Rejuvenation Program: Part Four

FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS IN THE HPDI MASTER REJUVENATION PROGRAM

The HPDI Rejuvenation Program provides practices, protocols, and recommendations proven over 31 years. It is a complete program to rejuvenate, regenerate, and boost vitality to body, mind, and spirit. It is especially helpful for those who want to restore health.

The program emphasizes establishing basic nutrition, foundational nutritional formulas, and high-RNA Rejuvenate!™ superfoods and other sources of dietary nucleic acids. The program rests on six elements: 1) Attitude/Commitment, 2) Detoxification, 3) Preventing Toxicity, 4) Health Building Nutrition, 5) Building Powerful Immunity, and 6) Supporting Protocols.

The six foundational elements remain powerful individually, but act synergistically when combined to support optimal health. The results are greatly improved capabilities for your body to heal, regenerate, rejuvenate, and restore its vitality.

As I stated in Part Three of the Rejuvenation Program series, health building nutrition plays a major role in the process of rejuvenation. We recommend emphasizing organic and/or wildcrafted foods, consuming more plant-based foods, raw foods, and generally consuming natural, whole foods (e.g., avoiding refined/processed foods).

I also discussed foods recommended in our Rejuvenation Program. Our recommendations include consuming foods high in nucleic acids (RNA and DNA). RNA-rich foods include chlorella and  Rejuvenate!™ superfoods. Rejuvenate! superfoods provide therapeutic levels of nucleic acids to support optimal rejuvenation, revitalization, and health. They also provide supporting nutrients (e.g., d-ribose, coenzyme B vitamins) that maximize utilization and healing effects of dietary nucleic acids in the body.

HPDI offers three versions of Rejuvenate!, including Rejuvenate! (original greens), Rejuvenate PLUS, and Rejuvenate! Berries & Herbs. Rejuvenate! PLUS and Rejuvenate Berries & Herbs are the most complete. Both provide delicious taste, therapeutic levels of dietary RNA, nutrients that support the body’s use of nucleic acids (e.g., d-ribose), a complete multivitamin, essential fats, and high levels of protein.

THE NEED FOR NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTATION

Last month, I discussed dietary/food aspects of nutrition. Today, I present key roles played by what we call “foundational” (or sometimes “core”) nutritional supplements. Foundational nutritional supplements are one of the critical means to success in creating powerful health by establishing optimal nutrient status in the body. Foundational supplements include: 1) multivitamins, 2) An antioxidant / Vitamin C formula, 3) essential fats, and 4) high-RNA superfoods.

We have found that proper nutritional supplementation provides important nutrients not always easily available in the diet. This partly relates to the fact that our needs for nutrients have never been greater. In addition, there are various reasons that most foods are deficient in nutrients, and therefore cannot or do not provide levels of nutrients required to sustain optimal health.

Some reasons dietary supplements are necessary include the fact that most crops are grown in nutrient-deficient or depleted soils; increased demands by the body due to greater needs for nutrients (relating to detoxification, stress, pollution, etc.); biochemical individuality resulting in greater needs for certain nutrients depending on the biochemistry unique to individuals. Biochemical individuality means that a person may require many times the US Daily Value of specific nutrients. In fact, one person may need hundreds of times the amount of a nutrient compared to a different person.

In addition, needs change during the year due to environmental circumstances. Changing seasons, environments, air/water supply, etc. mean that an individual’s need for nutrients typically changes during the year (e.g., more vitamin D needed in the winter, more nutrients needed to deal with pollution associated with urban environments or stress, etc.). Nutrient density of foods also varies by location, season, etc. The availability of nutrients in foods (even organically grown foods) can vary substantially due to season, geography, growing methods, etc.

All these factors add up to the fact that it is difficult to ensure optimal nutrient status without supplementation. Because the need for nutrients is greater than ever for most people, the need for nutritional supplementation is also greater than ever. Nutritional supplements provide an effective (and cost effective) means to ensure the high levels of nutrients required to build, sustain, and maintain optimal health.

NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS IN THE HPDI REJUVENATION PROGRAM

ESTABLISHING FOUNDATIONAL NUTRITION

Foundational formulas are the primary supplements we recommend for success not only in our Rejuvenation Program, but also for helping create better health generally. In fact, foundational supplement formulas are the basic building blocks for establishing and maintaining high nutritional status at all times in any program. (While foods are your primary source of nutrients, nutritional supplements are the best way to ensure intake of nutrients needed for good health.)

As noted above, the four foundational nutritional supplements we recommend are: 1) a high-potency multivitamin, 2) an essential fats formula (omega-3 and omega-6), and 3) Vitamin C (preferably buffered) with antioxidants (especially bioflavonoids), and 4) Rejuvenate!™ superfoods (and/or other high-RNA superfoods).

These four types of foundational formulas are the most important supplements and superfoods. Even if you take no other dietary supplements, these are the formulas that ensure you get basic nutrients required for good health. In fact, no diet or nutritional supplementation program is complete without them.

I will now consider the four types of foundational formulas, explain how they function, and reasons why they essential for good health.

FOUNDATIONAL #1: A HIGH-QUALITY MULTIVITAMIN

A high-quality, high-potency multivitamin is the single most important supplement you can take. A good multivitamin ensures you receive important nutrients not always available in optimal amounts in foods. Taking a multivitamin helps guarantee uptake of nutrients that ar e not readily available because modern diets have strayed far from traditional diets. In addition, modern lifestyles create far greater demands for critical nutrients even as many nutrients are increasingly less available from foods. Multivitamins help break the cycle of deficiency and degeneration.

Critical nutrients provided by a good therapeutic multivitamin formula include a wide range of essential vitamins, minerals, and cofactors. Such a formula will usually include trace minerals, fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D, & K), coenzyme B vitamins, magnesium, or other nutrients known to be deficient in the diets of most individuals.

Important factors to consider when looking for a good multivitamin, include high-potency, forms, completeness, balance, assimilability (e.g., ease of uptake and rapid assimilation), ease of use (convenience), etc.

High-potency is important because for most nutrients, the so-called “daily value” is simply inadequate for most people. Most individuals need many times the daily value of vitamins for good health. This is because daily values are established based on minimum amounts required for sustain life (e.g., survival) rather than the optimal amounts needed for good health.

As noted, studies of biochemical individuality show that individuals may require many times greater amounts of specific nutrients than are needed by the average person. Because most vitamins (especially water soluble ones) are essentially non-toxic even in relatively large doses (i.e., hundreds or sometimes thousands of times the daily value), it pays to provide your body with larger amounts of critical nutrients that it may require because you may not be an ‘average’ person.

Complicating this picture is the fact that individuals needs for specific nutrients vary widely. Thus, for example, one person’s need for vitamin C may be somewhat higher than average, yet the same person’s need for vitamin D may be significantly higher than average.

The proper forms of the nutrients are another critical factor. While forms have not always been a prime consideration (either of consumers or formulators), they are critically important. Forms are worthy of attention because we know that the form of a vitamin or mineral can make a major difference in terms of how it assimilated and used in the body.

For example, Krebs cycle bionutrients (i.e., mineral carriers, such as citrates, malates, alpha-ketoglutarates, succinates, or fumarates) are known to be superior precisely because they are the forms naturally recognized and utilized in the body. This is because these forms are used in the Krebs cycle (or citric acid cycle) that is part of the metabolic pathway used to generate energy (ATP) from nutrients in foods. In contrast, elemental forms of minerals and/or forms that are not part of the Krebs cycle may be more difficult to assimilate because they must be converted into forms the body can use. The biological cost is reduced bioavailability, as well as cellular energy expense and time required for metabolic conversion. As you can see, forms matter for health!

Other important factors include completeness and balance. Completeness is important in a multivitamin because the body requires a wide range of nutrients working together to create and sustain health. Many multivitamins are neither complete nor balanced. This relates partly to the fact that multivitamins are often not designed with an understanding of nutrients, forms, or amounts needed for health. Consequently, many commonly available multivitamins incorporate less effective forms, inadequate amounts, and improper ratios of nutrients. This reflects a general lack of understanding by formulators about how nutrients work together to build and sustain health. In contrast, supplements are available that provide completeness and balance.

HPDI offers several high-quality, balanced, and complete multivitamins providing easily assimilated forms of nutrients in optimal amounts. These include Hank & Brian’s Mighty Multi-Vite!, Multi Two caps or tabs, and Chewable Kids Mighty-Multi! (which is also designed for adults to enjoy, too). We recommend our capsule formulas because they are the easier to assimilate. However, our tablet formulas are both effective and cost-effective. Children benefit greatly from a multivitamin, and for them we offer our chewable Kids Mighty-Multi! multivitamin formula.

FOUNDATIONAL #2: AN ANTIOXIDANT / VITAMIN C FORMULA

Vitamin C is legendary for its healing capacities. Yet, it is notable that despite numerous studies and accolades by nutritionists, it remains underutilized by mainstream medicine and is completely under-appreciated for the healing powerhouse it represents for human health.

We include Vitamin C as a foundational formula because we understand its role in creating and sustaining optimal health. Vitamin C not only is a potent antioxidant, but also a powerful immune builder/anti-viral, cholesterol controller, and connective tissue strengthener. In fact, no other vitamin or nutrient can take its place in terms of what it can contribute to human health, longevity, and well-being.

Ever since Linus Pauling wrote Vitamin C and the Common Cold, Vitamin C has held a place of esteem among nutritional scientists and consumers of Vitamin C products. Pauling went on to present further studies and to write his best-seller How to Live Longer and Feel Better (rev. 2006). Vitamin C plays a major role both in his discussion of vitamins and in the supplement regimens he recommends.

In nature, Vitamin C is always combined with bioflavanoids. Bioflavanoids (such as rutin, quercetin, catechins, anthocyandins, and oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs)), work synergistically with Vitamin C to create powerful antioxidant effects, counteract inflammation, and strengthen connective tissues. In addition, Vitamin C and bioflavanoids combine with other antioxidants (including glutathione, lipoic acid, and selenium) in a process called “redox cycling.” In this process, antioxidants protect and “spare” each other, thereby allowing for significantly increased antioxidant protection in the body.

We offer a variety of Vitamin C products, including formulas with bioflavonoids. Our Vitamin C formulas include Ultimate Protector+™, PRO-C™, Buffered Vitamin C tabs, and Buffered Vitamin C powder. We typically recommend taking a buffered Vitamin C product to prevent acidosis and help maintain proper pH levels in the body.

We consistently find that one of greatest means for success in creating health using dietary supplements is to ensure you take all four types of foundational formulas. For example, many people take one or two foundational formulas: a multivitamin, essential fats, Vitamin C plus bioflavonoids, and/or high-RNA superfoods. But how many people take all four daily? Do you take all four daily? You might be surprised at the results if you took them all daily. This is because foundational formulas work together synergistically and leverage each other in ways that exceed the health-building effects that can be expected when foundational formulas are taken individually.

FOUNDATIONAL #3: AN ESSENTIAL FATS FORMULA

Many people understand the need to take supplemental multivitamins. The need for essential fatty acids (EFAs) has gained increased attention recently, and it is no less important. More people are consuming fish, fish oils, and vegetarian sources of essential fats, including chia seeds. However, the need for supplementing diet with essential fats to ensure adequate daily intake has never been greater than today.

There are two basic essential fats: alpha-linoleic acid (omega-3) and linolenic acid (omega-6). Other fats are sometimes included as being essential fats, including gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an important omega-6 fatty acid, and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA), important omega-3 fatty acids.

Essential fats are considered ‘essential’ because they are needed for biological processes (i.e., they are required to sustain life) rather than acting only as a food-based source of energy (as do many other non-essential fatty acids). Humans, therefore, must ingest essential fatty acids both for survival and for good health.

Essential fats play multiple roles in the body and serve many different functions. These functions include being modified to make eicosanoids (affecting pain and inflammatory processes); regulating steroid production and hormone synthesis; regulating pressure in the eyes, joints and blood vessels; mediating the immune response; regulating smooth muscle and autonomic reflexes; are needed for oxygen transport from red blood cells to tissues; are necessary for kidney function and fluid balance; preventing clumping of red blood cells; regulating mood and depression, and regulating nerve transmission.

Every cell and organelle within the cells are encased and protected by membrane made of phospholipids. A major component of these phospholipids are essential fatty acids that control membrane fluidity and the ability to pass important nutrients into the cells and toxins out of the cells. Without adequate essential fats the cell membranes can become rigid and dysfunctional.

We offer an essential fats product, called Hank & Brian’s Essential Fats Plus E. This product contains EPA and DHA from highly purified fish oils, GLA from cold-processed borage oil, and full spectrum Vitamin E consisting of all eight natural forms of tocotrienols and tocopherols. These mixed forms of Vitamin E perform many beneficial functions in the body (such as lowering cholesterol and clearing plague out of blood vessels) and also protect the essential fats from oxidizing in the capsule and in your body. The ratio of EPA to GLA in this products is 4:1, which is considered the ideal ratio for optimal effects in the body.

FOUNDATIONAL #4: HIGH-RNA SUPERFOODS, INCLUDING REJUVENATE! FORMULAS

Our recommendations for foundational formulas now include high-RNA superfoods. We first recommend a multivitamin, an antioxidant / Vitamin C formula, and essential fatty acids. After these three foundational formulas are established in a daily regimen, the addition of a high-RNA superfood further contributes to excellent health.

We include high-RNA superfoods (and especially recommend Rejuvenate!™ superfoods) in our foundational supplements program after having studied the remarkable healing powers of chlorella and other high-RNA nutrients for six years. When taken in sufficient amounts, superfoods high in ribonucleic acid (RNA) show remarkable effects in the body. These effects include higher energy levels, greater endurance, better muscle strength, easier breathing, lower cholesterol levels, reductions in angina pains (and other positive cardiovascular effects), more stable blood sugar, better vision, and a more youthful appearance (smoother skin, fewer wrinkles, etc.), and many other benefits.

Our assessment of dietary nucleic acids being essential nutrients is shared by scientists on the cutting-edge of nutrition. In Nucleic Acid Nutrition and Therapy, Dr. Benjamin S. Frank asserts that dietary nucleic acids (RNA, DNA) are “essential nutrients of human beings” as distinct from non-essential, accessory nutrients. He considers nucleic acids and nucleotides an essential dietary category, i.e., as being nutrients “just as essential for humans as vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids” (Frank).

After having studied the positive health effects of dietary RNA in the clinic for more than 20 years, Dr. Frank asserted:

“[N]ucleic acids are an essential nutrient in our daily diets, and […] optimal health and reduced aging are clearly related to their intake, more than to any other nutrient. Nucleic acids in our diets are of paramount importance for the repairing of molecular and gross tissue degeneration, and for combating the process of aging by simple, effective and essentially non-toxic, natural means.”

Dr. Frank’s conclusion that RNA is more essential to health than any other single nutrient underscores the central role of nucleic acids for human health.

We share Dr. Frank’s conclusions regarding the “essential” nature of nucleic acids and nucleotides, and their central role in human health. In fact, it is our direct experience with the health-building effects of dietary nucleic acids (e.g., in chlorella and other foods) that led to further our knowledge of nucleic acid nutrition and therapy, and develop our line of high-RNA Rejuvenate!™ superfoods. Rejuvenate!™ superfoods both provide optimal levels of nucleic acids and include supporting nutrients (e.g., d-ribose, coenzyme B vitamins), which maximize the beneficial effects of dietary RNA for health.

The nucleic acids in Rejuvenate!™ superfoods work directly with HPDI’s other foundational nutritional supplements to create, sustain, and support optimal nutrition for health and healing. We recommend Rejuvenate!™ and/or other high-RNA superfoods as part of program of foundational nutritional supplements that work together to provide full spectrum nutrition. It is because foundational formulas provides a full spectrum of essential nutrients that it is critical to success in our Rejuvenation Program, and to create, maintain, and/or rebuild health.

FOUR FOUNDATIONAL SUPPLEMENTS  =  POWERFUL SYNERGY FOR HEALTH

The best news with respect to dietary nucleic acids is that while they are essential nutrients, their inclusion in our foundational supplement program powerfully leverages their effects by facilitating greater synergy among all nutrients available to the body via foundational supplements. This synergy means the total package of nutrients delivered by all four types of foundational supplements combined delivers far more health-building nutrition than any single foundational formula delivers individually. That’s synergy in action.

The means by which all four foundational supplements succeed in creating and contributing to powerful health relates less to the fact that each singly provides an ‘essential’ piece of the nutrition puzzle. Success relates instead to the fact that when all foundational formulas are taken together, their healthy benefits multiply and greatly exceed the sum of benefits provided by individual foundational formulas. This is a primary reason we emphasize establishing foundational nutrition both within our Rejuvenation Program, and more generally as a starting point for the creation of powerful health.