoms are present but not severe, that they should take a more active interest in their nutrition before their problems become more serious.
A related issue is that improving health can also be gradual and thus frustrating to people who want quick results. In my experience there are some dietary changes and supplementation protocols that can produce a significant positive change in many people quick quickly. However, overall health is not something that can be improved over night. People that have been eating poorly for a long period of time are simply going to need a similarly long time of eating well to improve much of their health. Nutritious living is a long-term lifestyle, and the earlier one starts, the better.
Fever is usually a good sign
A fever is one of many symptoms that people view as a negative when it is actually a healthy response to infection. The common response is to fight the fever (which means the fighting the body) when what you really want is to support the body, which will alleviate the fever.
There is a really great protocol of foods, beverages, and more here:
Fever? Why Reducing It Can Be Harmful and What to Do Instead | Wellness Mama
Though this neglects to mention 1 crucial support directly which is that fever may be the body’s mechanism of recruiting calcium to fight the infection. So a calcium supplement may help reduce fever by alleviating the need to pull calcium out of the bones and other tissues.
Some response to the recent “eggs are bad for you” research
I’m a big believer in the health benefits of eating eggs. On most days I eat 2 eggs from pasture raised chickens, raw, in a blended drink. And I will absolutely concede that eggs from factory farm chickens are much less healthy, and the industry that produces them is morally bankrupt. So, like with all foods the quality and quantity does matter with regard to health. While I am biased I try to keep an open mind but I found the article “Eggyolk consumption and carotid plaque” utterly unconvincing. Here is Dr. Mercola explaining some of the problems followed by more details.
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Ractopamine
Ractopamine hydrochloride is fed to cows, pigs, and turkeys in the United States. It is currently banned in the European Union, China, and Taiwan (among others) and approved for use as animal feed in the United States, Canada, and Mexico (among others). It is sold under the brand names Paylean (for pigs) and Optaflexx (for cows). For those looking to consume meat which wasn’t raised on growth hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals will probably want to avoid ractopamine fed animals as well.
Names of Corn
There are many food additives that are, or at least, can be, derived from corn. I compiled this information from various sources and my own research. This list is not exhaustive but hopefully has the most commonly corn-derived additives. I wanted a list so here it is:
Finding BPA free lids for canning
Several options are listed in this article:
Illustrated History Of Heart Disease 1825-2015
Here is another article worth reading, though it could be a bit tighter, and offered with less commentary, it is still worth reading in its entirety:
Illustrated History of Heart Disease 1825-2015 | Diet Heart Publishing