Do the foods we eat affect the way we feel? Of course they do! Anyone who has missed a meal appreciates the surge of energy, increased body temperature (particularly if it’s cold) and the feeling of well-being that a good meal provides.
But,what about the effects of foods (or dietary supplements) on how we feel in a broader sense? If we’re devoting extra time and money to a diet that we believe supports good health, we naturally would like some sort of feedback that our efforts are paying off. Sometimes, response to dietary changes may be obvious and rather rapid, experienced as improved energy and a renewed sense of well-being. Long-term good health depends, however, on a body built with healthy cells. The question then becomes, “How long will it take before my dietary changes have an opportunity to build new, perhaps healthier cells?”
How often are new cells made? That depends on the kind of cell we’re talking about. Our body is composed of about 200 different cell types. Each type of cell is programmed for a lifespan that appears to make sense for its function. Only a very few cell types are never replaced. These “immortal” cells include: auditory hair cells, heart muscle cells, and nerve cells. It’s important to remember that, even though these cells do not divide and produce new cells, they are metabolically active. That is, they synthesize new RNA and protein and can alter their size and structure. In fact, heart muscle cells and nerve cells replace the bulk of their protein about every two weeks, and heart muscle cells can grow bigger if the load on the heart is increased. In addition, nerve cells have the capacity to regenerate axons and dendrites. So, our diet and our activities can affect even these “immortal” cells.
But what about the remaining 197 cell types found in our bodies?
While some cells are rapidly being replaced (e.g., granulocytes, stomach cells, colon cells), many others survive months, or even years. Thus, it may take months before our changed dietary habits will profoundly affect many of our cells.
The scientific literature provides only a limited number of studies that have examined cellular response to nutritional change. In one such study, 16 distance runners consuming nutritional supplements designed to improve red blood cell (RBC) status (measured by RBC numbers) showed no improvement in these measures following 1 month of supplementation. At six months, however, significant improvements in all measures were noted, despite reported heavier training activity (which can depress RBC status measures). If your doctor says, “ok… I’ll give you 6 weeks to see an improvment with your ‘natural’ way”… it just may not show up yet! That doesn’t mean you aren’t doing the right thing!
Ethical issues have limited human studies examining the effects of nutrient deprivation and repletion. The studies that have been performed often reveal the large amount of variability of response to nutrients between individuals and emphasize the expected delay before these nutrients take effect. Let’s look at a few of these.
Vitamin C
Two studies on vitamin C reported that individual responses to vitamin C deprivation (and repletion) were highly variable. By the fourth month of deprivation, 1/3 of the participants had almost completely depleted their body ascorbate pools; the other 2/3continued to have acceptable reservoirs of ascorbate. The first sign of scurvy took roughly one month to appear. Marked signs of clinical scurvy did not appear until the body pool of ascorbate was 1/5th of the average normal body pool amount. Such depletion can occur from 84 - 200 days following the initiation of a deficient diet. Response to repletion was also variable. Return to normal body pool levels may take well over a month; about 100 days may be required before plasma levels return to baseline range. In addition, symptomatic relief of scurvy symptoms can require weeks of supplementation.
Niacin - When individuals were subjected to niacin-depleted diets, a significant drop in this ratio took 35 days to appear. Following initiation of repletion, no substantial increase in the ratio was noted until the 2nd week.
Vitamin B12 - A vitamin B12 deficiency can be difficult to detect, because serum levels can be normal in deficient individuals. Vitamin B12 is important for integrity of the nervous system; subjects who are deficient exhibit decreases in nerve conduction velocity. In one study, over a month of supplementation was required for deficient individuals to achieve normal conduction velocities.
Patients with AIDS showing vitamin B12 deficiency by a serum B12 marker (but normal serum B12 levels) required 3 weeks of supplementation before liver and mental improvements were noted.
As a whole, these nutritional studies underscore both the individuality of nutritional response and the connection between a “slow” response to nutritional change and the prolonged lifespan of many of our cells. Some people do experience a rapid response to dietary changes. For many, however, dietary improvements must be sustained for at least a few months before cellular function can be expected to improve.
So HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET WELL NATURALLY?
It often takes about 3 months to restore a deficiency, although you may experience some symptomatic relief within a few days or weeks. You should expect to add an extra month for healing for every year you have been unwell. Herbs and vitamins and a change of diet work slower than pharmaceutical synthetic medicines. Remember… we’re literally working on rebuilding the body with healthier cells to replace the damaged ones. Based on the chart above you can now see how long it could possibly take!
The underlying premise is that the body will and can heal itself and successfully fight off germs when given proper nourishment (tools to rebuild with… ie. natural hormones and natural food, herbs, etc.). Nutrition and herbs are used to enhance the body’s own healing methods, including nurturing specific organs and complete body systems. The cells are nourished anew with correct supplementation and dietary guidelines.
Health is related to nutrient consumption. The body needs the correct raw materials to continually rebuild itself, power itself and maintain health. In recent years, science has begun to demonstrate the long-term effects of incorrect food choices. Diabetes and heart disease are just two nutrient-related diseases that come immediately to mind. As scientific data connecting nutrition and health has grown, more attention is being given to the subject of nutrition. The secrets of good nutrition are written in the life style of our ancestors. They consumed more than 100 different foods, fresh, unprocessed and therefore rich in vitamins and minerals. The hunter-gatherers also consumed a much greater quantity of food to support their comparatively vigorous life styles. The industrial revolution drastically reduced man’s energy requirements. Modern man eats much less food, and the food he eats contains fewer nutrients. Missing food ingredients (nutrients) can often be provided by dietary supplementation.
Diseases associated with dietary deficiency and imbalance are among the leading causes of illness and death in the United States. Diet is known to play a critical role in coronary heart disease, many types of cancer, cerebrovascular accident, hypertension, obesity, dental caries, gingivitis and periodontal diseases, and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. For example, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with coronary heart disease accounting for 1.5 million myocardial infarctions and nearly 500,000 deaths each year. Cancer of the colon, breast and prostate, closely associated with nutritional risk factors, causes more than 140,000 deaths every year. Other examples of diseases associated with nutritional factors are osteoporosis, dental caries, obesity, and iron deficiency anemia.
Individuals with health challenges may have greater need for certain nutrients than the normal requirements for healthy individuals. Another rule of thumb to use is that if you are experiencing a chronic disease problem in the body, then it will usually require increasing your nutrients 7 to 10 fold during the healing time 6 months to 2 years) to compensate for the disease “fighting” internally in the body.
The foods we eat are different in character from the foods eaten by our ancestors. While they ate foods fresh and often uncooked, to feed larger and larger populations, we have resorted to mass produced food that is held longer periods of time before consumption. Hugh fields grow the same crop year after year with the potential for depleting the soil of vital minerals needed for human health. Fruits and vegetables are picked green for transport and not allowed to ripen on the plant. Preservatives, including sodium, are added so that foods can be kept for longer periods of time. Food is highly processed, removing many of the important nutrients our bodies require. White rice and white flour are just two important examples of processing that removes important nutrients. All these production and transport methods affect the nutrient content of our food.
Effect of Supplementation
Physicians and nutritionists are increasingly convinced that the dietary habits adopted by Western society over the last 100 years are mainly responsible for the increase in coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer. These conditions emerged only in the past century, and are virtually nonexistent in the few hunter-gatherer populations remaining in the world today.
While dietitians and physicians have historically been among the first to recommend exclusive reliance on “a well-balanced diet”, many are beginning to add to this position. Of 600 dietitians surveyed, nearly 60 percent use nutritional supplements. A show of hands at a 1994 conference of the American College of Cardiology revealed that approximately two-thirds of the 700 physicians in attendance took daily doses of antioxidants. The science supporting dietary supplementation is convincing more health care professionals to take supplements.
While appropriate foods can certainly be found in our modern society, it is extremely time consuming to do the research and then become a modern hunter-gatherer to ferret out the foods we need. Most of us choose to use our time otherwise. If so, an important way we can obtain known necessary nutrients is to consume them in dietary supplements.
Science has demonstrated that nutritional supplementation can indeed promote health. “In recent years, we have watched the conventional wisdom of the medical community change from ‘don’t take vitamins-they may harm you’ to ’supplements won’t harm you, but they won’t do you any good either-they are a waste of money and just go down the toilet,’ to ‘a low dosage vitamin pill is a good idea, but don’t take megavitamins-they aren’t safe.’ And yet today, the majority of cardiologists are recommending megavitamin amounts of vitamin E. Many physicians are recommending large amounts of vitamin C and other antioxidants to their patients. And nearly all physicians are recommending that fertile women take supplements containing folic acid. What has brought about this change? Good science!”
Comparing traditional medicine and natural approaches:
1. From 1983 to 1992 an average of 100,000 per year died from pharmaceutical medicines (source: Journal of the American Medical Association and New England Journal of Medicine)
2. From 1983 to 1992 an average of only 3 per year died from herbs and dietary supplements. (source: American Association of Poison Control Centers) Yet millions of people use herbs and dietary supplements yearly. This is an indication of how harmless herbs and supplements are as well as how responsible holistic consultants, practitioners, naturopaths, chiropractors, and/or herbalists are!
In the last few months I personally have been thrown right into the hands of the conventional medical establishment with my husband’s health issues with cancer and my business partner’s son who had an emergency appendectomy. In both instances it was quite interesting to see a few of the doctor’s responses to being asked intelligent questions that they have obviously never been asked. And also interesting to note… three different doctors admitted to me that they never studied anything about nutrition and supplementation in medical school. In fact they never studied anything about HEALING! They only studied what specific textbooks stated about diseases that “needed” drugs or “should be removed by surgery”. I asked one doctor, “so what is the healing time predicted in this situation?”… I swear to you… he looked at the me with a complete blank stare, looked to the floor and didn’t even try to answer me. Amazing. I know he’s not reflective of the behavior of all doctors. But sadly… his response does seem to be more prevalent than not.
Realize that you have a body. That body needs correct nourishment or it simply cannot work properly. All your aches, pains, illnesses, and even some emotions do come from a body that is hurting somewhere. Let’s do correct testing and find out where! And don’t forget the spiritual causes that are present also!