How to Honour the Greatest Invisible Miracle of Your Human Cell

There are turns in life’s journey where there is no going back without compromising truths as you understand them. What is seen cannot be unseen. Such an event happened a few years ago at a conference with the key speaker being Dr. Myron Wentz, founder and former CEO of USANA Health Sciences, a Utah-based cellular nutrition company that produces nutritional products and dietary supplements. There he stood on stage, silver haired, wearing a light blue shirt and behind him stood a ten foot high screen for presentation.

What I remember most was the picture of a single cell ten feet high and wide, a speck of a molecule, now made the center of the arena. And what a landscape it was to behold even as simple illustrations of the complex thousands of chemical pathways and reactions programmed to keep all the body’s trillions of cells healthy as possible.

The meaning of his words still resonate:

“All of us begin as a cell, like this, along with trillions of other cells working in synergy within the universal system in our body. Everyday billions of new cells are produced to replace those that have served before.

The body can be compared to a community with various organs and tissues each playing their separate roles, each of which benefits the whole organism. If any individual organ declines in its ability to perform its function, the whole organism becomes dysfunctional and degenerates.”

He pointed to this giant picture of a cell outlining some of its parts. “Each of the hundred trillion cells in our bodies is itself a basic community filled with separate structures which perform a wide variety of specialized tasks to keep the body’s healthy organization.”

That image remains as mesmerizing today and has helped to transform my healthy understanding of cellular nutrition and wellness choices.

I am not a doctor or a bio scientist but I wonder if my teacher’s training can help explain even the most primary facts. What if, more everyday lay people like myself could better understand the wonder masterpiece of what constructs a cell without levels of complicated scientific explanations. Would we take a longer look, stop taking them for granted because they are unseen and pay more attention to how to feed them with proper nutrition and prevent them from become uncontrollable or dysfunctional?

Do you think that cells are virtually unknown, undervalued and misunderstood by most of us? Could a visual primer of simple symbols help to value the amazing potential of cellular wellbeing we all have?

Therefore, I invite you to draw a simple outline of a typical cell and fill it with some of the basic structures using symbols as outlined in this diagram.

Symbols for Parts and Functions for Human Cell

Start with a simple outline of a irregular cell shape. Double the line to make a two layers shape. As each symbol is added, read about what it does and rejoice at the masterpiece of evolution we really are. As a final touch, you can connect all the lines and pepper with dots to show its protoplasmic quality.

NUCLEUS … control center for all activities as encoded in the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

MITOCHONDRIA … energy generators that produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate) molecules to power cells’ activities … sugars and carbs are their preferred fuel

ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM (ROUGH and SMOOTH) … multiple functions that make up most of the complex volume … protein manufacturing plants for amino acids, hormones and enzymes as well as metabolizing fats and helping to maintain a steady flow of blood sugar

GOLGI BODY … series of stacked membranes that ship substances produced by the cell to other parts of the body via the cell membranes

LYSOSOMES … contain 30 different enzymes involved with digestion as well as the maturation of red blood cells note in healthy adults, an estimated 10 billion red blood cells are produced

PEROXISOMES … contain detoxification enzymes critical to neutralize toxic substances

CELL MEMBRANE … dynamic construction (fluid mosaic) of two layers of lipids embedded with various proteins that are selectively permeable …contains channels to pump specific atoms into or out of the cell. It allows only small uncharted molecules to pass through the phospholipid bilayers from one side to another.

“This is why any kind of natural and synthetic fatty acids may modify the structure of this lipid membrane, alter its microdomain organization and provoke changes in cell signaling.”

In simple understanding, trans fats molecules plug the cellular wall channels for ingestion of nutrients and elimination of metabolic waste. It’s why I haven’t eaten a doughnut in years even though I live one block away!

My drawing of a human cell with functions

Ten Foot High Picture of a Cell, a Simple Picture or a Living Cell?

A ten foot high picture of a cell as a real functioning community changed my mindset to believe that the individual cell holds the key to health and sickness as an innate program based on proper food nutrients for energy, cellular nutrition and self-defense.

The body has an innate ability to heal itself with respect to cellular integrity. It is our responsibility to maintain these functions and structures of millions of critical molecules inside each cell beginning with such tools as the fork and spoon.

It is my hope that a simple diagram can do the same for you. It will be well worth your time to see electronic microscopic photos of actual cells and marvel at the masterpiece of any one cell.

Do you feel this diagram has increased any value of a single cell and perhaps commitment to maintain its value and potential? Do you have more motivation to be more knowledgeable about the physical elements of the human body to better build holistic parameters of how powerful we are in determining our fates?

Comments are always welcome. Please share your creations of your cellular masterpieces if you wish.

Annemarie Berukoff

Invisible Miracles: Revolution in Cellular Nutrition by Dr. Myron Wentz