The Cleansing Cold

Most people think of getting sick as a bad thing. It definitely isn't fun and doesn't feel good. But the truth is, nature has a purpose in all of its doings. Sure there are instances where being sick is really due to a chronically weak immune system (as in the person who gets sick all the time), and there are instances where being sick is due to food poisoning or some toxin the body has to get rid of quickly for survival purposes. But looking at the common cold, the seasonal sickness, it is actually not a bad thing at all. See, most people's diets contain foods that create an acid condition in the body, and that contain artificial additives and other unnatural ingredients. These unnatural ingredients do not just exit the body, leaving it unharmed. These toxins are often stored in the body, slowly weakening it over time. Pollutants in the air and from our cars and water supply are also toxins that accumulate in the body. Stress and other 'toxic' emotions (anger, irritability, etc.) also create a toxic system.
The average person showers at least once a day. The outside of our bodies become nice and clean each day. Few people think about the fact that the inside of their bodies get just as dirty, or moreso, as the outside of their bodies. If we do not take the time to cleanse our insides, with a body detox program, then our bodies will often do the job for us - by getting us sick.
The symptoms we get when we are sick are not just so that the body can get rid of some bacteria or virus that has taken hold - because, you see, bacteria and viruses can only exist in a toxic system. They feed on the toxins in fact. What the body is doing when it gets congested, is ridding the body of the toxins and waste products that are allowing the bacteria or virus to live in our systems. Because then, the bacteria and virus can't live - they will starve. I actually don't believe that every cold is based in a germ though. Sometimes the body just needs to do a house cleaning. Either way, a house cleaning is being done, and we are all the better off for it.
Over time, toxins do weaken the immune system, or other systems of the body. Those who 'never get sick' either take really good care of their bodies or have a powerful mental attitude that keeps them well. But if neither of these hold true, then somewhere down the line that person's body will let them know it is being weakened by the toxins from their unhealthy lifestyle. Sometimes it is by a sudden illness that they thought could never happen. Other times it is a slow degeneration of certain systems of the body.

When you get sick, it is important that you do not take medicine that will stop the congestion. All this does is drive the toxins back into the body, setting you up for another sickness. When sickness comes, work with the body. Understand what it is trying to do and help it along. Allowing that congestion to be released from the body is a blessing to your body. Your body will be stronger for it.
To prevent the need for sickness, make sure you do a body detox program at least a couple of times a year. Every season is ideal. The 'summer cold' is likely your body throwing off toxins from the previous seasons, allowing for clearer, lighter, healthier blood for the summer weather. Same thing with the winter cold. The body changes with the seasons, and needs to cleanse.

Love your body and work with it. :)

Animal Products' Relationship to the Top Diseases in the Country

Returning to the subject of meat as a source of protein, there are some other health benefits to eating meat sparingly. I discussed the way meat thickens your blood and increases heat in the body, which is not beneficial in hot climates/summer weather. Also how the human intestinal tract is much longer than the intestinal tract of carnivorous animals, whose intestines are very short, designed to get meat out of the intestinal tract quickly after digestion. There are other health reasons for eating meat sparingly.

For one, meat is a food that is high in saturated fat. It is hard to eat a low-fat diet while consuming animal-based foods like meat. Also, animals raised for commercial meat production are shot full of antibiotics and growth hormones to protect against the outbreak of disease in the slaughterhouses and to increase the growth of the animals for greater meat production. These antibiotics and hormones leave residues in the meat, which are then consumed by meat-eaters.
A heavy meat-based diet contributes to some of the top diseases in the country - heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Heart disease occurs as the result of high saturated fatty foods that clog the arteries and cause the heart to work overtime. Those who have been diagnosed with heart disease or have already had bi-pass surgery are instructed by their doctors to eat a low-fat vegetarian diet in order to correct the condition and prevent the need for another bi-pass surgery.
Adult onset diabetes (Type 2) is a totally diet-related disease. In this case there is nothing wrong with the pancreas. The problem is called insulin resistance, caused by the cells inability to utilize the insulin to take sugar into the cells. Insulin resistance is caused by excess animal fat & protein, especially from meat and dairy products, which clog the base membrane of the cell and prevent the uptake of insulin. Eliminating animal products from the diet almost always reverses this disease.
Cancer is a disease created by excess toxicity in the body, which interferes with the cells' abilities to recognize their instructions of what type of cells to be and what functions to perform. The communication system that organizes and instructs the cells goes haywire, and the cells become "without law", a community unto themselves, which eventually takes over the body and kills its host. Meat contributes to cancer by clogging the cells, preventing the elimination of toxins from the cells. Also, in the China Study it was discovered that those who eat the highest level of animal protein have the highest chance of developing liver cancer. I mentioned in a previous article that animal protein leaves behind an ash residue after digestion and metabolism. This ash residue places a heavy burden on the liver and the kidneys in their efforts to eliminate it from the body, which is one reason for the development of liver cancer.
Another factor with meat consumption is that the growth hormones that animals raised for food are given cause the rapid growth of cells. Cancer is a disease of rapidly growing cells, and if meat consumption isn't the cause of these cells going haywire, the growth hormones in meat at least cause the cancer cells to grow more rapidly.

A less talked about disease, called Mad Cow Disease, is not non-existent in America. The owners of slaughterhouses wanted us to believe that cows infected with the disease were only found in Europe, not America. This is not true. Mad Cow Disease was created by the practice of feeding infected animal carcasses to the cows bred for consumption. Cows are not meat-eaters for one thing, and feeding them infected animal carcasses was just asking for problems. Mad Cow Disease was caused by proteins called Prions, which infected the brains of the cows, eating holes in their brain causing dementia and eventually causing them to fall over dead. Humans who consumed cows with Mad Cow Disease didn't know they had it for years, until early signs of dementia set in, and upon examination of the brain, holes were found just like in the cows. This disease is present in America, and hard to detect before it is a real concern. But the rise of Alzheimer's and dementia may very well be due to this disease.

If you are going to eat meat, even sparingly, it is best to hunt it and kill it yourself, or buy organic sources of meat. That way you will be sure to not get meat that is full of antibiotics and growth hormones, and should be free of the Mad Cow Prions.
The healthiest diet consists of a low-animal-protein diet, and this is the direction to take if you want to avoid the top diseases that Americans are facing right now.

Food Pyramid Myths Part 4 - Proteins

The next part of the Food Pyramid is your protein group, which includes meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts, suggesting 2-3 servings a day. Keep in mind as I get into this topic what was mentioned in the dairy articles about high intake of animal protein contributing to bone loss. I don't deny the importance of having protein in your diet. An all-carb diet is certainly not healthy. What is important is finding a balance between carbs, fats, and proteins that fits our bodies' needs, and just like not all grains and carbs are alike, neither are all proteins alike in how they react inside our bodies.

Let's begin by splitting this section of the Food Pyramid into animal-based proteins and non-animal-based proteins. All meats and eggs in one category, and beans & nuts in another. Before explaining why, I will go ahead and suggest that the nuts and beans remain where they are on the Food Pyramid at 2-3 servings a day. Then I would put meats and eggs up at the top of the Food Pyramid under the category of "Use Sparingly". Unlike dairy products, I don't necessarily advocate wiping these items off the Food Pyramid completely. I believe they have their place at certain times and seasons, and as long as they are untampered with by man's inventions for mass production, meat and eggs can be a supplement to the diet at times in small amounts. One of those times and seasons is in winter. Proteins, especially animal proteins, thicken the blood and increase heat in the body. This is beneficial to a body that is exposed to cold weather for months, but even then, to keep it sparing, we are talking 2-3 times per week, not per day. In the summer, our blood wants to be thinner to keep us cool. Eating lots of meat in the summer continues to thicken the blood, slowing you down and making you feel hot and sluggish.

Excess animal protein leaves an ash behind after metabolism, which your kidneys and liver have to work hard to get rid of. Those with kidney or liver problems would benefit from eating less animal protein.

Just for a moment, take a look at the digestive tract of a carnivorous animal. You will see that the intestinal tract is very short, allowing for the quick passage of meat out of the body. An herbivore's intestinal tract is very long, allowing for the slow absorption of nutrients from plant foods. A human intestinal tract is very long. Even if we aren't meant to be pure herbivores, a look at the intestines of a meat-eating human who consumes meat several times a day will often show the remains of meat sitting in the intestines for days. Meat is not a high fiber food, and will not move quickly through most intestinal tracts. This allows for putrefication, and often parasitic infestation - both contributors to colon cancer.
The times you do eat meat, make sure to include some high fiber foods in the meal, as well as some anti-oxidant-rich foods to protect against the putrefication process.

Meat is another multi-dimensional topic, therefore I will highlight future topics that will not be covered in this article.
Future discussions will include: a) more physical/health reasons for reducing meat consumption, b) spiritual reasons, and c) extortion and contamination-based reasons.

Eggs are another animal-based protein, which I suggested should be eaten sparingly rather than multiple times a day. Most people are familiar with the fact that eggs contribute to high cholesterol, especially the yolk of the egg. This is true. The protein in eggs also leaves an ash residue after the digestion process and does place a greater burden on the kidneys and liver. Something else about eggs is that they are very mucus-forming in the body. Egg yolk is mucus-y by nature, and it does coat the intestines with mucus, reducing the absorption ability of the villi, and contributing to constipation. The body can handle this on occasion. The detrimental effects come from daily intake, which is why it is advised to eat them sparingly.

Moving on for now, let's look at non-animal-based proteins. Are beans and nuts the only sources? They are certainly one source, but did you know that dark leafy greens and other vegetables have protein in them? Some believe that you can't get a complete protein (in other words, a protein containing all of the essential amino acids) from plant sources unless you practice food combining - beans plus rice, etc. This is up for debate, but the more variety to your diet the better as all plant foods have different nutrients to offer. It may take more creativity to get all of your protein needs from plant sources, but it is possible and there are actually certain superfoods that contain all of the essential amino acids on their own. Spirulina is one of them, as is Nutritional Yeast. Adding these to your diet can reduce your worry about getting enough protein from plant-sources.

In truth, protein requirements as stated by the FDA are higher than what is actually necessary. Few people suffer from protein deficiency. Many more people suffer from the effects of excess protein and don't even realize the connection.
When planning a meal, next time think heavy on the vegetables and light on the meat. If you do eat meat every day, small portions rather than huge steaks and full chicken breasts will help keep you from getting an excess of protein. Countries in better health than ours eat meat in small 1-2 oz portions. This is a baby step toward better health, and our revised Food Pyramid.

Medical Astrology - Old Science in a New Light

I want to take a sabbatical from the food pyramid topics this week and get into some things I find more interesting. This blog is dedicated to bringing topics to light which have been misrepresented or understood incorrectly in some way - ranging anywhere from health topics to astrology. This week I want to combine the two - something classified as Medical Astrology.
I have been privileged to work for a man who has dedicated his life to educating himself and the public about various fields of knowledge - the foremost being natural health. True seekers of knowledge do not limit themselves to modern science or socially accepted ways of thought. Most of them look to the ancients, who have centuries of wisdom to glean from. Modern science can add to this knowledge, but to throw out ancient wisdom in order to consider our society modern and civilized is just foolishness.
Many people in our society are finally coming around to acknowledging that there really is something to the natural health field. It has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 12 years that I have been in this field.
Astrology is another story. If you claim to be into astrology, you are generally classified as one of those new age-y, non-religious, superstitious people who are into horoscopes and fortune-telling.
But look at history. In past centuries, those who practiced herbal medicine were considered witches, and many were burned at the stake. Their society had a mis-understanding of what herbal medicine was and were afraid of it. And maybe some of the herbal medicine 'witches' were actually into witch-craft as well, but that doesn't mean that there is something wrong with using herbs for medicine. Modern science is beginning to verify that herbs have medicinal properties that are effective against certain ailments. Thank goodness - since doctors have been making drugs from constituents they find in plants from the beginning!
So, just because there is a negative connotation associated with astrology does not mean that it is something to be feared, rejected, or labeled. The very fact that astrology has been around for thousands of years says something about its validity. Branches of knowledge that have no basis in truth cannot and will not survive for centuries. The problem has been the incorrect use of it, or the incorrect understanding of its uses. Pop astrology, with all of its weekly horoscopes, gives this branch of knowledge a bad name. Fortune-tellers who have used astrology to predict future events in a person's life have also given astrology a bad name.
Thank goodness for Dave Card and his desire to seek out a true understanding of astrology and for his courage to publish his findings! There are a couple of other authors out there who have also written about and published a true and pure form of using astrology which I will refer to at a future time.

Who doesn't look up at the stars and the planets and wonder what they are all up there in space for?? Even just the planets in our solar system. They appear to be pointless planets floating in space with no life on them and no purpose. Astronomy has not come up with any purposeful explanation for their existence. Religion has yet to give us many answers on this either. The only branch of science that gives us an understanding of the purpose of the planets is astrology - and once again, there are thousands of years of study in this field. Why don't we give ourselves a chance to take a look at the findings? I agree that a huge percentage of astrology books out there are no good. Thousands of years of access to this information has given many the chance to corrupt it. But there are some who understand how to use this branch of science in an enlightening, practical way.

But how is it possible for the planets to affect our lives, our psychology, or even our health? There are many things we don't understand but that doesn't mean that they don't work. Science of the past century has finally been explaining certain phenomenon to us that we had no way of explaining before. I think it is only a matter of time before science will understand the planet's effects on our psyche and our health and will be able to explain it to us scientifically. Yet, we all know the benefits of the sun in helping plants to grow and in helping our bodies make Vitamin D. We are all aware of the moon's effects on the tides, and even on people's emotions during the full moon. The sun and the moon are planets in the sky that have an effect on us, so why not the other planets??

The astrology that most are familiar with deals with your "Sign" based on the month you were born - Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc. This is one branch of astrology, which I will touch on at a later time. It has the most corruption because of its past uses, but is still a pure science when brought into its correct light.
Dave Card has discovered a different form of astrology. An astrology based purely around the planets, rather than the zodiac. It uses the sun, moon, mars, mercury, jupiter, venus, and saturn. One planet for each day of the week. In this astrology, whatever day of the week you were born on determines your planet. If you were born on Sunday, your planet is the Sun. Monday, the Moon. Tuesday, Mars. Wednesday, Mercury. Thursday, Jupiter. Friday, Venus. And Saturday, Saturn. There is a diagram in Dave Card's book that helps you figure out which day of the week you were born on. By knowing your planet, you are given insight into personality traits, as well as certain organs/systems of the body that you are more likely to have issues with. For example, someone born on Monday, a Moon-type, will usually be more of the nurturing type, and possibly more emotional (or just moody if they are a man). Moon-types are learning to use their intuition. On a physical level, the Moon-types tend to have health issues in the stomach and nervous system, as well as hormonal imbalances. Each planetary day has pages of information describing the mind/body constitution for the person born on that day.
To take it further, you have a secondary planet based upon the time you were born. The 7 planets are split into 3-hour blocks, and whichever block you fall into will determine your secondary planet. The 2 planets together give a complete picture of the individual's mental/emotional/physical constitution.
Dave then takes you through alternative ways of dealing with your individual package. From counsel, to the use of homeopathics, herbs, essential oils, flower essences, and nutrition to help you live a life in balance for your type.
I have found Dave's method of Medical Astrology to be entirely accurate. It has given me answers to problems I have had nearly my entire life. Now understanding them as part of my constitutional package gives me the freedom to view them in a different light and treat them with the wisdom Dave gives in his book. What an awesome, non-invasive way to understand your own particular health issues, why you have them, and what to do for them.
Dave's book is called Seven Symbols of Healing and is available through Dave's Health & Nutrition, as well as Barne's & Noble.

http://www.daveshealth.com/daves/books-seminars/seven-symbols-of-healing.html

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Seven-Symbols-of-Healing-Body-Mind-Spirit/David-R-Card/e/9780974914435

Man's Dairy Product "Improvements"

The issue of whether or not to consume dairy products has many topics to discuss, so I continue with this theme for a 3rd post, this time focusing in on what man has done to milk to make it oh so much more... inexpensive? less-perishable? more pleasing to the eye? How about damaging to the body. Toxic.

Starting with shelf life extension, and fear of germs, the dairy industry and FDA have agreed that pasteurizing dairy products is the only safe way to go. Pasteurization is the process of heating food to a high enough temperature so that microbial growth is slowed. Sounds logical, right? Of course it is wise to reduce pathology in our food products, but what else is being killed along with the potential pathogens? Once again, the source of life-giving nutrition that has yet to be fully recognized and taught in our schools - Living Enzymes.
Enzymes "catalyze about 4,000 biochemical reactions" in the body (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzymes). Without enzymes, most of the biochemical processes in our bodies would be unable to take place. A lack of enzymes equals lifelessness inside the body. A lack of live enzymes in our food equals lifeless food and is more of a burden than a help to the body. As with grains and fruits and vegetables, killing the life in our foods turns them more acidic.
Along with the living enzymes being killed during pasteurization, any good bacteria within the milk that would have been beneficial is also killed. Sometimes in an effort to kill all the germs, we end up killing the substances which are most beneficial to us.
In this way, raw milk is much healthier to drink if you choose to drink cow's milk. What about the pathogens?? In truth, good bacteria has a job. Its job is to keep bad bacteria in check. If we leave the good bacteria in the milk, it will keep any potential pathogens under control. Enzymes also break down unhealthy pathogens. So keeping milk in its raw state is a much surer guarantee of its safety.

If any of you grew up on a farm, you know that after milking a cow, the cream separates from the rest of the milk. This is a natural occurrence, but it doesn't look pretty to see milk in its raw, separating form. Therefore homogenization was created. Homogenization is the process of breaking down the milk fat into small enough particles so that they no longer separate from the rest of the milk. Once again, man is smart and ingenious - until we realize what we have done.
Kurt Oster, M.D. and Donald Ross, Ph.D. wrote a book entitled The X-O Factor, discussing a certain type of protein enzyme that is found in virtually every animal. This enzyme is called xanthine oxidase (XO), and is one of the few enzymes that survives pasteurization. This enzyme is too large of a molecule to be digested or absorbed when consumed by humans. But once the homogenization process has occurred, this molecule is broken down and becomes small enough for human absorption. XO has been shown to attack the vein & artery walls, creating holes which need to be patched up. The body uses cholesterol as a patch. This is one reason milk contributes to high cholesterol. XO has also been found biologically active in the heart tissue of heart attack victims. The enzyme was discovered to actually break down heart tissue. XO also contributes to uric acid production, which is a major cause of kidney stones and gout. This reason is a sure precaution one needs to consider when consuming dairy products.

The next thing man has done to milk & dairy products has not been done just for longer shelf life or a more presentable product. It has been done by the major dairy manufacturers in order to increase milk production in their cows. Cow's milk naturally contains growth hormones called bovine growth hormones (BGH). Scientists discovered a way to genetically engineer these hormones with the hormones of another species of animal, creating rBGH. It was found that by injecting cows with this rBGH, milk production was increased. However, milk from cows that were injected with rBGH contained higher levels of growth hormones. This has contributed to constant mastitis in the cows being milked, but because of the increased output of milk, the industry ignores this. The constant milking of the utters that are engorged with milk causes blood and pus on the utters, which gets into the milk. These high levels of growth hormones are also ingested by people who drink the milk, and this is contributing to early onset of puberty, hormone imbalances of all kinds, weight gain, and the rapid growth of cells - leading to cancer, especially breast cancer (as these are primarily mammary hormones).
Because of the constant mastitis in the cows' utters, anti-biotics are also injected into the cows, which then gets into the milk. Ingesting anti-biotics on a regular basis through dairy products causes a loss of good bacteria in the body (part of the immune system's army to protect you), and creates anti-biotic resistance so that when you really need them they do not work for you.

Getting back to food in its natural form is the way to go. If you are going to drink milk, drink it in its raw, unaltered state. And if you are going to choose milk from a species other than your own (especially in place of breast-feeding), raw goat's milk will work the best with the human body. In each species' milk, there is a ratio of protein, fat, and carbs. Cows milk is much higher in these levels than human milk, as it is intended for a baby calf that will double or triple its weight in a very short time. This is another reason for obesity in this country. We are growing our babies into cows through the use of cow's milk. Goat's milk has a ratio of proteins, fats, and carbs that is much closer to human milk. Also goat's milk is not treated with powerful growth hormones, and is available in its raw, unadulterated state.

To review the previous and present articles on dairy, we see that dairy products do not strengthen the bones, they actually contribute to osteoporosis. Dairy products turn the body acidic and contribute to mucus conditions such as colds, asthma, allergies, as well as other auto-immune disorders including juvenile onset diabetes. Food allergies are increased by preventing the digestion of foods consumed at the same time as dairy products. And man's alterations of "nature's perfect food" has eliminated the life-giving properties in milk, allowed for the absorption of XO into the body which contributes to cholesterol and heart attacks, has increased the levels of growth hormones we consume in milk contributing to hormone imbalances, obesity, and cancer, and has caused us to consume anti-biotics on a regular basis weakening our own immune system. And yet we say, "Milk, it does a body good"? Once again, I say the most beneficial thing we could do for ourselves is eliminate dairy products from our Food Pyramid.

(For further information on these topics and well cited resources, refer to Robert Cohen's Milk, The Deadly Poison, Vicki B. Griffin, Ph.D's Moooove Over Milk, and Frank A. Oski's Don't Drink Your Milk.)

Dairy Products Continued - The Nature of Milk

Last week I discussed the reasons why dairy products as conventionally used are not a good form of calcium for us to consume because in the end we end up losing more calcium than we take in. But what other reasons should this dairy product recommendation be eliminated from the Food Pyramid?

First, consider the source of the recommendation. The Dairy Industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. What food company wouldn't want their food products listed on the official Food Pyramid? There isn't much scientific evidence that cow's milk is actually good for the body, but there is a whole lot of advertising going on about milk products. Although some won't appreciate the suggestion of conspiracy in the Dairy Industry, there is growing evidence that money had more to do with the Dairy Industry's appearance on the Food Pyramid than actual scientific proof of its nutritional value - especially with information that is finally coming to light about how much harm dairy products actually do to the body. The FDA, USDA, and other organizations don't always have our best interest at heart, sad to say.

Now let's look at what milk really is. When a baby is inside the womb, it is fed by its mother through the umbilical cord. This is basically a blood transfusion from the mother to the baby. Predigested nutrients are going directly into the baby's bloodstream. When the baby is born, this process continues - through the mother's milk. Milk is a predigested food, a nutrient delivery system, designed to go directly into the new baby's bloodstream because the baby does not have any digestive juices of its own yet. A close analysis of milk shows that milk has the same make-up as blood, minus the red corpuscles. This is the perfect food for babies.
What causes a baby to wean from its mother? As soon as the baby's digestive juices come in, around 18 months, mother's milk mixes with those digestive juices and becomes acidic in the body, and the baby knows to wean. This is more apparent with other mammals who are more instinctual about this process, rather than weaning their babies for convenience and then forcing them to continue drinking milk from another mammal from then on.
So as I said, once the child has digestive juices, milk then turns acidic in the body. Acid creates not only calcium loss, but large amounts of mucus to protect the body's organs. Cow's milk is the number one cause of congestion, allergies, asthma, colds, and other mucus conditions.

Frank A. Oski, M.D., chief of pediatrics at John Hopkins School of Medicine stated that "at least 50 percent of all children in the United States are allergic to cow's milk, many undiagnosed. Dairy products are the leading cause of food allergy..., constipation, and fatigue. Many cases of asthma and sinus infections are reported to be relieved and even eliminated by cutting out dairy. The exclusion of dairy, however, must be complete to see any benefit."

Taking a closer look at cow's milk, this nutrient delivery system sends proteins directly into the bloodstream, which would be perfect for a growing cow, but these types of proteins are not right for a human's bloodstream, and the immune system has to go to work to get rid of these foreign proteins. The proteins in cow's milk are the same weight and structure as the beta cells of a human pancreas. When a child drinks cow's milk, those proteins can attach themselves to the pancreas. Then when the immune system discovers these proteins that are actually foreign, it will attack them, and many times it attacks the pancreas along with it, destroying the insulin-producing cells, creating Juvenile Onset Diabetes - Type 1. These proteins can attach themselves to other areas of the body as well, creating allergies or other auto-immune disorders depending on the individual's genetic susceptibilities. Rheumatoid arthritis if the proteins attach to the joints. Asthma if the proteins attach to the lungs & bronchioles. Crohn's Disease if they attach to the colon wall, etc.

An article titled, "More Evidence that Milk Causes Diabetes and Anemia" in Prevention and Nutrition revealed the following: "It has long been suspected that cow's milk proteins are a principal cause of diabetes in children, and a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine adds more support for this explanation. In comparisons of different countries, the prevalence of insulin dependent diabetes parallels the consumption of cow's milk." (The actual report being cited here was published in Volume 327 of the New England Journal of Medicine in July of 1992.)

Has anyone ever used milk as an ant-acid to curb heartburn or soothe an ulcer?? Here's where it gets a little tricky. It is true what I said about milk turning acidic when it mixes with digestive juices, however, milk itself is alkaline because of its high calcium content. Therefore when it first hits the stomach it will neutralize the acids in the stomach. Then after mixing with the stomach acid and bypassing the stomach it turns acidic, and that is the state it is in when it enters the bloodstream. It is the opposite of citrus fruits, like lemons, which are acidic themselves, and when they go into the stomach they increase stomach acid production, but then become alkalizing once they bypass the stomach and enter the bloodstream.
So milk and dairy products neutralize stomach acid, making it difficult to digest any foods eaten with the dairy products, allowing other foods' proteins into the bloodstream undigested. This is how milk contributes to food allergies. The immune system attacks those undigested proteins and creates an allergic reaction whenever that food is eaten.

"If you really want to play it safe, you may decide to join the growing number of Americans who are eliminating dairy products from their diets altogether. Although this sounds radical to those of us weaned on milk and the five basic food groups, it is eminently viable. Indeed, of all mammals, only humans - and then only a minority, principally Caucasians - continue to drink milk beyond babyhood." (March 1991 Medical Reader)

Stop and think about what you're drinking the next time you pick up a glass of milk. If it were human milk, might you be hesitating a little more? Yet, that would be safer for you to drink because at least it would be the milk of your own species. Think about those you know with allergies, asthma, colds, congestion, or juvenile diabetes - or this might be yourself. Try the no-milk or dairy products challenge for 2 weeks and see how you feel. Aside from the juvenile diabetes, the other symptoms and conditions will most likely improve tremendously.

Food Pyramid Myths Part 3 - Dairy Products

The Food Pyramid tells us that we should consume 2-3 servings of dairy products each day. This of all recommendations, is one of the most detrimental to our health. I would delete this recommendation from the Food Pyramid altogether. Those who insist on needing dairy products, whether for health reasons or for enjoyment of the foods, should turn to raw dairy products, or to goat dairy. Pasteurized & homogenized dairy products from cows have numerous negative health effects.
If you think about it, we are the only mammals on this earth who drink milk after we are weaned from our mothers, and we are the only mammals who knowingly drink milk from another species (cats being fed cows milk are no better off than we are with this mix up).
That we need to drink milk after we are weaned, and that we should drink cow's milk, is one of the biggest myths ever taught to us. From asthma & allergies to cholesterol & heart disease, from indigestion & irritable bowel to osteoporosis & diabetes... the list of diseases and their relationship to milk & dairy products goes on and on.

Let's begin with the most common question I get when I say I don't eat dairy products - "Where do you get your calcium?"

We have been taught that diary products are the only true source of calcium, and that without it we would be susceptible to weakened bones and osteoporosis later in life.
But this reasoning has come into question. It is being made public knowledge that all that we have been taught concerning milk and our dire need for calcium in order to have strong bones was never based upon scientific research, but was instead a product of advertising by the Dairy Industry, and the things they have ingrained in us have been doing more harm than good.
As new research was coming to light, a medical doctor, Dr. D.M. Hegsted, made this comment, “The first rule in formulating public health policy should be the assurance that the recommendations are not detrimental. It will be embarrassing enough if the current calcium hype is simply useless; it will be immeasurably worse if the recommendations are actually detrimental to health.”
Let us first take a look at the subject of calcium. It is the belief that we need to take adequate calcium into our diet in order to have strong bones, and if people around us are breaking bones and showing up with osteoporosis, then the logical thing to do is to increase the amount of calcium we are taking into our diets. This is following the “more is better” theory, which as we are finding with most things in life, is not always true.
In Dr. Hegstead’s book, Calcium and Osteoporosis, it shows that there is a close relationship between osteoporosis and the consumption of dairy products. In fact, the United States and other countries who consume large amounts of dairy products have much higher rates of osteoporosis than countries who consume hardly any or no dairy products at all. It appears that as milk consumption increases, the amount of calcium loss increases right along with it.
This doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense unless you realize what the real culprit with milk is. And that is it’s high protein content. Another big trend in our society is that we need to consume large amounts of protein, but excessive protein, especially animal protein, causes an extreme loss of calcium. There were at least 60 studies done between 1974 and 1988 indicating a definite relationship between excess dietary protein and increased calcium loss.
What happens is that large amounts of animal protein turn the blood very acidic. The body is always trying to maintain a slightly alkaline state, so in order to counteract the acidity in the blood, the body pulls calcium from the bones. Calcium is an alkaline substance that can be used by the body, when necessary, to neutralize acid. Whatever calcium there is in the milk to begin with is also quickly used up in this neutralizing process. So no matter how much calcium a person thinks they are getting by drinking lots of milk, there is always more calcium lost than retained. And as we have seen, how much calcium we consume is not the issue when it comes to strong bones, it is how much calcium is retained. Therefore, the more important question is 'how can I retain the calcium I already have in my bones?' Dairy products, along with soda pop, sugar, and other acid-forming foods, each contribute to calcium loss, and are directly related to osteoporosis.
Countries who consume a small amount of calcium in their diet, as well as little or no animal protein, have strong bones that stay strong their entire lives. We as Americans could learn some things from those whose health is so much better than our own.
It is true that calcium is an important mineral, but even calcium supplements at the grocery store are not assimilable. Most of them come from rocks. If you want to truly increase the calcium level in your bones, plant sources of calcium are the best to use, and studies have shown an actual increase in bone mass using calcium from plant foods. Dark leafy green vegetables are one of the best sources of assimilable calcium. Almonds and sesame seeds are also good sources of calcium. Herbal sources of calcium include Horsetail & Oatstraw.

Food Pyramid Myths Part 2 - Fruits & Vegetables

Moving up the Food Pyramid, it is recommended that we eat 3-5 servings of vegetables, and 2-4 servings of fruit a day. This is a fairly sensible recommendation, however, once again the form of the fruit or vegetable is not specified. Is there a difference between fresh vegetables and canned vegetables? Or even fresh vs. cooked vegetables? Pickled vegetables? Frozen vegetables? Organic vs. inorganic? And how about bottled or canned fruit? Dried fruit? Fruit roll-ups? Do the blueberries in your blueberry muffin count? Or the cherry on top of your ice cream sundae?

In a day of modern conveniences, fruits and vegetables are not what they use to be. Yet many people don't see the difference between eating fruits & vegetables fresh, and eating them in the ways I just described. I will touch on the reason each of them is good or not so good, but it boils down to one main issue, which science is so far behind on. Fresh fruits and vegetables have LIVING ENZYMES in them. These foods are alive because of the growing process. When you pick your fruits & vegetables from the soil or plant they grew on, they will continue to ripen on your counter because they are still alive. That is the manufacturing industry's biggest problem, and why they have discovered so many ways to preserve these foods, but the truth is, most all of these ways to preserve them only preserve some of the vitamins and minerals, but always kill the living enzymes.
Just like with the grains, when they are in their hard dormant shell, they are acidic, and when they are soaked they become alkaline because the living enzymes have been activated - fruits and vegetables are the same way. When they are fresh and in their living state, they are alkalizing to the body (especially vegetables). But once the living enzymes are killed by over-cooking, processing, preserving, etc. they actually become acidic in the body.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: Living foods beget Life. Dead foods cause degeneration & death.


Now to touch on each of these ways fruits & veggies are processed, preserved or prepared.
1. Dried Fruit - The next time you pick up a package of dried fruit - check the ingredients list. You will find sulphur dioxide in most brands. Dried fruit is treated with this gas to preserve the color of the fruit so that it doesn't go brown. "Sulphur dioxide is produced mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels that contain sulphur, such as coal and oil... Sulphur dioxide is also produced from some industrial processes, such as fertiliser manufacturing, aluminium smelting and steel making." Sulphur dioxide can cause "respiratory problems, such as bronchitis, and it can irritate your nose, throat and lungs. It may cause coughing, wheezing, phlegm and asthma attacks... Sulphur dioxide has also been linked to cardiovascular disease." (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/air/breathe/sulphur-dioxide.html).

If you wish to eat dried fruit, at least search out the brands that do not use sulphur dioxide, because there are some that don't, although they may be more expensive because they will also be the more organic brands.

Aside from additives (which may also include artificial colors & flavors), dried fruit itself is a concentration of the fruit sugar. It's high sugar content can cause blood sugar spikes and tooth cavities as much as any piece of sugary candy.
And as mentioned in a previous post, dried fruit has had the water evaporated out of it, and when ingested, the body uses it's own water supply to rehydrate the fruit before it can be digested. Most people are aware that eating dried fruit can cause you to feel sick afterward if you eat too much because it swells in your stomach.

For storage purposes, drying your fruit is an effective method for preserving fruit. But a thing to remember - dry it yourself or buy organic brands that don't contain the preserving agents, and before eating the fruit, soak it in water for 10 minutes or so to reconstitute it. If fruit is dried below 120 degrees F the enzymes will be preserved, but dormant. Once soak and rehydrated, those enzymes will reactivate.

2. Canned fruits and vegetables - Many sources will tell you that there is no difference between eating fresh fruits & veggies, and eating canned ones. Once again, look at the ingredients list. Most canned foods contain lots of salt, sugar, and other preserving agents. Many nutrients are lost during the cooking process before the canning is done, and canning has no way to preserve the living enzymes in the food, which were most likely killed during the cooking process anyway. In an effort to rescue the flavor of this lifeless, partially nutrient-depleted food they are canning, they add the extra salt and sugar. To test this fact out, try buying sodium-free canned vegetables and see how tasteless they can be.

Canning or bottling fruits and vegetables yourself can be a little better, as long as large amounts of sugar are not used. Once again, this can be a good food storage method, but canning does not preserve the live enzymes, so this is not the best way to eat fruit or vegetables on a daily basis.

Pickling is another way to bottle your produce. The problem with that is when unhealthy vinegars are used, or chemical preservatives are added. Most vinegars are acidic and not good for the body. Raw apple cider vinegar is a living vinegar with many health benefits. Pickling your own produce with this type of vinegar is a healthy way to preserve them. This type of vinegar does not go bad overtime. Instead it increases in its nutritive value.

3. Frozen Fruits & Vegetables - Freezing your fruits and vegetables is a fairly good method of preservation. Often the living enzymes simply become dormant in the freezer, and are reactivated once thawed. However, few people thaw their frozen fruits & veggies and eat them in their freshly thawed state. Most people cook them, or blend them up in their frozen state. Neither allows for reactivation of the enzymes. Another thing to consider - which crops are ruined when the temperature drops and frost begins to form? Fruits and veggies can't continue to grow once frozen. This seems like the dormant state that the hard grain is in for storage purposes. However, can a fruit or vegetable reproduce after it has been frozen and thawed? Or are the seeds completely ruined? Just some thoughts.

4. Cooked Fruits & Vegetable - As I have been mentioning throughout this article, cooking fruits and vegetables kills the living enzymes. But let's face it, we like our food warm some of the time, and certain foods like potatoes just don't taste good raw. So, if you aren't going to become a 100% raw foodist, and plan to still cook your produce, certain types of cooking are better than others. Steaming is the healthiest way to go, since most of the nutrients are still retained, and depending on how long you steam them for, some of the live enzymes may survive. Boiling is the worst way to cook them, as all the nutrients leech out into the water. Frying is generally not good unless a stable oil is used (such as olive oil or coconut oil), and then you want to keep the temperature on medium-low. It takes longer to cook them, but high heat will most quickly kill the live enzymes, and create free radicals - especially when regular vegetable oils are used. Baking is a good way to go, but ideally you could bake it under 200 degrees and preserve some of the live enzymes - if you've got hours to let it slowly cook.

5. Organic vs. Inorganic - Ok, so say you've decided to add some fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet each day. Does it matter if they are organic or not? Aren't all fresh fruits and veggies alike? Due to farms that mass produce, farming habits have taken a nose dive. One of the biggest problems they are up against is soil depletion. When crops are grown in the same soil over and over, without replenishing the nutrients in the soil, the soil becomes depleted and produce grown in this soil will be less nutritious. It is shown that produce grown organically has 300% more nutritional value than non-organic produce. Then there is the issue of the farmers use of pesticides to kill bugs, which not only pollutes the air, poisoning those who breath the pesticides (and I have met people with severe pesticide poisoning because they lived next to a commercial farm), but remains on the food which will later be ingested. Pesticides kill most of the bugs, but the strong ones survive, creating super bug species. Then there is the issue of genetic engineering. In an effort to reduce pesticide use topically, they are trying to create crops that have pesticides in their genes. But what does that genetically modified food do to us when we consume it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94d-KVorSHM
http://www.psrast.org/intro1.htm
GMO food is a whole topic in itself.

Although getting fruits and vegetables in your diet is important, eating fresh, organic produce full of live enzymes is the absolute best way to go. For preservation, dry or freeze them when possible, and only bottle if you can use a minimal amount of sugar. For cooking, try to stick to steaming and baking, or use good oils to fry with at a low temperature.

Going back to the Food Pyramid, it would be wonderful if we could get 3-5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day. If the most important thing is getting live enzymes and alkalizing our bodies, vegetables (especially green vegetables) are the best thing to build our diet around. Green vegetables are highly alkalizing, and full of nutrition and living enzymes. Vegetables should really be at the bottom of the Food Pyramid. Filling our plates with vegetables, and having a side of more substantial food will help our bodies run more smoothly over time. Fruits are wonderful too, but should be eaten a little less often than vegetables because they are sweet and slightly less alkalizing. Also the fruit sugar, combined with the acids in many fruits, can break down the enamel of the teeth if eaten too frequently, even in their fresh form. Where I would put vegetables at the bottom at 6-11 servings a day, I would move fruit up the pyramid to 2-3 servings a day.

Grains Continued - Remedies or Recipes

In discussing grains last week, I mentioned that even whole wheat grains can create a problem in the body because they are still acidic unless soaked first. Yet, sprouted grains are not as easily available to us most of the time.

Unsoaked, or processed grain products (including white, refined grains) can cause:

Allergies/Asthma
Digestive upsets/Irritable bowel
Constipation
Celiac's Disease/Gluten-Intolerance
Chronic Sinus Infections
Blood Sugar Imbalances/Weight Gain
Colds/Mucus Congestion
Mineral Depletion

Although I recommend avoiding the types of grains that would cause these problems, this week I will direct you to a website with natural remedies for many of these symptoms. The website is www.daveshealingnotes.com. On this site you can go to an ailment, and it will discuss it, then give you rememdies in 3 categories: herbs, cell salts, and homeopathics. These remedies are focused on calming the body's over-reaction to the allergens, helping the body to cleanse from mucus and other toxins, and keeping the body's blood sugar stable. Unlike drugs, natural remedies work with the body, supporting it's healing processes rather than forcing an action that is contrary to the body's inherent wisdom.
The recommended remedies are available at Dave's Health & Nutrition. For phone number or location see www.daveshealth.com.

For Food Allergies:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/food-allergies-natural-remedies.html

For Irritable Bowel:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/irritable-bowel-natural-remedies.html

For Blood Sugar/Weight Gain:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/diabetes-natural-remedies.html

For Constipation:
http://daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/colon-cleanse-natural-remedies.html


On the other hand, if you are up to the challenge of eating grains in their sprouted form, here are a few recipes for you to try:

Multi-Grain Mélange
2 T. wheat, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. rye, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. barley, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. oats, soaked 8-12 hours
2 T. raisins, soaked 8-12 hours (reserve soak water)

In a blender, combine all the ingredients, including raisin soak water and blend.
For a warm grain cereal, heat on low to 105 degrees. Top with berries, nuts or add apples and cinnamon. Be creative.

Hearty Buckwheat Breakfast
4 T. raisins, soaked 8-12 hours (reserve soak water)
¾ c. soaked or sprouted hulled buckwheat

In a bowl, mix the buckwheat with the raisins and enough soak water to achieve desired consistency. For a warm cereal, heat the raisin soak water to 105-115 degrees before adding to the cereal. For a vanilla-flavored cereal, soak the buckwheat in water with vanilla extract added.

Food Pyramid Myths - Part 1

Last time I mentioned how the foods we eat these days tend to deplete our bodies of nutrients rather than give them nutrients, and that other things we put in our bodies "plug up our engine" because they aren't the right type of fuel for our bodies.
There is a lot of speculation about what foods are considered healthy and what foods are detrimental to us.
We are taught in school from a young age about the food pyramid.

According to this, the bulk of our diet should be grains, followed by fruits and veggies, then meat and dairy, then oils and sweets sparingly. This is what is recommended on a daily basis. And while it's true that most people don't even eat this well, there are definite flaws in the food pyramid's recommendations.

First problem: Grains as the bulk of the diet.
We are not told any specific type or form of the grains we should be eating. If you are told to eat lots of bread, pasta, cereal, crackers, etc., the average person will choose to eat white bread, white semolina pasta, processed (if not sugary) cereals, and white flour based crackers. These types of grains are EMPTY of nutrients. They have been processed so that all of the fiber and nutrients that were once in the grain are taken out. What is left is empty calories, which are not metabolized by the body until nutrients are taken from the individual's body to balance out the empty food. These foods, along with white sugar, are considered "robber" foods because they are so imbalanced that the body has to pull nutrients from other areas of the body and use them to balance out the empty calories. In this way, you lose nutrients from your body when you eat these foods rather than gain nutrients. It's like when you eat a piece of dried fruit. This piece of fruit use to have water in it, but it was dehydrated. If you were to put it in some water it would soak it up. So when you eat dried fruit, it has to drawn some of your body's water into itself so that it can be in a balanced state before the body can break it down, and in that way dehydrates your body. The same is true with empty foods. They suck your body of nutrients, especially when consumed day after day.

Also, these empty calories act just like sugar in the body, causing blood sugar spikes. Making these type of grains the bulk of your diet is a high carb diet, and a recipe for fat-storing insulin. Constant output of insulin into the bloodstream from simple carbs causes the body to store fat - especially belly fat. This is a huge reason for obesity in the U.S.

The other problem with making refined, processed grain products the bulk of your diet, is that white flour products are like glue in the body. They turn into a pasty substance that wallpapers your intestines, causing constipation and a layer of plaque on the intestinal wall which smothers your intestinal villi, decreasing your body's ability to absorb nutrients.

If you are going to make grain products the bulk of your diet, make sure they are whole grains that still contain their fiber and nutrients. Companies attempt to enrich foods that they have processed and refined by adding some vitamins or minerals back in, but they are only adding a minuscule amount compared to what was originally in the grain, and the minerals are not in a very assimilable form.

Even if you use whole grain products, I don't suggest making them the bulk of the diet. Many people develop allergies to wheat and other gluten-containing grains, which shows that there is still something off about the way grains are used.
When a grain is harvested, it is surrounded by a hard outer shell. This makes it useful for storing for long periods of time. The hard shell protects it from going bad. But, to try and eat the grain in that state would be insane. So man decided to grind up the grain and turn it into flour. While the nutrients are still there, the grain is still in the same sort of state it was while in it's storing phase.
In nature, the grain would get put into the soil and water would saturate the grain, softening the hard outer shell. The water activates the life in the grain, allowing it to sprout and grow into a new plant.
To put it simply, when the grain has it's hard outer shell, it is in an acid state - making it dormant. When you grind up the grain, it is still in an acid state, lifeless. When you eat flour from a ground up grain, the result is an acidic condition in the body. When you eat acid-forming foods, it creates mucus in the body. Mucus is a protectant for your organs and cells - protecting them from the acids created by acid-forming foods. But mucus is congesting and suffocating to the immune system, so the body must expel it.
If you were to soak your grains overnight, it would soften the hard outer shell, and activate the life in the grain, turning it into an alkaline food rather than an acid food. Food that is alive is alkaline in the body, and life-giving. After soaking the grains, you can then blend them up and make bread or other grain products with them. These are considered sprouted grain products - such as Ezekiel Bread, or Manna Bread.

If you want to make grains the bulk of your diet, the absolute best way to eat them is in their soaked or sprouted form. This way your grains are full of fiber, living nutrients, enzymes, and are alkalizng for your body (which will help prevent illness). And most people will not develop allergies or gluten intolerance when eating grains this way.
Evenso, I would put grains up a level on the food pyramid. They should be "the staff of life", or something you lean on, but not your base.

The Body's Natural Healing Abilities

"The body has an inherent ability to move toward wellness."

This statement changed my view of the body. We grow up believing that as we get older the body begins to break down and decay. We believe that when there is a disease, it is because the body is no longer working, it is broken. We are programmed to believe that the body does not regenerate itself, therefore if we lose a body part it will never grow back. Or if something in the body breaks down, it is broken for life.

What a sad view. To see the body as something so fragile, and so incapable of healing. Yet, our DNA was amazingly able to form every organ, every limb, every blood cell when we were developing in the womb. As we grew, old cells died to make room for new ones so that we could get bigger. Our bodies were constantly regenerating themselves. And even now, if we cut ourselves, our body knits itself back together. When we get sick, most of us eventually get well again. And science is even experimenting with stem cells, to grow body parts from DNA by "turning on" the gene that causes the body to grow and develop into a limb or an organ.
As you sit back and look at all of these facts, is it really such a stretch of the mind to believe that the body naturally moves toward healing and regeneration? That the body has the intelligence to recreate what was created in the first place? Or that if disease takes hold in the body, it has the capacity to fully heal?

What is the problem then?? We've all witnessed people getting old and breaking down. We've all seen people get a disease and have it for life. We've all known someone who has lost a finger or a limb and never regrew it. The doctors tell people that they have a terminal illness and they really do die. Some of us have even felt our own bodies not working as well as they use to, and expect them to keep going downhill.

What is it about the body that makes it grow and regenerate, or break down and not repair itself? There must be an explanation. And there is.

When a baby is first born, it has all of the necessary nutrients and elements in its body that it needs in order to grow and regenerate new cells. This is why babies heal so quickly if they get hurt. This process would continue unimpeded IF the necessary nutrients were properly replaced. If you grow a crop of vegetables in the same spot year after year, the nutrients will begin to be depleted and your vegetables will be a lot less nutritious and healthy looking. But if you keep putting nutrients back into the soil with good compost, you will be able to continue growing a healthy crop of vegetables year after year. The same is true with our cells. They need nutrient-rich "soil" in order to keep regenerating healthy cells.
If you look at the average diet of a baby, a child, a teenager, and adult... you will see the reason for our degeneration. White flour, sugar, pasta, crackers... most kids begin their life eating foods that actually deplete their bodies of nutrients rather than give them nutrients. And this process continues into teenage life and sometimes even into adulthood. By this time we have done our part to actually leech minerals from our body on a continual basis for so many years that we don't have enough nutrients left to regenerate healthy cells. The building blocks are no longer there, yet the body still 'moves towards wellness' and does what it can to keep us healthy, attempting to recreate the dying cells, but only able to do half the job it use to. It's actually amazing that our bodies go on as long as they do without problems at this rate.
So the number one reason our bodies don't appear to be moving toward wellness is that we do our part to leech important minerals from our bodies and don't replenish them with highly nutritious foods, therefore our bodies don't have the tools to rebuild healthy cells. Partially regenerated cells work less effectively in their specific roles in our bodies, and if we allow this process to continue, we will see visible evidence that our bodies are breaking down.

The second reason our bodies don't appear to be moving toward wellness is that we get in the way. A car will work just fine until you pour water into the fuel tank, or milk into the engine oil. Even if our bodies had the nutrients they needed to keep regenerating healthy cells, if we put substances into our bodies that are not meant to be there, it will block things up, create congestion, and our bodies will have to put most of its energy into getting rid of the incorrect fuel. It does this by getting you sick with a cold so that it can expel these toxins through your respiratory system. If you take medicine to stop that process, then your body is left with these blockages in its system... and some sort of malfunction is bound to happen. The car just won't run with milk in the engine oil. If it can't get rid of it, you will have engine troubles until you clean out the milk.
Congestion and blockages in the body's systems is the other main source of problems that keep the body from regenerating. Yet it can't be denied that the body is still trying to move toward wellness. The simple fact that you get a cold tells us the body is working. It is doing what it can to clean you out. Pain in an area of your body is a fire alarm going off, telling you to pay attention, that something you are doing is causing a problem. Something is congested or blocked.

The body wants to heal but we have to listen to its messages. Our bodies can move toward wellness no matter what state they are in now IF we will 1) clean out the junk that is getting in its way, and 2) nourish our bodies with nutrient-dense foods that work with the body because they are the correct fuel the body was made to run on. With a clean system and a storehouse of nutrients, the body can and will move towards healing and regenerating itself.
This is the foundation I learned at The School of Natural Healing - Cleanse & Nourish, and you know the basis for healing all problems in the body.

My Story

To start out, I want to give a little more background into why I got into the natural health field...

When I was young, my dad had a whole lot of health problems. His dad had died young of an enlarged heart, and my dad was a little worried about his own. He also had hypoglycemia, ulcers, H. Pilori bacteria, allergies, gallbladder troubles, and other digestive problems. My mom had watched her own father and sister die of cancer, and another sister die of diabetes. As she looked around at her other family members who were also suffering from various health issues, she was scared for them and for my dad. My dad had gone to doctors regularly for many years and never had any relief from his health issues. His stomach ulcers had become so bad that he had given up meat, even before the rest of my family decided to, because it would hurt his stomach so much. But aside from that he ate a pretty standard American diet.
My mom decided to search out other means of health care in hopes of finding answers. She was led to a company called Sunrider, which is a Chinese herb company, first.
As she began to put my dad on these Chinese herb supplements, he began to improve quite a bit. She was excited, but continued to search for more information. She and my dad went with my dad's company down to St. George where they attended The National Institute of Fitness for a week. It was at this fitness institute where they were introduced to the vegan lifestyle. They were placed on a vegan diet for their whole time there, and got to attend classes on the benefits of not eating animal products - especially meat and dairy. Diet for a New America by John Robbins was presented to them on video and in book form. This book talked about the negative environmental impact of raising animals for food, the health concerns linked to the consumption of animal fats and animal protein, and showed evidence that protein requirements could easily be met without consuming animal products.
This fitness center had people come and stay there for weeks at a time, living on the vegan diet plan, and exercising daily. People were getting rid of their Type 2 diabetes, their blood pressure was going back to normal, and all sorts of health problems were balancing out.
Though my parents were only there a week, it impacted them enough to want to continue this type of diet. They returned home and told our family what they were going to do, showed us the video, and then told us we could choose if we wanted to eat this way or not. Interestingly enough, all of my 5 siblings (and some of their spouses) decided we would follow the diet as well.
This decision made one of the biggest impacts on my dad's health for the better, and on mine as well, as I wasn't a very healthy kid either.

Another important step in this growth/healing process was when my mom came across The School of Natural Healing. Founded by Dr. John R. Christopher, this school taught the foundational principles of health & wellness, combined with herbal medicine. My mom attended the school and graduated as a Master Herbalist, then I followed in her footsteps and graduated as well. Through this school we were taught about the importance of internal cleansing - cleansing the body from the toxins that accumulate from our foods, poor elimination, and other toxins we are exposed to. The school also taught us about the Mucusless Diet - which follows closely to the vegan diet we were already living. This diet encourages living foods (fresh fruits & vegetables, whole sprouted grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes) and steers you away from food that creates an acid environment in the body, which is the foundation for disease. Along with cleansing and nourishing, herbal products are used to support, strengthen, and rebuild various areas of the body. This understanding is a solid foundation for knowing how the body works and for dealing with any and every disease.
Taking my dad through various cleanses, following the diet plan, and using herbs for support has given him a clean bill of health for the past 10 years. Following the diet, doing cleanses, and using herbs has also improved my health in many ways.

I wouldn't trade my schooling for anything. As I've spent the last 12 years working in the natural health field, I've watched all sorts of new information pop up - new products, diets, and other fads. People without this foundational understanding are pulled from one thing to another, and eventually overwhelmed, not knowing who or what to believe in this field. What I have learned has given me a foundation that doesn't waver because they are true principles. When you understand true principles, everything else you learn is based around that and weighed against those principles. I will get into a deeper understanding of the body and these principles in the next entry or two.

Here is a link to the school's website:
http://snh.cc/

Introduction

I have spent over a decade immersed in the alternative health care world, starting from mine and my family's venture into vegetarianism and health care through herbs and nutrition in '96. What we found was not only a better understanding of health and the body, but a whole new understanding of many different things in our lives. As if the mere choice to refrain from meat eating and junk foods really did open up 'treasures of knowledge'. Many of the things I've learned have become more widespread in the past decade, though many things are still hidden from mainstream society and only found by those who go out of their way to seek it.
The title of this blog is Seeing Through a Glass Clearly, a play off of the scripture that talks about 'seeing through a glass darkly'. It seemed fitting because so much of what we grow up learning in our society is just a social programming and not necessarily the full truth or correct understanding of things. Those who go along with the way society runs may have it easier in some ways, they have those around them to support and agree with their understanding of things, but in other ways they are not entirely free. One example of this is their understanding of disease and the body. If disease happens by chance, and their health is entirely in the hands of doctors with limited treatments, the person doesn't have full control over this aspect of their life. They are dependent upon the doctor in many ways, and on the belief that prevention of disease is entirely out of their hands. Where I am going with this, is to show that society's mainstream beliefs and programming can actually put a veil over our eyes, whether intentionally or not. To 'see through a glass clearly' is to look into the other side of things we are taught, and to have truth unveiled in many forms, allowing us to grasp understanding that we never had the chance to grasp before because it wasn't taught to us.
To follow this blog may take a stretch of the mind, or a willingness to let go of some tightly held beliefs, if even just to open up to something that you'd never thought of before, or been willing to think of.
For those grounded in solid religious beliefs, I am still grounded to my own. I see no conflict in the understandings I have gained, in fact they resolidify my beliefs and bring greater understanding of them. Truth is truth and never conflicts - except in the world of quantum physics, where the seeming impossible can happen. But even then, one doesn't negate the other. Two opposing truths can co-exist. I won't get into quantum physics right now though.
I don't claim to know the truth of all things, but that which edifies, enlightens the understanding, and frees the soul to follow it's purpose counts as truth to me, and is what I wish to share.
I feel that it's time to teach and to share what I have spent years learning. I hope to bring understanding or at least some new thoughts to the surface. I am not seeking to be controversial just to be controversial, but in these matters, I don't expect to be received without some resistance.

Thanks for reading!