Lecithin Article as requested
Americans are terribly deficient in the nutrients provided by lecithin.
Heart disease, obesity, out-of-control appetites, Alzheimers and other forms
of senility, bad memory in general, many forms of mental and emotional
imbalances, premature and excessive wrinkling, benign
fatty lumps under the skin that grow and grow, liver problems, hair loss and
graying hair at early ages — all of these problems are related in some way,
in part at least, to lecithin deficiencies. Yet the only good sources in our
culture are eggs and organ meats. Who eats those every day?
Shaklee has two lecithin products, capsules and chewables, and both are
guaranteed to be free of unhealthy soy byproducts and toxins so commonly
found in many lecithin products found on the market today. The capsules
contain soy lecithin and soybean oil, while the tablets contain soy
lecithin, soy protein, fructose and tricalcium phosphate.
Shaklee pro-lecin nibblers are an excellent product for Blood Type A and B
in particular. For those on the I Love Dieting program, regardless of blood
type, they are a great alternative if you are becoming bored or needing
snack foods besides fruits and veggies. For people who are maintaining their
weight or not trying to lose as quickly on I Love Dieting, they are an ideal
snack and/or replacement for the lecithin capsules that the diet requires
each day.
Every ingredient in the nibblers is fine for type A and B, as there are no
Avoids. For blood types AB and O who are trying to follow the blood type
program close to 100% perfectly, then the fructose would prevent that
perfection, for it is an Avoid. Very few people follow their blood type
program that perfectly, and even the author of the books that made the
theory so well known in the U.S. says that healthy people only need to
follow it about 60% of the time!
Lecithin supplementation is recommended in particular by Dr. Peter D’Adamo,
author of the “Eat Right for Your Type” series of books, for blood type B.
He explains why in detail in the first book, stating that it enhances the
immune system in a way specific to that blood type. This is important
because people with blood type B generally have immune system
problems more seriously than the other blood types, and thus need extra
support for the immune system.
For people on I Love Dieting, the Pro-Lecin Nibblers can be
substituted for the protein powder and the lecithin tablets. Here is
the breakdown:
The program calls for two servings of Shaklee Soy Protein Powder and nine
Shaklee lecithin capsules every day.
Seventy pro-lecin nibblers have 14 grams of soy protein, the same amount as
one serving of the powder product, with seven grams of carbohydrate. As you
know, the new protein powder has almost no carbo, while the earlier poducts
have at least ten and include yeast, which some people don’t like. The new
powder AND the nibblers have no yeast.
Using the serving sizes as stated on the labels, one serving of six capsules
or ten nibblers delivers three grams of lecithin, using rounded numbers.
Thus, they can be compared with a six to ten ratio. Seventy nibblers deliver
the same amount of lecithin as about 40 capsules, using rounded numbers. The
capsules have one gram of protein per serving, while the nibblers have two,
so 40 capsules delivers about seven grams of protein, about the same as one
egg or a glass of cow’s milk.
With three grams of fat per serving, 40 capsules have 20 grams of fat. The
nibblers have one and a half grams per serving, with 70 containing ten and a
half grams. It is easy to see why choosing the nibblers is generally
preferable to swallowing capsules when taking in large amounts of lecithin.
Those who are doing the Zone diet can easily use either form of lecithin to
meet the fat requirements for each meal when additional fat is needed. Six
capsules equal one Zone fat block of measurement, while 20 nibblers are
needed to equal one fat block. Those who seriously follow the Zone diet also
will need to adjust for protein and carbohydrate if they choose the
nibblers, or if they use more than six capsules at a time.
One serving of Shaklee Slim Plan meal replacement drink and 80 nibblers
equal about four Zone blocks of protein, fat and carbohydrate, if
adjustments are made for the fiber in the Slim Plan the way Barry Sears
recommends in his books (subtract one gram of carbohydrate from the count
for each gram of fiber included).
One serving of Slim Plan with the new, no-carbo soy protein and about 20-24
lecithin capsules also equal four Zone blocks of fat, carbo and protein.
Those following the Zone program should work the numbers themselves based on
their individual needs, as not everyone needs four blocks per meal. Others
need more protein, while others need less carbo, as those familiar with
Sears’ books know, for he explains how to make the adjustments and why.
By replacing one serving of soy protein with seventy pro-lecin nibblers
(they are tiny tablets) , which allows a veritable feast of snacking, for
those who like chewy things, you obviously get a lot more lecithin than the
program requires. I see that as a fabulous benefit, not a problem, for based
on my studies of lecithin that began literally 30 years ago, you simply
cannot get too much as long as it is a high quality version. Most lecithin
available today is either rancid or turns rancid before the container is
emptied. Much of it is a byproduct of soy processing in which the soy is not
organic and may even be genetically engineered, as well as full of toxins,
especially when byproducts from animal feed are used to make the product. To
encourage someone to buy lecithin blindly off the shelf in the marketplace
today would be like encouraging someone to take poison, it could be so
dangerous.
Needless to say, on the days you choose to have nibblers instead of a
serving of soy protein, you don’t need to take the lecithin capsules
required on I Love Dieting if you are doing that program.
both daily servings of soy protein powder may be replaced with the
nibblers, although that starts to become an expensive snack.
Yet, when we consider how much people in the “civilized” western world
spend on alcoholic beverages, meats, gourmet and other high-end foods,
Pro-Lecin nibblers are not that expensive when
we consider what they are doing for our health!
Those on I Love Dieting will have to experiment to see how these
substitutions affect their weight loss pace, for everyone will be different.
Those who are losing quickly and therefore doing a lot of cleansing may find
the lecithin substitutions slow that process, thus slowing the release of
stored toxins, and they may feel better as a result. Not everyone has
problems of that type on the program, but some do, and it is no fun while it
is happening! Some men tend to lose so quickly on ILD, they lose energy and
have low moods, so the lecithin may help tremendously in those cases, either
as a substitution for the protein powder or as an additional item in the
daily diet.
There is lots of information in health food books and in Shaklee circles on
the many benefits of lecithin. Dr. Bruce Miller says on one of his tapes
that the human brain is 80% lecithin. Adelle Davis wrote extensively about
it in her nutrition books, now classics and still available, pointing out
that it almost is impossible to get enough in the diet unless you eat
several eggs a day, and who even eats one a day anymore?
I have suspected for years that one of many reasons Alzheimers has become
epidemic is because the generation of people experiencing that epidemic is
the same generation that was told not to eat eggs to save their heart.
Until then, almost everyone ate several eggs, not AN egg, every single day.
Twelve Shaklee lecithin capsules or 20 nibblers equal approximately the
amount of lecithin in four eggs.
Lecithin contains components that help keep the hair from turning gray and
that help prevent loss of hair. I have seen people literally change their
haircolor from gray to brown by taking lots of lecithin and Shaklee B
vitamins, as biotin also is important for the processes having to do with
hair health.
Lecithin nibblers provide a healthy way to become satiated, if you never can
seem to feel full, as they are quite fillling, especially when eaten by the
handful, like nuts.
A few years ago, when a lot of research was being done on
phosphatidylcholine, a major component of lecithin, and Alzheimers, I read
of scientists doing that research who said they weren’t ready to draw
definite conclusions yet, but their research had already convinced them to
take lecithin every day, “just in case.”
Lecithin is a primary source of choline and inositol, both B vitamins that
are needed by the body every day in the thousands of milligrams and are very
hard to find in substantial amounts in our diets today, especially since we
don’t eat eggs or organ meats regularly, except my 70-year-old sister, who
eats liver for breakfast many days the way Adelle Davis taught her to.
Studies have shown correlations between various forms of mental imbalances
and deficiencies in choline and inositol. Shaklee even puts 1000 mg. of
inositol in its Moodlift product, the research is so solid about depression
and inositol deficiencies. Lecithin, including these nutrients, is a staple
in many programs treating alcoholism through nutritional avenues.
When I followed the Weight Watchers diet off and on in the 1970s, I never
could feel full, and was constipated, no matter how much “unlimited
amounts” of allowed vegetables I ate. I found that by adding large amounts
of lecithin to the program, my constipation was relieved and I wasn’t
constantly hungry. My weight loss was extremely slow, but I figured that was
better than being so hungry and uncomfortable I couldn’t stay on the diet at
all! I didn’t stick with it because the food preparation in those days took
so long, and my time was limited, plus I noticed all the women who had
reached their goal weights generally had very obvious wrinkling around the
eyes, no matter how young they were! I knew that indicated an imbalance in
the diet. I now know it was deficient in essential fatty acids of all kinds.
I haven’t studied the diet in years, so don’t know if that is addressed
these days or not. I do know that company continues to improve its program,
as research continues to reveal new dietary information — Fergie tells us
all about it on talk shows and in her book.
Nutritionist Diane Petoskey recommends large amounts of Shaklee lecithin for
lipomas (did I spell that correctly?) on her skincare tape. These are the
fatty lumps
that many people get under the skin that grow and grow and often have to be
removed by a doctor. They are benign, but unattractive, especially when they
get large as big tumors on the exterior of the body. She recommends
primarily that people cut out all saturated fat and dairy products, and take
20-30 Shaklee lecithin capsules a day. She says the lumps start dissolving
in
most people within about 90 days on that program.
My conclusion, which she doesn’t draw on the tape, is that they are a sign
of a major lecithin deficiency, for as Adelle Davis and others so aptly
explain in various health books, lecithin is an emulsifier and when we eat
saturated fat and don’t have enough lecithin in our diets to properly
emulsify it, all kinds of problems run rampant.
Diane mentions on that skincare tape that a nice side effect of taking all
that lecithin for the skin lumps is a greatly enhanced memory.
I know from personal experience that if I don’t take a lot of lecithin every
day, at least about 20 capsules or about 30 nibblers a day, that after a few
months my brain feels like my muscles do when I don’t work out regularly –
soft and flabby. I first noticed this phenomenon in my late 30s, when I quit
taking lecithin for several months and then started taking it again. It only
took a few weeks for the difference to become very obvious after I started
taking it again. It wasn’t as obvious when I stopped taking it as when I
started taking it again after having been without it for so long. I think
that is because when a body has been getting optimum nutrition, and then
doesn’t get it for a while, it takes time for the deficiencies to form. The
process is gradual so it often is hard to notice for a while. The healthier
a person, the longer it takes for deficiencies to rear their ugly heads.
The body can manufacture lecithin, and does, but as Adelle Davis explains so
well in her books, we need all kinds of nutrients daily for this to happen
properly, and even she insisted that for ideal health, everyone take
supplemental lecithin every day.
Information has come from the I Love Dieting
originators about the urine tests that show pure fat coming out of the body
when people take lecithin. It has been touted for decades as nature’s
fat burner, another reason I think it is hard for the average person today
to get too much of it.
So, if you want a better brain, better hair, better heart, better liver and
more fat burned faster, plus a healthy, chewy pig-out food, whether or not
you are on a weight-loss diet, I suggest you try to get in the habit of
turning to Pro-Lecin nibblers and chew a couple of handfuls before you give
in to the ice cream or potato chips or whatever evil foods lurk in your
imagination, or your home! And if you do give into those foods filled with
unhealthy fats AFTER you eat all that lecithin, you can rest assured that
the lecithin will help your body deal with all of that fat in a way that
helps maintain your health.
During the holidays, I recommend people get in the habit of eating a handful
or two of nibblers before attending holiday parties, for the same two
reasons indicated above: you won’t eat as much of all that rich food, and
your body will be far better equipped to handle what you do eat, including
alcohol.
Anyone trying to cleanse their liver, regardless of what program they are
using, should also include plenty of lecithin, for it too is an excellent
liver cleanser and rebuilder. Thus after the holidays, everyone should be
eating nibblers like mad!
Elizabeth McIlhaney de Cordova
Tiger Medicine
Acupuncture, Herbology, Nutrition, Skincare
Tucson, AZ
www.shaklee.net/tiger__medicine