The “Foundational -5″ for Optimal Health

Clarity of Health

In my pursuit of engineering excellence through human performance, up until the past year I reluctantly focused purely on movement. I made the mistake, which is common in fitness and performance industry, to focus my attention on improving the structural integrity and strength qualities of the human body.

With my background in engineering, I focused solely on the biomechanical and bioelectrical systems of the body, while neglecting the body’s biochemical state, which is the foundation to our health.  Over the past few years my personal experience has shown me that we can’t solely think of nutrition as a tool to improve athletic performance; we must focus on optimal health first.

It’s impossible to fully maximize our worth ethic and efforts if we are not healthy. In this faster paced world we live in now with long work hours and chaotic travel schedules it’s not easy to nourish our bodies with quality nutrition. Even if we display the discipline by planning ahead and preparing food at home there are still some gaps that must be closed. There have been days where I’ve been working on projects, designing programs, writing articles, coaching on the training floor and answering email that I’d forgotten to actually eat.

“Foundational-5″ Supplementation

As a result I learned over time that I needed to give myself larger buffer and tolerance zones when it comes to nutrition through “Foundational-5” supplementation. Foundational-5 supplementation refers to the five supplements for optimal health that EVERYONE should seek to include in their nutritional plans which include:

1. Whole Foods Based Multi-Vitamin/Mineral
2. Greens Powder
3. Probiotics/Enzymes
4. Omega-3 Oils
5. Activated Charcoal

It doesn’t matter what your fitness and performance goals are, we are all in need of the Foundational-5 in our lives. Now there are some people who believe that we can gain all of these nutrients by eating whole foods and I agree with them. But, unless we are purchasing food from a local farmer or are growing the food ourselves, then we are not reaping the benefits of all of the nutrients above.

After a lot of foods are picked from their vine or are harvested from the ground, they contain an abundance of the Foundational-5. But after a few days of ripening the nutritional content starts to decrease because the food is actually ALIVE. Unprocessed food is full of living nutrition and microorganisms that we need to maintain the healthy functioning of our bodies.

 

Significance of Whole Foods Based Multi-Vitamins/Minerals

We have all heard that we should all take some type of Multi-Vitamin/Mineral to be healthy but the problem we run into with most vitamins is that they are synthetic isolates that are foreign to the body. This usually results in low absorption which then turns our urine into a neon bright fluorescent yellow due to our bodies getting rid of them. Naturally occurring vitamins and minerals contained in whole foods are accompanied by essential co-factors that enable the absorption and utilization of such vitamins and minerals in the body. So when you consume a whole foods based multi-vitamin/mineral it yields better absorption due to the presence of essential co-factors.

 

Significance of Greens Powder

Greens powder is exactly what it sounds like, full of green vegetables and grasses from the Earth and sea bottoms that provide us with highly alkalinizing minerals and nutrients.  Now if you’ve ever taken a chemistry class you’ve heard of the term “pH” which stands for the “power of hydrogen”. The total pH scale (1-14) which ranges from one (acidic) to fourteen (alkaline) with seven (7) considered to neutral, measures the concentration of positively-charged hydrogen ions in our bodies. Ions are electrically-charged atoms that make up the electrical “juice” or current our bodies use to communicate. The presence of more hydrogen ions promotes acidity, while the presence of less hydrogen ions promotes alkalinity.

A healthy body functions best when it is slightly alkaline. When our cellular pH levels deviate from a healthy pH range (7.2-7.5) normal cellular functions are adversely altered and puts us into a disease state which can promote illness, fatigue and a host of other ailments that adversely affect our health.

The additions of greens powder allows for us to reap the benefits of sea algae, spinach, spirulina, kale, chard and host of other green grasses in a convenient way to ensure we are getting all of the alkalinizing and immune boosting benefits of greens powder.

 

Significance of Probiotics/Enzymes

We have all heard the term that” we are what we eat” when it comes to nutrition. But I’ve learned over the years that to be more accurate that we need to understand that “we are what we absorb”.  Just because we consume it doesn’t mean we absorb it. This concept has been studied deeply in science which has allowed for the term “bioavailability” to be coined. Simply stated, bioavailability is the degree to which nutrients are absorbed and are made “available” to be used by the cells. As I mentioned earlier there are many “co-factors” that our bodies need  in order to absorb and utilize nutrients. And the co-factors that enhance “bioavailability” are Probiotics and enzymes.

Probiotics are the good bacteria that live within our “guts” that help to maintain digestive health by enhancing bioavailability and food elimination. The problem is that Probiotics are killed during the processing and pasteurization of foods. As a result the ratio of good to bad bacteria in our digestive tracts shifts to the dominance of bad bacteria altering our digestive health which impairs nutrient absorption and elimination. This is how most of us have become overfed and undernourished. We’re consuming a lot of food and calories, yet our body isn’t absorbing everything that we’re consuming.

But we just can’t focus on increasing Probiotics without also focusing on enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (speed up the rate of) the degradation (breakdown) of the molecules within our foods. Simply put enzymes help our bodies to digest food by “unlocking” the molecular bonds of food (carbs, protein, and fat) in order for our bodies to extract the nutrients. So not only do Probiotics play a critical role in food absorption but enzymes are essentials as well.

 

Significance of Omega-3 Oils

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids. Anytime the body is unable to manufacture or produce a nutrient on its own that nutrient is called “essential”. Omega-3 fatty acids play vital roles in brain and cognitive function as well as normal growth and development. There are three classes of Omega-3 fatty acids and they are:

1. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
2. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
3. Alpha Linolenic acid (ALA)

These essential fatty acids can be found in wild-caught fish such as tuna, salmon and halibut; organic grass-fed beef, free-range eggs from chickens, walnuts, flaxseeds and chia seeds.

More specifically EPA and DHA support brain function by assisting with the synthesis of neural transmitters. EPA and DHA are converted into prostaglandins which are hormone-like substances that regulate cell activity (muscles are included) and maintain healthy cardiovascular function.

ALA helps to support immunity, vision, cellular membranes and the production of hormone like compounds. The overall synergies of the Omega-3 fatty acids help to naturally decrease inflammation in the body. Omega-3 fatty acids also enhance the bioavailability of nutrients by increasing the permeability of the cellular walls which enhances cellular function for comprehensive human performance.

 

Significance of Activated Charcoal

The final member of the Foundational-5 is a member you may not have heard of at all. But if you have a water filter in your home you’ve been reaping its benefits without even knowing it. Activated Charcoal is a carbon based compound that has been treated with oxygen to open up millions of tiny pores between the carbon atoms. The highly “active” and “ionic” pores become “bonding” sites that trap chemical toxins and impurities that pass each pore.

If you refer back to how we talked about the body’s pH and hydrogen, then you’ll understand that these active and ionic pores can attract excess hydrogen to their sites to aid in alkalizing the body and maintaining overall health. Activated charcoal have been used in water filters for decades, but recently in the past few years homeopaths and nutritionists have started suggesting the oral supplementation of activated charcoal to aid in detoxification while improving digestive health.

Activated Charcoal Disclaimer: The high absorbency of activated charcoal may reduce the effectiveness of certain medications. So please make sure that if you are taking any doctor prescribed medicines that you consult your doctor before using activated charcoal.

 

Synergistic Summary

So as you can see the Foundational-5 all individually perform vitally awesome tasks within the bodies and when they are taken together the synergistic benefits can have dramatic effects on your health.  And when your health has been optimized, you will expand your potential for excellence in both sport and life.

NOTE: You can easily find the Foundational-5 at your nearest vitamin, nutrition or health food store.