Bruising Easily

This came up on the comments section the other day, and since some information I came across was so timely, and I knew rung true with the person's experience who was claiming to have bruising issues (she originally came to the site complaining of bleeding gums which went away instantly upon pulling a 180 - calling for her to "eliminate the sweets and refined foods in the diet"  which you can read more about in THIS FREE EBOOK), that I couldn't help but type up this passage and post it on the blog.

This was all from a Q and A style book written by George Meinig, a dentist highly involved with the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, called, cheesily, NEWtrition.

Question: “When I get a bump I always get myself very black and blue. Sometimes there are places all over my body that are black. Is there something I can eat to help me?" B.P.


Answer:  "Dear B. P.: People who bruise easily for very little reason are suffering what is called capillary fragility. This means the walls of the smallest branches of your blood vessels have become so thin and weak they cannot hold the blood within them. Even slight bumps or bruises cause these weakened blood vessels to break resulting in the escape of blood into the surrounding tissues. It is the bleeding under your skin that causes the black and blue appearance.

The outer walls of the capillaries should be strong enough to absorb a reasonable amount of pressure. In other words blood is meant to be able to stay inside of blood vessels and not escape under the skin.

In most cases of such tissue degeneration the blood vessel walls have become fragile because of a deficiency of vitamin C and its complex, the bioflavanoids.

Many who have this problem also have bleeding gums. Both are really an initial form of scurvy. This is one of the most overlooked deficiency diseases in America today. Many dentists now use a simple test for vitamin C developed by Emanuel Cheraskin, M.D., D.D.S. in order to determine whether their patients' gum problems are related to this deficiency.

The real cure to the problem is to eliminate the sweets and refined foods in the diet and replace them with fresh vegetables, fruit and 100% whole grain products. Two raw vegetable salads per day are especially helpful. In addition until the condition is alleviated supplements of vitamin C and bioflavanoids should be taken. These dietary changes will usually strengthen the blood vessel walls and stop the hemorrhaging under the skin in one to two months but at times may take longer.

If improvement does not take place in a reasonable period of time, medical help should be obtained to rule out other disease entities.”

In my meat and starch mantra and 180 flair, I often leave out the importance of fresh, raw vegetables and fruits.  While the beloved 180 Tatey contains a fair amount of vitamin C, vitamin C is a heat-sensitive nutrient.  The ultimate source would probably be to eat a little bit of whole fruit, but also raw, red bell pepper and cabbage.  Although raw cabbage is probably not something you'd want to eat every day in excess due to its goitrogenic properties, a salad like this one might be a great thing to eat more frequently (substituting red bell pepper for the carrot used in the video, which is how I usually make it).  You can always use different leafy greens or sugar snap peas or other ingredients to mix it up...
 
http://180kitchen.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/vietnamese-cabbage-salad/
 
For more on Bruise, watch the character Bruise Brubaker played by talented actor Mr. T in the movie The Toughest Man in the World.  As you'll soon agree, it was truly robbed of an Oscar for Best Picture in 1984.  Amadeus didn't have squat on this "breakthrough" performance.