It's All About Nutrition!
Author: Lindsey Porter Dip. Hom.

The body is sturdy but needs balance and gentle care to function well. A sound foundation of care is provided when having a well balanced diet, plenty of fresh water and sleep, frequent gentle physical and mental exercise and a moderate lifestyle with an effective stress management program. To help attain this, it is now common to have nutritional supplements to cover any deficiencies in the diet, to support failing body systems or lessen disease. Unfortunately, most nutrient formulas are if little value. Why?

An efficient digestive system breaks the food down into nutrients small enough to pass into the blood stream from where it feeds the cells. Unfortunately, not many digestive systems are efficient. Many things interfere with digestion and nutrient absorption such as stress, the aging process, chemical imbalance, illness, viral contagion, intestinal flora and enzymatic imbalances, parasites, dietary imbalances, drugs, alcohol, under- or over-indulgence of food, etc. For instance, eat too much of one type of food or from one food group and you have allergies, eat when you are tired and you will only metabolize half as well as you usually do, drink too much alcohol or contract hepatitis and the liver is damaged, have a thyroid imbalance and you over- or under-metabolize food causing weight loss or gain, etc., the list and combination of events is endless. The two main causes of poor digestion, from which no-one can escape, are stress and aging, both of which decrease the ability to digest and absorb nutrients. Very few digestive systems are efficient at forty years of age and by sixty the digestive processes may have only ten per cent of their twenty year old function.

Supplements are in the same category as food, they rely on the digestive system for absorption. Large amounts of anything is hard for the digestive system to handle, it will process as much as it can manage and the rest causes trouble somewhere or passes through unused. Too much of any one nutrient will cause imbalance in the system and with the internal balance of nutrients. They may even cause permanent damage.

The body functions, grows and is maintained by minerals. We need seven macro minerals (calcium, chlorine, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and sulfur) in large amounts and traces of some sixty micro minerals, many of which are toxic (possibly fatal) if taken in larger amounts, such as arsenic, mercury, fluorine, etc. They must be provided in balanced amounts because an excess of one, will suppress the action of others whilst over acting themselves or just not be used. For instance, an imbalanced excessive amount of calcium, compared with its supporting mineral levels, will suppress the action of magnesium, potassium, sulfur, zinc and several other minerals. It is more important to have a well balanced supplement formulation of small amounts of nutrients for maximum efficiency than to have high potency nutrients, of which most will not be absorbed.

The 1996 Physicians' Desk Reference states that the absorption rate of tablets is ten to twenty per cent. The digestive system cannot break the nutrients and fillers into a useful size to be metabolized. Many minerals would need a stomach pH of twelve to be broken down, almost double that of the normal pH, which is approximately six. Liquid absorption rate, however, is far greater simply because the molecules are broken down into a size small enough to pass the barrier to be taken into the blood. In other words, there is greater absorption with a simple herbal tea than a tablet. However, great losses of nutrients can occur in the preparation of liquid nutrients. Molecular-sized nutrients are fragile and risk quicker and greater break down than a tablet, unless they are carefully prepared, stored and taken when fresh. Colloidal minerals are good, however, if formulated, they frequently do not contain all the minerals, especially the most important trace minerals.

Plants can now be cultured producing whole crops of the same plant variegar, each containing the same chemical constituents from which a repeatable healing action can be obtained. New methods have been formulated that preserve more of the plant's nutrients and delivers them more efficiently for absorption whether or not the digestive system is deficient. It is now it is possible to get ninety-eight per cent absorption of quality nutrients from a liquid herbal preparation.

Science has made great advances in understanding nutrition but not everything is known nor is the relevance understood about nutrition and its chemical interaction or their effect on the body. There is a lot left to be desired between laboratory made and natural nutrients. Nature has had millennia to perfect its plant formulations and packs into them everything that is needed for their survival, providing the nutrients in amounts that are balanced and easy to metabolize. Until recently, however, cultivation, harvesting, and storage methods of plant material and their preparation into herbal medicine has produced variable effects with great loss of chemical constituents and an unpredictable healing action. It makes greater sense to take Nature's herbal supplements that contain minerals of an absorbable type.

The digestive process is always working hard and when ill, it is further compromised. Liquid nutrients allows the body to concentrate on healing without the additional burden on the digestive system when it endeavours to extract what it needs from solid nutrient formulas. They are particularly valuable to those who are weakened by disease or age. Nutrients with a high absorption rate do not produce the side effects caused by excessive amounts of unused nutrients, although people do report effects caused when the body improves its function and starts kicking back into action. Typically the body wants to throw out toxins, and may have short bouts of diarrhea, sickness, bloating. etc., however, these effects are merely a transition stage and soon pass. This stage can be accelerated by drinking more water to assist the flushing out process.

Quality produced liquid supplements prepared from ethically-farmed plant sources provide the greatest absorption of nutrients without side effects in a manner that is gentle and supportive to the body.

Lindsey Porter Dip. Hom.
http://www.liquidvitaminsupplement.com
©Copyright 2003 Lindsey Porter - All Rights Reserved







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Lindsey Porter, Dip. Hom., has more than thirty years experience at helping people with natural health care and practitioner and general public training in natural therapies. She has developed many internationally distributed natural health distance education courses and written countless articles and more than fifteen books on various aspects of natural health care.

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