by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Those who eat soy often point to its consumption in Asia. Although it is true that soy is part of the Asian diet, traditionally it was eaten in its fermented state, processed to remove the toxins, and eaten with meat. In Japan it is eaten with fish, and in China, with pork. It is not considered a replacement for animal foods and never constitutes more than 1 to 2% of total caloric intake. In Japan, the average consumption of soy is 10 grams—about two teaspoons—per day. The same is true of China. In short, although Asians include soy in their diet, they consider it a condiment and eat it in small amounts—never as a staple.

Soy is a heavily promoted food in the United States. Sally Fallon explains that while she was researching phytic acid for her book Nourishing Traditions, she kept reading about the high levels of phytic acid in soy. She found:

• Reports written by the soy industry in the 1970s on how they were trying to get phytic acid and also enzyme inhibitors out of the soy by processing and how difficult this was to do.
• The Rackis studies showing the damage to the pancreas of rats consuming processed soy protein in industry-sponsored studies.
• A quote on how they were going to market soy as a health product to the upscale market in order to have it accepted by the general public.

Soy is a food of modern commerce. It tends to be highly processed and contains lots of phytoestrogens that have negative hormonal effects. People with thyroid problems need to avoid soy altogether. Soy may be a healthy small part of your diet but not a chief food source.

How to Read a Label for Soy

Labels: phytic acid, Sally Fallon, soy, Ten Days to Optimal Health

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Most people have been erroneously convinced that fats and oils are damaging to one’s health. This is a lie. Unfortunately, the importance of fats and oils in the human diet has only become widely recognized within the last few years. Fats and oils are our most important nutrient!

If we think logically, we know this. We live in a fat-phobic world where fat is one of only three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein and fats. We need all of these three macronutrients. Fats are the macronutrient that allows us to feel full, to mini­mize food cravings, and to most fully meet the energy needs of our organs. Our bodies use fats as a supply and store of energy: a gram of fat contains more than double the amount of energy present in a gram of carbohydrate.

Why is sufficient fat and oil consumption necessary for optimal health?

Healthy fats and oils replenish our cellular membranes with needed nutrients. It is the fats that keep our cell walls strong. By maintaining the structural integrity of our cells, fats pro­mote the full functioning of our rebuilding and cleansing mechanisms. Toxins, in order to leave our bodies, need to be taken from the cells and bound to a carrier of toxins. Most cleansing programs only carry toxins out of the main circulation. How do we get toxins out of the places where they are stored? Eat high-quality, raw fats.

Fats are binding agents. Fats bind tox­ins more than any other substance. Most of us don’t and haven’t ingested enough high-quality fat over the years to safely remove the toxins that are stored in our bodies. This is an absolutely essential reason to increase your fat and oil intake.

Does it matter if they are raw or cooked?

It is important to eat a large amount of your healthy fats and oils raw. Raw fats are crucial for health because they contain lipase, the fat-splitting enzyme. Lipase prepares the fat you eat so that it may be utilized by the cells and the organs. Without sufficient lipase in your body, your body cannot properly utilize the fats that you eat and your pancreas becomes over­worked.

What about saturated fats?

Saturated fats from animal sources—portrayed as the enemy by the United States Food and Drug Administration and consequently by American culture—give the body the raw materials it demands from us in order to be optimally healthy. Saturated fats form an important part of the cellular membrane by giving the cellular membrane rigidity; they protect the immune system and enhance the utilization of essential fatty acids.

Saturated fats are needed for the proper development of the brain and nervous systems. Low-fat diets contribute to depression, because our brain is made out of fat. There is a high-fat diet used by the medical community to control seizures. This diet consists of 80% fat and is known to work better than drugs. Additionally, our liver is made of 80% fat. You must eat raw fat in order to regenerate your organs.

Isn’t lowering my cholesterol levels a good thing?

High cholesterol is not the cause of heart dis­ease. In spite of the offi­cial advice that tells us to lower the amount of satu­rated fat in our diet, we still have an epidemic amount of heart disease!

Cholesterol, a saturated fat we are all familiar with, is the precursor to bile acids, which are needed to digest and absorb long-chain fatty acids. Cholesterol is also recognized for its physiological importance in the skin and the intestines where it plays an important structural role as a com­ponent of the organ membranes. Cells lining the digestive tract are particularly rich in choles­terol. Among its other various roles in the cell are the signal­ing activities that, for example, tell the gastrointestinal mus­culature when to contract.

“I don’t know how many people I have seen relieved of their chronic constipation, as well as any related Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), when they finally ate enough cholesterol in their daily diet,” states Kristina Amelong, creator of the Optimal Health Network. She advises [for people who are chronically ill], "It is possible that you may need to start with at least one stick of raw butter a day, along with copious amounts of cod liver oil, raw cream, avocados, and coconut oil.”

Will eating more fat make me gain weight?

The answer in short: No! Not if you're eating the right kinds of healthy fats needed by the body for nourishment and detoxification. Our livers—and not our food—make the cholesterol that our body uses for repair. Foods high in cholesterol help to repair the liver. As the body heals, it needs more cholesterol to repair the liver and to replace broken-down cells.

Even the Framingham studies, which the pharmaceutical com­panies use to promote cholesterol-lowering drugs, show that the higher the cholesterol level and the more fat in the diet, the longer the study participants lived and the more optimally the participants weighed!

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Fats

Even though fats are a nourishing food, there are fats that are damaging to the human body. The following newly used fats are not to be used in your diet, as they will cause many health imbalances over time. These imbalances can include but are not limited to cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, sterility, learning disabili­ties, growth problems and osteoporosis.

Fats to Avoid:

• All hydrogenated oils such as margarine Soy, corn, and safflower oils
• Cottonseed oil
• Canola oil
• All fats heated to very high temperatures in processing and frying
• Bleached and deodorized oils

Fats to Enjoy:

• Avocado
• Black Currant Oil
• Borage Oil
• Butter, grass-fed raw
• Caviar
• Coconut Oil
• Cod Liver Oil
• Egg Yolks, organic and raw
• EPA Fish Oil
• Evening Primrose Oil
• Flax-Seed Oil
• Fortified Flax
• Ghee, raw
• Grapeseed Oil
• Nuts, soaked raw (not peanuts), very high in omega 6—use sparingly
• Nut Butters, raw (not peanut butter), very high in omega-6, use sparingly
• Olives, non-hybrid
• Olive Oil, organic, expeller-pressed extra virgi
• Raw or rare grass-fed buffalo or beef
• Raw or rare ostrich or elk
• Raw or rare fish
• Seeds, soaked
• Sesame
• Tahini

High-quality animal fats are your best source of healthy fats, such as raw, grass-fed butter—one of our best health foods!

Adopting a New Normal

The transition to healthy eating involves a change in food buy­ing patterns, more at home preparation and cooking. Incorporating more healthy fats into your diet will provide the essential nutrients for cellular membranes, hormones and hormone-like substances. Fats are also the best tool for keeping blood sugar balanced and are high in essential nutrients needed to fight toxins and rebuild healthy, vibrant cells.

If you fall back into previous unhealthy eating habits, you’ll be able to notice a difference in how you feel. In a way, bad eating habits will be self-correcting if you prefer health over the yucky feeling that occurs when you eat the wrong foods.

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: healthy fats, saturated fat and cholesterol, Ten Days to Optimal Health

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor
Looking at our healthiest ancestors' diet to determine what foods are therapeutic has turned out to be enormously successful. Nutritional researchers have studied cultures whose entire population was much healthier than ours is today. Dr. Weston A. Price, along with other well-known nutritional experts Sally Fallon, Dr. Robert Atkins, Donna Gates, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Dr. Andrew Weil, and Dr. Jordan Rubin, all present a common theoretical premise: many of the foods our healthiest ancestors ate are now so vital to the well-being of our bodies due to their nutrient content, that they can be considered healing to the body, or medicines!

Nutrient Content of Food

Dr. Weston A. Price. was a prominent dentist and researcher who conducted studies during the 1930s and the 1940s regarding the prevention of tooth decay, gum disease, and orthodontic troubles. He sought to understand what makes humans healthy and what allows humans to have perfect teeth—not what pushes people toward illness.
Dr. Price analyzed the nutrient content of different foods to communicate to the world what nutrients gave health to whole populations of people. After visiting over fourteen tribes, clans, and villages whose members all displayed remarkable freedom from mental, physical, and emotional imbalances, he and his wife discovered all were vibrantly healthy people, as long as they were eating traditional diets!

Image 1 Caption: The "primitive" Seminole girl (upper left) has a wide, handsome face with plenty of room for the dental arches. The "modernized" Seminole girl (upper right) born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diets, has a narrowed face, crowded teeth, and a reduced immunity to disease. The Samoan girl (lower left) was born to parents who ate nutrient-rich native foods. The Samoan boy (lower right) was born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diet. He has crowded dental arches, and will be more susceptible to dental decay.
Image 2 Caption: "[The brother on the left had] excellent teeth and [on the right] rampant cavities. These boys were brothers eating at the same table. The older boy, with excellent teeth, was still enjoying primitive food of oatmeal and oatcake and sea foods with some limited dairy products. The younger boy, seen to the left, had extensive tooth decay. Many teeth were missing including two in the front. He insisted on having white bread, jam, highly sweetened coffee and also sweet chocolates. His father told me with deep concern how difficult it was for this boy to get up in the morning and go to work." Read more in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price, DDS.

Price’s Dietary Principles

Through his continuous research, Dr. Price concluded that tooth decay and degenerative diseases were irretrievably linked and stemmed from the same cause—one’s diet. Listed below are eight universal dietary principles that Dr. Price witnessed in every society that he studied:

1. Ate up to ten times the amount of natural, non-synthetic, vitamin A, vitamin D, and Activator X in the diet as did most people of Dr. Price’s day.
2. Never consumed refined or denatured foods including: protein powders, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, white flour, or fruit juice.
3. Used both cooked and raw foods in their meals, especially animal foods.
4. Ate raw foods high in enzyme content: dairy, meat, honey, cultured vegetables and tropical fruits like papaya. Furthermore, consumed lacto-fermented foods and drinks such as kvass, yogurt, and kefir.
5. Always fermented, soaked, sprouted, or naturally leavened their seeds, grains, and nuts.
6. Ate significant quantities (30%-80%) of their total diet in fat. In every case, polyunsaturated fats comprised only 4% or less of the fat in the diet. Omega 6 and omega 3 fats were in a ratio of 1:1, and generous amounts of saturated fats were also eaten.
7. Included unrefined salt in their diets.
8. Used bones for broth.

Determining Your Own Optimal Foods

Many of us descended from very different cultures with very different eating habits. You may be asking, "Do I eat the foods indigenous to where I live now or where my ancestors lived?” Instead of thinking rigidly about the foods your ancestors ate, take the common dietary factors from each of the healthy cultures that Dr. Price studied to determine your optimal foods. The foremost point to keep in mind is that no matter what ‘diet’ you choose, you need to eat foods that are rich in specific nutrients in order to be optimally healthy.

The Optimal Health Center (OHC) plan is an easy-to-follow, clinically proven, traditionally based, and solidly researched dietary program that not only supports the body's nutritional needs but aids in healing such illnesses as Irritable Bowl Syndrome-IBS, Candida albicans, and diabetes, as well as other food intolerances and allergies. This plan is outlined in Kristina Amelong's book, Ten Days to Optimal Health.

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: Dr. Weston A Price, Ten Days to Optimal Health, Traditional Diets

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor


Fasting in Today's World

Labels: environmental toxins, fasting support, health consultations, healthy fats, Ten Days to Optimal Health

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor 

Labels: allergies, Arthritis, Candida albicans, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, detoxification, diet and lifestyle, fibroids, Fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ten Days to Optimal Health