Part 14 (2/2)

Recent history provides an example of the importance of eating whole foods. During World War I, Denmark suffered serious food shortages. In order to compensate, the government increased whole grain production and consumption, in addition to limiting livestock production and putting quotas on the sale of meat. Grain processing was stopped and only whole grain products were allowed to be sold. Farmers were directed to produce more grain, green vegetables, fruit, and dairy products instead of meat. After one year of this program the death rate dropped 40%. According to Paavo Airola, diseases that affected other European countries, including an influenza epidemic, only minimally affected Denmark. Denmark became the healthiest nation in Europe.

There is so much we do not understand about the subtleties of nutrition that we are essentially shooting in the dark when we start to alter and process our foods. Whole foods contain not only whole nutrition, but the enzymes and other factors needed to digest and a.s.similate these foods. They also contain a specific balance of natural forces that are programmed to affect the body in a particular way Plant foods have a wholeness and integrity that is more than just the collection of proteins, minerals, and vitamins found within them.

We have yet to improve on what Mother Nature has given us to eat. Plant foods simply cannot be artificially duplicated in the science laboratory. What are touted as improvements so one can prepare food and eat it more quickly, or so commercial growers and processors can make more money, can hardly be considered an improvement in terms of health and longevity As with everything else in life, when one ”sacrifices the eternal for that which dieth in an hour,” one's well-being is often sacrificed in the process. When it comes to food, it is not worth it to make cheap compromises with our health by selecting sub-standard building materials with which to nourish our bodies, minds, and spirits. There is no necessity to sell out our health and shorten our life so that someone else can profit from marketing so-called ”longer shelf-life, convenience foods.”

The use of fresh juices is one exception to the concept of eating only whole foods. See the end of this chapter for more details on the benefits of juice. Minimal processing by juicing is only marginally disruptive because all of the live factors are left intact. Raw juices contain all the elements of live food, such as the enzymes, minerals, and vitamins, in a concentrated form that is more readily a.s.similated into the cellular system with less digestive energy required. The primary part of the whole food that is missing is the fiber. The energy saved by not having to process the fiber goes toward the healing and repairing of the body.

3. Eat primarily living foods.

NTATURAL AND WHOLE FOODS ARE, by definition, living. ”Living” or ”raw” food means it has not been processed in any way, including cooking. As a result, none of the heat-sensitive micronutrients have been destroyed and the full life force and energetic pattern of the living plant are best preserved so that it can transfer the highest amount of its life force to us. Its SOEFs can most fully transfer their energy to our SOEFs so that we may live more vibrantly and in greater health for a longer time. A further discussion of live foods is given in the Stage Four presentation in Chapter 24. The minimum percentage of living foods one must eat to get the full benefits is approximately 50% (if they are eaten at the beginning of the meal).

4. Eat only organic, poison-free foods.

ASIDE FROM RADIATION, the poisons on and in our foods from the thousands of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, et cetera, const.i.tute one of the greatest dangers to health today. According to Paavo Airola, there are more than one thousand chemicals used in the food processing industry. Even if the food is organically grown, it is good to wash off the surface parts of the plant because of incidental radiation fallout, migrated aerial sprays, lead from automobiles, and other industrial pollution in our air. One exception to the thorough was.h.i.+ng off of organic produce is root vegetables, which are somewhat protected from incidental airborne pollution because they grow underground. Another reason that one might not want to thoroughly scrub root vegetables such as carrots, beets, turnips, et cetera, is because B12-growing organisms are often plentiful on the surfaces of these vegetables. Simply rinsing off the soil from root vegetables is sufficient. However, in the case of commercial vegetables and fruits, the oil-soluble sprays and waxes applied to produce require that some vegetable cleaning soap be used with the wash water.

5. To maximize your nutritional a.s.similation, be conscious of the various subtle sources of energy.

ABROADER DEFINITION OF A NUTRIENT is anything that enhances the SOEFs. In this context, it is useful to include the cosmic energy we bring into our system from prayer and meditation, as well as the nutritive energies we bring in from natural sources like the sun, air, water, and earth. In addition to absorbing these forces into our organism through our food, absorbing each of them directly is important.

6. Obtain adequate sunlight.

THE SUN'S RAYS (CONTRARY TO RECENT BAD PRESS) are not necessarily a deadly enemy that automatically causes skin cancer. Without the sun, all life would die. The UV rays of the sunlight on the skin react with ergosterol (a pre-vitamin D substance) to form much-needed, natural vitamin D. The sun also balances the biorhythmic hormonal cycles of the body. Research done on people with vision-blocking cataracts shows many hormonal irregularities. Most, if not all, of these hormonal imbalances disappear when the cataracts that block the flow of sunlight into the eyes are removed. The Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks made significant medical uses of light. Herodotus, the father of heliotherapy (sun therapy), felt that sunlight was indispensable for people whose health needed restoring. Dr. Hufeland, in his 1796 book Macrobiotics, wrote: Even the human being becomes pale, flabby, and apathetic as a result of being deprived of light, finally losing all his vital energy ...

Medical doctors have begun to recognize a problem called seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which occurs when people do not absorb enough sunlight into their eyes. Jacob Liberman, O.D., Ph.D., points out in his book Light: Medicine of the Future, The medicine of the future is light-we are healing ourselves with that which is our essence.

Although our airborne pollution has burned holes in the protective ozone layer of the atmosphere and thus upset our natural harmony with the sunlight, recoiling in fear from the sun only further confuses the issues. We still need a certain amount of light on the bare skin and through our eyes to be healthy. According to Dr. Ott, the foremost light expert in the world, as well as Dr. Liberman, daily light exposure should be between thirty and sixty minutes per day of direct or indirect light. Neither recommends extensive outdoor time in the noon hours during the summer. One important way to get light into the system is not to wear anything but full-spectrum gla.s.ses or contacts. Wearing regular contacts, gla.s.ses, or sungla.s.ses when one is outside blocks our reception of the full spectrum of sunlight. Full-spectrum light is so essential to proper hormonal function that Dr. Ott cites four cases of women previously unable to get pregnant who became pregnant when they stopped wearing sungla.s.ses.

Excessive ultraviolet light may create a problem, but a certain amount seems to be needed for health. Both Drs. Ott and Liberman cite research suggesting that completely blocking UV light may actually suppress the immune system. Research in Dr. Liberman's book indicates that UV light increases the cardiac output in a high percentage of people, improves EKG readings and blood profiles of individuals with atherosclerosis, reduces cholesterol, helps with weight loss, and is helpful for treating psoriasis and tuberculosis and destroying infectious bacteria. Light therapy is used by Russians and Germans to treat black lung disease. Adequate exposure to natural light increases the level of the s.e.x hormones and activates the skin hormone called solitrol. Solitrol is believed to be a form of vitamin D3 which works with melatonin to generate changes in mood and circadian rhythms.

There are hundreds of studies confirming the health-promoting effects of UV light. Light Therapy, published in 1933 by Dr. Krudsen, cites 165 different diseases treated by UV light. In Australia, some interesting research by Helen Shaw published in the British journal Lancet found that people working outdoors, and even at high alt.i.tudes (which increases exposure to the sun), had one-half the skin melanoma compared to those working indoors under fluorescent lights. Perhaps we would do well to look at all the factors a.s.sociated with skin cancer rather than just myopically focusing on the dangers of UV light.

The key point regarding sunlight and its UV radiation is ”moderation.” It is true that an imbalance has been created by our poking holes in the ozone layer. This does not mean, however, that we have to compound this imbalance by completely avoiding the sun, the very source of life on this planet. This fearful relations.h.i.+p to the sun ill.u.s.trates how much our society is out of touch with the natural harmony of nature that has sustained life on the planet for millions of years. Sunlight is the nutrient of life. The sun is an outer manifestation of our inner light. Although the destruction of the environment alters the natural and normal balance, we should use intelligent moderation when it comes to exposing our bodies to the sun's rays. We must cultivate a healthy balance with the sunlight and not hide fearfully in darkness.

7. Breathe, Bathe, and Work the Earth.

LESS CONTROVERSIAL HEALTH-ENHANCING PRACTICES include deep breathing, therapeutic use of water (using various baths), and working with the earth.

Deep breathing brings in the healing forces of oxygen to help cleanse our system of carbon dioxide waste. The oxygen we take in supplies 90% of the fuel for our metabolism, whereas food only supplies 10%. Vitamin O, or oxygen, is the most important nutrient there is. Without it we would be physically dead within just a few minutes. Presently, many people have so little oxygen in their system that dark field a.n.a.lysis of the blood often demonstrates that within a high percentage of people there is red cell clumping. Often the cause of this condition is inadequate oxygen, a situation which is alleviated when deep breathing exercises and the habit of deep breathing are cultivated.

Air bathing, which is the practice of exposing one's skin to the air and sun with a minimum of clothing on, is another way that toxic waste in the form of gases leaves the skin.

According to Dr. Szekely, a daily water bath has powerful healing and cleansing effects. Daily bathing is considered by yogis to be beneficial for health and spirit.

Spending time in contact with the earth, such as gardening and taking long walks in nature, helps us absorb the health-promoting magnetic radiations of the earth. This is a little-known practice that seems to bring many health benefits. This is particularly important if one is spending a full work day in a high-rise city setting where earth contact is very limited.

Sunning, breathing, bathing, and earth time are all forms of more subtle, but nonetheless important, sources of nutrition that Mother Nature offers us. Being in harmony with these natural forces of sun, air, earth, and water provides a subtle nutrition that is essential to true health. This type of health is not simply the absence of disease that typically pa.s.ses as health nowadays.

One additional aspect of our nutritional intake is the quality of our thoughts. If our thoughts are in harmony with the natural and spiritual laws, then we will be more able to live and eat in a healthy harmonious way. Although the types of foods we eat affect our thoughts, eating a totally ”pure” diet does not necessarily mean our thoughts will be harmonious and pure. Because of this, it is important to limit our exposure to negative or violent inputs that come from some types of TV programs, movies, and ”negative thinking” people. It is important to spend as much time as possible in an uplifting environment with people who are generating positive and uplifting thoughts. The key to being able to generate positive thoughts is to start every thought with love. This means to feel, or try to feel, love in your heart with every act in life. The food of love is the most powerful nutrient we can eat.

Additional Considerations on Whole Foods.

The Benefits of Juice.

REFERRING BACK TO GUIDELINES #2 AND #5 and the mention of fresh juices, I'd like to elaborate on this important exception to the wholefood recommendation. Dr. Walker, who lived to age 116 on raw juices and primarily raw food, states in his book Raw Vegetable Juices that raw food is the nourishment intended for human beings. He qualifies this by pointing out that the transition to raw foods is a big switch, and the raw juices taken as part of the transition give a person many of the advantages of the raw-food diet without necessarily being on the 80% or more raw-food diet. Juices furnish the body with the live enzymes and bioactive vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and other unknown factors that are destroyed when food is cooked. The juices bring an alkaline force into the body that helps to neutralize the toxic acidity from which most people suffer. These alkalinizing minerals help to restore the alkaline and mineral balance in the cells. They speed the recovery from disease by supporting the body's own healing activity and cell regeneration. Airola points out that raw juices contain an unidentified factor which improves the micro-electrical tension in the tissues and improves the cells' ability to absorb nutrients and excrete metabolic wastes. The use of raw juices has been a major part of many healing programs. For example, they are a major part of Dr. Gerson's therapeutic approach to cancer, a program which has been very successful over the last thirty or more years. Almost all European biological clinics that I am familiar with use raw juices as part of their rejuvenative program.

It was Dr. Walker's belief that when a food is juiced and the fiber is separated out, most of the toxins are eliminated with the fiber. If this is true, then this is another advantage of live juices. The combination of the live fiber in the whole food and the high concentration of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals of the live juices makes an excellent dietary program. Even though live juices are not totally whole in the strictest sense, because they are so high in live enzymes, I cla.s.sify them as biogenic (high life force), rejuvenating foods. Paavo Airola calls them the ”internal baths of health and youth.”

Many questions arise about the quality of different juicers. The Nor-walk juicer and other types of hydraulic press juicers are considered the best available. This is primarily because they break up the cellulose walls more effectively and make available more minerals and vitamins to be pressed out into the juice. The hydraulic press juicers are also substantially more expensive.

Other juicers, such as the Champion, are also excellent. Centrifugal juicers, which are usually round in shape, are equal to the Champion in efficiency and pressing ability, but they are less versatile in that one can use the Champion to make other types of food preparations. Regardless of what juicer one uses, as Dr. Walker points out, the most important thing is to drink juices fresh and on a daily basis, regardless of the manner in which they have been extracted.

The freshness of one's juice is vitally important. Some recent research by the Flanagans, as reported in their book, Elixir of the Ageless, suggests that the bioelectric, colloidal potential of most juices diminishes significantly overnight and is usually gone within twenty-four hours after they are juiced. Other health pract.i.tioners estimate that the enzymes in the juices are destroyed within a few minutes up to an hour or so.

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