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Today’s blog post is a little preview of my upcoming book, GET OFF YOUR ACID – 7 Steps in 7 Days to Lose Weight, Fight Inflammation, And Reclaim Your Health & Energy, and you can order your copy here!
What if I told you there is one vitamin that could help keep your bones strong and heart healthy and it’s NOT included in your standard multivitamin?
Unfortunately, that’s exactly the case. And even when this essential vitamin is included, it’s not enough and it’s not from a good quality source.
So what is this super important vitamin you’re probably not getting? Vitamin K.
There are two types of vitamin K – K1, which comes from leafy green veggies, is used by the liver for blood clotting. K2, which comes from organ meats, egg yolks, and other animal-based foods, is used to regulate where calcium goes in your body.
That’s an incredibly important job, because calcium is so vital to not only your bones but also your heart’s ability to function.
In fact, starved of calcium, you will DIE. It’s that important.
And the role of Vitamin K, and specifically K2, is equally as important. Here’s why…
Calcium can build up in the arteries (if you’ve ever heard of hardening of the arteries, this is it) and lead to heart disease. It can also build up in your joints causing arthritis.
But K2 prevents calcium from building up in both of these places.
Once the calcium gets absorbed, it needs to know where to go. And the K2 directs it right to the bones, where it’s needed.
So in one fell swoop, you get two important benefits – stronger bones with less risk of osteoporosis and a healthier heart with a decreased risk of heart disease.
This is why one study found that people with the highest intake of K2 were 57% less likely to die of heart disease over the next 10 years.
Another study found that for every 10 mcg of vitamin K2 women consumed, there was a 9% decrease in the risks of heart disease.
In a Dutch study, men with the highest K2 consumption had a whopping 51% lower risk of heart attack mortality and a 26% lower risk of death from all causes compared to men eating the least vitamin K2.
So for the record, the science backs this up. But it’s not necessarily information your doctor will tell you. It’s really important that you ask about this.
Vitamin K2 also has another really important function, and that relates to vitamin D.
Lots of people take vitamin D supplements, because we’ve all heard it’s important, right? Well, there are 3 reasons most of that vitamin D is not getting utilized.
You might as well skip your vitamin D supplement unless you make these changes!
First, vitamin D is fat soluble, which means it needs to have fat to get into your cells, yet there are so many people taking a D3 supplement on an empty stomach (and the D supplement they are taking more often than not, doesn’t have any sources of fat in it like coconut oil or MCT oil).
If the supplement doesn’t have fat, guess what? Zero absorption! So take it with food, and healthy fats in particular.
Secondly, it must be D3, not D2, the synthetic form most supplements have.
The last issue with D3 is where vitamin K2 comes into play. So as you might know, you must have vitamin D to absorb the calcium you consume.
This happens in the large intestine, which is why it’s important to keep your intestines happy and healthy with probiotics, steering clear of antibiotics if at all possible, and eating good healthy alkaline-forming foods.
As we discussed already, vitamin K2 is a calcium regulator in the body. It puts calcium where it should be (like teeth and bones) and takes it out of places it shouldn’t (like arteries, kidneys, etc.).
This is where the big problem lies with people taking vitamin D without enough K2.
As a result, some people who are mega-dosing vitamin D are ending up with kidney stones and stiff, arthritic joints, and even atherosclerosis, because the calcium is being stored in the wrong place.
In a Japanese study, combining vitamin D3 and vitamin K2, osteoporosis patients experienced an increase in lumbar bone mineral density. The calcium went to all the right places.
So how do you get enough Vitamin K2?
Humans can partly convert vitamin K1 to K2 in the body. This is useful because the amount of vitamin K1 in a typical diet is ten times that of vitamin K2, as it is abundant in dark, green leafy vegetables (so eating alkaline extremely helps this process).
However, current evidence indicates that the conversion process is highly inefficient.
Fist and foremost, your body can covert K1 (which you get plenty of in vegetables) to K2 with the help of friendly bacteria in your gut.
BUT, many people have imbalances in their gut bacteria because of an acidic diet high in sugar, grains, dairy, artificial sweeteners, and the big one, ANTIBIOTICS!
So even though you have the ability to synthesize K2 on your own, and ideally should be, an acidic lifestyle could be preventing that from happening!
You can get K2 from eating a few different foods. Fermented soybeans contain K2, but fermented products are acidic, and soy is typically genetically modified.
Plus, soy is a food you should ALWAYS avoid, in ALL forms, because it contains phytoestrogens, which mimics the body’s natural estrogen hormones.
Cheeses like Gouda have K2, as well as egg yolks and organ meat, but all of those are acidic and HIGHLY congesting and allergenic.
So, where does that leave anyone striving for an alkaline lifestyle? Deficient!
Right along with anyone eating the Standard American Diet, I might add.
Therefore, we can all benefit from supplementing with vitamin K2 directly.
I’ve currently been in the lab working on developing a highly bioavailable liquid form of vitamins D3 and K2, and I’ve been experimenting with adding 2 different kinds of healthy fats, MCT (which is in coconut oil) and extra virgin olive oil.
So you could take this supplement on an empty stomach and still absorb the vitamins! More on that to come.
One Important Note for Anyone on Statin Drugs
Anyone taking a statin drug needs to take note of this missing link between K2 and heart health.
Research published in the Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology revealed that, in contrast to the current belief that cholesterol reduction with statins decreases atherosclerosis, the drugs may actually stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure!
Studies show how statin drugs may make your heart and cardiovascular health worse, in part because they inhibit the synthesis of vitamin K2 (and CoQ10 I might add).
Vitamin K2 protects your arteries from calcification. Without it, plaque levels worsen.
I can’t tell you how many times I see this. I have clients come into my wellness center, told to take statin drugs for high cholesterol.
(I have a whole chapter in the book devoted to cholesterol, so if this is an issue for you, definitely check it out.) Here is what you need to know about cholesterol – it is NOT the demon that most doctors and ALL drug companies make it out to be.
In fact, what you will learn in my new book is that HIGHER cholesterol levels are actually associated with longevity, and decreased cancer rates! (not my opinion but the research).
Yet these doctors are giving these dangerous drugs, and in doing so, removing one of the most important protectors of our body, cholesterol and K2, which keeps calcium from ending up on blood vessel walls.
This is so unfortunate, when the real problem wasn’t the cholesterol in the first place, it was inflammation from an acid-forming diet, especially in the form of pro-inflammatory Omega-6 fats.
This is why you must, must, must take a good Omega-3 fish oil supplement, regardless of whether you have heart health concerns or not. You need to balance out the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6, which for most people is weighted way too heavily (literally) toward Omega-6.
Alkamind Daily Omega-3 is the world’s best fish oil. We formulated it to uniquely provide the ideal 2:1 ratio of EPA to DHA in a highly-concentrated, purified form.
What does that mean to you? YOU KICK INFLAMMATION’S ASS!
It’s also:
- Free of heavy metals and contaminants
- Regularly tested for potency, purity, and freshness by an independent third party, in a FDA-approved facility
- Committed to sustainability of the ocean’s natural resources
- Sourced from alkaline wild anchovy, sardine, and mackerel oil
- Produced in Norway
- Has no fishy after taste and a natural lemon flavor
Can you say all of that about your current Omega supplement?
Make the switch to Alkamind Daily Omega-3 today.
WANT TO CLEANSE LIVE WITH ME AND THE GET OFF YOUR ACID GROUP?
The NEW YEAR NEW YOU 7-Day Alkaline Cleanse is filled with recipe ideas that are perfect for you if you want to shed extra pounds, eat healthier than ever before, and GET OFF YOUR ACID!
We are having a GROUP cleanse, starting this Monday, January 22nd! The LIVE kick-off call will be this Saturday, January 20th!
It is not too late to join. We have a few more spots available, but it WILL sell out. So if you want to lose weight and look your best to start off this New Year, come cleanse with ME and the GET OFF YOUR ACID TRIBE!
