Are you as Healthy as Your House Plants?

House Plants Reinforce Problem with Mineral Deficiency

As a health coach I spend a lot of time educating people on the impact on our health of mineral depletion in our soils. Recently, my house plants provided a wonderful illustration, on a micro level, of what is happening on a planet-wide scale with our now mineral-starved soils.

Caring for my house plants is a bit of a hobby for me. I love how they fill the spaces in our home, make the rooms look warm and inviting and, on a more practical level, how they clean the air. I like to think I take good care of them, but I must admit that I've been somewhat negligent about replenishing the soil in their pots of late. And while my plants were growing well, I knew they needed mineral replenishment of the soil: they were living but not thriving. It was time for some good quality plant food.

Within less than a week of giving food to my plants, I noticed four new leaf shoots on a plant that hadn't had new shoots in months. But more startlingly, a plant that I had been growing for 4 years flowered for the first time! Now that I see it in bloom I know it has been starved of essential soil compounds for a long time.

My plant story is a great illustration of what humans are experiencing on the planet. We are eating food that has been grown in mineral deficient soils. Thus our bodies are not getting the complete nutrition we need for optimal health. We are surviving but not thriving. We are not blossoming. We tell ourselves that the aches, pains and inflammation we experience are normal, catching colds is normal, gaining weight is normal, being tired is normal, and the list goes on. But in fact, much of what ails us can be traced to mineral deficiencies.

What if, like my plants, your body is struggling just to maintain basic health, and what is viewed as "normal" health is just slightly above malnutrition. What would happen if you actually gave your body all of the nutrition it needs to function at peak performance?

• Would the joint discomfort diminish or even disappear? 
• Would our immune system function so well that we would rarely get sick? 
• Would we have more energy?
• Would we lose excess weight naturally without dieting?

The short answer is…yes!

Scientist have identified 84 different minerals that our body's need to survive, however, a lack of specific minerals in our diet has been shown to increase susceptibility to diseases such as heart disease (magnesium), cancer (selenium), diabetes (chromium) and mental illnesses (zinc). Dr. Linus Pauling, the two-time Nobel Prize winner, said "you can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency." So the solution is obvious.

Your body wants to be healthy and when given the nutrition it craves, it will work to achieve optimum health and weight. With the lack of nutrients in our foods, it is essential that you take high quality nutritional supplements to ensure your body is getting what it needs.

And from now on my plants will get high quality food along with their water.

Is Soil Sabotaging your Weight Loss Efforts?

Soil nutrient depletion in North America is a serious problem that receives little or no attention in mainstream media. A 1992 Rio Earth Summit report concluded that North American agricultural soils were 85% mineral depleted. Heavy use of fertilizers let farmers produce what appear to be nutritious crops while in reality the plants are deficient in key nutrients.

The food we eat is lacking the nutrients the body needs, so we eat more, gain weight and still don't get the nutrients we need. There was a time when eating a healthy balanced diet ensured that we got all the vitamins and minerals needed to stay healthy.

So why is this important to know if you're on the weight loss track? People typically lose weight by reducing their caloric intake. Unfortunately, reduced caloric intake usually means reduced nutrition. This approach thus compounds the problem of your already reduced nutrition intake due to depleted soils. This is setting up the body for major metabolic slowdown because the body thinks it's being starved and needs to hoard whatever energy stores it has. And suddenly you find your weight loss efforts giving you zero results. Well, less than zero actually because your body is now deprived of the essential nutrients it needs to function, let alone get you to a healthy weight. Make sense?

For those of you who like the scientific data as proof, here are some interesting facts. A study examining the mineral content of 27 vegetables and 17 fruits between 1940 and 1991 reported significant decreases 16% to 76% in minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper and zinc. Another study published in 2010 comparing mineral levels found in foods between 1940 and 2002, reported significant drops in trace minerals in dairy products. For example, the iron content of milk down 62%, calcium and magnesium in Parmesan cheese down 70% and copper in dairy products down 90%.

Studies have also shown that the food we eat today is not as nutritious as the food our parents ate. Insecticides and other chemicals have depleted our soils of natural beneficial microbes and fungi that help plants absorb soil minerals. The fruit and vegetables grown look great and contain normal calorie levels but lack the trace minerals that give them real nutritional value.

Scientist have identified 84 different minerals that our body's need to survive, however only 8 minerals are added by fertilizers. A lack of specific minerals in our diet have been shown to increase susceptibility to diseases such as heart disease (magnesium), cancer (selenium), diabetes (chromium) and mental illnesses (zinc). Dr. Linus Pauling, the two-time Nobel Prize winner, said "you can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency."

With the lack of nutrients in our foods the need to take high quality nutritional supplements today is essential. Your body wants to be healthy and when given the nutrition it craves, it will work to achieve optimum health and weight.

Is there a link between joint inflammation & hair loss?

I was grocery shopping a while back and made an observation that lead me to some interesting research and findings.  An elderly woman was struggling to reach a canned good.  What caught my eye first though was her startling hair loss.  While this isn't uncommon in elderly women, hers was particularly thin.  I immediately felt for her, as a good head of hair is important to even the least vain woman.

When I noticed her struggling to get the can I walked over to offer her some help.  It was in that moment that I understood why she was having difficulty:  her fingers were ravaged by the deteriorating effects of arthritis.  She simply couldn't grip the can.  I handed her what she asked for and discreetly took another look at her hair.   Was there a connection between the arthritis and hair loss?  It wasn't the first time I had seen both in women... just the first time I connected the dots.  Is inflammation a contributing factor to hair loss?

Upon returning home, I spent some time researching to see not only if there is a connection, but if any natural remedies were being recommended. 

Rather than go into the technical details, I've provided several links to websites that provide a detailed explanation of the science behind the reasons for hair loss.  The one that may be of most interest to you is from MPB Research.  They provide an excellent discussion on hair loss research and have sections for men and women.  They note that  "systemic inflammation plays a central role in hair loss and can either function to exacerbate or ameliorate hair loss."  

The key is to stop the inflammatory-induced hair loss process, and these products help to do just that.  I suggest a "triple whammy":  Emu Oil + Virgin Coconut Oil + Hair Essentials (see the links below).

They provide many natural recommendations which have been shown to be effective, two of which are Emu Oil & Virgin Coconut Oil, both readily available at health stores.  For the complete article see:  http://www.hairloss-research.org/LinkUpdateLiposomes2-11.html

A combination of high quality herbs and nutrients are key to healthy hair growth.  Many of the recommendations made by MPB can be found in a product in Hair Essentials from Natural Well Being.

You don't have to suffer with thinning hair and you don't have to subject yourself to toxic, prescription-based treatments.

Other sites that may be of interest:
http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/alopecia_areata/http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/alopecia_areata/

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3866134