| 12 November,
2003
Adelle's comments on the importance
of, the much maligned, protein in the diet are right on target.
Those who are not familiar with Adelle Davis (1904-1974) should
find her work a treat and those familiar may not realize "Adelle
Davis was ahead of her time. Everything she says is pretty much
right on target, though of course there has been some progress in
research beyond what was available to her in the 1960s when she
wrote those books." In other words, the nutrition science community
is well aware of the nutritional therapy methods Ms. Davis recommended,
and indeed a lot of it is used routinely in veterinary medicine.
It's just us HUMANS who have to pay the higher cost of pharmaceuticals,
in terms of money and side-effects!
Her comments on effects of food on posture, immune system, blood
pressure, etc. are incredible, and on target, to anyone who rather
get their medicine from foods than toxic chemicals..
Is it any wonder that the amino acids (building blocks of protein)
are banned from sale at health food stores by Health Canada?
Chris Gupta
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/11/06/
proteinthe_stuff_youre_made_of.htm
...."All energy is produced by means of enzymes, organic substances
whose principal component is protein. Vitamins are important only
because they form part of certain enzymes. When protein is inadequate,
however, none of the enzymes can be formed in adequate quantities.
Fatigue is only one of many abnormalities which result....
....Adequate protein is also necessary to maintain normal digestion.
Since enzymes, necessary to change food into particles which can
dissolve in water and pass into the blood, are made of protein,
the stomach, small intestine, and pancreas can pour out enzymes
only when adequate protein is supplied...
...Proteins help to prevent the body fluids from becoming too acid
or alkaline; they can combine with and neutralize either acid or
alkaline substances. They are the raw material from which most of
the hormones are made. Proteins are also necessary in helping blood
to clot. They have almost endless other functions without which
life would be impossible."...
Chapter Three -- The Stuff You're Made Of -- Let's Eat Right To
Keep Fit
-- Adelle Davis
http://www.karlloren.com/adelle-davis/EatRight/p3.htm
YOUR body is largely made of protein: your skin, muscles, internal
organs, nails, hair, brain, and even the base of your bones. Only
when protein of excellent quality is supplied can each cell function
normally and keep itself in constant repair. Since your muscles
contain a greater amount of protein than do other body structures,
a glance at yourself in the mirror will give you a rough estimate
of the adequacy of your protein intake.
Strong well-nourished muscles automatically hold the body erect.
When muscles have not received the food necessary for their repair,
they lose their elasticity, like old rubber bands, and posture becomes
poor. A mother who says to a child, "Stand up straight,"
is complaining of her own failure to provide nourishing food. Without
conscious effort a healthy person holds his head high, his chest
out, his shoulders and abdomen flat; he has only a slight forward
curve in the center of the back.
The pelvic bone is almost horizontal, supporting the viscera in
the way a large salad bowl holds its contents; the feet have well-defined
arches; the step is rhythmical.
It is almost unbelievable how quickly faulty posture can improve.
Not long ago I planned a nutritional regime for a sixty-eight-year-old
woman. A few weeks later she told me that for the first time in
her life it was easy for her to hold herself erect; as a young girl
her shoulders were so rounded that she had begged her mother to
buy her a brace. It had always been impossible for her to hold herself
erect except for a few strained moments, but at last her desire
had been achieved.
Another case which I found astonishing was that of a three-year-old
boy: his chest was sunken; he had an enormous pot belly and feet
as flat as a table top. Three months later this child had a high
chest, beautifully arched feet, and a total absence of protruding
abdomen. The rarity of good posture and a rhythmical, graceful stride
tells of our widespread protein deficiency. Since hair and nails
are made of protein, this nutrient must be adequate to maintain
their health.
Like the muscles, hail which lacks elasticity and resiliency and
perhaps breaks or refuses to take a permanent will often change
to healthy hair after a few weeks of improved nutrition. Nails which
break, peel, or crack can likewise change when the diet is improved.
Advantages of an adequate protein intake are that energy is readily
produced and sustained, and life is made easier. Although a major
cause of fatigue is low blood sugar, there are other causes resulting
from protein deficiency which are less quickly corrected: low blood
pressure, anemia, and the body's inability to produce the enzymes
necessary for the breakdown of foods into energy.
Blood pressure means the push or force of the blood against the
walls of the blood vessels. Only when the tissues of the vessel
walls are strong can the blood pressure be maintained at its normal
level. If these tissues become flabby and weak, they expand, making
more room in the vessels. Since the volume of blood remains the
same, the blood presses with decreased force against the walls;
less blood plasma, carrying all nutrients, is pushed into the tissues.
Adequate supplies fail to reach the cells; thus fatigue results.
Since relaxation is greatest during the night, the person with low
blood pressure finds that he is especially exhausted in the early
morning; getting out of bed is a chore, and he is usually irritable
and sluggish until his blood pressure has been increased by the
stimulus of strong coffee. After a diet has been made adequate,
however, low blood pressure usually becomes normal in one to three
weeks.
Another cause of fatigue, particularly common among women and children,
is anemia, or lack of red corpuscles, which are made almost wholly
of protein. Without adequate protein anemia quickly results and
persists until the nutrition is made normal. Anemia, however, can
result from any number of nutritional inadequacies.
All energy is produced by means of enzymes, organic substances
whose principal component is protein. Vitamins are important only
because they form part of certain enzymes. When protein is inadequate,
however, none of the enzymes can be formed in adequate quantities.
Fatigue is only one of many abnormalities which result.
If protein is abundantly supplied and the diet is otherwise adequate,
we can expect high resistance to diseases and infections. Although
there are many mechanisms which help to protect the body against
infections, two are particularly dependent upon the protein intake:
antibodies and white blood cells. Under normal circumstances, the
liver produces proteins known as gamma globulins, or antibodies,
whose purpose it is to combine with and make harmless various bacteria,
bacterial toxins, and presumably virus. Studies of persons suffering
from almost every type of infection, including polio, show that
the gamma globulins of the blood are undersupplied. These globulins
might be thought of as a militia guarding your health.
Within recent years, it has become medical practice to take blood
globulins from the plasma of healthy persons who have built up immunity
and to inject these globulins into malnourished persons; such a
treatment has been widely publicized as a means of preventing polio.
If your nutrition is adequate, your body can produce all the antibodies
it needs and more, but that simple fact is not given publicity.
Experimental work has shown that when a low-protein diet is replaced
by one high in adequate proteins, the antibody production is increased
a hundredfold within a single week.
Another marvelous mechanism which helps to protect our bodies from
infections is the production of cells known as phagocytes. Plago
means to eat; cyte means cell. Some of these white blood cells circulate
in the lymph and blood. Other phagocytes are stationary and remain
in the walls of the blood vessels, in the tiny air sacs of the lungs,
and in other tissues where they, like the antibodies, stand constant
guard. When bacteria invade the body, the phagocytes mobilize, surround
the enemies, and digest them. These valuable cannibals are made
of protein and are produced in adequate amounts only when proteins
of high quality are obtained in the diet.
Adequate protein is also necessary to maintain normal digestion.
Since enzymes, necessary to change food into particles which can
dissolve in water and pass into the blood, are made of protein,
the stomach, small intestine, and pancreas can pour out enzymes
only when adequate protein is supplied. The walls of the stomach
and intestine are muscular and, like other muscles, contract and
relax alternately, thus mixing foods with digestive juices and enzymes
and bringing already digested food into contact with the intestinal
wall where it may pass into the blood. Furthermore, the entire digestive
system must be held in a normal position to work efficiently. When
proteins are under supplied, muscular walls and ligaments become
flabby, and the "internal posture" suffers: the stomach
may sag, the transverse bowel, or colon, may coil in snake-like
fashion on the pelvic bone; the uterus or urinary bladder may be
tipped; and other internal organs may be displaced. The flabby muscles
of intestinal walls no longer contract normally; much food remains
undigested. This food, on reaching the large bowel, supports the
growth of billions of putrefactive bacteria; gas formation and flatulence
result. Because flabby muscles are unable to push waste material
from the body normally, constipation often occurs. Laxatives or
cathartics may be used, causing food to be forced through the body
before the protein it contains can be digested; or enemas may be
resorted to which further break down the worn muscles. Only when
the protein intake is entirely adequate does digestion become normal
again.
Proteins help to prevent the body fluids from becoming too acid
or alkaline; they can combine with and neutralize either acid or
alkaline substances. They are the raw material from which most of
the hormones are made. Proteins are also necessary in helping blood
to clot. They have almost endless other functions without which
life would be impossible.
In still another particular way proteins are immensely important
in regulating body processes. A protein known as albumin, produced
by the liver provided all the building stones are furnished by the
diet, makes urine collection possible. As the blood cruises through
the capillary beds, the force of the blood pressure pushes the plasma
into the tissues; when the blood thus becomes concentrated, the
protein albumin attracts fluids from the cells back into the blood.
In these fluids are dissolved the waste materials, urea, uric acid,
carbon dioxide, and others from the breakdown of tissues within
the cells. These wastes are then carried to the kidneys and lungs.
When the diet is so inadequate that sufficient albumin cannot be
formed, waste materials are not completely removed from the tissues.
Many weeks or months of mild protein deficiency may occur without
the accumulated water becoming noticeable; such a person merely
thinks he is overweight and often tries to reduce by cutting down
still further his protein intake. If the deficiency becomes more
severe, the tissues are noticeably puffy, and the entire body is
waterlogged. The ankles swell, especially toward the end of the
day; swollen face and hands and puffy bags under the eyes are evident
in the morning.
This condition is extremely common in persons of all ages. For
example, most reducing diets are now fairly high in protein. It
is Dot unusual for a person staying on 1,000 calories a day to lose
8 or 10 pounds during the first week; 3 pounds of this loss may
be fat, and the remainder is usually water held because of previous
faulty urine collection. Not long ago a young woman for whom I had
planned a reducing diet lost 18 pounds the first week. Two women
who came with legs and ankles badly swollen from waste-laden liquids
lost 18 and 24 pounds respectively in two months, although neither
was given a reducing diet.
Unfortunately, water held in the tissues gives the appearance of
chubbiness often associated with health, especially in children;
thus this abnormal condition may be looked upon as advantageous.
Studies of youngsters suffering from polio and many other diseases
show that the blood proteins, both the albumin and the globulins,
or antibodies, are low and have been low long before the onset of
the disease. Children entering the hospital with diarrhea or various
infections or diseases are frequently so waterlogged that they appear
to be fat; when a diet high in protein is given them and normal
urine collection is resumed, they can be seen to be extremely emaciated.
It is my belief that only when the role of protein in building
and maintaining health is understood will persons make the effort
to select food with sufficient care to promote health.
See also: Stale Food vs Fresh Food - a banned book!
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/
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