Question: Should I Take a Vitamin or Mineral Supplement?

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Should You Take a Vitamin or Mineral Supplement?
One of the most common questions I recieveis........
Should I take a supplement?
On my last blog post one of the questions asked wasabout 'Vegan' vitamin and mineral supplements. 'Vegan' in the case of vitamins or minerals really doesn't mean a wholelot, not to say that some aren't made from animal derived ingredients, but say,vegan calcium citrate does not mean it is well absorbed, necessary, or evenbeneficial.  Different methods ofchelation of minerals have HIGHLY variable absorption rates, not to mentionthat these supplements do not have a proper balance of all other cofactorsnecessary for proper utilization of calcium anyway!  This is a highly complex balance the bodyneeds and merely taking calcium isn't going to do that for you whether vegan,chelated or whatever the case may be.  This goes for all synthetic vitamins and 'artificially' chelated minerals!  NONE of them are natural, nor are they provided in a whole complex of cofactors and regulating factors such as fiber.
I am not entirely opposed to taking a supplement fora very specific reason but in general I do NOT recommend them foreveryone.  We are meant to get all thenutrients we need in our food not from a bottle of isolated, artificiallychelated or synthetically produced vitamins and minerals.
There are many supplement companies that have gottenvery clever in their marketing, they put Whole Food supplement on thelabel.  This has fooled many consumersand in fact, all the midwives in my area recommend a specific brand of prenatalvitamins because it says whole food supplement on the label.  I cannot believe that these otherwise intelligentwomen fall for this.  The supplementincludes some dried fruits and vegetables but most or all of the actuallyvitamins and minerals do NOT come from these foods.  By including the whole food concentrates theycan call the supplement whole food, it is tricky, but an outright lie.
There are literally tens of thousands ofphytonutrients that have been discovered, and probably even more that we haveyet to discover.  All of these nutrientsincluding vitamins and minerals work synergistically together in a perfectlyorchestrated balance to promote health and wellbeing.  Whenever scientists try to make a profit byisolating or synthetically producing plant compounds in supplements we start torun into health problems.  Most peopledon't realize that Dozens of studies have found INCREASED risk of healthproblems from taking supplements.
Folic AcidI want to be very clear with this one, folic acid isa synthetically produced 'vitamin'. FOLATE is a naturally occuring vitamin compound found in green leafyvegetables and is ABUNDANT in a variety of vegetables.   We need folate and we know that in pregnancyit is critically important for preventing neural tube defects and cleft palate,however we have NO need for folic acid!
Are there risks to taking folic acid in pregnancy?
Absolutely!  Astudy published in the British Medical Journal in the December 2004 issue foundthat supplementation with folic acid increased the risk of death by 21-42% anddoubled a woman's risk of breast cancer. This study included 3487 women utilizing a trial of folic acidsupplementation, as the study unfolded researchers found higher rate of deathand cancer among women taking folic acid in about .2mg vs. 5mg. per day.
Not convinced?
Another study called the Folate After CoronaryIntervention Trial, which was conducted on 636 heart patients after thepatients had undergone placement of stents. The study reviewed health after six months of supplementation with folicacid.  The patients taking the folic acidhad significantly MORE narrowing of the arteries, increased closure of thearteries, and more major cardiac events compared to those on a placebo.
How do you ensure adequate Folate intake?
EASY!!  Greensmoothies, salads, lots of leafy green vegetables, legumes and some wholegrains are an excellent source as well!  1 Med. baked potato............12%1 cup raw spinach.................16%1 cup Romaine Lettuce.........15%1 c. broccoli...........................14%1 cup. garbanzo beans..........71%1 cup black beans...................64%1 cup quinoa cooked...............19%
6) Lange H.   FolateAfter Coronary Intervention Trial” (FACIT). http://www.accitalia.it/congress_centre/meeting_int/detail.asp?acr_trial=FACITLange H. The folate after coronary intervention trial (FACIT).Scientific presentation at the 52nd Annual Scientific Sessions of the AmericanCollege of Cardiology, Chicago, March 30th, 2003. 7)  Schnyder G, Roffi M, Flammer Y, et al.Effects of homocysteine-lowering therapy on restenosis after percutaneouscoronary intervention for narrowings in small coronary arteries. Am J Cardiol2003; 91:1265-1269.8) LifeExtension: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/mar2005_report_folic_01.htm?source=Google&key=folic_acid_supplements&WT.srch=1

What about Vitamin A?
There havebeen some organizations promoting the idea that we need preformed vitaminA.  This is absolutely not true,  the human liver cannot detoxify vitamin A andtherefore excess intake of preformed vitamin A can cause toxicity.  Are there risks to vitamin A toxicity....YES!
#1 Vitamin Atoxicity in pregnancy can cause birth defects! 
BottoLD et al. Epidemiology. 2001 Sep;12(5):491-6.
2. Research has found that supplemental vitamin A cancause calcium loss in the urine and contribute to osteoporosis.  MelhusH et al. Ann Intern Med. 1998 Nov 15;129(10):770-8.
3. A meta-analysis published in the cochrane database found increasedmortality in individuals taking Vitamin A, beta-carotene or vitamin E.  BjelakovicG et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Apr 16;(2):CD007176.
The TRUTH about vitamin A, our bodies convertbeta-carotene into Vitamin A as needed! No, not ALL beta-carotene consumed is converted, we do NOT want the bodyto do that.  The body regulates theamount of vitamin A to prevent toxicity as well as prevent deficiency.  Therefore, if I consume say 8 oz. of carrotjuice which contains a lot of beta-carotene, but my body has enough vitamin Aalready, guess what?  It is NOT going toconvert it because I don't need it!!!  People misunderstand the fact that the body doesn'tconvert regular amounts of beta-carotene into vitamin A.  They believe that because at timesbeta-carotene conversion is low, this means inadequate!  This is absolutely false, the body is NOTgoing to cause itself to be deficient when sufficient beta-carotene isavailable in the diet, nor is it going to cause toxicity.  The body is highly intelligent and we mustrespect this!
Howdo you obtain enough vitamin A?
Consume lots of yellow and orange vegetables and fruits!
1 c. cubed cantaloupe.........................232%10 baby carrots.................................591%1 c. green leaf lettuce........................114%1 c. spinach........................................121%1 c. watermelon diced ........................37%1 c. butternut squash cubed................980%
Okay, do you see how this is NOT hard!  You simply eat a wide variety of fruits,vegetables, whole grains and legumes and you obtain MORE than enough nutrition!  No study has EVER found toxicity or healthproblems from consuming too much beta-carotene in foods, other than a case of anorange hue to the skin which is completely harmless at amounts of carrot juice requires ENORMOUS.
Ironsupplementation
Iron is extremely important in the body,  it is necessary to make the oxygen carryingproteins hemoglobin and myoglobin.   However, iron can also be toxic! 
A study conducted by the Department of Medicine,University of Western Ontario in Canada found that an overload of iron in thebody can produce many symptoms that may include, frequent infections, joinpain, hip pain, gastric pain, elevated liver enzymes, cessation ofmenstruation, hair loss and heart fluttering. 
Adams PC, et al.The relationship between iron overload, clinical symptoms and age in 410persons with genetic hemochromatosis. Hepatology 1997;25:162-6
A study published in Diabetes Care in 2007 evaluatedwomen with type II diabetes from 1980 through 2000 with 550 documented cases ofcoronary heart disease.  Women who hadthe highest level of heme-iron intake from red meat had  an increased risk of coronary heart diseasecompared to those with the lowest intake.  Researchers concluded that higher intake of heme-iron increase the riskof heart disease in patients with type II diabetes.  
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17192341
According to a Cochrane Review excess ironsupplementation in pregnancy, or daily iron supplementation leading to highhemoglobin concentrations increased the risk of premature birth and low birth weightbabies.  It was recommended that tominimize symptoms of constipation, nausea and iron overload women supplementintermittently.  http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD009997/intermittent-regimens-of-iron-supplementation-during-pregnancy
Here again we deal with the false idea that we need toeat foods that have the highest absorption rate of iron.  This is NOT the case.  The body will regulate absorption accordingto need.  Consuming heme-iron which isonly found in red meat, chicken contains VERY little iron.  This iron CANNOT be regulated by the body andtherefore is absorbed regardless of need. Whereas in plant-based foods, non-heme iron is heavily regulated basedon iron status in the individual.  Thereare also other regulating factors such as phytic-acid, fiber and othernutrients in foods that help regulate absorption and prevent overload.  Phytic acid and fiber are NOT the enemy,phytic acid has POTENT cancer fighting properties, you can read about that inmy article on phytic acid HERE!.  Fiberalso plays a vital role in health and regulating mineral uptake is one of them.
Non-heme iron is the perfect form of iron for the humanbody, it can easily be regulated and absorbed as needed.  Can anemia develop?  Yes.  But it develops in individuals on ALL typesof diets, generally there are other factors at play rather than diet including: excessive exercise, heavy menstrual bleeding, ulcers, digestive problems, h.pylori, celiac disease, etc....
Howdo you ensure adequate Iron from Diet?
1 c. cooked spinach.......................36%1 c. lentils.......................................37%1 c. black beans.............................20%1 large baked potato......................18%1 c. raw peas.................................12%1 c. refried beans...........................21%1 c. Chard.......................................22%1/4 block tofu..................................22%1 c. tempeh......................................25%2 Tb. molasses.................................10%1 c. oatmeal........................10%

**Whatif I do become Anemic and need an iron supplement?
I recommend taking Floradix, a plant based iron that isNOT constipating and will NOT cause iron overload.

VitaminD Supplementation
Vitamin D is actually a hormone, not technically avitamin.  It is produced by the body inresponse to exposure of sunlight on the skin. In supplement form there are two types, D2 [ergocalciferol] and D3[cholecalciferol] Here we have the same idea that because something isgood, or the body needs it, more equals better! This is absolutely not true. Vitamin D's main function is to maintain blood levels of calcium andphosphorus.  Excess 
vitamin D accordingto the Mayo Clinic can cause serious side effects:

"Excess vitamin D intake may increase the risk of falls orfractures. Other potential adverse effects include increased risk of urinarytract infections, decreased appetite, weight loss, an elevated internationalnormalized ratio, hypercalcemia (increased calcium in the blood),hypercalciuria (increased calcium in the urine), hypervitaminosis D (high bloodlevels of vitamin D), elevated creatinine levels, gastrointestinal complaints,and increased cancer risk.Vitamin D toxicity can result from regular excess intake of thisvitamin and may lead to hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, and excess bone loss.Individuals at particular risk include those with hyperparathyroidism(overactive parathyroids), kidney disease, sarcoidosis, tuberculosis, orhistoplasmosis (examples of immune disorders). Chronic hypercalcemia may leadto serious or even life-threatening complications and should be managed by aphysician. Early symptoms of hypercalcemia may include nausea, vomiting, andanorexia (appetite or weight loss), followed by polyuria (excess urination),polydipsia (excess thirst), weakness, fatigue, somnolence, headache, dry mouth,a metallic taste, vertigo (dizziness), tinnitus (ear ringing), and ataxia(unsteadiness). Kidney function may become impaired, and metastaticcalcifications (calcium deposition in organs throughout the body) may occur,particularly affecting the kidneys."
According to the Cochrane Review, Vitamin D supplementation didNOT improve bone density in healthy children in any location including the hip,lumbar spine, forearm or in the body as a whole.  http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD006944/vitamin-d-for-improving-bone-density-in-childrenOkay, so do we ALL need to take vitamin Dsupplements in the D3 form that are more highly absorbed [as some claim].  No, we do not.  IF, and only if you are truly deficient invitamin D do you really need to take any supplement of vitamin D and if you dotake D2 you may need a higher dose than if you took D3 but it really isn't abig deal in that regard.

Vitamin D production by the skin in response to sunexposure operates on a feedback loop that prevents toxicity.  We need these feedback loops and 
checks andbalances in the body in order to prevent toxicity.

Vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol is what is produced by theskin when exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D2 is produced by plants, namelymushrooms that are exposed to sunlight for 5-15 minutes produce high amounts ofvitamin D2.Technically D2 is not produced or found in the human bodynormally, however, it is converted in the body into the active forms, however,it's biological activity is about one third that of D3.

Okay, so enough of all the technical stuff, how do youobtain enough vitamin D3?   It is a goodidea to first get a blood test to determine if you even have any reason to beconcerned about your vitamin D levels.

Once you determine that you do in fact need a supplement,if you live in a climate where you can get outside even in the summer months,get outside more often!  Do not putsunscreen on until you have been in the sun for at least 7 minutes for verylight skin and up to 30 minutes for the darkest skin.    While you are striving to change your habits, you mustdecide if you want to try to bring up your D levels with D2 [vegetable source]or D3 [animal source].  I'm not going togo into an argument about which you should take as I think it is a personalchoice but make sure you determine your personal need for a supplement first.

Plantbased diets and B12
This is where the meat heads really try to discredit thathumans are physiologically herbivores and they state the vegan diet is notnatural to humans.  This is NOT the case!

We do not live in the same world we once did.  B12 is produced by bacteria, in ourgermophobic, bacteriaphobic society we have completely destroyed any abilitythe body has to obtain B12 from our natural diet.
  Research on Iranian villagerswith very little animal product intake, dairy maybe once per week and meatintake at once per month had normal B12 levels, no megaloblastic anemia amongthem and the average B12 level was 411pg.ml which is excellent consideringtheir diet.  The authors speculated thatthese remarkable results may be due to the fact that their diet is low inprotein allowing B12 producing bacteria to ascend into the ileum where it couldbe absorbed, they lived among farm animals and other areas with feces and othercontamination which could contribute to B12 levels. http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/int#fn8

We do not live in a natural environment like the Iranianvillagers, we live in a world of hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap,pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chlorinated water, antibiotics, and thelist goes on and on and on!   In thissituation, there is no way to ensure that our own intestinal flora is capableof producing adequate B12, some individuals do not develop deficiency even on avegan diet, but some do and deficiency of B12 can cause a host of healthproblems.

I DOrecommend taking a B12 supplement!

Itabsolutely MUST be in the methylcobalamin Form!!!!

This is the only vitamin or mineral supplement that I would recommend to everyone,INCLUDING meat eaters.




Methylcbalamin can be more expensive this one at amazon is a great value and is a good quality.
Okay, basically the moral of the story is DO NOT indiscriminatelytake vitamin or mineral supplements!  Ifyou really want to take something to help you ensure adequate levels Irecommend a couple of 100% whole foods to help:
Vitamineral green



In 2 Tb. of Vitamineral greenCalories........89Protein...........9gIron............. 20mg of plant based iron!!  This is potent, whole food, organic nutrition!and MUCH MORE!!!!
Dr. Christophers Vital Herbs



Vitamin and Mineral formula, ingredients: Jurassic Green Powder (Certified Organic flash-dried juice powder from Alfalfa, Barley & Kamut), Dandelion, Kelp, Purple Dulse, Spirulina, Irish Moss, Rose Hips, Beet Root, Nutritional Yeast, Cayenne Pepper, Blue Violet, Oatstraw, Carrot & Ginger Root. All encapsulated products are in a pure 100% vegetable based capsule. 
A synergistic blend of popular whole nutritional food for the body. Take with the Jurassic Green Powder. May be used as often as needed. If sensitive to this formula, it may be taken with meals or your favorite juice.
Both are completely safe for all stages of life fromweaning, childhood, pregnancy, breastfeeding, etc....
My biggest recommendation is GET YOUR NUTRIENTS FROM FOOD 
FIRST!

Green smoothies are an EXCELLENT way to do this, as anexample:
*Sweet BerryBlast Smoothie1  c. water1 c. frozen mixed berries1 1/2 c. Swiss chard1 frozen banana1/2 c. cucumber1 rib celery4 dates3 drops vanilla cream sweet leafstevia1 Tb. flax meal

Nutritionbreakdown for the Sweet Berry Blast Breakfast Smoothie:

Calories	290
Protein	6g
Fiber	50% daily value
Omega 3's	153%
Vit. A	163%
Folate	23%
B1	23%
B2	26%
B3	14%
B5	25%
B6	55%
Vit. C	86%
Vit. E	13%
Vit. K	546%
Calcium	11%
Iron	17%
Zinc	16%
Magnesium	46%
Manganese	84%
Potassium	26%

All that nutrition in one simple smoothie!  That is a REAL vitamin or mineral supplementwith all the phytonutrients and co-factors your body needs to optimal healthand vitality. 

***If you want to boost the calcium levels in any smoothie....add1 Tb. sesame seeds and add another 10% of your daily value!

My Long Journey to Health and Healing

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I want to tell you the story about my journey to health and healing!

Here is just a random, non-professional picture of me now finally healthy after all the health problems I have faced over the years.....join me as I take you through my health journey.

I have had this blog since 2008 and in the beginning a just posted pictures of the recipes I had been creating.  Sure they looked delicious but who wants to just LOOK at delicious food, I sure don't!  As time went on I decided to share my recipes with my blog readers and so I started posting the recipes and at times I would tell little stories about my kids or my family but I really kept to just posting recipes thinking that is what my readers would want most.
The other day I had an epiphany, a moment of inspiration, and I realized there was a VERY important part that my blog was missing......my story!


I want to make it clear that telling my story is hard for me, this has been an emotional roller coaster since I was 10 years old and I've wanted to just forget, but I realize that my story may help others and so I share this deeply personal story with you.
I've always wanted to connect with my readers and I thought the best way to do so was through posting delicious, yummy, healthy recipes!  The way to a mans heart is through his stomach and the way to a woman's heart is through chocolate......right?     I realize I was wrong.

I believe I have figured out what has been missing from my blog.......ME!
Sure I post delicious recipes but I'm sure many people passing through my blog think, so what?    It's not harsh, it's the truth.  Who cares, there are a MILLION and one recipe blogs out there, what makes mine any different than any other blog out there....right now, nothing.
Guess what, there is a wonderful story behind this blog and in fact, a continuing story behind this blog that I have never shared with my readers and it is a shame because my story could help so many people.   Part of the reason I haven't shared my story is that I was embarrassed to admit that before changing my diet I had let my health and weight get SO out of control.  Well, I believe my story could help many people striving to improve their own health and so I want to share it with you.

Go get a nice cup of iced lemon balm tea, sit back and  enjoy because my story is long......but well worth reading!


I want to start at the beginning, I will make it as short as possible but I also want to be thorough.  Rewind to the summer of 1987, I was 10 years old....probably shouldn't admit that as it ages me but that's the truth.


I was the milk guzzling queen of the world...trust me I should have won a world record for milk guzzling!






You may wonder why that is important, but it is.   I did not drink water, juice, soda pop or anything else, I drank milk.  When I came in from a hot day outside I didn't even bother getting a cup I just guzzled right from the carton.   I honestly drank a lot of milk, thank goodness mom didn't catch me drinking from the carton very often :-P

What I didn't realize at the tender age of 10 was that dairy products are the NUMBER ONE source of bioactive estrogens in the Western diet!  GASP!

I'm sure you are shaking your head, no, soy is.  NOPE, not so.  Does soy have the same reproductive system as you do?  No it does not, phytoestrogens are not what your body produces, there are three types of estrogens in the human body:  estrone, estradiol, and estriol.  The predominant estrogen in the human body is estradiol, this is the one with the most biologic activity before menopause and after menopause it becomes estrone.  Estradiol is 80 times more powerful than estriol.  Guess what cows milk contains:
estrone and estradiol!  Studies have shown that both raw organic and conventional milk have the same levels of estrone and estradiol in them.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20494161

Please understand that the source cited above is from the American Dairy Science Association so of course they are going to downplay the significance of this saying the levels of estrogens in milk are much less than the body produces, well of course they are, but they absolutely have a powerful effect on our  own hormonal balance.  We are NOT meant to consume any animal hormones and this occurs even in raw, organic milk.

Does this help you understand why the hormones naturally ocurring in milk are much MORE damaging that a phytoestrogen?  Estrogens in milk are the exact same as those produced in your body!!!  Phytoestrogens are NOT!!!

Okay, so back to my milk guzzling story....... Here I am 10 years old and quenching my thirst with milk.  Little did I know that in September of 1987 as I barely entered 5th grade I would experience menarche or better known as having my first period.

I cannot describe to you how absolutely traumatic it is to be 10 years old, in 5th grade and be going through puberty.  I was traumatized by this and it took me decades to come to terms with womanhood because of this along with a few other traumatic experiences in my life.  I knew what it was, I just was not mature enough to emotionally handle it.  So of course they have the ridiculous maturation program in public school, don't even get me started on that!  It was early in the year and my mom came in to have 'the talk' before the program and I was so upset I yelled at her to GET OUT OF MY ROOM!

She was shocked and I said I already had my period I don't need some stupid program to tell me about it, get out!  My mom was shocked.  I ended up calming down but I was so uncomfortable, if there had been a cliff I would have jumped off of it right then and there.

Suffering through that maturation program was humiliating beyond belief.  The boys were making raunchy jokes, teasing us and it was literally like I had been forced into an emotional torture chamber as I sat there listening to this absolutely horrific explanation of menstruation and an onslaught of inexcusable behavior by 10 year old boys while I was sitting there on the third day of my first period.

I won't get into how much I HATE the maturation program, but I will say menarche should be celebrated as the beginning of fertility and a woman's miraculous power of creation, she literally shares with God in the power of creation and bringing children into this world.  Instead it is belittled in some ridiculous medical movie about physiology and the inconvenience of it all and then they hand you a sanitary napkin and send you on your way.

Well, lucky for me.....or so I thought.  I didn't have another period for 9 months.  My mom talked to a pediatrician who said this was normal for girls who started menstruation so young.  Yeah, like a man would have any clue about what is normal in a female body.

The problem was I was experiencing things that were not normal, through my 5th grade year I started to have the beginning symptoms of PCOS, irregular periods, thicker than normal hair growth on legs, arms and finer but still unusual growth elsewhere, slow metabolism, and other symptoms.  No one had even heard of PCOS at this time in 1987 and so I was just left with feeling like something was wrong with me.

I struggled with this whole being a woman thing.  Boys in school who are so improperly socialized and are never taught respect or to be polite, courteous and kind acted like savages toward me.  Flipping my bra, trying to look  under my dress and all the while I cried, struggled, and suffered every day.

As the years went by I found that my periods came every 6 months to 3 years and they were often painless and scanty.  My friends always said I was lucky, but for some reason I didn't feel so lucky.  My friends always commented on my beautiful porcelain skin and how pretty I was.  I didn't feel pretty but it did make me feel better sometimes.  Well at 13 that procelain skin started to turn into a cystic acne/scaring nightmare!


Within months my beautiful skin had turned into what I described as something akin to freddy kruger or the phantom from the phantom of the opera.  Older women would always say, you are so pretty why do you wear so much make up!  I wanted to SCREAM at them!!!  Sometimes I would say, without makeup I could scare small children.  I realize now it probably wasn't that bad, but when you are a teenager, everything is a HUGE deal.

People would laugh and brush it off but inside I really honestly felt that way, I felt like my bare, scarred, and acne covered face would scare anyone if they saw it.  

I struggled with severe back pain sometimes and at first we thought it was due to a low grade kidney infection the Dr. found but now I realize at times the cysts on my ovaries would burst and it HURT!  Luckily I have a pretty high pain tolerance but honestly it was aweful!

I also noticed that even though I was a healthy thin weight all through my life I seemed to have higher body fat than all the other girls.  I never looked lean and fit no matter how skinny I got, there was always this layer of fat over my abdomen and my hips and I wished I could look like the models on magazines more than anything but even when I wore a size 2 jean I still had a higher body fat percentage and you still couldn't even see an inkling of my abs even at a size 1 pant size!  I know you probably won't believe me but that is part of the PCOS beast!

The older I got, the more hair showed up in odd places, it was fine but it was there, I cried, I waxed, I bleached, I shaved and cried some more.

If you are a PCOS sufferer you will know what I mean.

By the time I was 18 I was devastated by the horrid symptoms caused by PCOS and low thyroid!  The acne, the scarring, the excess fat around the middle, the scanty periods, the fatigue, lethargy, depression, anxiety!  It is enough to drive an 18 year old girl crazy and I will tell you I struggled.

I didn't realize that most of my life I had a low functioning thyroid as well, just to add insult to injury in all my suffering.

My parents thought I was lazy, I wasn't lazy I was TIRED and lethargic from all the imbalances and health problems raging inside of me that no one knew about!


I was married one month before I turned 20.

I know, young!  I didn't think I was so young then but now I look at 20 year olds and think how did I even know what marriage was back then.  But, I married my high school sweetheart and I wouldn't change a thing about it!

I remember women at work asking me about a premarital exam.  A premarital WHAT???  They are going to put what, where..............why?  No way!  Not happening.  But you HAVE to get on birth control.  No I don't!  Even though at the time I never could have dreamed the nightmare that birth control pills are, or how many lies surround them I knew I didn't need it.

I got married without any doctor visit.... crazy how you don't need to see a doctor to be married isn't it.   It works out JUST FINE!

I hadn't had a period in 2 years at this point so I knew getting pregnant was not even a question and it wasn't.   My in laws were upset with me but the reality is DON"T JUDGE WHAT YO DON"T KNOW~!

I knew my body and as many warnings as they gave me I did not get pregnant.  After about a year of marriage with still no period I started to get concerned, I wasn't ready for a baby yet but I knew that this had been an issue since I was 10 years old and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to just get pregnant easily.....so I went to my first OB visit.  I absolutely insisted on a woman so I drove over an hour to the appt.

This office was SO busy I waited over an hour just to get in to a room!  A nurse handed me a prescription for progesterone for 5 days or so to bring on a period then clomid and some temperature charts and sent me on my way.  I had no idea what I was doing but I took what I was given the progesterone caused a period, took the clomid then 30 days later.....nothing happened and no period came....

I called the office again and again and again......no appointments, no answers.  So I gave up.

I waited 6 months for a new female doctor that was coming to a different office.  In the mean time I did temperature charts.  When I FINALLY got in to see her she was very nice but took one look at my three charts and said you have not ovulated.

I was given the same thing as the last Drs. office with better instructions, but this time she said we'll test your progesterone to see if you ovulated to no more charting!

I did as instructed, took 50mg. clomid on days 5-9 and then waited

on CD 21 or so when I should be 7dpo progesterone was tested......

If you ovulated it should be above 15ng/ml

Mine was aweful at .4ng/ml  
yes that is POINT 4.

Well, not only did I not ovulate my progesterone level was BARELY even detectable!  The doctor acted surprised but at the same time acted like she didn't know how to handle this.  Well, I didnt' ovulate so I was given progesterone to take for 10 days and then clomid again.....only this time it was 100mg

It was the same thing over again.....take pills and wait!  I am not a patient person so this was NOT easy for me.

CD21 progesterone test again........same results~ no ovulation

The doctor then explained that as an OB she could not prescribe me any more than 150mg of clomid, if that doesn't work I needed to go see a reproductive specialist and look at injections and other methods.  I went home and cried!

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME????


We couldn't afford infertility treatments, we had only been married 2 years by this time and hubby was in school full time.     At this point the Dr. notified me that I had cysts on my ovaries but we had no idea if it was from the clomid or something else.  Obviously we can see where this is going.....PCOS diagnosis down the line.

Well, I was blessed because this last shot I had at infertility treatment worked 150mg one time and I was pregnant!

This was a great blessing for me at the time.  9 months later I had a baby girl 4 lbs. 13 oz.!!  Yes, it was 9 months later at 36 weeks.  Remember pregnancy is technically 10 months not 9.  But that is another story for another day.

During my pregnancy our main form of entertainment was going out to eat.  I knew you gained weight when you were pregnant so no amount of weight gain at this time even phased me.   I ate and ate and ate some more.  Once when my Dr. was unavailable I saw one of the midwives and she really let me have it because I had gained 7 pound in one week!


Silly me, I thought ALL that weight would just fall off as soon as the baby was born!!!!

Boy was I surprised to find out that the 42 pounds I gained, on top of the 20 before pregnancy = OBESE!!!!


Yep, my BMI about 6 weeks postpartum was 31!


I was shocked, I wore about a size 16, I had never worn any larger than a 4 in my life!  I cannot tell you how  much I cried.  When my daughter was 3 months old we decided to get life insurance and that required blood tests.  I was 22 years old at the time and my cholesterol was considerably above 200!


I had to pay a higher life insurance premium because I was considered a risk!  At 22 years old!   Well, we later discovered on yet another emergency room visit for severe pain that I had gallstones, not only that but they were stuck in the bile duct causing severely elevated liver and pancreatic enzymes so I was hospitalized until surgery could be performed.  It was hard on me, I was also only allowed to eat clear liquids and broths until surgery to prevent any further contractions of the gallbladder.  Boy I wish I had known what I was doing to my health through my terrible diet back then and prevented this horrible, life changing surgery.

After surgery I continued on a strict exercise routine and a diet, my main diet was NO sugar and very little red meat.  I thought that was healthy.........yes I'm blushing

This caused a cascade of events, I lost most of the weight and retuned to a size 4 pant size by April, Surgery had been in February I believe.  Unfortunately I struggled severely with fatigue, lethargy and slurred speech but was okay otherwise....if you can call that okay.

One day something just SNAPPED, I had horrible joint pain, terrible diarrhea, stomach pain that caused me to double over and I thought I would literally die, my speech was very slurred, I could not think clearly, I could hardly lift my arms as they felt like 20 pound weights and I lost so much weight over the course of the next month or so I ended up at 89 pounds!!!!


I was so very, very ill.  We went from Doctor to doctor and they all just acted like I was some crazy lady, one even accused me of anorexia.   An internal medicine doctor did find one piece of the puzzle, I had a positive ANA test, or anti-nuclear antibodies.  This indicated some auto-immune disease but they could not put a finger on exactly what it might be.

My thyroid was tested and found to be low/normal but because of my symptoms, including tons of hair loss I was given one month of synthroid which did help with the fatigue and joint pain and hair loss but after the first month the prescription was not renewed and I sank back into pain, fatigue and suffering again.

I researched online and thought I may have celiac. The GI doc begrudgingly agreed to do a biopsy, took one sample, said it was fine, no celiac!  I didn't believe him and I was sick of paying out money to these lunatics who seemed to have very little knowledge and even less caring for me.

I went gluten free anyway and within about 6 weeks I gained 7 pounds!  I kept with the diet because it seemed to be helping me.  I later found that I do have the two celiac genes HLA-DQ2 and HLADQ8.  I also found that I had other markers of celiac so I continued on my gluten free diet.  My health improved to back where it was when I was a teenager but I can't say it was great.  I never realized how much fatigue I suffered all my life until I REALLY Changed my diet.
In the Fall of 2004 I started my education in Natural Health Science with Clayton College of Natural Health. This school is not real popular in the mainstream because it is 100% focused on natural health.  I learned SO much.  I started noticing in my 1000 page Nutrition textbook that fruits and vegetables had all kinds of phytochemicals and nutrients that were associated with lower risk of just about EVERYTHING!!!
Yet, meat had protein, but as also associated with many diseases and didn't really have a very good nutritional profile.  No study ever said eat meat and prevent X chronic disease!!!
This was the beginning of my understanding of nutrition!  But even as I started switching to organic foods and eating eggs, dairy and chicken more and less red meat I still would have periods of days where I couldn't get out of bed, my legs would buckle out from under me when I walked, my eyes would twitch back and forth, my limbs felt like dead weight, I still struggled with my health and my fertility was still non-existent.  I didn't have a period for three years as I studied health with Clayton College.  
 I decided to get off of dairy products after learning about the NATURALLY occuring hormones in milk and   I also decided to 'try' making vegetarian meals and the next thing I knew I had a period within about 30 days of these small changes!  This inspired me so I ordered a 'Vegetarian kit' off some website that offered it for free.  When it came in the mail I was so excited! I had never dreamed of being a vegetarian before, the thought made me cringe, it is only for people who like to walk half naked in the streets protesting right????  Not really but that is the image for a lot of people.
Well, I popped in the accompanying DVD with excitement as I thought I was going to get a lesson in vegetarian cooking, nutrition information and the like.  Boy was I in for a surprise, it was footage of slaughterhouses, interviews with farmers as they arrogantly abused animals in front of a camera and laughed, chickens crammed in cages, calves crying for their mothers or lying dead in the middle of a barn........I had to turn it off as I as crying and could not handle all the violence and bloodshed.
Regardless of whether that animal lived in a pasture or a feedlot doesn't matter violence and bloodshed and consumption of their flesh is the end result every time!  I could not in good conscience participate in this violence, I had been disconnected from the reality of the pick, packaged 'food' called chicken and the beautiful images of chickens roaming around a barn.  Now I could no longer disassociate from the reality.  
We had owned our own chickens, and raised them 'organically' and my dad and husband slaughtered them while I sat in the house disconnected from the violence and bloodshed that ocurred outside my home.  I could no longer participate in this awful violence.  
I found a community education class on raw foods and decided to take it to learn more about nutrition.  This was an amazing class and confirmed all of my basic understanding about nutrition.  It was 4 weeks long and I learned so much.  I came home, threw out all the animal based foods and we were in business.  I have NEVER had a return of my debilitating fatigue, heavy limbs, legs giving out underneath me, eyes twitching or any other symptom I once had!  
My cycles started to regulate at about 35-45 days, not perfect but a far cry from the 9 months to 3 years they had been my whole life before!  
I remained on the Raw Food Journey for 2 years
I do have a belief in raw foods, but I also have to point out the fallacies and lies touted by raw foodists as these lies caused more minor health challenges for me, but none the less, made my journey more difficult.  These lies also cause MANY people to leave plant based eating and that to me is a tragedy on many levels.
Raw Food Myths

• It doesn't matter how much fat you eat as long as it is raw you won't gain weight
• As long as what you eat is raw it is healthy
• Nuts and seeds are protein dominant foods
• As long as the sweetener is raw it is healthy

There are so many other lies but lets just start with these:

It is absolutely NOT true that RAW oils, nuts, and seeds won't cause you to gain weight! Unless your body defies the law  of thermodynamics you WILL gain weight if you eat them in excess raw or not!  Your body burns X amount of calories per day, you exceed that, you gain weight....period.
Fat at 9 calories per gram vs. carbohydrate or protein at 4 calories per gram is MUCH more likely to lead to excess calorie consumption.  This is common sense people.
I know people think that through the 80's and 90's the low fat fad caused a decrease in fat consumption....this is NOT true!  


As you can see fat consumption has NOT decreased, it has steadily increased and YES this has led to weight gain.


I agree that high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners play a role but as you can see fat has been increasing and so have our waistlines and fat consumption is absolutely part of the problem!  If  you notice caloric sweeteners did not increase a whole lot, not in comparison to added fats and oils.

When was the last time you complained about the CARBOHYDRATES on your hips!!!


Let me just step out on a limb here and guess that you have probably never complained about carbohydrates on your hips.  De novo lipogenesis is the process by which carbohydrates are converted into fat for storage and it burns 30% of the calories in carbohydrates just to convert them.  Take home message Carbohydrates are not the problem.



Okay so back to my raw foods story!  Overall I felt great, had a complete reversal of just about every health problem I had, except I still had cysts on my ovaries at this point, the reason, excess consumption of fats and oils in combination is loads of RAW agave and other so called healthy sweeteners!

I started out BEFORE being raw at a size 2 around 96 pounds which is a normal weight for my 4' 11" frame.

In the beginning I lived on mostly fruit and vegetables and a little nuts for variety but I did fine until I learned how to cook gourmet raw food and POURED on the raw dressings is 1 1/2 c. of refined, pure fat olive oil in the dressings.  No I didn't use the whole 1 1/4 c. on a salad but I like my salads drenched.

I gained 12 pounds in total and could not figure out what in the world was going on, I wasn't technically overweight at this point but if you are a woman you can imagine how upset I was.

This whole idea that you can consume ALL the fat you want and lose weight was NOT working for me.

I found Dr. McDougall's books as I tried to find a solution to my weight problem and this is where I found my answers.  I quit the raw lifestyle cold turkey and started on a starch based diet, very little nuts no oils and that excess weight fell off in no time!

I had no decrease in energy, no problems going into eating grains, but the weight loss was phenomenal and I felt more balanced.

I have nothing against a raw food diet, I think they can be very healthful but the reliance on nuts, seeds and oils for calories is NOT healthy!

People who say oils and fats are healthy for you don't know a whole lot!




Lets look at the nutrition breakdown for 2 Tb. coconut oil


Calories.....................234
Protein..........................0
Fat..............................27.2g
Vitamins.....................0
Minerals....................0
Omega 3's.................0
Omega 6's..................4%


Okay so here we have 234 calories with HOW MANY ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS.....practically NONE!  we get a measily 4% daily value of essential omega 6's and the rest of the fats in coconut oil are completely non-essential!  Sure they may have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties but the point is THEY ARE NOT ESSENTIAL!

That is what I call empty calorie, refined junk food at its finest!


Sorry but I have not fallen for the coconut oil miracle hype, this stuff is non-nutritive and not healthy regardless of what you think about its role in heart disease or any other health issue nutritionally it is ridiculous!

Nuts and Seeds are Protein Dominant Foods


In short, NO THEY ARE NOT!!!

Lets look at some popular nuts used in raw foods:

1 oz. Cashews
Calories................156
Protein...............5.2g
Fat.......................12.4g


That would be a fat dominant food:  Cashews get 83% of calories from FAT!!!!

It varies from nut to nut but generally they are about 75-90% fat depending on the type of nut!  They are high in calories but should not be used as a staple in any diet.

Nuts and seeds can compliment a healthy diet but absolutely SHOULD not be a staple. 
What I mean by staple is where you get a good percentage of your calories.

I have remained on a whole foods plant based diet and most of my health issues of disappeared and have NOT returned.........


However, I did get a little lazy and added gluten back into my diet for several years and the low thyroid issues showed up slowly again, hair falling out, some fatigue, SLOW Metabolism.

I removed the gluten and voila those symptoms have started to decrease although this time it has taken some added things to help such as maca.

The last health issue I continue to battle......................PCOS


Despite the fact that I DO NOT have:  High blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, or insulin resistance I still have annovulatory cycles and cysts on my ovaries as well as some lingering symptoms of PCOS.


My health stats as of my last check:


Blood pressure......................100/68
Total cholesterol....................155
Triglycerides......................65
Fasting Blood glucose..............62




My numbers are all fine, and yet, I still have this lasting health issue and I cannot figure out why!
This is the last health issue I have yet to resolve, although I am committed to CURING myself.  Not managing it, not AVOIDING Carbs to avoid the problem, but CURING IT!

I am developing a program for myself to see if I can beat PCOS, not manage it, CURE IT!!!!!


I hope you will join me and support me in this journey toward health and I hope that hearing my story of healing will help inspire others.



In Health,

Tandi Hartle

Healing the Thyroid and Miso Sesame Dressing

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Healing the Thyroid and my Amazing Miso Sesame Dressing Recipe!


I have low/normal thyroid function, at times I seem to be just fine and other times my hair falls out, my energy levels are lower and I gain a few pounds.  It isn't really pronounced at this point, I don't have severe symptoms but I can certainly tell the difference.  Basically at the point I am at I just want to prevent my thyroid from entering the clinically low stage.  I have been researching ways to heal the thyroid and improve thyroid function naturally.


I do want to point out that there are TONS of articles on healing hypothyroid and these articles promote everything from taking kelp to standing on your head....okay maybe I made up the last one, but you get my point.  I read articles that are well written and yet, when I reach the bottom no sources are cited to back up the claims being made.  This is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves!  If you are going to make a claim you need to provide sound proof that what you are claiming is TRUE!


Then I see website owners who sell particular products, I won't name any names here, and they claim that these products help with 'weight loss' and 'boost thyroid' but when you get into the scientific literature the research on this is scanty at best and has only been conducted on animals with pretty non-significant effects anyway. 


I am very interested in ways I can improve my own thyroid function but I ABSOLUTELY will not spend my money on ANYTHING that is just promoted without citing some legitimate and convincing reason why it helps the thyroid or how it helps the thyroid.  


There are a few recommendations out there that do have some merit, one of them being, a gluten free diet.


Gluten Free Diet for Hypothyroid?


Studies have found that celiac disease and auto-immune thyroiditis have a common genetic predisposition, the genes HLA-DQ2 and DQ8, as well as the gene encoding cytotoxic T-lymphocute associted antigen-4 or CTLA-4.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2111403/
This is one reason why I recommend a  gluten free diet to anyone who has auto-immune thyroid disease.  If you have symptoms of low thyroid function or have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism it is a good idea to start with a gluten free diet.  I will go into more detail about the reasoning behind the gluten free diet for hypothyroid as I have time to put together the research and information but I think it is important to mention in this quick article that a gluten free diet can prove to be quite beneficial.  However, there are other dietary claims being made about thyroid that are NOT true.....cruciferous vegetables being one of them.
What about Cruciferous Vegetables?


This is one that absolutely drives me CRAZY, cruciferous vegetables DO NOT cause hypothyroid and they do not contribute to it either.   The ONLY studies linking cruciferous vegetables to hypothyroid was conducted on animals and they used VERY HIGH amounts of cabbage and turnips.  The problem with this is, in a normal diet this very high intake would probably never even occur.  
According to the Linus Pauling Institute:  "Increased exposure to thiocyanate ions from cruciferous vegetable consumption or, more commonly, from cigarette smoking, does not appear to increase the risk of hypothyroidism unless accompanied by iodine deficiency. One study in humans found that the consumption of 150 g/day (5 oz/day) of cooked Brussels sprouts for four weeks had no adverse effects on thyroid function(70)."
**The take home message here is that cruciferous vegetables DO NOT increase the risk of hypothyroidism unless you have an iodine deficiency!

I am researching the evidence available on
 hypothyroidism

There are as many hypothyroidism articles and 'cures' out there as there are patients with hypothyroidism.  One thing I have found though is that many of these 'claims' about hypothyroidism are not supported by any legitimate research, or even research on the compounds in the plant that may exert any thyroid benefit.
I have seen some studies that have actually shown detrimental effects on the thyroid from some supplements commonly recommended for hypothyroid.
It is unfortunate that there are people out there who only care about making a buck and selling products to unsuspecting consumers that may not provide any benefit and in fact could be  harmful.
I plan to write an e-book detailing my own hypothyroidism protocol, however, I WILL NOT include any herbs, supplements, foods, or say to exclude foods......in that protocol unless I have specific scientific research showing the benefit or negative effects on thyroid function.

Stay tuned because I will continue to update you on my thyroid research!.

Miso Sesame Salad Dressing


Doesn't that salad look AMAZING!!!  
I have to confess, this salad was SOOOOOO good that I ended up overeating a bit at lunch yesterday......I know, I know but man was it good!
It looks all fancy but it was really simple, I just used my little spiralizer and it took me like 2 minutes!!!

Miso Sesame Dressing:
1/4 c. light miso
4 dates1/4 c. mirin or rice vinegar1 tsp. sesame oil or 1 Tb. sesame seeds2 Tb. lemon juice2 tsp. fresh ginger1/4 c. cashews1/4 c. orange juice 1 Tb. tamariBlend until creamy.
Salad:
Sprialized daikon radish, spiralized radish, spiralizedcucumber, 1/4 c. soaked hijiki, 1/4 c.   soaked wakame, kidney beans and 1/4 c.quinoa [I added the sea veggies, kidney beans and quinoa after the pic because they weren't as pretty :-D
You can serve this over any salad you like, I had radish and seaweed in mine as part of my thyroid protocol test but  please feel free to have this dressing over any veggies you like.
It works great as a dip too!

Question for my readers?

Have any of you struggled with hypothyroidism and if so, have you tried any natural treatment and what effect have you seen from the natural or dietary treatment?