To Supplement, or not to Supplement: Sugar's Devastating Effects on our Vitamin's and Minerals

Our modern diet has left almost everyone with a serious deficiency in many nutrients. Part of this can be blamed on how our food is grown and harvested. Food just doesn't have the same nutrient value when it is grown in the same soil for decades with only three nutrients (Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus, all synthetic) being added back in.

However,  as I study nutrition, I think perhaps a bigger reason we are so nutrient deficient is a result of the sugar we eat. The chemistry of sugar in the body is quite alarming. If you eat much sugar (and it doesn't take much) your are probably deficient in Magnesium, Calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Chromium. Research shows that for every one molecule of sugar, you need to intake a minimum of 7 and perhaps as much as 40 molecules of magnesium. That is a big deal considering that magnesium is responsible for promoting healthy sleep, relaxing muscles, healthy, regular bowel movements, and the big one...blood sugar regulation. No wonder diabetes in on the rise. Magnesium is hard to get in our regular diets. Then we compound that by eating more sugar than any other generation. My FAVORITE talk that illustrates this can be viewed here.

Sugar also causes vitamin D deficiencies. It produces an unhelpful enzyme that destroys vitamin D. In previous times that worked because people at sugar in fruit in the summer when people were outside getting lots of extra vitamin D. Now we just eat it all year long, without adding the extra vitamin D. Calcium absorption is linked to vitamin D supply. With low vitamin D levels, calcium will be low also.

It is clear that we need to lower our sugar consumption. The momentary pleasure is just not worth the long term effects on our body. However, we must be honest. That is really hard to do and even harder to get our kids to do. With our best efforts(which are still worth making), we will still need to supplement. When wondering whether to supplement, or not to supplement...read all the links above!

Fingernail Health a Window into Overall Health

My Aunt has been taking our #CaptianAmericaSerum for three months now. She is my mom's sister. Ilene has eaten the typical American diet most of her life. She has tried most of the diets out there, with fleeting success. Her health, and that of her husbands and reached an all time low when they started. Immediately she had more energy. I will get her to write all the amazing changes she has experienced, but I had to do a post about her fingernails!

There are a few areas of the body that act as windows into the health of our bodies. Two that I like to use the most are the tongue, and the fingernails.  When I saw my aunt's fingernails I was amazed. Look at these fingernails! You can see where she started to take her supplements. If that is a window into her health, that is a definite improvement of health. Fingernails don't lie!

Here is a picture after taking the supplements for about 6 weeks.

These were taken after about twelve weeks.

If I would only have known!

I was helping with child care for a Shakespeare play today and a baby, maybe 10 months old came in. I felt an immediate connection with him but the other child care workers were explaining his situation. He had been there the day before and been inconsolable. He had an ear infection and was on antibiotics. He had a rash on his cheeks and runny nose that is common with antibiotics. He looked like he didn't feel great. It brought me back to my young mother self and the health journey I embarked on during that time.

When Reuben was very young, he had a string of ear infections and sinus infections. He had antibiotics several times and then developed stomach problems. They got worse. The doctors thought maybe he had celiac. We saw a pediatric GI and we did many tests. He even had a colonoscopy/endoscopy, which found nothing. Soon after we took him to a functional medicine doctor. We started probiotics, digestive enzymes, essential oils, and some herbs. That was the beginning for me.

For all of my babies after that, I treated ear infections with essential oils, and have never needed an antibiotic. I found the tools I needed to keep digestive systems healthy through herbs, nutrition, and fermented foods. It has taken more than a decade to learn all of these things, but now when I see a baby suffering under the normal pediatric protocol I cringe. If I had only know when I started! My children could have avoided so much pain. I could have avoided so much stress! I also could have saved so much money!

I didn't dare stick my nose in that families business today. Oh, I wanted to because I adored that baby. Our world is pretty private and isolated. People generally don't want advise. If I could share what I have learned with parents to help keep the minds and bodies of their children healthy I would! I would start by saying feed them food! Not something out of a package! The most priceless possession we have is our children. Most parents feel this way, and think they are doing what is right for their kids. Sometimes that takes a lifetime to learn. It is too bad we can't share that info. Oh, if I had only know!