Willy’s Baggies and Malabsorption (March 2010)

***THIS BLOG IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. It is about 90% done. Allen***

For those of you that are not familiar, Willy’s Baggie means “an adequate dose of balanced broad based nutrition covering the entire essential nutrient range in supplement form, to include an adequate therapeutic dose of balanced free form amino acids, as well as a number of helpful or necessary nutrient or supplement co-factors”. [List current version of Willy’s Baggie blog link here.]

Introduction

Early in my recovery from over thirty years of bipolar symptoms, I realized from taking a wide range of nutritional supplements that almost all of them were helping me. I could quite literally “feel the help” that these supplements provided me, whether they were vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, or amino acids. And in the case of taking free form amino acids, often “the feel of this help” was both fairly immediate and quite obvious.

In the beginning of my recovery, I wondered why so many different supplements were clearly helping me. And I wondered why was I deficient in so many essential nutrients (such that my condition of manic depression was the end result).

I knew that many of the foods that I ate in my life came from depleted topsoils. I knew that many of the foods that I ate in my life were processed. And I knew that many of the foods that I ate in my life were cooked as well. From the reading that I did in the fall of 1997, and reading that I had done decades prior, I knew that (1) depleted topsoils, (2) the modern processing of foodstuffs, and (3) the cooking of food all contribute to essential nutrient depletion in foods (that are ultimately eaten).

However, it soon became clear to me that depleted topsoils, processed food, and cooked food were not the only three reasons I was broadly essential nutrient deficient.

In the fall of 1997, it became clear to me that the largest reason that I was broadly nutrient deficient was that I was clearly not absorbing nutrients well. At this time, I made a guess that I was seriously malabsorptive. Within a month of making this guess, I knew it was the truth.

By the end of 1997, I knew that bipolar disorder was not a mental illness at all. It was simply a sub-clinical malabsorptive syndrome that impaired the health and well being of every single organ (and cell) in my body; to include my brain, my thyroid gland, my adrenal glands, my liver, my pancreas, and all the rest.

Often eating a well balanced diet is not enough to either retain or regain health. This is especially true is you are malabsorptive. For it is not what you eat, it is what you digest, and then absorb into your body, that counts as far as one’s health, or one’s health recovery, is concerned.

I admittedly learned a great deal about malabsorption from a number of alternative medical authors. Sherry Rogers, M.D. (http://prestigepublishing.com/) is worthy of special mention in this regard. Dr. Rogers taught me so much. One of the things that she taught me is that orally supplementing with nutritional supplements, without addressing a probable malabsorptive status at the same time, is “just not wise”, as much of the nutritional value of such supplementation can be lost.

Therefore, anyone that uses a Willy’s Baggie approach to heal should eventually take the time to learn about what is reflected in the material below. This is true even if a Willy’s Baggie supplement approach significantly helps someone out of a state of depression on the very first day it is utilized, despite using a fiber purge as the only gut corrective measure.

More On Malabsorption

Nutrients taken in an oral fashion, such as Willy’s Baggie represents, may not adequately arrive into the body. These nutrients may simply get pooped into the toilet a day or two later.

Any malabsorptive factor which impairs the digestion or absorption of essential nutrition can negate, or at least partially negate, using a Willy’s Baggie approach in which to heal.

One cannot absorb nutrients well if a serious degree of malabsorption is present.

The Three Cardinal Rules Regarding Correcting Malabsorption are as follows:

(1) All common malabsorptive factors are adequately correctable in anyone that has them, once they are identified.

(2) All common malabsorptive factors are identifiable and correctable at home, if not better identified and corrected at home, vs. one’s relying on the office services of any doctor whatsoever, whether they are alternative or not.

(3) The best approach for most persons to correct any degree of malabsorption that may affect them is “to learn whatever they have to learn such that they can become effective doctors of themselves”.

Effectively treating broad essential nutrient deficiency as a result of malabsorption involves six general steps:

(1) Go though the list of eighteen common malabsorptive factors in the material below. As soon as it is practical or possible to do so, determine which ones apply to you.

The above step admittedly can take some time. It took me years to do so. However, if one is properly taught, much of this step can be achieved within a few weeks. (The notable exception here is determining one’s hidden food allergies. These can be tricky to identify, and doing so often takes quite a bit of time.)

(2) If a common malabsorptive factor does apply to you, correct for it properly in one way or another.

All common malabsorptive factors are adequately correctable in any person that may have them. (We are definitely not dealing with the incurable here.)

(3) Take a properly formulated Willy’s Baggie as a replacement for breakfast every single day.

If expense is a major consideration for you, rather than take a Willy’s Baggie every day, take one every other day. (Willy’s recovery primarily used “baggies taken every other day”, with some supplementation taken on the days in between, to reduce cost. I often do the same as Willy in this regard. And I often go much longer between baggies, due to my poor fiscal circumstances.)

(4) Every person that is broadly essential nutrient deficient should be drinking raw vegetable juice on “a more than once daily basis” made from raw organic non-allergic healing vegetables as soon as it is juiced (within fifteen minutes or so).

I realize that this is not an ideal world, and that the above rarely happens. However, I would like to shout from the rooftops that “I cannot recommend juicing enough”.

(5) Cooked meal supplementation: Use whatever digestive aids are necessary (HCL, digestive enzymes, etc.) at every meal. Also adequately supplement with at least the supplements of vitamin B complex and vitamin C at every cooked meal as well.

In addition to the above, it is wise to consider the using a safe amount of a multivitamin multi-mineral preparation at every cooked meal as well. (Nutrients work in synergy with each other. Ideally, every meal that is ingested by a person that is clearly broadly nutrient deficient should have the entire essential nutrient range in it.)

(6) Some persons are heavily deficient in the bulk minerals that the body needs, such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, or potassium. (Sodium is also a bulk mineral the body needs, but it is normally in excess in most Americans. Calcium is also in excess in many persons as well.)

Some of these bulk mineral deficiencies may need to be dealt with separately in addition to points 1 – 5 above in order to fully correct essential nutrient deficiency as a result of longstanding malabsorption. All of this is commonly known in alternative medicine. I leave the details of this sixth point to those that are more familiar with such. (Information such as this is easily found on the Internet.)

The Eighteen Common Factors Underlying Malabsorption

Thankfully, alternative medicine has done a fairly good job over the years in regard to identifying the common malabsorptive issues that affect us human beings.

For those persons not familiar with the common malabsorptive issues that cause a lack of mental or physical health, the following represents a fairly comprehensive list:

(1) Unrecognized, and often multiple, hidden food allergies.

(2) A yeast condition called candida or candidiasis.

(3) Other intestinal dysbiosis issue besides candida, such as having “bad bacteria”, or parasites, in one’s GI tract.

(4) A gut which is leaky, a condition known as “leaky gut”. (This is often related to points 1, 2, and 3 in the above.)

(5) A gut which is inflamed. (This is often related to points 1, 2, and 3 in the above.)

(6) A gut that exhibits an excessive secretion of mucous. (This is often related to points 1, 2, and 3 in the above.)

(7) An inadequate amount of good gut flora known as probiotics. (This is often related to points 1, 2, and 3 in the above.)

(8) An inadequate amount of prebiotics from raw food or supplements. (This is often related to points 1, 2, and 3 in the above.)

(9) An inadequate production of digestive enzymes. (This is often related to points 1, 2, and 3 in the above.)

(10) An inadequate production of stomach acid.

(11) An inadequate production of bile, or restricted bile flow due to gall and/or liver stones.

(12) Inadequate chewing, which impairs the digestion and assimilation of nutrients.

(13) The possibility of inadequate glutamine status in the small intestines. (Glutamine is a key nutrient for the villi of the small intestines, where roughly 85% of nutrient absorption should take place. A lack of glutamine in the small intestines can can result in shorter villi, and thus less surface area available in which nutrients can be absorbed. Exposure to hidden food allergens, especially the gluten grains, can also shorten intestinal villi as well.)

(14) The possibility of low essential nutrient status. (The lack of almost any essential nutrient can impair digestion or absorption in some way. Some nutrients are more important than others in this regard. Zinc deserves to be mentioned here, but then again, so do many others. Impaired digestion breeds a more serious degree of impaired digestion. And nutrient deficiency breeds greater nutrient deficiency. These are all facts that modern medicine continues to ignore. )

(15) Inadequate hydration, or poorly timed hydration. (An adequate amount of water is needed to absorb nutrients well. However, most of the water a human being needs should not be taken in during mealtimes. Doing so dilutes stomach acidity, and therefore impairs proper digestion.)

(16) Poor food combining, which stresses the digestive process, and can greatly burden the entire GI tract.

(17) The ingestion of too many “bad fats”, or the ingestion of “too much fat at once, such that much of this fat is undigested”. (As a concrete example here, fast food french fries represent “a big dose of bad fats”. Eating a large order of these french fries can significantly impair ones ability to absorb nutrients for days. This I know for a fact from years of experience using free form amino acids, etc.)

(18) An inadequate amount of movement such as walking. (We humans were made to walk. Doing so is important, if not critical, to proper intestinal function.)

How Willy’s Baggies Can Help A Person To Deal With This Critical Issue Of Malabsorption

Malabsorption is not an all or nothing equation. A person’s GI tract (gut) can absorb nutrients from the food that he or she takes in at a 25% rate, a 50% rate, a 75% rate, and everything in between. (Obviously these numbers are not exact. I am making a conceptual point there.)

Gut function in regard to its ability to absorb nutrients, can vary. It can, and often does, vary widely in its absorptive status from day to day, week to week, and month to month, depending.

The gut is the most dynamic organ in your body. By “dynamic”, I mean readily changeable, both for the better and for the worse.

The regular use of a Willy’s Baggie with a fifteen to twenty five gram loading of balanced and broad based free form amino acids taken on a daily basis can greatly help a person to determine whether, when, and by roughly how much they are malabsorptive.

The reason that baggies can greatly help a person determine if they are malabsorptive is that there is enough powerful nutrition in a baggie for the average person to definitely feel its positive effect on their mood, and their ability to function, all day long, assuming it is absorbed well.

If one does not feel a powerful positive effect from taking properly formulated baggies in an adequate amino acid loading for his or her needs, the number one suspect should be “malabsorption”.

To explain the above a bit more:

There is enough powerful nutrition for an average person to function well on a baggie all day long, assuming that an adequate amount of non-allergic calories are taken in later that day as well.

The essential nutrition in baggies that is missing the most is enough glucose to adequately fuel the body and brain for an entire day. Glucose is sugar. However, I am not suggesting that one eat sugar, by any means. Doing such is clearly counterproductive to human health. Starch converts to sugar. Starch is what should be eaten later in the day in order to fill in the key nutritive need that a baggie lacks.

For example, if a person takes a baggie with a twenty five gram free form amino acid loading as a “breakfast replacement meal” (which I recommend), and then only eats a plain bowl of rice for lunch and dinner to fill in their caloric requirement for energy, they should still feel fine and be able to function well day after day. (This assumes that the person in question is not allergic to rice. It also assumes that this same person is not doing heavy manual labor all day, such that twenty five grams of protein is simply not enough to meet protein need.)

Let us say we are dealing with another person than the one above. Let us say that this particular person suffers from depression.

A depressed person should be readily able to tell the difference in how they feel, and how well they are able to function, when they are taking baggies. This statement should apply to every single day that he or she takes them.

Let us say that this depressed person takes a baggie on day one, two, and three, and he or she feels much better all three of these days from taking these baggies.

Then this same person takes a baggie on day four, and does not feel that good (still feels somewhat depressed despite taking the same baggie that helped him or her the day before).

In all likelihood what happened here is that this person was over-exposed to a food (or foods) that they were allergic to on day three. This allergic food exposure resulted in a temporary reduction in one’s ability to absorb nutrients, until it cleared out.

Incidentally, fiber definitely helps in regard to clearing out allergic food exposure. Clearing out allergic food exposure with fiber is what I term a “fiber purge”. The phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is an expression of the wisdom of a fiber purge being taken on a daily basis. (This is a wise health choice for many.)

Ask Willy about fiber. The use of a fiber purge of one sort or another after eating allergic food has greatly helped Willy for years. (This same applies to me.)

To be continued………………….

Conclusion

Anyone using Willy’s Baggies should become familiar with (1) identifying, and (2) correcting all common malabsorptive issues in his or her self. (This can be be adequately taught to a teenager, as my son Willy proved.)

Please remember that using Willy’s Baggie is not a stand-alone measure. Other things besides the use of Willy’s Baggie should be learned about, and should be done, for persons to heal from whatever serious mental or degenerative illness that they may suffer from.

Of these “other things” that should be learned about, and should be done, for persons to heal from whatever illness they may suffer from, “the most important thing” for one to learn about is this issue of “malabsorption”.

Over the years I have come to the realization that chronic depression, ADHD, and bipolar disorder are not the only unrecognized malabsorptive syndromes that are being treated with “drugs and only drugs”, simply for the sake of the money being made.

I have also come to the realization that almost every kind and case of mental illness has a serious degree of malabsorption underlying it.

In addition to this, I have come to the realization that any serious difficulty with sleep has a serious degree of malabsorption underlying it. (This is reflected in material I wrote in 2005, titled “An egroup post I wrote in 2005 on sleep”. See https://nutrientscure.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/an-egroup-post-i-wrote-in-2005-on-sleep/)

Over the years, and despite having no personal experience in correcting such, I have also come to the realization that most, if not almost all, degenerative illnesses have a malabsorptive component to them as well.

Universal to the human species, simply getting significantly older (as in going from forty to sixty) comes with a serious degree of malabsorption attached, unless such is recognized, and then corrected.

The use of a Willy’s Baggie healing approach can do a great deal in regard to correcting human health. Willy’s Baggie can also do a great deal in regard to a person being able to both recognize and correct a serious degree of malabsorption in his or her self. However, Willy’s Baggie cannot do it all. To achieve optimal healing results, it is “a must” for anyone considering the use of Willy’s Baggies to realize this.