Over the last few decades an ongoing debate continues in the world of nutrition. What forms healthy choices in one’s diet remains controversial. Is what is best for one person equally good for another? Is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet like the Atkins or Zone diet the best, or a high-complex carbohydrate, low fat diet recommended by the American Heart Association and other medical organizations?
Should you follow the “Eat Right for Your Blood Type” based on your blood type or should you become a vegetarian? Do you eat only raw foods or do you include foods, that when cooked, actually increase mineral availability? Is it possible to drink too much water and not get enough salt contrary to what the media says?
The inherent problem is that no two persons are alike. Shakespeare put it best when he wrote, “One man’s meat is another’s poison.” What may be good for you is not necessarily good for me. These questions must be answered with careful observations, tests, and clinical evaluations. Even so, the fundamental question to all of this is, “But can you digest it?” Digestion simply means breaking down food from its macular state into smaller, more usable elements. It is like taking something the size of your house and breaking it down into the size of a grain of sand to get inside the cell for nourishment. If you cannot digest even the best organic food, how good is it then?
Digestion begins in the mouth with enzymes secreted into saliva. After swallowing, enzymes continue to partially digest food in the upper part of the stomach. Ideally, up to 85% of the entire meal (fats, protein, and carbohydrates) should be digested within the stomach, leaving only 15-20% of the work left for the pancreas to finish. However, this does not happen for the majority. Over-consumption of cooked food overwhelms and stresses the digestive organs; stomach, liver, and pancreas. The result is our current health crisis of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and other disease.
We all have dietary stress factors – foods that literally stress the body. This creates exactly the same chemistry that losing your job, getting into a fender bender, and finding the electricity turned off in your house all in one day would produce. Dietary stress is exactly the same but without the emotional content! It is a hidden form of stress we can do something about. Modifying our diet for excessive carbohydrates, fats, or proteins and supplying the proper enzymes reduces this form of stress.
This brings us back to the original question: How does one know what to eat? How can one measure adequate nutritional intake? A specialized 24-hour test reveals what a person is capable of digesting and assimilating. It shows fat, carbohydrate, and protein intolerances. More importantly, it shows what enzyme deficiencies exist. Supplying proper enzymes guarantees nutrients will be utilized for growth, hormone production, and tissue repair.
There is a stigma to salting food. Some say we get what we need through vegetables and fruit. The fact is, without the correct amount of salt (preferably sea salt), protein digestion is compromised. Hydrochloric acid is produced in the stomach from hydrogen and chloride. Hydrogen is abundant in the air we breathe. Chlorides, on the other hand, are dependent upon consumption of salt (sodium chloride).
The urinalysis reveals how much salt is ingested. Many people do not get enough salt or drink too much water (diluting electrolytes) because of salt’s association with high blood pressure. Nonetheless, recent studies show this relationship to be marginal at best. Correcting salt intake increases hydrochloric acid production improving protein digestion. Improved protein digestion positively impacts total health.
There is misinformation about the acidity/alkalinity issue popularized by advocates of alkaline water. Many claim you should alkalize the blood by eating an abundance of fruit and vegetables and drinking alkaline water. While more people should consume these foods, the reasons are not well understood.
The pH scale measures acidity and alkalinity of an object. 1 - 6.9 is considered acidic while anything above 7.1 is alkaline. Distilled water is balanced at 7.0. Blood is constantly maintained between a 7.35 to a 7.45 pH - an alkaline range. Anything that challenges the blood pH quickly sets off a cascade of events to return the blood to its narrow alkaline range.
The 24-hour urinalysis provides the most accurate picture of acidity/alkalinity and what the body must do to maintain this delicate balance. A random catch of urine collected after a meal is always alkaline. If you used this sample to determine nutritional needs, it would be misleading. This being so, why would anyone try to alkalize their body without first knowing if they need to?
Information from a 24-hour urinalysis resolves the question of what are healthy food choices for each individual. By testing urine, you discover which foods work best for you and how to modify dietary stress.
Some may find an Atkins/Zone-like diet enhances their well-being, while others need a high-complex carbohydrate, low protein diet. The determining factors are based on underlying food intolerances, dietary stress factors, and the chemistry revealed through the analysis.
Over time dietary stress is corrected with enzymes and dietary modifications. Managing dietary stress increases the speed and efficiency at which the body heals. Urine is a window for how well the body manages daily challenges of dietary stress. It is where one should look to first in restoring and maintaining optimal health.
