[lurkingforacure]

In reading on this I realized that no plant that I know of has mitochondria, they get their energy from the sun through the whole chlorophyll process mechanism they are equipped with.

We have no such equipment, obviously. But we do have mitochondria which makes our cellular energy ATP instead. Dr. Wahls discusses that the mitochondria is actually a foreign alien in our body and perhaps it is a symbiotic relationship we have with each other: the mito needs us to live, and ditto. We are seeing what happens when our mitochondria are not doing well.

Is this why people seem to do so much better on a mostly veggie diet, plants which have grown and absorbed sun from seed to harvest? Particularly 9 cups, as Dr. Wahl recommends, three of which (a whopping 1/3) are leafy greens? The healthier our mito are, the healthier we seem to be, and vice versa.

Thoughts?

[Conductor71]

Originally Posted by lurkingforacure

In reading on this I realized that no plant that I know of has mitochondria, they get their energy from the sun through the whole chlorophyll process mechanism they are equipped with.

Is this why people seem to do so much better on a mostly veggie diet, plants which have grown and absorbed sun from seed to harvest? Particularly 9 cups, as Dr. Wahl recommends, three of which (a whopping 1/3) are leafy greens? The healthier our mito are, the healthier we seem to be, and vice versa.

Thoughts?

Wow, I am so glad you were wondering this, because it helped me piece together some of the puzzle of how all this cellular stuff fits together in terms of PD. Thanks :-)

If I am not mistaken...nearly all living things have mitochondria, but the difference lies in the genetic coding passed down through evolution, so the plant mitochondria would modulate sugar differently than we do. Check out this diagram showing cellular energy cycles for plants and animals. Note the single most important element of the process for both...yes, it all centers around the sun and an organism's ability to transform light into a food or energy source. Vitamin D is our version of photosynthesis! What was that minor detail about Vitamin D deficiency and Parkinson's? This is a quote from Wikipedia"

"Because vitamin D can only be synthesized via a photochemical process, early vertebrates that ventured onto land either had to ingest foods that contained vitamin D or had to be exposed to sunlight to photosynthesize vitamin D in their skin to satisfy their body’s vitamin D requirement."[11]


I didn't see her information on mitochondria as being almost an invasive in our system or reliant on us...maybe i am missing something (She could seriously use an index) I am thinking that the reason mitochondria plays a picture is because it is DNA encoded for us based on evolution, so if it trained to look for certain food sources, say from paleolithic days, and all we're giving it is refined sugar, flour, toxic aspartame, and so on...well, no wonder it malfunctions!

I just started reading Dr. Wahl's book in earnest today, and I am curious too on the veggies- I find it fascinating that eating so much onion is necessary. Dr. Wahl's has adapted the paleo-diet to optimize nurturing mitochondria, but it is she who has made it much more vegetarian. The paleo diet seeks to get us off processed foods because that is what is causing so much disease prevalence. So we are looking at a diet based on hunting and foraging for nuts and berries. If you think about it, her veggie overload makes sense. Paleos did not have limpid heads of iceberg lettuce they picked up on the way home from work...they didn't have dairy or glutens. They most liklfely did have an abundance of dark, leafy greens and tubers to pull from the ground. Though as an aside, I can't figure out what she has against a standard white potato except that is higher on the glycemic index?

I also think her approach is to eat a wide variety of different fruits and veggies as we are then more likely to a) get most of our needed vitamins and minerals through food sources which is better than using supplements and/or b) we are then less likely to end up nutritionally deficit. Apparently, it keeps our mitochondria happy to boot! If you think of it, our hunter-gatherer self would not have recognized half the stuff we now eat as a potential energy source.


-Laura

[wendy s]

I'm also trying to follow Dr. Wahls' diet. Laura, what you were wondering about is on page 13 "Eons ago, they may have even been separate from our animal ancestors, and joined with us to live as part of our cells for our benefit". At least I think that's the one.

It's the mushrooms that I wonder about, I have never thought of them as being a source of much nutrition.

I don't mind the leafy greens and onions - I saute a chopped up onion in a wok on the stove and then pack in as much spinach as I can with a little water and cook it for about 8 - 10 mins. And I like the daily log list of vegetables in each category on page 179. I've been making fruit crisps with frozen blueberries for the blue/black (rice flake crust) and put strawberries in a smoothie or eat red pepper with a dip for the red. It seems like each individual category is fine, it's just the total amount! It's a lot of chopping, cooking and eating!

When I first tried it (for about a week), I really took it seriously and my meds went from every three hours to occasionally as long as five hours. I was thrilled! Then I went on holiday for five days, didn't look after myself at all, felt way worse when I got back two weeks ago, and can't seem to get back on track. Partly because I was so terribly tired the first week. I hope you'll keep posting about it because the encouragement and company would be great!