Over-fed but Undernourished

Modern medicine in the US has undergone a subtle shift in the past three decades as Americans’ waistlines have increased. It is estimated that two out of three Americans are overweight or obese. There is even a larger percent of children who are currently obese than ever before. Gastric bypass surgery or weight loss surgery has increasingly replaced heart surgery units, heart institutes, as prolific sources of hospital-based revenue.

However, there is growing evidence that obese patients have consumed lots of calories but they are not from nutrient dense foods. More than one gastric bypass surgery has been delayed while the patient’s obvious malnourishment is addressed prior to surgery. Anyone who eats a few days of processed foods often recognizes they remain hungry but while are eating lots of sugar, processed grains, and hydrogenated fats, they are consuming little nutrients. When we move away from the whole foods provided by God’s garden to processed foods, we leave nutritious foods behind and eat more refined sugars, heated or processed fats known as trans fats, and processed grains. It translates to empty calories.

A syndrome of signs or symptoms has emerged known as Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome. It is truly pre-diabetes and most often pre-heart diseases with a high level of inflammation thrown in. It is generally characterized by weight around your middle (apple-shaped) with high fasting insulin, high triglycerides, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high levels of inflammatory chemicals. The dots do connect to insulin resistance, that is, the body produces too much insulin but the cells are increasingly insulin-resistant eventually leading to type II diabetes. It is generally acknowledged that 10% of all Americans are already type II diabetic and up to 40% are pre-diabetic. It does not sound as though we are good stewards of our bodies and minds, does it?

A survey of the data gleaned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Exam Surveys) reveals the widespread nature of less optimal nutrition among Americans. That is, we appear to be well-fed often over-fed, but truly we do not have optimal tissue stores of nutrients. From vitamin B12 deficiency among seniors to widespread vitamin D deficiency among all ages, it is well established that most Americans are not optimally nourished. To connect the dots between nutritional deficiency and health comes the work of noted scientist and researcher Bruce Ames, PhD, UC Berkley in his “Triage Theory.” Click here to read further http://www.nutraingredients.com/content/view/print/276682.

The international Alliance for Natural Health team under the direction of Dr. Rob Verkerk weighs in on Professor Ames 2006 published work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which was “Low micronutrient intake may accelerate the degenerative diseases of aging through the allocation of scarce micronutrients by triage.” Click here to read further http://www.anhcampaign.org/news/professor-bruce-ames-‘triage-theory’-makes-sense-and-gains-support. Dr. Ames who has published his work in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition highlighting that congenital conditions can be addressed by giving high-dose nutrition to bypass the co-factors, enzymes, and nutrients influenced by the affected genes “had become well aware that many micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) deficiencies are associated with chromosome breaks and cancer in humans, such deficiencies having caused DNA damage in rodents or human cells in culture. It had also been established that chromosomal breaks cause early aging.” Dr. Ames’ work has profound consequences for the industrialized countries whose populations eat a great deal of processed foods.

As for recognition by the larger medical and nutritional community, Dr. Ames notes “A new idea is always hard to get through. Old timers (often think such a theory would) encourage people to take more vitamins.” It is interesting to note that great medical-nutritional minds like Dr. Ames, the late Dr. Abram Hoffer, the late Dr. Linus Pauling, Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, Dr. Lester Packer, and others too many to list take their vitamins each and every day. In Scripture, it is abundantly clear that we are blessed with super-foods like honey, grapes, pomegranates, the fish of the sea, and the like. These foods have been created by God to nourish our bodies physically just as God’s word and the ministry of His Son nourishes our souls and our minds.

When we begin to include those fruits, berries, herbs including frankincense and myrrh, and minerals from sources like the Dead Sea, it is amazing to hear what people experience. More restful sleep, more energy and well-being are but two of what we can earn by feeding our bodies in a nutritious fashion. And the science is increasingly clear we are reaping a plethora of chronic, degenerative diseases when we fail to use whole foods and good sources of protein to nourish our physical bodies.