In working to address a hip issue, my primary care doctor has sent me to physical therapy after an x-ray to evaluate structural causes. On the same day I was to start P.T., I realized something else that might be an underlying problem – insufficient dosage of nutrition minerals.
About a year ago, in working with a nutritionist, her digital evaluation tool indicated that I only needed 1 oz of my Beyond Osteo-fx (Youngevity’s name of the product to support optimal bone and joint health containing calcium, magnesium and more than 77 trace minerals). However, Dr. Wallach, who created the formula for this product was first a vet and later a naturopath – and he gave dosage based on weight. Without giving embarrassing information, I will just say that by his method, I should have been taking almost twice the amount I had reduced my dosage to a year ago.
Background? In 2014, I had arthritis pain in both thumbs at the base – unable to grip a pen and write, etc. – and an orthopedic surgeon said one of my thumb joints needed replacement but I could only have one in my life so I should wait as long as possible. At the time, I was taking 10-12 ibuprofen daily just to function – worried my M.D. at the time and he explained the danger. But he was not the one in pain (was my thinking).
Then I was introduced to Youngevity’s basic foundation of 3 items and the Beyond Osteo-fx was one of the three. Within 2 weeks, I realized I needed no ibuprofen at all. And yes, you are correct, I have stayed faithfully on the nutritional foundation all these years. But, I reduced the Osteo-fx a year ago — my nutritionist’s machine approved it and my budget was of concern to me. As I think back, I have been having an increasing problem with my hip over the past year. Duh!
As I berate myself, somewhat, I realize how easy it is to forget the slower pace of deterioration of a mineral deficiency and the slower pace of restoring the needed minerals being recognized by my body. Yes, I must have been very depleted in 2014, and the impact of the much-needed minerals was more dramatic.
But my big looming question is this – why do we not give mineral deficiency a major place in our evaluation of how our bodies are working? Would you believe we have known of this, as a nation, since 1936? Are you surprised? I was, too, back when Dr. Wallach’s training shared this document – and over time I have forgotten the important message.
What document? It is from the U.S. Senate – seriously! Document 264 issued by the 74th Congress, 2nd Session, June 5, 1936. It was submitted as part of a Congressional investigation into U.S. farming practices. As I researched it, one commentator stated that “the leading authorities of the day had been sounding the alarm that depleted soils were causing a significant decline in the nation’s health, evidenced by a steady increase in degenerative diseases. But when Congress saw the price tag on repairing the nation’s farm and range soils, they swept their own investigation under the carpet.”
It is a 10 page single-spaced document so I can only give you some insightful quotes from it to give you an idea of the message that was being conveyed to our nation. I grew up on a farm but we raised cotton and wheat. Yes, we also had a huge garden. I know my dad only returned 2 or 3 minerals to the soil – and they were aimed at bigger, more disease resistant plants, not nutrition. We never heard anything about needing minerals for our garden. (from the years 1950-70)
Here are some points of interest from the Senate Document – remember, 1936! –
First paragraph, I added underlining – “Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come are brought into proper mineral balance? The alarming fact is that foods, fruits and vegetables and grains, now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain needed minerals, are starving us – no matter how much of them we eat! This talk about minerals is novel and quite startling. In fact, a realization of the importance of minerals in food is so new that the textbooks on nutritional dietetics contain very little about it. Nevertheless, it is something that concerns all of us, and the further we delve into it the more startling it becomes.”
“No man of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his system with the minerals he requires for perfect health, because his stomach isn’t big enough to hold them! And we are running to big stomachs.”
“It is bad news to learn from our leading authorities that 99 percent of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked deficiency in any one or more of the important minerals actually results in disease. Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one or another element, however microscopic the body requirement may be, and we sicken, suffer, shorten our lives.”
“It is not commonly realized, however, that vitamins control the body’s appropriation of minerals, and in the absence of minerals they have no function to perform. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.”
“Here’s one specific example: The soil around a certain Midwest city is poor in calcium. Three hundred children in this community were examined and nearly 90 percent had bad teeth, swollen glands, enlarged or diseased tonsils. More than one-third had defective vision, round shoulders, bowlegs and anemia.”
There is much more in the full Senate Document but the “Introduction” to the version I found was written by Rex Beach about the man whose work was the core of the Senate Document. He said this about Dr. Charles Northern, “This quiet, unballyhooed pioneer and genius in the field of nutrition demonstrates that countless human ills stem from the fact that impoverished soil of America no longer provides plant foods with the mineral elements essential to human nourishment and health! To overcome this alarming condition, he doctors sick soils and, by seeming miracles, raises truly healthy and health-giving fruits and vegetables.”
1936 – remember?
So, the only alternative I know is to find good supplementation through a nutrition company that you know uses a third-party independent testing to verify what is in the product, that has been proven to be effective formulas and ingredients, and that has been shown to work!
And now that I have recognized my failure to stay with the full level of dosage that I knew worked, I am correcting that, for sure. And I am compliant with my physical therapy as well. Motion is lotion, you know!
And both – nutrition and physical movement – require consistency to be effective. Why is that so easily forgotten? I know, I really want that “magic pill” that works instantly and cures all my ills. Dream on.May I encourage you with my sharing – and may it keep you on the Road to Healthy Consistency! Feel free to reply with any questions or help you may desire. I am cheering us on down that Road!
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