Posts Tagged ‘fruits’

The subject of vegetarianism usually centers on compassion for all the Earth’s creatures. This is noble and commendable. However, it is an illusion. While we concede that an animal is considered a higher form of life than a plant, we can’t negate the fact that a plant is a life form. This is the basis for the vegetarian dilemma.

Actually

Actually plants are more complex than we think. They like all living things want to survive and react to treats. It is known they respond to their environment. Playing music and talking to plants is not an uncommon practice.

Scientifically Speaking

“Plants are not static or silly,” said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. “They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk” through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. “These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals,” Dr. Hilker said.

Plants can’t run away from a threat but they can stand their ground. “They are very good at avoiding getting eaten,” said Linda Walling of the University of California, Riverside. “It’s an unusual situation where insects can overcome those defenses.”

“I’m amazed at how fast some of these things happen,” said Consuelo M. De Moraes of Pennsylvania State University. Dr. De Moraes and her colleagues did labeling experiments to clock a plant’s systemic response time and found that, in less than 20 minutes from the moment the caterpillar had begun feeding on its leaves, the plant had plucked carbon from the air and forged defensive compounds from scratch.

“Even if you have quite a bit of knowledge about plants,” Dr. De Moraes said, “it’s still surprising to see how sophisticated they can be.”

Fruitarians Argument

Fruitarians are known to take the high moral ground. There argument is when fruit is ripe it falls to the ground, without our help. This is for the most part true. Ripe fruit will leave the branches when fully done. Now the real argument is this healthy for long term sustenance for the human race?

In reality the vegetarian dilemma was not a part of the dialog of early man. You ate to survive, and survived on what was around.

Morally and Ethically

Our focus is to be stewards of the planet. Before we concede more, we must realize that what goes into soda pop, cookies, pastry, and processed food is where the argument should be. Pharmaceuticals are in our lakes, and drinking water. The more scientist invent the more we change the environment.

Grazing cows, deer, goats, and bison live off the pastures. Now if we want to be morally right we can consume the animals and leave the plants alone. Ethically living is to appreciate and not plunder the land. Cattle are not to be fed garbage so they become fatter faster.

The Wrong Argument

The argument that most of these groups ponder is neither going to solve or save the resources. The argument is usually among the groups that already believe in conservation. Fruitarians will try to up vegetarians who will then go on to up the people on paleo (cave man) diets. These are considered the diets of our distant ancestors, that roamed the earth eons ago.

Since most of us were not around to confirm this information, it would make sense to say that a whole food natural diet is fine. We always aspire to do the right thing and at the same time win the argument.

We are at a crossroad and semantics will not save the environment. We can’t dismiss the fact that we may never see eye to eye. What we need is to stop arguing among ourselves and engage in going forward together and find opportunities to steer the planet in the right direction. We can’t afford to be fighting while trying to survive on a planet in peril.

The importance of vitamin K can’t be overstated. Vitamin K is concentrated in dark green plants such as spinach and Swiss chard.

Prevents                                                                                                                               

It prevents arterial and kidney calcification, cardiovascular disease, and may prevent cancer. It keeps osteoporosis at bay.

This finding comes from Associate Staff Scientist, Joyce McCann, PhD, and Senior Scientist, Bruce Ames, PhD, who analyzed data from hundreds of published articles dating back to the 1970’s.

The intake of individual vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) is a major factor in the prevention of disease. The analysis, which strongly supports this theory, will be published in the October 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Optimal Functioning

• Allow your blood to clot normally
• Help prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis
• Help prevent calcification of your arteries
• Provide possible protection against liver and prostate cancer Help
• Prevents calcification of heart valves

Sources

Excellent sources of vitamin K include: spinach, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, kale and mustard greens. Carrot tops, spinach leaves, cabbage leaves and cauliflower are also a good source of vitamin K1. Endive, lettuce, olive oil, avocados, green peas and carrots are some additonal plant foods which supply this vitamin.

Vitamin K1 is converted into K2 in the intestines, and there is some K2 in meat, liver and fermented yogurt and cheese.

Deficiency

Vitamin K deficiency produces noticeable symptoms, from bleeding gums, osteoporosis, to excess depositing of calcium in soft tissue. These are hardening of the arteries, and problems with heart valves. 

It takes a cup of Kale, collards, or spinach to meet the daily requirement of vitamin K.

Resilient Nutrient

Vitamin K is resilient, and keeps its nutritional value even when cooked or stored. This nutrient is extremely important, and there is some evidence that aging contributes of a vitamin K deficiency. Therefore it is important to increase vitamin K intake as we age. The vitamin can be fresh juiced from fruits and vegetables at home. Steaming and sauteing also are useful methods to ensure a high vitamin K intake.

Vitamin K and Medications

A few cholesterol lowering drugs can reduce the absorption of vitamin K. Antibiotics can decrease the availability of vitamin K by killing the gut bacteria that synthesize vitamin K. Broad-spectrum antibiotics pose the greatest risk of this.

Over-the-counter drugs also decrease the availability of vitamin K. These include high doses of salicylates which includes acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin, and high doses aluminum hydroxide antacids. Also, some anti-seizure medications can interfere with vitamin K absorption.

As we age our metabolism undergoes changes, and since this population depends on medication it is important to watch vitamin K levels. Any problems with pancreatic function, liver function, or gallbladder function can increase the risk of a vitamin K deficiency.

Diabetes Risk and Vitamin K

Supplements of vitamin K 1 may offer some protection against diabetes in older men. In a study, people who took vitamin K supplements for 36 months had lower blood levels of insulin and experienced improved insulin resistance compared with the control group.

Only the men benefited from K - possibly because more of the women were overweight or obese, which alone contribute significantly to insulin resistance and diminish the body’s response to vitamin K.

In the study, there was a higher percent of obese or overweight women in the vitamin K supplementation group compared to the male supplementation group. Vitamin K is stored in fat tissue, with excess fat, vitamin K may not be readily available to cells that require it to process glucose.

Insulin Resistance Will Accelerate Your Aging.

The level of insulin sensitivity of the cell is a marker of longevity. Insulin levels play a role in chronic conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease, hypertension to cancer. Low blood sugar and low insulin levels are found among the healthiest and the longest living individuals. Men with the highest level of fasting blood sugar levels (greater than 140mg/dl) were almost 30% likely to succumb to cancer than those with less than 90mg/dl). For women it was 23% with the highest insulin levels that had the greatest risk.

A person who is overweight and has reduced sensitivity to the hormone insulin may be aging prematurely. Ample vitamin K delivers years to your life, and life to your years. You put the odds on your side by transitioning to a healthy diet with plenty of vitamin K rich foods.

If alternative practitioners are looking for validation that nutrition is the key to both preventing and turning around disease they can now find it. The role of both telomeres and nutrition in human aging is an exciting new area of research.

If allopathic medical practitioners are saying eat what you want it doesn’t make a difference in disease, this makes them ineffective as healers.

Proof Positive                                     

A recent review of evidence and two new studies from the Unites States and Canada / France looked at nutrients from food. The conclusions support the cancer protective role of antioxidants, whilst the US study results support the role of vitamin and mineral supplements in maintaining the health of DNA (telomere length within DNA may be a marker for biological ageing).

Antioxidant vitamins and minerals are known to play various crucial roles in modulating oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, and this appears to be a key factor in the rate at which cells age. Vitamins and minerals are what lengthen telomeres.

Elisa Bandera and a team of researchers from the Cancer Institute on New Jersey in the US, have reviewed one recently completed ‘cohort’ study (tracking the same people over time) and 12 recent ‘case-control’ studies (comparing subjects with controls, to find cause and effect relationships) to investigate the association between antioxidant vitamins C, E and beta-carotene intake from food sources, and endometrial (womb) cancer. The results found that as dietary antioxidant intake increased, endometrial cancer risk decreased.

There is a recent US study that provides the first epidemiological evidence that multivitamin use is associated with longer telomere length among women. In the study, led by Qun Xu, Ph.D. of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina, multivitamin use and nutrient intakes were assessed in a cross-sectional analysis of data from 586 participants. The researchers found that multivitamin use was associated with longer (5.1%) telomeres. This was also the case for higher intakes of vitamins C and E from food. Also, intakes of vitamins C and E were associated with telomere length among those who did not take multivitamins.

Telomeres and Aging

Chromosomes are long strands of DNA with a telomere at the end. The telomere is something like the shoelace end or a bookend. They protect chromosomes from fusing or binding with other DNA.

When a cell divides and copies the DNA, the strands of DNA get snipped in the copying process. The part that is snipped is the telomeres. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres become shorter.

When telomeres get too short, parts of the DNA get damaged. Cells stop replicating when this happens. In humans, a cell replicates around 50 times before this occurs.

The cell’s telomeres determine the cell’s age. This is the frontier of anti-aging research. When the cell stops replicating it is a period of decline called “cell senescence,” which is cell aging.

What This Means

The incidence of cancer is higher in the aging population. Telomere length determines the rate of aging. Antioxidants from fruits, vegetables, along with their supply of vitamins and minerals are responsible for the cells health and age. Telemeres and nutrition are both a factor in human aging.

The length of the telomeres seems to determine how fast aging occurs. If you already have a chronic condition, than the key to turning it around will be to lengthen the telomeres through a healthy lifestyle.

Alternative practitioners understand the crucial roll of nutrition and treat with that premise. While allopathic physician’s treatment usually deplete vitamins and minerals at a time they are crucial.  

The evidence that people cured conditions by diet is very strong. While science keeps doing more and more research this is proving to be the case. Waiting for more evidence isn’t necessary because a good diet is a safe investment in your future.