Definition of nutrition nu·tri·tion | \ nu̇-ˈtri-shən , nyu̇- \
1: theact or process of nourishing or being nourished specifically : the sum of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food substances foodsthat are necessary for human nutrition
Nutrition:(n), the dry, rather soulless & mechanical act of delivering nutrients to individual cells and tissues, in order to optimize their function
You are not feeding your tummy!
You are not feeding the pleasure center of your brain. On ¼ of your food is your life, on the other ¾ is your Doctor.
How many of you were excited about the results of practicing muscle engagement last month? Do you feel more empowered today than you did a month ago? Like you can accomplish more? How much easier things are to complete? More confidence in climbing stairs or getting up?
When you are engaged, both physically and mentally, you will find that life itself is easier as a whole. The same problems may still come up, but they are much easier to deal with. You have more balance, which gives more confidence, which gives more patience and understanding. You are not as anxious, which means you can give deeper thought to issues which do arise. This gives you a more complete picture to react to. Balance. It gives you balance, which is so much easier on the body.
OK, Nutrition
One of my favorite studies is seeds. Did you know that seeds have encoded in their DNA the ability to create their own nutrition in the first weeks of sprouting? Matthew 17:20 “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed…you can move mountains…” My focus has been on the more spiritual side of science. My current fascination is with the seed knowing how to produce its own nutrition. If a simple seed can produce its own nutrition, then what are we capable of? If we but have the same faith as the mustard seed…what mountains we could move! So, if we could move mountains, how do we access what God created within us for our own health? This is the part of the riddle most of us, myself included, have yet to access. We are still working out the kinks, but we are getting there! As we all grow together, we each contribute to one another.
Here is an area I studied a great deal about, and it changed my life. Enzymes. Each of us was a seed in our mother’s womb. And we were fertilized by our father’s sperm, and we grew roots and attached to our mother’s uterus. At each and every step of that process, the nutrients required were carried where they were needed by enzymes. The nutrients from our mother were carried to us by enzymes. As soon as our pancreas developed we began creating our own enzymes, which feed every single cell in our body. Now, after we are born, we ingest enzymes from raw food. First from our mother’s breast milk, and from raw food in our diet later. Why raw? Because cooking kills enzymes. Those enzymes we ingest have a variety of jobs. Some are used to aide us in digesting food we put into our stomach. They take that food apart into the tiniest, most minute fragments and deliver individual nutrients to our lymphatic system, which then carries those nutrients and the rest of the enzymes to the parts of our bodies that need it. Now I am going to explain raw food, and some of you may get a queasy stomach. Raw food is any food that is uncooked, not heated above 120 degrees. At that point, most enzymes cannot survive.
Raw food is again, any food that is not cooked, from vegetables and fruit all the way to raw meat.
I am going to reference the plains Indians here, and give you a bit of history. It was common practice on buffalo hunts for the brave who killed the buffalo to ingest the raw heart and liver immediately while still on the field. And when he had his fill the balance was offered second to the elders of the tribe. And while they did not have science to tell them, they knew what they were doing. The heart and liver are loaded with what is called Coenzyme Q10. If it were cooked, it would lose the value of this major enzyme. This single dose of nutrient could carry their health through the bleakest winters. First, the braves, to keep them strong, then the elders, to keep them healthy, and then other members of the tribe in differing orders.
We can get these same nutrients from key vegetables as well, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, legumes(beans) and some nuts and seeds. Again, uncooked.
Ok, back to the digestive system. Some of those enzymes are carried to the pancreas, where the vast majority of enzymes are created for our bodies. The enzymes the pancreas produces cannot be ingested. We must keep the pancreas healthy enough to do the job of creating those enzymes. And I am going to shock you here. It is not sugar that does the pancreas in, it is lack of enzymes in our diet. Carbohydrates are actually critical to weight control. If your body gets low on carbohydrates, it will start storing proteins and lipids as a backup. The key is to make sure you are ingesting enzymes to carry those three energy sources to their proper places in the body.
I am going to reference studies done in the 1930’s and done long enough ago that it should be in all school classes on health and science. If the human body is ingesting only raw food, it cannot become overweight. And this is because enzymes keep the body in balance, and they keep every cell energized and ENGAGED.
Eat raw. Eat local. You have all heard it by now. Here is why. In order to cross state lines, all fruits and vegetables must be irradiated. When they are irradiated, many of those beneficial enzymes are killed off. If you cannot find what you need locally. Even irradiated, they still maintain enough enzymes to do the job, but not as profusely as local grown.
Antibiotics. We have all used them. When first created, they saved many lives. And they still do today. But make them your last course of action, and when you do have to use them, increase your enzyme ingestion afterwards. Why afterwards? Because antibiotics kill enzymes, and they are not selective. Antibiotics ingested orally will wipe out the entire probiotic and enzyme flora of the digestive tract. Once that happens, with a regular diet that includes at least a ¼ of every meal in raw foods, it can take 6 months or more to bring that flora back into balance. You are going to have to supplement.
Sprouts are easy to grow, and the full compliment of enzymes is included with all those nutrients because they were grown right there in your own home.
How does this translate to muscles? Every single cell in your body needs a full compliment of 1300+ different enzymes and each of those enzymes has a nutrient that they care for. 1300! Let’s take some of the basic nutrients and describe how they work together. In order to wink, or wiggle your finger, each cell must have calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium, and oxygen, among others. in order to engage, the enzyme attached to the sodium moves it into contact with the calcium, and another enzyme moves iron, and the enzyme carrying the oxygen moves it into contact. This causes a chemical reaction which causes the cell or cells involved to engage and move the muscle.
When you look at it from that perspective, we are each of us one giant walking miracle. That God created this planet with all the nutrients and minerals and enzymes needed to create us and every living thing on this planet that keep us alive and engaged! 1300 just in one cell!
So with that, we have been sitting in our chairs for quite a bit, lets engage those muscles, stand up, stretch them a bit, get that lymphatic system charged. Think about all those muscles and how every cell is fully engaged and doing its job. As you start to walk around and ask those muscles to complete a movement, think about the nutrients you fed it this week. Did you give it enough calcium? You can find calcium in a multitude of places. Cheese, yogurt, milk, spinach, kale, turnip greens, collards, organic soybeans and grains. How about iron? You can get that from meats, vegetables like broccoli, dandelion greens, lamb quarters, beans, chard, kale. How about potassium? You can get potassium from tomatoes, bananas, spinach, any of your citrus fruit.
How about magnesium? How many of you get chocolate cravings? The Cacao bean is very high in magnesium.
Now, you are going to ask your muscles to lift an imaginary box up and put it on a shelf. You can pick the box up from the table. We are not going to lift it from the floor yet. First, the box is going to be light, say 5 lbs. Next, lift the box up, notice as you look up to see where you are placing the box, that your muscles are moving your body into balance, you are just two inches shy of being able to get that box on the shelf. Lift yourself up on your toes. Push the box onto the shelf and let yourself back down from your toes, lower your arms, release tension on your muscles, but keep them engaged. What new muscles do you feel that you did not notice before? We are learning how to tune in to our bodies. We are learning to listen to them. Some of you might have noticed that it was the muscles on the back of the lower torso that you are feeling the most right now. Who knew they had any involvement with lifting your arms?! The key here is that you are learning to listen to the little noises your body makes. Listening to the little noises keeps them from turning into bigger noises. We are not only learning a new exercise program. We are learning to listen to our bodies when they have a problem. Better yet, we are listening when those problems are little and easy to manage.
Ok, now let’s add a little more weight to those boxes. Let’s do 15 lbs. As you lift it up feel how your body moves into balance. Do you notice any new muscles being used? Now our shoulders have started to produce more energy. Lift up on your toes to reach that last two inches and slide the box onto the shelf. Very good now lower yourself back down and bring your arms down. Is anyone game for 25lbs? Ok, lift the box, notice that your triceps have kicked in. All of your muscles are now actively engaging in lifting that box. Ok, now come up on your toes and slide the box onto the shelf. And lower yourself back down and bring your arms back to your side. Leave your muscles engaged and ready but at rest. What muscles are speaking to you? Are the triceps the loudest? Let’s do some focus work on the triceps to strengthen them.
Grab your dumbbell, not the real one, and you can decide how much it weighs. Now we are going to bring that dumbbell up and right to the shoulders behind and beside the neck. Now we are going to curl upwards focusing on those triceps. Very good. Now let’s work the other one. Sometimes we need to build individual muscles up to bring them in balance with the rest of our muscles, and we can find out which of those muscles needs attention by doing lifting exercises, such as putting the box on the shelf. Remember that every muscle in your body is engaged and capable of stepping in for a muscle that is not quite holding its own. It is only by listening that we can find which muscles need work.
Lets add 10 lbs to that box. It is now 35 lbs. Lift it up, bring yourself up on your toes, push the box in, bring yourself back down from your toes, bring your arms down, relax your muscles but keep them engaged.
Isn’t it just amazing how much we can listen, talk to, and literally communicate with every muscle, every cell of our bodies? Next month we will talk about steps squats, and bubbles! And those are most definitely life changing! See you next month!