Copper, The Human Liver, And Excess Sugar Intake… Your Thoughts?

So, what do these 3 things have in common? Anybody got any thoughts? I do. I am specifically writing this as it pertains to my wonderful and loving mother, but I know many of you all out there will be able to relate to it. My philosophy on food is that all healthy foods in their natural state, meaning untouched by humans and coming straight from the Earth (meats, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, the occasional whole grain), will give us the vital chemical minerals in the correct ratios. When we want a quick fix and reach for supplements, synthetic chemicals, injections, processed foods, etc. we interfere with our body’s ability to absorb these crucial minerals. The 16 major chemical minerals are Calcium, Carbon, Chloride, Fluoride, Hydrogen, Iodine, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Silicon, Sodium, and Sulfur. There are also additional trace minerals that are necessary for these 16 minerals to work efficiently. Some of these trace elements include Copper, Zinc, Chromium, Selenium, Cobalt, Molybdenum, and maybe a few others. Before getting carried away talking about all these minerals, let’s focus on Copper, Iron, Sugar, and the human liver.

Let’s move on to the point of this post – the relationship between Copper, the liver, and excess sugar intake. I don’t want to get too carried away because I know I’ll lose many of you and this is quite simple to explain. Copper is a critical component to many enzymes that are in the human liver. Humans need a certain amount of glucose for energy, but we don’t need all that much. That is a huge myth, so please don’t let someone tell you that we need a lot of carbohydrates (sugar) for energy. You get much longer lasting energy from healthy fats (lipids) and protein than you do from sugars. Sugars only create inflammation throughout the body including in the liver. Beef, veal, and oysters are the 3 highest sources of Copper. Beef will provide a good amount of Iron as well. If you stop eating beef, you will become Copper deficient and probably Iron deficient as well. Humans evolved to eat meats due to their heat producing properties caused by excellent complete protein content. This will help keep you warm during the cold months of the year! It’s why a bowl of chili is a wintertime favorite.

There is such a thing as having too much Iron in the liver. However, when humans have a Copper deficiency, the liver can no longer regulate its Iron content. This means it basically gets stuck in the liver and has no place to go. Obviously, this is a huge deal because a “heavy” liver with too much Iron will cause the liver to malfunction, therefore creating an inability to regulate sugar levels. This leads to overproduction of insulin by the pancreas, which brings on insulin resistance because our body fails to get the sugars in our muscles for energy. When we fail to utilize these sugars circulating in our blood stream, the results on your blood tests will show up as “diabetic” or “pre-diabetic” with an A1C number over 5.0. For those that don’t know what I’m talking about, a Fasting Glucose number signifies your blood sugar for that particular day in your life. A1C signifies a 3-month history of the sugars in your blood. Many things can cause a spike on a fasting glucose test, so it is important to pay more attention to your A1C since it talks about your blood history, not just 1 day’s worth. Some doctors might say an A1C between 5.0 and 6.0 is OK, but that means its “trending” towards diabetes. Screw that, let’s just go big and get it under 5.0. You’ll feel much better about yourself than if it were between 5.0 and 6.0, which will naturally create stress since you’ll be thinking about it. Simply thinking about it will create higher levels of Cortisol, the stress hormone, which eventually leads to a nervous system that over fires and a brain that never shuts down. Over firing of the nervous system and a brain that never shuts down to sleep is a beautiful recipe for INFLAMMATION, DIS-EASE, and ILLNESS.

I personally feel that there is a reason why humans are supposed to eat meats and this is definitely one of them that I have just discussed. Beef has about 1/3 (for women) and 2/3 (for men) of our daily Iron intake, but it has nearly twice as much Copper than it does Iron. Let’s think about the mathematics of that. If Copper is necessary to regulate Iron, it would be smart to have a little more Copper than Iron in a single source of food. That’s my idea of efficiency. Why try to get these elements in the correct ratio by eating 2+ food sources when you can easily get them in 1 food source. Listen people, I’m all about efficiency and effectiveness when it comes to my foods and my health. If you want vibrant health and a life free of inflammation, then you need to strive for the highest levels possible of both efficiency and effectiveness. Life is both short and a journey, so if I were you, I would do whatever I could to make the most of it. Who wants to live a life of misery and be surrounded by negative energy all the time? NOT ME!

Bottom line… Eat some wild or grass fed beef because humans were meant to do so. And while you’re at it, add some healthy vegetables and fats so that your liver can operate the way it should. At the end of the day the liver is the only organ that will process EVERYTHING you consume, be it foods in their natural state, processed foods, supplements, injections, or synthetic chemicals. Oh, and don’t forget lots of filtered water to stay hydrated too, because this helps the liver out tremendously when trying to process and regulate our minerals and energy.

Remember, these are my thoughts. I have written these posts as a thought-provoking tool to get humans to think outside the box with a focus on the previously mentioned minerals. NOT on “counting calories” or “getting enough protein, carbohydrates, and fats.” That is an old school way of thinking. Clearly, thinking inside the box with old school philosophies is not working! If it was working, then riddle me this… over the last century, humans have seen exponential increases in levels of inflammation and dis-ease, why? People don’t want to think outside the box (probably because they are lazy) and think that Big Brother and Big Pharma can solve all of their problems with a “quick fix” solution. Guess what folks? Our genes (you know, our DNA) are hundreds of thousands of years old and cannot be “quickly fixed.” The Earth has provided all of these minerals and elements for all animals to consume to fuel our energetic needs on a daily basis. These minerals and our genes need time to configure themselves so that we can experience a vibrantly healthy life free of inflammation, dis-ease, and illness.

What are your thoughts?

Resource used: The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry Volume 26, Issue 10, October 2015, Pages 996–1006. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955286315001084