Minerals Are The Foundation To Health

Minerals Are The Foundation To Health

06.07.19     Nik Tokovic     8 Minute Read

A healthy diet rich in nutrients is the centrepiece of a vibrant, long and disease free life. A good diet keeps your body parts functioning well, maintains harmonious system balance, keeps thinking and memory sharp (the body well nourished has greater mental acuity), provides a high level of energy, staves off disease, and contributes to a more youthful appearance and longevity.

It is important to keep in mind that the quality of an individualʼs health, vitality and energy is constantly being affected by good or poor nutritional choices. The lack of energy, vitality and then lack of health get continuously more noticeable as we get older if we continuously make poor nutritional choices.

A truly healthy diet focuses on eating predominantly nutrient dense foods. This basically means that they are “packed with nutrients” instead of empty calories. They are exceptionally nutritious, containing proportionally higher quantities of nutrients and other beneficial food attributes. Not only do nutrient dense foods maintain good health, support immunity, support cellular repair, speed recovery from illness but it is the best way to maintain a healthy weight and great for weight loss because your body is getting all the nutrients you need.

Many people understand that they they should eat proteins, carbohydrates and fats. But let's examine nutrient density. What makes foods nutrient dense? Here are some of the most important kinds (classifications) of nutrients.

• Minerals
• Enzymes
• Vitamins
• Antioxidants
• Probiotics
• Phytonutrients
• EFAʼs (Essential Fatty Acids)

Minerals

Every biological function of the human body relies on adequate levels of macro and trace minerals. Macro minerals are needed by the body in greater amounts than trace minerals. However a deficiency of either macro or trace minerals produces equally harmful effects. Without adequate levels of all minerals, the bodyʼs ability to function properly is impeded and ultimately disrupted. Minerals are involved in many processes such as promoting growth; providing building materials for bones, teeth, tissue, muscle, blood formation, hormone production, and nerve cells; they participate in muscle contraction, protein building, energy production, quench damaging free radicals, maintaining cell strength, and the fragile balance of body fluids.^(1)(3)(7)

Trace minerals are essential in the assimilation and utilisation of vitamins and other nutrients. ⁽¹⁾ In fact minerals are essential in the body to activate enzymes! Enzymes need certain minerals and vitamins to serve as cofactors.⁽²⁾ Trace minerals also aid in digestion and provide the catalyst for many hormones. They are also important in replacing electrolytes.⁽¹⁾

We should be getting the minerals we need from our diets. However, the advent of modern agriculture and food processing has led to a severe decline in the levels of vital minerals in our food. Even organic food is not exempt from this, as our topsoil is often barren of minerals.

We are so accustomed to the time in which we are born that we fail to realise that food was not processed, pasteurised or cooked as much as it is today. Foods were once usually left whole and grown without chemical fertilisers and our water supplies came from springs, streams or wells and contained minerals that the body was able to use. “Dr. Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D. notes

that our ancestors obtained between one-fourth to one-third of their minerals from the water they drank. In other words, our predecessors had a far greater mineral intake than we do. They acquired the electrolytes needed to keep the cells healthy, activate the bodyʼs enzymes, glands, defences and antioxidant enzymes and process fats properly.”⁽⁷⁾ It is the 1950ʼs that basically mark the point where the already diminishing trace minerals were almost vanishing from our diets.

There is a famous folk song called “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” We can now ask “Where have all the minerals gone?” They surely must be on our planet somewhere. The answer is ... they have gone to our oceans.

Ocean Derived Sea Minerals

Dr. Maynard Murray, medical doctor and trace mineral pioneer, beginning in 1938 and continuing through the 1950ʻs researched the crucial importance of minerals - especially trace elements - to plants and animals. He stated that the center of lifeʼs gravity was the ocean, the repository of minerals from the land, dissolved and carried to natureʼs settling basin via streams, both above and below the ground. He explained that the ocean contained nutrient- rich accumulations of trace minerals, all of which figure in the life process. He pointed out that life started in the sea and that human blood is about 25 percent sea water. “And if we wish to live well and long, we must concentrate with the utmost seriousness upon proper nutrition. Of necessity, this attention starts with nutrients balanced in the sea.”⁽⁵⁾

“With the recent republication (2003 - note - the book was out of print for more than 25 years) of Dr. Maynard Murrayʼs Sea Energy Agriculture, readers rediscovered the forgotten legacy of an eco-ag pioneer. Murrayʼs idea - that ocean water contains a concentrated, perfect balance of trace minerals in bioavailable form - seems almost as revolutionary today as when he introduced it three decades ago.”⁽⁶⁾

“Ocean water contains a complete spectrum of elements, whereas soil and fresh water do not. Plants in the ocean can select any and all the elements they need to grow. In turn, ocean animals feeding on these plants easily obtain their element requirements and thus better disease resistance.”⁽⁶⁾ “Minerals from seawater are far superior to land sources. This water is easy to assimilate.”⁽⁴⁾ “The waters of the oceans hold the perfect balance of those essential elements required as food for the complex cell groups that make up our bodies.”⁽⁵⁾

Rene Quinton (1866-1925) was a French physiologist, biologist and naturalist that investigated the similarity between sea water and human blood. His use of sea water and its compatibility with living organisms was used successfully in hospitals.

William D. Snively, Jr., M.D. writes in his book “Sea Within - The Story of Our Body Fluid” a very interesting concept. “When manʼs forebears left the sea, they took a tiny portion of it with them, enclosed in their own bodies. Over the ages this portion has been converted admirably to manʼs needs as a terrestrial creature. Our heritage from the sea, body fluid, serves as an ever-present reminder of our marine ancestry.”⁽⁸⁾

Gerry Amena the founder of Pure Aussie™ states in an interview with Acres USA magazine, “Ocean water is the richest life sustainable and life enhancing source of ionic - water soluble- minerals, both macro and trace. Just look at the abundance and variety of life forms that it supports! Ocean water is the perfect catalyst for life.”

Electrolytes

Research shows that minerals are absorbed most effectively by the body when they are transmuted in a liquid medium. “Water is the ultimate mineral solvent and breaks them down into their free ionic state where they become electrically charged - electrolytes. In this form they are easily absorbed through the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, and then by the cells.”⁽⁷⁾

Minerals, especially electrolytes are essential in carrying chemical messages in the brain and nervous system. That is - the neurotransmitters in the brain are made from, and stimulated by, electrolytes and macro-minerals, amino acids, choline and other nutritional factors. Electrolytes are the primary factors for keeping our cells and immune systems healthy. Electrolyte balance has significant potential in preventing and eliminating disease. We can go on and on with the importance of electrolytes however here is a gem of a statement from Dr. Bernard Jensen, chiropractor and author of numerous books on health & healing. “We cannot heal a person through symptomatic relief. We must go to the root of the problem - to the cell itself - where electrolytes are at work giving life. It is here that real healing can begin.”⁽⁷⁾

pH

pH stands for “potential hydrogen” and technically reflects the concentration of hydrogen ions (positively charged molecules) in any substance or solution. The relationship between acid and base is scientifically quantified on a scale of 0 to 14.

7 is neutral. Below 7 is acid and above 7 is alkaline.

“The pH of your blood, tissues, and bodily fluids affects the state of your cellular health and internal cleanliness.”⁽⁹⁾ “The pH level of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies. The entire metabolic process depends on an alkaline environment. Chronic over acidity corrodes body tissue, and if left unchecked will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neural firing of your brain. In other words, over acidity interferes with life itself.”⁽¹⁰⁾

There are countless names attached to all the illnesses. However, all disease and infections come from the same root cause … too much tissue acid waste in the body!⁽¹¹⁾ Over- acidification of the body sets in motion a destructive cycle of imbalance, disease, and even being overweight.(12) Few people know this fact: Louis Pasteur upon his deathbed said “The microbe is nothing, the terrain everything.”⁽¹³⁾ This means that if your body is in a proper alkaline state then bacteria, viruses and fungus have a very hard time trying to live in your body. These unfriendly microbes need and want an acid environment to thrive!

Once you come to understand the destruction that elevated acidic levels in the body can do, you can make the removal and prevention of acidic wastes a priority in restoring and maintaining good health.⁽¹⁴⁾ Your first goal toward achieving health is to create the proper alkaline balance within your body. Begin by starting to eat the proper balance of alkaline and acid foods. The general percentage is 80% to 75% alkalizing and 20% to 25% acid foods. Another way to basically think about it is – three-quarters of your plate is alkaline and one- quarter is acid.

As a person eats more alkalizing foods (especially raw vegetables, greens and fruits) and drinks alkalizing water there will be improvement in red blood cell integrity, oxygenation of the blood and levels of negative microforms will be reduced … you will experience renewed vitality.⁽¹⁵⁾

Acid forming foods include animal protein (meats, eggs, dairy), nuts, seeds, sugar, alcohol, coffee, soft drinks, additives such as aspartame and monosodium glutamate, etc. It is a good idea to obtain a book, that contains a “pH chart of foods” in order to better understand what foods are alkalizing and which are acidic. However here are two general rules to keep in mind.

Decrease acidity: Unhealthy foods or substances are almost always acidic – just keeping those types of things out of your diet will help greatly. The body does need a balance of about 20% acid foods – so choosing healthy acid forming foods would be your best choice. Examples include: nuts, seeds, raw sauerkraut, most grains are acid forming; some fruits are acid forming, etc.

Increase alkalinity: Add more fresh raw vegetables and fruits and drink pure alkaline water.

Life itself depends on these minute minerals having the proper electrical charge in relationship to each other.

Summary

Every biological function of the human body relies on adequate levels of all the macro and all the trace minerals. A full spectrum of ionic minerals are necessary to support optimum health. Water is the ideal medium for transporting nutrients in the cells and for the chemical reactions of cellular metabolism to take place. Water is the ultimate mineral solvent and breaks minerals down into their free ionic state where they become electrically charged - electrolytes! The Ocean is the answer to full spectrum ionic minerals as it also contains the nutrient- rich accumulations of trace minerals. The waters of the Ocean hold the perfect balance of those essential elements required as food for the cells that make up our bodies.

About The Author

Nik Tokovic is the founder and CEO of Edge Electrolytes.