Practical Nutrition+ Vol 01 No 06
Practical Nutrition+ (tm)
Vol 1, No. 6
July, 1995
Copyright 1995 by Dennis Denlinger
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
"Practical Nutrition+" is a monthly electronic newsletter about care of the human body. Over the past 20 years the Editor, Dennis Denlinger, has been researching how to care for his own body with much success. During this time many theories and methods have been investigated and tried. Some have worked and some haven't. Some which have worked have been replaced with others which have worked better. Even more subjects have been researched than have been tried.
Suggestions, gripes, questions and other feedback, addressed to Editor, "Practical Nutrition+" at denlingr@ix.netcom.com are welcome. Also, experts and people with practical experience with various areas of health are welcome to contribute guest articles. Contributors will be acknowledged by listing their Name, Firm Name, Street Address, Phone Number and E-mail address.
The content of "Practical Nutrition+" is determined by the Editor, with due weight being given to your input. It will include from time to time articles by Dennis Denlinger or other lay persons who have had practical experience in day-to-day nutrition, articles by health care professionals, book reviews, answers to your questions and perhaps some surprises.
>>>"Practical Nutrition+" does NOT give advice, but is only intended to inform, to entertain and to be a place where ideas regarding health can be exchanged. If you have a specific health problem, consult an appropriate licensed health care practitioner.<<<
"Practical Nutrition+" will be available at various locations around the Internet. Back issues are available via FTP at: etext.archive.umich.edu in the /pub/Zines/PracticalNutrition/ directory. To subscribe to the electronic version of "Practical Nutrition+" send both your e-mail and paper mail addresses to denlingr@ix.netcom.com or to Dennis Denlinger, P.O. Box 60431, Sacramento, CA 95860-0431, USA. Your address will Not be distributed to others, but we may send you other pertinent information from time to time.
The Disease Theory: Bacteria, Toxins OR "?"
With the invention of the microscope human researchers started a love affair with bacteria and later viruses. For every new disease there was a new little buggie which had to be discovered and then a drug invented to cure (kill) it and only it. We now know that the "cure" damages the body as well as kills the bacteria.
No one asked the question: "What if that 'bug' is nature's scavenger and only shows up or rapidly multiples when certain other toxic conditions exist?" No one asked that and then went looking for those other conditions.
For instance, during the middle ages people threw their sewage out the window. It accumulated in the street and was left there to be washed away by the next rain. Little did they know the problems they were breeding for themselves. Once modern sewer systems and garbage collection procedures were installed, diseases such as plague and diphtheria disappeared. The rats also disappeared because they no longer had the garbage to eat. What caused the plague, the rats or the garbage?
You might say that the sewer engineer and the garbage collector were the real saviors of the day, rather than the doctors.
Let's step up to today. The most feared "diseases" are cancers of all types and heart disease. Once again, many people are running around like roosters who have recently lost their heads, looking for the bacteria or virus which causes each cancer or each type of heart attack. The idea is that a vaccine can then be found to prevent the "disease" or a drug found to cure it. Well, some have stepped out of the mold a bit and found that high cholesterol levels accompany heart attacks. Since cholesterol is in fat, the reasoning goes, get rid of all fats and oils. This does not take into account the fact that the human body manufacturers 90% of its cholesterol needs and can easily manufacture an excess. This means that cutting back on cholesterol consumption is not much of a control on excess cholesterol. So, a new solution to heart disease is needed. More recently it has been discovered that there are good and bad types of cholesterol. Eventually we will get it right.
Meanwhile, there are a couple of basics which can be applied and which just may save the day. The first basic is to give the body as much nutrition as possible, and to make sure it actually gets absorbed and used. The second basic is to reduce the intake of toxins as much as possible and to eliminate the toxins which do manage to find their way into the body as well as the toxins which are produced inside the body. In this case toxins are not only chemicals, but also substances such as the hardened mucous which can coat the inside of the intestines and life forms such as parasites which actually eat living body tissues.
Yes, there are certain bacteria and virus' which are harmful to the human body. However, to suppose that the only, or even the major, barrier to optimum health are bacteria and virus' is being replaced by the idea that there are many other things which can go wrong.
By Dennis Denlinger
Spoiling Good Food - Addition
Thank you for your responses and requests for more information to the article in the last issue regarding food combining. So, here is more about what happens when different foods are eaten.
Food is digested by chemicals produced by the body which are called >enzymes<. Enzymes are >catalysts<. Catalysts are chemicals which cause changes in other substances, but in so doing do not change themselves. Each digestive enzyme in the human body is formulated to digest one particular nutrient.
Foods which are not digested by enzymes are eaten by bacteria which live in the stomach and intestines. This process is called >fermentation< or >putrefaction< or, in common language: rot. The bacteria waste products are, for the most part, toxic to the body. Some bacteria do produce needed nutrients, such as vitamin K. Foods which are not digested by enzymes or eaten by bacteria are eliminated from the body in bowl movements.
First, we'll take a look at starches such as grains, beans (except soybeans), potatoes, peanuts, etc. Starch digestion is started by saliva in the mouth. The active enzyme in saliva which digests starch is >ptyalin<. The chewing of food in the mouth mixes saliva with the food. The more saliva, and the thoroughly mixed it is, the better.
As long as starches are eaten by themselves, with some exceptions to be discussed later, the digestion will continue in the stomach for as much as an hour or more. It is important to note that ptyalin does its work in an alkaline environment and is destroyed by acid - remember this for later.
Starch is also digested in the small intestine by an enzyme called >amylase< which is in the pancreatic fluid. This is assuming that the starch has not undergone fermentation in the stomach.
Digestion of proteins, such as meat, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, milk, etc., is started in the stomach by an enzyme called >pepsin<. Pepsin needs an acid environment to do its work. In addition to pepsin, the stomach also secrets a strong acid, as required by the pepsin.
What happens when starch and protein, such as a hamburger, are mixed at the same meal? Once the food and saliva mixture arrives in the stomach, the stomach pours acid and pepsin onto the food. This stops the digestion of the starch because (remember?) ptyalin is destroyed by acid. This means that the starch will sit in the stomach and get eaten (fermented, putrefied, rotted) by bacteria while the protein is being digested. This makes for indigestion symptoms: bloating, gas, heartburn pain, etc.
You might have noticed that some foods such as grains and beans occurred have both protein and starch. What happens to these foods? The body is very smart. For these foods it will allow the starch to digest first (as the protein is bound into the food, the bacteria cannot get at it while the chemical enzymes can) and only then pour out pepsin and acid to digest the protein. This process works with foods such as beans and grains which contain both starch and protein, but not with two basically different foods such as meat and grain, as in a hamburger.
This would mean that proteins should not be eaten in the same meal as starches.
All proteins do not digest the same way, either. Some, such as nuts and meat, need different strengths of acid at different times in their digestion, making it advisable to eat different types of proteins at different meals.
Also, pepsin, the enzyme which digests protein, is absorbed by starch and its action is stopped by cold temperatures such as caused by consuming iced drinks with a meal. This is a bit more of the data regarding digestion which you can work with.
There is one area which I have not yet clarified. According to food combining, it is not good to eat different types of starches together such as beans with grains. However, according to Adele Davis, there are certain essential proteins which the body must absorb together, not at separate times, if they are to be used as proteins. Now get this: beans and grains contain complements of the essential proteins. this could be a good way for a vegetarian to get his/her protein. So, how does one do it? When I find out, I'll let you know.
The other major type of food, as far as digestion is concerned, is fruit such as peaches, oranges, apples, pineapple, grapes, etc. Fruits do not digest in the mouth nor in the stomach, but in the intestines. When fruits are eaten alone, they move directly into the small intestine with very little waiting in the stomach.
If fruit is eaten with starch or protein, it is kept in the stomach while the other types of food are being digested, giving the bacteria a chance to eat it, causing it to rot (putrefy, ferment.)
Just as with proteins, different types of fruit such as acid (oranges, grapefruit), sub-acid (pear, apple) and sweet (banana, date, Thompson grape) need different digestive enzymes and should be eaten at different meals.
To get an idea of the seriousness of putrefaction, here are some of the by-products. When bacteria consume (rot, putrefy, ferment) protein they produce such poisons as indol, skatol, phenol, phenylpropionic and phenylacetic acids, hydrogen, marsh gas and hydrogen sulphide, among others. When bacteria consume (rot, putrefy, ferment) starch they produce such poisons as acetic acid and alcohol, among others.
These poisons are not usable by the human body and must be eliminated. One result is that the elimination process consumes body resources which are otherwise needed. Another result is that some of the toxins are stored in fat tissues and are later put back in the body systems. The worst result is that until they are eliminated they damage the body functions, which can lead to disease and reduce survivability.
Here are some short rules to work with in food combining:
- Eat acids and starches at separate meals.
- Eat proteins and starches at separate meals.
- Eat proteins and sugars (fruits) at separate meals.
- Eat proteins and acids at separate meals.
- Eat starches and sugars at separate meals.
- Eat fats and proteins at separate meals.
- Eating fats and starches together is okay according to food combining rules (this is not a comment upon the advisability of eating fat at all).
- Eating fats with green non-starchy vegetables is okay (see above).
- Eating green vegetables with starches is okay.
- Eating green non-starchy vegetables with proteins is okay.
- Consume milk alone.
- Eat melon alone (melon with fresh fruit appears to give no bad effects).
- Leave the cold foods/drinks alone.
- Desert the deserts.
These rules seem rather unacceptable in view of our normal daily life. Well, okay. Take a look at the data above and decide for yourself. Most of my data in this article comes from "Food Combining Made Easy" by Herbert M. Shelton which is now in its thirty-first printing since 1951. You can get your copy from Willow Publishing Inc, San Antonio, Texas. There are other books, such as "Food for Life" by Anne Wiggmore which contain charts and other information on food combining.
by Dennis Denlinger
Book Recommendation
All animals in the wild, if they manage to escape the various problems of life such as human hunters, poisons, traps, meat- eating animals, etc. can expect to live 10 to 14 times the age of puberty. Man, with puberty at 12 to 14 years of age, could expect to live 120 to 196 years. Yet, very few today even reach 120.
Dr. Melvin E. Page, D.D.S. thinks he has an answer to long life and tells about it in "Degeneration >>> Regeneration" (copyright 1949, reprinted 1977, pub. Nutritional Development, St. Petersburg Beach, FL.)
While Dr. Page's field of operation is the mouth, what affects the mouth also affects the entire body. This makes his efforts to reduce tooth decay through nutrition applicable as a total body handling.
His major discovery is that of a measuring stick by which good health can be measured. This measuring stick is the calcium- phosphorus balance. Dr. Page acknowledges Dr. Price's ("Nutrition and Physical Degeneration") discovery that calcium and phosphorus are important and pointed the way to the discovery that it is the ratio of these two elements which is important. When these two elements are not in the correct ratio in the human body, such mouth-related problems as tooth decay and gum disease will occur. When these occur, so will other health problems in the remainder of the body.
Dr. Page also uses the ratios of physical measurements to help determine how close the body is to optimum health. He then uses minute amounts of glandular supplements to bring the body chemistry into alignment. He also emphasizes the importance of proper eating, and gives data such as you find right here in "Practical Nutrition+."
If you can find a physician who delivers Dr. Page's program, you can expect to pay a large amount. In the early 1980's I paid over $1,000 for the program. The program does work. If you are in severe difficulty and need help, contact Dr. Jack Alpan, D.D.S. in Los Angeles, who delivered the program to me. He can do it by mail if you cannot reach L.A.
In the meantime, get Dr. Page's book for more information on the details of how it works.
by Dennis Denlinger
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"Practical Nutrition+" is produced and edited by Dennis Denlinger. From time to time I have data on my favorite subjects, publications (I operate a publishing house) or products which I can send you. Some goes best by e-mail and some goes best by snail mail. I will have a summary of my current "nutrition hat," covering basic concepts and how I am presently applying them, available soon via e-mail. Eventually it all will appear in "Practical Nutrition+." For specific requests or potluck, send your e-mail and snail mail addresses to denlingr@ix.netcom.com. or snail mail to Dennis Denlinger, P.O. Box 60431, Sacramento, CA 95860-0431, USA, or telephone (916) 485-5119. I may ask for postage on some snail mail requests.
