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I read a book a few years ago titled “Food Is Your Best Medicine” by
Henry G. Bieler, M.D. The information that Dr. Bieler shared in this book
was basic and logical and taught me powerful new ways to attain health and
vitality through the foods we eat. Taking drugs, medicinal herbs, different
botanical formulas or man-made supplements were things I had previously
relied on to help with my health. However, deep down inside of me, I knew
that there were better answers out there for achieving health and vitality
that were more natural in nature. Dr. Bieler’s book taught me to follow a
profoundly simple pathway that made sense, and by following this pathway I
was able to successfully reclaim my health.
Dr. Bieler practiced medicine for over fifty years and even though he passed
on in 1975, his theories of how to gain health and vitality through
nutrition have stood the test of time. Dr. Bieler’s theory that to gain
health one must address the health of the first three lines of defense: the
intestinal tract, the liver and the endocrine glands is now supported by
laboratory research, human trials, and clinical applications. Today, a
worldwide network of researchers and medical doctors believe that the use of
nutrition is one of the best ways to assist in the enhancement of the body’s
metabolic processes. These modern doctors are called Functional or
Nutritional medicine doctors.
The Nutritional Medicine principles support the following health model:
1) Better digestion and assimilation of foods through the use of probiotics
and enzymes;
2) Better nutrition through nutrient rich food supplements and;
3) Increased protection against free radical damage (oxidative stress)
through whole food antioxidants.
Thousands upon thousands of people have used this health model to help
themselves with many chronic degenerative conditions. Additionally, many of
the studies and books written by Nutritional Medicine doctors give us the
scientific reasons behind why this specific health model and the supplements
used have helped with a multitude of health related conditions.
If this topic intrigues you and you want to learn more about the Nutritional
Medicine approach to health and how our specific nutritional products fit
into this extraordinary health model, please read the following three page
article: “Nutritional/Functional Medicine”.
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Nutritional/Functional Medicine
What Is Nutritional/Functional Medicine?
Nutritional Medical physicians believe that most degenerative conditions
have their origin in the malfunction of the digestive tract and liver
elimination processes. In other words, illness can be directly related to
problems of the digestive and liver detoxification systems and their related
influence on immune, nervous and endocrine system functions. Therefore, when
the health of the digestive and liver detoxification systems is addressed,
the body is given the opportunity to reverse many degenerative conditions.
If the degenerative condition is labeled lupus, diabetes, or arthritis,
etc., a Nutritional Medicine doctor will first recommend addressing the
health of the gastrointestinal tract. Once the GI tract is well, then the
liver detoxification system should be supported and strengthened.
Today, through the efforts of Nutritional Medicine, we have hundreds of
clinical studies and pieces of scientific research that confirm what many of
us have heard so often from folk medicine practitioners: “Stomach problems
are the cause of all ills” or “Death begins in the colon.”
Jeffrey Anderson, M.D., wrote an article called “How Problems with Digestion
Can Cause Illness Anywhere”, and in this article he explains why you should
address the health of the gastrointestinal tract first, no matter what the
name of the degenerative condition. He explains that “new information on the
dynamics of the body make it clear that conditions in the digestive tract
affect the entire system” (Nichols, et al., 1999, p.125). The
“...degradation of the gastrointestinal environment is one of the primary
points at which health is lost. What we now know is that the same toxins
associated with GI dysfunction are frequently absorbed and distributed to
other parts of the body. First they place a burden on the liver and the
immune system. If liver overload occurs, there will be spill over, and some
of the toxins will be passed on to other organs or tissues” (p. 125).
“Often, it’s a weak link in the system that will be hit by the damage - an
organ that can be anywhere in the body that is most likely to be vulnerable.
The vulnerability may be inherited, caused by physical injury, toxic
exposure, or poor diet” (p.125). For example, “if the sensitive system is
the lungs, toxins that originate in the gut and circulate in the bloodstream
may manifest as asthma or allergies” (p.125).
Len Saputo, M.D., in his article,”Harmful Flora”, also believes that if the
gastrointestinal tract goes out of balance and the liver detoxification
system breaks down, our entire immune system can malfunction in three ways.
First, it can be weakened and the result called an immune suppression
disease. Second, it can overreact and become hyperresponsive to normal
stimuli; this occurs in asthma, migraine, and food allergies. Third, a
malfunctioning immune system can cause auto immune reactions, where
antibodies target our own tissues, as in rheumatoid arthritis or lupus
(p.60).
Jerry Stine, M.D., in his article, “How Digestion Works”, explains that the
gastrointestinal tract is the largest immune organ in our body. Eighty
percent of all our protective immune globulins are produced in the digestive
tract (p.16). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that when this
large, strategically placed immune system member isn’t working well, our
defenses are lowered and once our barriers are down, it becomes more
difficult to defend against invaders.
Nutritional/Functional Medicine Strategies To Reverse Degenerative
Conditions:
Nutritional Medicine doctors including the three above mentioned, Dr.
Jeffrey Anderson, Dr. Len Saputo and Dr. Jerry Stine, believe that cleansing
and supporting the GI tract and the liver can and will clear the body of any
and most degenerative conditions.
• First you detox the GI tract.
• Then get the liver detox system working.
• And finally clean up the downstream consequences, which includes the
toxins in the tissues and cells.
Nutritional Medicine doctors believe that you can’t deal with the downstream
conditions (symptoms in the body such as lupus, arthritis,....etc.), until
you’ve treated the upstream problem(s) in the gut and liver (p.132). When
you clean up the upstream issues and the liver, then the downstream
consequences tend to go away.
The Difference is in the Quality Of The Nutritional Supplements:
There are a multitude of allopathic and naturopathic doctors practicing
Nutritional Medicine today, and they recommend supporting better digestion,
better nutrition, and better protection against oxidative stress. However,
when it comes to supplements, most Nutritional Medicine doctors recommend
standard man-made supplements in their isolated, single, separated or
chemically-manufactured form, such as zinc, copper, vitamins B, C, E and
beta carotene, to reverse degenerative conditions. However, there are better
alternatives than man-made supplements; i.e. organic whole food supplements.
Whole food supplements are far superior in their quality and effectiveness
for reversing degenerative processes in the human body because they are
produced in their natural and complex configuration.
Why whole food products work better is based on the philosophy that the
human body is a marvelously designed living organism with the ability to
grow, regulate, repair, and defend itself when given natural, high quality,
full spectrum nutrients.
If your goal is to promote good health for yourself, may we recommend that
you address these body functions with the following wholefood supplements.
And, remember that optimal health is “as easy as 1-2-3”:
1. Better digestion and assimilation of foods through the use of probiotics
and enzyme supplements.
2. Better nutrition through food based supplements (consuming nutrient rich
foods such as wheat grass, bee pollen, blue green algae...etc.).
3. Better protection against free radical damage (oxidative stress) through
whole food supplements (wheat sprouts, red algae, wheat grass..etc.).
With the use of whole food supplements you can improve the GI tract
environment, decrease the burden of the toxins and thereby take the stress
off the liver. With less toxins there is less need for a constant high level
defense effort and everything in the body just starts to work better.
References:
Nichols, Trent W., and Faass, Nancy. (1999). Optimal Digestion. New York:
Avon Books, Inc.
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