Taking Care of Our Health, So Our Health Can Take Care of Us
Part One: Nutritional Supplements
By Stan Gardner, M.D., CNS
“The microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything.” Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) made this statement on his deathbed. With this statement, he recanted his famous “germ theory,” and validated the importance of the immune system (the “terrain”) in protecting us from illness and harm.
The definition of health can be found in three basic principles. I’ll talk about the first two right now, and then mention the third before I get into the meat of this report. These concepts are foundational to the point I want to make about our health and how we take care of ourselves-or allow others to take care of us.
The first two basic principles of health are based on the premises that:
1. Our bodies need nutrients to repair our cells and to function at their optimal level. Those nutrients are found in ‘real’ food and are depleted when food is processed. Sometimes the food industry puts a few extracted ingredients back in and calls it “enriched.” If we continually eat de-natured, de-vitalized food, the vitamins and minerals we have in our bodies will get used up in the process of metabolizing this ‘food.’ Fiber tends to be extracted in this processing process.
2. ‘Real’ food will have all the nutrients that are in the soil. Unfortunately, our soils are often not fertilized with the micro-nutrients, so our food is deprived of those nutrients. Often, the food is picked early for transportation and shelf-life concerns, which further depletes our food of needed vitamins and minerals. Hence, the need to supply these nutrients in the form of supplements.
Why do we need vitamins and minerals?
1. Vitamins and minerals act as co-factors to the enzyme processes that run the machinery of each cell.
2. Vitamins and minerals often have properties by themselves that help the body in other ways. For instance, vitamin C is necessary for tissue repair and supports the immune system. Vitamin D also supports the immune system, both to prevent auto-immune diseases and to reduce viral symptoms. Calcium is necessary for muscle and nerves to properly function.
Why do we need fiber?
1. Gastrointestinal cancer risk is significantly reduced when adequate fiber is ingested.
2. Constipation is relieved, with its secondary effects on hemorrhoids and varicose veins.
3. Fiber slows the absorption of glucose and binds excess fats and toxins in the digestive tract.
Why do we need essential fatty acids?
1. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are an important part of every cell membrane, contributing to its flexibility and proper functioning. Without these important fats, the cells of our body cannot receive proper nutrients they need, nor adequately get rid of the wastes of metabolism.
2. EFAs are the precursors of important prostaglandins that assist our anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory functions, along with blood vessel dilation.
The Third Basic Premise for Health
The third basic premise for health is to avoid or remove those substances that actually interfere with the body’s ability to function. We call these “toxins.” The food industry has not only depleted the nutrients; they often have inserted chemicals, called “additives,” that make food taste better. Trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated oils improve shelf-life, but replace the essential fatty acids in the cell membrane, making them stiff and less functional. This interferes with the important cell membrane function of nutrients intake and waste output.
Toxin exposure is not just in the food we eat, but also in the water we drink (infused with additives like chlorine and fluoride), and the air we breathe. We even expose ourselves regularly to chemicals in hair spray, paint, new carpet and upholstery flame retardants, Teflon pans, mercury fillings-the list is almost endless.
This toxic exposure requires better detoxification pathways in our body. Milk thistle, ?-lipoic acid, selenium, glutathione-these important nutrients are often lacking in our food supply and must be supplemented.
In society today, there is a widespread tendency to ignore the basic principles of health, and to substitute drugs and vaccines in their stead. This can then lull us into a place where we think we can ignore the basic health-building philosophies. As a result, we then think we can eat ‘processed’ food, drink tap water, expose ourselves ignorantly to toxins at every hand, and still be “protected” from disease.
We must be careful that we do not get distracted by drugs and vaccines, grant them too much authority in the healing/prevention process, and ignore the power of our own personal, God-given body to resist disease and heal itself. To assume that if we get sick, there will be a drug or a surgery to “fix” us, may be lulling ourselves into a false sense of security. Obtaining true health requires our personal, active participation.
When we take in drugs and vaccines, there are often side effects. So, another drug is added to the already increased toxin load of the first drug or vaccine. Occasionally, a whole new disease is created with the first insult, with a whole new set of drugs to combat the already compromised body. And so the pattern can continue, causing decreased immune system support and furthering the symptoms.
Medication ingestion (this means taking pharmaceutical drugs as prescribed by the medical doctors) is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 100,000 people each year. Pharmaceuticals have their place, but there are alternatives to drugs that you may want to consider first. One is hard-pressed to find a significant death rate for the ingestion of real food and potent vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids-certainly, nowhere near a 4th leading cause of death. This is in spite of the fact that a high percentage of the population have begun to take supplements and look to alternative options, without their physician’s involvement.
Because understanding supplementation is so critical to our overall health, I have written this series on vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids, so that you can take responsibility for your own “terrain.” If you would like further information immediately, please feel free to explore my website, www.stangardnermd.com.
Let us return to basic principles of health-1. Our bodies need nutrients to repair our cells and to function at their optimal levels, including the immune system. 2. We also need to avoid toxins into our bodies, and remove the toxins that are present.
“Disease cannot attack a perfectly healthy body. Disease germs can never secure a foothold in healthy tissue.”
Those words of Bernarr Macfadden in 1920 are as true today as they were 90 years ago. Return to Top of Article
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