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Refined 'Naked' Carbohydrates
Refined carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, and legumes or grains that have been stripped of most nutrients except the simple sugar. Nature does not produce isolated, simple carbohydrates (sugars) but rather complexes, which include all macronutrients (e.g., proteins and fats), enzymes, vitamins, and cofactors in sufficient quantities required to metabolize the natural, complex carbohydrates in that particular plant appropriately. There is no excess of these "cofactors" in plants, so that when carbohydrates are isolated (stripped) from their accompanying nutrients, the body must "borrow" the necessary cofactors in order to metabolize these "naked carbohydrates."13,15,22
Of note: Cooking vegetables, fruits, and grains is one method of turning a wholesome food into a "refined carbohydrate"; cooked vs. raw carrots is an example.
Calcium
Hypercalciuria (excess calcium in the urine) is thought to be partially mediated through the insulin/glucagon pathways, which are required to metabolize carbohydrates and can result in hypersaturation of urinary calcium with a concomitant increase in calcium-oxalate stone formation (as well as calcium urate and calcium phosphate). Calcium-oxalate stone formation is specifically increased in individuals with an abnormal insulin response.10,13,15
Other variables that mediate calcium saturability are magnesium, potassium, and water.
Magnesium
Refined carbohydrates (e.g., sucrose) disturb magnesium balance in the body by depleting magnesium levels in the metabolic requirements necessary to process simple sugars. Magnesium is required for ATP (energy) formation. Magnesium is essential for stimulating hormonal and enzymatic responses to put calcium into the bones and out of the blood and urine (kidneys). Another one of magnesium's many functions is to keep calcium in solution, which prevents it from crystalizing; hence, even when dehydrated, if there is sufficient magnesium, calcium will stay in solution. Finally, magnesium directly binds to oxalate in the gut, allowing it pass through without being reabsorbed.7-10,14
If there is not enough magnesium to keep calcium in solution, various forms of calcification will occur from stones, muscle spasms, fibrositis, fibromyalgia, and atherosclerosis (calcified plaques in the arteries). In fact, magnesium has been used effectively to prevent recurrent kidney stones.
Chlorophyll-Magnesium
Every green plant derives its color from chlorophyll, the molecule that transforms sunlight into biologically available energy, ATP. Even those plants that are not green have chlorophyll that is being masked by higher concentration of anthocyanins (red/purple) or carotinoids (yellow/orange), the other two pigments found in plants.
Chlorophyll is chemically a porphyrin ring, just like the "heme" in our hemoglobin (blood). But, unlike our blood, which has iron in the center, the chlorophyll molecule has magnesium in the center of every porphyrin ring.
Clearly then, every plant, green and otherwise (including spinach) has abundant magnesium and calcium and potassium. In fact, this combination of minerals certainly contributes to the universal finding that vegetarians have significantly less kidney stones (including calcium oxalate) than humans who have "derailed" and gone astray down the omnivore path, eating diets not dissimilar from their canine friends who are certainly much further away on the phylogenetic tree than their close cousins, the tailless primates who refrain from such indiscriminate scavenging.
"Vegetarian diets are associated with low excretion of calcium, oxalate, and uric acid and may lower the risk for urolithiasis in a number of ways. These include the absence of animal protein and provision of higher amounts of magnesium and potassium, both of which are associated with lower risk for stone formation."14
Water
All of these substances in the blood are contained in the "water" portion of the blood. Water, keep in mind, is the "universal solvent."As the proportion of water increases, crystals "disappear" and then reappear when the relative amount of water decreases. In the biological system, this is referred to as "hydration" and "dehydration" As the Mayo Clinic advises, "Not drinking enough water each day can increase your risk of kidney stones. People who live in warm climates and those who sweat a lot may be at higher risk than others."
Another one of the numerous benefits of eating uncooked (raw) vegetables and fruits is that they have not had the water removed via the cooking process. Even when food is cooked with water, such as boiling or steaming, it is the water within the cells of the food (plant or animal) that is removed, thus removing the milieu necessary for life.
So, in a soup where all the ingredients are "drowning" in water, it is the "intracellular water" that has been removed by the heating process and along with it, the "life force," or electromagnetic tension that defines life.
This is the reason that people are not thirsty after eating fruit or a purely vegetable salad. The food is completely hydrated; hence the hydration status of the eater is not changed. Dehydrated food, through the law of osmosis (thermodynamics), extracts water from the body to satisfy this nonnegotiable law of nature and hence the body's homeostatic mechanisms elicit "thirst" to compensate for the water loss.
So, God's Wearing a White Coat These Days?
The European Molecular Biology Organization in 2011 published an article, "Molecular Breeding of Healthy Vegetables," to provide a rationale for why science is in the process of usurping God's (Nature's) role.
The purpose of the article was to "[discuss] recent attempts to characterize and modify phytochemicals in vegetable crops by using molecular approaches, focusing on those modifications that are of interest to consumers."
The article explains how scientists are attempting to "hide" what they have determined as important and eliminate what they have determined is unnecessary in fruit, vegetables, and nuts (seeds).
This way food producers can "attempt to break into the US $18 billion snack-food industry," like they did in 2010 with "creation" of "baby carrots."
Greed and outrageous arrogance are easily concealed under the pretense of beneficence whose rhetoric hypnotizes the gullible with words such as, "About 3 billion people in the world are malnourished due to imbalanced diets. Vegetables can contribute to the prevention of malnutrition disorders. Genetic engineering enables vegetable breeders to incorporate desired transgenes into elite cultivars, thereby improving their value considerably."23
These plant breeders and scientists have determined that certain foods contain "antinutrients" defined as "naturally occurring compounds with inhibitory effects on the nutritive potential of plants." The goal, then, is to reduce certain nutrients and increase others according to their understanding of nature.
Nature is incomprehensibly complex; hence altering one aspect will only induce the biological imperative to maintain homeostasis and purpose. Even the scientists recognize this, citing "specific function of calcium oxalate accumulation in plants is not known; it might have a role in calcium regulation, ion balance, plant protection, detoxification or light gathering."23 Nevertheless, since 1994, there have been attempts to lower the oxalate content of certain vegetables.1,3
Molecular biology labs around the world have been highly involved with the "molecular cloning of oxalate decarboxylase gene to remove nutritional stress (oxalic acid) from plants" since the 1990s.
Dire Warning
Whether or not articles on the Internet are meant to obfuscate and overwhelm the reader with disinformation or are merely a product of naïve ignorance or are driven by ego requirements, it is imperative at this time in human history that we maintain a vigilant stance to protect our biology and life on planet Earth.
Clinical Experience
Over the past 10 years, we have designed and supervised over 1000 green juice "feasts" wherein people mostly with advanced stages of cancer (some early stages) would stop eating solid food and drink 3 to 5 quarts per day of freshly prepared juice for a duration of 1 to 4 weeks.
Although the juice recipe was adjusted occasionally for individual taste, each was a slight variation of our primary recipe of spinach, kale, celery, cucumber, green apple, and lemon.
After the "feast," these people transitioned into a raw, vegan diet, which included green smoothies each morning. They are given the knowledge and tools to continue this dietary regimen after leaving the center and are followed closely for approximately 9 to 12 months, after which they modify their diets to include 20% to 30% cooked, vegan food. This modified 80:20/70:30 regimen always includes daily green smoothies and green juice along with a diet of abundant unprocessed fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
During this 10-year period, we have had zero incidences of calcium oxalate or calcium urate stones. Furthermore, I began this program 4 years prior in New York where, again, we had zero incidences of calcium oxalate crystal formation in the kidneys of our patients.
The experience at our center is not unique. There are five well-known centers in the US (and many lesser known) providing the same services and countless others in Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Furthermore, we are seeing this awakening occur in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and China.
Note: May I refer the reader to an easy-to-locate video which follows two very unhealthy, obese men for 60 days of juice "feasting" (and the sequel), Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (1 & 2). Again, no stones!
Conclusion
Unless one has hypercalciuria type II and hyperoxaluria (primary and enteric), there is no reason to avoid healthful foods that contain natural oxalates found in plants. And, in fact, the research corroborates our clinical findings (over 15 years) that drinking green juices and smoothies is not only health-promoting in multitudinous ways but actually protective against the development of kidney stones, both calcium-oxalate and urate varieties.
The vast majority (80% to 90%) of oxalates found within the body are produced endogenously (from within) in the liver as an aspect of glycolate (carbohydrate) metabolism.
Precipitation of oxalates to form calcium-oxalate crystals (coalesce into "stones") only occurs under very specific conditions related to hydration (water) status, pH of the urine, and the concentration of calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
The biochemical milieu in the blood and kidneys that favor stone formation is directly correlated to the intake of refined carbohydrates and animal protein and inversely correlated with amount of natural sources of calcium, magnesium and potassium (fresh green vegetables, fruit, and seeds/nuts).
Happily, Then
Our staff and patients (>1000 people) have remained oxalate and uric acid stone free over 15 years by drinking a minimum of 1 to 2 quarts per day of fresh green vegetable juice, enjoying a green smoothie, and eating abundantly of the green leafy vegetables, fruits and nuts/seeds that are, for the most part, prepared without employing the destructive force of fire (not cooked).
This daily dietary regimen is augmented 3 to 4 times per year with green juice "feasts" for on an average of 10 to 14 days.
Finally
We don't have a lot of biographical information regarding Popeye; however, looking at his image, one can see that he was thin, energetic, affable, and strong; and, considering his competence in battle, apparently quite healthy. Furthermore, there were no dialysis catheters inserted into his bare arms in all of the images ever produced of our spinach-obsessed hero, who may have been a vegetarian … for all we know.
J. Wellington Wimpy, on the other hand, ate substantial amounts of animal protein and refined carbohydrates with apparently little or no vegetables (spinach). Furthermore, he always wore a long-sleeved coat, perhaps to conceal his dialysis catheters … one can only speculate.
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