Amazing bodies

(Excerpt from a small brochure found lying around in a tray at work)

“In many ways the body is like a car, requiring precisely the correct quantity and mixture of fuel to maximise and maintain its efficiency. And, just like a car, our bodies need optimum fuel in order to function efficiently without premature deterioration. As an example, the difference between petrol and diesel is only a few carbon atoms, but try to run your petrol driven car on diesel and you will soon see the difference a few atoms can make. Of course, our diet is extremely varied but, without the correct core ingredients, our “engine” would fail as assuredly as that of the car.

The body is capable of a continual rebuilding and maintenance cycle, but to perform these tasks it requires a diet containing all the essential raw materials. Every day the human body manufactures and replaces 50 million new skin cells, and in a normal week the whole intestinal mucous system will have been replaced. These processes are taking place every minute of every day throughout our lives. Red blood cells have to be renewed once every four months. This is a mammoth task when you consider that just one teaspoon of blood contains about 15 million red blood cells and the human body contains approximately 5 litres of blood. If a diet does not contain the necessary raw materials, or if their value has been diminished due to interaction with free radicals, each of these new blood cells will be damaged and less able to fulfil its role as the body’s transport system.

Under normal circumstances, all mammals have two cycles of cell replacement. The first is the anabolic stage during which the body grows and develops almost automatically. The human cycle for this is approximately 25 years. The second stage is the catabolic stage, during which th body starts to break down those functions it no longer requires. If  not exercised muscle is replaced with fat, physical inactivity results in our bones losing both calcium and their strength, and mental activity slows down if mental facilities are not maintained.”

So the message clearly is: feed it well, and use it or lose it! As amazing as our bodies are, they still need to be looked after.

This entry was posted on 11/09/2008 at 03:54 pm and is filed under Seedlings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.