I want to say a big THANK YOU! to all those who came to the Journey to Health seminar. It was wonderful to see so many people come. Thank you to all those who helped, even traveling from afar. I want to give a big thanks to Vickie Anderson, who helped with the event, and speakers, Ellen and Dave  Schlichting for coming all the way from Chicago.  Special appreciation goes to Bob Prentice, Herbs4You Business Advisor, who moderated the event. He kept us on track and added a great dimension. The meal was delicious, thanks to Clarence Collins, our cook, and all the crew who helped him.  

Longevity Secrets III
In our February 16 newsletter we talked about the need to consume a large amount of antioxidants for health and longevity. Today, we will talk about a similar principle, which is to eat a mineral rich diet. This week, I want to go back to our series on longevity and health.

A Mineral Rich Diet
Mineral rich diets are universally found in all Blue Zones and is an absolute requirement to reach the age of 100 with health. The Blue Zones also have multiple sources rich in a wide spectrum of minerals. Here are the different sources of Nutritional minerals in the Blue Zones: Glacial milk, river silt, rock dust, wood ashes, kelp ashes, seaweed ashes, rice straw ashes, peat moss ashes, manure ashes.

Mineral are required by humans for building and maintaining structural components and enzymatic and biochemical co-factors that facilitate the physiological workings of the human cell, tissue, organ, systems and body - nothing in the body can function without mineral co-factors. On the average there are ten deficiency diseases that can occur in the absence of each essential mineral, others like calcium can produce as many as 147 different diseases when the body is deficient.  

On the other hand, plants only need a few minerals to grow. Therefore, just by eating plants, it does not ensure that we are getting the necessary minerals our health needs. It depends on the soil. In the Blue Zones, the people regularly and carefully composted their soil with kitchen wastes, wood and other ashes, river silt, and more. This ensured plants that were full of vital nutrients. Among all the Blue Zones, wood ashes were universally used to enrich their soil.  

There are different types of minerals.

• Metallic minerals include egg shell, oyster shell, calcium carbonate, limestone, coral calcium dolomite, bentonite, inorganic mineral salts, sea water, mineral oxides, clay, rock flour, and various antacids. Typically, they are found in tablets and powders. Metallic minerals, are only 8-12% biologically available to humans, after 35-40 years of age, this plummets to 3-5%. 
• Chelated minerals are minerals in which an amino acid, protein, or enzyme is wrapped around the mineral molecule which enhances the bioavailability of the metallic mineral. Chelated minerals are 40-60% bioavailable.
• Colloidal minerals refers to a substance that exists as ultra fine particles that are suspended in a medium of different matter. Inorganic colloid cannot penetrate the intestinal wall to enter the blood stream. In the presence of amino acids, a small percentage of the inorganic colloids form chelated minerals and organic colloids which are able to be dialyzed throughout the mucus membranes of the intestinal walls into the blood stream. This mineral state is known as "crystalloid"  Crystalloids or organic colloids readily pass through cell walls, while inorganic colloids are "too large".