People ask me what “orthomolecular nutrition” means. Simply put it means “with the right molecules”. Food and essential nutrients are the main medicines of an orthomolecular practitioner/nutritionist. It could also be said that we preserve health with the same approach as you would preserve your lawn. If you want a deep green lawn you could add lime to reduce the acidity, fertilizer to make it lush and resistant to weed but more importantly, without water/rain nothing would grow. Your body is very much the same.

We need about 50 essential factors for our body to stay healthy. Essential means that it must come from outside our body.

• 21 minerals

• 13 vitamins

• 9 amino acids (10 for children)

• 2 essential fatty acids

• A source of energy (starch or glucose)

• Light

• Water

• Air

Using a toximolecular approach (drugs) does not replenish what is missing. We are not drug deficient. Recommended daily allowances (RDAs) do not take into consideration the increased requirements during growth, puberty, pregnancy, activity, athletic performance, stress, infection, injury, convalescence and aging. We all fit in one of these categories. It isn’t a one-size fit all approach.

Degenerative diseases are almost always caused by malnutrition and/or internal pollution. Bad genes cause less than 0.5% of degenerative conditions but 68% of the population die from degenerative conditions (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, type 2 diabetes, MS, asthma and many others).

These conditions should be taken very seriously, preferably before they occur by applying principles of health. Disease is a departure from health. We must start eating “real food” that mother-nature intended for us to eat, take in extra nutrients with good quality supplements, yes we all need extra, and help the body to cleanse and detoxify. Stress reduction, physical activity, fresh air and sunlight are all part of these principles. Folic acid deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world. Vitamin A levels are quickly depleted during the stress of infection. When zinc is low, white blood cell function is significantly impaired and it is the second most deficient nutrient. One major cause of exhaustion is the loss of potassium ions. Using synthetic vitamin A in large amounts can cause toxicity but in a natural form will not. Sugar competes with Vitamin C for metabolism. If you are using antibiotics all the B vitamins, A, C, D, K, calcium, iron and magnesium minerals plus your friendly bacteria are all depleted…and I could go on. Sometimes medications are needed but are you returning what's missing? If we looked after our health like we do our lawns, there would be fewer diseases to treat.