 Minerals
are
bulky, come from the earth, should be inexpensive (though
alternative industry is working hard at making them in forms that are
expensive) and contain natural heavy metals such as lead, mercury,
arsenic etc,. which are harmless when taken in their natural,
unsynthesized state in the soil and may even be essential nutrients in
those micro-amounts. Although acids are made of minerals (elements), they act like antagonists of minerals in the body, taking
minerals away from the body.
*Our
bodies can make many of the
living
acids and other substances (vitamins) that we need, but they cannot
make minerals.
These must be supplied from the environment, from either food,
water, air or supplements.
 *
This may not be wholly scientifically accurate, but looking at it
in
this manner makes it easier to understand. On the other hand, the
scientists may be the ones who are not wholly accurate, as they are
limited to looking at things that can be tested by science, but the
processes by which inert minerals evolve into living acids that form
into living beings can neither
be tested in a lab or seen in a microcope.
Building A Mineral
Supplement
I
suggest the following be combined to build a
full-array mineral supplement with companion nutrients:
Ingredients
MINERALS -- 9 tablespoons (combined)
of
Dolomite, Garden fertilizer grade
Epsom Salts, Borax and/or Azomite
ACIDS -- 3 tablespoons (combined) of
Ascorbic acid, Citric acid or
Tartaric acid (cream of tartar)
BIOFLAVONOIDS -- 2 tablespoons (combined) of:
Ground lemon, orange or grapefruit
peel, camu-camu, paprika, mango
powder (amchoor), chili powder, cayenne powder, ginger and/or Turmeric
GULONOLACTONE -- 1 tablespoon (combined) of
Cinnamon and/or Dessicated Liver
Directions:
Mix together and pack into gelatin capsules. Eat
3
tablespoons' worth a day.
Why Those Ingredients?
Dolomite - A good all-around source
of minerals that is easy to find.
Garden
fertilizer
grade Epsom Salts - Less easy to find, but a good
source of magnesium which is often deficient in our food. Don't
substitute with Food or Medical grade epsom salts, which has been
processed ("purified" as they call it) so that all the other minerals
that should come with the magnesium have been removed (probably to be
sold separately.). Use something else instead (see Magnesium) for sources.
Borax
- Easy
to get in the U.S. (it's the 20-mule team Borax in the
laundry aisle), this contains boron which is important for bone
strength and often deficient in our diets
Azomite
- A
good source of trace minerals, can be bought online.
Acids,
either Ascorbic
acid, Citric acid or Tartaric acid - Minerals need acids to
function properly in the body. Your body can supply many of these
acids, but it is good to add some more to be sure. Citric and ascorbic
acid are both very good at making minerals work right in the body, and
citric and ascorbic have the added advantage of being part of the Vitamin C complex.
Bioflavonoids
- Will enhance the activity of the acids, making minerals more
"bio-active", or usable by your body.
Gulonolactone
- An enzyme needed to make ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) which our bodies
cannot make.
Isn't there any
other way to take them?
Sure. Take them any way that is
convenient for you. Mixed with beef
tallow will create the stearate version of the mineral. Mix with honey
or jam if you like. You can make them into pills by pressing them into
molds (see my page on making magnesium lactate pills here). or mix with gelatine or jello to make "jello shots".
Personally,
I prefer the gelatin capsule route. I
pack everything into gelatine capsules now. I used to mix them with
liquid food acids and slow-cook to chelate them
and then pack them into
pill mold forms, but they were too difficult to swallow. Two things I
am considering and will experiment with when I get a round tuit are:
(1) Mixing the minerals mixture with soft tallow and putting that into
the pill mold forms That should be easier to swallow. The tallow is
stearic acid, so that will chelate the minerals. (2) Making a thick
jel from bones such as pigs' feet or oxtail and then mixing the
minerals into that and letting it set, basically making a mineral
"jello shot", which I hear goes down very easily.
Are There Any Other Minerals Sources
You Could Use?
Yes. If you are aware you have a
deficiency in
one mineral and not another, you may want to add or substitute some
other minerals sources, or you may find it easier to get one type of
mineral source rather than another. Soil, dirt and clay are all
composed mainly of minerals and you can forage for them and then treat
them to sterilize them.
Other Sources And Substitutes
Bone
meal. Good source of calcium
and phosphorus to balance the magnesium and sulfate if you're taking
epsom salts. Calcium works with magnesium; phosphorus works with
sulfur. Bone meal is primarily calcium and phosphorus. Epsom salts are
primarily magnesium and sulfur. Together they provide a balanced source
of the major minerals and, if derived from a natural, non-synthetic
source, will also provide varied trace minerals
Chalk. You can use grip chalk from an athletic
supply store. Plain chalk is magnesium carbonate or magnesite.
Charcoal.
Gray and black powder and
small pieces left behind after a garden or campfire. This is ash and
charcoal. Ordinary wood or
plant charcoal is similar to activated charcoal. Charcoal can also be
purchased in the aquarium department of pet stores to use in water
filters.
Earth
(the dirt in the ground) Find some area of land that has not been
exposed to chemicals, preferably under tall trees whose leaves are left
to decompose on the soil and dig there. Let dry and sift out pebbles. I
have three sources. One:
I picked up some red earth in Devon (which is supposed to be very high
in iron). I let it dry for several months to be sure all that was
living in it got out and then blended it. I take it in capsules but I
tasted it and it actually did taste sweet. I guess that's what they
mean when they say some soil is sweet. Two: After I scooped up the gray
powder from the fire, I took what what left of the ash and charcoal
mixed with the upper layer of soil. Three, some dirt by a river that
was kindly dig up by moles and left deposited neatly in piles on the
ground. Mix with DE (diatomacous earth) if you
are concerned about living microbes.
French
green clay.
That's
another type of dirt. I order it online. You can also get red desert
clay in the US. I believe the clay is from the Mojave Desert in the US.
NASA uses it for the astronauts to prevent mineral loss from bones in
space. If you use green clay you can reduce the amount of acids needed
because it is already partially chelated by the kelp in in it.
Gravel dust,
supposed to be available free from the silt ponds at gravel sites.
Iodine.
I use
Lugol's solution which I either drop onto vitamin D tablets and add to
powdered kelp or I mix with French green clay (which has some kelp in
it). I pack either into gelatin capsules. I ordered the
Lugol's online.
Kelp,
powdered.
Ordered online. If I lived near the shore I would gather it when it is
washed ashore and let it dry and when it is dry, put it through the
blender to powder it. If you use kelp, you can reduce the amount of
acids needed because it is already chelated.
Mirabilite.
Also called "sal mirabile" or miracle salt. It's used as an herb in
Chinese Traditional Medicine and as part of the process that results in
making DMSO. I can order it online at a CTM site but it's too expensive
so it may be processed. I understand it can be found in its natural
state in the Great Salt Lake in Utah; Trona, California and the Mammoth
Cave Plateau in Kentucky.
Nigari.
Used
to make tofu. This is magnesium chloride but be sure to get nigari made
in China because the nigari usually sold is from Japan
which synthesizes it.
Potash
(if you
can find a source you are sure is made from wood ash and not purified).
You can make your own by burning wood or plant material that you know
does not contain chemicals in a pot and collecting the ash. Usually, a
good source for potassium, which was named after the "pot ash" where it
was first discovered.
Sandbar sand.
I'd like to pick up some of the fine, clay-like sand of a salt water
sandbar. For that, I'd have to find some place I could wade into the
ocean. Thoroughly dry and then put it thru a blender on high to
pulverize more finely.
Volcanic
rock dust
(another name dolomite powder). Used to spread on organic gardens.
Wood
ash. I
scooped up the white
powder left after the fire that we burned to clear up all the debris
from the garden at the end of the harvest.
Where Can I Find My Own Mineral Sources?
Minerals
are the main ingredient in dirt.
• Go for a picnic along
the river.
Look
at the bank on the side of the river for clay, which is
fine-particled dirt.
• Hardware or garden supply
shops.
Read
the labels of the all the boxes of fertilizer. You're looking for
ones that indicate that it is composed solely of crushed rock dug from
the ground. Write to the manufacturer and ask them if you find any
likely candidate.
• Go for a walk in the woods.
Find
some place under a tall tree where
you are sure there has been no artificial chemicals added to it, and
dig up some dirt. Dry and sift until it is a fine powder.
• Take the kids to the beach.
If you
see any kelp, harvest it. Seashells will also supply minerals but
you'll have to be able to crush it, so don't get thick clam shells.
Fine sand by the shoreline can also be used.
How Should I Process or Prepare My
Own Foraged Minerals?
Let
them dry out in the air, and sun
if possible, and filter through a coarse sieve or colander to
remove larger pebbles or contamiinants. Then filter through a finer
sieve, then run them through a blender on high until they are as fine
as you can get them. If you prefer sterilizing it, put it in an
oven at 250F and let it stay there a half hour. Afterwards, if it is
clumpy, run it through a blender at high speed.
.
Theory
We often don't get enough
minerals from our
food.
Pollution
caused by burning carbon dioxide into the air causes the rain to turn
acidic as the carbon dioxide converts into carbonic acid, This acidic
rain, in turn, falls onto the ground and depletes the minerals in our
soil and thus our food. (A good reason to be against pumping carbon
dioxide into the air regardless of your opinion about its effect on the
climate.)
And often, we don't even
get enough minerals in our minerals.
Minerals
are
bulky and take up
space. For that reason, many
manufacturers of multi-vitamin tablets just leave them out, or put in a
few well-known minerals and leave out the rest. Unfortunately, minerals
work in concert with each other and putting in one mineral without
including its companion minerals can result in deficiency
symptoms of the missing minerals. The most
common example is calcium and magnesium. Calcium is often added as a
supplement to foods such as bread or to multi vitamin and mineral
supplements, but calcium by itself without magnesium will leach
magnesium from the body, causing its deficiency. For this reason, I
recommend looking at a magnesium source as a base for taking minerals,
and then expanding outwards from there to get a wide variety of
minerals.
Minerals
need to be chelated with acids so that they are more
bio-available to
the body, and acids should be taken with minerals so that they don't
deplete the minerals of the body causing mineral deficiencies. Read
more about ways to mix and prepare minerals for ingestion. See vitamin
C for more details on chelating with ascorbic acid, magnesium
diy for information on chelating chalk (magnesite) with kitchen
acids and making pills, and magnesium
sulfate diy for more on using epsom salts as your source for
mineral chelation and supplementation. Citric acid can also be used to
form the citrate version of a mineral.
All disease has a mineral
deficiency
component,
either as cause, exacerbation or inhibiting healing. A drop in the
amount of minerals in the blood (referrred to as "blood pH)* occurs at
the beginning of every disease state.
Is Brix the same as
minerals?
There is anecdotal evidence
supporting that high brix means high
minerals, but there has never been a scientific study done on the
subject
that we know about..
What's
the
difference between minerals and electrolytes, alkali and ions?
In a science lab there may be some
difference, but in the kitchen they
mean the same thing, except that if it is called "minerals" it will
cost you less than the other words.
Other Words That Mean
"MInerals"
• Alkalize,
buffer, buffering, electrolyze, and ionize are expensive words that
basically mean
"add minerals to". Electrolytes and ions are minerals.
• "Atoms"
can often be read as meaning minerals, although this usage is uncommon.
• "Basic"
or "base" means minerals.
• Bone
meal is minerals that came from living things so it doesn't need to be
chelated with an acid, but it should be balanced with magnesium and
potassium
• Borax
is a mineral
• "Brix",
technically, does not mean minerals but in practice it is believed by
people
who are into brix that high minerals is part of what makes high brix.
• "Chelate
complex" means minerals with the acid already mixed in.
• Clay
and
rock dust mean minerals. If clay is mixed with some life-based
matter, like french green clay has kelp mixed in with it, then it is a
mineral with its own life-based or acidic matter in it. If a mineral is
naturally part life-based or acidic, like green clay or ordinary dirt,
it doesn't need to be chelated.
• Lime
or dolomite are particular types of minerals.
• Potash
and ash mean the ash leftover from burning plant material, which used
to be burned in a pot. It is pure
minerals. Charcoal is some minerals with some wood (acid, life-based)
still
left.
• Salt
is a mineral. "Salts" means "minerals".
• Soda
can mean minerals but I do not recommend using anything called "soda
ash" (unless you made it yourself by burning seaweed), and substituting
with "pot ash" instead. Baking soda and washing soda are both
minerals, named after the sodium in them, which is a mineral.
Issues
Borax. The govt says
that a quarter teaspoon a day is safe. Not that I believe the govt, but
that's the dosage that others in the alternative health community use
so I go along with it for now. I
don't know if a "00" capsule is exactly a 1/4 teaspoon, but they look
to
be in the same ball park.
Tooth
decay and
Teeth Re-Mineralization
Teeth will re-mineralize if there are
enough minerals in the saliva for
them to draw from.
Natural
minerals dug from the soil will contain trace amounts of all the
elements, including such things as lead,
aluminum and arsenic. These are only a problem in their
synthetic versions. Minute amounts in their natural, wild state are
probably essential nutrients. If you find a mineral source for sale
that says it is pure or something-free without contaminants, that
usually means it has been subjected to various procedures to extract
the other elements which are then sold separately and the now-denatured
salt, soil etc. without its full array of minerals is them sold at a
premium price because it has been purified. With minerals, it is often
the case that the cheaper it is, the closer it is to the earth it came
from.
Coral calcium
is hard to absorb. Very true. It should be crushed and powdered,
mixed with a natural magnesium source
such as chalk, and then chelated with organic acids so that it can be
utilized by the body, otherwise it just passes through the body unused.
Dolomite
is hard to
absorb.
Somewhat true. It needs to be combined with acids in order to be fully
utilized by the body, otherwise most of it may pass through the body
unused. Some of it will be chelated by the hydrochloric acid in the
stomach, however, or by the other acids in the body.
Why garden fertilizer grade Epsom salts and
not food or medical grade? Any magnesium that is food or
pharmaceutical grade will be
refined, heated, mixed with sulfuric acid, extracted etc. so that it is
"pure". If you want an all-natural source of magnesium fresh
from the rocks it came from with all its companion and trace minerals,
you will have to get something that is not made for or intended as
food. A little "extra added bonus" you will get from garden fertilizer
epsom salts/magnesium sulfate is, because sulfur and selenium are very
closely related and usually found together in nature, it is very likely
that your garden grade epsom salts will contain some of this vital
mineral that is frequently depleted in our soil and food.
What about the lead,
mercury, arsenic etc. found in trace amounts in naturally sourced
minerals?
Any natural mineral source mined from
the soil will contain trace
elements of lead etc, as does soil The lead-free sources
will be artificially manufactured in the lab. The presence of lead in
minerals is mostly made an issue by people selling processed minerals.
Lead is most likely a trace element that we need in minute amounts from
an organic source and is only toxic when it is taken in in large
amounts from inorganic sources.
Disclaimer:
The information on this site is provided for
informational
purposes only and if followed is done so solely on the initiative of
the reader.
Nourishing
Traditions by Sally Fallon
Cure
Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel
Salt:
Your Way To Health by Dr. David Brownstein. A good book for those
who have been told by their doctor to cut down on salt because of high
blood pressure, and why natural sea salt is good for you.
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Make A Multi-Mineral Supplement
