For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life, the air and the light, which vary continually… for me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere that gives subjects their true value.
—CLAUDE MONET
Even with a very good diet, supplements are an important weight-loss tool. To some degree, supplements are like an insurance policy against nutrient deficiencies. Your diet may not be as good as you think it is. The nutritional quality of food has dropped considerably in the past few decades, as soils are depleted and lacking in vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. Many, many foods are processed in ways that rob them of more of their remaining nutritional value. Foods that are then cooked lose still more nutrients. The only way to be sure you are getting all the vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients you need is with supplements. This chapter details how to support healthy, natural—and permanent—weight loss with a basic (pun intended!) program of nine daily supplements that ensure you provide your body with all the nutrition it needs to keep itself healthy, alkaline, and lean. Of course, as with exercise or diet changes, before beginning any new supplements you should consult with your health care provider.
Eating your veggies is a step in the right direction, but drinking them is even better. Stirring some “green powder” into good water will help you maintain a highly alkaline body like nothing else. Green powder is highly concentrated nutrition, and you get the benefits of pounds of vegetables, herbs, leaves, and grasses in every tea-spoonful. Green powder is rich in electrons. (You can witness that if you use a plastic scoop to get it out of the bottle—the negatively charged green powder will cling to the positively charged plastic, the way opposites do.) So it is a powerful neutralizer of acids.
Green powder can provide over 125 easily absorbed vitamins and minerals, along with macronutrients including amino acids (protein) and fiber. (Green powder contains both soluble and insoluble fiber, though getting enough fiber is one thing you can count on from having your diet focused around green foods.) Another key ingredient green powder delivers is chlorophyll, the substance that makes plants look green and helps them absorb light. The molecular structure of chlorophyll is similar to that of hemoglobin, the substance in red blood cells that gives them their red color and helps them transport oxygen. They differ at the center of the atom, where hemoglobin has iron and chlorophyll has magnesium. Chlorophyll helps your blood deliver oxygen throughout the body, making stronger blood and thus stronger body cells.
Green powders vary in the specific types and amounts and ratios of nutrients they contain, depending on the ingredients included. The label on the product you are looking for might say “barley grass” or “kamut grass” in the biggest type, though you’re looking for a blend of greens. You’ll have plenty to choose among at your local natural food store. The following chart gives you an idea of the best ingredients to look for when choosing a green powder—you won’t find all of them, but be sure to get a range of them. The one thing you must be sure your powder includes is a variety of grasses. All the good stuff you could say about green vegetables goes double for grasses, which are incredibly nutrient-dense. To give you just one example, wheat grass contains vitamins C, E, and K, as well as all of the B complex vitamins, one of the highest levels of vitamin A in any food, and every identified mineral and trace mineral. Not to mention that it is 25 percent protein!
You should also check with the manufacturer to make sure the green powder is made with-low heat dehydration, and not over-processed, so the electrons are not damaged or lost. And please make sure there are no algaes, mushrooms, yeasts, or probiotics (so-called healthy bacteria!) included; these are, unfortunately, common additions, but they are all acidifying.
Ingredients to Look for in Green Drinks |
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• alfalfa leaf |
• golden seal leaf |
• rosehips |
• aloe |
• kale leaf |
• rosemary leaf |
• avocado powder |
• kamut grass |
• sage |
• barley grass |
• lecithin |
• shave grass |
• beta carotene |
• lemon grass |
• slippery elm bark |
• bilberry leaf |
• marshmallow root |
• spearmint leaf |
• black walnut leaf |
• meadowsweet |
• spinach |
• blueberry leaf |
• oat grass |
• strawberry leaf |
• boldo leaf |
• okra fruit |
• thyme |
• broccoli |
• papaya leaf |
• tomato leaf |
• cabbage |
• parsley |
• turmeric |
• celery |
• pau d’arco root |
• watercress |
• couch grass |
• peppermint leaf |
• wheat grass |
• dandelion leaf |
• plaintain leaf |
• white willow bark |
• echinacea |
• red raspberry leaf |
• wintergreen leaf |
When it comes to good fats (see chapter 6), once again what you get in your diet is crucially important, but probably not entirely sufficient for ideal results. Most Americans have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. And their levels of omega-3s and omega-6s, which should be present in a pretty steady proportion to work well, are often out of whack, meaning either they are not getting the additional nutrients they need to metabolize the fats correctly, or they are not getting the fats in the right proportion in their diets (or both). Supplements of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, used correctly, can restore and maintain that balance in the body. The good fats will help your body neutralize acids and eliminate them from the body, among the many benefits examined in chapter 6. They will also help curb your appetite. Fats trigger the sense of satiety, or fullness, without increasing acidity or draining your energy reserves.
Just as you have to choose the right fats, you need to choose the right fat supplements. To begin with, you must make sure you have fresh oil in the capsules. Just open the bottle and take a sniff. If it’s rancid you’ll smell it! Make sure your capsules contain adequate amounts of each of the three most significant omega-3 fats; ALA, EPA, and DHA: Those three should make up at least two-thirds of the product. The omega-6s LA, CLA, and GLA should make up a maximum of one-third (see chapter 6). And your supplement should provide the nutrient co-factors that ensure successful fat metabolism and properly balanced levels of stored fatty acids: a complete spectrum of antioxidants (another word for antacid), starting with vitamins C and E; vitamins B3, B6 and B12, folic acid, and riboflavin; vitamins A and D; and the minerals magnesium and zinc. The manufacturer should be able to provide an independent analysis to verify the levels of all the nutritional components of their supplements.
Finally, your supplement needs to provide omega-6 and omega-3 essential fats in the proper ratio, which most experts consider to be 1:3—which is just the proportion in hemp oil. Most Americans have levels in their bodies of the stored essential fatty acids somewhere between 20 to 1 and 30 to 1. That’s because omega-3s don’t appear in many foods most Americans eat regularly, while omega-6s are plentiful in the typical diet. Following the pH Miracle plan, you’ll be getting a balanced amount in your food, and doing so in your supplement is important as well.
I recommend getting ½ to 1 cup of good oil each and every day. That’s very difficult to do, so I recommend using supplements.
Sprouted soybeans are filled with vitamins (including the “hard to find in vegetarian form” B12), minerals, and enzymes. Soy sprouts are also an excellent plant source of protein. They are, in fact, 41 percent protein by volume—more than fish, pork, beef, chicken, or turkey. And the protein is complete—contains all the types of amino acids your body needs to build all its proteins—a rarity among plants.
Soy sprouts provide all the benefits of soy, including lowering cholesterol, inhibiting atherosclerosis, balancing sugar levels, and preventing osteoporosis and some types of cancer. But sprouts, unlike soybeans before sprouting, are alkaline and full of electrons. They also contain isoflavones, plant estrogens that help balance human hormones. It is the isoflavones that give soy its well-deserved reputation for alleviating menopausal and PMS symptoms. In balancing the endocrine system, preventing hormones from being overproduced, soy sprouts remove a form of food for bacteria and yeast to grow on.
In selecting a soy sprouts supplement, look for a low-heat dehydrated product.
Truly good water (distilled or ionized, as detailed in chapter 5) can do wonders for your health, as you’ve seen, but if you want a real pH miracle you’ll need to add in “pH drops”—sodium chlorite—or sodium bicarbonate (common baking soda) or sodium silicate. Stirring one of these into your water will not only raise the pH but also increase the level of oxygen and electrons. (See chapter 5 for the health benefits of the right water.)
You can buy sodium silicate or sodium chlorite at your natural food store. Choose pH drops that are clear, not cloudy, in the bottles. Cloudy pH drops have lost their potency.
L-carnitine, which occurs naturally in the body, is invaluable because, pure and simple, it burns fat. Its job is to bind to fatty acids and transport them into your mitochondria—your cells’ power stations—to be used as fuel. It’s also a binder of metabolic acids. A deficiency will result in acids being stored in the fatty tissue and will make weight loss even more difficult. Low levels of L-carnitine may increase food intake. Conversely, taking L-carnitine promotes weight loss and lean muscle mass and decreases BMI and body fat content. It also decreases cravings and increases energy levels (making exercise easier).
One study looked at overweight patients over a twelve-week period. These patients ate a low-calorie diet and performed moderate exercise. Half the group was also given 2,000 mg of L-carnitine, while the others took a placebo. People taking the L-carnitine lost an average of 11 pounds, compared with just 1 pound in the placebo group. Body fat percentages also decreased markedly in the L-carnitine group. They also experienced lowered cholesterol, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure.
Hydroxic citric acid, or HCA, available as a standardized herbal extract of the fruit of the Garcinia cambogia plant, not only curbs your appetite, reducing the amount of food you eat, but also inhibits lypogenesis, the process by which the body produces and stores fat. It’s especially good at reducing the increase of excess acids from the metabolism of complex carbohydrates and proteins in your diet, thus reducing the need for the body to store these acids in the body fat. The acids are bound up to the HCA and then eliminated through the urinary tract or the bowels. As a bonus: Because you are using those carbs and protein for energy and the acids created as a waste product from their metabolism are then bound up by HCA, you avoid the irritability, depression, and/or fatigue that can come with dramatic changes in blood sugar levels, and experience a more even supply of energy between meals. Researchers have used radioactive tracer studies to show that HCA cuts the body’s fat storage ability by up to 75 percent. It also lowers the production of cholesterol and fatty acids. Animal studies show that HCA reduces the conversion of carbohydrates into stored acidic fat, suppresses appetite, and induces weight loss.
More than thirty years of studies in this country—and use from ancient times in India, where Garcinia cambogia is native—show virtually no side effects or evidence of toxicity of HCA on the body. Studies published over the years in a wide variety of scientific journals, including Lipids, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, The American Journal of Physiology, Physiological Behavior, and The Journal of Biological Chemistry, have shown, among other things, that using HCA significantly improved the results of dieting, even though the amount of food intake was not affected.
In addition, its appetite suppressant effects don’t wear off, though the body develops tolerance to most such drugs in just a few days. HCA is as safe as it is effective, and will help the body, over time, reduce stored body fat—and increase energy levels.
This supplement might be labeled as Garcinia cambogia, or as HCA. There are only a few commercially available extracts of garcinia, and they vary in terms of quality. Look for an extract of Garcinia cambogia with standardized HCA content, preferably 50 percent by weight of pure hydroxic citric acid calcium salt. I recommend Citra-Max from the Health Corporation, which has the highest level of HCA; they import the Garcinia cambogia powder from India. Some other suppliers measure only total acidity of the extract without specifying the amount of HCA in particular.
Once you have a good source of HCA, be sure to take it a half an hour to an hour before eating a meal. You need to give your body time to absorb the HCA and put it to work. Studies show that taking it with a meal, or even two or three hours later, produces virtually no benefit.
The mineral chromium helps insulin metabolize fat, turn protein into muscle, and convert sugar into energy. It increases insulin’s effectiveness, improving its ability to handle glucose (sugar), thereby regulating blood sugar levels. Chromium also reduces cravings for sugar and simple carbs, and it helps improve the muscle-to-fat ratio in the body’s composition. All this contributes to easier weight control. Chromium has other benefits as well, notably influencing cholesterol levels, improving the condition of the arteries, and boosting energy levels by fighting fatigue.
Without enough chromium, your body can’t burn off sugar properly, which will eventually result in hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia or diabetes. In the process, this remaining sugar will ferment to acid and store itself in the body fat, and you won’t have enough energy. With your metabolism out of whack, and insulin production gone haywire, you’ll gain weight more easily, among other problems.
Chromium becomes particularly important after age thirty-five. As we age, the human body tends to handle blood sugar less well, with cells having a harder time taking it up and burning it. At that point, chromium’s assistance becomes absolutely crucial.
In a study published in Nutrition Review in 1998, 122 patients were given either 400 micrograms (mcg) of chromium picolinate per day, or a placebo. After ninety days, and after adjusting for caloric intake and expenditure, those who took chromium lost more weight (17.1 vs. 3.9 pounds), fat mass (16.9 vs. 3.3 pounds), and percentage of body fat (6.3 percent vs. 1.2 percent) than the placebo group. A trial at the Health and Medical Research Foundation also found that people taking chromium daily lost more body fat and gained more muscle mass over seventy-two days than did people in the study taking a placebo.
The National Academy of Science recommends a chromium intake of 50 to 200 mcg a day, but nine of ten American adults don’t meet even the minimum level. A USDA survey in the late 1980s showed the average American man got about 33 mcg daily. He at least beat out the average woman, who got just 25 mcg a day—half the recommended minimum. The body doesn’t do very well assimilating chromium from food—it gets just 1 to 2 percent of it. Our food tends to be lower in chromium than it used to be, and lower than it is in many other places in the world because our soil is depleted, so neither our water supply nor our crops get as much as desirable. Furthermore, refining food decreases its chromium content right along with the other nutrients it destroys. Overall, this deficiency is as rare in other countries as it is common in ours.
Meanwhile, studies show that helpful doses of chromium are more in the range of 200 to 800 mcg a day anyway. To reach that, Americans, at least, require supplements.
Look for a chromium supplement that is bound or coated with niacin rather than yeast, as in polynicotonate or amino acid-bound chromium picolinate. I have found that the most effective form of chromium is in the polynicotonate glucose tolerance factor (GTF).
The amino acid tyrosine helps signal the brain to turn off the appetite, which helps you eat less. It is also a precursor for three major neurotransmitters, including adrenaline, and adrenal hormones, which are generally out of balance in an overweight person. Tyrosine influences normal or baseline metabolic rate, which helps in weight loss. Tyrosine helps reduce body fat.
I recommend the L-tyrosine form of tyrosine, as it is more bioavailable. You should take tyrosine on an empty stomach so that it won’t be in competition for absorption and transportation to the brain with other amino acids you eat. As long as it gets a fair shot at it in this way, even a modest dose of tyrosine, taken regularly over time, can have a real effect.
Look for HCA formulated with chromium and L-tyrosine, or L-tyrosine formulated together with HCA and chromium; I’m all for reducing the number of pills you swallow by using combination supplements when appropriate.
And now for something a bit more unusual: The final key in your natural weight loss plan is to eat dirt. Specifically, smectite Montmorillonite clay (it comes from Montmorillon, France). But before you turn up your nose at the idea, give me a minute to explain.
The right clay provides your body with an impressive assortment of alkaline minerals, including calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, manganese, sodium, sulfur, and silica, in natural proportion to one another. It is highly negatively charged—full of electrons available to your body. Additionally, it can trap and absorb many times its weight in acids, holding them until your body can safely eliminate them—and keeping them from being stored in body fat. In fact, Montmorillonite clay, with its negative charge, attracts and absorbs many positively charged impurities in the body, like toxins and microforms, allowing the body to eliminate them, too, safely. Clay provides a range of benefits including improved digestion and elimination, better circulation, higher quality sleep, increased energy, decreased depression, and a stronger immune system. All of that on top of helping the body lose weight—and maintain a healthy weight.
Montmorillonite clay is the most common and the most sought after of the clays suitable for eating. It is available in most health food stores. Some clay will come formulated with other beneficial ingredients. I like the blend with aloe vera and grapeseed oil. Don’t let the thought that you are eating clay put you off; clay has a neutral taste and, much like tofu, will take on the taste of what you eat it with.
For optimal results, use all these supplements together. They support each other, buffering acids, acting as co-factors in a variety of biological functions, and providing building blocks for blood and then body cells. In short, they provide all the elements for maintaining an alkaline environment in the body, in and outside the cell—setting the stage for healthy, permanent weight loss.