Words of Wellness with Shelly

Shelly's Shares: Our Soil is Bankrupt and How Is That Affecting Our Health As A Nation?

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 121

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Are you eating healthy but still feeling tired, foggy, or struggling with your health? You're not alone. The shocking truth is that our modern food supply has become nutritionally bankrupt, leaving even the most health-conscious eaters deficient in essential nutrients.

In this eye-opening episode, Shelly breaks down the fourth component of the TDOS syndrome affecting Americans' health - the critical deficiency in our nutrition. The statistics are staggering: iron levels in spinach have dropped 4,300% over decades, calcium in broccoli has declined 53%, and experts estimate you'd need to eat nine modern oranges to equal the nutritional value of a single orange from the 1950s. This isn't just about feeling tired - it's a fundamental crisis affecting 92% of Americans who lack one or more of the 91 essential nutrients our bodies need to function properly.

Shelly shares practical strategies for addressing this hidden hunger, from following the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen lists when shopping to focusing on nutrient density rather than calorie counting. The medical establishment has largely missed this crisis, as most physicians receive minimal nutrition training. But there's hope - with the right approach to supplementation and food choices, we can overcome these deficiencies and experience significant improvements in energy, stress management, sleep quality, and overall wellbeing.

Whether you're struggling with health challenges or simply want to optimize your wellness, this episode provides crucial information about the nutritional deficiency epidemic affecting virtually everyone. Join me in taking baby steps toward better nutrition - your body will thank you. Reach out through the contact information in the show notes if you'd like to learn more about the nutritional protocols that have transformed my health and the health of countless others.

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High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix

Clean-crafted wine, free from chemicals & pesticides:
https://scoutandcellar.com/?u=healthyhappyhours

Cayla Gray- Non-toxic cologne & perfume: https://caylagray.com/wellnesswithshellyj (10% discount)

JuJu Non-toxic candles & air fresheners:
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Coupon code for 10% off: ShellyJefferis

Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,

Shelly

Speaker 1:

Now we know that all of these essential nutrients are pretty much completely gone from our food supply, so therefore we're not getting the vitamins and the minerals that our bodies need to function at an optimum level. Do you get confused by all of the information that bombard us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental wellbeing? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more to share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will we all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today happiness and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Words of Wellness.

Speaker 1:

I want to jump into today's episode. This is our Monday episode of Shelly's Shares, and I had started a four-part series discussing just briefly four areas that are posing a really big threat to our health as a country. There is a syndrome called the TDoS syndrome, and I've been breaking that down into four different segments. So today is the fourth segment, and the T-D-O-S stands for toxins, deficiency in our nutrition, obesity and stress, and I have briefly covered all areas. Today I'm going to talk a little bit about the deficiency in our food supply, and this has been an ongoing issue for quite a while.

Speaker 1:

It hasn't gotten a lot of attention until just recent years, I would say, and it became very evident to me a little over 10, 11 years ago when I made an adjustment in my nutrition and started adding some more high quality nutritional products into my daily routine, I noticed a big difference in how I was feeling, my energy, my stress levels, how I was sleeping, even to the point where I was dealing with some symptoms from a health issue, and those symptoms started to decline and go away completely. And I have to say, from my personal experience, having a background in health and wellness and nutrition, you know I eat pretty well most of the time, but when I made this change, it became clearer than ever to me that our nutrition and our nutrition system is bankrupt. And you know coming from and our nutrition system is bankrupt. And you know coming from again, eating pretty healthy day to day, having salads with our dinners and eating lean pieces of, you know, chicken and fish and just eating a pretty overall, pretty good, healthy diet. It's just something that has been going on for many years and it has just gotten worse through the years.

Speaker 1:

I mean, the minerals in our soil are pretty much, almost completely gone and I think that there are many people out there that might not understand that those minerals help the nutrients, help the minerals in our food supply and those are completely, pretty much gone. And so we have 91 essential nutrients 91 essential nutrients and when there is a nutrient that's essential, we want to get it from our food. But now we know that all of these essential nutrients are pretty much completely gone from our food supply. So therefore we're not getting the vitamins and the minerals that our bodies need to function at an optimum level. So it's really very, very alarming and, to be honest, I used to tell my students that supplementation I said I would tell them that supplementation was their own personal choice and that ideally, we would be getting the minerals and vitamins from the food that we were eating. This is what I would share years ago until I learned otherwise. Now I know, and I will say, some form of supplementation is absolutely necessary in order to get all of the vitamins and minerals and nutrients that our bodies need. We just are not getting it from our food supply.

Speaker 1:

And again it goes back to our soil. I mean, there's just such a nutritional deficiency that starts with our nutritionally bankrupt soil, and this again, like I said, has been going on for quite some time and there have been some studies that have been done. But one that was very, very alarming was the fact that Over the course of decades, the iron levels in spinach have dropped over 4,300 percent. 4,300 percent, and that was according to a study conducted at Cornell. And that makes complete sense, right? I mean, again I go back to saying I was eating spinach in my salad almost every single night. You know, I look back and I mean we still do eat salads, don't get me wrong. But what has changed is supplementing our day-to-day intake with high quality nutrition so that we are getting the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. And you know, unfortunately this even affects organic foods.

Speaker 1:

Organic, I'm going to say, is not perfect, but it is better. It is better. It is for the most part. It's cleaner, so it's not going to contain the pesticides as the conventional produce does. And when it comes to dairy products, meat products, whatever it might be, I know I personally try to get as many food items organic as I can, and it's not necessary for every single item that we consume, but I know for me personally, I make a point to get my meats and my dairy products organic, I think, purchase those organically.

Speaker 1:

And also one thing that I do is I follow the clean 15 and the dirty dozen outline when it comes to our, our produce and what we purchase at the market that's organic as opposed to conventional. So I follow that list pretty much to a tee and you can look that list up and it will share with you the dirty dozen list. That list includes produce that has higher levels of pesticide residue. So for example on that list, potatoes, apples, strawberries, bell peppers, cherries, I think, grapes. So there there's a list and I really do truly follow that. And then when you have the clean 15, those are items that aren't going to be as much of a concern. Now sometimes I sometimes I might purchase those in the organic aisle if they maybe are on sale, but items like bananas, melons because they have kind of that strong outer skin avocados, so there are various foods like that that I think it just comes down to personal choice. But again, that's just what I do and I recommend that to my clients and I recommend that to all of you who might be listening that look at that list, kind of go by that list.

Speaker 1:

It really, really helps when it comes time to go grocery shopping because then I just know what I'm getting in the organic aisle and what I'm not. And quite frankly, let's use strawberries as an example. Organic strawberries can be pretty costly, and so I will get those when they are on sale. If there's a container of organic strawberries and it's $6.99, I'm not going to get strawberries on that given day. So you can really, you know, pick and choose and do this in a manner that can fit your budget, and I just I highly recommend following that. It's really really helpful. So that's really what I wanted to talk about today, and just remind everyone that it is important to supplement in some way, shape or form.

Speaker 1:

So there's another book that I will share with you. It's called the Ultra Mind Solution and that's by Dr Mark Hyman, and he says that over a 24-year span, the USDA nutritional information revealed a major decrease of all nutrients in all vegetables. Calcium levels in broccoli dropped 53% in this time frame. Now this decline started in the 70s and it's just been going down ever since. So it's something to really really keep in mind. I mean, it's impossible to. I believe I have read that you'd have to eat like nine oranges to equal the amount of nutrition in one orange. That was there like 40, 50, 60 years ago. So that's what we are up against, my friends. That is truly what we are up against. It's impossible to eat the amount of food we would need to eat to equal that level of nutritional value that it once provided us many, many, many years ago.

Speaker 1:

So I just want you to really really think strongly on this and think about some areas maybe where you might need to supplement and really think about increasing the level of nutrition in your day-to-day diet, because it's very challenging. I mean, when they say you'd have to sit down and eat 30 bowls of spinach to equal the level of nutrition in spinach back in the 70s, okay, well, who's going to sit down and eat 30 bowls of spinach? Nobody, right Nobody. So this is where we have to really make a change. Research shows that 92% of Americans are deficient in one or more of the 91 essential nutrients. That is just unacceptable 92% of Americans Now, I'm going to assume that's probably 100% at this point. 92% of Americans are deficient in one or more of the 91 essential nutrients. So very, very important to really take this seriously and to make a change for yourself, for your family.

Speaker 1:

I mentioned in the last episode about our country and what's leading to the overweight, the obesity epidemic, and I was talking about the fact that we are truly, we're overeating. However, we are malnourished, and that ties in with exactly what I am sharing with you today, and it happens even with those who are overweight. Obviously, they're overeating and they're still malnourished. So it's a very, very, very serious, serious issue. And the other thing that I want to share with you that I have known for quite a long time is that when we go to the doctor, when we go to get a physical, doctors do not get a lot of schooling, if they get very little, if any, education in the area of nutrition, so they are not equipped to give suggestions to their patients. You know they are following these charts with these recommendations, which these, these charts and the recommendations are quite outdated, and you and I both know that if we go to the doctor and we have an issue, very rarely, if ever, do they ask about our nutrition, right, like we could trace a lot of things, a lot of health issues, back to our nutrition or lack of health issues, back to our nutrition or lack of. So we can make a difference. We can make a difference and, on the same note, when it comes to the medical profession. I want to read this quote to you from a doctor himself.

Speaker 1:

In medical school, doctors receive very little education on diet and nutrition. It is up to each physician to do his or her own research on the effects of poor nutrition. When physicians test patients' cholesterol levels and blood pressure, usually their solutions are pharmaceutically based. Either that or patients are advised to change dietary habits and omit certain foods. Discussions about introducing macro and micronutrients are infrequent in those conversations, possibly because there's little evidence to support the overstated claims made on supplement labels.

Speaker 1:

Many doctors still buy into two outdated major schools of thought. The first is that the body can get all its nourishment, including vitamins and minerals, from food alone. The second belief is that, as long as a person fits into the proper quote unquote what weight category, there should be no concern about malnutrition in these patients. Now, two things. One, we can't get all the food nutrition we need from our food. Two, looking at a patient and thinking okay, you know how they look at those charts. They look at the patient's, their height, their weight, and if you fall into this certain category, they consider quote unquote you're healthy. And that's just not the case. And even if someone's weight might fall into what's considered a healthy range, that does not. That does not mean that they're healthy, that does not mean that their body is getting nourished, as it needs to be and should be.

Speaker 1:

So, really, again, take this, take this to heart. Think about what maybe you could start doing a little bit differently for yourself, for your family. You know, I talked about also that counting calories is not the answer. And when we're already deficient in our nutrition and then we start to think, oh, I need to cut my calories in order to release weight, then we're just cutting nutrition out from our body even more. So it can be a vicious cycle, but we can take the steps to make a difference and make a change. It's so, so important. And again, these are two big this is a really big area.

Speaker 1:

The nutritional deficiency of America and the level of toxins that we're being exposed to really opens up the floodgates to the overweight and obesity epidemic. So I really encourage you to start to think about the foods that you're consuming. Are they nutritionally dense? I want you to not be concerned about the calorie. I want you to be concerned about the level of nutrition. Instead of counting calories, we should be making sure that every calorie counts based on the nutritional density of the calories we are consuming, so that my friends is what I wanted to share with you today.

Speaker 1:

Take this information to heart. Please take steps for yourself and your family. Seek out ways to make sure you're getting optimal nutrition into your day-to-day diet and again, reach out to me. My contact information is in the show notes. If you'd like to have more information about what I do and the nutritional protocol that I follow, I'm happy to share that with you all and again, like I've talked about, when it comes to making little changes to better ourselves, to better our health and our wellness, take baby steps. Take baby steps, maybe one of the first things you can do.

Speaker 1:

If you don't follow yet the clean 15 and the dirty dozen list for produce, start following that list when you go to the grocery store. Just start to make small little adjustments. You go to the grocery store, just start to make small little adjustments and then I encourage you to seek out supplementation, finding what works for you, making sure you're finding really clean supplements that will get absorbed by your body at the cellular level, because that is most important. Because that is most important Much of what is sold out in the stores and in big box stores. There is so much out there that you can purchase, and most of it is going to be just a waste of your money, because if you are taking a vitamin, any kind of a supplement, and it's not getting absorbed and utilized by your body, then basically you're throwing money away. So, again, I can give you some recommendations of what I use and I just also just recommend you do some of your own research and find something that works for you and it's just a really important, really important thing to start to incorporate into your day to day routine. So again, my friends, reach out if you have further questions.

Speaker 1:

I know I'm just touching the surface in the of these topics, but the purpose of this was to kind of be increasing awareness. I wanted to cover these four areas. Do this four-part series briefly cover it, and the purpose of my Monday episode, shelly's Shares, is to give a short, brief solo episode on a topic that you can listen to and digest easily. So that's what this is all about. So I hope that you have found value in this today, as always. Have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week, take some time for yourself and your wellness on this day and I will see you next time on Words of Wellness.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review words of wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness, on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week. Thank you.