Nutrition

Our nutritional make-up begins before conception. It depends on our parent’s status prior to – and our mother’s status during – pregnancy.* Then, as we grow and develop from birth to adulthood, our health and vitality is dependent on our intake of essential elements found in food. The quality of that food affects our ability to think, learn, communicate, and adapt during our development as well as throughout life. In today’s world it is vitally important to understand how the food we eat affects us both mentally and physically so that we will make the right dietary choices. We at Three Branches believe that choosing smart options is one of the most rewarding decisions you can make. You will reap countless benefits!

Today the Game Has Changed

The key to healthy eating is to eat a wide variety of real foods (organic meats, poultry, dairy, fats, grains, nuts, seeds) with emphasis on plenty of vegetables and fruits. That should provide all the protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and cofactors that we need, but with one big caveat – today the game has changed. Our food is grown in nutrient-deficient soils that lack the essential minerals and elements to keep us healthy. Studies reveal that the nutritional values in food have declined significantly over the past 70 years. In fact, the average potato today has lost almost 100% of its vitamin A, 57% of its vitamin C and iron, 28% of its calcium, 50% of its riboflavin, and 18% of its thiamine compared to a potato 50 years ago. Of the seven key nutrients measured, only niacin levels have increased. The decline in foods’ nutritional values can be attributed to the soil’s loss of minerals and microorganisms, and degradation due to poor farming methods.

For more information, see nutritional research of Donald Davis, senior researcher at the University of Texas.

More Minerals and Hold the Pesticides, Please!

More studies continue to link many of our chronic diseases to nutritional deficiencies. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), most Americans lack a sufficient amount of trace minerals, the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium and the vitamins A, C, D, and E. For example, mild calcium deficiency can cause heart palpitations, insomnia, irritability, nerve sensitivity, muscle twitching, mental confusion and a feeling of depression. Serious calcium deficiencies can lead to bone loss. Our food supply’s decreasing concentrations of antioxidants, phytonutrients or phytochemicals – all of which protect us from cancer and other degenerative disease – go hand in hand with the alarming increased rates of asthma, autism, Alzheimer’s, cancer, etc. Eating foods with pesticides increases the body's chemical burden and can play a part in many physical and mental illnesses.

What’s on My Food provides data on the degree of pesticide burden on various foods (which varies greatly) and reports on each pesticide's possible toxic effect on the body - whether it be carcinogenic, a hormone disruptor, neurotoxic, and/or a developmental/reproductive toxicant.

Supplements: A Necessity Today

Ideally, getting vitamins and minerals from food, not from supplements is preferable because foods provide synergistic unidentified food elements that many nutrients require to be efficiently used in the body. But without adequate nutrition from our food supply, we are faced with a very serious situation. Nutrient depletion coupled with today’s toxicity issues leave us critically vulnerable to developing degenerative diseases.

See “Pollution in People” for an informative study on toxic chemicals in Washingtonians.

So, in a perfect world, Three Branches would recommend that no supplementation is necessary if you eat a wide variety of real foods. But because of the current condition of our food supply and our unprecedented exposure to toxins, we feel that supplementation with only high-quality, whole food supplements and superfoods is essential for optimum health. For example, to get the same amount of vitamin C from one peach half a century ago, you would have to eat 50 peaches today! “The alarming fact is that our food supply is now being raised on land that no longer contains enough vitamins and minerals to support health no matter how much we eat of them,” says U.S. Senate Document 264. In addition, our food supply has been gradually infiltrated by more and more processed, manufactured and chemical laden foods that facilitate our fast-paced lifestyles. Most of the “healthy" and "non-processed” foods are sprayed with pesticides, irradiated, and many are genetically modified. Even if you eat your daily servings of fruits and vegetables, chances are your body is still lacking the nutrients it needs to function at its maximum potential or heal from injury or disease. We have no choice but to compensate for this deficiency with high-quality, food-based supplements from the purest sources available.

*A special note to moms and moms-to-be: The way you eat affects your unborn children. Damaging effects of poor nutrition can pass from one generation to the next. Although it is difficult to link the exact effects of dietary choices to certain health conditions, it is undeniable that making healthy decisions now will only serve to better your child’s health.

With the decline of our nutrient-dense food, there’s a plethora of companies touting the benefits of their supplements, making claims that don’t match the quality of their ingredients. Unfortunately, most supplements found on the market are synthetically produced, void of real ingredients (plants, herbs, etc.) that inherently contain vitamins and minerals in their natural form. Three Branches only recommends supplements and superfoods made from live, whole-food sources because the body can most easily absorb their nutrients, therefore reaping maximum benefits. Our products are pure and organic, free of pesticides, heavy metals, fillers (magnesium stearate) and binders.

The following vendors meet our highest quality standards:

Premier Research Labs

A landmark research study showed the odds of purchasing an effective, non-toxic herbal product was only 2.5% (cited in JANA, Winter 2000.) In contrast, Premier Research Labs (PRL) was founded to deliver uncompromising quality and effectiveness. PRL is committed to developing and providing 100% non-toxic and effective products. Their mission is based on 5 areas:

1. Broad-Spectrum Nutrients: Every nutrient critical to great health is readily available and in sufficient amounts in each product
2. Living Nutrients: Products contain only “once living” sources to provide ideal cellular DNA repair and protection
3. Free of Toxic Tagalongs: Products are guaranteed to not have any herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, heavy metals, fumigants, irradiation, etc.
4. 100 % Pure Vegetable Capsules: No toxic tablets with glues and binders or gelatin capsules with the risk of animal-source prions and toxic preservatives
5. No Excipients: Products don't contain hard-to-digest, non-nutritive substances such as magnesium stearate (a common toxic, hydrogenated oil), silicon dioxide (common sand), methylcellulose, carnuba wax, etc.

PRL only uses vegetable capsules because tablets require excipients to bind nutrients together. (Examples are magnesium stearate, calcium stearate, and silicon dioxide.) These binders are usually non-nutritive agents, or “toxic tag-alongs,” and we believe these non-food agents shouldn't be added to products meant for consumption. In addition, nutrients can greatly enhance cell access, thereby allowing even minute amounts of these chemical tag-alongs to have adverse effects.

PRL’s body products do not contain toxic cream agents such as propylene glycol, parabens, Peg-8 stearate, which can be absorbed and gain cellular access, and also create unsuspected adverse systemic effects. PRL is the industry leader in the use of non-toxic, beneficial, “living source” preservatives and each product they make is 100% free of chemo-toxins.

PRL packages their products in Violite™ containers (patent-pending by PRL) that block the range of light known to rancidify fats. In addition, they use nitrogen-flushing for the ultimate in freshness and preserving high-frequency cellular resonance. They use an advanced photoluminescence device that is able to quickly screen every single container of incoming raw material, not just a few random samples (as is typically done), so they can quickly identify and eliminate inferior materials. Other companies without such advanced technologies may unknowingly accept poorly grown, old or toxic raw materials.

Hallelujah Acres

Hallelujah Acres use certified organically grown grasses, vegetables and fruits without any artificial colors, preservatives, additives, or fillers. Their drying process produces finer yet more nutrient dense powders so you can use less per serving.

Sweet Wheat

Beginning on a small country farm, Sweet Wheat, Inc. became one of the earliest companies to produce certified organic food supplements. In growing wheatgrass, Sweet Wheat, Inc. follows the principles and practices of the late Dr. Ann Wigmore, famed nutritionist and Hippocrates Institute founder who helped thousands regain their health. Utilizing the low temperature freeze-drying methodology developed by NASA, Sweet Wheat, Inc. creates a convenient powdered product that retains and protects the life-giving nutrients and fragile enzymes found in Sweet Wheat grown wheat grass juice. They do not add any fillers, binders, or sweeteners.

Our criterion for any material or product is always based on the canary principle, which gives us a benchmark for safe materials. If the canary (the chemically sensitive) can tolerate or use the product or material without harm or reaction, then everyone else does fine, but if the canary gets sick or dies, then further evaluation is necessary and everyone is potentially vulnerable. See “Canaries in the Mine.”

So what should we eat? To put it simply, good nutrition consists of only real food. Real food is not processed, genetically modified, adulterated with chemicals or irradiated. For instance, if there are dyes, preservatives and additives – or if you can’t pronounce the ingredients on a label – then you aren’t looking at real food. To complicate the matter, we now have genetically modified and irradiated foods that may or may not be clearly identified as such. How can we make informed decisions if we don’t even know what genetically modified or irradiated food is?

See “Irradiated and Genetically Modified Food: Is it Safe?” and “The Standard American Diet: It is S.A.D.”

In addition, eating foods with pesticides increases the body’s chemical burden and can play a part in many physical and mental illnesses, so your real food should be all-organic (that is, grown without any pesticides.) Sometimes this isn’t possible due to budget, availability and our tendency to eat out. To help us make more informed choices, the Pesticide Action Network has provided an invaluable website. It gives data on the degree of pesticide burden on various foods and reports on each pesticide’s possible toxic effect on the body – whether it be carcinogenic, a hormone disruptor, neurotoxic, and/or a developmental/reproductive toxicant.

If thinking about changing your diet feels overwhelming to you, just take this one step at a time. You don't have to revamp your eating habits overnight. In fact, for some people changing the diet too fast can get in the way of success. We've given you some options so choose the plan that suites you best:

“Getting Your Feet Wet: Making Dietary Additions”

“Jumping In: Making Dietary Changes”

“Diving In: Revolutionizing Your Diet”