In my post “The Cause of ALL Disease” we talked about Deficiency being one of the biggest causes of sickness and illness in the world, but especially in America today.  Let’s go through the Top 10 deficiencies and discuss ways to replenish what we’ve lost:

Deficiency #1: Fiber Most of us don’t get enough of fiber in our diet so it’s no wonder there are so many digestive issues out there.  I think everyone understands that we need fiber and that it’s important, but I don’t think many people know why it’s so important or where you get fiber out of the diet.  First off, fiber helps with the transport of food through your digestive tract.  It helps to absorb and remove toxins out of the body and helps to strengthen the lining of your colon.  There are 2 types of fiber: Soluble, and Insoluble.  Soluble fiber comes from carbohydrates that you eat in your diet and they dissolve in the water of your intestinal tract.  These fibers help to balance blood sugar and are an important source of B-vitamins.  Insoluble fiber comes from your plants you eat and is the “roughage” you need in your food.

Deficiency #2: Omega 3 Fats Even the medical profession has agreed with all of us “hippy freaks” that omega 3 fats are vital to your body’s function.  I could write an entire post on these fats….ok, I think I will….so I won’t go into a ton of detail, but there are good places to get these fats and then there are better ones.  Being on a good fish oil supplement, suffice to say is crucial. These fats support your nervous system, reverse inflammation in the body, repair your soft tissue, and on and on and on.

Deficiency #3: Vitamin D This has been one of the most popular deficiencies/supplements for the past couple years.  The quickest, easiest way to get your natural vitamin D is to go stand in the sun for 10-15 minutes a day.  A severe deficiency in vitamin D is known as Osteomalacia.  This is a bone thinning disorder.  Experts have theorized that this is the current cause of many of the brittle bone/bone thinning issues with us in America, not calcium deficiency.  I’m not big on supplementing individual supplements and definitely think that if you suspect you are vitamin D deficient, then you need to be tested to make sure.   If you’re having symptoms of restless leg syndrome or muscle cramping in your extremities, you may have a deficiency.  Try to get as much of your vitamin D from sun exposure as possible and then go for supplementation.  D-3 is the active form when you pick your supplement so make sure and choose Vitamin D-3 specifically.

Deficiency #4: Magnesium Very common deficiency today, Magnesium plays a huge role in absorption of Calcium which influences muscle control, bone strength and many other pathways. Magnesium also helps to activate over 75% of the enzymes in the body.  Without these enzymes, none of the biochemical pathways in the body happen.   The following chart shows many of the natural ways to get more magnesium into the body.  Supplementation is good, we carry Standard Process magnesium, but getting your nutrients from your diet is always better.

Deficiency #5: Calcium So I see calcium deficiencies in the office every single day.  Calcium is important for every function in the body, but it has massive implications for muscle and nerve function.  If you have too little calcium, your nerves become what we call “hypertonic” which means they can fire way too easily and they can keep firing.  It’s really hard to keep the muscle at rest if you have too little calcium.  Many times a calcium deficiency is caused by Thyroid deficiency, or stomach acid problems.  It takes an acidic environment to absorb your calcium so if your stomach acid is low then you won’t absorb and utilize your calcium correctly.  If your thyroid is low, you won’t produce enough of the hormone calcitonin and won’t be able to absorb all of your calcium the way you should either.  Best sources of calcium are dark green leafy veggies, like kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, etc.  The highest calcium concentration of any plant is in the herb valerian root, which is why it causes your body to relax so well.  Since it has so much calcium, it raises the levels in your blood and everything calms down.  Supplementation can help a calcium deficiency, but if your underlying problem is one of the two things I just mentioned then you’re wasting your time because you’ll just either urinate it out, or store it in your tissue, neither of which you want to do.

I think that’s enough to “chew” on for now.  The idea is to do the best you can and if you need extra vitamins or minerals to supplement those in.  I wish we didn’t have to take vitamins, but in our culture these days, most of our food is really lacking in nutritional value, so we need to add them in to help keep us balanced.  I’ll cover the remaining 5 deficiencies in my next post so you can see the best places to get them so you can get them out of your diet as much as possible.

Dr. JB

Tags: calcium, Deficiency, diet, fiber, magnesium, omega 3 fats