Category Archives: Calcium Absorption

Calcium Absorption, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods

How to Maximize Calcium Absorption

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So many people today suffer from serious problems having to do with calcium absorption. People are purchasing calcium supplements by the tons in hopes of preventing calcium deficiencies. We have epidemic numbers of people with osteoporosis, poor dental health, weak bones and diseases that have to do with calcium being deposited in the wrong places, like the arteries and organs. What are some of the factors of this trend?

First, most diets do not have adequate vitamins A and D from natural old fashioned foods like high quality fermented cod liver oil, egg yolks and liver. Without these key nutrients, the body cannot absorb calcium or any other vitamins well.

Second our diets are low in vitamin K2, which is ample in foods from animals on pasture. Vitamin K2 acts like the mortar for the bricks of both vitamin A and D in putting calcium in the right places in the body, like the teeth and the bones and not in the arteries. With the corn feeding of our livestock, we have an entire population deficient in this vitamin.

Third, low fat diets do not support calcium absorption. Without traditional fats in the diet like butter, coconut oil and lard, we cannot utilize calcium properly.

Next, our diets lack the easy-to-digest traditional foods that are rich in calcium. Bone-broth soup and cultured raw dairy from grass-fed cows and goats are foods that were eaten for thousands of years, yet they largely disappeared from our diets with the industrialization of our food supply.

Finally, diets lacking the probiotic foods that support good digestion, will also hamper calcium utilization.

Unfortunately all the calcium supplements in the world will not make up for the nutritional building blocks available in real food–no matter how much they cost or how many commercials support that product!!

The key to  improving calcium absorption is eating a nutrient-dense, traditional diet. For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Calcium Absorption, Digestive Disorders and Healing Diet, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Water and Hydration

Is drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water a day a good idea?

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Although drinking the “healthy” recommended 6 to 8 glasses of water a day to stay hydrated sounds like a great idea, this may cause problems for your health. Water may not be as hydrating as you think. If you consider that when you drink a lot of water, you are in the restroom a lot–maybe this means that all that water isn’t really doing the job you want it to do. Maybe your body tries to rid itself of this excess and the kidneys are working overtime! Drinking too much water often pulls minerals from the body and can create electrolyte imbalances.

Before refrigeration, people drank beverages that were much more hydrating, nutritious and helpful to digestion. Fermented drinks like kombucha, beet kvass, and countless other lacto-fermented drinks were consumed that were high in nutrients, enzymes and probiotics. Cultured dairy like yogurt and kefir were a mainstay of the diet as were bone broth and bone broth soups–all of which are loaded with health benefits.

You may also be surprised to learn that low-fat diets tend to make people thirsty. Water is a byproduct of fat digestion–so being thirsty all the time may indicate that your body needs more traditional fats. Traditional fats are critical to nutrient absorption and they offer you a natural source of hydration at a much deeper cellular level.

As a guideline, daily total liquid consumption–including foods and beverages–should equal about 8 cups. By adding more fermented and cultured beverages, bone broth and traditional fats to your daily diet, you will stay naturally hydrated and be improving your health with nutrient-density.

Our book, Performance without Pain, has a wealth of recipes for broths, fermented and cultured beverages. For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods see www.performancewithoutpain.com or our new ebook on acid reflux diet.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Calcium Absorption, Cod Liver Oil, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods

Vitamin K-2–found in foods from pastured animals–is critical for proper calcium absorption and deposition.

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Today we are seeing an exponential increase in health conditions like osteoporosis and atherosclerosis that are caused by poor calcium absorption or calcium going in the wrong places in the body–like in the arteries and organs and not in the teeth and bones.  This is partly due to a deficiency of foods that contain both vitamin A and D and also vitamin K-2, which is found abundantly in foods from pastured animals like raw butter and cheese. This vitamin works with vitamin A and D to promote the  proper deposition of calcium. Historically, when people consumed foods from naturally raised animals, these deficiencies were not seen. Dr. Price called this special vitamin “activator X’ as it worked as a “mortar” for the building blocks of vitamin A and D foods like cod liver oil to create the correct genetic expression of the skeletal structure. Here is an excerpt from the Weston A. Price Foundation website that further explains this principal:

In 1945, Dr. Weston Price described “a new vitamin-like activator” that played an influential role in the utilization of minerals, protection from tooth decay, growth and development, reproduction, protection against heart disease and the function of the brain.

Using a chemical test, he determined that this compound—which he called Activator X—occurred in the butterfat, organs and fat of animals consuming rapidly growing green grass, and also in certain sea foods such as fish eggs.

Dr. Price died before research by Russian scientists became known in the West. These scientists used the same chemical test to measure a compound similar to vitamin K.

Vitamin K2 is produced by animal tissues, including the mammary glands, from vitamin K1, which occurs in rapidly growing green plants.

A growing body of published research confirms Dr. Price’s discoveries, namely that vitamin K2 is important for the utilization of minerals, protects against tooth decay, supports growth and development, is involved in normal reproduction, protects against calcification of the arteries leading to heart disease, and is a major component of the brain.

Vitamin K2 works synergistically with the two other “fat-soluble activators” that Price studied, vitamins A and D. Vitamins A and D signal to the cells to produce certain proteins and vitamin K then activates these proteins.

Vitamin K2 plays a crucial role in the development of the facial bones, and its presence in the diets of non-industrialized peoples explains the wide facial structure and freedom from dental deformities that Weston Price observed.

By eating traditional foods from pastured animals, you can help protect yourself from common degenerative conditions. For more information on traditional diets, see our book at www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle


Calcium Absorption, Cod Liver Oil, Healing and Building Health with Nutrient-Dense Foods, Vitamin A and D

Why are vitamin A and D from natural sources so important to good health?

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There is so much information about this or that vitamin–but Dr. Weston A. Price’s pivotal research on the diets of healthy populations worldwide determined the critical importance of foods that contain ample vitamin A and D. He found that while the 14 healthy cultures that he studied had different diets, one common element were foods rich in these two nutrients. These cultures consumed more than 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D than people in the US–in 1930! And this level would be much higher today. Foods that are particularly dense in these nutrients are high quality fermented cod liver oil (see www.greenpasture.org), egg yolks, liver and butter (from grass-fed animals) and fish eggs.

Dr. Price found that without adequate amounts of these two nutrients that a person could not absorb the other nutrients in the diet no matter how good the diet. In fact, he found that deficiencies in these vitamins caused noticeable genetic changes in the skeletal structure–a narrowing of the skull and face causing crooked and crowded teeth. We are seeing this narrowing in almost every child born today.

Vitamin A and D are the only vitamins that function as hormones. They help express the correct genetic material in the cells. When there is a deficiency, genetic changes can occur.

The best way to insure that your diet is rich in these fat-soluble vitamins is to eat traditional, nutrient-dense foods–foods from animals eating their natural diet.

For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle