Mining for Excellent Mental Health - MOLYBDENUM, LITHIUM, MANGANESE - Without minerals - all the major ones AND all the minor ones - we do not have good health - we do not have the ability to create the reactions, co-factors, precursors to hormones and catalysts for the thousands upon thousands of intricate, minute and complicated chemical transactions that comprise our body's functioning. Molybdenum, manganese and lithium are three often neglected trace minerals.
(some good recipes at http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/)
Moly is a trace mineral found in some of our tissues - in our liver, kidney, spleen, bone, teeth and skin. We have an average of 9 milligrams on board in each of us. Not a lot, yet highly crucial! Molybdenum is an essential factor in protein synthesis and the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates and the transformations of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur - all very basic functions and critical. It plays an important part in the use of iron in our body by mobilizing iron from our liver’s storage reserves (thus helps prevent anemia). It helps detoxify some of those nasty preservatives and sulphites from our body that can sneak in with food. It helps with hormonal balancing and pre-menstrual symptoms. Molybdenum helps keep us alert and it helps keep impotence from becoming an issue. It plays a crucial role in our body's ability to keep blood sugar levels in balance. It is absorbed from our gastrointestinal tract and excreted in our urine (therefore it’s important to have an optimally functioning small and large intestine - those But above all very important 28 feet).
But above all molybdenum enhances that general feeling of well-being that we all require.
We are not deficient in this mineral if the food we eat is organic and comes from nutrient-rich soil. And if you have a tendency towards depression then you definitely don’t want to be caught short. The reason it needs to be from organic sources, other than the obvious, is that the minerals we eat are sucked up into the foods we purchase and into the foods that animals are fed and that we, in turn, eat. If those fruits and vegetables were grown in hothouses, then they will suck up what they are given - the basics. These fruits and vegetables usually look beautiful and shiny and large. But the minerals in mass produced growing dirt or hydroponic fluids are limited to those that are required to deliver perfect looking produce. The dirt of old - the well tended soil that has been fed with various composts, allowed fallow years, exposed to rotating crops and natural waters, have the all important trace minerals - many, many, many. Those are the ones we’re talking about here - and these need to be stocked in our pantries...
Even though molybdenum is needed by us in very small amounts, we cannot leave it out it! The RDA for molybdenum is 75 micrograms (which in reality is a definition that means it is the bare ultimate minimum for a very healthy person looking for barely a maintenance amount and 150 mcg. is a more honest minimal daily amount. The recommended amount for getting topped up is any amount higher than 150 up to 1500 mcg. per day. Toxicity, a lot more than 1500 mcg. per day, is rare. Too much at once means that an imbalance with other minerals occurs as all the minerals dance together (if they can) and are synergistic as well as antagonistic with each other. Too much moly for a long period of time would, for example, push copper out of the way and that would result in the possibility of sore and/or swelling joints.
Eating for molybdenum means meals with lots of whole grains, whole rice, rye, oats, buckwheat, barley, wheat germ, legumes, beans, peas, lentils, sunflower seeds, eggs and dark green leafy vegetables, including kale, spinach and lots of parsley.
Not your average battery fluid...
We’ve all heard about lithium or known someone who was taking it - usually some time ago. Things have changed! Some folks were put on insanely high dosages for mental health reasons (bi-polar, schizophrenia, depression, undue rage and anger, etc.) and experienced severe side effects while they were often somewhat improved mentally. Then the pharmaceutical companies came up with other, more expensive, drugs and the incidence of high lithium prescribing receded.
Lithium IS important for our mental states. Lithium DOES offer us help - but only in very small dosages. In most everyday rushed lives, without organic foods, we are virtually living without. It is an important trace mineral that we MUST have a teensy amount of on board. It has a number of functions including, helping regulate nerve impulses directly and indirectly (by regulating sodium and potassium). Stabilizes serotonin transmission in the nervous system. Possibly protects the brain and nerves against toxins and glutamates (healthy nerve conduction is important for the passage of “messages” to and from the brain).
Since our bodies normally requires only 2 to 3 mg of lithium to be onboard at any time, the excess is secreted through urine and feces, unless it’s consumed in medical overdoses.
Foods high in lithium include beef, eggs, raw milk, whole grains, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, lemons, potatoes - as long as these are grown and nurtured from soils rich in lithium to start with - and therefore your best bet is organic (or grow your own!).
Manganese – the ultimate little helper:
Manganese has antioxidant, free-radical-fighting properties. It is needed to activate a number of enzymes that allows us to digest food (convert protein and fat to energy). It promotes bone health, formation of cartilage and lubricating fluid in the joints. Manganese can help reduce fatigue and even improve memory, can help maintain healthy reproduction, happier nervous systems and is involved in blood sugar regulation (everyone with an unhappy pancreas take note!).
Manganese helps your body absorb vitamin B1 (thiamin), Biotin and Vitamin C and E and works with all B-complex vitamins to combat depression, anxiety and other nervous type disorders. Manganese can reduce heavy menstrual flows and can improve thyroid functioning (which is dependent on a balance of manganese and iodine).
When you're not getting enough manganese (organic meals?), there could be a tendency towards your white cells not working as proficiently for you due to free radical damage and a whole host of malfunctioning can then ensue, such as slower wound healing, increased tendency towards atherosclerosis and convulsions, increased tendency towards eye and hearing problems, heart disorders, high cholesterol levels, hypertension, irritability, confusion and memory loss, muscle contractions, pancreatic unhappiness and profuse perspiration.
No need for supplementation - just eat yourself into a better balance and a happier you with some really nice ORGANIC manganese foods!
Good natural sources of manganese has to come from soils that had some in the first place and include: asparagus, avocados, beans and peas, nuts and seeds, seaweed, pineapple, broccoli, whole grains, blueberries, egg yolks, bananas, liver, beets, blackberries, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, coconuts, honey, oats, olives, oysters, pineapple, green leafy vegetables including parsley and spinach, brown rice, eggs, sweet potatoes - all excellent sources.
Many herbs also contain manganese, such as alfalfa, burdock root, camomile, dandelion, fennel seed, fenugreek, ginseng, hops, horsetail, lemon grass, parsley, peppermint and raspberry. Some of these herbs have many other beneficial minerals on board, just waiting for you and would be great as teas (add some mint for flavour).
SO! if you have a tendency towards depression - then shop for the molybdenum, lithium and manganese foods and the teas above and have health-smart feasts! ADD B6 supplements – or better still, add B6 and a multi-B.
And for people who are in great shape and happy and healthy and who want to stay that way, here’s a short prophylactic shopping list that includes the foods that have all three of these minerals - a list where these minerals overlap! Three for one!
So put these into your shopping buggy:
beef, eggs, whole grains (including rye, oats, buckwheat, barley and wheat germ), whole rice, beans and peas, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, mushrooms, lemons, potatoes and dark green leafy vegetables including spinach, parsley and cucumbers, And then just swing by the bananas and avocados to round out this mineral extravaganza.
Im not fond of munching on sunflower seeds so I grind them up and include them in salad dressings and sauces - thickens them and makes them tastier. Or I roast them a tiny bit and include them in a tossed salad.
At Cobs Breads - a chain of stores in Canada, there is one type - Cape Seed Bread -it has it all AND doesn’t include soy flour and has a liberal amount of whole wheats and seeds AND is very filling AND improves roughage.
Bon appetite!
Merrie Bakker, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 604-261-7742,
info@pacificholistic.com and http://www.pacificholistic.com
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Subscribe to the FREE newsletters and get the FREE 78 Foolproof Ways to Improve Your Health and read the subsection on minerals (such as how to get the most out of parsley - a veritable mine full of minerals just in one vegetable...)
I feel like a new woman again! That is for sure. I went and purchased all the things you suggested and am taking them diligently. Merrie, keep doing what you are doing 'cause you do it so well and you are so valuable and needed in this world!
Carolyn T
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