SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS: THE METABOLISM
The metabolism can be broadly described as the sum total of all the chemical reactions which take place inside all the cells of the body. Perhaps the most important metabolic processes are those which turn the food we eat into energy or into body chemicals such as hormones, enzymes and antibodies. These chemicals are made from protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. If a deficiency exists in any one of these nutrients certain chemicals cannot be made and this will adversely affect the function of the other chemicals, thus producing an imbalance in the metabolism.
Most metabolic imbalances are associated with over-weight which in turn is frequently the result of eating the wrong type of food. Take white bread for example. It is both fattening and capable of causing serious disturbances in the metabolism. It is fattening for two reasons:
1. Because white bread is refined it is quickly digested and therefore rapidly absorbed into the blood as molecules of glucose which arrive in the bloodstream in such large quantities that the blood sugar levels immediately shoot up. To normalise the blood sugar levels the pancreas releases the hormone insulin which removes the glucose from the blood by converting it to fat. Years of eating white flour and sugar can so sensitise the pancreas that it over-reacts and releases too much insulin. This causes the glucose levels to drop too low, causing the metabolic imbalance known as functional hypoglycaemia. This usually happens to those who are vitamin and mineral deficient and/or under stress.
2. Because white bread is refined it lacks the vitamins and minerals required for normal carbohydrate metabolism and, because it cannot be metabolised properly and used by the body as a carbohydrate energy source, most of it must be converted to and stored in the body as fat. Thus, the body has increased in weight but its carbohydrate needs have not been fully satisfied. This usually manifests a desire to eat more carbohydrate and all too often white bread is again the choice.
To be correctly metabolised, any carbohydrate food needs to contain vitamins B3 (niacin), B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine), B5 (pantothenic acid) and the minerals phosphorus and magnesium. During the milling process of whole grain flour to its white refined state the magnesium, phosphorus, pyridoxine and pantothenic acid are removed and not replaced. If this white flour (refined carbohydrate) is to be metabolised at all the body must steal these four nutrients from other glands and tissues, thus creating imbalances in the metabolism. It steals phosphorus from bone, thereby impairing its growth and ability to repair and magnesium from heart muscle, predisposing it to spasm and, in time, arrest. Pantothenic acid (B5) is stolen from the nerves and brain, rendering us liable to lowered energy levels and increased irritability, and pyridoxine (B6) is stolen from the white blood cells, particularly the T-lymphocytes (which attack viruses, yeasts, bacteria and cancer cells) causing them to become very weak and lethargic.
Sugar, be it white, brown or raw, requires the same vitamins and minerals to be metabolised and is thus responsible for creating the same metabolic havoc. How much of our processed foods contain white flour and white sugar? Most of it. Even frozen turkeys contain added sugar! Any manufactured food with a word in the list of ingredients on the label ending in -ol, -ole, -one, -os or -ose has sugar in it. You’ll be amazed how many do.
It is the complex interaction between all the vitamins and minerals which maintains a balanced metabolism and a healthy body. Foods picked fresh from the garden have a far greater chance of containing all the necessary nutrients. The foods on the Metabolism-Balancing Program, especially when supplemented by a complete vitamin and mineral formula, ensure that our bodies receive the required nutrients. No vitamin or mineral can work on its own and must be aided and complimented by all the others. For a single vitamin or mineral to be effective it must arrive in the system with all the other vitamins and minerals and at the same time. That’s why you take your vitamin and mineral formula just before the main meal of the day. Unrefined foods ensure a balanced metabolism and are also the foods which arc least (if at all) fattening.
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