Some Ideas for Reducing Our Pill Dependency

I’d like to follow up further on my Life Extension posting a few days ago, where I expressed disappointment with the way the organization uses research to aggressively sell nutritional supplements. Two issues came up in the comments.

One is ethics, which are questionable, to put it mildly. Unfortunately, it’s all part of the tradition of selling nutritional supplements in the U.S., which is the snake-oil-sales approach. I’d say Life Extension has discovered a more sophisticated version of the snake-oil approach—using credible scientific studies to bolster their case. But even companies or practitioners who start out with the best of intentions seem to have a tough time shaking the snake-oil approach, witness Dr. Joseph Mercola and even Dr. Andrew Weil. The profits are just too tempting.

The second issue is one mac referred to, which is our pill orientation. We see pills as performing magic, which helps explain further why we have the ethics problems. But I'm sensing there is a way around this trap.

I’ve become increasingly aware that real foods can perform as much or more magic than pills. For example, I used to buy a green drink, Greens First, and consume a glass every day. Now I make my own green juice, and I swear, it’s probably five or ten times as potent in its nutritional-energy value. And because my green drink is literally bubbling with enzymes, I’ve cut way back on an enzyme (capsule) regimen I was following. Also, since I’ve begun making raw milk kefir, I’ve discontinued a probiotic supplement I was taking. Linda Diane Feldt made an interesting point in my posting about hormones that dark green leafy vegetables can help provide relief to women suffering symptoms of menopause.

What I’m struggling with a little is trying to calibrate which fresh foods equal a similar amount of a supplement. I know I’m getting a lot of vitamins, enzymes, and good bacteria from my power foods. But is it enough to ditch the multivitamin I take? I also suspect there are some vitamins that are difficult to obtain via food—in particular, vitamin D in large quantities seems pretty important, and difficult to replicate on a regular basis in any form other than sunlight, which is a problem in the winter.

But to the extent we can substitute food for supplements, we reduce our reliance on the “pill” system, not unlike reducing gasoline consumption to reduce dependence on the energy system.

Comments

[Elizabeth McInerney]

Check out "Food as Medicine" (Jerry Brunetti) on Google Video. The video is long, but give it 15 minutes (if you are not hooked buy then, you can stop).

And don't forget Cod Liver Oil for Vitamin D.

[miguel]

David,
Raw butter from grassfed cows and the raw yolk from eggs from chickens that are eating grass or ,in the winter, sprouted grains ,are better than vitamin supplements for vitamins A and D.Dr. Weston A. Price did some research on this many years ago.Whole food has the advantage of containing nutrients in combinations that complement each other and also they contain nutrients that we don't even know anything about yet.
I think of a cow as a vegetation juicer. She takes bushels of green plants every day and refines out the essential fatty acids and emulsifies them into cream. The butter made from that cream is the fat from all those green plants that the cow ate.If the cow is free to choose the plants she eats ,she will eat hundreds of different plants including leaves from shrubs and trees. Each plant makes different fatty acids. The greater the variety of fats in the butter,the more likely you will get the nutrients you need .
The same thing is true about the egg yolk. It is the only food the chick has to grow on during the three weeks that it takes to develope so the chicken puts all of the essential nutrients into the yolk.
Even if you can't be outside as much as you want in the winter,the cows and chicken don't mind catching as much sunshine as possible and making vitamins for you.

[Linda Diane Feldt]

Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject of how much to eat and what.Nutrition is a moving target.There is no one answer that fits all. Your needs change especially depending on age, and overall health. If you are in a disease process you'll need to be much more careful about what to eat and how much to bring about balance. Rather than getting obsessive about amounts and micrograms (not that I'm saying you personally are...) cultivating real taste and drives and cravings can help to guide you. What do you crave? How do you feel after eating certain foods? The more you can tune into your body and listen the better off you'll be. It takes awhile. And meanwhile you may need to learn -- salt craving can mean you need more minerals. Sugar craving can be helped with root vegetables. You can even go so far as noticing what part of your mouth you want to chew things with -- a desire for grinding back tooth molar work can indicate a need for more protein and iron rich food.
Transit time (how fast food passes through your system) can help you figure out should you eat more cooked or more raw food.
There are also changes based on the seasons and activity levels.
I believe that the transition to food as medicine deeply involves learning to listen and respond to your body in all the brilliant ways it lets us know what is needed.This can be really hard when so far all you've learned is to respond to commercials and the fat/sugar/salt cravings!
I'm in continuous awe of how intelligent and well adapted the body is to handle real food. I'd say don't worry about the amounts, and if you have a specific health need then add in eating foods specific to address that imbalance.
Two other tips that may be of interest, instead of green drinks and juices I tend to use herbal infusions. The herbal nutrients are made much more bioavailable by a long (3-8 hour) steeping time. For example, nettles (Urtica) about an ounce of the cut and dried herb steeped with 1 quart hot water in a closed container provides protein, iron, calcium and many other nutrients all in a very easy to digest and assimilate form. Red clover, Oatstraw, red raspberry, and other herbs can be taken similarly. However, herbs containing lots of essential oils would not be used this way.
Herbal vinegars (large amounts of herbs steeped in vinegar for 6 weeks) also are unique in their ability to provide bio-available minerals. According to Susun Weed in her book "Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way" a single tablespoon of herbal vinegar can provide as much as 300 mg of calcium, depending on the herbs used.
Bottom line, the pills and multi vitamins will never be the same as food. They can never capture the synergistic ingredients in real food.
I'm so glad you're sharing your adventures with people so openly and also with so much wisdom and insight. It's inspiring as well as educational.
Have fun exploring!