Superfoods: Eating For Optimal Health Part I

This past week I've been a bit sluggish. I've been sleeping alot (like, until 2pm), have less energy when I'm up, zero creativity, and more or less have been planted on the sofa watching early episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I wondered what could be causing this shift and I realized that I've slacked a bit, not intentionally in a few departments. With the heat, Triton and I haven't been walking as regularly, and unfortunately I haven't replaced our walks with another form of exercise.  Instead of doing my energy routine twice a day, it's been more like once a day or every other day recently.  And although I eat pretty well, I haven't been eating optimally for my health.  Meaning, while carrots are superfantastic, Spirulina kicks some carrot booty, plus some.  Generally I get the "goods" in my daily smoothie, but this past month the laziness bug has kicked in and I've swapped my Superfood Smoothies for processed Naked/Botthouse Farm beverages. Monday I started back up on my smoothies, and in just two days I've noticed a huge difference. I started getting up earlier day by day, I've been writing again, I have more energy, and even took Trition for a very sweaty sticky walk this evening.  I decided I need to kick things up a notch, and checked out David Wolfe's book "Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future" from the library. He's an incredible resource of information, and inspired me to really get gung ho in regards to my diet.  Since the beginning of the cancer parade, I've had a few items that consistently show up in a bad way on my blood tests.

1. Low levels of Hydrochloric Acid.  What does this mean?  Essentially hydrochloric acid is the stuff that breaks down your food in a digestible format that your body can use and distribute for all it's various functions. So all those pills, veggies, etc. have had very little effect because my body is unable to absorb most of it.
2. Anemia.  I have an extremely low iron count, in fact generally I'm only a point away from a blood transfusion. This tends to freak the doctors out. My Naturopath literally cannot understand how I get up each day based on the results of my blood test.
3. Hypoglycemia. My blood sugar is all over the place, and I've always bounced between being at risk for hypoglycemia and diabetes. Neither one screams fun times.
4. Hormonal Imbalance. Now this one has been on and off over the years. I've had long periods of time where everything is perfect, my cycle is regular and life is good. However, I've been wacky since about Thanksgiving, I think I've had maybe three menstrual cycles, which is not good. It freaks me out just a bit because I only have half an ovary, due to some benign tumors they cut out in my early twenties, so my understanding of this part of my body is really weak. Note to self: See a gynecologist.

Everything else is awesome! When I first starting going in for blood tests five years ago, EVERYTHING was off the chart's bad. Hemoglobin levels, kidney enzymes, you name it, the results sucked. For the past year everything has been in balance except for those four items, plus my inflammation levels.  The level of inflammation in my body has always been off the charts bad, which is the cancer, however, slowly by surely it's edging towards happier levels. However, I think the other issues are making the process much slowly.  If my body didn't have to put all it's effort on getting me to function on a basic level each day, the cancer would probably dissolve quickly.  Hence the interest in Superfoods. 

David came up with a list of his "Top 10 Superfoods" and "Honorable Mentions." Each item on his list has everything I need to eliminate anemia, hypoglycemia, hormonal imbalance, cancer, and my digestive issues. 

David's Top 10 Superfoods:
Goji Berries, Cacao, Maca, Bee Products (Honey, Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly, Propolis), Spirulina, AFA Blue-Green Algae, Marine Phytoplankton, Aloe Vera, Hempseed, Coconut.

Honorable Mentions:
Acai, Camu Camu Berry, Chlorella, Incan Berries, Kelp, Noni, Yacon

I feel this is an extremely important and eye opening subject, so I'm splitting this into a three-part blog.  For now, check out this video of David Wolfe discussing various Superfoods.  Check back on Friday for Part II, where I'll break down the Top 10 Superfoods and share why they are so "super"!