June 2008 Vol. 003

EcoNews for June 2008

Digestion Problems & Diet & Supplements
Do You Need Help?

Many of us have digestive problems today, due in no small part to the refined foods and bad oils we have been ingesting for many years. If you eat out or eat practically any packaged foods, you are eating bad oils! Even children today seem to have many digestive problems, although it does seem to get worse as we age. Having digestive problems isn't just having annoying heartburn, bloated stomach or gas, it also means that you are not properly digesting your food. This in turn means that in spite of making changes for the better in your diet, you may not be able to digest and assimilate all the nutrients your body needs.  Many of us need some digestive help as we change our diets by eating more whole foods and better quality fats. For most people who are trying to improve their health, we recommend a basic supplement like the superfood trio that helps supply your body with the vitamins and minerals that are lacking in many of our diets today.

Minerals, for example, are necessary in order for your body to manufacture enough hydrochloric (HCL) acid, which in turn is need for proper digestion, especially in breaking down proteins into the amino acid building blocks your body needs. In addition, B vitamins are crucial in helping us to metabolize carbohydrates, fats and proteins. There are also several other supplements that have traditionally been used to help improve digestion. These include digestive bitters, digestive enzymes & betaine HCL (hydrochloric acid), chlorella & greens and probiotics.

In addition eating lots of cultured foods like yogurt, kefir, miso soup and cultured vegetables in your diet may help. Another natural remedy to rev up your digestion is adding 1 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice in 2-3 oz of water with your meals.  Garlic, ginger, parsley, peppermint, licorice, bitter salad greens and turmeric can all aid in digestion as well.  With many of these you can make a tea to sip 1-3 hours after eating.

Bitters like Dandelion Greens or Noni for Improved Fat Digestion

Digestive bitters like Noni Juice by Genesis Today or Swedish Bitters by Nature Works, are a time-honored way of increasing bile which leads to better digestion of fats. Bitters are extracts of bitter, mineral-rich herbs or in the case of Noni, a very bitter fruit. In America, we don't often include bitter foods in our diet, and so some of these supplements may help with your digestion. You can also try to use some bitter greens in your salads. Bitters are especially helpful if you need help digesting fats.
 

More on Helpful Aids to Digesting
Your Foods from Your Diet
Digestive Enzymes, Betaine HCL, Greens,
Probiotics & B Vitamins

Digestive Enzymes & Betaine HCL
Do You Need This Help For Your Digestion in Your Diet?

Digestive enzymes are simply enzymes that help you to break down, digest and assimilate your food. There are enzymes that help digest fats, ones for proteins, and ones to digest carbohydrates. Raw foods have a lot of their own enzymes, so digestive enzymes are especially good to use when eating cooked food in your diet. Betaine HCL is hydrochloric acid that our stomachs often lack, especially as we grow older. It is especially helpful in digesting proteins. If you don't need it, then taking even one capsule will give you a "warm" feeling in your stomach. If you are deficient in minerals, you are more likely to be deficient in HCL as well, as our bodies use the minerals to make the HCL. This can create a catch-22 – you need HCL to properly digest the minerals, but you need minerals in order to make the HCL. Many supplement with HCL and minerals until they increase their mineral levels and are making enough HCL on their own.

Greens including Chlorella

Greens provide an abundance of vitamins and minerals that are lacking in most of our diets, as well as chlorophyll, which aids in the elimination of harmful bacteria, amongst other things. Perhaps because of this, greens, including chlorella, seem to have nutrients that help with digestion. Look for a brand without fillers or “natural flavors” (MSG), like the Quantum Nutrition Labs brand sold at EcoViva.

Probiotics in Your Diet - Do You Have Enough?

Probiotics are the good bacteria that we are all supposed to have in abundance in our gut or intestines. They do many good things, including helping with our immune system function and making B vitamins. They are, however, in short supply in many of us, due in no minor part to the use of antibiotics, which kill the good along with the bad bacteria. We also are eating far fewer cultured foods like live yogurt, kefir and cultured vegetables, which used to be served every day. Cultured foods like sauerkraut and kimchee are often now pasteurized which kills the good bacteria in them. Americans used to eat cultured raw butter in their diet as well, and cultured raw sour cream, but this is all pasteurized now, unless you are one of the lucky ones who lives in a state where you can get raw dairy products from your local farmer. We recommend that you try to obtain a good source of cultured foods for your diet, but if that is not possible, probiotic supplements can help.

B Vitamins - Your Diet May Be Deficient

B Vitamins have many useful functions in the body, but one of them is to aid in digestion. You can get B vitamins from unrefined grains, liver, and other foods, but if you do not eat enough vitamin B containing foods in your diet, or have spent years depleting your B vitamins by eating refined sugars and grains, you might want to supplement for a while. Some supplement while they are building up the good, B-producing, bacteria in their gut. Just make sure and get a natural, food-based supplement. Synthetic vitamin B usually comes from coal tar derivatives.
 

Cultured Foods or Lacto Fermented Foods
Should They Be Part of Your Diet?

Lacto-Fermented Foods Were Traditionally Eaten Daily in the Diet

Many years ago, people traditionally ate lacto-fermented foods like sauerkraut and kim-chi every day. They also ate fermented dairy products like yogurt, kefir, sour cream, crème fraiche and cultured butter. In addition, many condiments like salsa, catsup, mustard, relish and chutneys used to be fermented, adding many good bacteria or probiotics to our diets. Even things like sourdough bread, salami and many cheeses were made with lactic acid bacteria. This preserved the nutrients and provided good bacteria (pro-biotics) and enzymes to help with digestion and proper assimilation of nutrients.

Many of These Foods No Longer Fermented The Old Fashioned Way

Many of these foods can still be found on our tables every day, but they are no longer fermented the old fashioned way – they are often made with vinegar instead of the lactic acid that provides these vital nutrients. In addition, they are often pasteurized, which kills the good bacteria along with the bad. Last, but not least, they are made with lots of sugar, or even worse, high fructose corn syrup is added, so you are not eating the traditional, healthy food it once was. If you can add some real, old-fashioned cultured foods to your diet, your digestion stands to benefit. See the recipe section for some easy cultured vegetable recipes.

Cultured Vegetables Can Be Made Easily At Home

Traditional, fermented sauerkraut, full of enzymes, minerals and vitamin C, can also be found in most health food stores, however, it is much less expensive to make it at home if you have the time and the inclination. If you do buy it in the store, make sure that the lacto-fermented foods you eat have NOT been heated or pasteurized, which destroys the good bacteria and enzymes.

If you don't eat cultured foods, including cultured vegetables, we think it's a good idea to add enzymes and probiotic supplements to your diet.

Cultured Foods Have A Place in All Healthy Diets

Vitamin C Helps Boost the Metabolism

Most people know that Vitamin C is helpful in boosting the immune system, but few people know that it also seems to be a helpful adjunct in losing weight. Vitamin C has an important role to play in your metabolism. Most of our fruits and vegetables lose a lot of vitamin C because it takes so long for them to get from the farmer to our tables. Vitamin C is also found in high amounts in cultured vegetables, however, if you haven’t started eating cultured vegetables yet, or you suffer from allergies, hay fever or asthma, or tend to get sick a lot, you may benefit from taking some natural vitamin C in either the form of Goji or Camu-Camu every day.  Synthetic Vitamin C is NOT the same! It is made in a lab, often from genetically modified corn sugar, and contains only the ascorbic acid portion of the Vitamin C.

Goji or Wolfberry is a Great Natural Source of Vitamin C

The Goji or Wolfberry is the highest known source of natural vitamin C, and also seems to be very good for the immune system, for depression and for regulating hormones. It also contains many other nutrients, like some B vitamins, minerals, beta carotene and more. You can get the Goji Berry as a juice, just make sure and get a brand like Genesis Today that is 100% Goji and contains no other juices or water that will dilute it and no sodium benzoate or other preservatives that are bad for your health.

Camu Camu is also Rich in Vitamin C

Camu-Camu is a fruit that is also very rich in vitamin C. In fact, in comparison to oranges, camu-camu provides 30 times more vitamin C.  Camu-camu also seems to have energy-boosting and anti-depressive properties. Make sure and get your camu-camu supplement in a whole food form without added fillers or preservatives, like with the Quantum Nutrition's C Complex.

Do You Get Enough B Rich Foods In Your Diet?

Natural B vitamins, either in the form of Nutritional Yeast, capsules or a tincture are also very important in helping your body's metabolism.  Many of us are depleted in B vitamins, and stress can exacerbate that. B vitamins also have important anti-aging, mood balancing and energy boosting functions in the body. Liver is a great source of all the B vitamins, and also vitamin A. Beef, lamb and veal liver is much higher in almost all the B vitamins (except folic acid), and also much higher in vitamin A than the poultry livers like chicken, duck or turkey. If one of the foods you eat regularly is liver from grass fed beef or lamb (say, at least once per week), you may not need a B supplement. If you don’t like the idea of eating liver as a regular food in your diet, however, you might want to think about taking a natural vitamin B supplement.

Dessicated Liver Capsules

Dessicated liver capsules are an excellent source of A & B vitamins. Look for a brand made from range-fed animals given no hormones or antibiotics, like Carlson brand buffalo liver. These capsules are prepared with liver from a herd of range-fed young buffalo, naturally raised on unsprayed land high in the mountains. These buffalo are NOT treated with antibiotics, steroids, or other drugs. This buffalo liver is freeze-dried to retain its many nutrients. One-half ounce of fresh liver is used to produce six capsules of Carlson Buffalo Liver, so you will need a lot of these capsules to make the equivalent of eating a 4 oz portion of liver.

Natural Vitamin B

QN Labs also makes a natural B Complex called Max Stress B Nano – these are B vitamins that were grown on probiotics that are in their most useful form. Most B vitamins are actually made in a lab, often from coal tar derivatives, and much research has shown that the body is better able to use vitamins in their natural form, along with the co-factors necessary for your body to utilize those vitamins.
 

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.