Hi, any comments on the following? Note: I have no connection with this newsletter except as a subscriber. Cheers. Jo _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ The Vital Difference Between a DIET and a NUTRITIONAL SYSTEM What You Really Need to Know to Achieve Optimal Health and Fitness Before I directly answer this question, a distinction between diet and nutrition must be made. Dietetics, the study of diet, concerns itself with only what is consumed whereas nutrition science focuses upon exactly what is obtained from the foods eaten and furthermore what is excreted unused. While "dietitians" are busily recommending generically and statistically "well-rounded" average diets to people with no real gauge of how people are truly affected, nutritionists are concerned with the presence of nutrients in the diet food and precisely how well the body absorbs, retains, and utilizes these nutrients. Obviously, applied nutrition has many more variables and controlling factors than applied dietetics. These variables include: 1-- individual genetic and metabolic characteristics; 2-- nutrient bio-availability in food; 3-- toxic accumulation in the body, food, and environment; 4-- neurological and endocrine activity; 5-- specific dynamic action of food; 6-- gastro-intestinal absorption efficiency; 7-- nutrient utilization by cells; 8-- enzymatic patterns and blocks; 9-- antagonism and synergism between nutrients and toxins; 10-- stress; 11-- disease states; 12-- exercise profiles; 13-- chronological and biochemical age; 14-- drug usage. Dietetics derives information about what to eat from certain statistical norms and theories about which foods are generally best for the "average" individual or for those with specific diseases like diabetes or special needs such as weight loss. An applied diet should take into consideration current governmental recommendations and standards regarding nutrients for both generic and special needs relative to certain denominators of age and gender. This was why the MDRs, RDAs, etc. were created in the first place. The latest diet rage has been the incorporation of "zones", "blood type", and "ketogenic diets" which superimpose certain food choices over standard "governmentally correct" diets to achieve a healthier metabolic balance and/or weight loss. Metabolism, simply stated, is the biochemical conversion of food, water, and air into body usable nutrient forms and their use for energy production and all other bodily processes. In other words, the total profile of all biochemical activity required to support life equals metabolism. Balance is achieved when these relationships and activities are sustained at peak efficiency. An ideal metabolic balance correlates with maximum wellness given whatever genetic blueprints are present and is the goal of both dietetics and nutrition. In effect, the government, Dr. Sears, Dr. D'Adamo, and Dr. Atkins (and others) would have you believe that their diet criteria is all that is necessary for diet-instigated perfect wellness and leanness. This could not be further from the truth! Why? A true nutritionist immediately knows this answer. A dietitian and the rest of us probably don't have a clue. Actually, there are five answers: First, all of the above diets are based on pure theory ö not on the scientific truth about what a given individual exactly requires from food for optimum metabolic balance. If these were scientific, the 14 applied nutrition variables taken from the first paragraph would be precisely measured for each person. Second, the generic dietary suggestions given are of a one-size-fits all nature, (with some minor theoretical personalized adjustments), which is invalid when you consider the scientific fact that no two people are exactly alike. From genes to biochemistry to metabolism to life's manifestation - we are each unique with many differing needs! Third, without the 14 applied nutrition variables taken into account, there is no surefire way to know how well a diet is working over time because there is no valid standard measurement of outcomes at the biochemical level for before and after comparisons. A few pounds lost or maybe an improved cholesterol test or self-- perceived symptomatic reduction (placebo effect?) is all most people have to go by which is not nearly enough to stake your well-being on. Fourth, even the few nutritional variables derived from human research used as guidelines to configure current diet plans are wholly inadequate when attempting to formulate across-the-board diet theory because of their dramatically limited scope! Fifth, it's simply not working! More people, when nutritionally tested exhibit more deficiencies, excesses, imbalances, sensitivities, and diet-related disease than ever before - even those on special diet and supplement regimens! Actually, thereās a full-blown epidemic of degenerative nutrition-related diseases (223 in all) smothering our society! From fat-loss to fatigue to fibromyalgia -- current diet one-size-fits-all diet theory doesn't work. What does this all add up to? Simply, a diet is pure theory with no direct body specific relevance. A nutrition plan is by definition based upon many more direct body specific nutrition variables than a diet plan. A real nutrition plan or system (I prefer system over plan because it infers a more advanced technology than plan alone) is not based on theory. Rather, it's based upon the scientific truth of what each individual truly requires from food at this moment and all moments to precisely feed metabolism and genes. Furthermore, an applied nutrition system defines our uniqueness as individuals with few, if any, one-size-fits-all ramifications. It also provides a scientifically valid sure fire way to measure nutritional changes within the your body only. What does an applied nutrition system do for me, or you, or anybody? It accomplishes three things on the most personalized level: First, it accounts for every mineral, vitamin, amino, fatty acid, allergy, sensitivity, toxin, metabolic and enzymatic weakness, and genetic requirement which defines your constitution. Second, it provides a way to apply a completely customized, individualized, and clinically proven nutritional program to repair all imbalances detected. Third, retests demonstrate exactly how your body is responding at the deepest molecular levels. The world of diet and nutrition has reached its final frontier. This is the frontier of personalized nutrition where guessing about nutritional and diet needs is completely obsolete. There is no longer a reason to guess about what you should eat. There is no longer a reason to subscribe to the one-size-fits-all philosophy and highly incomplete diet theories. There is no reason to ever shotgun, piecemeal, nor fail ever again at attaining the greatest diet-related wellness possible. What was once only attainable in the deepest recesses of advanced clinical nutrition has now exploded onto the market scene allowing for every one of us to have access to the most advanced genetically and metabolically correct nutrition ever seen in the history of mankind. To learn more about Dr. Gregory Tefft's breakthrough system, order now. http://www.dragondoor.com/b20.html AOL users can use the links below http://www.dragondoor.com/b20.html http://www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/tpost.pl http://www.dragondoor.com/index.html