In the late 1960’s, noted Canadian researcher Hans Selye, MD wrote the book “The Stress of Life”, in which he presented his findings on the effects of stress on the human body. Selye found that the body responds to any kind of stress, be it Mechanical, Chemical, or Emotional, in a very specific and predictable way.

The body has to maintain homeostasis — the body’s internal balance — regardless of the stress being applied to it. Generally speaking, all organs and tissues have designated responsibilities for maintaining homeostasis: the temperature, pH, volume, and concentration of dissolved substances in the body’s fluids.

“The body’s internal environment, in which the cells live, must be maintained within narrow limits in order to function normally.”

The process that the body uses to maintain the internal environment is called homeostasis. Any deviation from the normal homeostatic values produces symptoms and causes the various tissues of the body to run faster or slower to bring the environment back within normal limits. In the process of meeting additional responsibilities, some tissues will require additional nutrients to meet the demand and at the same time will produce more waste that must be removed. Any organ tissue that is not needed to meet the crisis will consequently receive less nutrition until the crisis is over. Either scenario can cause malnourishment or a specific tissue. This happens even if the diet being eaten falls within the recommended dietary guidelines!

Sherlock Holmes once said that when you have examined all the logical possibilities and have not found the answer, you should look for the most obvious solution, regardless of how illogical it might be. I like to think that if Dr. Watson were here today, he would apply that formula by telling us that when we have used all our “magic bullets” without success, we should look for the obvious.

Examine and modify the diet
Improve digestion
Nourish stressed organs

While many would argue that such a solution is too simplistic and perhaps even unsophisticated, it certainly is obvious and can easily be substantiated scientifically.

Homeostasis