ABSCESSES: DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS

At the Toronto clinic an excellent system has been worked out and, on departure from the clinic, the patient is given post-treatment dietary recommendations to ensure optimum benefit from the colonic treatment. These recommendations are as follows:

Don’t Eat

Red meats

Fried foods or oils

Salads and raw vegetables

Eat

All fruit (papaya, mango and pineapple are best for

enzymes) Cooked grains Steamed vegetables Soups Juices Sprouts

Chicken or fish (unless vegetarian)

N.B. After twenty-four hours raw vegetables and uncooked oils may be taken.

To promote elimination and digestion

Carrot, spinach, beet, or watermelon juices

Toxin-absorbing foods

Beets, watermelon, apples (or apple sauce), red grape juice

Vitamins E and C should also be used for colonic conditions. Vitamin E acts as an anti-oxidant and Nature’s Best has selected the most potent and biologically active form of natural vitamin E to use in their supplements. Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol) is the most powerful vitamin in the body’s anti-oxidant defence system. It is the prime agent that stops fatty acids from reacting with oxygen to form harmful toxins known as lipid peroxides. Vitamin E is necessary for the health of the reproductive system, the integrity of red blood cells and for the functioning of the white blood cells of the immune system.

Vitamin C is the ‘goes everywhere, does everything’ nutrient. If you choose to take a single vitamin supplement, vitamin C would be a prime candidate, as it is involved in so many different parts of the body, from the immune system to the connective tissue that literally holds us together. Vitamin C is not manufactured in the body, so to maintain health we must acquire adequate vitamin C supplies from our diet.

More vitamin C is required when we are in demanding situations since it is involved in the production of adrenaline, our ‘fight or flight’ hormone; it is itself consumed, acting as an anti-oxidant, and it is vital for tissue and bone growth and repair. Its effect on specific parts of the protective immune system include the modulation of the action of white blood cells, a fact that has excited researchers such as Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling. It may even be linked to the natural production of Interferon.

We depend on vitamin C to produce collagen, the structural protein that holds our cells together and is an integral part of skin, tendons, bone cartilages, and the other connective tissues that package our muscles and organs. Vitamin C is important for healthy bones and, in particular, for healthy teeth and gums, as it combines with minerals such as calcium and phosphorus.

Iron, the red blood cell mineral, is better absorbed in the presence of vitamin C, while the proper functioning of other nutrients, such as selenium and vitamins A and E, also depends on adequate vitamin C. It also supports vitamin E in its role of protecting fatty acids from harmful oxidation.

Although we need a regular and dependable intake of vitamin C in food, it is highly vulnerable to heat and light and can be almost entirely lost if food is incorrectly stored or cooked. It is an interesting fact that gorillas, who, like us, lost’ the ability to manufacture vitamin C during evolution, take in upwards of three grammes of vitamin C each day.

Unlike us, they still live surrounded by plentiful supplies of vitamin C-rich fresh vegetation and fruit, and they eat it raw.

The single most important source of vitamin C in the British diet is the potato. When potatoes are chipped and fried, a lot of vitamin C is lost. In addition, it is thought that our vitamin C requirements fluctuate, not only according to biochemical individuality, but also because of what is going on in our lives. At particular times our needs increase. Being water soluble, vitamin C is quickly transported through the body and excreted, mainly in urine, and therefore regular replenishing is advisable.

People who use drugs, such as aspirin, antibiotics and the contraceptive pill, quite wisely often choose to take vitamin C supplements, as do regular alcohol drinkers and smokers. Other groups who may benefit from a supplement are athletes in training, the elderly and pregnant, and breastfeeding women.

Recognising its importance as a nutrient, Nature’s Best produce twenty-two different vitamin C supplements in order to cater for differences in individual requirements and Nature’s Best were the pioneers of the easy-to-use powder form of sodium- or calcium-buffered version of vitamin C and the development of vitamin C in crystals, powder, time-release tablets, and capsules has made them UK leaders in vitamin C technology. They have also introduced a fat soluble form to widen its anti-oxidant capabilities.

*33\147\2*