Cavewomen Don't Get Fat (20 page)
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Authors: Esther Blum
Paleo Supplements
O
ne of the questions that people ask me most frequently is whether or not supplements are necessary. My answer is always yes! We live our lives at warp speed and put our bodies under far more stress than our ancestors ever did. Working long hours, constant exposure to technology, electromagnetic fields, and processed foods increase the nutritional demands on our bodies and tax our systems. On top of this, today's farmlands are deficient in trace minerals, leaving our fruits and vegetables with far less nutritional value than they had even two generations ago. Organic foods have significantly higher nutrient levels than commercially farmed foods, but bear in mind that even organic foods lose their nutrients if not eaten while fresh. If food has traveled across the country or from another continent, more nutrients will be lost. Get my point?
Before you pull out your hair in frustration, know that there's a lot you can do for yourself by eating clean, relaxing and enjoying your life, and taking supplements. Even I don't eat Paleo all the time; it's not always available to me, and I don't make myself crazy about it. I focus on the bigger picture, eat clean, drink plenty of water, and work at getting enough sleep and exercise. Don't sweat the small stuff. Fruits and vegetables are always better nutritional
choices when compared with soda and processed foods. Every little healthy thing you do will have an impact. My diet is not perfect every day, and I often struggle to manage stress, so I take supplements every day. Just do the best you can; you'll still be making great changes for yourself!
KEEP IT FRESH
Just as you would do with your food, you need to make sure that your supplements are fresh and used within two years of production. The US Food and Drug Administration's Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) doesn't require expiration dates on dietary supplement product labels, but if one is used, it must be supported by stability testing data. However, as these regulations are still evolving, the FDA has yet to define what it considers to be adequate data. A quality supplement company will print the date of manufacture (the date the product in the bottle was produced) rather than an expiration date; in most cases, products are considered stable at full potency for two years from the manufacture date. Store your supplements in a cool, dry place, or refrigerate when necessary, for best stability and shelf life.
Why take supplements when eating a whole-foods diet? Let me tick off some great reasons:
1. Our farmlands are running seriously low in trace minerals and nutrients from overfarming, and our exposure to pollutants is through the roof. The environment is writing checks our bodies can't cash.
2. Life in the twenty-first century is stressful. Stress depletes
the vitamins and hormones in our bodies. We need to learn how to calm down and manage our stress better. Supplements, along with mind-body-spirit techniques, can be a supportive adjunct to lifestyle changes.
3. By the time our fruits and vegetables arrive at supermarkets, they have been trucked cross-country or flown in from other continents, which means that they are at least a week oldâeven if grown organically. Their nutrients start to dissipate as soon as they are harvested, so we need to supplement them with vitamins and minerals.
4. It's not what we eat, it's what we absorb. The nutrients in our foods are only as good as what our digestive tracts can assimilate. Digestive enzymes are a must for 95 percent of people out there, unless you're one of the lucky few with a fully functioning intestinal tract. If you've ever taken just one dose of antibiotics, you know how they can alter your body's ability to produce digestive enzymes properly. Nutrients are lost during food processing and handling. Yes, you may be buying organic olive oil, but it may still be lower in vitamin E content than if you were able to buy it fresh-pressed due to how it was processed and handled.
5. If you're eating meat that isn't grass fed or fish that isn't wild, you may be exposing yourself to antibiotics and hormones fed to animals. Antibiotics can wipe out the good intestinal bacteria, making it difficult for B vitamins to be absorbed through the intestinal walls.
6. We all know that sunscreen is important in the fight against skin cancer. But using sunscreen and staying out of the sun means that many of us are now deficient in vitamin D
3
. Even my clients in Florida require supplementation. If you can't take a thirty-minute walk in the sunshine every day, then take 10,000 IU (international units) of D
3
every other day until your blood levels of D
3
reach 80 ng/dL (nanograms per deciliter of blood). Then take 5,000 IU a
day for maintenance. Make sure that you get a blood test twice a year to check your vitamin D
3
levels.
7. Birth control pills increase the need for probiotics, B
6
, vitamin C, zinc, and riboflavin (B
2
). If you're not getting enough of these from your diet, then supplements are essential.
8. Exercise, although beneficial, increases our nutritional requirements for muscle repair and growth. It is next to impossible to recover from a strenuous workout and prevent injuries without proper nutrition.
The following protocols will help you heal your body and get your metabolism stoked once again. These protocols are based on my eighteen years of experience treating clients, clinical research, and case studies from some of the best practitioners in the field. Some girls want designer jeans; I just want designer supplements!
The suggestions in this chapter are natural-remedy guidelines. Check with your nutritionally oriented physician, nutritionist, or other medical practitioner before taking any supplements.
You don't have to take all of the supplements suggested if you'd rather not. Introduce one at a time to see if there is any change in how you feel. Small, consistent changes can make a big difference. Which brings me to my next point: the supplements always work better in your body than in the bottle, so remember to take them regularly. Buy yourself a pretty pillbox that you can keep in your handbag so they'll always be handy. And take them as directed.
Last but not least, know that a fistful of vitamins alone won't keep you healthy; joy and laughter are the greatest nutrients of all. They can feed your soul and nourish your spirit! Health plus a negative mind-set equals baditude; health plus a positive outlook equals gratitude!
Unless specified otherwise, all supplements should be taken with food. Make sure that each of your meals contains some fat to help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Supplements are listed under each health concern in order of their importance and effectiveness.
Prebiotics, also called fermentable fiber, are indigestible food ingredients that feed probiotics and help them grow. They can be found most commonly in supplement form as FOS (fructooligosaccharides). Probiotics are healthy bacteria that populate the gastrointestinal tract. They are responsible for a healthy gut and immune system and facilitate digestion and detoxification. Prebiotics and probiotics are generally found in fermented dairy products, but those are not necessarily part of a cavewoman's diet. The Paleo diet includes more protein than other regimens, increasing the need for other sources of probiotics. What's a cavewoman to do?
â¢Â Eat foods rich in prebiotics such as Jerusalem artichokes, dandelion greens, garlic, leeks, onions, and bananas.
â¢Â Stick to the Paleo diet and eat a variety of fresh vegetables, including kale, chard, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, and any others rich in soluble, prebiotic fiber.
â¢Â Purchase medical-grade prebiotics and probiotics. Most health food stores sell strains that are dead because the probiotics are not shipped and stored properly. I recommend purchasing your supplements through a holistic health care practitioner, as they typically have quality products manufactured to a higher standard. For natural sources of probiotics, eat fermented foods such as pickles and
sauerkraut. If you can tolerate dairy, drink raw milk and the fermented form known as kefir.
â¢Â Stress management is the foundation of good gut health. Stress depletes stomach acid and flattens out the delicate walls of the GI tract, leading to food allergies and a leaky gut (intestinal hyperpermeability). Incorporate at least ten minutes of deep breathing into your day (bedtime is always my fave time to unwind) and take a yoga class twice a week. Exercise at least three to four times a week and do one thing every day that makes your heart sing, like blasting your favorite music, dancing around the house, calling a good friend, or spending quality time with family or friends.
â¢Â Also noteworthy is that all detoxification reactions in the body are vitamin D
3
dependent; that is why it's included in this protocol.
UPPLEMENTS
Probiotics | 50 billion 2 times a day. |
Digestive enzymes | As needed with the HCl acid test. (See box on opposite page.) |
Vitamin D | 10,000 IU (international units) every other day until your blood levels of D |
Omega-3 | 2 to 3 teaspoons of liquid omega-3s a day (this is equivalent to 2,000-3,000 mg per day). |
Magnesium | 10 mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram). (This equals about 1,000 mg a day.) Once your values reach 6.8 in an RBC (red blood cell) magnesium blood test, you can lower your dosage accordingly. |
Zinc | 25 mg to 50 mg a day; increase your dosage until you reach 1,400 mcg/dL in a RBC zinc blood test. |
Curcumin | 1,400-mg capsule a day. |
TESTING, TESTING, ONE, TWO, THREE
Your intestinal tract requires the production of stomach acids to break down food. Stomach acid contains hydrochloric acid (HCl), potassium chloride, and sodium chloride. Most people don't produce sufficient HCl to break down food properly, as evidenced by the pharmaceutical products out there to treat gas, reflux, belching, and heartburnâwhich are usually caused by a deficiency in HCl! If you are low in HCl, not only won't you absorb nutrients from food, but also you'll put yourself at risk for deficiencies of trace minerals and B vitamins, as well as lose calcium, vitamin C, and beta-carotene.
Contrary to popular belief, reflux and heartburn in adults are caused most often by
low
stomach acid. As we age, our body produces less and less HCl. The lower esophageal sphincter, a ring of muscle at the junction of the esophagus and the stomach, is actually held closed by adequate HCl. If HCl is low, the sphincter creeps open, allowing the stomach acid to splash upward. Antacids are a quick fix, but they can have long-term side effects such as bone loss and anemia and will never cure the problem. The ultimate goal is to replenish HCl stores so that the sphincter stays closed.
To test your stomach acid, purchase a bottle of 200-milligram betaine HCl capsules. (
Caution
:
Do not perform this test if you have peptic ulcers.
Rather, consult a nutritionally oriented physician for treatment.)
In the middle of your next solid meal, take one 200-milligram capsule of HCl. Wait thirty minutes and see if you feel any mild burning in your stomach. At each subsequent meal, increase the HCl dose by one capsule: one at breakfast, two at lunch, three at dinner, and so forth, until you feel the mild burning. If you feel a burning at four capsules, for example, subtract one capsule and take three at every meal. To relieve the burning, drink a large glass of water to dilute the acid.
Do not take more than seven capsules during the HCl test. If you take seven and feel nothing, it means that you are severely deficient in HCl. If so, pick up a bottle of 500-milligram betaine HCl capsules, and repeat the test, starting at 1 capsule per meal. If you get to 3 and nothing happens,
do not exceed 1,500 milligrams
. This is the maximum amount you should take at one meal. If you take more than this amount, your body will not learn to make HCl on its ownâwhich is ultimately the goal.
If you notice that you take 3 capsules per meal for a few months, and the burning sensation reappears, then you can decrease the dose to 2 capsules per meal. Taper down and repeat as necessary until you get to your maintenance dose (or none at all). And if you are stressed out, you may need to temporarily increase your HCl dosage, as stress can make you stop producing stomach acid. Add some yoga or meditation to your routine to reestablish balance.
The hormone cortisol is a low-grade form of adrenaline. Cortisol is your conditional friend because it has anabolic potential, which means that it can help your body build muscle. You want to get your cortisol level up during your workouts, but the rest of the time, you need to keep that baby in line! Since so much of cortisol production is linked to lifestyle and stress management, try to unwind and let go of the day's stress
before
you climb into bed at night. Here's how to be the mistress of your cortisol:
â¢Â Eat breakfast within an hour of waking up, eat at regular intervals throughout the day, and don't skip meals.
â¢Â Control your carb intake. Too many carbs can jack up your insulin level, which, in turn, signals your body to release cortisol into the bloodstream.
â¢Â Maintain good sleep habits with nightly rituals such as reading, deep breathing, stretching, or meditating. Lights must be out no later than eleven o'clock; ideally by ten. Aim for a minimum of seven to eight hours of sleep each night.