Eat a balanced NATURAL-FOODS diet. By natural foods, we mean foods that would have been eaten by your hunter-gatherer ancestors: - lots of whole vegetable foods for vitamins and fiber; moderate to small portions of meats, fish, seafood, and other animal and protein foods, grilled, stewed or baked; and small portions of fresh whole fruit in season. This is diet on which human race evolved, and diet which, for vast majority of people, makes for optimum health

So next time you're about to order a meal with fries and sugary soda, think about how it could be improved. Replace fries with a salad, and soda with mineral water, and you've already made significant progress towards a more healthy, balanced meal.

And at home, look for recipes that use whole, fresh foods, with a minimum of processing. Make sure your meals include natural unprocessed foods, with lots of healthy vegetables, both cooked, and raw in salads. Avoid processed fats and processed low-fiber foods.

A sample menu: - grilled fish with steamed green beans, and peppers - large mixed salad, dressed with small amounts of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice - fresh fruit platter

Yes - A healthy, balanced diet can be that simple!

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

The forestomach of ruminants and large intestine of caudal fermenters are magnificent, continuous flow fermentation systems containing enormous numbers of microbes. What do these microbes and process of fermentation provide herbivore? Basic fermentation chemistry microbes that digest cellulose and other substrates also provide at least three other major services:

Synthesis of high quality protein in form of microbial bodies. Caudal fermenters cannot take advantage of this service, but in ruminants, bacteria and protozoa are constantly flowing into abdomasum and small intestine, where they are digested and absorbed. All vertebrates require certain amino acids which their cells cannot synthesize (the “essential amino acids”). Fermentative microbes can synthesize amino acids and thereby provide them to their host.

Synthesis of protein from non-protein nitrogen sources. Fermentative microbes can, for example, utilize urea to synthesize protein. In some situations, ruminants are fed urea as an inexpensive dietary supplement. They also secrete urea formed during protein metabolism into salive, which flows into rumen and serves as another nitrogen source for microbes.

Synthesis of B vitamins. Mammals can synthesize only two of B vitamins and require dietary sources of others. Fermentative microbes are able to synthesize all B vitamins, and deficiency states are rarely encountered.

The Products of Fermentation

Fermentation occurs under anaerobic conditions. As a consequence, sugars are metabolized predominantly to volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Additional major products include lactic acid, carbon dioxide and methane.

The principle VFAs are acetic, proprionic and butyric acids, which collectively provide for majority of a herbivore's energy needs. The ratio of these VFAs vary with diet, although majority product is always acetate. On a diet high in fiber, molar ratio of acetic to proprionic to butyric acids is roughly 70:20:10

As described above, proteins are also important substrates for fermentation. In caudal fermenters, much of dietary protein is digested and absorbed prior to large gut, but in ruminants, all dietary protein enters rumen. The bulk of this protein is digested by microbial proteases and peptidases. The resulting peptides and amino acids are taken up by microbes and used in several ways, including microbial protein synthesis. However, a large quantity of amino acids ingested by fermentative microbes are deaminated and enter some of same pathways used for carbohydrate metabolism. The net result is that much of dietary protein is metabolized to VFAs.

Similar benefits, created very differently, accrue to other mammals from fermentation process. Non-ruminants do not have internal capacity to create fermentation process during digestion process.

The fermentation process breaks down cell walls of foods acted upon, making them more easily digestible. In this case, double fermentation process used in manufacture of Bio 88+ (Plus) breaks them all way down to basic nutritional, vitamin, mineral and enzymic levels where they are most effective in aiding digestive process and speeding basic nutritional needs, vitamins and minerals and energy, directly to our cells where they are most needed.

Disclaimer: This article in no way should be taken as “medical advice” on any product, condition or course of action, nor does it constitute in any way “medical advice” endorsing any specific product, specific result, nor any possible cure for any condition or problem. This article is meant as a source of information upon which you may base your decision as to whether or not you should begin using any vitamin, mineral and/or herbal supplement for better health, or begin using a “greens” product as a dietary supplement.

If in doubt, or if you have questions, you should consult your physician and, if possible, consult a second physician for a possible different opinion. The author does not bear any responsibility for your decisions nor for outcome of your actions based upon those decisions.

Loring Windblad has studied nutrition and exercise for more than 40 years, is a published author and freelance writer.