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You Are What You Absorb
You Are What You Absorb
Source : NaturalNews Author: Mike Adams Fe 1, 2010
This article continues part three of the 15-part article series called Heal Yourself in 15 Days. In part
two, we explored your innate healing potential and saw how powerful your self-healing abilities really
are (http://www.naturalnews.com/028060_s...). Here in part three, we look at a powerful principle of
nutrition: You aren't what you eat; you are what you ABSORB.
Many people suffer from poor digestion. In fact, you might say that most people aren't able to
absorb the nutrients they swallow, so they remain in a state of nutritional starvation even though
they're taking supplements that would otherwise be quite helpful.
These people tend to scratch their heads, wondering why all the nutrients they're swallowing aren't
having the positive effects they had hoped for. The answer to this conundrum is found in enhancing
the absorption of those nutrients.
Strong stomach acid is good for you
Pharmaceutical pill pushers have convinced many people that stomach acid is bad for your health.
By promoting diseases like "acid reflux" or GERD, they misinform consumers into believing that
heartburn and stomach pain are caused by too much stomach acid. But the truth is that in most (but
not all) cases people actually suffer from weak stomach acid and they need stronger stomach acid
to properly digest foods.
It's easy to test this by swallowing a teaspoon (or so) of vinegar with your meal and asking yourself
whether it feels better or worse. For a surprisingly large percentage of people, the extra vinegar
halts the pain they might normally feel after such a meal. This is a strong indication that they lack
proper stomach acid production and could benefit from stronger acid. Vinegar is acidic, you see.
Not as acidic as stomach acid, but far more acidic than most foods or beverages.
Consumers have been persuaded by drug advertising to swallow over-the-counter antacid tablets --
products that are actually very alkaline and therefore lower the acidity (i.e. raise the pH) of the
liquids in your stomach.
What most people don't realize is that minerals require an acidic digestive environment to be
properly digested and absorbed. If you lack proper stomach acid, you won't be able to properly
absorb minerals even if you swallow them! And this can lead to mineral deficiencies that promote
the development of diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, arthritis and even heart problems (among other
things).
So how do you encourage the production of healthy stomach acid? In my experience, drinking fresh
vegetable juices each day -- especially celery and cabbage juices -- greatly boosts stomach health,
ultimately supporting healthy stomach acid production.
Digestive enzymes from living foods
Digestion is a complex process. It requires biochemical and physical processes to break down
ingested substances into their nutritional components. This process is significantly aided by
digestive enzymes which exist naturally in living foods (fresh, raw vegetable and fruit juices, for
example).
Heating foods (cooking them) destroys all digestive enzymes. This is one reason why cooked foods
steal life away from people while raw, living foods impart life. Living foods usually come with their
own digestive enzymes, aiding your digestive processes in breaking down and absorbing nutrients.
Dead foods -- which include anything pasteurized -- stress your liver, pancreas and gallbladder by
requiring these organs to produce extra digestive enzymes that are missing from the foods
themselves. Because many people suffer from poor digestive organ function, they have difficulties
absorbing the nutrients they've swallowed.
Probiotics
Many people suffer from serious intestinal flora imbalances. Western medicine, for the most part,
remains astonishingly ignorant about the importance of intestinal flora to overall health, but those
who study more holistic medicine understand the important role that these "inner bacteria" play in
your health: The bacteria in your gut actually digest and transform nutrients you eat into other
nutrients.
They are, in essence, nutrient transformers that operate inside your body, producing nutrients
needed for your health. That's why people who take antibiotics often suffer serious digestive side
effects in the days that follow: They've wiped out all the friendly intestinal bacteria that were
providing essential nutrients!
It's easy to remedy this imbalance: Take probiotic supplements on a regular basis. This will feed
your digestive tract the friendly bacteria you need.
And don't fall for the marketing sham of eating yogurt, thinking it's loaded with probiotics. Virtually all
store-bought yogurt is pasteurized, and pasteurization kills the friendly bacteria. This makes most
"probiotic yogurt" products nothing more than a dishonest marketing gimmick.
By the way, if you want healthy intestinal flora, it's also important to reduce your consumption of
dietary sugars. When you consume more sugars, you alter the bacterial population in your gut,
causing a shift toward bacteria that feed on sugars. As you alter your diet to exclude refined sugars,
the population of bacteria in your gut follows suit, shifting towards a non-sugar bacterial population.
References
Everything I've said here is supported by quotations on the website www.NaturalPedia.com where
I've assembled over one million unique web pages covering tens of thousands of natural health
topics.
.
About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a passion for teaching people how to
improve their health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews,
reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are
experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest,
independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes
about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of energy
efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He also launched an online retailer of
environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help
fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry,
having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a
standard in the industry. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the
Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling,
nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health
statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
.
Source : NaturalNews Author: Mike Adams Fe 1, 2010
This article continues part three of the 15-part article series called Heal Yourself in 15 Days. In part
two, we explored your innate healing potential and saw how powerful your self-healing abilities really
are (http://www.naturalnews.com/028060_s...). Here in part three, we look at a powerful principle of
nutrition: You aren't what you eat; you are what you ABSORB.
Many people suffer from poor digestion. In fact, you might say that most people aren't able to
absorb the nutrients they swallow, so they remain in a state of nutritional starvation even though
they're taking supplements that would otherwise be quite helpful.
These people tend to scratch their heads, wondering why all the nutrients they're swallowing aren't
having the positive effects they had hoped for. The answer to this conundrum is found in enhancing
the absorption of those nutrients.
Strong stomach acid is good for you
Pharmaceutical pill pushers have convinced many people that stomach acid is bad for your health.
By promoting diseases like "acid reflux" or GERD, they misinform consumers into believing that
heartburn and stomach pain are caused by too much stomach acid. But the truth is that in most (but
not all) cases people actually suffer from weak stomach acid and they need stronger stomach acid
to properly digest foods.
It's easy to test this by swallowing a teaspoon (or so) of vinegar with your meal and asking yourself
whether it feels better or worse. For a surprisingly large percentage of people, the extra vinegar
halts the pain they might normally feel after such a meal. This is a strong indication that they lack
proper stomach acid production and could benefit from stronger acid. Vinegar is acidic, you see.
Not as acidic as stomach acid, but far more acidic than most foods or beverages.
Consumers have been persuaded by drug advertising to swallow over-the-counter antacid tablets --
products that are actually very alkaline and therefore lower the acidity (i.e. raise the pH) of the
liquids in your stomach.
What most people don't realize is that minerals require an acidic digestive environment to be
properly digested and absorbed. If you lack proper stomach acid, you won't be able to properly
absorb minerals even if you swallow them! And this can lead to mineral deficiencies that promote
the development of diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, arthritis and even heart problems (among other
things).
So how do you encourage the production of healthy stomach acid? In my experience, drinking fresh
vegetable juices each day -- especially celery and cabbage juices -- greatly boosts stomach health,
ultimately supporting healthy stomach acid production.
Digestive enzymes from living foods
Digestion is a complex process. It requires biochemical and physical processes to break down
ingested substances into their nutritional components. This process is significantly aided by
digestive enzymes which exist naturally in living foods (fresh, raw vegetable and fruit juices, for
example).
Heating foods (cooking them) destroys all digestive enzymes. This is one reason why cooked foods
steal life away from people while raw, living foods impart life. Living foods usually come with their
own digestive enzymes, aiding your digestive processes in breaking down and absorbing nutrients.
Dead foods -- which include anything pasteurized -- stress your liver, pancreas and gallbladder by
requiring these organs to produce extra digestive enzymes that are missing from the foods
themselves. Because many people suffer from poor digestive organ function, they have difficulties
absorbing the nutrients they've swallowed.
Probiotics
Many people suffer from serious intestinal flora imbalances. Western medicine, for the most part,
remains astonishingly ignorant about the importance of intestinal flora to overall health, but those
who study more holistic medicine understand the important role that these "inner bacteria" play in
your health: The bacteria in your gut actually digest and transform nutrients you eat into other
nutrients.
They are, in essence, nutrient transformers that operate inside your body, producing nutrients
needed for your health. That's why people who take antibiotics often suffer serious digestive side
effects in the days that follow: They've wiped out all the friendly intestinal bacteria that were
providing essential nutrients!
It's easy to remedy this imbalance: Take probiotic supplements on a regular basis. This will feed
your digestive tract the friendly bacteria you need.
And don't fall for the marketing sham of eating yogurt, thinking it's loaded with probiotics. Virtually all
store-bought yogurt is pasteurized, and pasteurization kills the friendly bacteria. This makes most
"probiotic yogurt" products nothing more than a dishonest marketing gimmick.
By the way, if you want healthy intestinal flora, it's also important to reduce your consumption of
dietary sugars. When you consume more sugars, you alter the bacterial population in your gut,
causing a shift toward bacteria that feed on sugars. As you alter your diet to exclude refined sugars,
the population of bacteria in your gut follows suit, shifting towards a non-sugar bacterial population.
References
Everything I've said here is supported by quotations on the website www.NaturalPedia.com where
I've assembled over one million unique web pages covering tens of thousands of natural health
topics.
.
About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a passion for teaching people how to
improve their health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews,
reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are
experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest,
independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes
about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of energy
efficient LED lights that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He also launched an online retailer of
environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help
fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry,
having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a
standard in the industry. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the
Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling,
nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health
statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
.