Nutrition
Acidity and essential-element deficiency
Refined carbohydrates (husked rice, white bread, pasta, spaghetti, sweets, etc.)
not only cause acidity of tissue, but also cause deficiency of minerals and vitamins, draining and weakening the body. Food-stuffs have a huge influence on the acid-alkaline status. That does not mean that one should do without all acid-forming foods. For example, I eat whey and flax-oil for breakfast every day because it is so healthy, even though whey belongs to the acid-formers!).
In CF, five further unpleasant factors are added:
- Chronic inflammation of the lungs
- Chronic acidity due to the deficiency of bicarbonate in the small intestine.
- Resorption disturbances
- Sometimes diabetes mellitus
- Sometimes respiratory acidosis
Chronic inflammation means stress for the body and produces not only aggressive radicals, but further acidity.
The healthy pancreas produces not only enzymes, but also, in conjunction with the liver, bicarbonate, an alkaline secretion that neutralises the aggressive stomach (gastric) acid in the small intestine, that travels, mixed with food, from the stomach to the Duodenum.
Bicarbonate-capsules, Ventracid N, neutralises the gastric acid where acid is not wanted, i.e. the duodenum. This capsule ensures that gastric acid is not neutralised in the stomach, where it is important and necessary.
Digestive enzymes (Lipase, Protease, etc.) can only become active in an alkaline milieu / environment. Anyone with an acid intestine / bowel won't improve even if they take 40 tablets a day.
Having taken Ventracid N®, my digestion improved immensely. Past problems that I had when taking up to 40 tablets / day (Panzytrat, strength 25.000), and even then, suffering from abdominal pain, disappeared and belong now to the past. With the further help of
Crataegus / whitethorn I could still further reduce the tablets / day ( 15/day with the lower strength of 10.000).
Ventracid N®
contains the important Curcuma root for gal secretion, and in slighter accounts (and therefor unimportant to us) digestive enzymes.
If the blood of CF-sufferers is examined, it shows grave deficiencies of antioxidants
(except vitamin C). This is due to the high levels needed, and to the still present resorption impairment (presuming that it is not being substituted).
In diabetes, there are continual episodes of hyperglycaemia (too high levels of blood sugar). The metabolism becomes altered, fat is burnt to keto-acids for energy-production instead of sugar.
In respiratory acidosis, the lungs are so damaged, that too little CO2 is expired. This CO2 reacts with H2O (water) to become H2CO3, i.e. HCO3 and H+, whereas H+ as a proton, per definition is the acid.
Chronic acidity presents a further threat:
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Rheumatism
- Osteoporosis
- Diabetes
Further illnesses through damaged connective tissue are probable. A glance at the nutrition-table clarifies, although limits exist for CF-sufferers (highest priority being a good weight!)
What to do?
Eat lots of raw food and food with high enzyme content lots of sport and a daily intake of Ventracid N® and alkaline powder.
Alkaline-powder is available from many pharmacy firms.
How do I know how acidic I am????
Directly after getting up, the pH of urine should be measured. Litmus paper with a scale of pH levels can be bought in the pharmacy.
If the urine is more acidic than 6,8, e.g. 6,5 or 5,5, then it is advisable to take alkaline powder. I aim for a pH level of 6,8 - 7,4 in morning urine (7,0 is neutral).
Under no circumstance should your urine be more alkaline than 8. The urine pH-level is not static, it changes during the day, but it still is worth it to measure the first morning urine pH.
To summarise:
In CF, there is a high risk of chronic acidity. By using e.g. Ventracid N, digestion in the intestine can be improved by regulating the acidity. It is also useful to regenerate the acid tissue in the intestine by taking the alkaline powder regularly.
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Raw food stuffs
Certain food stuffs deserve special mentioning - raw food stuffs. They theoretically cover all food that can be eaten raw. Beside fruits and vegetables they are also meat, raw eggs, raw milk products...
Often the disadvantages prevail, making it advisable to heat / cook the food before consumption.
E.g. the white of eggs contain avidin, that, together with biotin builds a compound, making the biotin unavailable for the body. Through heating, the avidin is destroyed.
Which vegetables are suitable for eating raw?
Cauliflower, garlic, kohlrabi, leek, horseradish, carrots, radishes, Brussels sprouts, beetroot, celery, tomatoes, white cabbage (mostly as sauerkraut) and others.
Sprouts / seeds:
Alfalfa, fenugreek, mustard, mungo beans...
Leave the seeds to soak for 12 hours and then, in special glasses, leave them to sprout. Water mornings and evenings - after 2-3 days they are usually ready to be eaten.
Virtue / how they work:
Enzymes:
plants contain many enzymes that are activated when broken up and so aid the digestion. Plants contain many inactive pre-stages / pre-levels of biologically highly active agents / active ingredients that are only biologically activated by / through enzyme activity. E.g. the Alliin in garlic is split by enzymes into the highly active antibacterial Allicin.
Some enzymes have a very favourable effect on the metabolism, e.g. proteolytic enzyme (bromelaine) in pineapple, that combat inflammation. Enzyme-rich vegetables and fruits go a long way further to maintaining health than is supposed.
Germ rich food:
Germ-poor food (through cooking) leads to a deficiency of bacteria in the bowel.
Germ rich food (e.g. Sprouts, raw foods) leads to an increase in the types and number of bacteria and so increases immunity.
Roughage:
The quality (structure) of the roughage is of decisive importance: raw carrots work very differently to when cooked (raw carrots always help me when I suffer from heart-burn).
Roughage has many different functions:
- Stabilises the pH levels
- Regulates the speed through the bowel
- Work prophylactically against diverticulitis, that can become cancerons / cancer cells
- Absorbs toxins and other unwanted substances
- Works to an advantage on the metabolism, as lowering the cholesterol level in blood or the slower reabsorbtion of carbohydrates.
Exaggerated amounts of roughage can impair the absorbtion of essential active agents!
Vitamins:
Many vitamins are heat sensitive and can be destroyed by it.
SH-groups: The functional SH-groups (Sulfhydryl-groups) play an important role - cleansing, infect-defence and having a key function in energy-metabolism.
Through eating raw food, multiple heat-sensitive substances are eaten which would otherwise have been destroyed by heat, e.g. vitamins, enzymes, SH-groups, germ-rich food, roughage and many more.
A healthy balance between cooked and non-cooked food is the aim.
CF patients often, despite substitution of enzymes suffer from a deficiency in taking up
fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E and K (do a laboratory-test).
Similarly selenium, zinc and carotin-deficiencies can appear; substitution with the appropriate preparation should be undertaken.
Fruit and vegetables have the advantage of containing many vital agents(?); the down side, though, is that too much of the roughage they contain causes lesser resorption of the microelements of the food. The volume of the bowel motion increases accordingly. It therefor becomes apparent why it is worth making fresh juice that contains very little roughage anyway.
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Recipes
Brussels sprouts salad:
Ingredients:
(for 4 people) 500g Brussels sprouts, ½ onion, some finely-chopped parsley
Salad sauce: 2-3 dessert- / tablespoons good oil, 4-6 dessertspoons cream (sweet or sour), 2-3 dessertspoons vinegar or lemon juice, salt, pinch of sugar, salad herbs, e.g. basil, parsley, etc...
Preparation: stir ingredients for sauce into vinegar or lemon juice, stir in oil, until all has dispersed into fine drops.
Clean Brussels sprouts, remove outer leaves, leave in salt water for 10 min., wash, cut finely and mix with finely chopped onion. Put into sauce and leave for 15-30 min.
Kohlrabi salad:
Ingredients: (4 people) 4 young kohlrabi, 2-3 apples, 50g nuts
Salad sauce: same as for Brussels sprouts, with cream or yoghurt
Preparation: wash and peel young kohlrabi, grate it with the peeled apples and put it all immediately into the salad sauce. Add chopped or finely cut nuts, taste it and leave for a while in the marinade.
Celery with alfalfa:
Ingredients:
1 small grated celery Knolle (bulb?), 3 dessertspoons lemon juice, 2 cups alfalfa sprouts
Tomato sauce: 4 small tomatoes, 1 small onion cut into fine cubes, ½pressed garlic clove, sea salt, 2 dessertspoons cold-pressed olive oil, pinch cayenne pepper, fresh basil or a pinch of thyme
Preparation: grate celery and immediately drizzle it with lemon juice. Put all ingredients for sauce in mixer and mix.
Divide the celery onto 4 plates, cover with delicate sprouts, then pour sauce over it at the table. Decorate plate with small basil leaves or mix pinch of thyme into sauce.
Wild-herb salad:
Ingredients:
deadnettle, nettle, garden sorrel, dandelions, little yarrow
Salad sauce: mix yoke of one egg with ½ teaspoon, a little grated onion, pressed garlic and salt, 2-3 dessertspoons oil and finally add finely chopped flavouring herbs
Preparation: wash herbs, cut into lengths and add marinade; add nuts, if wished. - Enjoy
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Book recommendation:
Körner und Keime, von Rose-Marie Nöcker, Heyne Verlag.
Kraut & Unkraut zum Kochen & Heilen von E. Hollerbach, Hugendubel Verlag.
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Oxidation, radicals, antioxidants
Oxidation is understood as the decomposition from a moxie compound to a less moxie (hier noch mal nachschauen) compound with production of energy - energy is set free.
With fire the energy is in form of heat; in humans the energy is also set free as heat in the mitochondria, little power stations in our cells, and/or as body's own moxie compounds (e.g. as ATP)
As is know, food is the energy-carrier for us humans, with fire it is e.g. wood. To burn up the food (oxidation), oxygen is required. Aggressive radicals are formed in this process, which the body is normally able to protect itself from or rather neutralises. One of these protection mechanisms are the so-called (non-enzymatic) antioxidants. Radicals are therefore atoms / molecules, that attack the human tissue, especially mitochondria and cause permanent damage.
When does it come to a flood of radicals that the body san't cope with?
There are many reasons for increased radicals formation:
- High physical or psychological stress / demands, that increase the need for oxygen by increasing metabolism, therefor forming radicals.
- Inflammation in the body, e.g. bronchitis, pneumonia or other inflammatory processes.
- As the body ages, the forming of radicals accelerates.
- Exterior factors can also contribute, e.g. sunburn, also increased UV-radiation
- Through environmental toxins, e.g. smog, exhaust emissions, ozone
- Especially cigarette smoke
- Some pharmaceuticals
Chronically ill people and irresponsible sinners (smokers) are really susceptible to increased radicals formation. What are the antioxidants, that the body uses to protect itself from the radicals?
Antioxidants:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Beta-Carotin
- Selenium is also termed an antioxidant, although it is part of the antioxidant enzyme (enzymatic protective mechanism of the glutathion - peroxidase)
In CF, resorption cannot be compared to that of a healthy person, therefore requiring antioxidant substitution.
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