Reprinted from the "International Journal
of Alternative Therapies" Winter 2001; Vol. 28
International
Journal of Alternative Therapies
by John Winters
As I stated
in the last issue, nowhere is there more contradictory information
than in the field of nutrition--high protein, high carbohydrate,
high fat, low fat–it’s enough to make you almost
want to give up.
Rather
than tackle the debate of what or what not to eat in this
article, let's see if we can reach a common ground of what
just about all would agree on-- vegans, meat eaters, raw foodists,
40-30-30er's, et al.-- to be a beneficial supplement. So,
if nothing else, we would know one thing that for sure, we
would be able to take that would benefit almost everyone,
and be objected to by almost no one. At least we finally have
a common starting point, as far as supplements go. And if
you're only able to make one step, at least make it one that
would most improve your odds of increased health.
At this
point, most would be guessing a good multi-vitamin/mineral
supplement, as probably the logical guess (a couple of years
ago, it would have been mine). But, remember, we're trying
to address all camps here; on the one hand, you'd have traditional
medicine warning that the potencies are too high, and you
already get a" you need from your food, and on the other you
have those warning against synthetic vitamins, and the body's
inability to recognize, and thus utilize them properly (e.g.
Vitamin E derived from petroleum products, or Vitamin B12
derived from sludge). Even vitamins labeled as natural, such
as E, though better than synthetic, will not have the complete
complex of tocopherols found in nature. And many argue that
ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) found in virtually all multi-vitamin
supplements, since it is not a complete complex as found in
say, a kiwi, will tend to leach copper and/or iron from the
body to try to complete itself. So, that eliminates
the first obvious choice.
A second
logical guess might be protein powder; obviously protein is
the primary building block of the body. But then you'd have
the argument about what kind--vegans being against whey, since
it's milk derived, or eggs, because it's a potential animal;
others being against soy because of its tendency to elevate
estrogen levels, or because of most of it being genetically
manipulated (GMO); and others against rice powder, since it's
an incomplete protein. And the raw foodists would be against
all protein powders, because they need to be heated to get
to that state. So much for protein powders becoming the unanimous
choice.
Thirdly,
you might offer bee pollen as that ideal supplement. I've
taken fresh organic local bee pollen for decades, and continue
to do so, because of its complete amino acid profile, and
wide range of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. About the
only thing you could say it's missing are those magical phytonutrients
you can only find in plants. Unfortunately, some people (including
those allergic to bee stings) are allergic to bee pollen,
resulting in uncomfortable, to downright serious reactions.
Nutritional
yeast might be offered up by some, because of its protein,
enzyme, and B vitamin plusses, but having used them, realize,
the taste and gaseous tendencies would not garner many long
term converts.
Which
leads me down this next road. It's pretty unanimous that vegetables
are a good thing to eat; green veggies even better; and raw
(because they still contain their enzymes) better yet. Even
our government's U.S.D.A. urges us to have 3 servings of green
veggies a day (which less than 5% get). Green plants provide
the building blocks to enable a cow to build its structure
simply by eating grass. This prompted me to explore the varied
world of green powder supplements, which are generally considered
superfoods because of their dense nutrient content. There
are those with just one ingredient, like spirulina (a sea
vegetable), barley (grass), kamut (a grass), blue green algae,
and Chlorella (an algae). All these products are beneficial,
because, among other things, they are high in chlorophyll
(chlorella being the highest, at 7%). Chlorophyll, (in Latin,
"chloro" meaning green, and "phyll" meaning
leaf) is what makes plants green.
Considered
the blood of plants, it is very similar to human blood; the
main difference being chlorophyll's structure is magnesium
centered, and blood is iron based. This similarity provides
its enriching and detoxifying effects.
The two
key things to look for among these, or any of the green powders
are these: 1) are they predominantly organic/transitional
organic, or wildcrafted, and/or pesticide free 2) are they
unheated, to preserve enzyme activity (though apparently,
despite what some claim, spirulina, and chlorella, does need
to be brought up to 170 degrees briefly). If these criteria
are met, you're moving from a good to a great product.
A step
up from these excellent choices are the combination powders
that may contain a few superfoods in combination, to those
with upwards of 60 plus ingredients.
There
are many such types to choose from, making doing so bewildering,
but let me give you one more criteria that will whittle down
your choices considerably: eliminate those with non-super-
food fillers (such as soy lecithin, apple pectin, or oat bran).
Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with those substances
(though some would argue against the lecithin because of its
soy derivation, and also the chemicals used in the extraction
process), but because they can be easily and cheaply obtained
on their own, if desired. A quick look at the label will reveal
that those fillers may comprise almost half the content. So
keep your superfood powders filled with superfoods, or else
you'd just be better off sticking with the mono-green powder
types.
These
combination powders, if done correctly, are another step up
the nutrition ladder, because variety helps better assure
the plethora of necessary nutrients are being found. They
generally contain grasses, sea vegetables, and algae. Some
add sprouts and land vegetables. Also, added by some, are
probiotic cultures (friendly bacteria), and enzymes, which
help with digestion, assimilation, and hopefully utilization.
One adds predigested nutrients (by way of fermentation), seeds,
and grains. Another adds herbs and various nutrients. And
the thing to keep in mind is that these are all whole food
complexes, pro- viding vitamins, and minerals in their natural
state. One goes as far as underlining on the label, ".
. . not a supplement. It is a biocompatible nutritional superfood.
It is non-toxic and can be taken in any quantity" (Vitamineral
Green). Another states "More than a food supplement" (Perfect
Food). The point is, though I am using the term supplement
in the conventional sense--as an adjunct to food intake--these
companies are considering themselves beyond that; more food,
than supplement (I think justifiably so).
Using
the three criteria outlined above, I was able to narrow the
field to a very manageable 8 choices: (My apologies if I missed
any others that meet these criteria, but I looked long and
hard just to find these six; and as you can see, they are
not exactly household names-- even in the health food community).
1)
LifeSource (by Etherium Technology)
This company
is out of Oregon, not widely available, but worth seeking
out. Had I not talked to the owner and formulator, Patrick
Bailey (who back in 1983, while at the helm of Rainbow Light,
was the first to coin the word "superfood"), I wouldn't have
known from the label that LifeSource met my first two criteria
(organic, unheated). But thankfully, he assured me that it
did, because it is by far the best tasting of the lot. It
is the only one that is good enough to even eat straight from
the spoon, or just mix in water. The others would need juice
to be more palatable.
One reason
for this would certainly be the small amount of Stevia extract
(a safe, non- caloric sweetener from a cactus plant, which
studies show reduces brood sugar levels, and promotes healthy
teeth), added, but Patrick attributes it to the combination
of ingredients--their quality and proportion--balanced and
tuned harmonically. These have been arrived at through a unique
trial and error testing process involving three electromagnetic
sensing devices (a one- of-kind electromagnetic image patterner,
developed in conjunction with Bechtell and Hewlett-Packard
which gives a black & white blueprint of the energy field;
a frequency monitoring device; and Kirlian photography), that
test the energy fields of each ingredient in conjunction with
each other, and measure this in MHz (Megahertz) of energy.
This process is called Energy Field Formulations. LifeSource
measures out at 121 MHz (a frequency closely associated with
DNA).
Patrick
said adding or subtracting anything from the eventually arrived
at ratio, just lowered the frequency. (It wound up with 10
different ingredients). Research indicates that foods with
an over- ride frequency of 72MHz or greater increase the body's
bioelectric energy. Foods below 72 MHz deplete the body's
energy.
Patrick
says cost was never considered, only foods that potentiate
the greatest life force energy were chosen. (This would explain
their higher cost). He measures processed foods from 10MHz
to 30MHz, fresh organically grown foods from 30MHz to 80MHz,
and an average of 83MHz for ordinary superfood products. (Thus,
his claim Life Source provides up to 36% more vital energy).
His chlorella,
unlike everyone else's, is not broken cell wall, but whole
cell. He says those walls give the very quality most unique
to chlorella: its ability to chelate heavy metals out of the
body. The slight increase in nutrient absorbability of the
broken walls, is not a logical trade-off, and originated in
the early days of fending off spirulina's marketing inroads.
Besides,
the good taste, its other unique quality is that it seems
to melt on the tongue, almost immediately disappearing. Truly
a very superior product!
