Welcome
Hello Friends.
Thanks for tuning in to Twelve Minute Health Bits. This is your host, Christen Hull, providing health and wellness support for the 21st century. We will be talking about using simple methods from today and centuries ago to keep our bodies healthy. Our goal is to daily stay “Above the Wellness Line.” In this podcast I will be giving you tips and tricks on how to daily make small changes to your life in order to keep your body well.
Episode 10 - Vitamin C - Why everyone should be Supplementing
Did you know that your brain cannot function at optimal levels without proper nutrients? I probably did not surprise you much there. But, before we get started, if you have a Super C chewable supplement (check my products featured today to see which one I recommend for proper absorption), pop it in your mouth and enjoy, knowing you are supporting your health in amazing ways when you take that little supplement of vitamin C. If you do not have a Super C chewable, then take a look on my website blog to find the best, most credible, vitamin C sources I have found.
Today, I am not talking about the vitamin C you get from eating an orange or an over the counter inexpensive bottle of vitamin C that has a citrus/tangy taste to it. Now, do not get me wrong, eating oranges is a great practice. You should be eating real food, and an orange is real food (not orange juice, an actual orange that you peel). The amount of vitamin C in an orange is good when you are healthy, but if you need to get rid of a disease, infection, or illness, you need massive amounts of vitamin C, and high quality vitamin C is often not found in over the counter supplements.
Personal Testimony - Seasonal Allergies
One of the things I struggled with before I started my natural health journey was allergies. I had allergies so bad some years I would wake up in the morning to itchy, watery eyes, and nostrils full of mucus. I am not talking about a little bit of a runny nose and a little bit of watery eyes, I am talking about eyes that would water buckets and I had to use a towel to wipe away the tears. I would use nasal rinses to get rid of loads and loads of mucus but it was not until about noon each day that I actually felt as if my head cleared enough to function like a normal human being. This happened every spring and fall to me during the temperature changes in Minnesota. I am pleased to say that through everything I have learned, I have actually been able to completely eliminate this issue without any over the counter medications. I do believe the vitamins, supplements, and essential oils I use play a huge role in my ability to overcome this issue. However, one thing that was incredibly integral in my healing process was high dose vitamin C therapy. Much like the oils and supplements I use, high dose vitamin C therapy changed my life! My friends, I am sharing with you because I truly believe that it will also change your life as well.
Orthomolecular Medicine
Did you know there is a practice in natural health called orthomolecular medicine? Orthomolecular medicine is defined as “the restoration and maintenance of health through the administration of adequate amounts of substances that are normally present in the body” (Janson, 2006, p. 262).
Basically this form of keeping your body healthy has been researched, proven safe, and effective at treating things as difficult as cancer. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins set by the Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine is very low and based on people eating a fully whole foods diet. Nutrition has changed, and our soil has changed over the years. It is important to note that when it comes to nutrition you need to gauge your body. Everyone will have different doses based on their body’s needs. In regards to safety, high doses of vitamin C is incredibly safe because vitamin C is water soluble, meaning your body will flush out anything unused or “extra.” However, your body more than likely needs much more than what you might think.
Vitamin C’s Versatility, Immune System, and Skin Support
High dose vitamin C therapy has been used for years and is like a Swiss Army knife with multiple capabilities. A Swiss Army knife comes with multiple tools that can save someone’s life. Vitamin C also, if taken in large enough doses, can heal and restore people with diseases as awful as cancer. For more on this, read Steve Hickey and Andrew Saul’s (2015) book Vitamin C The Real Story: The Remarkable and Controversial Story of Vitamin C and reviews on the book on Saul’s website Doctor Yourself (Saul, n.d.).
The biggest benefit of vitamin C supplementation is a strong immune system. Our body produces white blood cells known as lymphocytes and phagocytes. These cells help prevent infection in the body. If we do not produce enough of these cells we are more prone to infection. Vitamin C helps to increase the production of these cells making them more prevalent in the body. This action helps the body fight infection much more quickly and with fewer symptoms that could lead to more significant health problems down the road. White blood cells also function much more productively with vitamin C supplementation and it helps protect against free radical damage. Free radical damage to our cells is caused when we encounter environmental toxins, processed food, electromagnetic field (EMF) frequencies, or other pollutants that we cannot avoid. Free radicals are incomplete cells in our body that have been damaged, and this damage can lead to negative health effects down the road if they are not given the tools to repair themselves (Wilson, 2017).
Another way our body utilizes vitamin C to protect itself is through our skin. Skin is your first line of defense against infection. Vitamin C is transported to the skin and acts as an antioxidant and barrier to help prevent pathogens from entering your body through it. Vitamin C also helps to shorten the time it takes for wounds to heal. If wounds heal faster, this gives your body more defense mechanisms to prevent pathogens from entering (Raman, 2020).
How do we High Dose Vitamin C?
We use high dose vitamin C therapy in our home often. The preferred method is through intravenous (IV) with a practitioner who is trained in treating patients with cancer. However, we do not use the IV method in our home. If one of my family members is fighting an illness or simply constipated, I have our kids take 500 mg and adults 1,000 mg of sodium ascorbate powder (or ascorbate acid) mixed in water every 15 minutes until they have reached bowel intolerance. Bowel intolerance is when your bowels clear out. You definitely want to be home when this happens! It is best to start first thing in the morning before you eat. If you have a lot to flush out, it will take longer to completely flush. If you have just recently flushed, it should go pretty quickly. It is good to try to completely flush your bowels at least once a month even when you are healthy to rid your body of toxins.
We have used this method to treat colds, flu viruses, strep throat (combined with oregano essential oil), allergies, constipation, and several other illnesses. In our home we use nutribiotic sodium ascorbate powder for high dosing. It is a non-gmo form of vitamin C powder. It is very concentrated and makes high dosing easy.
Bowel Flushing to Fight Infections
Typically we place a small amount of water in a glass with â…› teaspoon for kids (500 mg) and a ¼ teaspoon for adults (1,000 mg) of the powder. We swirl it around and drink. When my kids were really little I used a medicine syringe to administer the vitamin C water to them. I created the water and vitamin C powder mixture, put the syringe in the container, filled the syringe up, and then squirted it into their mouth gently. I have not had any trouble with my kids taking vitamin C powder over the years because it does not really change the taste of water at all. It is important to make sure all the water is consumed when it comes time to dosing. I then set a timer for 15 minutes and when the timer goes off, we give another dose. If the person is fighting something pretty heavy, I definitely make sure to dose with vitamin C every 15 minutes, and then use oils right after they drink the sodium ascorbate powder.
According to Dr. Suzanne Humphries, this method can also be used to treat whooping cough. The whooping cough vaccine does not last more than three years and each time the vaccine is administered in someone’s lifetime, it becomes less effective for that individual. Also, if your body is able to run the course of the virus (especially with whooping cough), high dose vitamin C therapy can lessen your symptoms but also give you lasting immunity because your body will have the knowledge to fight it off in the future. Fortunately, this type of immunity will also be more beneficial for protecting those around you from getting the disease (Humphries, 2019).
A couple of months ago, my six year old son came down with a pretty intense cough. I do not know if it was whooping cough, coronavirus, or something else. I do know that we had one night of a scary chest cough. As soon as I noticed the fever, I started giving him high dose vitamin C, an essential oil blend for supporting his immune system and decreasing his fever, and an internal natural essential oil antibiotic. We did this three times a day for two days. During the day, unless he was sleeping, I was able to get â…› teaspoon of sodium ascorbate powder into his body, rub oils on him, and also have him take a high antioxidant drink made out of wolfberries. I also protected the rest of our family with doses of sodium ascorbate powder, oils, and the wolfberry drink every hour. He had a cough for about 24 hours, and then the next day the cough was gone and he had a slight fever. After two days from the onset of symptoms, he was up and running around the house like nothing happened.
Prescription Medications
Prescription medications have their own host of health issues that come along with them. They may get rid of the problem symptom, but they do not in any way tackle the actual issue that is happening causing the problem and can create new symptoms. Each prescription drug comes with side effects, but the biggest issue is they wreak havoc on your gut. This leaky gut issue, typically caused by processed foods, chlorinated water, or prescription medications, can lead to other health issues in the future. Symptoms of a leaky gut can include rashes, coughs, allergies, acne, brain fog, ADHD/ADD, depression, sugar cravings, low immune function, gas, bloating, arthritis, joint issues, fatigue, autoimmune diseases, and the list continues (Parent Walravens, 2018). This is why learning about vitamin C supplementation is so vital!
Ways Vitamin C Supplementation can Help your Body
Okay, so we have covered that vitamin C in high doses can help the body fight off infections and can be used, at times, in place of prescription medications. Let's get into what else it can do.
Some research studies have shown it may reduce your risk of chronic disease. Basically, it helps strengthen your body’s natural defenses by increasing your antioxidant levels (Raman, 2019).
Can help support and manage high blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels that carry blood from the heart.
May help reduce your risk for heart disease.
Reduce blood uric acid and in turn lower your risk for gout.
May help with deficiency in iron. If you are deficient in iron, or know someone who is, they should not take an isolated iron supplement (this is a topic for another episode). Instead, they should supplement with vitamin C which can help the body absorb iron already consumed through food. One study found that supplementing 100 mg of vitamin C a day increased iron absorption by 67% (Raman, 2019).
May help lower your risk for dementia; lessen oxidative stress and inflammation near the brain, spine, and nerves; and increase antioxidants which help the brain think and remember (Raman, 2019).
Vitamin C Safety
Let’s go back to the safety of high dose vitamin C for a minute. There has been zero recorded deaths from vitamins or vitamin overdose. Water soluble vitamins, like vitamin C, are especially safe to take in high doses (Saul, 2017). You can compare that to more than 232,000 people who died in the United States because of an overdose of prescription opioids from 1999 to 2018 (Prescription Opioids, 2020).
So just how much vitamin C should a normal, healthy person supplement on a daily basis? From my research I think it is best for a healthy adult to supplement 1,000 mg three to four times a day to stay healthy and keep adrenals functioning at an optimal level. This will also help to flush out any free radical damage that may have occurred throughout the day that is unavoidable (i.e. pollution, bad food, etc) (Cathcart III, 1994). For kids, on a daily basis my kids get a Super C chewable that they love. They do not get a regular high dose of vitamin C unless they are showing symptoms of illness or constipation.
Pregnancy
If you are pregnant or nursing, it is incredibly important for you to continue to increase your vitamin C supplementation as you are able without having bowel intolerance (diarrhea). There is evidence to support that vitamin C supplementation can shorten your labor and make it less painful. It can also help reduce stretch marks after the baby is born. It is important to self-adjust your dosage based on how you are feeling (Saul, 2018). I took up to 30,000 mg of vitamin C a day when I was pregnant.
Quality
You know I could not get through an entire podcast without talking about supplement quality, right? Honestly, you cannot go to your local drugstore and grab a vitamin C supplement. So please, do not do this. If you go to my blog section on my website you will find a list of all of the vitamin C supplements I have researched and found effective because of their quality ingredients. The problem with just grabbing any vitamin C supplement is that it may contain other ingredients that are not so friendly, or incredibly harmful to your health in the long run.
I Get It! I Know What it is Like.
Honestly, my friends, I share this information with you because it has literally changed my life. I wish for you to see the same success in taking care of your health because I know just how much better and more energetic I feel because of high dose vitamin C. Sometimes what we believe, we believe because it is what we were taught for many years. When in reality, it is actually not the way God has for us. It is hard when we start to learn a new way of doing something. I understand how it feels to have a sick child in my arms wondering if I should quickly rush to grab an antibiotic. I totally get it! However, trusting that God has given us information that can help us, and trusting that if we use the tools we have, discernment, and are consistent, we will more than likely be able to fight anything that comes our way without man-made synthetic medications. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Please know that using discretion is so important. My prayer for you is that as you begin to learn a different way of taking care of your health and the health of your family, you will embrace it, find success, and share it with others. Our positive affirmation for the week is, “I can use the tools God has given me to keep my body healthy.” We need more people to take control of their health and kick illnesses to the curb naturally!
Products Featured on Today’s Broadcast
Visit www.twelve-stones.net to place an order
Essential oils
Oregano
Contact me on how to find the essential oil blend for supporting immune system health we discussed today.
Contact me on how to find the internal natural essential oil antibiotic we discussed today.
Supplements
Nutribiotic Sodium Ascorbate Powder
Ascorbic Acid Powder
https://www.healthyfamiliesforgod.com/supplements/vitamin-c
Liposomal Vitamin C is incredibly concentrated and helps you get the maximum amount of vitamin C available in a supplement. https://www.healthyfamiliesforgod.com/supplements/liposomal-vitamin-c
Contact me on how to find the high antioxidant drink made out of wolfberries we discussed today. The wolfberry contains an Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) value of over 30,000, making it incredibly beneficial for flushing out those nasty free radicals that cause illness.
Super C supplement that contains 2,166% of the recommended dietary intake of vitamin C per serving, and is also fortified with rutin, citrus bioflavonoids, and minerals to balance electrolytes and enhance the effectiveness and absorption of vitamin C. The essential oils that are added may also increase bioflavonoid activity.
Contact me about a Super C Chewable that contains Vitamin C from camu camu, acerola cherry, and rose hip. My research has found that the essential oils and bioflavonoids in it really provide a synergistic boost, making lower doses more effective.
Contact me about the natural internal antibiotic I referenced. This supplement makes the terrain for yeast/fungus unfriendly. It promotes healthy respiratory function and reinforces your body’s defenses. It contains oils such as oregano; thyme; and other essential oils that are high in thymol, carvacrol, and eugenol for incredible immune system support.
Conclusion
Hey Friends.
Thank you for tuning in to this podcast from Twelve Stones Health and Wellness with Christen Hull. If you have an idea for an upcoming episode, send it my way, I would be happy to explore the topic. If you are interested in more information on becoming a member and receiving the benefits of synthetic chemical free living in your home, please talk to the person who shared this podcast with you or, visit my website at www.twelve-stones.net. If you find this resource helpful, I encourage you to enjoy and share this podcast. Please do not alter the content in any way or charge for this resource.
References
Cathcart III, R. F. (1994). Treatment of infectious diseases with massive doses of vitamin c. Retrieved from Doctor Yourself website: http://www.doctoryourself.com/cathcart_C_summary.html
Hickey, S., & Saul, A. W. (2013). Vitamin c: The real story, the remarkable and controversial healing factor (1 ed.). Basic Health Publications, Inc.
Humphries, S. (2019, April 13). Vitamin c/na ascorbate for whooping cough. Retrieved from Deep Roots at Home website: https://deeprootsathome.com/vitamin-c-for-whooping-cough-by-suzanne-humphries-md/
Janson, M. (2006, September). Orthomolecular medicine: the therapeutic use of dietary supplements for anti-aging. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 1(3), 261-265.
Parent Walravens, S. (2018, March 29). 10 Signs you have a leaky gut—and how to heal it. Retrieved from Healthy Women website: https://www.healthywomen.org/content/blog-entry/10-signs-you-have-leaky-gut%E2%80%94and-how-heal-it
Prescription opioids. (2020, March 19). Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control website: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing/overview.html
Raman, R. (2020, February 19). 7 impressive ways vitamin c benefits your body. Retrieved from Healthline website: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-benefits#6.-Boosts-immunity-
Saul, A. W. (2017, January 3). No deaths from vitamins. None. Retrieved from Orthomolecular Medicine News Service website: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v13n01.shtml
Saul, A. W. (2018). Mega-vitamin c and pregnancy. Retrieved from Doctor Yourself website: http://www.doctoryourself.com/preg_c.html
Saul, A. W. (n.d.). Reviews of vitamin c: The real story. Retrieved June 30, 2020, from Doctor Yourself website: http://www.doctoryourself.com/realstory.html
Wilson, D. R. (2017, July 29). How do free radicals affect the body? Retrieved from Medical News Today website: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318652
