Metabolic Typing

By: James Igo

October 21, 2009

Recently I attended a nutritional lecture given by Shirley Michael, Ph.D. This is her take on nutrition, that it was wrong for so called nutritional experts to advocate low protein, low fat, high carb diets, as if they were the perfect diet for everyone interested in weight loss, low cholesterol, improved fitness and health. Not only does Shirley proclaim that they were dead wrong for some but that they were seriously wrong for millions of others. The "right diet for all people" approach led to obesity and epidemic diabetes. Because of recent scientific studies groups over-reacted by advocating high protein, low carb diets ended up adding to the confusion. As a result, the unproven theory caused just as many people to suffer unnecessarily. Shirley's answer to those confusing unproven theories is science. The science of individualized nutrition, called metabolic science. It reveals why there is no "right diet for all people". For one thing our genes have more to do with our nutrition than most dietary whims, fancies, philosophical beliefs and some scientific research being performed even today claim. One aspect of metabolic science is the idea of biochemical individuality, or that the same nutrient can have different effects on different people. These studies shatter many current en vogue myths of nutrition as follows:

1-a vegan/vegetarian diet high in fruits and vegetables is always good for you. Reality - if it is not in line with your ancestral diet, your genetically based nutritional requirements, then new problems could crop up. there are no "good foods and there are no "bad" foods, except in terms of your individual metabolic requirements, unique to everyone.

2-a healthy diet. Reality - there is no such thing as a diet that is universally healthy for everyone. In other words your metabolism determines what is inherently right for you, not just food nutrients. Morbidly obese people actually are starving for the right balance of nutrients and metabolic rates that convert to energy the foods consumed instead of storing it as fat. Therefore, eat foods that metabolize for you in the right ratios of macronutrients (traditionally: proteins, fats, carbs.) Metabolic science has shown that much of what our bodies do with food starts with our genes.

3-to lose weight all you need to do is reduce calories and exercise more. Reality - in most cases millions of people have not only failed to lose weight, but gained weight instead. Worse, for most people, reducing calories has led to food cravings, binge or yo-yo habits, mood swings and energy fluctuations. Only your body can efficiently convert nutrition to energy, not just the food. To make a long lasting real difference, gone forever will be the gnawing hunger, food cravings, binges, mood swings and energy fluctuations normally associated with dieting.

4-taking supplements will "cover all your bases", your body will take what it needs and discard the rest. Reality - this is like saying that if you hold a flame under your outstretched hand, your body will take whatever heat it needs and throw off the rest. Such ideas ignore basic cause and effect. If you apply a flame to the skin, the skin will burn. Nutrients are divided up into precise effects on the body--stimulating, sedating, acid, alkaline, etc. Like drugs, supplements stimulate or sedate specific organs, systems, and fundamental control mechanisms. The wrong nutrient formulations will worsen your existing imbalances or create new imbalances and all the problems that go with them. If nutrients have the power to heal then they also have the power to make you ill when they are wrong for your individual constitution.

5-everyone needs vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Reality - nothing could be further from the truth. Scientific research knows that any nutrient can have the opposite effects on different people. This is the very reason why one nutrient can help a condition in one person, and have little or no effect on another person, or in many cases worsen the same conditions on different people. there is an old adage, "one's food is another's poison". metabolic science has shown that for every one nutrient that enters the body, up to nine other nutrients already in the body suffer excesses or deficiencies as a result taking in too much vitamin. C for example can cause cancer by lowering copper to seriously compromise the immune system. too much calcium causes osteoporosis by compromising synergistic nutrients and further depleting to deficient levels involved with calcium metabolism in general. Eating low fat raises cholesterol by disturbing it's metabolism. Therefore therapeutic doses of nutrients in the form of supplements are destructive to the body and its innate metabolic individual needs.

6-all nutrients are the same no matter what form they are in. Reality - the carriers of nutrients are just as powerful--in some cases even more powerful--in their effects on metabolism as the nutrients themselves, highly dependent on one's individual constitution. People who have parasympathetic alkaline metabolism, calcium then becomes acidifying, whereas in a fast oxidizer metabolizer calcium remains alkalinizing. supplemental calciums in the form of citrates and chlorides can then have a parasympathetic acidic fast oxidizer effect. At best supplements will have a neutral effect and at worst they weaken immunity and worsen existing imbalances. I would expect that none of this is all that new to anyone well seated in Natural Hygiene and it has been my hope that such a review of possible reactions contained in Shirley's lecture was helpful.

She emphasizes that supplements won't produce the result you're looking for and can end up making you worse than before. Of interest she critiques those who drink lots of citrus juice to chase away a cold. To the contrary real science shows that viruses like colds and flu thrive in an alkaline biochemical environment. Citrus juice, because it is such a highly alkalinizing food, is one of the worst things you can ingest to prevent and fight off a cold or flu virus. Interestingly, cold weather produces an alkaline shift in the body. All and all her main theme was, you can eat the best organic foods, or choose to take the finest supplements money can buy, drink plenty of water, get sufficient rest and exercise regularly, but if you do not meet the needs of your individual metabolism you'll only be wasting your time and money.

Optimal Natural Hygiene will give our bodies what it needs, and we will enjoy a lifetime of good health, energy, and well being.