5 reasons your digestive system is not working properly

- By Derek Henry - February 24, 2014

It seems nearly everyone has digestive issues these days. Crohn's, IBS, colitis, celiac, and dozens of other digestive disorders have made an industry out of sugar free, gluten free, and dairy free products. So why is it that those with digestive issues can't often fully fix them and have to follow a very strict diet or suffer the painful consequences?

Gut flora imbalance

One of the main reasons you are not able to digest food properly is bacterial imbalance in your intestinal system. An ideal ratio for a properly functioning gut is 85 percent good bacteria to 15 percent bad, and when this is accomplished the good bacteria flourish and are allowed to do their job of digesting and absorbing certain starches, fiber, and sugars.

Unfortunately, a lifetime of habits littered with antibiotics, sugar, alcohol, toxins, and 'dead' food has destroyed the proper balance we require for good digestion.

In your effort to regain proper gut flora balance, consider antibacterial foods and herbs like garlic, onions, oregano, cloves, and black walnut. At the same time consider probiotic rich foods like green leafy vegetables and fermented foods such as sauerkraut, tempeh, and kefir.

Enzyme deficiency

Enzymes play a key role in our health by enabling our bodies to properly digest and use all the nutrients we take in to their greatest potential. If we do not introduce enough enzymes through our food, we put more pressure on the pancreas to produce enzymes in order to break down waste products, which eventually can leave it overworked and unable to produce the enzymes required to facilitate proper digestion.

To maximize your enzyme production, first increase your consumption of raw, organic food like papaya, pineapples, bee pollen, kefir, and fermented vegetables. Chew your food thoroughly to properly mix them with your enzyme rich saliva, which helps the process of pre-digestion.

Juicing is one way to really increase the amount of easily assimilated enzymes into your digestive system, as well as digestive and systemic enzyme supplements.

Magnesium deficiency

Previously, it was believed that magnesium was required for up to 325 enzymatic processes, but according to new research, that number is closer to 800. This makes magnesium very important in the digestive process.

Magnesium is also heavily implicated in proper functioning of muscles, including those in the lining of your digestive tract. A deficiency in magnesium causes the peristaltic action in your digestive system to slow right down, which hinders the movement of waste, and backs up the digestive process.

Consider liquid magnesium supplements, and loading up on salads rich in leafy greens and vegetables.

Stress

Stress creates all sorts of problems for your digestive system. It strips your body of various vitamins and minerals (B vitamins and magnesium to name a couple), tightens your muscles, slows down bowel movements, and inhibits absorption of enzymes and probiotics, as well as other nutrients.

Keep your stress in check through chamomile, medicinal mushrooms, kefir, and acts of gratitude, meditation, and exercise.

Heavy metal toxicity

There are many types of toxins that can cause digestive distress, however, one of the most gut compromising toxins falls in the heavy metals category.

Heavy metals are introduced into our bodies in a variety of ways, but some of the more problematic gateways are through vaccinations and mercury amalgams. Not only does this create a great burden for proper liver, gallbladder, and pancreas function (including secreting bile to facilitate digestion), but heavy metals also kill off good bacteria to further impair the digestive process.

Heavy metal detoxification is a delicate process and should be handled by a professional, but you can consider chlorella and cilantro to help bind and remove them from your system.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com/enzymes-and-health/

http://drcarolyndean.com/2012/10/when-magnesium-makes-me-worse/

About the author: Motivated by his own story of being sick and crippled at age 30 to healthy and pain free 5 years later, Derek is an expert in helping people get on track in a fraction of the time it took him on his own journey. Actively engaged in the research of natural healing for over 6 years, Derek has spent over 3000 hours studying and collaborating with top minds in nutrition and utilizes that extensive knowledge to deliver protocols that help people overcome their own health challenges.

Derek is the owner and Master Health Coach at Healing the Body, and writer of over 200 natural health articles, many of which are featured at his Healing the Body Facebook Fan Page.

Derek specializes in specific nutritional and wellness programs, from simple lifestyle transitions to complete healing protocols. Check out his popular free health consult.

The World’s Top 10 Seed Companies

ETC Group recently released a very useful 48-page report, “Who Owns Nature?” on corporate concentration in commercial food, farming, health, and the strategic push to commodify the planet’s remaining natural resources.

Here are some key extracts from the section about the seed industry. For the full report click this link.

Seed Industry

In the first half of the 20th century, seeds were overwhelmingly in the hands of farmers and public-sector plant breeders. In the decades since then, Gene Giants have used intellectual property laws to commodify the world seed supply – a strategy that aims to control plant germplasm and maximize profits by eliminating Farmers’ Rights.

Today, the proprietary seed market accounts for a staggering share of the world’s commercial seed supply. In less than three decades, a handful of multinational corporations have engineered a fast and furious corporate enclosure of the first link in the food chain.

According to Context Network, the proprietary seed market (that is, brand- name seed that is subject to exclusive monopoly – i.e., intellectual property), now accounts for 82% of the commercial seed market worldwide. In 2007, the global proprietary seed market was US$22,000 million. (The total commercial seed market was valued at $26,700 million in 2007.) The commercial seed market, of course, does not include farmer-saved seed.

The World’s Top 10 Seed Companies

Company – as of 2007 seed sales (US $ millions) – % of global proprietary seed market

1. Monsanto (US) – $4,964m – 23%
2. DuPont (US) – $3,300m – 15%
3. Syngenta (Switzerland) – $2,018m – 9%
4. Groupe Limagrain (France) – $1,226m – 6%
5. Land O’ Lakes (US) – $917m – 4%
6. KWS AG (Germany) – $702m – 3%
7. Bayer Crop Science (Germany) – $524m – 2%
8. Sakata (Japan) – $396m – <2%
9. DLF-Trifolium (Denmark) – $391m – <2%
10. Takii (Japan) – $347m – <2%

Top 10 Total – $14,785m – 67% [of global proprietary seed market]

The top 10 seed companies account for $14,785 million – or two-thirds (67%) of the global proprietary seed market.

The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, accounts for almost one-quarter (23%) of the global proprietary seed market.

The top 3 companies (Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta) together account for $10,282 million, or 47% of the worldwide proprietary seed market.

ETC Group conservatively estimates that the top 3 seed companies control 65% of the proprietary maize seed market worldwide, and over half of the proprietary soybean seed market.

Based on industry statistics, ETC  Group estimates that Monsanto’s biotech seeds and traits (including those licensed to other companies) accounted for 87% of the total world area devoted to genetically engineered seeds in 2007.

The company claims that it licenses its biotech traits to an additional 250 companies. In 2007, almost half (48%) of DuPont’s seed revenue came from products that carried a biotech trait. UK consultancy firm, Cropnosis, puts the global value of GM crops in 2007 at $6.9 billion.

Gene Giant’s Tech Cartel

Cross-Enabling Agreements: Anti-trust regulators (anyone out there?) in Brussels and Washington take note: The Gene Giants are forging unprecedented alliances that render competitive markets a thing of the past. By agreeing to cross-license proprietary germplasm and technologies, consolidate R&D efforts and terminate costly IP litigation, the world’s largest agrochemical and seed firms are reinforcing top-tier market power for mutual benefit. The trend isn’t new, but the tech cartel deals are getting bigger and bolder.

In March 2007 the world’s largest seed company (Monsanto) and the world’s largest chemical corporation (BASF) announced a $1.5 billion R&D collaboration to increase yields and drought tolerance in maize, cotton, canola and soybeans.

ETC Group refers to this kind of partnership as a “non-merger merger” – all the benefits of consolidation and oligopoly markets without the anti-trust constraints. Industry analysts expect the agreements to have “lasting repercussions throughout the seed, biotech and crop protection industries.”

Biotech’s most lucrative technical achievement is the engineering of crops to withstand a shower of chemical weed killers. Today, over 80% of the worldwide area devoted to genetically engineered crops carries at least one genetic trait for herbicide tolerance.

Sample Tech Cartel Agreements

Monsanto (the world’s largest seed company) and BASF (the world’s #3 agro-chemical firm) announce colossal $1.5 billion R&D collaboration involving 60/40 profit-sharing, respectively. “This is a great step forward in bringing to farmers
higher yielding crops…” BASF & Monsanto, joint news release (March 2007)

Monsanto & Dow Agrochemicals join forces to develop the first-ever genetically engineered maize loaded with eight genetic traits, for release in 2010. “Farmers will have more product choices to optimize performance and protection…” – Dow news release (Sept. 2007)

Monsanto and Syngenta agree to call a truce on outstanding litigation related to global maize and soybean interests, and forge new cross-licensing agreements. “We’re pleased … to put farmer customers first and reach an agreement that offers them tremendous benefits and choice in the seasons ahead.” – Monsanto news release (May 2008)

Syngenta & DuPont announce an agreement that will broaden each company’s pesticide product portfolios. “These products, which are highly complementary to our portfolio and pipeline, will provide additional options for growers…” – DuPont & Syngenta, joint news release (June 2008)

From industry’s point of view, two or three biotech traits are a lot better than one because double and triple stacked traits generate nearly twice the profitability. Monsanto introduced its first double-stack trait variety in 1998, and its first triple-stack trait hit the market in 2005. A Monsanto spokesman told Progressive Farmer that 76% of the maize seed it sells in the U.S. in 2009 will be triple-stack varieties.

From a chemical company to a “agricultural” company – Monsanto

At a July 2008 meeting, Monsanto officials announced plans to raise the average price of some of the company’s triple-stack maize varieties a whopping 35 percent. Fred Stokes of the U.S.-based Organization for
Competitive Markets (OCM) describes  the implications for farmers: “A $100 price increase is a tremendous drain on rural America. Let’s say a farmer in Iowa who farms 1,000 acres plants one of these expensive corn varieties next year. The gross increased cost is more than $40,000. Yet there’s no scientific basis to justify this price hike. How can we let companies get away with this?”

The U.S. government is currently subsidizing sales of Monsanto’s triple-stack maize seed by offering lower crop insurance premiums to farmers who plant  it on non-irrigated land – because the biotech maize reportedly provides lower risk of reduced yields when compared to conventional hybrids. The pilot project is especially specious because the U.S. government relied on data from Monsanto to substantiate the claim.

“The lack of competition and innovation in the marketplace has reduced farmers’ choices and enabled Monsanto to raise prices unencumbered.” – Keith Mudd, Organization for Competitive Markets, following Monsanto’s decision to raise some GE maize seed prices by 35%,

July 2008 theme: GE crops as the cure-all technology that will increase production and feed the world. This time, GE crops are touted as the solution to the current food crisis and climate change (and peak oil). (The Biotechnology Industry Organization’s current slogan is “Heal, fuel, feed the world.”) The Gene Giants aim to convince governments, farmers and reluctant  consumers that genetic engineering is the essential adaptation strategy to insure agricultural productivity in the midst of climate change. According to Monsanto, “everyone recognizes that  the old traditional ways just aren’t able to address these new challenges” – so the only hope is “climate ready” GM crops.

Bottom line: Patented gene technologies will not help small farmers survive climate change, but they will concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit public sector research and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.

 

Sources:

ETC Group
GM Watch

 

What Are the Benefits of P73 Wild Oregano Oil?

Oil of Oregano - Nature's Antibiotic

Overview

Oregano is a species of the mint family and has numerous health benefits. The oil of oregano found at local grocery stores is not a true form of oregano. True oregano grows wild in specific conditions in Mediterranean regions. Wild Oregano P73 stands for polyphenol 73 percent and is a specific blend of several high-grade, medicinal, wild oregano. P73 Oregano is a rich source of natural vitamins and minerals. It has excellent germ-killing powers and can be used as a natural remedy for many aliments. As always, consult with your doctor before using any home herbal remedies.

High in Vitamins and Minerals

P73 oil of oregano is an abounding source of a variety of vitamins and minerals. According to the Oregano Pro website, it is rich in natural resources such as chlorophyll, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, zinc, boron, potassium, copper and manganese. It is one of the best sources of naturally occurring iron available. It contains higher antioxidant capabilities than any other herb studied to date. It has almost 50 times more antioxidant activity than apples and 30 times more than potatoes. It is especially loaded with vitamin C and beta-carotene or vitamin A. P73 Oil of Oregano is nontoxic and can be used internally as well as externally by both adults and children.

Germ-Killing Powers

The most well-known benefit of oregano P73 is its microbial killing powers. It has prevailed when tested against a variety of microorganisms and infections. It is superior to prescription medicine in its ability to prevent the spread or growth of various types of bacteria. Its fungus-fighting properties help to destroy fungi almost immediately. Oil of oregano can also act as a food preservative by extending the shelf life of most foods, thereby reducing the risk of food poisoning in meats and poultry.

Natural Remedy

True oil of P73 oregano presents many exciting remedies to a variety of diseases. It can be used as a gargle by adding a few drops to a glass of salt water or adding a few drops to your toothbrush. This is a natural remedy that helps with bad breath and tooth decay. It is also used as a remedy for earaches in both adults and children. There are many additional ailments that can be alleviated by using P73 Oil of Oregano. According to Harvest Moon Health Foods, true oregano has been found helpful in combating diarrhea, intestinal gas and digestive problems, as well as sore throat and breathing difficulties. Oil of oregano can also be used topically for rashes, eczema and other skin problems.