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What role do nutrients from real food play in prevention and recovery from disease?
Vitamin A is critical for absorption of protein in the foods we eat and immune system function. USDA Dietary Recommendations call for low-fat and fat-free foods, and to reduce our intake of saturated fats. These recommendations also suggest that eating more plant foods such as carrots and fruits will fulfill our bodies’ requirements for Vitamin A.
However, animal foods are the optimal source of Vitamin A, and moreover, foods that come from animals raised in natural environments: the open range and on pasture.
Vitamin C is also critical for immune system function, yet one of the most important sources of Vitamin C, organ meats, are not mentioned by the USDA Dietary Recommendations. We are recommended to consume oranges, sweet potatoes, squash and carrots, but the amount of Vitamin C needed for optimal health falls woefully short in these food sources.
And yet, disease rates continue to rise. The CDC continues to recommend more vaccinations annually, and vaccinated populations continue to come down with the very diseases for which they are vaccinated.
The question I want to pose is:
Is there a connection between diet and disease? Let’s find out by asking some other important questions!
What happens when we consume low-fat foods?
When we consume lean meats, skim milk and other low-fat foods, we lose the fat content which contains Vitamin A. On the shelves in grocery and even health food stores, it is common to see low-fat yogurt, protein powders, low-fat cheeses, low-fat or skim milk, lean meats as well as products with the egg yolk removed. With no Vitamin A in the foods we eat, it is easy for our bodies to become depleted very quickly in this important nutrient. We need both protein and fat together for optimal digestion of important nutrients critical for disease prevention.
These mistruths provided by USDA dietary recommendations have significantly contributed to disease and illness in our children. These mistruths have and continue to generate a lot of money for the medical industry and pharmaceutical companies. So, are we “curing” or simply “managing” disease?
In truth, if a child contracts any disease and has a weakened immune system, he or she can become compromised and die. However, measles and other childhood diseases are not typically fatal and if contracted can confer lifelong immunity. Natural contraction of these diseases can also protect against other diseases including cancer.
Real foods and a clean environment prevent and support recovery from disease
That’s why real nutrition is so important!
Vitamin A from pastured animal foods in your child’s diet CAN prevent many diseases or create an environment where your child’s body is strong enough to ward something off including febrile childhood illness, flus, and colds and other infections. Recommended foods include grassfed meats, pastured eggs and poultry, and raw milk and other dairy. These foods have been consumed by populations all over the world to stay healthy for thousands of years. No vaccination necessary!
Dr. Weston A. Price, DDS traveled for a decade to numerous locations around the world to discover why patients in his practice in Cleveland, OH experienced tooth decay, crooked teeth, malformations and chronic health disorders. He learned that not one traditional culture consumed low-fat foods or lean meats. They did eat egg yolks, fatty meats, organ meats, poultry with the skin on, raw milk from cows raised on pasture as well as full-fat butter, sour cream, cheese, yogurt, and kefir to ensure adequate intake of Vitamin A. Other critical nutrients for health are found in these foods including Vitamin C, Vitamin D, folate, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron. I recommend his groundbreaking book detailing his travels and research, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration via Amazon affiliation. As well, I wrote an article about the foods Dr. Price deemed as “the worst you could eat”.
Children need these nutrients not only for growth and development, but for support of digestive and immune system function. If we compare nutrients in pastured animal foods to plant foods, amounts from animal sources are much significantly higher. This is especially true when compared to commercial and factory-farm animal foods which contain pesticide, herbicide, antibiotic and hormone residues, GMOs (genetically-modified organisms), and come from animals raised in unnatural environments such as feedlots and poultry houses, which create unhealthy living conditions for the animals and reduce optimal nutrient balance.
For more information, read 10-gut healing, nutrient-dense foods at-a-glance.
Reducing toxins in your child’s environment is also significant to reducing disease. If the body is not overwhelmed and overloaded with too many environmental toxins from internal and external sources (i.e., the food you consume as well as the external environment such as what goes on your skin and is found in your home, vehicle or office), it can heal faster and make use of the nutrients it receives from real food to detoxify itself AND eliminate bacteria, viruses and toxins. Read 12 ways to swap toxic for sustainable choices in your food and home.
How does Vitamin A prevent disease?
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is stored in the liver. When we don’t consume Vitamin A rich foods, our bodies become depleted and those stores are rapidly used. The RDI (recommended daily allowance) is inadequate as most people are deficient or lacking in Vitamin A. When depletion is present, consuming larger doses of nutrients for a period of time are necessary to allow the body to “catch up” and heal.
Vitamins and other nutrients prevent deficiencies which can lead to decline in our health. Symptoms are characteristic of the syndromes linked to all types of health disorders.
Vitamin A is not only important for vision, but also supports:
- Bone growth
- Reproduction
- Cell structure, and differentiation
- Linings of the eyes, respiratory, urinary, and intestinal tracts. If those surfaces become weakened, our bodies become susceptible to bacteria entering and causing infection.
- Skin integrity and mucous membranes to form a barrier between us and bacteria and viruses
- Immune system function. The immune system protects from infections by creating white blood cells that destroy pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Vitamin A is also beneficial for lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infections, to enable more efficient and effective function.
In numerous studies, Vitamin A was found to be effective for diseases such as mumps, rubella and measles:
New England Journal of Medicine
How does Vitamin C prevent disease?
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that can prevent or stop viruses that can eventually lead to cancer. One reason for this is due to its ability to protect the body from free-radical damage. It is essential in supporting the immune system and metabolic functions, prevention of diabetes, scurvy, heart disease and detoxification from heavy metals. Vitamin C is also necessary for the synthesis of collagen, which is needed for skin and artery health.
Large doses of real Vitamin C are not harmful because the body flushes out what it doesn’t use through urinary tract elimination. When we are in deficit and need support, high doses of Vitamin C are sometimes optimal. I took 50,000 mg of Vitamin C during one period of 24 hours to remedy a period of constipation I experienced. I had great results!
Dr. Suzanne Humphries, M.D. a nephrologist (kidney specialist) and homeopath endorses the effectiveness of using Vitamin C for measles and rubella. She states that Vitamin C is “one of the safest medical wonders on the planet” and cites several references in published medical literature that support its efficacy. The FDA and conventional medical communities have largely dismissed this data, but Dr. Humphries has taught this information in her lectures, explaining the success of high doses of Vitamin C for disease treatment. Read more on her website.
More evidence that natural Vitamin C is helpful for many disease conditions, especially mumps.
In the 1940s, Dr. Frederick R. Klenner, M.D. cured chicken pox, measles, mumps, polio and tetanus with large doses of Vitamin C.
High dose Vitamin C effective against cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, gout, cataracts, hypertension, asthma, lead toxicity, scurvy and common the cold, Linus Pauling Institute.
My family uses a Liposomal Vitamin C created by a practitioner in Michigan using all organic and natural ingredients, and unique to any Vitamin C product I’ve ever seen, ascorbate acid and minerals. I’ve tried many “natural”, “organic” and low-temperature created Vitamin C products, and this is the best one I’ve ever used. No one in my family came down with a cold or flu this past season; even with many more cloudy days than we normally experience in our region.
Please note that recommendations for all nutrients mentioned here would not include synthetic, but natural, from real food sources.
What about disease outbreaks?
We read reports about “outbreaks” of measles and mumps in the news regularly. As one example, when we compare the 644 that contracted measles in 2015 at Disneyland to the entire population of the U.S. – over 300 million – that seems insignificant. And yet, vaccinated children are still coming down with the measles.
Why are these cases not reported consistently by larger mainstream media outlets?
Here are just a few reports of vaccinated populations coming down with disease:
Outbreak of measles in high school population, 98% vaccinated (1987).
Measles outbreak in school-age children, Ireland, 17 confirmed vaccinated cases (2013).
Vaccinated students contract mumps at Harvard (2016).
University of Missouri, 31 confirmed cases were vaccinated for mumps (2016).
Our family doesn’t vaccinate and we “use food as our medicine”. When we are feeling less than optimal, we consume more of our healing foods, take epsom and magnesium salt baths, seek rest, sunshine (if available) and stress reduction. We also regularly consume fermented foods such as sauerkraut, beet kvass, pickles, yogurt and kefir in addition to those from pastured animals, which have been instrumental in maintaining optimal health. We haven’t been to a conventional doctor in many years, and if we do need a practitioner we typically use naturopathic, chiropractic, and acupuncture / Traditional Chinese Medicine.
How have you used real food to prevent or heal from disease?
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