Tag Archives: Fall 2013 Catalog

Chocolate Fudge- Healthy, Fast and Easy!

Chocolate Fudge, Healthy, Fast and Easy!1403564_10151749083753106_536881012_o

Free of Dairy, Corn, Grain and Refined Sugar

What You Need:
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup cocoa powder (raw preferred)
1 cup natural, smooth nut butter (almond is delicious!)
1/2 cup sunflower butter
1/2 cup raw honey or maple syrup*
1 dropper full of Beeyoutiful’s French Vanilla Stevia
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
silicone muffin tin or paper cupcake liners

Gently warm coconut oil in a sauce pan over low heat just until liquid. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Add nut butter and sunflower butter, using low heat to soften and blend ingredients together. Remove from heat and add the rest of ingredients, mixing well after each addition. Taste and adjust sweetness if needed. Pour into paper cupcake liners in muffin tins. Fill to 1/3 full. Should make around 24. Place in freezer for about 30 minutes or until firm. Pop out, place in glass container with snap-on lid or slide into a ziplock bag. Keep chilled until right before serving.

This has become one of our family’s favorite desserts! I love that it can be made well ahead, stays good for a long time and is a super-healthy way to satisfy a chocolate craving. Enjoy!

*In this recipe, honey or maple syrup can be replaced with stevia to taste (along with an additional 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup almond butter) for an entirely sugar-free dessert.

Welcome! By Steph Tallent- Fall 2013 Catalog

 

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Hello, Beeyoutiful Friends!

We are diving headlong into Fall and Winter here at Beeyoutiful. This is definitely the busiest season of the year for us as a business. On a personal level, it is also by far the busiest season of my life to date! Our third-born arrived in June of this year. We were so thankful for his safe arrival after weeks of bed-rest. I delivered him at The Farm in Summertown TN, made famous by Ina Mae Gaskin who was recently inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. She and the other midwives of The Farm have preserved an incredible birthing culture founded in knowledge gathered from around the globe that is all but lost in our modern world. We were so thankful to be the recipients of their loving, wise, experienced, and professional care before, during, and after Mark’s birth.

Mark is the easiest-going of our babies thus far for which I am beyond thankful. We have dubbed the mellow fellow Sir Squish, and he tranquilly presides over his siblings from his adored place of honor in the family as the current baby. At six years old, Noelle is in first grade of homeschool this year, which means we get to juggle formal school lessons into our work days. She is learning to read this year and it makes me smile to see her randomly sounding out words here and there. I can’t wait until she is able to start reading some of my favorite books from childhood! Our big Caleb (or Cman as we like to call him) has just turned 2 years old and is a gigantic hunk of a toddler. He’s all about trucks and trains and anything else with wheels that crosses his path. He seems to believe any and all boundaries are meant to be moved, shoved, climbed over, dismantled, or crawled under. He keeps the house in a regular state of disaster and you can frequently find us laughing in bemused exasperation over his latest antics. We are so grateful for these funny, quirky small people who keep us on our toes!

I was actually able to get Steve to write something for the catalog this time! We sell more multivitamins than any other product at Beeyoutiful and as a result get a lot of questions about them. Steve took the time to address in his article some of the most common questions we get. If you are a skeptic, wondering if multivitamins are worth anybody’s while, or even if you use a multi vitamin from another company, his article is informative and helpful in understanding what role a multivitamin should play and how to figure out if one is of good value and benefit to you.

Our good friend, Nancy Webster, wrote a great article about liver health. She addresses the role the liver plays in most major functions in the body and what we can do to help our livers heal, cleanse, and maintain good health despite the toxic world in which we live. If you have followed Beeyoutiful publications for very long, you know that we are huge fans of bone broth, particularly gelatin-rich broths. Bone broth has bio-available nutrients, high calcium and magnesium levels, and all around deliciousness that adds to meals. This makes it a favorite in our house! Plus, it makes the frugal side of me happy knowing that parts of the animal that would normally go to waste can be put to good use. I recently learned yet another benefit to gelatin-rich broth. It is excellent for liver health!

Discovering this liver beneficial fact, in combination with what I learned from Nancy’s article, gave me extra motivation to track down a good source of gelatin-rich components to use in our regular bone broths. I ended up buying a 40 lb. box of frozen, all-natural, free-range chicken feet—feet with the legs, toes and fingernails still attached! Truth be told, I find a lot of things disgusting. Despite having grown up with family members as deer hunters, even helping with the processing of deer and other animals, it still gets to me. But I am here to tell you that few things are as gross as a pile of chicken feet. It was with much internal angst and some external gagging that I forced myself to hack off a chunk of those feet and into the broth pot. After three days of slowly simmering I cringed, pouring the beyond disgusting-looking liquid with golden fat floating on the top through a fine mesh strainer to catch all the little bits of feet bone and chunks of skin. “Never again!” I said to myself as I poured the filtered broth into the quart-sized repurposed spaghetti sauce jars designated for broth in our house. “I’ll give the rest of those feet away. I am NEVER doing this again. So, so, SO disgusting!” The broth cooled and was slid into the refrigerator. The next day I pulled some out to start supper and was incredulous to realize that the broth had so much gelatin in it that it was solid. Like a rubber bouncy ball kind of solid and jiggly. I had to scoop and scrape it out with a spoon it was so rich and thick. By far the most gelatin rich broth we’ve ever made. Gross or not, chicken feet are now officially a cheap way for our family to get gelatin into our diet. I’m determined to get past my gagging, city-girl sensitivities! Mind over matter, right?

Also in this edition, we have an article about the essential, fat-soluble combination of vitamins A, D, and K. The importance of this trilogy of nutrients cannot be overstated. My dear friend, Toni Gatlin, writes about how to obtain these nutrients. Most Americans remain chronically depleted in these specific nutrients and many of us, in order to begin healing and restoring good health, need to supplement with intensive amounts of them, more than we reasonably get with even a good diet. Toni covers the dietary sources of these nutrients and the options available in supplement form as well. It’s well worth the time to read!

As those of you who receive our e-mail newsletters already know, our Beeyoutiful building caught fire a few weeks before this catalog was published. We lost some inventory but are so very grateful for most of the building having been spared. There was water and smoke damage and we have been doing cleanup, repairs, inventory rebuilding and everything else that is entailed in recovering from such an event. Although in the grand scheme of things this incident was minor (and could have so very easily been a horrible disaster!), and we are so blessed to be able to recover from it as rapidly as we have, it still served as catalyst for me appreciating what we are able to do more than I usually do. Beeyoutiful is a business that has grown to mean much more than just a business to me and our family and many of our staff. It is how we are able to be connected with so many wonderful people across the nation and around the world. It is the tool which allows us to continue to learn new information, find new resources, and get new insight into various aspects of how to support good health. It has allowed us to partner hand in hand with many of you who are on healing journeys for yourselves or loved ones. Thank you for allowing us to work with you. Thank you for allowing us to have this business and do what we do. We are so very grateful for you and to you!

We hope you enjoy this catazine! We absolutely love feedback and constructive criticism. If it’s feasible for us to make changes for the better, we want to hear how we can! And it absolutely makes our day to hear if we are doing something well. Please let us know what you would like to see more or less of!

May you and your families have a wonderful Fall and Winter. Enjoy the holidays that punctuate this season. We have included some fun, yummy recipes that are not only delicious but also healthy and very appropriate to bring to family gatherings. We’re also passing along several helpful essential oil recipes just incase you have need of them for any illnesses this fall and winter.

With much love and gratitude,

—Steph Tallent
steph@beeyoutiful.com

Misled by Multi’s – Fall 2013 Catalog

Misled by Multi’s

by Steve Tallent

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We’ve been running Beeyoutiful for over seven years now. I can’t tell you how much of that time has been spent in front of a computer. And a lot more of it than I would like has been spent in front of a computer trying to get things done while suffering from childrenis interruptus. That’s Latin for “You’ve got small kids . . . bless their hearts,” although I have also heard the alternate, perhaps more ancient definition of “your kid just made the world’s biggest mess and is now sitting right in the middle, naked and burbling happily.” It seems likeEVERYTHING is harder after you have kids. And there is more work. And life is busier, and more stressful. I often find myself tired, hungry, frustrated at how little I get done, and how long it takes to do it, and emotionally spent. Even while writing this article, I found that I had to work for a bit, hold a kid, start over, rewrite, change a diaper, start over, rewrite, hold a kid and peck out a couple of lines while the kid kicks the keyboard and or moves the cursor all over, stop to deal with a discipline problem, get distracted by a dozen other things needing attention, come back to it two days later and forget where I was and what I was going to say, start over, rewrite, etc., until my due date comes and then goes, and then is far in the rear view mirror. It’s all just draining.

Whether you have kids or not, family or not, high-needs friends or not, most of you have probably experienced something similar in your lives. That’s why here at Beeyoutiful, we are constantly trying to seek out new products and information, sort through it all, pick out the best, break it down so it is easy, and dish it out for you. You’re busy. Stuff is flying at you from all sides, with a lot of “what” but not a lot of “why”. We get it. We’re trying to help. And it’s why I think you need a good daily multivitamin.

Most people are deficient in something.

Whether it is fatigue, weakness, skin issues, hair loss, aches and pains, depression, frequent infections or illness, bad teeth, broken bones, weight gain or loss, cramps, inability to concentrate, or just plain old irritability, if we’re honest, most of us can spot symptoms in ourselves that indicate a nutrient deficiency. This isn’t “malnutrition”, but a shortage of particular nutrients often referred to as a nutritional “gap” between what you get, and what you need. I’d like to tell you that you just need to eat better and it will take care of whatever problems you might be experiencing. But the truth is that our entire food chain, from fertilizer and soil, to finished product, is compromised these days. Even if you want to grow it yourself, it can take years of proper cultivation to produce plant and animal products that are nutrient dense enough to completely close the gap and get everything you need for proper health.

The nutritional “gap” is more like a “chasm”.

Some folks might protest that just one bowl of morning flaky flakes or puffy puffs contain 100% of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Recommend Daily Allowance of a bunch of stuff, not to mention the milk, coffee, toast, butter, etc. Add to that a sandwich for lunch and dinner from a couple of cans, and you’ve surely gotten more than enough nutrients, right? After all, you’re still alive. Well, it’s not so simple. First, you need more than ‘they” think you do. Many experts consider the RDAs to be way, way too low. Plus, after years of undernourishment, most of us have little conditions in our bodies that need extra nutrition over time to be fixed. You can have a slow leak in a car tire. You don’t notice it for a while. If you catch it when it is low, you can fill it up. If you don’t, one day you walk out and it is totally flat. Not to mention that driving it while really low could have damaged the tire, or thrown the alignment off. One little simple deficiency can start a chain reaction of destruction and it takes a lot more effort to fix it all than it does to prevent it. And we don’t come equipped with spare tires. So some people like me, in addition to eating the best diet I ever have in my life, need to take not just the regular dosage of multivitamin, but extra as well to try to incrementally heal my body. Second, the processing that many foods go through renders the vitamins inert. Like a battery with no charge. It has the right size, shape, weight, look, feel, the right stuff inside, but pop it into the flashlight and nothing happens. The battery is dead. Vitamins can be dead too. And finally it is possible that . . .

You Just Don’t Get It.

Even if you are getting active vitamins into your body in a good form, more and more we are finding out that many, many people have issues utilizing those vitamins. Their bodies have been damaged and stuff just isn’t metabolized the way it needs to be. Back to the car tire analogy, imagine that the valve stem got damaged. Even though you’re blowing compressed air into the right place, very little of it is getting into the tire. But if you keep at it, you can eventually get that tire filled. Some moderately-costly testing can tell you across the board the vitamin and mineral deficiencies your body has, and some more expensive testing can tell you if you have problems metabolizing those nutrients. This will allow you to address deficiencies like a sniper – one nutrient at a time. Or you could take the shotgun approach with a multivitamin and mineral complex and have the added benefit of addressing things the tests may not find—and it costs a LOT less.

Okay, you may be ready to admit it just MIGHT be good for you to take a daily multivitamin, just to be on the safe side. But there are a ton of them out there. Which is right for you?

Quality + Price = Value

We recently got a letter from a customer who was buying Supermom to grow her hair out for a big event (yes, it seems to have that benefit for some people). She was already taking a daily multivitamin from a well-known, big-box chain store, and had this to say. “It is hard for me to understand why supermom costs $40 whereas prenatal vitamins like the one I’m taking costs $4.” Well, let’s look at that.

I’ve shopped those big box store pharmacy aisles. I’ve bought those vitamins. Well, not prenatals, but you know what I mean. They are cheap, in every sense of the word. But still, you don’t get a 3 month supply of multivitamins for $4. Multivitamins range from really cheap and awful to so awesome and expensive that you need to mortgage a house to take them regularly. Most of us don’t need an expensive limo to get where we are going, but neither do we want to break down along the way. We just need reasonable, reliable transportation. It is the same for multivitamins: you want to take something that works, something you can afford. Our “Super” line of multivitamins (SuperDad, SuperMom, SuperKids) are not the cheapest, but they work where many “value” multis don’t. Obviously for this woman, she wasn’t getting enough from her multi for her hair to grow out. Our Supers are not the absolute top of the line— they are not the Rolls Royce of the vitamin world— but keep in mind that you won’t have to sell your children into indentured servitude to pay for them. (Although when you find your 2-year-old has stripped off his diaper, peed on the floor, dumped out the kitty litter box, and is sitting in the middle of the pile tasting it for the second time in a week, you might be tempted.) Where they differ from a lot of other mid-range vitamins is in formulation and testing. Our Super vitamins contain at least one green super food. These things like Spirulina, Chlorella, and Aloe make the other vitamins much more bioavailable so that what you take actually works better. And every batch of our multis is tested to make sure that it indeed has inside what it says it has on the label. Each ingredient and each batch of final product is also tested to make sure that it is free of pesticides, heavy metals, and a host of other things that could possibly plague a multi derived from plant and mineral sources.

Our Supers are SUPER!

It’s true. Our multivitamins really are super. Some midwives and OBs recommend them as a prenatal vitamin, although they are not a prenatal and require supplementation of a couple of key nutrients. They recommend them because they flat out work. You don’t have to believe me. Go read the reviews on the website. There are 200+ on SuperMom alone. If you don’t have a computer, call up and let somebody read some to you. Many are along these lines:

I started SuperMom180 when I was 2 months pregnant with baby #6. Before SM180 I was exhausted and HADto have a nap everyday — hard to accomplish with 5 others. After SM180, I could easily go all day. If I skipped a day, it was back to required nap time. I have used other vitamins that didn’t help as much and were more expensive. Won’t be going that route again . . . (Posted on 2/14/09)

I had been taking an expensive vitamin shake for my allergies. Someone introduced me to this vitamin and am I ever glad they did! It helped my allergies and energy level. It’s so much easier to take too! Love all of your products that I’ve tried. (Posted on 5/24/13)

I was taking a very expensive multivitamin that was also very good. I hated the price, but was reluctant to switch, they were that good. It came to the point that, financially, I had to try something else. I’m so glad that something was Super Mom. It is every bit as good as the expensive brand, and just as pure. Thank you for Super Mom! (Posted on 9/15/12)

OH MY WORD! I have been using an expensive multivitamin from a private company for about 3 years. It worked really well but was about 4x the price of SuperMom. I decided to give these vitamins a shot and am SO GLAD IDID! I am not sleepy in the afternoons and have energy to do the tasks the Lord requires of me as a wife and mother. Thank you for producing such an effective product. Worth every penny. (Posted on 7/14/08)

I have been taking these vitamins for a few years and while they cost more than the store brand, they are far superior. Can tell a major difference when I stop for a short while. Even my eyelashes have grown to new lengths using this vitamin! 🙂 (Posted on 1/12/12)

Despite the higher cost of these vitamins, I think they’re worth it. Vitamins coming from real food sources really do make a difference. I Can tell the days I forget these! They give me more energy and make it easier to get through a busy, tiring day and night with my nursing toddler. And they don’t upset my stomach like so many can. (Posted on 1/8/13)

This is the best vitamin I’ve ever had! I feel great (take one a day) and don’t get that afternoon slump! I can really tell a difference if I don’t take them. Even several of my family members and friends are hooked after hearing me rave about them! We order together to save 🙂 To many people the price might seem high, but they last 3 months (or 6 months if you only take one per day like I do!). Spread out the cost and factor in how great they make you feel and it’s totally worth it! Thanks for a great vitamin! (Posted on 9/24/13)

Multivitamins are a scam!

“Multivitamins are just a way for gullible people to have expensive urine. They don’t do anything.” I’ve heard this statement from the medical community, and from the purists in the alternative health community. And the statement can be true depending on what you take. It can be true that birds fly. But it isn’t always true. There are some multivitamins that don’t dissolve. They come through whole. It’s true. Those aren’t going to do much for you. It’s simple, some multivitamins work, and some don’t. Some multivitamin formulations work for some people and not others, even ours. Like anything else in life, you have to study, get good counsel, and sometimes even try it yourself to see if it works for you.

Summary

Without enough daily nutrients, your body is like a leaky tire (and I’m not talking about that spare one around your middle, fellas.) You need a multivitamin. Beeyoutiful’s Supers are super! (Even my chiropractor can tell when I am taking mine faithfully.) They are a great value. And with Beeyoutiful’s 60-day money-back guarantee, there’s really no risk. Give them a good long test drive, and if you don’t like them, send them back and we’ll refund your money. No hassles. I promise!

Be well!

-steve

Liv(er)ing Beeyoutiful- Fall 2013 Catalog

from the catalog archives Livering Beeyoutiful from Beeyoutiful.com

By Nancy Webster

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Have you ever felt unappreciated for all the behind-the-scenes work you do to keep things running smoothly at home or at the office? Especially after extra busy days, I admit to having more than once considered hanging an “I Quit” sign in our kitchen, thinking it wouldn’t take long before my non-stop work there was missed.

Your liver may wish it, too, could hang out a white flag when it is suffering from burn-out, but all it can do is drop hints in the form of health problems—unless the work has totally overcome it, causing cancer or cirrhosis. A multi-tasking workhorse, the liver runs over 400 metabolic functions every day to keep you going strong for even your biggest days. When it goes down, so does your entire digestive system, your brain, your central nervous system and everything they direct.

Honestly, in my younger years, I didn’t give my liver much thought. But now, as middle age is full upon me along with a few accompanying issues, I see this neglect was a big mistake. Liver care is important even for children, who may enter the world with weak livers due to their mom’s unhealthy liver.

Liver 101

Pretty much everyone knows the liver is a filter to keep toxins from harming us. Everything must pass through your liver: any food, drink, pesticides or pills you consume; lotions, soaps, make-up or bug sprays you apply; injections/immunizations you receive; and even fragrances and gas station fumes you breathe. But that’s just one of its many jobs. This 3-4 pound organ plays a key role in digestion, the formation of our blood, and in immune defense.

During digestion, the liver secretes bile into the small intestine to lubricate the intestinal walls. The bitter bile regulates friendly bacteria; destroys dangerous organisms (like parasites and candida); stimulates peristalsis (muscle activity to move out fecal matter); and, with digestive fluid from its team player, the pancreas, helps us digest fats, proteins, and starches.

When the liver is abused by bad diet and chemicals and even not enough sleep (because it catches up on “housework” during the night), it becomes weak and congested. The bile it secretes turns toxic, ultimately contributing to what we now call a “leaky gut”, which leads to allergies, acne, eczema and other skin issues, food sensitivities, and even autism and bi-polar disorder.

The liver also does blood quality control. It regulates clotting factors, weeds out old red blood cells and helps grow new ones, and provides proteins needed to make white blood cells to fight germs.


How is My Liver Livin’?

Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet, suggests a quick test of liver health you can do right now. Place the fingers of your right hand underneath your right rib cage. You may find it feels hard, “congested”, and even tender. If you can’t extend your fingers up to the second knuckle, your liver definitely needs help.

Although the liver is involved in a long list of ailments, here is a short checklist to see how yours is faring:
1)Abdominal bloating
2)Pain or discomfort over the liver
3)Excessive abdominal fat, pot belly, or roll around upper abdomen
4)Trouble digesting fatty foods
5)Gallbladder has been removed
6)Acid reflux/heartburn
7)Dark spots (“liver spots”) or tiny red flecks that come and go on skin
8)Overheating of body; excessive perspiration
9)Acne, rosacea, or itchy, blotchy skin
10)Unexplained weight gain or inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction
Also, watch for high blood pressure, fatigue, high cholesterol and triglycerides, mood swings, depression, sleep apnea or snoring, and fatty yellowish lumps around your eyes.*

Alcoholics aren’t the only ones with liver problems. If you eat a diet mainly composed of high-carbohydrate, processed foods, you risk insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

from the catalog archives Livering Beeyoutiful from Beeyoutiful.comDandy Help for a Prickly Situation

Your liver can get healthy again, but you need to make some changes first. Switch your personal care and cleaning products to organic, chemical-free ones. Lessen your exposure to electromagnetic forces by keeping wireless and other electric devices a minimum of eight feet from your bed. Eat more whole, organic foods and lacto-fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut. Avoid processed, sugary foods and bad oils like canola and soybean.

You also need to support all these changes with liver-healing supplements. In the old days, Native Americans and pioneers sought out chicory, dandelion, and prickly milk thistle plants when the weather warmed. They may not have known a healthier liver was the reason, but they knew eating these plants made their bodies feel lighter and cleaner after a long winter of salted meat and potatoes.

My family enjoys wild foraging and has sought out and eaten all three of these plants. Although gathering and eating these medicinal plants is fun and definitely puts a spring in our step, it takes time and is only possible in the growing seasons.

silymarinLiverSupportWebProPillS

In their Silymarin Liver Support, Beeyoutiful offers a much easier way to supplement for a healthier liver. The main liver-strengthening ingredient extracted from the milk thistle plant seeds is silymarin, a powerful antioxidant said to protect liver and other cells in the brain and body from toxins (it has even been used to prevent death from accidentally ingested poisonous Deathcap mushrooms!). Silymarin promotes the growth of new liver cells (which you’ll keep healthy by your diet and lifestyle changes) and discourages the formation of fibrous tissue (hard, congested spots). It also helps your body hang onto the aggressive antioxidant called glutathione, which is famous for its role in improving autism and other problems.

Other known benefits of silymarin are protection from certain cancers including colon and prostate, improvement in the glycemic profile of Type 2 diabetics, and increase in milk production by nursing mothers. And I know that taking 1-3 capsules per day of Silymarin Liver Extract enhanced with dandelion and artichoke compounds is way easier than dealing with prickly milk thistle plants!

To complement their silymarin supplement, Beeyoutiful also offers Every Day Detox Tea. To stimulate your liver’s natural detoxification processes, roasted dandelion and chicory roots are combined with schisandra berries, in use even 5000 years ago. Called “five flavor berry” in Chinese, schisandra is unique in that it has all five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and pungent (or warmly spicy). A cup of this delightful, complex-tasting tea should be enjoyed 2-3 times daily. What a pleasant way to heal!

Large amounts of friendly bacteria are essential for keeping the liver clean and healthy. Fermented foods are an excellent source, but if your liver and/or gut need help, probiotics like Beeyoutiful’s Tummy Tune-Up and Gut Guardian are a needful addition to your daily supplements. Also, you can use Beeyoutiful’s Liquid Chlorophyll added to water, juice, or even kombucha to aid in liver cleansing.

Get Clean First

To jump-start your liver and overall healing routine, consider doing a bowel cleanse. It is necessary for the bowels to be clear and working well so as the liver begins dumping toxins, they can move right on out of the body. Many homemade recipes for bowel cleansing are available online, including water enemas, a salt water flush, a psyllium/bentonite clay/ginger/apple juice “shake”, and the well-known, ten-day Master Cleanse of just drinking lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne, and water. There are also packaged herbal cleanses available. Even after an initial cleanse, if your liver was especially toxic, you may want to do some coffee enemas to help lessen uncomfortable detox symptoms in the eyes, joints, and skin. Take care not to get constipated!

Many times naturopaths will also recommend a parasite and kidney cleanse followed by a liver cleanse, often with recipes based on the work of Hulda Clark, author of Cure for All Diseases. If you choose to follow these routines, research carefully and preferably get under the care of a good naturopath. You do not have to complete all these cleanses before benefiting from Silymarin Liver Support or Every Day Detox Tea.

Live well. Make your liver well. And you will be well.

*list from http://nourishholisticnutrition.com/heart-health/ten-signals-your-liver-is-telling-you-you-need-to-detox/#sthash.qdzKMVaB.dpuf

Nancy Webster enjoys researching and writing about alternative health. She leads the Southern Middle Tennessee chapter of The Weston A. Price Foundation. A homeschooling mother of eight (and a new grandmother, too!), Nancy, her husband, Greg, and their children live on a partially-working farm in Middle Tennessee. They have fun publishing a free, online e-zine at http://www.CreativeCountryLiving.com.

Products mentioned:

Silymarin Liver Support

Every Day Detox Tea

Tummy Tuneup

Gut Guardian

Liquid Chlorophyll

Got Fat (-Soluble Vitamins)?

This post originally appeared in a slightly different form in our Fall 2013 catalog.

Are you struggling with prematurely-aging skin, poor vision in dim light, or decreased immunity?

What about muscle aches, joint pain, lowered resistance to infection, depression, difficulty managing your weight, or susceptibility to respiratory conditions such as asthma?

Do you bruise easily, have poor gut health, or suffer from any of a number of blood disorders?

While that might sound like an advertisement for the side-effects of a prescription drug, you can tell it’s not, because there is no mention of “and in rare cases, death.” For many of us, these are symptoms of an easily reversible problem: a deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins.

One of the most widely accepted dietary travesties in our civilization is the “low-fat diet”. Fats in all shapes and sizes, good fats and bad fats, have been vilified for causing obesity. Meanwhile, the real problem grows as junk food, sugars, and simple carbs are consumed in ever greater quantities. Not coincidentally, obesity rates are skyrocketing. Plus, all of the nutrients that are found in good fats are missed including vitamins A, D, and K.

FAT-SOLUBLE and WATER-SOLUBLE

Vitamins are either fat-soluble or water-soluble. Most of us are more familiar with water-soluble vitamins, like vitamin C and the B vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins are found mostly in foods from plants, they dissolve easily in water, and are not stored in the body in any great quantity. We need to ingest these vitamins daily because the body cannot manufacture them and when the body burns what it needs, the excess is expelled through the urine. Most of us are also familiar with pro vitamin A, otherwise known as Beta Carotene, another water soluble nutrient. Some people think that taking Beta Carotene is the same as supplementing or eating Vitamin A. It is not. Beta Carotene must be converted in the presence of fats in order to become Vitamin A. This conversion is inefficient at best and in some individuals it just doesn’t happen at all.

But the fat-soluble vitamins are either made by the body or come from animal products (traditionally-raised, that is!). The body stores these nutrients in the fatty tissues for later use. Because the excess of these vitamins is stored, there is a possibility of toxicity from overdose which has led to a lot of misinformed fear-mongering. That is why most of us have never heard of the importance of these vitamins, why there is little or none of them in multivitamins (in their most bio-available, fat-soluble form), and why many people are deficient. Prepare to be informed!

VITAMIN A

Vitamin A plays two roles in the health of cells: it protects existing cells from damage as an antioxidant, and lends crucial assistance to the growth of new cells. This can be especially evident in the skin, bringing the youthful, resilient qualities we so desire. It also boosts the immune system, guarding against infection and disease.

Vitamin A, and the other fat-soluble vitamins, enhance the mineral absorption of the digestive system. It makes the minerals in your food more bio-available to the body, unlocking them for efficient use. On a plant-based diet without sufficient fats, the body may be literally starving for minerals despite the high dietary levels, simply because they are not partnered with the appropriate nutrients to assist in processing.

VITAMIN D

Calcium deficiency, responsible for porous and weakened bones, can often be blamed on insufficient vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 increases the absorption of calcium and works in concert with vitamin A to process minerals into useful forms that contribute to healthy bones and teeth. D3 is also incredibly important for the immune system and is especially good for combatting viruses!

VITAMIN K2

After vitamins A and D have overseen the process of protein production, a near-magical substance activates the proteins, turning them on for use in the body. The renowned Dr. Weston A. Price noticed its powers in his studies, but its actual identity remained a mystery and he referred to it as “Activator X.” It was later identified as vitamin K2.

Vitamin K2 is probably best known for its essential role in blood clotting. The liver needs it in order to produce prothrombin, a substance that helps the coagulation of blood. Without K2, even a small cut could result in major blood loss.

While vitamin D helps increase calcium absorbtion, vitamin K2 tells it where to go. We don’t want calcium to contribute to plaque deposits in our arteries or any other soft tissue, and K2 helps direct it to bones and teeth where it’s really needed.

Synergy!

The relationship between A, D, and K2 is important. When fat-soluble vitamins are taken together rather than as isolated supplements, they form a synergy, a cooperation that works better than when the parts are alone. For example, large doses of vitamin D or vitamin A taken alone without its partners may have little benefit and could even prove toxic. However, massive doses of A, D and K2 have been given to animals without toxicity, when they were in proper proportions. It appears that a unique buffering and protection happens to prevent toxicity when all three are consumed together. This is why it’s always best to get vitamins from a nourishing diet built around nutrient-dense foods and high-quality, food-based supplements.

How do I get enough?

Back in the 1930’s, Dr. Weston A. Price discovered that cultures with traditional lifestyles took in ten times more of the vitamins A and D than Americans did. Note that back then, the average American diet was still fairly nutritious, with a lot of whole, locally-grown, home-prepared foods. In the years since Dr. Price’s research, there was an explosion of factory farming and processed convenience foods, so now, eighty years later, it isn’t much of a stretch to presume our deficiency is even worse. How can we reverse this trend?

Vitamins A, D3, and K2 are found only in animal products (and in the case of D, through sunlight synthesis); a plant-based diet or a processed-food diet won’t have enough of these crucial nutrients. Seafood, especially fish eggs, fish livers, fish oil, and certain fish and mammals, provide high amounts of this trio. Wild-caught seafood that is fresh, frozen, or dried are higher-quality sources of fat-soluble vitamins than canned or farm-raised seafood.

Regular sunshine, about twenty minutes daily, can help raise your body’s vitamin D reserves. It is best if the sun is directly overhead, especially midday in the summer; the skin is not as efficient at D-production with the slanted rays of morning or evening sunshine. Darker skin is slower at absorbing sunlight and often requires longer exposure to the sun to raise vitamin D levels. Because many of are unable or unwilling to get out enough in the heat of the day, sunshine alone is often inadequate and most of the world (unless you live along the equator!) will need to include a dietary source of vitamin D3. If we can’t get enough sunlight ourselves, we can get it from grass-fed animals raised in sunlight.

You can find high concentrations of the fat-soluble vitamins in the meat and organs of traditionally-raised animals as well as in butter, cream, egg yolks, and animal fats such as lard and duck fat. Industrially-raised animals that are not pastured have only negligible levels of vitamins A and K2, and without sunlight, D as well. To optimize your grocery investments, target the highest quality possible for eggs and butter. Look for foods from pastured animals instead of grain-fed. Nutrient-dense sources pack a mighty punch in a small package. Don’t waste valuable space filling your grocery basket with high-calorie but low-nutrient foods!

Add cream or butter to soups to provide more nutrients and to enhance the absorption of the nutrients present in the vegetables. Top cooked vegetables with high-quality butter or coconut oil. Eat salads with rich homemade dressings made from fresh, healthy fats such as olive oil.

Dynamic Duo

Cod liver oil and butter oil are some of the best sources of fat-soluble vitamins. Paired together they offer an incredible health boost. We believe this to be the highest quality whole food supplement available for this vital trilogy of fat soluble nutrients. For a more affordable option, Beeyoutiful’s Dynamic Duo provides vitamins A and D3 in good proportions to each other and is sourced from fish oils. D3 is available in a liquid and gel-cap form as well.

A diet rich in leafy greens will provide adequate amounts vitamin K1, but vitamin K2 is still needed. K2 is found in grass-fed animal products, especially cheese, meat, liver, and egg yolks. Supplementing your diet with one capsule of Beeyoutiful’s Katalyst every day could help increase vitamin K2 reserves and prevent a deficiency of this crucial nutrient.

KatalystStephWebsiteFor supplementation we recommend a ratio of 4-10:1 A to D3, and 10:1 D3 to K2. As always, for full utilization of nutrients extracted from their food form, take with a meal, as the body is designed to process nutrients from a food source rather than from an isolated supplement taken on an empty stomach. You’ll get more from both your supplements and your food.

Fat-soluble vitamins are crucial for health and a long life and are only available to the body through traditionally-raised animal products or careful supplementation. Don’t allow your health to stay permanently compromised due to a lack of these crucial, health supporting vitamins. Buy high quality whole food sources as life logistics and personal budgets allow. If life constraints are such that food sources are not an option the supplemental form of these nutrients will do exactly what they are designed to do, bridge the gap.

Products Mentioned in this Article:

Cod Liver Oil

Butter Oil

Katalyst

Dynamic Duo

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