Healing with Nature

I decided to post something that is close to my heart but a little off of the main topic of natural hygiene. It is related to natural hygiene however since the results of this behavior will inevitably produce a terrible environment in which we all live and therefore create negative effects to our health.

Forget weapons of mass destruction, foods of mass destruction are much more dangerous to us and the future of human’s existence on this planet. I am quite certain that all the weapons of mass destruction that have been used since the beginning of time do not add up to the damage that has been done to the people and the earth by foods of mass destruction.

You might be asking what am I talking about by now? The actual farming methods, types of foods as well as the secondary effects that are caused by these choices are extremely devastating to both humans and to every other living creature on the planet. For example most of the land used in the USA is for the production of corn. Nearly all of this corn is not meant for human consumption (it is not even fit for human consumption). About 75% of the corn grown in the USA is used to feed animals in feedlots.

The corn is usually a GMO (genetically modified organism) plant which is sold by Monsanto Corporation so that they can have a complete monopoly on the food of the world. These corn seeds are genetically modified to produce the highest possible yield per acre. Besides that they are only able to produce one crop and their seeds are infertile so that the farmer must return to Monsanto the next year to buy more seed.

These corn seeds are also resistent to certain very dangerous pesticides and herbicides that very conveniently are also only sold by Monsanto. These pesticides and herbicides kill everything that is alive except for the corn.

Since the corn was genetically modified to be a high yielding plant there was no modification to make it nutricious. In fact there is almost no nutrition in the corn whatsoever. It is basically a plant that produces pure starch and little else. The land that it is grown on becomes so void of any minerals or vitamins due to the spraying of the herbicides and pesticides that nothing can possibly grow on the land except this very poor quality corn.

The main recipient of the corn are the cows that are raised on factory farms. These cows are born and live their entire life in a space so compressed that they can not even turn around. There are cows on either side of them who are also next to 2 other cows. Cows native food is grasses but it costs too much to have these cows graze on grasses so they are fed this low quality corn. Due to the acid forming nature of starches these cows get very sick and are near death even before they are ready for slaughter.

Most humans who eat meat would not want to eat the meat of a very sick animal. This is exactly what they are doing when they buy meat from fast food restaurants or from the grocery store.

Another problem with the meat industry is the runoff which contains many bacteria and dangerous chemicals which is dumped directly into the waterways. Some of this runoff ends up contaminating other crops such as tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, and many other foods. There have been many outbreaks of infections over the last couple of years due to these uncontrolled runoffs. Outbreaks from bacteria on tomatoes, spinach and chilli peppers are three that I remember just happened recently.

Many people are concerned with global warming but the main culprit for most of the greenhouse gases is the raising of animals for food. Cows and most other animals produce tons and tons of methane gases due to their digestive system and the poor quality food that they are being forced to eat. Ammonia gas is also produced in massive amounts from the defacation of farm animals. 

Obviously the water where the runoff is dumped to is polluted as well as most of the other rivers, streams and lakes that the runoff is carried to by these waterways.

Another great crime that human’s are doing to the planet is growing grains. As was already mentioned above, most of the USA’s midwest is covered in corn farms that do not even feed humans but animals. The rest of the poor quality corn is used to make high fructose corn syrup or regular corn syrup to make all of the wonderful packaged and processed foods that most everybody eats daily. The majority of these sweeteners are used in sodas or soft drinks. Still more is used in danishes, cakes, doughnuts, bread, cereal, artificial flavorings, and even hot dogs and other smoked or processed meats.

Besides corn, all of the other grains including wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice and so on are planted on soil that could be used to plant large fruit orchards. Acre for acre fruit feeds more people than grains. Fruit trees also do not remove nutrients from the soil as grains do. After about 5 or 6 years of planting a farm with grains the land is infertile and needs to be given minerals and nutrients to even be able to grow any kind of grain again.

Once the grains have been harvested the plants are destroyed but fruit trees will continue to produce fruit year after year. Animals such as birds and others can use trees to build their nests but they can not use grain plants. Fruit does not require heat to make it palatable for humans to eat. In fact ripe raw fruit is one of the only natural foods that humans would even recognize as food had we maintained our natural diet.

All grains need to be further processed in order to be consumed. Most often they are cooked. Cooking requires fire or other forms of energy. These forms of energy consume oxygen and all produce greenhouse gases. Besides the cooking most people will add flavors or condiments to grains because most do not have a pleasant taste to the palate. I don’t know if anyone has ever tried to eat plain oatmeal but without sugar, spices, or fruit it tastes very bland. Rice also has little flavor without condiments.

These grains are not only contributing to the loss of natural plant cover for the planet because massive amounts of rainforest and other forests are destroyed daily to make room for a field of grains but they are also contributing to the poor physical health of humans since they cause many problems. See the post on grains and bread (The French Don’t Call it Pain for Nothing) for more information on this.

The only foods that actually work symbiotically with the world’s natural setting are the ones that our biological and physiological makeup were designed for. These are fruits, leafy greens and shoots. When we eat these in their raw, ripe, fresh and organic (natural) state we get a double bonus. We maintain our precious health and virility as well our home, the planet earth stays healthy and able to sustain itself for now and future generations. Let’s wake the world up and be an example of doing the right thing!

Due diligence is a business term that means to perform a complete and thorough investigation before committing to a deal or a transaction. Any successful business person will always do their due diligence before going into any relationship or accepting any proposal.

If this is true why do so many people do nothing when they are told something about health and then believe it to be the sacred truth. Nutrition and health are two of the most important subjects when it comes to information, they can make the difference between life and death in many cases.

Unfortunately these two subjects are the source of more misinformation than most any other topic known. A simple stroll through any bookstore or health food store will prove this. There are thousands upon thousands of books and magazines that have ’scientific’ information on health and nutrition.

The problem is that nearly every single book or article has another book or article that claims that the exact opposite is the actual truth. For example there are the low carbohydrate diet books that show without a doubt that we humans must eat a low carbohydrate diet.  Then there are the books that align with people like Dr. McDougall that say we must eat a lot of carbohydrates to stay healthy.

It is a very confusing and dangerous situation out there if you really want to get to the real scientific facts about human health. Most people give up shortly after they start off due to this confusion. Some will simply follow the diet or health plan that is in fashion for that month or that week. Once there is a new fasionable diet plan they will switch to the new one.

Could this be a healthy way of life? Certainly not. We have only one life and playing with it by following a poor diet can only lead to serious problems. It sure makes the book authors rich but not a lot more is accomplished by this.

How does one find the truth in diet, nutrition and lifestyle? What should a layman do to find the truth from all of the tabloid diets and fashionable suggestions? First of all, if you really are interested in your health then you need to at least understand basics. What do I mean by basics? At least understand the difference between protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.

I will not define these here as that is out of the scope of this posting but these terms are defined in most any school biology textbook. Go to your local library and read at least 2 or 3 books that describe these.

Once you have mastered these basics then learn something about how the body uses food and nutrition (nutrition also comes from air, sunshine, emotions and other sources besides food). Read about the way the blood carries nutrients to the many cells of the body. Try to understand how this can be done in an efficient or inefficient way.

Once you have these basics understood then go out and read some of the health, diet and nutrition books. This time read them with a skeptical eye. Ask yourself if the author is just making the information up in his mind to sell more books or if he or she is really intelligent and knows about biology and metabolism.

After reading one book then go out and read another one that is in contrast to the first one and ask yourself the same questions while you read it. See which story seems to be more realistic with respect to the scientific knowledge that you have acquired.

They can not both be correct in all respects, you need to decide for yourself which one makes sense and which one is an attempt to convince the ignorant to buy products, supplements, foods, books, etc.

Do some further research in libraries, in bookstores, online. Read several pages of information and always be skeptical of everything especially if it is not consistent with the biological way that a human body functions.

Try to see if there are any inconsistencies in the information. One example that I recently saw was a book by a very popular raw food leader that had said that some of the references on the book might not have credits due to the chaos research magic that created the book. I would have some extreme doubts about a book that starts out with something like that.

Again, there are many deceiving and confusing stories about diet, health and nutrition out in the world. Do your due diligence to get the most realistic information that makes biological and logical sense. Get all sides of the story and make sure it fits in with the scientific and biological facts. If the information is not jiving then throw the book away and find a new one.

Surprise! Most people find it unbelievable that what they do to themselves during their life will result in their good or bad health. It’s a shocking concept to actually think that living healthfully can prevent negative consequences later on in life. They also do not believe that living a poor lifestyle will result in poor health.

I wonder why this idea is so pervasive? If you spend all of your money you earn and then you need to make the mortgage payment you won’t be able to pay it. That seems to make sense to most people but if you tell these same people if they save their health then they will have good health they won’t believe that for a second.

Why is health such a mystery to most of the world? Is it because the media, medical establishment and most of the rest of the world intentionally try to confuse us? If they are trying to confuse us they sure are doing a good job since most people are very confused.

I do believe that most people prefer to do the right thing for themselves to maintain health but are so confused by the misinformation. We are bombarded with so much misinformation daily that it’s a wonder that anyone knows the truth about health.

I hear very often of food that is labeled as healthy but plainly is not even compatible with a human body. Just walk into any popular grocery store and there are posters of most any product and the word healthy is often used to describe it. With so many healthy foods to buy it’s a wonder there are even any unhealthy people around.

If you look for the real ways to become healthy and live a healthy lifestyle while ignoring all of the misinformation you will be working towards health. It’s really simple. Health accumulates with consistent healthy practices thus avoiding unhealthy practices.

I kind of see it like this, if someone continuously drops a heavy weight on their foot every day, the foot that receives the heavy weight will get swollen, bruised, bloody and throb. If it is stopped these symptoms will eventually go away and the foot will recover. With time the symptoms that were produced due to the heavy weight will become less and less since the body will defend itself from this damage by creating possibly a thicker skin over the area that takes the weight.

Maybe even the person doing this will stop feeling pain completely and will continue to drop the weight on their foot because they feel there is no more damage being done to the foot. The damage continues of course but the symptoms of it are less. This is a basic survival mechanism, the pharmaceutical companies understand this reaction very well and create medicine that mimics the same toxins that people use to make the body stop producing symptoms.

The user of these medicines is sure the illness is gone because they don’t feel the pain any longer. They immediately recognize the medicine as the solution to their self-inflicted problem. Now they are hooked on medication and the pharmaceutical company executives smile all the way to the bank.

There are no mysteries to health. If you obey the laws of nature you get rewarded, if you do not then you’re playing Russian roulette with only 1 chamber empty.