Health Ideas, Part IV

by

John Stephen Mauldin, MLA (not AI assisted)

All right reserved, copyright © 2025

Vitamin C

For several years, I took daily doses of ascorbic acid, which is sold as vitamin C by well-known grocers and supplement companies. Yet, I was exhibiting signs of vitamin C deficiencies, particularly dry skin, and sports injuries of joints, simply because ascorbic acid is not vitamin C but its synthetic impostor. Nature, of course, creates vitamin C with ascorbic acid, but merely as an antioxidant protective coating that envelops vitamin C’s four other integral ingredients:

1. Vitamin P is considered the anti-pneumonia vitamin and helps our lungs inhale oxygen proficiently, essential for asthma sufferers.

2. Vitamin J, a bioflavonoid, protects the tissues around the arteries and veins and most noticeably prevents spider veins on the face.

3. Copper is another component of vitamin C, that helps to build adrenalhormones, the repository of vitamin C.

4. Vitamin K is necessary for blood coagulation. A vitamin K deficiency may also weaken bones, potentially leading to osteoporosis, and may promote calcification of arteries and other soft tissues.

So, there is a significant difference between ascorbic acid and vitamin C, and it seems quite criminal to misrepresent the two when we consider the pivotal health role of this life-giving vitamin.

For instance, when I stopped taking ascorbic acid and replaced it with a quality vitamin C derived from organic fruits and vegetables, the dry condition on my legs and feet, which had been present for over nine years, subsided within two weeks. Here are some fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C, measured in milligrams and daily value:

Kiwi 1 cup 164 mg 273% DV

Bell Peppers 1 cup, raw 120 mg 200% DV

Orange 95.8 mg 160% DV

Strawberries 1 cup 89.4 mg 149% DV

Papaya 1 cup 86.5 mg 144% DV

Pineapple 1 cup 78.9 mg 131% DV

Grapefruit 1 cup 71.8 mg 120% DV

Broccoli ½ cup, cooked 50.6 mg 84% DV

Brussels Sprouts ½ cup cooked 48.4 mg 81% DV

Mango 1 cup 45.7 mg 76% DV

Tomatoes 1 cup 18.9 mg 32% DV

Spinach 1 cup, cooked 17.6 mg 29% DV

Cancer Prevention

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer states, “It is estimated that almost half of all deaths due to cancer in Europe could be avoided if everyone followed these recommendations.

“Do not smoke. Do not use any form of tobacco. Make your home smoke-free. Support smoke-free policies in your workplace.

“Take action to have a healthy body weight. Be physically active in everyday life. Limit the time you spend sitting.

“Have a healthy diet: Eat plenty of whole grains, pulses, vegetables and fruits. Limit high-calorie foods (foods high in sugar or fat), and avoid sugary drinks. Avoid processed meat; limit red meat and foods high in salt.

“If you drink alcohol of any type, limit your intake. Not drinking alcohol can prevent cancer.

“Avoid too much sun, especially for children. Use sun protection. Do not use sunbeds.

“In the workplace, protect yourself against cancer-causing substances by following health and safety instructions.

“Find out if you are exposed to radiation from naturally high radon levels in your home. Take action to reduce high radon levels.

“For women: If you can, breastfeed your baby. Breastfeeding reduces the mother’s cancer risk. Limit the use of hormone replacement therapy, which increases the risks for certain cancers.

“Ensure that your children are vaccinated against: Hepatitis B (for newborns). Human papillomavirus (for girls).

“Take part in organized cancer screening programs for: Bowel cancer (men and women), Breast cancer (women), and Cervical cancer (women).”

In addition to this sage advice, perhaps, the safest lifestyle that ensures one is taking all precautions against the incidence of cancer is a gluten-free, processed-food-free, substance-free, dairy-free, plant-based diet with a big daily dose of fresh air and exercise.

A gluten-free diet is suggested since gluten causes weight gain, which increases the incidence of cancer. Processed food is artificial and, consequently, alien to our bodies, requiring extra work to digest and, in some cases, is only partially digested, which causes a multiplicity of damage, some that might be irreversible, such as cancer.

Substance freedom includes freedom from tobacco, alcohol, drugs, many prescription drugs, coffee, soft drinks, and a host of other synthetic things misinformed people consume. Dairy freedom markedly reduces inflammation and removes a host of chemicals, not to mention unimaginable misery to cows and calves.

The plant-based diet is also recommended since many people feel it is the healthiest diet for it excludes meat, which, with its many chemicals and digestive challenges, causes a higher risk of cancer. And, daily exercise in the fresh air renews and cleans the whole body, lessening the risk of cancer.

Assuming such a lifestyle may seem somewhat impossible. If this is the case, just take one step at a time, then when you are ready, take another. After all, time will elapse anyway, and by steady plodding, we may achieve many things that others dismissed as utter impossibilites.

Cartilage

Two years ago, while peddling ten miles round-trip from the grocery store with about twenty pounds of groceries in my backpack and riding into a strong headwind, I overdid it. I had been running stair laps, running on a riverside trail three times a week, and walking three miles in the fresh air daily, so I was expecting quite a lot of my dear cartilage. The ride from the grocery store, however, exceeded the limits. An MRI revealed a torn cartilage. My doctor said, “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.” Yet, I wanted to give it every chance to heal, so I used the RICE method, Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.

I stopped all the workouts of my lower body. I ate onion soup, celery soup, and cayenne pepper for their powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. Since I was eating a plant-based diet, I was already on a healthy diet, and this, of course, made an enormous difference in my recovery, along with glucosamine, a supplement requiring no prescription.

As I mentioned earlier in this section, simply because a solution was helpful to me, does not mean it will help you. Therefore, I do not recommend that you take glucosamine since you may have allergic reactions or side effects that I did not experience. You may, albeit wish to read a little about glucosamine or seek your physician’s opinion about it.

During this recovery, I never took one aspirin, ibuprofen, or anything similar; these are anathema to a strong, healthy lifestyle. I was patient, not running or even riding a bike for two years.

Now, my right knee is perfect. I run stair laps, ride my bike, and run on the trail just as before with no pain. Of course, now I am more respectful of my cartilages.

Hyaluronic acid may also be a supplement to consider, with your doctor’s advice, since it is in every tissue of the body, especially the connecting tissues of the skin and cartilage.