Best course ever - Phytonutrients - read this!

I've now been to Stockholm this whole weekend for the first part of the phyto course I mentioned here a while ago. It is held by an australian man that has a PhD from Westminster University in London and has been doing research about herbs effect on the body. He is the best on these things on this side of the earth so it has been extremly interesting to listen to him.

When I've told people about this course/education, I've got a few reactions as if it's occult etc. So I'll mention already now that it is pure scientific and everything he teach has research that proves it.

So what is the course actually about? To put it simple: It's about how different herbs and plants can effect our bodies. God has put so many things in the nature that are good for us and why take a lot of medicine (which a lot of people get sick from) if there is a natural thing you can try first?

So this weekend we went through the digestive system and it has been SOOOOOOOOOO (+ another million OOO:s) interesting!!!!! It's so inspiring to listen to an expert and I've learned so much. I'm glad for everything I've learned at the university because it's a lot of basic knowledge I get from there, but it is at courses like this I learn the essential things. My education at the university is far from enough.

There's a lot of things I could mention from the course but I'll only mention a few things:

• One cup of coffee contains just as much antioxidants as 1 dl blueberries. Coffee is a herb!
• If you throw up you don't only loose fluid but also a lot of enzymes (pretty obvious I guess but I've never thought of that). If you loose a lot of enzymes, your body will also get more susceptible (mottaglig) for parasites. 
• You don't get as tired through the day if you start the day with protein. We normally eat too little protein - but eat real food, not protein shakes. People with kidney problems can maybe not eat a lot of protein, but that doesn't mean that you get kidney problems from eating a lot of protein.. Include protein in all your meals
• Caffeine does not produce stress in the body - that is only a myth. It reduces the body's relaxation instead. The research that shows that caffeine is bad has been made on caffeine capsules and with a dose that is about 2-3 times higher than what we normally get from drinking coffee every day. But ofcourse some people can have a problem with it - but that's how it is with everything
• Sugar is a major burden for the pancreas/bukspottskörteln (one of many reasons why you should avoid sugar). And if you have a bad pancreas, you should only eat simple food - 1 or 2 vegetables in one dish, not 5-6 and 1 fruit at a time instead of fruit salad with many different fruits as it will be to many different things to digest and that makes it hard on the pancreas (it produces a lot of enzymes)
• People who drink coffee has a lower risk of getting diabetes
• Many of those who exercise a lot has problems with the small intestine because the muscles takes all of the aminoacid glutamine which is very important for the small intestine to have so it can produce new cells there (to put it simple). So all athletes needs a lot of glutamine. Glutamine also breaks down lactic acid, gives energy to the muscles, builds up the immune system and regulates the pH balance in the body. You can't feel the small intestines and often people have problems with it without even knowing about it. It is very normal to have problems with it.
• People who has cancer needs a lot of glutamin as the cancer makes the body very sour (cancer cells doesn't have a krebs cycle so the glucose can only go through the glycolysis and then produces lactic acid). Cancer also loves sugar...
• Your immune system works worse if you have taken away your appendix
• Mineralwater with a lot of magnesium stimulates the bowel function - which can give you diarrhea. Many of the mineralwaters you buy in other countries (speaking of outside of north of Europe, not sure which countries specifically) contains a lot of magnesium so if you go to a country and you buy the mineral water to be healthy and make sure you don't get sick - then your stomach might get upset because of the magnesium even if you think it's a bacteria or something else

I could mention many more things but I think that's enough for one post :) Things like this is so interesting and I'm so excited for the next course time which is in a month and it will be about detoxification of the liver, gallbladder, kidneys and the skin.

I know I didn't mention that much about herbs but that would take a long time to go through so I might do one by one in future posts. Something people might wonder is why they should buy a certain herb if they can just go to a normal grocery store and buy it. You have to remember then that often there's a reason why they have made a pill or concentrated extract of it. First, the herb might have the same name in swedish or english as the normal vegetable/herb we can easily find but it can be two totally different things with different latin words - which means, we can't just go and buy it fresh in a normal store. Second, to get the effect, you might need to eat quite a lot of the herb, more than anyone would want to eat for taste or convienience. 

I got ginger capsules today and I'm so excited to try them the nearest weeks :)