psam ordener wrote:
>
> Just found an interesting site on the net - the "Diet Analysis Web
> Page".  You enter foods you've eaten during the day, and amounts, and it
> tells you how much of your daily requirement of various vitamins and
> minerals you have eaten.  Calcium is included - one of those things we
> moms of milk-allergic kids worry about.
>
> It's OK to be concerned, but it's a shame to worry about a notion, calcium deficiency, that was manufactured by the dairy industry. Here's a quote from John McDougall, M.D.:
"...The possibility of developing some vague illness imagined as
'dietary calcium deficiency' haunts those not consuming milk and milk
products. However, calcium deficiency of dietary origin is a myth and is
virtually unknown in humans, even though most people in the world do not
consume any milk after weaning."

I tell patients they can supplement calcium if they want (many feel they
'must'after eliminating dairy foods and consequently all of their
symptoms). But Americans consume more dairy foods and more calcium than
any other country in the world---by far, especially women who worry
about osteoporosis. But guess which country has the highest incidence of
osteoporosis in the world?

And how would you know if your child was calcium deficient? What are the
symptoms that you imagine? There are none. It doesn't happen. Even
medical textbooks state that there is no correlation between dietary
calcium intake and osteoporosis. Look it up sometime. (Not that I
believe evrything in medical texts. Far from it). Muscle cramps are
often blamed on calcium deficiency. But in my experience, I have seen
that muscle cramps, leg jumpiness and restlessness, will disappear in
most cases when dairy foods are eliminated.

And where did the notion come from that we need to analyze natural foods
so much? Of course those with allergies and sensitivites must. But for
the masses, all we need to do is avoid allergens and toxins. That pretty
much means avoiding processed foods that come in boxes and cans and
bottles. We don't really need to know the vitamin and mineral content of
God's foods. We don't need to analyze a tomato, decide what parts of it
are nutritious, then encapsulate those vitamins and pretend that that is
more nutritious than a whole tomato, like we know better than God.

Sometimes I think we are too analytical. Of course, we need to be if we
want to eat at McDonalds and figure out how not to be poisoned.
>
>just thinking out loud.


Daniel A. Twogood, D.,C.