Grocery Shopping List (Organics)

A concern for health should be directing you to natural food stores selling the following 15 fruits and vegetables as ORGANICALLY grown to limit toxic chemical residues such as pesticides. With pesticides, the best approach is to limit exposure rather than attempt to prevent absorption after ingestion or expel later from the blood. ref  Activated charcoal has been tried in the past to prevent absorption of poisons, but the amount needed to ingest with the poison is difficult to swallow. And activated charcoal is not discerning between what else it will absorb and eliminate out of the digestive tract.

Of the 48 different fruit and vegetable categories tested by the EWG for the 2013 guide, the following 15 fruits and vegetables had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy or grow organically:

Apples	Celery	Cherry tomatoes
Cucumbers	Grapes	Hot peppers
Nectarines (imported)	Peaches	Potatoes
Spinach	Strawberries	Sweet bell peppers
Kale	Collard greens	Summer squash

In contrast, the following foods were found to have the lowest residual pesticide load, making them the safest bet among conventionally grown vegetables. Note that a small amount of sweet corn and most Hawaiian papaya, although low in pesticides, are genetically engineered (GE). If you’re unsure of whether the sweet corn or papaya is GE, pick organic varieties:  

Asparagus	Avocado	Cabbage
Cantaloupe	Sweet corn (non-GMO)	Eggplant
Grapefruit	Kiwi	Mango
Mushrooms	Onions	Papayas (non-GMO. Most Hawaiian papaya is GMO)
Pineapple	Sweet peas (frozen)	Sweet potatoes  CAUTION: While organically grown foods are lower in chemical residues and place less stress on the environment and the body to eliminate toxins, they can potentially be higher in heavy metals due to the use of organic fertilizers. A trade off in benefits versus risks. Balance is important here. Ideally, organic farmers need to test their crops for heavy metal contamination and change organic fertilizer sources if any is found. Heavy metals are unfortunately, almost ubiquitous to everywhere, soil, water, air, and organic fertilizers. While this represents a true dilemma, the detrimental effects from too many chemicals in the environment is well established and may actually trump the occasionally few "extra" heavy metals in the diet. Plus: Remember, the heavy metal contamination levels in the majority of organic foods (or any foods and supplements) are below the Federal limits for safety, so the issue is not form any one food or type, but from the accumulation effect of many small amounts added together. Limiting exposure is key. Farmers know about this possibility and take measures to control and eliminate. There are nutrients that safeguard by limiting the absorption of heavy metals in the diet.  While in the environment, all organisms suffer heavy chemical effects from insects, birds, to farm animals and the plants they all consume. Plants Vitamin C is one nutrient that limits chemical damage by speeding breakdown and elimination of heavy metals out of the body. Fibers are important too. Another vital reason for vegetables and legumes. Oh! Beans. Current Recalls of potential and contaminated Foods and OTC Drugs found here It is quite long.

Girl Scout Cookie Time

How can such a wonderful character building organization sell TRANS FAT laced cookies to raise money? Yes, I know the box lists O grams of trans fat, but the ingredients for some cookies lists a trans fat containing item; partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. If the serving size, in the case for Thin Mints is 4 cookies, contains less than one half gram of trans fat, it can still say 0 gm trans fat on the label. There is some trans fat in those cookies.  

SO, DO NOT EAT MORE THAN a couple of cookies A DAY TO LIMIT YOUR TRANS FAT INTAKE. Trans fat is added to keep the cookies fresher longer. To help block trans fats from being absorbed, eat the cookies with an APPLE. The pectin in apples works by combining with (trans) fat and preventing absorption.

The connection of trans fats to cardiovascular artery disease and cancers such as breast, prostate, and colon is pretty well established. Yes, it is a matter of quantity over time, and one cookie's content of trans fat is no big deal, but it all adds up together with the many other food sources plus restaurant meals may have even greater quantities unless in the States that have banned them. The catch 22 is also that you still have trans fats stored in your bodies from the past when trans fat food quantities were much higher, recall stick margarine.  ref

Rotate Vitamin Tires

It is recommended to rotate tires on a car to even out the wear patterns. This same principle, sort of, can be applied to taking vitamins. The obvious take away is to change Brands every so often which would limit or balance any deficiencies or excesses one Brand might exhibit.  

Look at nature. Some days are sunshine and some are cloudy, some are hot and others are cold. On some days the wind blows in from the North, others it comes from the South. Sometimes the trees have leaves and sometimes they don't. The POINT here is  that in nature, there is variety. Why? Science has found overall system benefits from these variety actions in nature. It makes nature compensate and prepare for these changing events, and she uses them to prepare growing cycles, promote soil renewal, and, of course, species survival.

Variety in nature might also be called stimulus variation. If you touch someone with a feather it tickles, but if you constantly touch with the feather, at some point the tickle turns into an irritant. Nature must not like irritants.  

Applying this concept to consuming vitamin supplements could be rather interesting. First, other than rotating Brands, is there an advantage to not taking supplements everyday? Or what about varying the dosages some days? If the vitamin in question is fat soluble, any excess one day gets stored in the body for use another day. The next question logically following this statement; Can too much of these fat soluble vitamins be stored that might change characteristics and begin exhibiting detrimental effects? Does the body adapt and change processes if continually supplied at a higher than normal nutrient amount? 

Science has discovered that the answer is YES for most nutrients, like vitamin D, plus all of the other fat soluble vitamins, many minerals, and even water soluble B and C vitamins get short term storage, with vitamin B12 showing long term storage or a re-using ability. Calcium is one nutrient that clearly shows multiple body changes occur at continuously higher intake amounts. Each nutrient has to be examined separately. Perhaps the greatest physiological body function to simply explain this fact is that the body has controls to either increase absorption if body stores are low OR decrease absorption if body levels are already high for a nutrient. Plus, once inside the body, other controls either speed up or slow down elimination channels out of the body. This innate body wisdom is part of the information used by Government Nutritional Agencies to establish the RDI, or recommended daily intake. Unfortunately, this known information has some gaps which this website exposes.

SIDEBAR: Vitamin Companies, attempting to gain an advantage over the competition, or nature, often unwisely develop nutrient compounds or change molecular size to counter these natural protective body processes. Minerals often have chelate forms designed to maximize absorption over naturally occurring mineral forms the body effectively handles. Which in some cases is a limiting factor. The size aspect is true for Hyaluronic Acid.

Another factor is that nutrients interact with each other and function at optimal rates when ratios between certain nutrients are maintained, i.e. Calcium to Phosphorus and Magnesium, Vitamin E to K, Potassium to Sodium, and Zinc to Copper. Maintaining these ratios is the driving force behind many of the regulating adaptive body processes necessary for survival.

Thus, yes there is a benefit to using "stimulus variation" in consuming vitamin supplements. A rotational and variable dosage approach is favored by nature and your body.

Here is one more concept to consider. Scientists found that they can increase the lifespan of some organisms by systematically under-feeding. Why would giving less food increase lifespan? One answer stated the fact that under-feeding would reduce free radical generation resulting in less oxidative stress. Consumed food and vitamins have to be processed. This naturally generates free radicals. Giving just the right amount of food to sustain the organism but not create extra stress may be the ideal. Since most vitamins are somewhat stored by the body, it is not necessary to consume them everyday in supplements since they are just that, supplements. The vitamins in food should be the primary source for nutrients. 

How and which nutrients can be used on a rotational basis is a topic for another article. For some insight see this article.

Skin Healing

Usually, the skin heals itself over time. BUT, there are some situations where skin sores just keep getting progressively worst, such as bed sores, skin cancers, and diabetic wounds. Bed sores must be diligently dealt with by consistent ointments and air exposure with pressure relief.

Skin cancers are another story.* These sores are very serious and need professional health care to not allow them to get bigger or out of control. Skin cancers should never be allowed to get to the late stage, you should have long ago been to your Doctor. But that does not necessarily mean you can just sit back and not take an active role in supporting your professional medical care protocols by assisting the healing process from both inside the body as well as outside.

This is a rather remarkable personal story. One that is not recommended you copy if you have access to medical care. Get professional care first. Not getting early professional care could yet prove to be a large mistake.

STORY: I read about a skin health formula being used to heal wounds including skin cancer sores. I remembered reading about a similar application where cartilage was used internally for joint health and cancer prevention. The original research used cartilage chips placed in skin wounds to speed healing. It turned out that the people taking oral cartilage also exhibited less cancers and their arthritis and joint pain improved. The researchers changed their study direction and the cartilage skin wound healing connection was quietly overshadowed, at least in the vitamin industry. But this application is used in medical settings by Doctors aware of this research. This next reference is very complete in wound healing details plus quite graphic pictures are depicted. But, there is no mention of using ground cartilage, although consuming vitamin C is mentioned.  ref 

How might cartilage help wound healing?   

There are a number of ways. Cartilage contains Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) or mucopolysaccharides such as Glucosamine and chondroitin. Glucosamine helps build collagen and more cartilage and it also stimulates hyaluronic acid production, another GAG, which speeds up the healing process. ref

OF INTEREST:  This is a good place to reveal another vital concept seldom mentioned in nutrition. The thickness of the skin naturally gets thinner as one ages. BUT, there are processes that speed it up and nutrients that slow this thinning down. Have you noticed how thin an older smoker's skin gets much earlier than a non smoker. Smoking quickly uses up vitamin C since vitamin C is needed to detoxify smoke elements. Vitamin C is necessary to build collagen, a vital component of skin elasticity and thickness. Plus, the skin is also made up of elastin fibers that cross the collagen. A simple test that reveals the age of the skin is to pinch and stretch a small part of the skin and see how quickly it bounces or springs back into its original position.  As one ages, this recovery process slows down and the pinch marks remain visible longer. The criss-crossing elastin and collagen fibers are breaking down. There are enzymes responsible for this action. Anti-oxidants slow this process down, especially those contained in grape seed extract, or OPC's. Dr Perricome likes Carnosine to prevent protein folding and the resulting formation of glycation spots (AGES). AGES stands for Advanced Glycation End Spots. ref ref

THE SKIN FORMULA

The skin formula was made up of bovine cartilage powder, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder, and a drop of DMSO to carry it into the skin. Not having DMSO, I just used the two powders and mixed them up, about a dime sized pinch of each with a couple drops of water in my cupped palm. This makes a clear slimy consistency film. You just have to re-wet it on the skin every few minutes since it rapidly dries out. Leave it on for about 15-20 minutes, them shower off. This application was applied to a skin sore that was not healing on it's own and had lasted for many months. It was on my chest about 4 inches below the neck line, a high sun area from wearing open neck button up shirts. The sore would scab over and the scab would catch on my shirt and crack open and bleed. When it changed shapes and colors, the thought entered that it was a pre-cancerous lesion. After mixing this brew and applying it every night for many months, the sore begin to slowly heal and eventually went away completely about six months later. Today it is hardly noticeable.  

WHY IT IS UNWISE NOT TO GET PROFESSIONAL CARE

This occurred at a time when I didn't have health care insurance and couldn't afford it being self employed and a young man with a growing family. I did have a policy for a short period, but it was too expensive even then and I had to let it lapse. Skin cancers, similar to most cancers, can metastasize and spread to other tissues and organs. If my sore was cancerous, it could have spread and again be waiting to erupt or be already building in other body areas. UPdate: Now, 30 years later, irregular activity is appearing at this spot that needs attention due to my age, 74. One other small cancer spot was cut out, but the original spot is still normal.

This is where you have some weapons to use to keep the immune cells on full alert to find and destroy DNA damaged cells before they can multiply and develop into tumors. When cancers get large enough to be noticed, Doctors measure the blood and find that natural immune Killer Cells are less in numbers and are too low in energy to fight off the growing tumor cells.

HOW TO KEEP KILLER CELLS ACTIVE and PLENTIFUL

Researchers long ago discovered that people who consume more vegetables and fruits tend to have fewer of certain cancers, plus a reduction was also seen in those who exercise regularly. ref  Something in vegetables and fruits must perk up the immune system killer cell activity. Scientists have now pinpointed some of these phytochemicals, such as SGS from broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, and beta glucans from mushrooms.  ref  And in fruits there are many flavonoid compounds with similar effects. Many of these give fruits their bright colors. From whole brown rice comes inositol hexaphosphate. ref  Plus, you might recall from an earlier article that excess unmetabolized folic acid, a synthetic B vitamin, reduced killer cell activity by 22% (about the same as sugar) in one study. article

Thus, you have plenty of natural killer cell enhancers to use in your battle to get and stay healthy. Monitor your skin health at the very least monthly. And remember, anti-oxidants have a balance point. Not too much, not too little, but just the right amount wins the health game.

OF INTEREST: Vitamin A slows down skin aging by balancing CCN1 destructive activity on type 1 collagen production. ref

SUNSHINE VITAMIN D and SKIN CANCER

The following information is part of the puzzle that escapes many professionals. While skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, is caused by ultraviolet sunlight, it is also indirectly prevented by sunlight too. Vitamin D produced by sunlight, goes into the body and gets converted into an active hormone form when blood calcium levels get low. This hormone form goes into skin cells and prevents damaged skin cells from turning cancerous. How this happens; hormone vitamin D triggers genes to prevent HA breakdown products from acting on damaged cells. ref

Conversions of IUs to mg. (milligrams)

Sometimes vitamin labels use milligrams instead of International Units, IUs. Thus, people want a formula to convert them. This is not that simple because vitamin international units refer to a measure of activity while milligrams is just the weight of the material.  

Since every nutrient has different weight amounts to their IUs, plus different forms of the same vitamin can have different activity levels, you will not find a simple chart. For vitamin E, there are many different amounts for each form of E. There are at least 8, maybe up to 12 vitamin E forms. Vitamin D has at least 2 low active forms that can be measured, plus a high active hormone form, and depending on which is measured, a different IU would apply.

For vitamin A:    1 IU is the biological equivalent of 0.3 mcg retinol, or of 0.6 mcg beta-carotene

For vitamin D:    1 IU vitamin D (cholecalciferol, low active) = .025 mcg 

For Vitamin E    

• To convert from mg to IU: 1 mg of alpha-tocopherol is equivalent to 1.49 IU of the natural form or 2.22 IU of the synthetic form.
• To convert from IU to mg: 1 IU of alpha-tocopherol is equivalent to 0.67 mg of the natural form or 0.45 mg of the synthetic form.

1000 micrograms (mcg) = 1 milligram (mg) = .0001 gram (g)