Last week, I started sharing the foundational pillars that make up whole health.

Without these pillars firmly in place, health crumbles and a series of chronic consequences takes hold. The first two pillars mentioned were digestion and blood sugar balance. Let’s take a look at the remaining three.

Mineral Balance

Unlike some vitamins, minerals cannot be made by the body, so they must come from foods. Appropriate mineral balance is much more involved than simply taking a supplement, though supplements may be important and necessary for some individuals.

Minerals – such as calcium, zinc, magnesium and iron – serve many functions. Collectively, they are needed for enzymatic reactions, they balance the pH of the body, they move nutrients across cell membranes and they facilitate electrical charges for nerves and muscles. Peak physical function quickly deteriorates without balanced minerals.

To obtain adequate levels of minerals, a variety of different foods must be eaten. Rotating through just three vegetables and three meats each week is not supportive of mineral balancing. Three vegetables per meal – and nine per day – gets you much closer!

Even when minerals are being ingested, there are still hurdles to be jumped. The stomach must have adequate acid levels to liberate the minerals from the eaten foods. Vitamins, hormones and hydration all impact the body’s ability to absorb and use minerals.  

Fatty Acid Balance

Fats are a particularly interesting topic because they have been put in the naughty chair for so long, all the while being absolutely essential for good health. Dietary fats serve many purposes. They are an energy source, are needed for the use of vitamins and proteins, make up each and every cell membrane and play a pivotal role in the inflammation and healing process, among other functions. It is truly astounding to consider the damage done by the decades-long low-fat crusade.

Fats come in three main varieties – saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated – and different foods contain varying ratios of each. In order to consume adequate levels of each type, a variety of different foods should be eaten regularly.

• Saturated fats are stable molecules, and can be used for higher heat cooking. These fats include eggs, butter, animal fats and tropical oils. Monounsaturated fats – found in olive and avocado oil – can tolerate some heat, but are best served uncooked. Polyunsaturated fats are the least stable. Indeed, they are highly reactive and easily damaged. This type of fat from nuts and seeds should not be cooked, or even exposed to light or heat. The damage incurred renders the delicate molecules rancid and toxic. Unfortunately, we are exposed quite frequently to mass amounts whenever we eat foods fried in canola or soy oil.
• Monounsaturated fats – found in olive and avocado oil – can tolerate some heat, but are best served uncooked. Polyunsaturated fats are the least stable. Indeed, they are highly reactive and easily damaged. This type of fat from nuts and seeds should not be cooked, or even exposed to light or heat. The damage incurred renders the delicate molecules rancid and toxic. Unfortunately, we are exposed quite frequently to mass amounts whenever we eat foods fried in canola or soy oil.
• Polyunsaturated fats are the least stable. Indeed, they are highly reactive and easily damaged. This type of fat from nuts and seeds should not be cooked, or even exposed to light or heat. The damage incurred renders the delicate molecules rancid and toxic. Unfortunately, we are exposed quite frequently to mass amounts whenever we eat foods fried in canola or soy oil.

Fatty acid deficiency is epidemic. This is partially because many people continue to be convinced that fat is bad, partly because of the lack of variety in our diets and partly because so many of the oils we consume are heated, damaged and useless to us nutritionally.

Hydration

Of all the nutrient deficiencies the typical American can experience, lack of water is the most common. The causes of this go beyond the simple issue of not drinking enough water. One problem is drinking too many diuretic beverages – drinks that cause the body to lose hydration, such as soda, alcohol, coffee, tea and sweetened drinks. Some of the body’s water needs can be met by consuming whole water-containing plant foods, but high vegetable intake is also a common nutritional deficit.

Water serves many purposes. It improves oxygen and nutrient transport around the body, provides cushion and lubrication for bones and joints, regulates body temperature, removes wastes and toxins from the body and contributes to cell-to-cell communication.

Even seemingly marginal levels of dehydration can cause side effects. While an average adult contains 10-13 gallons of water, a loss of only 2% of this water can cause fatigue, the first sign of dehydration. Headaches, cravings and irritability can be other signs. If dehydration is severe and long term, conditions such as joint and back pain, constipation, colitis, and heartburn may arise.

To ensure adequate hydration, individuals should drink half their body weight in pounds as ounces of water each day. For example, a 150-pound person would need to drink 75 ounces each day. This number increases if diuretic beverages are also consumed. One strategy for compensating for diuretics is to “sandwich” each drink with water. Drink 8 ounces of water before and after 8 ounces of coffee.

Conclusion

With the five pillars of foundational health firmly in place, many chronic conditions and irritating symptoms will be resolved without medication or expensive treatments. The key to the health care crisis is not better healthcare, but better health.

This information is for educational purposes and should not be interpreted as medical advice.

Sara Kennedy is a certified Nutritional Therapy Consultant. She lives fitness, nutrition and wellness – and wants to help save lives and change the world’s view on health and nutrition. Learn more about Sara and her plans at thriveak.com. To reach her, email sara@thriveak.com

Opinions expressed by authors and their quoted sources are theirs alone and are not necessarily shared by the editor or publisher of the ECHO News.