Immunity Boosting and Nutrition

Articles from educate-yourself.org. 

 Immunity Boosting By Ken Adachi (pitari@allvantage.com)
http://educate-yourself.org/immunboosting/ Forbidden Cures | Supplements | Peace & Relaxation | Exercise

The body's own immune system, if sufficiently strengthened and boosted by natural means, can resist or surmount an attack by any natural biological organism. Other deadly organisms exist today which are not natural in origin, but rather have been bioengineered in genetic engineering laboratories located mostly in the United States. These pathogens were intentionally designed to circumvent and cripple the body's immune system and ensure the lethality of the disease. Two well known bioengineered diseases are AIDS and Ebola. There are some new 'mystery' diseases which have recently made their appearance and yet other virulent bioengineered diseases which are waiting in the wings for the 'right time' (see Population Control under New World Order ). Bioengineered organisms require special consideration and technologies to defeat them, but they are defeatable.
The main focus of our organization is the promotion of non-pharmaceutical medicine. We all possess the innate ability to protect ourselves from disease. This wondrous disease prevention system is the immune system, which has been , much like the value of proper nutrition, largely forgotten and ignored. Proper nutrition is one of the easiest ways to boost the immune system.
The overuse of pharmaceutical drugs, and the lack of information concerning immunity boosting has left the average American's immune system efficiency level at 40% or 50%, at best. Some countries, like Japan, have a traditional diet that creates a stronger immune system and consequently Japanese people (who embrace the traditional diet) usually live a longer lifespan. It's no coincidence that Japanese women are among the longest living people on the planet.
Forbidden Cures

The health innovations discussed on our Forbidden Cures page all provide remarkable ways to heal yourself of a wide variety of conditions, and boost your immune system. The following are a few alternative therapies that we currently offer information on (the "Forbidden Cures" page will be greatly expanded in the near future):

Click on any of the links below to see their respective sections  

• Colloidal Silver
• Oxygen Therapies
• Electro Medicine
• Nutritional Therapies
  
  

Supplements

[Flax Seed Oil | Sodium Ascorbate | Cayenne Pepper]

There is so much to be said about supplements that we will not even attempt to cover everything, as there are already a number of organizations who have constructed websites with a wealth of information on this topic (many of these can be found on our links page). However, we will provide you with information on a few of the more extraordinary supplements that we have found to be especially effective for general immunity boosting, as well as treatment of specific ailments:

Flax Seed Oil
Over-consumption of "bad" highly saturated fats, low in essential fatty acids (EFA's) results in fat deposition causing obesity and fatty degeneration. When "good" unsaturated fats rich in EFA's are added to the diet, food utilization and energy production are enhanced and less fat is deposited. The richest source of Omega 3 fatty acids is flax seed oil with 55-65% Omega 3 and 15-25% Omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 6 fatty acids are essential but are less likely to be deficient in the American diet.

EFA's and their derivatives serve a number of vital functions including transport and metabolism of both cholesterol and triglycerides, normal brain development and function, required in the structure of cell membranes, increase metabolic rate, oxygen uptake and energy production, slow down growth of cancer cells, candida and other anaerobic organisms, production of prostaglandins and replenish skin oils to combat dryness and wrinkling.
Conditions associated with fatty degeneration include cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, arthritis, rheumatism, acne and other skin conditions, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibro-sis, glandular atrophy, asthma, kidney, liver and gall bladder problems. In addition to general immunity boosting, flax seed oil has proven to be effective in the following conditions: Cardiovascular disease, Cancer, tumors, Obesity, Diabetes, Hypoglycemia, Skin conditions, Glandular atrophy, Liver and gall bladder, Kidney problems, etc.
Our reccomended dosage is one or two teaspoons daily. Although taking flax seed oil by swigging it down or by the spoonful is not very palatable, so you may wish to add it to foods. Here are some suggestions: dip your bread into it, add it to your hot or cold cereal, or spray it over your popcorn. Here is a simple salad dressing featuring flax seed oil:
Flax Seed Oil Basic Salad Dressing
4 tablespoons organic flax seed oil
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 medium garlic clove, crushed
Pinch of seasoned salt or salt-free seasoning
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Jazz up this basic recipe to your own personal taste by using your favorite herbs and spices. Place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until smooth and creamy. This recipe is quick and delicious!
 
  Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C)
Sodium Ascorbate powder is a non-acidic form of Vitamin C. Vitamin C has intrinsic antiviral and antibacterial activity though its main effect is improvement in host resistance. Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C Powder) may be beneficial in: General immunity boosting, helping to ward off or prevent colds & flus, assisting the healing of wounds, aiding the body in fighting infection, etc.

Unlike most animals that produce their own Vitamin C, the human body does not synthesize any. Whether for general immunity boosting or for the treatment of a specific condition, one requires more Vitamin C than our contemporary diet supplies. The amount of vitamin C you take daily determines its effectiveness. 60 mg per day is the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance for adults). This is easily obtained from fresh fruits and vegetables. 500 mg to 5 gm (grams) per day has proven to be beneficial in the prevention of colds, and general immunity boosting. However, Vitamin C dosage of over 1 gm can realistically only be obtained through supplements.
Sodium Ascorbate provides, on average, between 4 and 5 gm of Vitamin C per teaspoon. Our reccomendation for general immunity boosting is one teaspoon (approximately 4.5 gm) daily. If you are experiencing cold symptoms, we suggest a dosage of 4 to 5 gm (usually one teaspoon) per hour. If this treatment is started in the early stages of a cold, it will often fail to develop. If the cold has already developed, this treatment will usually lessen the effect of the cold, and speed recovery. Dissolving the powder in water (or juice, if you find the taste especially unpleasant) is the preferred method of consumption.
Sodium Ascorbate appears to be the most well-known Vitamin C supplement, although there are a number of others available. They are as follows: 

• Calcium Ascorbate
  • This seems to be nearly as well-known as Sodium Ascorbate. If you cannot find Sodium Ascorbate, this will perform virtually the same effect. The proponents of calcium ascorbate claim that calcium in this form of vitamin C is well utilized.
• Magnesium Ascorbate
  • Magnesium is essential for calcium utilization.
• Potassium Ascorbate
  • The addition of potassium may lower blood pressure.
• Zinc Ascorbate
  • The zinc may give an added boost to the immune system.
• Manganese Ascorbate
• Chromium Ascorbate

 

Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum)

Perhaps the single most wonderful and most beneficial herb in the entire herbal kingdom is Capsicum, or Cayenne Red Pepper. Many herbalists have said that if they could have only one herb to work with, they would choose Capsicum.
Cayenne is a pepper well known for its benefits to the circulatory system. It aids the body to balance pressure levels and resist abnormal bleeding. Cayenne is also used as an overall digestive aid: It stimulates the production of gastric juices, improves metabolism, and even helps relieve gas. It appears to have a beneficial effect on blood fats as well. This plant assists in the body's utilization of other herbs, when used in an herbal combination. When applied topically, it helps relieve minor discomfort.
According to a 1987 study published in the Journal of Bioscience, rats fed a diet high in cayenne experienced a significant reduction in blood triglycerides and low density lipoproteins (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol. Capsaicin, a compound found in cayenne that gives the spice its "kick," is an antiinflammatory. Recently, cayenne has been used successfully to treat patients with cluster headaches, a particularly painful type of headache. Used externally, cayenne liniment can soothe the stiffness and pain of rheumatism and arthritis.
Cayenne will work nicely as a general immune booster, or as an addition to treatment of almost any ailment. Our reccomended dosage is as follows 1/4 to 1 teaspoon 3 times a day, taken with plenty of water or juice at mealtime, unless instructed otherwise. If using Cayenne capsules, take 2-3 three times a day with with a large glass of water, unless instructed otherwise.

Peace & Relaxation [Meditation | Yoga | Tai Chi]

One of the best ways to lower your immune system and make yourself sick is stress. Similarly, negative emotions like worry and anger will also lower your immune system. So as you might expect, one good way to boost your immune system, as well as to improve the general quality of your life, is to eliminate these negative emotions.

The following are methods of doing this which we have found to be effective:

Meditation
[General Meditation | Focused Breathing | Visualization | Transcendental Meditation]

Meditation has become increasingly popular in the western world. It provides a simple way to relax yourself, relieve stress, boost your immune system, and create more well-being and happiness in your life. The method of meditation you choose is not so important as achieving the desired result--a quiet mind, which promotes inner peace and relaxation. There are many different types of meditation, and our suggestion to you is to choose whatever you enjoy and feels right. If you're not very familiar with meditation, here are a few techniques we reccomend:

General Meditation:
"There's nothing to it!" is something I often here when someone is describing general meditation, and franky, it's absolutely true. General meditation is as simple as quieting your mind. Find a quiet place and time when you won't be disturbed, close your eyes, and clear your mind of any thoughts. Sit like this, attempting to eliminate all thoughts and experience total peace, for whatever period of time feels comfortable. Often beginners find it difficult to meditate for more than five or ten minutes. If you find yourself in such a situation, don't despair. You will find yourself able to sit for longer and longer intervals as time progresses. If you have never meditated before, consider starting your meditations in intervals of five minutes. When you feel comfortable, increase your intervals to ten minutes. When you feel comfortable with that, try to move to fifteen minutes, and continue like this until you feel a length of time that suits you. Many experienced meditators, including Deepak Chopra, meditate for thirty minutes in the morning and at night, as well as for thirty minutes in the afternoon if they feel stressed. Focused Breathing:
Focused breathing is another very popular, yet tremendously simple, meditation. As in general meditation, find a quiet time and place where you won't be disturbed, close your eyes, and clear you mind of any thoughts. From there, focus on your breathing. Focus on the in-breath, and the out-breath. This is also commonly known as conscious breathing, because as opposed to our normal breathing which we do not focus on or attempt to control, "focused breathing" is consciously monitored and controlled. You simply "watch" yourself breath, so to speak, and attempt to bring your breaths to a slow, rhythmic pace (whatever pace feels comfortable to you). By focusing on your breath, you draw your attention to that, and eliminate random thoughts, which creates a feeling of inner peace. To help focus on their breath, people will often draw their attention to the air entering their nostrils, and the air leaving their mouth. You may also wish to draw your attention to the rising and falling of your chest. Use whatever method you feel comfortable with. As for controlling the pace of your breath, some people count a certain number of seconds between each breath and attempt to maintain this slow, rhythmic, controlled pace. Others prefer not to count. Other use different techniques still. We suggest you use whatever feels comfortable to you.
 
Visualization:
Visualization can be used to achieve a variety of results. One simple visualization for general well-being and stress-reduction is to first quiet yourself and begin as you would in general meditation or focused breathing, then visualize yourself inhaling golden or white light/energy, and exhaling gray, stale, old energy. The white or golden light represents new, fresh, rejuvenating energy, while the gray energy represents any stress, unhappiness, worries, anger, or other negative emotions you may be holding inside you. This visualization is a great way to release the stress and tension of the day, and give yourself more energy. If you have a specific ailment you are trying to relieve yourself of, visualize the same white or golden energy surrounding the area of your body which is in need of healing. Focus on that white or golden light/energy healing and energizing that area of your body. Continue focusing this healing energy on the afflicted area of your body for whatever time period feels comfortable to you. Try to repeat this procedure daily or multiple times daily if you feel compelled to do so. As always, do what feels right for you.
 
Transcendental Meditation:
There is much to be said about Transcendental meditation, but I will just cover it briefly here, as there are many sources of information on this topic. Transcendental meditation uses a "mantra"--a word or phrase which is repeated throughout the duration of the meditation--to focus oneself on that one word or phrase, thereby allowing all random throughts to be released. To begin, prepare yourself as you would doing any of the other meditations listed here, then find a mantra which feels good to you (you should be able to find many of these if you do a little searching) and repeat it either aloud or silently for whatever period of time feels comfortable to you. The following are two well-known mantras which you may care to experiment with:
 

• "ON-NAMA SHIVA YA" (OHN NAH MA SHE VAH YAH)
• "OM MANI PADME UM" (OHM MAH NEE PAHD MEH UM)

Of course because these are traditional they are not English mantras, so you may or may not wish to use them. If you can think of an English word or phrase, such as "Love" or "Peace" or "God", which feels good to you, by all means, don't hesitate to use it. Yoga
Yoga Means Union. Although many people think this term refers to union between body and mind or body, mind and spirit, the traditional acceptance is union between the Jivatman and Paramatman, that is between one's individual consciousness and the Universal Consciousness. Therefore Yoga refers to a certain state of consciousness as well as to methods that help one reach that goal or state of union with the divine.
Yoga increases strength and flexibility, improves circulation, promotes well-being, and provides relief for common postural and chronic pain problems. Anyone can practice yoga. You don't have to be young, fit or supple. You start from where you are at this moment. Each individual works within her/his own level of comfort listening to their own body's messages.
Yoga is completely non competitive. Each person is coming to Yoga for their own health and well being. There is pressure on us to be competitive in all sorts of areas, and it is a great relief and pleasure to find a style of exercise that is loving and nuturing, that connects us to a source of stability and peace within, that truely gives us a "time out", a break from the cares of the day, time to just be ourselves. One comes away from practice feeling energized, but calm and ready to deal situations on any level.
If you would like more information Yoga, please see the links page.
Tai Chi

Tai chi is a Chinese martial art that is primarily practiced for its health benefits, including a means for dealing with tension and stress. Among the martial arts, there are two basic types: the "hard" martial arts and the "soft" martial arts. The latter are also called internal arts. Examples of the hard martial arts are karate and kung fu (or wushu). Examples of the soft martial arts are ba gua and tai chi. Tai chi emphasizes complete relaxation, and is essentially a form of meditation, or what has been called "meditation in motion." Unlike the hard martial arts, tai chi is characterized by soft, slow, flowing movements that emphasize force, rather than brute strength. Though it is soft, slow, and flowing, the movements are executed precisely. There are several organizations and individuals who have constructed wonderfully detailed websites on this topic. Rather than duplicate their efforts, please see their websites for more information on this topic:  

• The Patience T'ai Chi Association
• Yang Style Tai Chi Homepage
• Qi - The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness
• Knud Erik Andersens Tai Chi Chuan Institute Homepage

 

For more information on meditation, yoga, or tai chi, please see our links page.

Exercise

Exercise stimulates circulation, improves muscle tone, improves cardiac function and boosts immunity. It is also a way to eliminate toxins from the body. Exercise is a critical component in the elimination of "poisons"--such as myriad toxins that build up in the body as a result of regular bodily processes in addition to man-made chemicals--from the body for three simple reasons. First, when we exercise we breathe more deeply, more forcefully and more often. In doing so, we release toxic by-products through the lungs. Second, when we exercise we also perspire. Perspiration is another means to eliminate metabolic waster material from the body. Finally, muscular activity is the only way to move waste material through the lymphatic vessels. If we don't sweat, don't breathe heavily and don't move our muscles, these toxins must find another way out. Unfortunately, they usually remain in the body, only to foul the biochemical machinery that makes our immune system operate efficiently. The result: susceptibility to illness.

An article published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine illustrates the effect exercise can have on infections. In this study, only 45 minutes of brisk walking per day was shown to lower the incidence of upper respiratory symptoms, cut the duration of illness in half and increase natural killer-cell activity in people prone to upper respiratory tract infections. The exercise credo of the eighties, "no pain, no gain," has fortunately given way to a more realistic notion that moderate exercise confers as many health benefits as strenuous exercise. Moderate exercisers have the added benefit of suffering fewer injuries as well. In fact, highly strenuous training can temporarily weaken immune function. While such intensive training is what some prefer, rest assured that something as simple as a daily walk will provide your body with health and immune benefits. If you enjoy sports, or other physical pastimes such as dancing or hiking, that will provide a more than adequate way to get the exercise your body needs. The key is, no matter how you get your exercise, to do it regularly and make sure it's fun! (If you have an existing medical condition, see your doctor before embarking on any exercise plan.)

Nutrition, The Key to Energy

By Ken Adachi
http://educate-yourself.org/

Anti-Nutrients | Sugar | Dairy Products | Vegetarianism | Water | Fiber | Juicing | Reccomended Diet | Suggested Reading

The value of proper nutrition cannot be emphasized enough. Your body's health is directly related to what you put into it. Modern supermarket food is devitalized due to contaminants and processing. Organic, fresh, raw foods possess forms of energy not currently understood by orthodox science. Some of these esoteric energies can be measured and detected, however. There is a instument available today, the Vohl Dermatron, that can measure the "vital force" of food. A simpler method (but no less accurate) is to use a dowsing pendulum to determine this vital force on a scale of 1-10 for instance. Raw foods also contain digestive enzymes that cooked and processed foods lack. The digestive enzymes that Nature provides with the raw fruit, vegetable, or meat is the perfect match for that particular food. If you don't get the digestive enzymes in the foods that you eat, your body has to make them. That requires energy and nutrients that's depleting of your energy resources. Many researchers who study those elements that contribute to longevity feel that the human body has a limited capacity and store of enzyme production over a lifetime. When your enzyme producing capacity expires, you expire!
Vitamins and minerals are much more bio-available if they are in the form provided by Nature (raw, unprocessed, unextracted). Once you process food and strip away the vitamins, for example; merely adding denatured vitamins back into the food through fortification will not give you the equivalent quality or bioactivity of vitamins as originally provided by Nature. This is the biggest error made by dietitians, the nutritional arm of orthodox medicine racket. In considering the makeup of foods, they look only at the chemical elements themselves (calcium, phosphorus, etc.) and assume that as long as the element can be measured in the food or added to the food, you are getting the equivalent nutrition and bioactivity as provided by Nature. What stupidity! Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Despite the abundance of food in the United States, nutritional deficiency is quite common. It is important to understand this because Americans are often lulled into believing that foods are fortified with needed nutrients. It's like computers, "Garbage in, Garbage out".
I've been talking to people for a long time about understanding the nature of health and disease. Whenever I chat with someone with health problems and we're trying to figure out why, the last thing he will consider is his diet. "It's stress"; "It's genes"; "It's the job"; "It's the wife'; "It's the mother-in-law", etc. It's everything. but the diet. Folks, 99% of the time, ...it's the diet!  
Since nutrition is a rather large topic, I'll start with a few important subjects and add to the list as time permits. For more information on nutrition, please see our suggested reading list at the bottom of this page.
 
Anti-Nutrients
Anti nutrients are substances to which we are all exposed through food and water that antagonize nutrients needed for health. Some anti nutrients bind to other nutrients, making them useless. Others tie up enzymes needed in digestion and other body functions. Some cause problems by creating a greater need for certain nutrients. Others cause nutrients to be excreted more rapidly from the body. In our world of high technology, the level of anti nutrients to which we are exposed is surprisingly high. Many of the anti nutrients have either a direct or indirect effect on immune function. Anything you can do to reduce exposure to anti nutrients will be helpful in preventing recurrent illness.
Table sugar, food coloring, processed fats, additives like BHT, and most of the 3,000 or so food additives allowed in the United States often act as anti nutrients. For example, in 1985 it was reported that American agriculture uses 1 billion pounds of pesticides each year. That is 4.5 pounds for every man, woman and child in the country. These chemicals have many adverse effects, and are more of a problem than most would imagine. Caffeine is another serious problem that most people don't fully understand.
Pharmaceutical drugs constitute another important category of anti nutrients. If drug therapy is short, the effects are minimal, but if one takes a drug for a long time (months or years), the nutritional effects of the drugs must be taken into account. Below is a sample of the nutrients adversely affected by drugs. Taking drugs long term has more adverse effects than simply nutritional ones, but we are focused on nutrition here.
 

Drug	Clinical Condition	Nutrient Affected
Antibiotics	bacterial infection	Vit.. K, A, B12, Mg, folic acid, C, K+
Aspirin	pain, fever	B1, Vit.. C, K+
Cortisone	inflammation, allergy	Zn, K+, folate, B6, Vit.. C, D, Ca
Ritalin	hyperactivity, ADD	suppresses appetite
Phenobarbital	seizure disorders	Vit.. C, D, Ca, Mg, folic acid
Tetracycline	infection	Zn, Ca, Fe, Mg, Vit.. K, B2, B3, C, folate

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Sugar
Simply stated, sugar lowers immunity. In 1951, Benjamin Sandler, M.D., a physician from Northern Carolina, wrote a book entitled Diet Prevents Polio. Dr. Sandler's work with rabbits and monkeys convinced him that high amounts of sugar in the diet made one more susceptible to polio. During the polio epidemic of 1948-49, he appeared on an Asheville radio station urging parents not to feed their children refined sugar or foods containing sugar such as ice cream, candy, and soft drinks. His admonitions also ran in local newspapers. In 1948, the incidence of polio in Northern Carolina was 2,402 cases. In 1949, after adopting the "Sandler diet," the rate had fallen to 214 cases. During this time, the national incidence of polio (39 states) had risen.
Was it a coincidence that the rate of polio dropped as the rate of sugar consumption decreased in this state? Did removal of sugar from the diet improve resistance to polio? You can come to your own conclusion, but there is good reason to believe that sugar consumption lowers immunity. In a report published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100 grams of sugar from glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey or orange juice caused a significant decrease in the ability of white blood cells to engulf and destroy bacteria. This decrease in immune function was still present five hours after sugar was consumed.
There are numerous other studies that show decreases in immune function following sugar consumption. It is probably not significant when one only consumes sugar on occasion. However, on a daily basis it can wreak havoc on your immune system. The problem is sugar creeps into virtually every aspect of our diet, often without our awareness. This is because sugar is added to almost every packaged food sold today. The average adult American consumes more than 150 pounds of sugar each year (teenagers can consume over 200 pounds)! This is 14 times more than was ingested about 100 years ago. It's far too much for our bodies to handle.
To help illustrate the harmful effects of sugar, let's use breakfast cereals as an example. Many of the most popular children's cereals contain almost 50 percent of their calories as sugar. The presence of large amounts of sugar in the diet causes a gradual depletion of zinc in the body. As zinc levels decline, the sense of taste declines as well. As taste perception declines, there is a greater need to flavor the food in order to make it "taste good." Usually this means adding more sugar. This leads to a further reduction in body zinc levels, which further lowers the taste perception. As a result, a child heaps more sugar on top of his cereal. The cycle goes on and on.
In his book Fighting the Food Giants, biochemist Paul A. Stitt says that it is no accident that children's cereals are highly sugared. Food manufacturers were the first to discover that sugar consumption leads to a gradual loss of zinc, which in turn leads to a loss of taste perception. By marketing cereal high in sugar, they were able to create virtual addicts to their products. What parent has not heard screams of a toddler in the grocery store demanding his breakfast treat?
It you want to have sweets, it's better to get it from fresh fruit. Not canned fruit, not dried fruit, but fresh fruit. Honey or real maple (pure) syrup is far better than refined sugar if you must make something sweeter. Fruit provides a form of sugar called fructose. Because it's a natural monosaccharide, it's handled differently by the body than table sugar (sucrose) which is a disaccharide. There is one form of partly refined sugar that I do recommend for non diabetics to be consumed on a routine basis, but in a relatively modest amount. I'm talking about organic Black strap Molasses. The nutritional advantages of bio-available iron and sulfur (& other minerals) offered by black strap molasses far outweigh its downside as a source of sugar.
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Dairy Products
Cow's milk is often touted on television as the "perfect food." It is supposedly needed by everyone. "If you don't drink milk, your bones will become brittle from osteoporosis" is the message from the Dairy Council, advertisers, and even some physicians. Yet, store bought cow's milk consumption has been shown to contribute to many of the health problems commonly encountered. Excessive consumption of cow's milk is often one of the major factors contributing to susceptibility to common infections. However, raw, unprocessed milk from clean cows raised in a wholesome environment is another story. The manner in which milk is commercailly produced and processed has much to do with its reputation for causing health problems. If we all hadThe
According to Dr. Schmidt in his book Childhood Ear Infections, simply eliminating dairy products is often all that's required to solve the riddle of recurrent ear problems in children. These sentiments are echoed by Dr. Fred Pullen, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Miami, Florida. Patients are referred to Dr. Pullen for the sole purpose of having tubes surgically implanted in their eardrums. Before undergoing surgery, however, all patients are first placed on a diet that eliminates dairy products. The result: "three fourths [of these children] never need tubes."
If one does even the smallest amount of research, it becomes evident that there is a wealth of information on this topic. One well written book is Principles of Nutrition by Whitman H. Jordan, published by the Macmillan Company of New York in 1912. On page 266 Jordan describes a German study detailing the tie outcome of 49,362 children born in Berlin during 1890. Before the end of one year, 12,623 of those children died. Of those who died, 8,008 were fed on cow's milk. Only 1,588 had been breast fed. Let me quote from this 86 year old book:
"Further statistics show of those fed on mother's milk one in thirteen died, while of those brought up by hand (bottle fed), one out of every two died."
These figures require no comment. Do not think that cow's milk is only harmful to children, though. The problems with cow's milk are so numerous that noted professor of pediatrics at John Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Frank Oski, wrote a book entitled Please, Don't Drink Your Milk. The following are health conditions either directly caused by or associated with cow's milk consumption, taken from MILK IS GOOD FOR __________ by Robert M. Kradjian, M.D.:

• "Among children the problems were allergy, ear and tonsil infections, bedwetting, asthma, intestinal bleeding, nephritis, colic, and childhood diabetes."
• "In adults the problems seemed centered more around heart disease, arthritis, allergy, sinusitis, and the more serious questions of leukemia, lymphoma, cancer (colon, lung, prostate, breast, ovarian, and rectal.)"
• "Even multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, and cataracts have been associated with cow's milk consumption."

The other side of the debate includes healers like Dr. Hulda R. Clark (The Cure for All Disease) who says the milk is an important source of protein and calcium which is readily absorbed by the body. For very sick people with AIDS or cancer, it may be a critical ingredient for their recovery. You can make store bought milk relatively safe from all pathogenic organisms, by boiling it for only 10 seconds over a low heat and adding a small amount of powdered Vitamin C (I use Calcium Ascorbate or Sodium Ascorbate) . Let the milk cool to room temperature, pull off the 'skin' which formed on the top of the milk from boiling, and place in a glass bottle in the refrigerator. Another thought is to use Goat's milk which has a different effect on the body than commercial cow's milk. Organic goat's milk is preferred and raw goat's milk is said to be the best choice of all.

• Back to the top Vegetarianism
  "Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." - Albert Einstein
  A vegetarian menu is a powerful and pleasurable way to achieve good health. The vegetarian eating pattern is based on a wide variety of foods that are satisfying, delicious, and healthful. Vegetarians avoid meat, fish, and poultry (although most of us here at Educate-Yourself do eat fish for protein). Those who include dairy products and eggs in their diets are called lacto-ovo vegetarians. Vegens (pure vegetarians) eat no meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or dairy products. While there is a considerable advantage to a lacto-ovo vegetarian pattern, vegen diets are the healthiest of all, reducing risk of a broad range of health concerns.
  Vegetarians have much lower cholesterol levels than meat eaters, and heart disease is uncommon in vegetarians. The reasons are not hard to find. Vegetarian meals are typically low in saturated fat and usually contain little or no cholesterol. Since cholesterol is found only in animal products such as meat, dairy, and eggs, vegens consume a cholesterol free diet. The type of protein in a vegetarian diet may be another important advantage. Many studies show that replacing animal protein with plant protein lowers blood cholesterol levels-even if the amount and type of fat in the diet stays the same. Those studies show that a low fat, vegetarian diet has a clear advantage over other diets.
  An impressive number of studies, dating back to the early 1920s, show that vegetarians have lower blood pressure than non vegetarians. In fact, some studies have shown that adding meat to a vegetarian diet raises blood pressure levels rapidly and significantly. The effects of a vegetarian diet occur in addition to the benefits of reducing the sodium content of the diet. When patients with high blood pressure begin a vegetarian diet, many are able to eliminate their need for medication.
  This is just a small excerpt from the "Vegetarian Starter Kit."
  You might like to know...
  

• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U. S. diet supplied by grains: 1
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U. S. diet supplied by fruits: 4
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U. S. diet supplied by dairy products: 23
• Percentage of pesticide residues in the U. S. diet supplied by meat: 55
• Pesticide contamination of breast milk from meat eating mothers vs. non meat eating: 35 times higher.
• What the U.S.D.A. tells us: meat is inspected.
• Percentage of slaughtered animals inspected for residues of toxic chemicals including dioxin and DDT: less than 0.00004 %

**Srict vegetarianism in not for everyone though. Some people need meat protein to be strong and have strong immunity. Read "Eat Right 4 Your Type" by Peter D'Adamo to find out the connection between blood type and the most suitable diet. [Just want to make a little note here. Being familiar with the blood type diet for years myself, and being a recently converted vegetarian, I find that in my own experience, on myself and from talking to vegetarian friends, your blood type will not hinder you from being a healthy vegetarian. However, if you are a blood type B or 0 and used to a high protein diet, you need to slowly cut down on meat until your body is ready to live on a vegetarian diet.]
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Water
"Medical professionals of today do not understand the vital roles of water in the human body. Medications are palliatives. They are not designed to cure the degenerative diseases of the human body." - Dr. F. Batmanghelidj
Pure and simple, water is an essential part of a healthy diet. And to a much greater extent than most would imagine. While unknown to the orthodox medical community, dehydration is an extraordinarily common cause of an astounding number of diseases. One of the leading researchers in this field, F. Batmanghelidj, M.D., has explained this subject in great detail in his book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water. The following are a few short excerpts from Dr. Batmanghelidj's book, which should help convey the significance of water in one's diet:
"The simple truth is that dehydration can cause disease. Everyone knows that water is "good" for the body. They seem not to know how essential it is to one's well-being. They do not know what happens to the body if it does not receive its daily need of water."
"In advanced societies, thinking that tea, coffee, alcohol, and manufactured beverages are desirable substitutes for the purely natural water needs of the daily 'stressed' body is an elementary but catastrophic mistake. It is true that these beverages contain water, but what else they contain are dehydrating agents. They get rid of the water they are dissolved in plus some more water from the reserves of the body!"
Currently, practitioners of conventional medicine are unaware of the many chemical roles of water in the body. Because dehydration eventually causes loss of some functions, the various sophisticated signals given by operators of the body's water rationing program during severe and lasting dehydration have been translated as indicators of unknown disease conditions of the body. This is the most basic mistake that has deviated clinical medicine. It has prevented medical practitioners from being able to advise preventive measures or offer simple physiologic cures for some major diseases in humans."
"With the appearance of these signals, the body should be provided with water for these rationing systems to distribute. However, medical practitioners have been taught to silence these signals with chemical products. Of course they have zero understanding of the significance of this most gross error. The various signals produced by these water distributors are indicators of regional thirst and drought of the body. At the onset, they can be relieved by an increase of water itself, yet they are improperly dealt with by the use of commercial chemical products until pathology is established and diseases are born."
We urge you to read Dr. Batmanghelidj's book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water, for further information. Dr. Batmanghelidj recommends drinking 8 - 10 glasses of water daily, and more if you are suffering from an illness.
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Fiber
Fiber, or roughage, has been a popular topic in the media of late. While advertisers try to sell us many things we don't need, they're right when they say high fiber cereals are important for good health. Lack of fiber has been implicated in the development of colon disease, heart disease and numerous other conditions. Dr. Denis Burkitt was the first to advance the idea of fiber as an important contributor to health. He based his beliefs on his research of African tribes. Dr. Burkitt found that African tribal residents suffered from almost none of the modern diseases of the West such as colon cancer and heart disease. However, when the Africans moved to the West and adopted our eating habits, they quickly succumbed to our most common illnesses.
Dietary fiber is as important to children as it is to adults. Foods high in fiber are high in vitamins, trace minerals and essential fatty acids. Take wheat for example. Almost all of the essential nutrients are bound in the germ portion of the grain. During milling, the germ is separated from the endosperm. The germ is sold separately as wheat germ (long known as a high nutrient food) while the endosperm is further milled to make flour. Milling of whole grain to make refined flour results in loss of 85 percent of the magnesium, 86 percent of the manganese, 40 percent of the chromium, 78 percent of the zinc, 89 percent of the cobalt, 48 percent of the molybdenum and 68 percent of the copper, in addition to comparable losses of selenium, vitamin E and essential fatty acids. Moreover, heavy metals such as cadmium (which are concentrated in the endosperm) remain in the flour. (Unfortunately, the body's antagonist to cadmium--zinc--has been removed.) Since nutrients are required to properly utilize all calories we consume, the intake of refined food leads to a gradual deficiency of nutrients. This is a strong argument for the use of whole-grain products.
The real test of the value of refined (fortified) foods would be to put a group of lab animals on a diet of white bread and compare them to a group fed a diet of whole-grain bread. In one such experiment, two thirds of rats kept on a diet of enriched white bread died before the experiment was finished.
Fiber is also important because it helps keep the intestinal contents moving through to their ultimate fate--elimination as stool. If the intestinal contents move too slowly, toxic by-products of digestion and bacterial fermentation remain in the bowel too long and are reabsorbed back into the body. Over time, this can contribute to illness.
When one consumes a diet low in fiber, attachment of parasites such as Giardia lamblia is easier. When fiber is present in the diet, the intestinal contents move through more quickly and prevent the attachment of such parasites. Recall that G. lambilia is one of the most common parasites found in the United States. It contributes to immune suppression, poor digestion, food allergies and numerous other problems. The ability to decrease the likelihood of infection by this parasite by simply increasing the intake of fiber is significant.
While fiber is necessary for children and adults, too much fiber can be a problem as well, since excessive fiber can cause nutrients to be leached out of the digestive tract. The problems for most of us, however, is not too much fiber, but too little. (Never put a child on a high fiber diet without consulting a health care professional.) Good sources of fiber include fruit, vegetables, legumes and grains (oats, wheat, rice, barley, etc.).
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Juicing
Juicing, and the benefits of a juicing program have long been recognized around the world. Since the early part of this century, researchers such as Norman Walker, D.Sc., and Dr. Bernard Jensen have investigated the effects of juice as part of the daily diet. Their studies show that juice can provide all the basics of human nutrition, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
Juicing adds to the benefits of vegetables and fruits. By juicing, rather than eating the produce whole, the important nutrients and phytochemicals found in plants are absorbed more easily by our bodies--sometimes within minutes--without too much effort on the part of the digestive system. In addition to this, more of the nutrients are absorbed.
Fresh vegetable juices are also rich in enzymes. Enzymes spark the hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions that occur throughout the body; enzymes are essential for digestion and absorption of food, for conversion of food into body tissue, and for the production of energy at the cellular level. In fact, enzymes are essential for most of the building and rebuilding that goes on in the body every day. When foods are cooked, enzymes can be destroyed; that is why raw foods and juices are so important. They provide an excellent source of all-important enzymes.

• Carrot's beta carotene and the ellagic acid found in fresh apple juice are clinically proven anti-cancer agents.
• Limonene from lemon's white pith is recognized as a potent anti-cancer nutrient and is also effective in dissolving gallstones.
• Apple's soluble fiber, ellagic acid and vitamin C, combined with celery's healthy dose of minerals and electrolytes can cleanse and rebalance your system.
• Digestive enzymes found in honeydew, papaya, and pineapple reduce inflammation and energize the body.

An advantage of juicing over buying commercial juice is that when you make your own juice you know exactly what it contains. You can be sure to avoid adding sugar, sweeteners, and other additives. Also many commercial juices are heat treated to extend shelf life, which can destroy nutrients.
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Recommended Diet

For those of you looking for a suggested diet, we recommend the following:

• Consume a diet that focuses on whole, unprocessed foods (whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, seeds, etc.)
• Reduce (or eliminate, if possible) your intake of refined sugar.
• Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water daily.
• Avoid animal products, with the possible exception of cold water fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, halibut, etc.).
• Eliminate dairy products, caffeine, and alcohol.
• Eliminate coffee (besides caffeine, there are a host of other chemicals poisoning your body). Try the many varieties of herbal tea available.
• Avoid soft drinks completely.
• Avoid white bread and refined flour products. They are devoid of essential nutrients, including omega-3 essential fatty acids and others.
• Avoid margarine and all commercial cooking oils. Use Butter and Organic cold pressed Olive oil instead.
• Consume organic Flax Seed Oil and cold fish oil (MAX EPA) daily.
• Consume Miso soup, kelp, and shitake mushrooms regularly.
• Brown Rice is better than white rice.
• Buy organic foods (especially produce) whenever possible.
• Get regular exercise.
• Perform a relaxation exercise (deep/focused breathing, meditation, tai chi, visualization, prayer, etc.) 10 to 15 minutes each day.

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Suggested Reading

For more information on nutrition, we recommend the following books:

• Diet for a Poisoned Planet, David Steinman
• Diet for a New America, John Robbins
• Your Body's Many Cries for Water, F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.
• The McDougall Program, John A. McDougall
• Eat Right 4 Your Type by Peter D'Adamo