The Healthy Body Calculator is not based on an average. It utilizes nutrition scientific principles to perform the calculations. If you read the text under the body fat section, the calculator will not estimate an appropriate body weight for persons with low body fat. Those persons are encouraged to enter their current body fat to get a more accurate calculation. I designed the calculator for athletes and non-athletes alike. Anyway, you are within a healthy body weight for height whether you are a female or male, irrelative of your percent body fat. So what's your beef?

As to the information regarding use of cartilage or gelatin in the treatment of arthritis, I have not seen published research documenting what you state. A drug is any substance given in excess of what the body needs or normally consumes or produces, including concentrated substances like mega doses nutritional supplements.

I have not seen recently published research documenting that our soils are depleted of minerals. In fact, minerals are quite stable and stationary in soil based on the reading I have done. I have seen such statements though by companies selling supplements. Hopefully agriculture has learned a bit about soil management since 1936 and it would be false to assume that if soils were somewhat depleted in 1936 that they are more depleted now. That would assume that we have not gained knowledge nor used that knowledge. In fact, the organic farming movement has had a tremendous effect on how we grow and process our food. Lastly, I design and manage nutritional databases and review that data which results from the chemical analysis of raw and cooked foods. Based on the nutrient content of foods that I have access to (over 23,000 foods), there definitely are minerals in foods, both raw and processed. If a person eats a varied diet with at least 1600 calories per day, It is very reasonable to meet your Recommended Dietary Allowances without the need for nutritional supplements.

No. When a person is ill, you should feed the person what they prefer, providing they are not vomiting nor have diarrhea. Persons with colds generally in the beginning have a poor sense of taste since their sense of smell is blocked. I would not recommend starving a person with a cold. Try hot soups, warm beverages, cooked cereals and toast. Researchers have proven that chicken soup does really help break up mucous secretions.

Persons with a fever need additional fluids to replace water lost through their higher body temperature. Also, more calories are burned by persons with a temperature above 98.6 degrees and needs to be replaced with food as tolerated. Try six small meals per day. Generally, persons with a fever prefer cool liquids, soup broth and fruit juices or plain gelatin. Encourage liquids of any kind during a fever.

Milk straight from the cow is called raw milk, which is a carrier of several serious diseases. To kill any of these "disease producing bacteria" in milk, you should pasteurize the milk first. The Public Health Department suggests "heating raw milk to at least 161 degrees for 14 seconds and cooling it rapidly to 45 degrees or less". You should make sure all your pots and utensils are clean before starting. Your county Public Health Department may have a pamphlet on raw milk, call for one.

Nutritionally, my concern for persons drinking raw milk is centered on the lack of vitamin D in raw milk. Your body needs vitamin D for adequate development of bone and teeth. Children especially need adequate sources of vitamin D to prevent rickets, which is characterized by a bowing of the legs. Before fortification of milk, public schools gave cod liver oil to schoolchildren to prevent rickets and to prevent faulty mineralization of teeth.

Another source of vitamin D is sunlight. We have vitamin D receptors in our skin which synthesize sunlight into vitamin D. Northern residents of the United States and Canada cannot rely on sunlight for vitamin D since the climate is cooler and people are more likely to have most of their skin covered. Also, cloudy days, smoke, fog and window glass act as barriers to sunlight, which should not be depended upon to supply enough vitamin D. Additionally, the health risk of any sun exposure increases a person's risk of skin cancer.

So I would suggest that if you are drinking raw milk, pasteurize it and take vitamin D supplements to meet your Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of five micrograms for adults (ages 25 to 50), 10 micrograms for children and young adults (ages 6 months to 24 years) and 7.5 micrograms for infants (ages 0 to 6 months). Most fortified milk found in grocery stores has vitamin D added to provide 10 micrograms per quart.

PS Natural can mean any food grown on this planet. This also includes foods like sugar and white flour.