Biodynamics Now!

BDNow! Podcast 015 Dr. Kate Rheaume, author of “Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life”

admin — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:22:42 +0000

(foreground) Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue BSc., ND and her important new book “Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox” (background) An example of a meal that is rich with vitamin K2, featuring Japanese fermented soy beans (Natto), a pastured egg yolk and fresh fish

Our guest is Dr Kate Rheaume-Bleue, the world’s foremost expert on the incredibly important, but little known, nutrient, Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 tells our body how to utilize calcium and Vitamin D, among many other important benefits. Deficiencies in Vitamin K2, which is a given for people who only eat commercial foods, lead to weak bones and teeth and clogged arteries. You’ll want to make sure you get enough Vitamin K2 in the future. Listen to this interview with Dr Kate and read her book (available below). If the interview or book leave you with more questions, leave your questions below and Dr Kate herself will answer them for you.

In 1945, Dr. Weston Price described “a new vitamin-like activator” that played an influential role in the utilization of minerals, protection from tooth decay, growth and development, reproduction, protection against heart disease and the function of the brain.

Using a chemical test, he determined that this compound—which he called Activator X—occurred in the butterfat, organs and fat of animals consuming rapidly growing green grass, and also in certain sea foods such as fish eggs.

Dr. Price died before research by Russian scientists became known in the West. These scientists used the same chemical test to measure a compound similar to vitamin K.

Vitamin K₂ is produced by animal tissues, including the mammary glands, from vitamin K₁, which occurs in rapidly growing green plants.

A growing body of published research confirms Dr. Price’s discoveries, namely that vitamin K₂ is important for the utilization of minerals, protects against tooth decay, supports growth and development, is involved in normal reproduction, protects against calcification of the arteries leading to heart disease, and is a major component of the brain.

Vitamin K₂ works synergistically with the two other “fat-soluble activators” that Price studied, vitamins A and D. Vitamins A and D signal to the cells to produce certain proteins and vitamin K then activates these proteins.

Vitamin K₂ plays a crucial role in the development of the facial bones, and its presence in the diets of nonindustrialized peoples explains the wide facial structure and freedom from dental deformities that Weston Price observed.

From Chris Masterjohn’s 2008 paper, On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved, available from the Weston A. Price Foundation website here

The secret to avoiding calcium-related osteoporosis and atherosclerosis

While millions of people take calcium and Vitamin D supplements thinking they’re helping their bones, the truth is, without the addition of Vitamin K2, such a health regimen could prove dangerous. Without Vitamin K2, the body cannot direct calcium to the bones where it’s needed; instead, the calcium resides in soft tissue (like the arteries)—leading to a combination of osteoporosis and atherosclerosis, or the dreaded “calcium paradox.” This is the first book to reveal how universal a Vitamin K2 deficiency is, and the risk (in the form of cancer and diabetes, among other ailments) the absence of Vitamin K2 poses.

Written by Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue, a popular health expert on Canadian television and radio, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox sounds a warning about the popularity of the calcium and Vitamin D craze, while illustrating the enormous health benefits of Vitamin K2 in making the body less susceptible to dental cavities, heart disease, prostate cancer, liver cancer, diabetes, wrinkles, obesity, varicose veins, and other ailments.

The book demystifies this obscure supernutrient—a fat soluble vitamin that humans once thrived on, ignored by scientists for almost seventy years

Details how the consumption of grass-fed animals led to adequate Vitamin K2 intake—while grain-based animal feed helped eradicate Vitamin K2 from our diets
Describes how doctors are raising recommended doses of calcium and Vitamin D—without prescribing Vitamin K2
Details more damning facts about transfats—and how the creation of a synthetic Vitamin K interfered with the body’s Vitamin K metabolism

An essential book for anyone interested in bone health, or maintaining their overall health, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox is the guide to taking the right combination of supplements—and adding Vitamin K2 to a daily regimen.

Publisher’s Press Release

Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life

Are you taking calcium or vitamin D? This news could save your life. Millions of people take calcium and vitamin D supplements for bone health, but recent research shows that this can actually increase the risk of heart attack and stroke as the added calcium builds up in arteries.

Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life is the revealing new book that explains the secret to keeping bones strong and arteries clear with vitamin K2, a little-known super-nutrient that humans once thrived on and that has been ignored by scientists for almost 70 years.

Written by Dr. Kate Rhéaume-Bleue, a popular health expert on Canadian television and radio, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox sounds a warning about the popularity of the calcium and vitamin D craze while illustrating the enormous health benefits of vitamin K2 in making the body less susceptible to osteoporosis, heart disease, prostate cancer, liver cancer, diabetes, wrinkles, obesity, varicose veins, and other ailments.

How much vitamin K2 is needed and how to get it;
Why vitamin D and calcium must be supplemented by vitamin K2;
The health benefits of vitamin K2, including straight, cavity-free teeth, fewer wrinkles, cancer prevention and strong bones in children;
Which delicious “sinful” foods are brimming with heart-healthy vitamin K2 vitamin;
How vitamin K2 plays a role in healing almost every major disease of our day;
Vitamin K2 as the ultimate anti-aging vitamin;
The recent studies on Alzheimer’s and how vitamin K2 may slow or prevent this disease.

RESOURCES

Dr Kates website is here

PLAY OR DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE HERE

LISTEN and LEAVE A GOOD REVIEW or SUBSCRIBE to BD Now! PODCAST at iTUNES

BDNow! Podcast 014 David Lee Hoffman and the Quest for Quality

admin — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:40:17 +0000

David Lee Hoffman stands near a 700 year old tree in a scene from All in this Tea, a movie about his efforts to locate quality teas in China for his American clients

“My love of the planet is greater than my fear of the law,” -David Lee Hoffman

He’s been called “The Indiana Jones of Tea” by nothing less than The New York Times, more accurately, though, he’s the best candidate I’ve seen for the title of “The World’s Most Interesting Man.”

Play or Download HERE
Here’s just a few of his qualifications for that title:

As a young man, he invented a unique sonic cleaning system for cleaning valueable ancient textiles, artifacts and fine art that is used to this day by major museums
Spent over 10 years as a consciencous objecter wandering over 100 countries, developing the knowledge and appreciation of teas that lead to the development of his tea importation and education programs and the sustainable architectural insights that lead him to build his testimonial to sustainable living, The Last Restort
He was amongst the first Americans to visit the remote Tibetan kingdom of Dolpo.
In the early 60′s he met and became a friend of His Holiness, the Dali Lama while living in Dharamshala, India
Started the first quality tea companies in America and pretty much started the modern Tea Movement in the US, single handedly finding quality artisinal organic teas in remote areas of China (well before China loosened up economically), importing them into the US and then conducting ‘tea tastings’ across the country promoting knowledge of tea among Americans, leading to the first awakening to tea of many of today’s tea gurus
He became known in China as the “the American Pu-erh Tea King”
Sold his tea company and started growing heirloom grains and doing artisinal baking because he observed that the traditional grains still used in Asia smelled a lot better while backing and felt more like food when eaten than were the industrialized grains of America.
Started a new tea company, The Phoenix Collection, for which he hunts for teas, imports, selling wholesale and direct over the internet
He is the subject of filmmaker Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht’s 2007 outstanding documentary, All In This Tea
As an architect, he designed, and continues to build, THE LAST RESORT, an environmental model of sustainable and harmonious living that attempts to assimilate both natural methods from the past with modern know-how to create a living system that effectively demonstrates possibilities of thriving in a non-polluting healthy environment. Its mission is to discover and perfect practical low-cost sustainable methods for waste management, water re-use, and food security.
Was trained by acrobats from Circques du Sole on how to safely install tiles on the highest roof of The Last Resort
Recycled extra slate tiles from Eagle Don Henley’s home construction for a section of the main roof of The Last Resort
Several Tibetan monks contributed to the construction and creation of The Last Resort
Probably the the most interesting: Marin County wants over $200,000 from David Lee Hoffman right now to pay for 40 years of failing to get permits for his sustainability demonstration projects – - or licensing for his tea businesses. If he doesn’t pay, they threaten to raze The Last Resort

On top of this, he’s a recognized expert in vermiculture and soil fertility.

The reason we requested an interview with him for Biodynamics Now! is because of the insights into Quality (in foods and in living) that he demonstrated in All in This Tea and through his tea companies, tea teaching and his work with heirloom grains and The Last Resort. Frankly, we’d need to spend 3 more hours with him (at least) in order to even begin to cover his insights into this area.

It appears to me that everything he does is for the betterment of everyone, now and in the future.

Blessed are they who earn their livelihood without harming others

Resources

David Lee Hoffman’s homepage is here (as is his current tea company, The Phoenix Collection)

The best page on The Last Resort is here

The New York Times’ Article on The Last Resort is here

ANCIENT GRAINS

David mentions Monica Spiller’s work with Ancient Grains during the interview. Monica Spiller is known as THE GRANDMOTHER OF HEIRLOOM WHEAT

Her heirloom grain initiative is The Whole Grain Connection.

Welcome to the Whole Grain Connection.We are a non-profit organization based in California, aiming to enhance the desirability and availability of whole grain breads and other whole grain products from organically and sustainably grown grains and thereby connecting farmers and bakers.We hope you will visit our website often for our latest website publications and activities.
Contact information:
Attn: Monica Spiller
Whole Grain Connection
500 West Middlefield Road #2
Mountain View
California 94043

e-mail: barmbaker@aol.com

Telephone: 650 938 2865