5 Health Myths- The REAL Scoop On Fat, pH & Vitamins
Written By Dr. Lowell Keppel
Over the years myths about what is healthy and what is not healthy have been circulated as truths. Here are 5 myths, that can impact your health, that are not totally true.
1. Probiotics are the “good bacteria” that needs to be in our digestive systems. Having a healthy digestive system is extremely important, from eliminating toxins to relieving anxiety. I have a patient who was experiencing anxiety while driving and that went away when we restored their large intestine health.
But we didn’t use “probiotic bacteria”, instead, we used friendly mold and yeast! The issue with these “Lacto-bacilli” is they need milk sugars to live hence the name “lacto” = lactose (milk sugars). So taking the probiotics will not work long term unless you feed them MILK! Friendly mold and yeast live off of any sugar thus they “colonize” the gut better.
Visit this web site https://www.seleneriverpress.com/historical/acidophilus-yeast/ and you can read what the nutritionist had to say in the 1930’s.
2. Taking Vitamins. This is a double edge sword! We know that our food source is not very good and that we do NOT get all the nutrients we need from our food. So we supplement, but the issue is what do we supplement with? 90% of the “vitamin supplements” on the market come from chemicals made by pharmaceutical companies and to fool you, even more, we now have a baloney term “nutraceutical” to trick us into thinking it may have nutrients in it.
We see conflicting studies about whether vitamins are good or bad for us and at the end of almost every study they say “it’s a good form of insurance” right? Who buys the insurance at the blackjack table? The house offers it because they benefit from it. Just like pharmaceutical companies benefit from you buying isolated chemical vitamins that will make you sicker.
So, what do you do? Eat real food, preferably fresh and local (if you can get it) and supplement with whole food concentrates. The company that has been in business the longest, and has great farms, is Standard Process. They produce the best whole food concentrates you can find!
3. Your doctor knows best! Sadly, you know better than your Doctor! Doctors are taught to “treat the numbers” how many times has your doctor told you, “you’re fine”, because your numbers are fine? And you leave their office saying, “No, I feel lousy”. Doctors today (MD’s, DO’s, DC’s, etc.) treat the numbers and symptoms.
Doctors 100 years ago had to use their knowledge of physiology and biology to figure out what is out of balance, and also LISTEN to you.
In 2010, a total of 2,468,435 deaths occurred in the United States. The first two leading causes of death, heart disease (597,689 deaths) and cancer (574,743), accounted for nearly 50% of all deaths.
In contrast, the other leading causes accounted for much smaller percentages, ranging from 5.6% (138,080 deaths) for the third leading cause of death, chronic lower respiratory disease, to 1.6% (38,364) for suicide, the 10th leading cause of death. All other causes combined accounted for 25% of the deaths.
1900 Deaths
All causes———————————————- 343,217
Pneumonia (all forms) and influenza—————— 40,362
Tuberculosis (all forms) —————————————- 38,820
Diarrhea, enteritis, and ulceration of the intestines—— 28,491
Diseases of the heart ——————————————– 27,427
Intracranial lesions of vascular origin ————————— 21,353
Nephritis (all forms) —————————————– 17,699
All accidents ————————————————– 14,429
Cancer and other malignant tumors ————————– 12,769
Senility ————————————————————– 10,015
Diphtheria ———————————————————— 8,056
What is important to note here is that heart disease and cancer are significantly higher due to lifestyle and poor nutrition since 1900. Our medical establishment has not improved but actually has made these conditions worse!
4. Fat is bad. This falls on the heels of the above. America has become fat ‘crazy’ since Ansel Keys’ Seven Countries Study in the early 1950’s, suggesting that certain fats contain cholesterol which can cause health problems.
These findings were obscured in the 1980’s leading the public to believe that all fats were bad which has lead to heart disease, cancers, diabetes and obesity have been climbing out of control. And instead of saying…”oops, sorry we were wrong” the establishment continues to make the falsehood a truth. But yet research continues to prove them wrong.
Fat is needed to make hormones, fat is needed to make vitamin D, fat is needed IN EVERY CELL of your body to have a healthy cell membrane. Without fats your cell membranes will disintegrate and thus allow the cells to mutate. What does that sound like to you? You cannot make steroid hormones without Cholesterol, a fat.
The fats that ARE bad, are the man made trans fats and hydrogenated fats. I can’t believe anybody on this planet would still consume margarine, but these companies do a great marketing job and tell you the half truths.
5. We should be alkaline! What a farce this is. pH is important yes, but facts are facts. Look in any medical text on physiology and you will find saliva pH should be a pH of 6.35-7.4 in the neutral range, then the stomach should have a very acidic pH of 1-2, then the small intestine should be fairly alkaline 8.3, and then slightly acidic again for the large intestine 6.8.
Lets look at other bodily pH’s:
Vaginal Fluid 3.5-4.5
Semen 7.2-7.6
Urine 6.6-8.0
Blood 7.35-7.45 notice the narrow range of pH for blood..if that varies too much you have death.
Bile 7.6-8.6
Pancreatic juice 7.1-8.2
Cerebrospinal fluid 7.4
Now let’s look at the pH prefered by certain bacteria:
Staphlococcus 7.4
Streptococcus 7.4-7.6
Pneumococcus 7.6-7.8
Colostridium Tetani 7-7.6
Gonococcus 7-7.4
Meninggococcus 7.4-7.6
Brucella Abortus 7.2-7.4
Can you see that these bacteria like an alkaline environment? Then why do “experts” say to alkalize? Further they say being more alkaline helps with arthritis. Nothing is farther from the truth, calcium precipitates into the joint fluid in an alkaline joint.
Asthma and allergies are a result of an alkaline body.
Lastly, it has never been proven that cancer is a result of acidity, in fact I maintain that cancer comes from a lack of healthy fats protecting the membranes of the cells!
So, don’t be fooled about pH water and the other nonsense regarding your pH.
How do you know what to believe? Sadly you don’t, but always come back to good old common sense and history, what have people done to be healthy? Eat real food, drink real water, breath real air, physically move the body and get rest!
Dr. Lowell Keppel
About The Author - Dr. Lowell Keppel, DC
Dr. Lowell Keppel has been in private practice for almost 36 years and is a champion at integrating chiropractic adjustments, Neuro-Emotional Technique®, therapeutic nutrition, and herbal medicine. Over the years, Dr. Keppel has fine-tuned his diagnostic tools and assessments to achieve optimal clinical results. He emphasizes physical observation, nutritional exams, symptom evaluation, and muscle testing following traditional wisdom that is forsaken by most medical specialists.
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