Orthomolecular Nutrition

Yup that's the course I'm currently working on - Orthomolecular Nutrition.  As a wise friend of mine (who is also a veterinary medicine student, so she ain't no dummy) said... "is that is a super fancy way to say eat the right food?"  And, well... she's basically right!  The concept is pretty simple - use optimal nutrition to combat, heal, and prevent physical and mental illness (according to the authors of Putting it All Together - Abram Hoffer and Morton Walker).  Yeah I totally just grabbed that snippet from the back of the book.  LOL  That doesn't mean I believe it any less - it means I am lazy.  :)

This concept really falls in line with what I have lived and learned over the last 5 years and what I hope to eventually teach others.  Which is why I finally enrolled in school again to work on my Doctor of Naturopathy degree.  A few gems directly from the book I wanted to share with you that may or may not surprise you...

• The authors have cured (yes CURED) individuals diagnosed with Schizophrenia with B vitamins (and other nutrition).  That's all I have to say about that.
• Vitamin B3 is instrumental in lowering cholesterol levels and is the only compound tested in the long term that produces a real decrease in cardiovascular disease.  
•  Vitamin E protects cell surfaces and is nature's best antioxident.  One molecule of Vitamin E will be used over and over in the body and quench 100 free radical molecules (free radicals - a discussion for another day.  Just trust me when I saw quenching them is a good thing!)
• Concerning the safety of high doses of vitamins (hypervitaminosis)... there has never been a recorded suicide by vitamin.  Due to sheer bulk, it would be very difficult to take large enough quantities of a vitamin to bring about death.  Can the same be said for prescription medications?
• Modern obesity is more often caused by over-consumption of processed carbohydrates than by too much protein/fat.   

Just a few points to get you thinking.  This book is really great and I would recommend it to anyone.  We know and readily accept that vitamin deficiencies cause scurvy (Vitamin C), birth defects (Folic Acid), and beriberi (Thiamine).  WHY is it so difficult for us to grasp that other vitamin deficiencies could cause additional mental/physical problems?  Sigh.  I know it took, what... 50 years for society to accept that scurvy was caused by vitamin C deficiency?  I can only hope we become a more accepting society to learn how other deficiencies are killing us.   
Be well...