LIVING FOOD

What is living food? It is vegetables and fruit that have life in them. They may be cooked with low heat or raw, but they have not had the life destroyed. Vitamins, minerals, fats and amino acids are intact in living food. Living food gives the body what it needs to sustain life and enables it to fight off disease.
Living foods are complete foods. They contain carbohydrates, protein, water, fiber and enzymes also. All of these are in balance and in the right proportions that a body needs. Because they are complete foods, our bodies need to eat less to be satisfied.
Living foods are more alkaline than dead foods. The body must keep the blood's PH at 7.365 or as close to it as possible. If we eat foods that are acidic our body has to buffer that acid by taking alkaline substances, such as potassium, calcium, magnesium or sodium from other parts of the body to keep the PH of the blood where it needs to be. All food leaves either an acid or alkaline ash effect in the body. Just like burning wood leaves an ash behind, so does the metabolizing of food. The ash left in the body has an acid or alkaline effect on the organs and systems of the body. Raising the PH level of your body will assist your immune system in fighting off bacteria, viruses, fungi, and degenerative illnesses. All meats leave an acid ash in the body! All vegetables leave an alkaline ash while some fruits leave an acid ash and some leave an alkaline ash.
The solution for pollution is dilution! Drink lots of water to flush the acid ash out of your body. Take your body weight, divide it by two and drink that many ounces of water per day. More about this in an upcoming post.

Dead Food

We do not get energy from all foods, we only get energy from the foods that have energy in them. Certain man made foods, such as creme puffs and donuts, have no energy in them. They are items that have had chemicals thrown together and have no life in them. Or if genuine food is cooked at too high heat for too long it kills it, many of the nutrients in the food are dead and you get very little, if anything, from the food. A good example of this is pasteurized milk. Milk is pasteurized at 145 degrees to kill all the pathogens in it. It also destroys the vitamins, such as vitamin D, and proteins in it. As a result many people have allergic reactions to the protein casein, and the milk companies have to add back vitamin D and other ingredients.
Sometimes real food is destroyed by the preservatives and other chemicals that have been added. Most food from a fast food restaurant is dead food. French fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, pretzels and ice cream are all dead.
Dead foods to avoid: refined sugar, table salt, white flour, alcohol, soft drinks, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, genetically modified foods and irradiated foods.
What can I eat? Real food such as vegetables and fruits. More about these next time.

VITAMIN D ANYONE?

If adults and adolescents regularly avoid sunlight exposure, research indicates a necessity to supplement with at least 5,000 I.U. of vitamin D3 daily. To obtain this amount from milk one would need to consume 50 glasses. With a multivitamin more than 10 tablets would be necessary. Neither is advisable. The skin produces approximately 10,000 I.U. in response 20-30 minutes of summer sun exposure - 50 times more than the US government's recommendation of 200 I.U. per day!
There are 3 ways for adults to ensure adequate levels of vitamin D:

• regularly receive midday sun exposure in the late spring, summer, and early fall, exposing as much of the skin as possible (being careful to never burn).
  
• regular use of a sun bed (avoiding sunburn) during the colder months.
• take 5,000 I.U. per day for 2-3 months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. Adjust your dosage so that blood levels are between 50-80 ng/ml. year round.

John Jacob Cannell MD Executive Director VITAMIN D COUNCIL

Suppressing the Immune System

Many prescription drugs suppress the immune system. The reason they do is to allow them to work like they are designed to work. Our bodies recognize what is natural from what is synthetic. Natural substances will be accepted by the body with little or no resistance. Synthetic substances are recognized as foreign and the immune system will fight against it. So when a synthetic medicine or food is taken in, the body does what it can to keep that substance from doing harm. The pharmaceutical companies know this so they put things in their medicines to suppress the immune system. In affect, they are trying to counter what the body does on its' own. Your best bet is to eat natural, unprocessed foods that the body will recognize and accept. And to take supplements, and medicines that are from whole food, natural substances.

TEN STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH

Approximately 30 years ago our youngest son, who was about 18 months old, was extremely hyper. Nothing we did seemed to help. A friend told us of a bio-chemist who was doing nutritional assessments who might be able to help us. He tested our son and found that he was acting this way because of refined sugars, food colorings, dyes and cow milk. We took him off these things and within three weeks we had a new son!

Below I have given 10 things we can do to improve our health. All of them affect our diet and are affected by our diet.

1. Exercise - Necessary for optimal health.

• Without exercise, cells loose their pliability, become weak, and toxins accumulate.
• Without exercise, lymph is hindered in its removal of toxins and its work of fighting disease.
• Without exercise, bones lose density.
• We should exercise 30 minutes daily or 1 hour every other day with the time divided between aerobic and resistance.

2. Water - 70% of our body is water. It helps to stabilize our body's temperature, dilutes toxins.

• Helps neutralize acids and flushes waste from the body.
• Hydrates the skin from within.
• We need to take our weight, divide it by two and drink that many ounces per day.

3. Sunlight - we need 10-15 minutes per day of sunlight on as much exposed skin as possible. Or take, for adults, 5000 I.U. per day of vitamin D3.

• Sunlight helps to lower blood pressure.
• Helps lower blood sugar.
• Balances production of hormones especially vitamin D.

4. Breathing - oxygen is the difference between life and death. We can live over 40 days without food, over 4 days without water but only 4 minutes without oxygen.

• Oxygen supply and quality affects the brain, all cells, and disease. Disease cannot live in an aerobic environment.

5. Rest - During sleep the body is repairing itself.

• It rids itself of toxins during sleep.
• Circulates minerals, vitamins and hormones.
• Produces human growth hormone that maintains and repairs muscles.

6. Stress - Depletes energy.

• Creates hormonal imbalance.
• Induces the over production of cortisol and adrenaline.
• Left un-dealt with, stress is a door opener to disease via acidosis.

7. Attitude of Gratitude - We are composed of three parts. They are: spirit, soul and body. To be grateful is an expression of the human soul and spirit which will positively affect the body.

8. Benevolence to others. A giving attitude is good for the body.

9. Cleansing -

• Lungs - largest internal elimination organ. Approximately 12,000 quarts of air per day are exchanged by the lungs.
• Skin - the largest organ in the body. It eliminates more toxins than the bowels each day. Anti-perspirants block the elimination of toxins through the skin. Exercise helps stimulate the release of toxins through the skin.
• Gastro-intestinal tract - kidneys and bowel. We need one bowel movement per meal per day.
• Eyes - gravel or matter in the corners of the eye are really waste products coming out.
• Ear - ear wax is a waste product coming out.
• Nose - mucus is waste coming out.
• Throat - more waste coming out.

10. Living foods - dead foods.

• Dead foods are preserved, processed and refined foods. Examples: sugars, table salt, flour, stimulants, artifical foods and most cooked foods.
• Living foods are fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits are the greatest source of vitamins while vegetables are the greatest source of minerals.
• Living foods are complete foods containing proteins, carbohydrates, fats, water, fiber and enzymes.
• Living foods are naturally more alkaline. Flesh foods and processed foods are acidic.
• Cooking foods above 107 degrees causes the nutrients to die. The higher the heat and the longer the food is cooked more of it dies.
• You only get energy from the food you eat if it has any in it!
• In 1900 the average adult in American ate 5 pounds of sugar annually. Today it is approximately 170 pounds!
• Each of us need 25 - 30 grams of protein per day. Most who eat the Standard American Diet get about 150 grams per day. If you eat only fruits and vegetables you will get all the protein you need.
• Many allergies and cholesterol problems are controlled by the diet.
• Each of us need about 25 grams of fiber per day. Raw vegetables are the best source of it. One teaspoon equals about 20 grams.
• Meat has not fiber! Four ounces of meat equals about 28 grams of protein.
• We need to build up the immune system. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and if necessary supplement with Vitamins A, C, E & D3.
• Sweeten things with maple syrup, honey, stevia or dates.

FOODS THAT RAISE WHITE BLOOD COUNT

A lot of people who take chemo find that it suppresses their immune system. Often their white blood count is so low they can not continue on the chemo. Below are some things you can do to raise the white blood count.

• Eat lots of colorful veggies up to 8-9 servings a day, such as spinach, carrots & broccoli.
• Garlic
• Yogurt - if you are not allergic to milk.
• Various fruits such as melons & oranges.
• Zinc - 50 mg. per day.
• Good multi-vitamin - you may need to add additional vitamin C & vitamin E.
• Fish oil.
• Brown rice.
• Sunflower seeds.

These should be added to the diet along with dealing with the stress you are under.

LIVER AND GALLBLADDER CLEANSE

• Eat only fruits & non-starchy vegetables for one day.
• Drink 32 ounces of fresh apple juice spaced out throughout the day. It counts as part of your water requirement for the day. If not fresh, then use frozen.
• Use 3 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses in 8 ounces of hot distilled water. Do this about 1 1/2 hours before going to bed.
• Drink 6 ounces of extra virgin olive oil mixed with 4 ounces of fresh lemon juice and 4 ounces of orange juice right before going to bed.
• Turn out the light and lie on your right side for one hour.

This flush can be repeated each day for up to 3 consecutive days.

What will happen when you do the flush?
About 2 -3 hours after going to bed you will probably have to have a bowel movement. This should happen about 2 or 3 times in the first 12 hours. The stools may be dark and very smelly. If they are, this is good. If not, continue on the flush for the second and third days.

UPCOMING POSTS

The next several posts will deal with health related issues. I plan to post a number of things that one can do to improve their health by diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. So, visit often and see what you can do with very little effort and expense.