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David Niven Miller
Grow Youthful
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THE PDF. 4O4 Pages
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David Niven Miller
Grow Youthful
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THE PDF. 4O4 Pages
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| Grow youthful - a practical guide to slowing your ageing -- David Niven Miller .pdf |
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How to Slow Your Ageing and
Enjoy Extraordinary Health
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The Whole Book is on This Page ...
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How to Slow Your Ageing and
Enjoy Extraordinary Health
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The Whole Book is on This Page ...
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Grow Youthful should be issued as the owner’s manual for the human body. The breadth and depth of this book is not just about living longer; it is about living better. This is not a motivational, inspirational self-help book; it is a roll-up-your- sleeves, comprehensive, how-to book in the most operational sense.
If you like life enough to want to stick around for as along as you can, and ifyou find the idea of taking excellent care of yourself— body, mind & spirit — appeal- ing, and if you are ready to accept full responsibility for your life, David Niven Miller’s book isessential reading.
And the next time a friend or relative gives birth, give them a copy ofthis book, but before you do, tape a big label with bold print across the front cover that says, “OWNER’S MANUAL.”
Thom Rutledge Author of Embracing Fear: How to Turn What Scares Us into Our Greatest
Gift
Grow Youthful is not only a brilliant, supportive and respectful guide to nutritional anti-aging, itexpands what itmeans to live a fabulous life. In his A-Z easy-to-under- stand, cutting edge approach to self-care and personal empowerment, David Niven Miller provides an abundance of compelling and intelligent information that invites the reader to step into life-changing, youthful quantum health.
Judith Sherven PhD and James Sniechowski PhD Authors of Be Loved for Who You Really Are
Grow Youthful is a clear, comprehensive, and impeccably researched guide to care for yourself — body and soul. Ifyou want to take responsibility for living a much longer, healthier and more functional life, this book says itall.
Marci Shimoff Co-Author, Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul
In Grow Youthful, David Niven Miller presents the reader with a concise and practical guide to both the art and the science of cultivating health and longevity at home. Meticulously researched and clearly written, this book sifts the grains of fact from the chaff of fiction in the growing field of holistic self-health care. Most importantly, David writes his book from the heart as well as the mind, providing his fortunate readers with a manual that conveys the spirit as well as the letter of the laws of life.
Daniel Reid Author of The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity, The Tao of Detox, and The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing
Grow Youthful is an essential guide to slow down or reverse the ravages of aging. A must read for anyone who is seeking a healthier future!
Gary Quinn Author, Living In The Spiritual Zone
I really like your book! I am impressed with the comprehensiveness of your whole approach and your willingness to go into everything that pertains to healthful living and to youthfulness at any age. Iwill recommend itto friends and clients and am very happy to endorse itfor you.
Brad Blanton, Ph.D. Author of Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth and Beyond Good and Evil: The Eternal Split-Second Sound-Light Being
Grow Youthful is an outstanding A-Z resource, and long overdue in the marketplace. When the wisdom and research contained herein are balanced with one’s own instinctual needs and tastes, the resulting “recipe” must inevitably yield a happier and healthier life.
Mike Dooley Writer of Notes from the Universe and Infinite Possibilities
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Bravo! Grow Youthful is a marvellous book truly welcoming us into a new age of well-being in mind, body and spirit! I encourage everyone to read it carefully and be prepared for youthful feelings and facial expressions as well as a healthier body as you take in what David shares.
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, Positive Psychologist Author ofTHE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy: Recipes for
Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient isYOU! and DELIGHT
David has done a wonderful job of putting together an enormous amount of research with his own personal experience. Ifyou want to grow youthful, read and take this book to heart. He addresses every aspect of self-care.
Dr Margaret Paul, Ph.D. Author of Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?, Healing Your Aloneness, Inner Bonding, and Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By
God?
This is a high quality, practical, beneficial book that invites you to go to the realm of rejuvenation and the sheer happiness of being alive. Also an eruption of spontaneous healing can happen by following it. It gives you the inner urge to change your vibrations and become the best you can be.
Sondra Ray Author of 17 books, most recently Relationships Treasury
This isan extremely comprehensive book. Ittells you everything you need to know about how to age youthfully and happily, retaining your health, energy, wellness, and biological youth while advancing in age. It’s especially good regarding maintaining a youthful lifestyle, with relaxation techniques and sex. It is honestly written and direct. Itisessential reading, and Ithoroughly recommend it.
Dr Karlis Ullis, MD author of The Hormone Revolution Weight Loss Plan, Age Right, and Super “T”
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David Niven Miller’s book “Grow Youthful” is amust read for all those who expect to grow old gracefully. As a senior member of society, this book has peaked my interest and infused me with greater knowledge and wisdom about the natural process of life. This book is a most welcome arrival for all of us. Enjoy!
Joan Marie Ambrose, author of Hello...Is Anybody Listening?! and Messages of Healing...Reflections and Thoughts to Feed the Soul
Your book isavery readable and balanced treatment ofslowing ageing. Ienjoyed it!I particularly enjoyed the systematic unpacking of alternatives in a wide range of areas.
Dr Richard Broome Transcendental Meditation teacher, international management consultant and facilitator
Attitude towards life and knowledge about the psycho-physical aspects of the body are of utmost importance in slowing aging. Grow Youthful provides both. David Niven Miller’s directives, practical insights, and wisdom bestow the reader with guidance and comfort.
Dr Peter M. Kalellis, PhD Author of Restoring Relationships, Five Things to Try Before You Say
Goodbye
I started reading this book and couldn’t put it down. Intelligently written with critical information distilled in easy to “digest” language. Grow Youthful delivers as itsays, as a practical guide to slowing down your aging. Seamlessly, iteducates and inspires one easily towards understanding and choosing healthier options.
Rochelle Blank A Natural Choice Holistic Health Counsellor &AADP member
Your book iscrafted beautifully. Iam finding itafantastic read and am making a number of changes to my lifestyle as a result of it.
Dr David Dembo Specialist Wellness medical doctor, Sydney, Australia
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My grateful thanks to the following people, who have assisted with the creation of this book with hours or days of discussion, and generous donations of time for editing and proofreading. Nevertheless, Grow Youthful does not in any way reflect their opinions — the responsibility for this text is mine.
Dr Jenny Tollet Quenton Miller Lisa Miller
Bill O’Brien Elspeth Taimre
Dr Alan Hancock Maneesha James Dr Antoni Milewski Lisa Summers Bhagawati Morriss Angie Lyndon
Dr Roger Philpott
Thanks also to my publisher John Hunt. John’s detailed advice, wisdom and years of experience in publishing, health and personal growth have helped to make a more convincing, consistent book.
THE AUTHOR
For most of my life, Itried to take good care of my body; mostly Itried to look after myself. I exercised almost every day, had a diet based on muesli and soymilk for ten years, and avoided animal fats as ifthey would kill me. Iwas passionately interested in health, and read every popular article in the media.
Frustratingly, I was not well. 1997 was a low point, stressed, unhappy and ageing fast. My doctor was little help. Ivisited a naturopath for the first time; she told me that Iwas on the fast track to serious illness ifIdid not change.
Ijoined a meditation class, dropped the soy products, was introduced to cut- ting edge therapy in a workshop called The Turning Point, and joined a men’s group. A big realisation for me was that most other people face the same fears that Ido. Everyone wants to live the best life that they can, with what they have.
In 1998, I visited an ashram in India for a couple of months, in what turned out to be a rigorous challenging of my conservative and straight-laced beliefs. Iwas born and brought up inZimbabwe, Africa. Sent toboarding school atthe age of eight, I was subject to strict discipline and the mentality of a militaristic society preparing their young men to be soldiers.
In the last few years, I have challenged most of my major beliefs, looking at who or where they came from, and the evidence to support them. This is an ongoing exercise in clarifying my current reality. I now feel my integrity, my love for others and myself, and accept my being and life “‘as is”. I have faced the fear of letting go of what I thought defined me.
My experience now isthat good health and happiness starts inthe mind and comes from attitude.
This book initially took eighteen months full-time to write, and has been constantly refined over a further three years. I have interviewed many people who are younger than their age, avidly followed up each new scientific study on ageing, and investigated why some cultures and traditions enjoy exception- al health and longevity. Grow Youthful picks through all the mis-information and complexity in the media and many studies, and presents it all in a simple and understandable way. My strength and gifttoyou isclarity.
The rewards from this work are blatantly obvious to my friends, including my two adult children. Iam years younger than when I started the project, and people remark that I have an amazing vitality and a clear energy for a fifty four year old.
I wish you well in accepting the health, philosophical and spiritual tradi- tions in this book, and a life that is so long and satisfying that few people would believe it is possible.
David Niven Miller, MA, Perth, Australia 2007.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
BLISS OR BLIGHT?
WHAT ISAGEING?
YOUR CHOICE SELF-HEALING
BEING CIVILIZED
YOU HAVE UNIQUE NEEDS LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
LIVING THE LIFE YOU LOVE
YOUR EGO AND YOUR GROWTH LEADING AN EFFECTIVE LIFE THE POWER OF YOUR THOUGHTS ATTITUDE
LOVE (ESPECIALLY YOURSELF)
RELAXATION
WHAT ISMEDITATION?
WATCHING YOURSELF
PREPARATION
RELAXATION EXERCISE
OBSTACLES TO MEDITATING
GOING FURTHER
SOME OTHER MEDITATION TECHNIQUES COMMENTS
LIVING FOOD
WHAT ISLIVING FOOD?
DIETARY EVOLUTION
FARMING METHODS
PICKING GREEN FRUIT
IN SEASON
RICHEST PART OF FRUIT /VEGETABLES
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MODERATION 100 EATING TIPS -HOW AND WHEN 106 FOOD PREPARED WITH LOVE 111
MORE ON FOOD 114 MACRONUTRIENTS 114 MICRONUTRIENTS 143 ENZYME ACTIVE FOOD 161
SOAKING AND SPROUTING 169 FERMENTED FOODS 172 FOODS TO INCLUDE 175 PRODUCTS TO AVOID OR REDUCE 185
WATER 205 DEHYDRATION 205 POLLUTION 209 DRINKING WATER 212
EXERCISE 217 21ST CENTURY SLOTHS 217 TYPES OF EXERCISE 220 THE EXERCISE MYTH me HOW MUCH? 225 BREATHING 230 YOGA 245 SEX 248
INSIDE YOUR BODY 260 A NEW EPIDEMIC 260 AGEING AND TOXIN ACCUMULATION 271 TOXIN & WASTE REMOVAL 272 ACID BALANCE 274 STOMACH ACIDITY 282 CANDIDA 284 FASTING 286 PARASITES 289
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EXCRETION
COLON CLEANSING OUTSIDE YOUR BODY
NANO-POLLUTION
MEDICATIONS
HOUSEHOLD POISONS
HEAVY METALS ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION CLIMATE
SUNLIGHT
AIR
OUT IN NATURE
MORE LONG-LIFE SECRETS ONGOING INFECTIONS COLLOIDAL SILVER BIOCOMPATIBLE DENTISTRY APPLE CIDER VINEGAR KOMBUCHA
KEFIR
REJUVELAC
EMTM (EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS) SLEEP AND REST
BATHING, SAUNAS
BODYWORK
TOP ANTI-AGEING TIPS BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
291 293 296 296 PeME 305 308
2 iby B15 313 316 319 322 ole 322 330
eye) SE) 343 346 347 Shell 354 359 364 366 373
INTRODUCTION
Make time for your health, and you will gain many additional youthful years. Ifyou have no time to spare, your ill health will take that time anyway.
BLISS OR BLIGHT?
ould you like to live to be 100, or perhaps much older? Ifyou had this
\Waee wouldyouenthusiasticallyaccept?
Fear usually inhibits those who refuse. Although our life expectancy is
increasing,” 7, 98, 100, 101 our health in our last few decades is not.2© These extrayearsarenotmuch funifyouareillandtiredallthetime,slow,con- fused and worn out. Who wants a feeble, bent, sick, painful, ugly old body with fading senses? Who wants to face loneliness, isolation, physical and sexual deprivation, poverty, loss of choices and being dependent on family, friends and the government?
In the developed world, our society considers most of those who reach their 70" birthday to be a burden. The “throw away” culture and “use by” dates that we apply to the goods we produce are also applied to our elderly. They consume housing, food and other goods and services, and provide lit- tle or nothing in return. Medical costs are spiralling, particularly for those in the last years of their life. Western families care for fewer and fewer of their elderly because today’s families are smaller, fragmenting, blending, and are unwilling or unable to support them.
We are facing a future in which a large and growing portion of our pop- ulation will be dependent on a limited minority of workers and producers. Will the state be able to afford to keep us? And ifso, at what standard of liv- ing? Is there an alternative?
Our society has conditioned us to believe that sickness and degenerative ageing are inevitable as the years go by. “Only the young are attractive, strong, vital, healthy, sensual, sexual, intelligent, creative and capable,” say messages from the media that pound us day after day. Advertisements for fast food, soft drinks, cosmetics, motor cars, cleaning products and electronics
nearly all use models in their teens or early 20’s. The health industry, insur- ance companies, pension funds, the retirement industry and many other insti- tutions have a large financial stake in this myth.
However, this widespread degeneration is not inevitable. I will show you how ageing and deterioration is a choice that most people make.
Many cultures, particularly traditional cultures, have handled ageing bet- ter than we do in the West today. Their oldest people lived with their fami- lies or tribes, and still contributed valuable work and knowledge. They were usually respected, healthy and active.
For example, longevity has always been a priority for the Chinese peo- ple. Virtually all the Taoist masters lived to well over one hundred years. Many Taoist texts>4->4 describe sages with life spans that seem unbeliev- able in Western society.
Several other cultures around the world have traditionally enjoyed long lives. The Hunzas, located in northern Pakistan, routinely live for over a cen- tury. People from Abkhazia, a mountainous part of southern Russia, and Vilcabamba, in Southern Ecuador, also have many centenarians. They are isolated from much of modern civilisation and pollution, and spend hours working their rich, dark-soiled fields. Their diet includes fresh vegetables, whole grains, meat, eggs, raw dairy products, fruit and mineralised mountain water. All these cultures place great value on longevity and their older citi- zens are valued and exalted.
The life experience, the maturity, the time and the love that the elderly have to offer is avast and unused resource. As we wake up to their social, economic and spiritual value, this human resource will transform. People liv- ing by the principles in Grow Youthful will resist ageing and degeneration, and will contribute to society, earning enough to pay the bills, and living independent, fulfilling lives. Those who have lived many years will no longer be a load on society, but will be a major economic, social and political force. These healthy, productive, wise and experienced long-lived people will con- tribute to and add to the diversity of our society at every level.
Biologically, old people have been of great value in our evolution. For
most living things (plants, insects, animals) the adults have done their job and can die after they have reproduced, and their young are growing indepen- dently. However, human tribes that had a few old people fared better than those with none. The knowledge and experience of the elderly helped their tribes to survive droughts, floods, plagues, and other calamities that only occur once every few decades. Hence, the genes from these tribes were passed on, whereas the genes from tribes where everyone died relatively young have not survived.?4
The presence of this mass of elderly people will also challenge the notion that time has to be a limited and scarce resource. They will enjoy more dis- cretionary time because their kids have grown up and left home, the mort- gage ispaid off, and they are not beholden to an employer or “make or break” business. More importantly, many of them will consciously choose how to spend their time rather than feeling obliged or forced. Some will enter a soul or spirit dimension in which they confront their mortality, gain a new per- spective on life, learn and grow into a stage of giving, and contributing to the community.
There need be little relationship between age and performance. Many people have performed their greatest work in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Fifty year olds have won marathons. Sixty year olds routinely lift heavier weights in the gymnasium than many twenty year olds. Seventy year olds enjoy pow- erful and creative careers. Some eighty year olds play a decent set of tennis. Ninety year olds can have active and thoroughly enjoyable sex lives. People in “extreme” old age exercise, play sport, excel in mental and psychological challenges, leading interesting and fulfilling lives. The many decades after you turn 60 can be the most productive, enjoyable, sexual and spiritual part of your life.
In his 90’s Michelangelo designed St Peters dome. Verdi at the age of eighty, wrote Falstaff: Alexander von Humboldt completed his naturalistic masterpiece Cosmos when aged eighty-nine. The recent Chinese leader Deng Hsiao-ping wielded power in China at the age of eighty-eight, despite a life- long tobacco habit. Moraji Desai, a former prime minister of India, lived a
healthy vibrant life until the age of one hundred.
You can find many examples in our Western culture today — people in
their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s who are working, contributing to society, and lead- ing full, active and healthy lives.
WHAT IS AGEING?
geing is a general deterioration of your body’s function and structure,
Neyourmind,astheyearsgoby.Itisasubtleandslowprocesswhere you gradually become aware that you no longer have the strength and vitali- ty that you used to have. Your skin has blemishes, wrinkles and sags a little, your hair and nails are thinner and weaker, your digestion is slow and tem- peramental, and a host of other changes creep throughout your body.
Ageing is the result of an accumulation of abuse and assaults to both your mind and body. We choose to age by accepting these abuses to the physical body, and fully expect to show sickness and deterioration as the years pass.
There are several ways to measure age. Calendar age is the one we usu- ally think of — the number of years that you have been alive. However, ifyou choose to maintain your youth into your old age, itbecomes almost irrele- vant.
Your mental age depends upon your short and long-term memory, speed of recall, power of analysis, clarity, creativity and ability to learn. It also reflects your attitude to life — whether you are stuck in the past, dogmatic and inflexible, or are open to change, learning and new ideas. It bears little rela- tion to your calendar age.
Your effective age reflects your ability to live independently and con- tribute to others and society.
Your Biological age mirrors your health, appearance, feelings and ener- gy. It compares you with healthy young people. It depends upon the total weight of all the positive factors and the total weight of all the negative fac- tors discussed in Grow Youthful. If you take full responsibility for all these factors, itispossible to subtract decades from your biological age.
You can do a quiz to estimate your biological age at
www.growyouthful.com It asks around 140 questions, and estimates how much your body has deteriorated compared to most people of your calendar age and sex.
Ayurvedic age. Several ancient traditions such as Taoism and early Ayurvedic medicine measure age by the number of breaths you have taken, or the number of heartbeats you have accumulated. This book shows you how to breathe deeply and efficiently, and more slowly. Ifyou can halve your rate of breathing, you may double your lifespan. If your cardiovascular sys- tem is healthy, you will have a slower pulse. A reduction in your pulse rate will give you a proportionate increase in your life.
Biomarkers. Two brilliant yet practical scientists at Tufts University — William J. Evans and Irwin H. Rosenberg, developed the following tests or markers of ageing in the late 80’s.!> They are now widely accepted as objec- tive measures of the age of a person — measurable, relevant, significant, and most importantly, reversible. Evans, Rosenberg, and many other researchers have proved that the accelerated ageing and the degenerative diseases that are endemic today are not a normal part of chronological ageing. This book explains how you can effectively prevent, and even reverse the deterioration of these biomarkers.
Your doctor can use these markers to assess your biological age during an examination. You can monitor your progress in reversing your ageing after you have implemented some of the changes I recommend, with a second examination months later.
The ten markers are:
*Lean body (muscle) mass
*Muscle strength
¢Basal metabolic rate
*Body fat
*Aerobic capacity
¢Blood pressure
*Insulin sensitivity and blood glucose tolerance *Cholesterol level and HDL/LDL ratio
*Bone density
«Body temperature regulation
The most important marker for you to focus on changing is Lean body mass. Lowering your fat to muscle ratio will make a dramatic difference to your health, vitality and rate of ageing.
YOUR CHOICE
fter years of conditioning by society, many people hold a deep belief
iNewoldageisatimeofweakness,inactivity(retirement),andno longer needing to take risks, grow or learn. They feel that no more great, exciting things are going to happen in their lives — that they are largely finished, and have nothing further to contribute. The widespread acceptance of notions such as “middle-aged”, “past it” and “over the hill” are a self- fulfilling belief, actually causing physical and mental degeneration.
Are you expecting to get sick, tired, haggard and feeble as you enter middle and then old age? Ifyou are expecting itto happen, and especially if you fear it,then itwill happen. “People grow old and die because they see others grow old and die”, said the ancient Indian sage, Shankara. Society dictates that we have a death urge.>/
Whether or not to throw in the towel is a choice that each of us has. You can choose to allow your mind and a harmful lifestyle to overwhelm your body’s natural state of health. Through low expectations, ignorance, self- sabotage and apathy you can enter a vicious downward spiral of degenerative diseases. Tiredness, limited energy and sickness tempt you to “give up.” A paunch, haggard skin, and not one but several chronic medical complaints are quite “normal” for a fifty year old on this path of least resistance.
The nature of death and disease has changed. Most Westerners do not face as high a risk of dying in a conflict or war as previous generations. Our workplaces and living environments are safer, reducing the risk of death or injury from an accident. Sewage and garbage is efficiently disposed of, and drinking water is less likely to be biologically contaminated, reducing the dangers of contagious diseases like smallpox.
Degenerative diseases have replaced infectious diseases as the scourge of our time. The plague of degenerative physical, mental and emotional diseases that we suffer today has causes that are avoidable. Even people in their 20’s and 30’s often have degenerative diseases that were found only in the old a century ago. Children are ageing rapidly, with childhood obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis now quite common rather than a medical rarity.934
The degenerative diseases of the 21* century are caused by:
* low expectations, negative attitudes and beliefs, and unhealthy values.
* persistent stress. People compete with each other with their minds, in a desperate search for instant gratification and quick fixes. They want happiness, fulfilment, appreciation, love, wealth, power and attractiveness — more than their neighbours have, and right now.
* persistent complex, stressors and toxins from our dead foods, medicines and homes.
* indulgent, lazy, lifestyles lacking in exercise, outdoor activities, fresh air and pristine water.
If you live this way of life, you are also likely to age quickly. Here is a list of some degenerative diseases:
¢ skin problems such as dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema, rashes, boils
* allergies to food and the environment
¢inflammation, slow healing
*adult onset diabetes, fluctuating energy levels, mood swings
*weight and obesity problems
* osteoporosis
*asthma, emphysema, catarrh
* arthritis, gout, kidney diseases, liver diseases, stones in the kidneys, liver or
gall bladder, bad breath, body odour, bursitis
* cancers
*chronic fatigue
*poor immunity resulting inpersistent fungal, viral and bacterial infections, frequent colds and ‘flu, frequent herpes eruptions
*heart and arterial disease, poor circulation, palpitations, angina, stroke
* eating and digestive problems, diarrhoea, stomach pains, constipation, heartburn, reflux, stomach ulcers, bulimia, colitis, flatulence, haemorrhoids, pot-belly
* brain, nerve and mental problems, headaches, migraines, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, hypertension and perceived stress, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, irritability, insomnia, malaise
*eye diseases, retinal damage, cataracts
* sexual and reproductive problems including frigidity, impotence and premature ejaculation, painful monthly periods
¢childhood learning and attention disorders, behavioural problems *baldness, greying hair
*muscle atrophy, back pain, neck pain, sciatica
Grow Youthful helps you make the choice for a long, healthy, youthful life. Itshows you how to prevent the onset of degenerative diseases, and slow or even reverse your ageing. Problems that have been troubling you for years will improve or disappear completely. Most of the new diseases in children are reversible.
SELF-HEALING
ollow the advice in this book, and after a few months, you will start to
IFv andfeelyounger.Yourbodywilldothisbecauseitisaself-healing organism. Itiscontinually changing. Everything isconstantly being broken down and rebuilt. The lining of a healthy colon, or the surface of your tongue is replaced every day or two. Your skin is replaced every month. Every three months, your blood is renewed. Within 6 months, virtually every protein in your body is replaced. This includes cells in every organ, muscle and connective tissue. 98% of your entire body, including your bones and the living parts of your teeth, is replaced each year.
As you start to practise the life-changing recommendations in Grow Youthful, you will rebuild your body with high quality proteins and nutrients, and a lower level of toxins. At every level, physical, mental and spiritual, you
can experience a transformation. Given the right nutrition, loving care, exercise and environment, your body can recover from years of abuse.
Sometimes modern medicine can extend the length of your life, but often at great cost and discomfort. The real determinants of your life expectancy and health are:
*Your mind. Particularly your beliefs and image ofyourself.
* How you treat your body. This includes what you eat and drink, how you breathe and exercise, and what medicines, drugs and personal products you do (or don’t) use.
*Your lifestyle. This includes your work, play, rest, relationships, and sexual habits.
* Your environment, in particular all the sources of pollution, radiation and toxins you are exposed to.
* Genetics plays a part in your longevity and health, but only a minor role when you are an adult. The importance of your genes decreases as you grow older.3!-534 Your lifestyle choices and behaviours have far more impact on your health and longevity than your heredity.
Your mind is the major determinant of your health and longevity. This book will show you how to clarify your priorities and discover what really matters for you; get to know your body and how to care for it;and take full responsibility for every aspect of your life. This means living by your own truth, not limitations imposed by others — family, friends, teachers, or a shallow and materialistic society. Ultimate health requires both physical and spiritual cleansing.
Characteristics such as being interested in other people, optimistic, satisfied, accepting, inquiring, flexible and focused will enrich and extend your life. Choosing to feel rejected, abandoned, disempowered, unattractive, asexual, bigoted, dogmatic, inflexible, angry, resentful, jealous, a burden on others or even useless, will have a marked effect on your health and ageing. You will see how these feelings are choices you make, not ways ofliving that you have to accept.
Staying disease-free and retaining your youthful abilities is the goal for
and get on with it. It also stopped the procrastination habits to healthy ones.
in changing sickening
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an empowered and fulfilling old age. A healthy, youthful body is:
* strong, with well-developed muscles and a confident upright flexible posture.
¢ slim, rather than overweight.
*infection resistant.
* able to see, hear, feel, smell and taste well.
* bright eyed, with a clear elastic skin, sweet breath and thick naturally coloured hair.
¢lucid and quick thinking.
*good-natured, with consistent energy, strength, enthusiasm and optimism. *with good appetite and digestion, enjoying sex, sleeping soundly, easy and regular bowels.
It is never too late to change! No matter how old you are, or how much you have used and abused your body, you can start a new life.
Sometimes we have to be “brought to the edge” or suffer a “wake up call” before we are willing to make the changes. So many people who have survived cancer have described it as the best thing that ever happened to them. It forced them to re-evaluate their lives, decide what was important,
At any age, you can change:
*Teens and 20’s. Ifyou happen to be fortunate enough
in your youth, you have the means to keep your
emotional vigour and young looks for many decades.
* 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. You can choose not to conform
your family, uninformed society and conventional medicine. Now isthe time to cleanse, rejuvenate, heal and reverse much of the ageing and deterioration that has started.
* 60’s and older. This is where the most dramatic changes can occur. Those who have reached what our society calls “old age” are usually painfully aware of effects of decades of neglect and abuse of their bodies. Most people at this age are suffering from several degenerative diseases, low energy, a
to gain this knowledge physical, mental and
to the expectations of
tired, worn out body, and a poor self-image or depression. To them, the possibility of regaining youth seems impossible. Nevertheless, thousands of people have done it. Healing, repair, age reversal and regeneration are attainable.
The process of ageing is usually so slow that you do not notice it. However, ifyou are severely depressed, distraught or traumatised, you can age noticeably in a period of weeks or months.
Similarly, slowing the ageing process takes time. As you detoxify, alkalise and strengthen your body while following the advice in Grow Youthful, be patient. After making some of the changes I recommend, you will not necessarily feel better immediately. If you have released toxins and they are in your bloodstream prior to elimination you will feel worse, not better. Skin eruptions, nausea, bad breath, white tongue, body odour and a feeling of malaise can last for days, weeks or months, depending upon how toxic you are. You will be tempted to give up and revert to your previous lifestyle. However, as your body repairs and cleanses, I can assure you that you will feel and see the dramatic positive effects within a year, and sometimes much less.
The maxim use it or lose it applies to every aspect of life — all your physical, sexual, social, artistic, creative and other abilities. It is easy to understand that you need to exercise your muscles to keep them taut and trim.However, the“useitorloseit”principleappliesjustasstronglytoyour mind*” and every other ability you have. The most creative, effective, humorous, focused, social, stimulating and artistic people are constantly exercising their gifts.
Any changes you make inyour lifebecause ofreading Grow Youthful should be comfortable and gradual. After many years of a particular diet, lack of exercise, or way of breathing, it may take months for your body to accept the changes and years to adjust fully. When I first tried eating complete meals ofraw food, Isuffered from diarrhoea. My digestive system has still not adapted, so a large portion of my diet is cooked, especially in winter. Habits also need time to change. I will make many suggestions that
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will put you back on the road to total health. Take iteasy, you will not be able to do everything at once, and itmight be quite harsh on your body and your mind if you attempted to. Gradually introduce what seems to be the easiest and most important to you. As your health improves, your energy level rises, and you feel happier and more enthusiastic, it will feel quite natural to change your way ofliving.
BEING CIVILIZED
ivilisation is a villain that disconnects us from our instinctive knowledge of what is right, good and healthy. It imposes intellectual,
non-intuitive values — new ways of life that others teach us as a means to survive. It teaches us to suppress our emotions and feelings. Little about civilisation comes from nature.
Civilisation gives us convenient transport. Jump on a bus, or drive just to go a kilometre. Take an elevator to go up three floors. The cost? An unfit, overweight, sick population.
Civilisation gives us manufactured foods — fast, convenient, attractive, addictive and so affordable. These fake foods are compromising the health and vitality of millions of people.
Civilisation encourages us to listen to the expert, to revere the person with the PhD. Your real interests require that you listen to your heart. I have found a loving friend to be a more effective counsellor than a professional charging their time at dollars per minute. In business, relationships and your everyday life,your “gut feeling” isusually correct.
Civilised people are impressed with the high-tech, expensive, complex approach to solving any problem. They usually overlook the simple, natural, low cost solution.
Ittakes many years of education and training to become civilised. Infants start life open to their senses, to anything they see, hear, feel, smell and taste. They are playful, feeling, flexible and completely without judgements and beliefs. Infants and toddlers are fully expressive, have boundless energy, and are unburdened with the worries of this life until parents, teachers and society
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teach them otherwise. A young person can do, be and feel anything, until they take on the limitations offered by their families, peers, role models and those in positions of authority.
To thrive in civilised society, to gain health and longevity, requires that you pay more attention to the feelings and other messages coming from your body. Forget about that image of who you are, and instead pay attention to the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings around you. True health requires that you challenge many of your beliefs and this picture of who you are, and that you are open to new ways of thinking. It will often require that you behave in ways that are contrary to the civilised practises of educated people, prevalent in schools, universities, government, businesses and the mass media. Pay attention to the pressures influencing your behaviour — the expectations of your friends, spouse, parents, co-workers and employers. Look at what the institutions around you are giving you (ease, luxury, convenience, status, appearance, entertainment) and taking from you (responsibility for all aspects of your life, control over your own life, your health, time and money). You then have the perspective to use and enjoy the benefits of civilisation, rather than becoming its victim.
YOU HAVE UNIQUE NEEDS
ach of us has a unique body with unique needs. In the same way that we
iraedifferentandhavedifferentpersonalities,ourdigestivesystems can be different. Some people thrive on certain foods (perhaps dairy, wheat products and corn), whereas for other people those same foods can be the cause of their health problems. We each need different types and amounts of nutrients, calories, water, sunlight, exercise, social interaction and every other aspect of life. Your needs also vary depending on your age, state of health, your mental state, location, the season and more. Many people eat what they think ishealthy food — and itmight be, but not for them. /fyou pay attention to what affects you positively or negatively, it will profoundly improve your health, wealth and happiness at every level. Fortunate are those people who discover early in their lives the foods, climate, people and
lifestyle that are most beneficial to them.
Many authors have tried to provide a framework to help you choose the
foods that are right for you. I have tried many of them. Eat Right for Your Blood Type, Zone, Macrobiotic, Vegetarian, Vegan, Low Fat, High Protein, Raw Food, The Mediterranean Diet and hundreds of others all claim to have a successful system. Each of them has avid followers who swear their system has changed their lives. What you do not hear about are the equal number of people who remain unaffected, or are worse off. One group of people may thrive on a diet and lifestyle in a particular location and climate; that same diet and lifestyle may be quite harmful for people who evolved or live in a faraway part of the world.
The basic suggestion that people with blood type A do best as vegetarians, and those with blood type O need meat in their diets, may be useful. If you are a blood type O on a vegetarian diet and are not thriving, then itisworth experimenting with fish or meat. Likewise, ifyou are ablood group A and eat meat regularly, less meat may be beneficial.
I have found Ayurveda to be useful and effective in classifying people, helping them to select the foods, climate, people and lifestyle that are most beneficial for their body type. This ancient Indian science of health is widely used throughout Asia and increasingly in the West. You may fall under one of the three main body types (doshas); most people are predominantly one, with a large dose of another. Children and adolescents tend to be more kapha, young adults are more pitta, and older people more vata, though this is not a rigid rule.
Kapha people have a larger, fuller, slower more solid build. They gain weight easily, which accumulates below the waist. They tend to have a good skin, a low-pitched voice, and well lubricated joints. They are tolerant, calm, patient, slow, strong, and have good endurance and stamina. Mentally they are slow to comprehend, but once grasped retain well.
Kaphas are adversely affected by rich, sweet (which they often crave), oily, sour and salty food. They are prone to congestion, and dairy products
cause mucus. They are not very thirsty and do not need to drink as much as
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other people. It is important that they get sufficient and regular exercise. Kaphas do not do well in cold, damp weather, preferring awarm mild climate. They thrive on pungent, bitter, astringent, warm, dry, light food such
as salads, white or lean meats, dry fruits like apple, figs, pears, dried fruits, tomato, eggplant, cauliflower, cabbage, buckwheat, millet and barley. They do not do well with sweet food, though honey isan exception.
In an unbalanced state, kaphas tend to be heavy, drowsy, constipated, dull, lazy, greedy, depressed, suffering itching and skin problems, and with excess mucus.
Pitta people are of medium and well-proportioned build, have warm hands and feet, perspire easily, and often have an oily coppery skin, with freckles, moles and blackheads. If they have excess weight, it tends to accumulate proportionately. They have a strong appetite and digestion, quick reactions, and a medium level of stamina. They are aggressive, sharp, forceful, fiery and vibrant. Their voice is mid-pitched, melodious or strong.
Pittas thrive in a cool climate. They need sweet, astringent, bitter, cold, heavy, dry foods like melons, raisins, dates, asparagus, leafy greens, broccoli, soft cheeses, barley and rice. Coolness balances them — cool drinks, cool breezes, cool watery food, and relaxation. They like cold showers and moonlight.
Pittas are adversely affected by heat and the sun, and by hot, acid, salty and dry foods. In an unbalanced state they exhibit anger, aggression, impatience and skin rashes.
Vata people tend to be thin or underweight, have flat chests, and noticeable veins and muscle tendons. Ifthey have excess weight, itisaround the gut or waist. They tend to be poorly proportioned, have dry, cracked skin; feel the cold; and have a high-pitched, dissonant or hoarse voice. They get tired easily, and can quickly be knocked off-centre or distracted. They are active, irregular, creative, cool-bodied, airy, easily distracted, alert, quick to understand and restless.
Vatas thrive in a warm, stable, still (not windy), moist climate. They need warm nourishing nurturing foods and emotions, and a calm, orderly, relaxing lifestyle, avoiding overexcitement and overexertion. They do best with
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Vata people do well with warm, sweet, salty, sour, oily heavier foods. This means wet, oily foods (soup, stew, and stir-fry) rather than cold or dry foods. They like sweet ripe fruits like cherries, stone fruits and berries, cucumbers, green peas, asparagus, cooked vegetables, wheat, oats, full cream dairy products, cream and butter.
Vatas are adversely affected by the cold, and dry, windy, weather. Other negatives are sudden changes like a death in the family, loss of job or fast change in the weather. They do not take well to rough-texture materials on the skin, rough words and behaviour or rushing.
In an unbalanced state, vatas are prone to dry or rough skin, being underweight, weak kidneys, bladder, and heart; constipation, arthritis, stiff, non-specific aches and pains, dry joints, poor immunity, insomnia, worry, depression, fatigue and confusion.
Foods to avoid: cold, dry (crackers, dried fruit, cereals, potato chips etc) astringent (dry tasting foods that pucker the mouth like beans, tea, pomegranates, lentils), bitter or pungent foods. Don’t drink cold drinks, or eat cold raw food — especially in the middle of winter. Stimulants like coffee, alcohol and tobacco should be avoided.
Vatas love massage, especially with warm sesame oil. They also like coconut oil, both to eat and on the skin.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
fyou have a craving or revulsion for a particular food, activity, friend, place,
|Fate,drugorwhatever,thenstopandobservewhatisgoingon.Letus say you have a craving for chocolate or ajunk food. Your body obviously needs something, but common sense tells you that itisunlikely to be the junk food. Ifyou indulge inthat craving, how do you feel afterwards?
Cravings can work in two ways. They can be directly for the nutrient your body needs. Ifyou have a strong desire for sardines, tomatoes or cheese, your body is probably deficient in one of the components of that food. Secondly,
regular meals, and sufficient and regular sleep. They flourish with stable relationships at work and home.
excesses also cause cravings, and this probably happens more frequently. If you long for something sweet, particularly ifithappens often, or after a meal, you may have candida or metabolic syndrome.
Intuition is a deep and all-knowing feeling of truth. Your intuition (or common sense, or gut-feel) should play an important part in your decision- making. Be attentive to your spontaneous feelings when you need to make a decision about food (or any other aspect of your life).
If you are not sure about a particular type of food or even a whole plate of food, then listen to your body. Sit quietly with the plate in front of you. Take a minute to look at it,smell it,and tune into it.You will know whether it is something deeply nourishing, neutral, or repulsive. Practise this technique, and you will become far more sensitive to the world around you.
Distinguishing between your desires and your intuition is not always easy. Desires come from your ego, from society’s expectations, and from what others have taught you. Desires are not the same as your true needs. Your desires are more concerned with your status in society, your image, and comparing yourself with other people. This is when your ego kicks in and fear, greed and reason cloud the correct decision.
Ifyou feel calm and relaxed about a choice, then your intuition istelling you to proceed. Choose those options that have a good gut feel, that seem to fit and be self-evident. Be present, listen and pay attention. Practice and a genuine desire to get to the truth will lead you there. Some people will describe this process as prayer, others as meditation, and others as growing or maturing.
As your sensitivity increases, you will learn to watch your body and its reaction to your environment. Your feelings and intuition will magnify your senses, and provide a powerful new guide.
Above all, enjoy, have fun, do not worry! If you break the rules or over- indulge occasionally, that is OK. Never feel guilty. If you have a double chocolate ice cream in your hand - enjoy itto the full. Savour it,smell it,totally indulge. If you beat yourself up for any misbehaviour, your feelings of guilt are likely to be far more harmful to your body than the indulgence itself. Ifyou can stick to the rules 90% and go astray 10% of the time, you are doing well.
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I read a health magazine for a number of years, and looked forward to the food column each month. The writer, who had her picture at the head of the column, was a healthy looking woman who obviously knew her stuff. She clearly explained why organic produce was so important, and grew many of her own herbs and vegetables. Her recipes were bursting with flavour, health and living energy, and her writing style was alive with enthusiasm. I would have given (almost) anything to be a regular guest in her kitchen.
Eventually, Imet her at a dinner party one evening. She was a classic type A personality — a perfectionist in all that she did, driven, impatient and in control. Ifeverything was not just so, right on time, she resented it.The stress and the imbalance in her life were obvious. She looked ten years older than her age, in spite of an enviable lifestyle that included wonderful organic foods, a stimulating job, a wide circle of friends, and sufficient time for exercise and socialising.
A long, healthy and happy life is a life of enjoyment, play, fun and thankfulness. It is a blessing to have a healthy, vital body; lots of money, a satisfying career or position in life; a soul mate lover with lots of delicious sex; and many close caring friends. However, obsessing after any of them or feeling the ache of missing out if any one of them is lacking, can detract from your whole life and shorten itby many years.
Grow Youthful is a guide to a healthy, long-lived, conscious way of life that feels good and makes sense. It is not a quick fix, a diet or a fad. This book shows you how to significantly slow your rate of ageing, and avoid the degenerative diseases that plague most people in their later years.
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LIVING THE LIFE YOU LOVE YOUR EGO AND YOUR GROWTH
ARE YOU GROWING?
A healthy, youthful person is loving, aware of their own body and surroundings, and full offun and humour. A.effective,fullyfunctioninghumanbeingcontinuestogrow
throughout his or her life. Growth means being open and available to change. Growth means continually shedding the beliefs, assumptions, judgements and opinions that you have built up in your mind to represent who you are. You must be willing to examine and re-examine everything,
including your most fundamental beliefs, and discard them ifnecessary.
If every aspect of your life is oriented towards evolution, you will shift the
balance of forces in your being. Your cells, tissues, organs, body systems, mind, psychology and feelings will tap the universal power of growth and creativity through their full use and expression.
The opposite of growing is dying. Old, stagnating people are set in their opinions, and have beliefs that are not open to change. How can you be a growing, evolving human being ifyou are absolutely convinced that you are right about your political persuasion, your religion, your area of expertise, your opinion of your neighbours and their kids, your boss, your partner, and any other judgments that you have made? You may have studied a subject for years, or had a deep-seated persuasion for most of your life, but always be open to the possibility that itmay not be serving you. Ifyou are living part of your life as a lie, itwill stress you.
In order to grow, it is even more important that you are open to changing your picture of who you are. This image of yourself and the expectations that come with itiswhat drives you. Most people spend their lives acting out what they have been taught to do, or what other people expect of them. They are polite, they do the right thing, they want to be good. Virtually all of us have hyperactive minds and egos, and we spend almost every waking minute trying to defend our image. We want to look good, and avoid looking bad.
It is a risky and thrilling process challenging this picture of yourself, detail
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bydetail.Why shouldanimageofyourselfasinteresting/boring/loud/ quiet etc limit you to behaving in that way? Is itserving you? Would you like to invent some new possibilities?
Growth also means being grounded in the experience of noticing what is happening around you and paying attention to what your senses and feelings are telling you. Grounding means paying attention to your body, your sense of connection to the earth, and standing firm, alert and balanced. You get real nourishment through touch, smell, taste, sound and sight - commonplace, everyday experiences. What you see and hear as an involved observer is likely to be closer to the truth than judgements and stories built up in your mind. How often have you made a judgement or built up an opinion only to find it was way off the mark when you visited the place or spoke directly to the people concerned?
It is an exciting process to ask these questions and be open to new and novel answers. Scary too. But as you start to let go of some of your beliefs and opinions and replace them with what the evidence around you indicates, or what you really want to do, your life becomes more aligned and effective. You save an enormous amount of thinking and stress, not worrying about what other people are thinking and whether you are doing the right thing.
YOUR EGO
our ego is your mental image of who you are. It is not the real you.
Nees itcomesfromyourupbringingandculturalconditioning.Your ego is a mental picture of yourself resulting from habituation by your society, culture, education, family, peers, workplace, and every otherworldly influence on your thinking. Often, itisquite inaccurate.
Your ego is motivated to maintain and enhance favourable views of itself. It will protect and promote this favourable mental image at almost any cost. It thinks it is all that you are, and threats to the ego are threats to your very life.
Researchers have shown that admitting an unwise decision threatens the ego. To avoid that, people continue to slog on with failed courses of action
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despite mounting losses. Threatened egotism “makes people more prone to become entrapped in losing endeavours”. !!9
Your ego wants to keep your past alive, itholds on to your history. After all, it says, your past is what makes you who you are today. If you are not happy now, your ego lets you use your past as an excuse. Your parents, your poor upbringing, that abusive teacher or sibling — your ego gives you many important and valid excuses for your lack of satisfaction today.
Your ego is also concerned about your future. After all, thinking about your future isthinking about your survival. Ifyou are not happy now, itisonly in the future that things can get better. The ego says, “When this event happens, then Iwill be happy and fulfilled.” The event may be more money, finding your soul mate, getting married, having children, the children growing up and leaving home, divorcing, losing weight, getting fit, a qualification, getting a promotion, retiring, or whatever. Most people spend their entire lives waiting, putting off fully living each day, hour and moment.
Your ego refuses to live in the present moment. It keeps you thinking, worrying, regretting, planning and explaining. It compares you to other people — mostly those who are doing better. Ithas agendas — everything you do has a reason. Itrules your life by what other people might think, rather than by your own truth.
Itisconcerned with your status, with doing better than others, with your influence over people, and with seeking power and control. The ego seeks possessions, education, appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, and beliefs in political, national, racial and religious ideals. Ittakes you away from living in the moment with enjoyment, fun and inspiration.
Your ego is active virtually all your waking hours, busy chattering away. There are scarcely more than a few minutes every day when it is not your driving force. Virtually every waking moment you spend trying to look good or avoid looking bad. “Rubbish”, Ihear you say. “I love my family, and give much of my time and energy to them, and also to the community. I’m not concerned with my image while doing that.” However, consider every
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interaction you have with other people. Every word you say has an agenda, usually designed to protect your status, power and appearance, and to make you look as good as possible in the eyes of the other person.
Brad Blanton’s book Radical Honesty?? explains how we have been brainwashed since the day we were born to lie and to behave according to the expectations of others. We fail to talk straight with strangers, friends, family, lovers, bosses and workmates. Instead, our egos are running full-throttle evaluating, judging, assuming, feeling righteous, and guessing how to maintain our image, whilst paying little attention to the people we are with and our environment. Itisnot surprising that most Western people are living in their heads, unhappy, not living to their full potential, wishing and hoping, and pretending that everything is all right.
Quoting Brad: “The rescue from our mind’ oppression comes from authentic contact and honest sharing with other human beings”. He clearly explains how telling the truth can transform your life. Take the risk that others might be offended or shocked or get their feelings hurt, and tell the truth. The emotional burden of holding onto your secrets, resentments, assumptions, fears, angers and shames is making you sick, old and bringing on a miserable early death. Clear, responsible and truthful communication will mean that others can trust what you say, and provide a foundation for real relationship. You will feel infinitely better after you have cleaned up your act.
In his book The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle maintains that 80-90% of most people’s thinking is repetitive and useless.374 This ego-driven thinking is mostly dysfunctional and negative. It inhibits the clearest type of thinking, access to your true self and real creativity. This compulsive, addictive thinking causes hormonal upsets, and is responsible for ageing and degenerative diseases.
YOUR EMOTIONS
ee arisewhereyourbodyandmindmeet.Thereisafeeling
attached to every single thought that you have. They are your body’s hormonal and biochemical responses to your thoughts and mental images.
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The more dominant is your ego and the more persistent your thoughts, the stronger will be your emotions.
Depression, anger, sadness and negative emotions often have a nutritional cause. It is difficult to stress a healthy body, whereas it takes little to set off someone who is run-down or out of balance. People who have made the lifestyle, diet and exercise changes recommended in Grow Youthful are unlikely to suffer from depression or mental illness.
Your emotions will tend to fluctuate wildly if your blood glucose and insulin levels are out of balance (page 262). One of the initial benefits you will notice when following the diet 1recommend is that your emotions and energy level will stabilise. This is the result of your blood glucose level stabilising, rather than oscillating through the peaks and troughs caused by eating sugar and refined carbohydrates.
Emotions do not come from your truth or higher self. However, they are an accurate reflection of your thought patterns. Ifyour mind isconfused, and conflicts with your emotions, then your emotions will be the more accurate reflection of your thoughts.
It is vital that you are aware of your negative emotions, and can feel them. If you suppress them, they will not go away. Rather, they will build up like a pressure cooker and eventually manifest physically. For example, repressed anger or sadness can make you ill, and may trigger unpleasant “mirror” responses in other people.
You can free yourself from these layers of pain by feeling them and fully being with the sensations. Live in the present, and acknowledge your feelings, rather than denying them. Itisthe only way to find out what your truth is.The alternative is to lie to yourself (and others), denying that you are feeling angry, sad, pissed off or other important feelings.
At first, this may seem like an exercise in masochism. Since early childhood, our society has taught us to repress our emotions, to hide our feelings, and to wear a mask that covers our true and natural selves. However, ifyou are living in the present, and can feel your emotions, you will see the truth behind them. They always come from your own conditioning, beliefs,
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and life experience. Other people are never the cause of your feelings, so there is no need to indulge in blame, denial and games.
Ifyour positive emotions are strangers to you, be on the lookout for them. Not feeling and expressing your positive emotions will make you dry, icy or lifeless. To a conditioned and blocked mind, feeling and openly expressing joy, love and trust is as difficult as feeling the negative emotions. Consciously enjoy emotions like compassion, insight, inspiration and revelation, and acknowledge yourself for doing this.
Conflict and negative emotions such as fear, anger, greed, selfishness, envy, sadness, anxiety, distrust, shame and guilt cause the secretion of adrenalin, cortisol and other hormones throughout your body. If you let such emotions dominate, they will drain your vitality. It is harmful to hold your emotions inside (usually in the heart or the stomach), painfully twisting and gnawing. Each emotion has a special relationship with specific organs in your body, and an excess of that emotion will damage that organ. Uncontrolled anger for example, damages the liver over time. Anger generates and wastes huge amounts of vital energy. Remember, if you can, how you felt in the aftermath of a fight, argument or temper tantrum - both physically and mentally depleted.
A recent study!9? found that the stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is enough to slow their bodies’ ability to heal from minor wounds by at least one day. Moreover, ifthe couple are routinely hostile toward each other, the delay in that healing process can be doubled. The researchers also concluded that after relatively minor arguments, their subjects were more susceptible to a range of degenerative diseases including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and type-2 diabetes.
Fear isassociated with the kidneys. Chronic fear suppresses your immune functions by triggering the adrenal gland to secrete adrenaline and cortisone. If fear or any other source of stress becomes chronic, adrenal burnout soon follows and the victim suffers from immune deficiency that renders the body easy prey to formerly harmless microbes in the environment.
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The “fight or flight” response is an ancient reaction to a perceived threat or challenge, such as the sighting of a potential prey or predator. Your adrenal glands secrete adrenalin and cortisol, your heart beat increases, the bronchi of your lungs dilate, digestion shuts down, muscle strength is increased and your pupils dilate. Energy is diverted from non-urgent tasks to prime your body for physical exertion.
The crisis or challenge our ancestors experienced was typically short- lived. Their high-energy response of running or fighting burned up the hormones and glucose in their blood. Such situations only occurred occasionally and when they passed, they quickly recovered their digestive energy and endocrine balance. Their bodies soon switched to the “rest and digest” state, with their heartbeat returning to normal, pupils contracting, and their digestive process restarting.
It is easy to see why our hunter-gather ancestors needed this response. However, modern stresses are not often physical threats where you need extra strength to run and throw rocks, after which you can relax again. Today’s stresses are mostly ongoing emotions and conflicts in your head. Stresses such as living with the threat of impending redundancy, or waiting for the results of medical tests, may continue for months without respite. Frustration in the office, marital conflict, news on television, repressed rage, peer pressures and exposure to microwaves and electromagnetic fields can trigger biochemical stress responses hundreds of times each day. These stresses are ongoing, week after week, month after month, with no letup. If you face continual stress, your body never has a chance to purge its stress toxins.
Your nervous, immune and glandular systems are intimately connected. Chronic stress is one of the primary causes of immune deficiency in today’s world, especially in the crowded urban centres of developed societies. If you are suffering from destructive emotional peaks and troughs, the first thing to do is tackle the organic reasons why your emotions may be haywire. Changing your diet, getting regular, sufficient exercise, drinking enough water, deep and proper breathing, or minimising your exposure to all forms of pollution may completely heal any emotional instability. You will also feel
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happier, stronger and more vital.
Communication is an emotional outlet. It is so important to tell the truth
and say what is really going on for you. Tell the truth in everything you say — risking the listener’s anger or condemnation. Usually, you will find your fears are unfounded. More importantly, your withheld feelings will not build up to festering resentments.
If you are still depressed or stuck in negative emotions, meditation, discussed on page 56, will help. Itisprofoundly calming and de-stressing, and helps you regain perspective in your life. It also provides the opportunity to watch your emotions and your behaviour, almost as if you are watching someone else. When you can stop and see what you are doing, itbecomes clear that you have a choice not to continue to behave that way.
As you become conscious of your emotions, they will no longer dominate you. Your presence and attention will grow. Instead of being emotionally caught up in life’s problems and dramas, you will enjoy a feeling of ease and acceptance. It is one of the keys to living in the moment, living in the now.
LIVING IN THE MOMENT
he present moment never ages. It is for action, doing and being. You can
ol[eafullyexpressandfeelyourselfrightnow.Thisinstantiswhereyou obtain the maximum joy and satisfaction in your life.
If you spend a lot of time living in your past, you will age rapidly. Check itout for yourself. Those people who often talk and think about their past are not young and vital. Ifyou spend much time dwelling on your memories, both good and bad, it prevents you from living in the present moment. Your cherished thoughts, achievements, adventures, experiences, regrets, guilt, resentment, sadness and frustrations are long gone. The dreadful things that you went through and your victim story are only a tape playing in your head. Letyourpastgo.Onlyrefertoitwhen itisrelevanttowhatyouaredoing now.
You cannot find yourself by immersing yourself in your past. The real you isthebeinglivinginthismoment. Ifyoudelveintoyourpast,youwillfindit
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is a bottomless pit — there is always more. When you release your past and all the explanations and excuses that go with it, you enjoy a new level of freedom. Itletsyou liveinthepresent moment, which isallyou have anyway.
Ifyou spend a lot of time and energy focusing on your future, you will feel stressed. Fear of change, loss, and death is one of the prime causes of ageing and degeneration. Your ego diverts your mind with hundreds of things that may or may not happen in the future, instead of letting you get on with living right now.
Stress occurs when you are so busy getting to some place in the future that the present moment is lost - reduced to a means of getting there. So many of us waste our lives working for something in the future and never enjoying the NOW. Itbecomes a habit, and even when what we have worked so hard for arrives, we do not stop to enjoy it.We are already working for the next thing. Instead, become aware of the wonderful life around you and in you each moment, and enjoy it for its own sake, without its link to the future.
Since ancient times, spiritual masters of all traditions have pointed to living in the now as the key to solving your problems. You cannot be both unhappy, and totally present in this moment. It is only when your mind holds on to your past, or dwells on your future, that your problems arise. Try it— focus your attention on the immediate moment, and say out aloud what problem you have in that very second. The answer: you had no problem in that particular second.
Time is the cause of your suffering and your troubles. Time is the essence of Western society, and civilisation. Our society teaches us that we are time bound. Free from time, you can pursue your goals with a joyful and playful energy.
LAUGHTER
PS isthesecretofyouth.Playmeanshavingfunandbeingchildlikeand
living in the innocent, carefree world of a child. It means being yourself thinking.
(totally) and living in the moment. It is not concerned with analysing or
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Laughter lightens life’s loads and is “the best medicine.” It gives you some of the benefits of good breathing, aerobic exercise and relaxation. A deep belly laugh increases the oxygen intake in your lungs and cells, giving your abdominal muscles, diaphragm and heart a healthy workout. It relaxes you, takes your mind off your concerns, and makes you more appealing socially. Laughter stimulates your brain to produce endorphins, natural opiates that lift you up and make you feel good.
Many of the benefits of laughter are similar to those you get from deep breathing (page 243). However, it is not the same as deep breathing, so | suggest you keep up your laughing every day. The oxygen bath that you get from laughing energises your cells, and induces a feeling of exuberance that lasts well after you stop laughing. Laughing is an anti-ageing therapy, and it makes you look younger by relaxing your face.
Ifyou find itdifficult laughing, or you just want some company while you practise laughing, then join a laughter club. Sometimes it is easier to laugh when others around you are laughing - they provide good company and practical support. The idea originated in India with Dr. Madan Kataria, a Bombay physician. Initially he gathered a few friends together for a good laugh every morning, but itrapidly grew to over 400 clubs in Bombay alone. People from all walks of life meet at parks, beaches and parking lots every morning for 20 minutes. Dr. Kataria says that, just as asense of humour leads to more laughter, the corollary is also true: laughter helps us develop our sense of humour.
When you are starting to laugh, it is quite OK to fake it. Just keep laughing, keep at it. Eventually you may laugh at yourself, and the stupidity of the situation.
The routine at most laughter clubs starts with some deep breathing exercises, and then a group chant in unison, “Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Ho-Ho...” which slowly increases in speed. Participants run through a medley of different types of laughs (such as a hearty laugh, cocktail laugh and dancing laugh). The forced laughter soon gives way to spontaneous giggles, chuckles and guffaws, and members leave the session feeling refreshed, relaxed and revitalized.
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There are now more than 1000 laughter clubs in cities all around the world. Many members claim that the laughter clubs have changed their entire outlook on life. Most of them say they have improved their self-confidence, their interpersonal relations with their co-workers, and their ability to concentrate. Members maintain that as little as fifteen seconds of laughter every day gives you many benefits that include lowering your cortisol level and stimulating your glandular and immune systems.
There are measurable physical differences between people who laugh a lot, and those who do not. The blood of laughers is a brighter red, and they have a healthy glow to their skin. This comes from a richer supply of oxygen, and the better removal of carbon dioxide.
CRYING
ave you ever found yourself starting to cry on what should be a happy,
Files event?Mostofushavesomuchpainandsadnessbottledupthat ittakes advantage of any emotional occasion to worm itsway out.
Society does not encourage crying. Have you ever cried inpublic? I'llbet everyone nearby felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. Even when a child cries, most parents immediately try to console the little one. Seldom do they let the child go into, and through the source of pain or frustration. Parents do not like their children to be unhappy or show painful emotions. Perhaps this is because the parents themselves are repressing the same emotions. Boys especially are taught not to cry — it shows weakness, rather than strength and “masculinity.”
Rational, left-brain types, especially men, have great difficulty crying. A man who cries in the workplace, on the sports field, or down at the pub is regarded as weak, effeminate and weird by his mates (ifhe has any). Men in particular carry armour, or a mask, behind which they hide their real feelings and emotions.
The result is that we live in a society where we suppress our real (negative) feelings. We do not feel free to cry when feeling sad, frustrated or
angry, or to shout, wave our arms, and act out our feelings with our bodies.
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We even repress positive emotions around other adults, and in the worst cases, all the time. How often do you whoop with joy, jump on the spot with happy anticipation, dance spontaneously, hug your friends and sing in the street?
The release of your emotions will help you come alive. Cry, laugh, shout with anger, and scream. Of course, let itout appropriately. Mostly, scream or shout into a pillow. Not too many people deserve, or want to receive that!
Crying is an invaluable means of psychological and physical release, especially from depression or bereavement. Tears have another huge benefit. Genuine crying contains toxic waste products related to stress reactions (as opposed to tears caused by strong wind or chopping onions, which are mainly salt and water.) The tears, mucus, and rhythmic action on the lungs and gut that come with a good cry are all powerful means of eliminating the hormonal by-products of emotions.
This isprobably why many women can handle stress and disappointments better than men can — they are able to release their emotions by crying and talking about their feelings. Women can get itout of their systems, because society does not place the same constraints of emotion on women, as it does on men.
In his book Cure by Crying, Thomas A. Stone says, “the more you cry, the more your mind will heal itself.” 35 Neurosis is stored traumatic memories. Theworsethememory (especiallyatayoungage),themorelikelyitistobe blocked. The most typical blocked memories are of physical, verbal and sexual abuse as a young child.
The majority of people suffer from some level of neurosis. Most of us have at least some painful memories that we have blocked, and can no longer remember. Holding these memories and keeping them blocked takes a lot of energy. This is why depressed people tend to have low energy. In a neurotic person, these forces manifest as anger, depression, nervousness or irritation. Other symptoms include headaches, shyness, insomnia and problems relating to the opposite sex. Over time, the neurosis shows as inflammation, digestive problems and other degenerative diseases. Not being aware of the real cause,
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the person blames it on their job, spouse, money or some other conflict or problem.
Neurotics do not know that they are neurotic. They cannot remember their traumas. Their lack of awareness is their biggest obstacle to being cured.
Stone recommends a form of primal therapy to uncover your repressed memories — going back to your earliest childhood, and re-living those times. It is helpful to have a friend or a therapist versed in the method to guide you. As you cry and the events surface, face them, cry about them, and be with them. The events will then lose their power over you as you let go of the past.
Crying often cures symptoms which have ailed sufferers for years.
LEADINGAN EFFECTIVE LIFE RESPONSIBILITY
hink back to when you were a little child — the security, comfort and total iPofresponsibilityofbeinglookedafterbyyourparentsorguardian. Most of us had everything provided, laid on. Our food, friends, housing,
recreation, clothing and virtually every other aspect of our lives was available with little or no effort. Unfortunately, few people completely grow out of this passive dependence, maturing to take full responsibility for every aspect of their lives. They want the government, community leaders, churches, schools, doctors, scientists, universities, the television and the media to take responsibility for their health, safety, welfare, education, bringing up their children, and for other challenges in life that require hard work, concentrated thinking, decisions and responsibility. When things go wrong, they look for the quick fix, the easy solution, and of course, someone to blame. Anyone to blame except themselves.
It is disastrous to assume that the government, health authorities, food producers, regulators, medical boards, doctors, the education system or any other authorities have your best interests at heart. They operate for the benefit of themselves, not their clients or customers. The profits of the processed food, drug and medical industries usually determine their priorities. They are rich enough to exert financial and political pressures at the highest levels.
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When people do not take responsibility for their lives, they suffer the consequences. The vast numbers of people who unthinkingly trust their wellbeing to health professionals, drug companies, medical insurance and hospitals are paying the price with sick, ageing bodies. Parents who hand over the upbringing of their children to teachers, schools, other parents, high priced tutors, and government remedial departments are also paying the price as their children develop to less than their potential. Those who do not take responsibility have many excuses, other people to blame.
The willingness to sue on the slightest pretext is another symptom of the lack of personal responsibility today. People who are injured or suffer a loss through their own stupidity or lack of attention are quick to blame anyone but themselves.
Taking full responsibility for your life and everything that happens in itis one of the greatest steps to freedom you will ever take. You take back control of your life. All the choices are yours. You have the power to choose the life that you love, and how itunfolds, rather than living according to the agendas of other people.
Consider this. After a disagreement with someone, you say to him or her, “You hurt my feelings.” In this case, you have placed all the responsibility on the other person, and taken none for yourself. You have given away all your power, because they completely control the situation, and you are powerless to influence it.You are just a victim.
Ifyousaytohimorher,“Ifeelhurt”,thatisanimprovement. Inthiscase, you are not blaming the other person. However, you are still not taking any responsibility, and so will still feel powerless. It is only when you acknowledge to yourself that you chose to feel hurt, that you can take control
Several industries have a lot to lose if we, as a society start to challenge how we think about our health and wellbeing. This book shows how the processed / packaged / fast food industry, producers of personal and household products, the pharmaceutical drug industry, and recreational drugs are partly responsible for the poor health of our population. They profit from the current situation and have little incentive to change.
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of the situation, how you feel, and how you behave.
Effective people who take responsibility for creating their lives do not
respond to or react against their circumstances and the people around them. They never say “if only .....” or “I wish .....” Rather than having their lives created by other people or the randomness of their circumstances, they channel their energy into their own priorities.
Your life today is the sum total of what you have done, of your own thoughts and actions. Whatever the reasons, justifications and excuses, itis you, and only you that have made you who you are right now. Accept responsibility for creating your life — what are you going to do, starting this moment, to become the person that you want to be? The exciting thing is that the power to be whoever you want to be is in your hands and your hands alone.
Integrity is doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it. When you say something, you always know it is the truth. Integrity means being on time for an appointment you have made, or fully completing a task when you said you would — no excuses. Integrity also applies to yourself — when you tell yourself that you are going to do something, you do itrather than let itslip away.
If you are not going to do something, or if you are not going to complete a task on time, then say so. You gain power by seeing your life unfold each day the way that you said itwould.
“_.it iswhat people do, not what they say or write, that predicts (their) future.”°38
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO?
re you living a life you love? Does it feel rich and effective, with
Nee thatisimportanttoyouinplaceorintheprocessofbeing realized? Or do you feel overwhelmed by demands on your time and energy? Or that you have little personal power?
If you woke up tomorrow morning with many millions of dollars in your
bank account, would it radically change the way you earn a living, or what
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you do for money? If your answer is an emphatic “Yes, yes, yes!” then I suggest that there is something seriously out of alignment in your life right now. The correct answer to this question is that you would continue doing what you are already doing — the money would simply let you do those things inamore luxurious way.
With your new millions, you could go and live in a breathtaking home on a tropical island, but what then? After a holiday and break, how would you fill your time? May I suggest that if the scope of the rest of your life on this tropical paradise were lying by the pool, ordering servants, watching videos and partying, then the rest of your life would be short and unfulfilled? Would you like to travel, study something, create something, grow in some way, have many friends, or would you seek solitude? What are your real interests? What seems like play? Ifyou could do anything, what would you do?
WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING THAT NOW? The excuses that you have, when you look at them in truth, are probably pathetic.
Kahil Gibran writes On Work in The Prophet, “And ifyou cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate ofthe temple and take alms ofthose who work with joy. For ifyou bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread.”
The primary advice I have given my children on work and career, and anyone else who has asked, is “Do what feels good, what you enjoy, what excites you. Don’t focus on the money or the rewards — they will follow of their own accord.”
Many people complain that they do not have goals about which they are passionate, or a wish list that excites them. If you feel this way, the answer is to look at your options and make some choices. CHOOSE! Any decision is acceptable when you cannot decide. When you make a choice and a commitment, your life will move. You gain experience, learn new skills, and your life has purpose.
It is possible that your choices will later change. You may no longer want something that you chose previously. In that case, choose something different. At least you have gained some experience from the previous choice.
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However, it is important that you do not give up because it is too hard or taking too long. Learning to play a musical instrument, learning a new language, creating a successful business or career, and many other worthy tasks can take years of effort. At times when there seems to be little progress, important assimilation and consolidation can be taking place.
Work to serve, not to get ahead. If your work is consistent with what you have chosen for your life, and you are being true to yourself, that changes everything. Even the most menial or unpleasant work is quite acceptable when itispart of a higher purpose. Itno longer makes you tired or ages you. Instead, itisrejuvenation, aservice, even an indulgence!
Do what you really want to do, as if you knew you could not fail. This attitude will free you from so many self-imposed limitations. Do not be attached to the outcome. Go for it with a passion, care about the work, immerse yourself in it,and whatever happens, happens.
YOUR CHOICES
ere is one of the most important and productive tasks that you can do in
lal wholelife.Writealistofthethingsthatyouwant,thatare important to you. Start by writing your ultimate choices. Ultimate choices are things that you want in themselves. They are not intermediate choices, stepping stones leading on to something else. For example, an ultimate choice may be “I want good health” or “I want a satisfying and loving relationship”. An intermediate choice supporting good health could be choosing to lose weight, and supporting that would be eating more nourishing food or joining a gym.
Here are some common ultimate choices:
*health or sickness
* life or death
*abundance orpoverty
*growth or stagnation
* security and safety or living on the edge
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*power or dependence *recognition or anonymity *peace or conflict
¢ love or hate
You may be surprised to see that some choices seem to be quite negative. Who would choose sickness instead of health, death instead of life, or poverty instead of abundance? However, the benefits of being sick might include sympathy, the attention of family and friends, avoiding hard work or exercise, or financial advantages. Death is a choice for people who have priorities higher than life itself.!3 Placing eternal truths, God or principles like freedom, nation or justice ahead of life can make death acceptable. The benefits of poverty might include a feeling of righteousness, the need to be accepted by (poor) friends and family, or living your belief that wealth is evil or that you don’t deserve to be rich.
Itisnot easy to admit that you have made negative choices for your life. The clue is that if you have areas of your life where you feel disempowered or frustrated, then you have probably chosen to be that way. Identifying your negative choices requires total honesty when you look at your life, examining exactly what you have created in the simplest terms. Often a loving and brutally honest friend or a young child will help you to see the way you really are. Ifyou were born with a handicap or injured in an accident, are you indulging in it?
It is important that you go through this process of honestly describing your life in this present moment. Do not try to explain or justify anything. Keep itshort and simple. For example, “I have a sore back”, “I have a ten year old red station wagon”, “I enjoy my work” and “I feel underpaid”.
Next, write a list of the areas where you would like things to be different (where you feel disempowered or frustrated). Keep itshort, to the point, and without any explanations. It is quite OK if it shows you to be greedy, controlling, needy, jealous, self-centred or fearful. You can also include in this list things that you would like to stay the same. Examples include: “I would
like my son to talk with me every day”, “I would like my partner to
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complement me for the way I look”, “I like my neighbourhood”, and “I want to earn twice my current earnings”.
Write your list of choices under headings such as Health, Personal Development, Partner, Social and Fun, Spiritual, Career, Financial, Family, Location and Lifestyle — whatever is important to you.
Ifyou have choices that conflict with each other, reconcile them with your ultimate choices. Perhaps you want to spend more time with your family, more time developing your career, and more time reading. Which of these further your most important ultimate choices? Where are you wasting time that does not further one of your ultimate choices?
It is important that you state each choice in positive terms. For example, “T will meet three possible new friends by the end of this month” rather than, “IT don’t want to be lonely.” You should be able to measure each choice, and know quite clearly whether you have achieved itor not. Choices are useless ifyou phrase them in weak, vague statements of something you hope to do (“I will try to”, “I would like to”, “perhaps”, ““sometime”). Nor are they helpful ifthey are part of your journey or process — “getting in touch with yourself”, “becoming a better person” or “overcoming self-sabotage” are non- measurable processes on the way to other choices. Your intermediate choices should be clear, positive, measurable tasks that you can do now or at a specific time.
The last step in making up this list is to review each choice that you have written down, and ask yourself “if itwas offered to me right now, would Itake it?” If your answer is a deep and thirsty YES, then it is a valid choice. However, if your answer is couched with ifs and buts and maybes and “not yet” then remove itfrom your list.
This is not a trivial task. It can take days of effort. Your ultimate choices are particularly significant, because you hold them in your subconscious, and they are charged with emotion. Write them down, declare them aloud, and share them with other people.
It is agood idea to repeat this exercise at least once a year. Your dreams and desires change continually. You will also be delighted to find that you can
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A good place to put your completed list of choices is in your diary. If you do not have a diary get one, and use itevery day.
WHAT ISSUCCESS?
rofessor Michael Marmot has shown that your position in the social
|Brees hasastronganddirectaffectonyourlengthoflifeandstateof health.!92 Living in a large house in a beautiful and safe neighbourhood, being wealthy, working in a managerial position, being tall and attractive, having many positive social relationships, being well educated, and generally having a prestigious high status life are all strongly correlated with health and longevity.
Conversely, as you move down the social ladder, your health and longevity deteriorate. Those at the bottom of the heap, even in the developed world with sufficient food, shelter and clothing, suffer markedly shorter lives and higher levels of sickness. The disadvantages of being lower class and having less compared with others, weigh heavily on life. They die younger and have higher risks of most diseases, as well as suicides, accidents and violent deaths.!?4 It is not true that people at the top suffer higher levels of stress and heart disease, !92B
This relationship between status and health is on a sliding scale. As you move slightly up or down, you health and life expectancy will change accordingly.
Professor Marmot proposes that there are two reasons why your position in society is important. Firstly, ifyou are at the top you have more autonomy or control over your life. Secondly, the higher up you are, the more opportunities you have for “full social engagement and participation.”
He provides data showing that the poorest households in the USA have four times the risk of death than the richest. His study of the British civil service showed a similar risk of death between its highest and lowest ranks.
tick off many items as time goes by. I have kept written goals for several decades, and it is most gratifying to go back and see how most of them are now in my life. The few that are not are no longer important to me.
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Other researchers have shown that the effect applies around the world, in both developed and less developed countries. A survey across 16 developed countries showed that unmarried men had twice the mortality of married men. Unmarried women had one and a half times the mortality of those who were married.
In my opinion, the reason higher-ranking and well-connected people lead longer and healthier lives is that they often have:
* perspective - they see “the big picture” and the range of opportunities available to them
* willingness - to take risks, make choices, and make them happen
* social skills — the ability to attract a positive partner, friends, and connections
* generosity and thankfulness, rather than jealousy, envy and grasping
In other words, these people are not stuck in a rut. They are able to create meaningful and satisfying lives.
I do not suggest that you pursue money, power, status, prestige, special abilities and appearance ahead of a more balance life. For health and youth, you need satisfying relationships, sufficient money for your needs, and the ability to make choices and implement them.
The most valuable things in life include love, truth, beauty, inspiration, connection, forgiveness, compassion, wisdom, support and being valued and appreciated. These jewels are available to all,though itdoes help ifyou have the time, opportunities, resources, partner, family and friends to get the most of them.
BALANCE & FLOW
odern Western culture is typified by excesses, taking things to the
Ns ees Beitmoney,food,work,leisure,exercise,entertainment, study or whatever, we tend to “go for it” or ignore it. Seldom do we feel a sense of balance, ease and flow. We often choose to over-ride our instincts,
continuing to do something long after itno longer feels right. Have you ever
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In every area of life, the key to health and mastery is balance. No aspect of your life should dominate the others; otherwise itbecomes an obsession or addiction. For example, work often dominates the lives of many people who have a full-time job. They do not work for themselves, but instead are bound by someone else’s goals. Their job takes a large portion of their waking hours, to the exclusion of family, friends, exercise, good food, sex, relaxation and other components of a rich life.
If you choose to live a balanced life, you will no longer push it to extremes. You will follow a daily and weekly routine, with periods of activity that include work, play, and rest. The rising and the setting of the sun will be part of a daily cycle that guides your sleep and waking.
The irony is that you will become more efficient, stronger, healthier, creative, have greater stamina and so on, if you pursue these traits from a balanced life, rather than a life of extreme dedication, sacrifice and hard work. When you work long hours, your efficiency and creativity falls off after a certain point. Itgets worse ifyou continue over-working day after day. Only when you make time for relaxation, rest, friends, family and self-nurturing will you become an effective person.
Obviously, itispossible to go out of balance in the other direction. Long periods of excessive rest and sleep, unfilled, aimless days, and “hanging out” without work for months soon take their toll. Again, your efficiency and creativity fall away.
One of the secrets of health and longevity is the establishment of body thythms that match the ebb and flow of energy in our lives. It is important to have regular daily cycles. Wake at more or less the same time each day, go to
same time.
pushed yourself to stay awake and keep doing something long after feeling exhausted, or continued eating after feeling full and knowing that you have had enough? Have you ever watched a computer screen or a television set until your eyes hurt, continued driving when your attention has been low, or had another drink when the previous one was enough?
the toilet, go for a walk, have your meals, work, and go to bed at roughly the
A
It takes time to get to know your body. Over the years, you get to know what feels best for you and when you have the most energy. Once you have a routine that feels good stay with it.
Routine in your day is also a powerful tool for reducing the stress of time pressure. A daily routine is a plan or a framework, allocating time to tasks with which you are familiar. You know how long ittakes to travel to a certain place, prepare and eat a meal, and do a piece of work or exercise. Planning your day removes the time stress. As you do each task, be totally with that task, living in the moment.
However, do not become dependent on your routines. If you have an unexpected event that upsets your schedule, itisimportant that ifyou choose, you can continue to function at every level. An unexpected visitor, a breakage in the kitchen or a small loss should not disrupt your life in any way. This is so important that it is necessary deliberately to break your routines on a regular basis. Take an annual holiday, take one day a week where you do not work or follow your normal routines, and make a point of visiting new places, meeting new people, and putting yourself out into the unknown.
THE POWER OF YOUR THOUGHTS
ife organises itself to suit the way you view it.You will attract into your
|asewhateveryouthinkaboutthemostfrequently,imaginethemost vividly, believe in the most strongly, and genuinely expect to happen. If your essence is positive, if you are an optimist by nature, and if your true expectations are of health, wealth and abundance, then this is what you will create for yourself.
Your mind works in pictures. When you say to yourself, “I don’t want to forget my glasses”, you get a mental picture of forgetting them, and so you are more likely to forget them. If you tell yourself, “I want to remember my glasses”, then you have a picture in your mind of remembering them, and you are likely to remember.
Say to yourself that you cannot remember names, or that you are a poor speller, and guess what — you will be just that. When you say to your children,
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“Don’t forget to bring your shoes”, then you are almost guaranteeing that they will forget them. Ifyou have alarge amount ofmoney inyour wallet, and you concentrate on not losing it, then its loss is likely. If you have a history of cancer in your family, and you think about it often, reading about it and focusing on what to do to protect yourself, you will likely develop that cancer. If you feel that life is tough, lonely, competitive or a struggle, then that is the kind of life you will create for yourself.
Your subconscious takes your thoughts, feelings and the images you hold in your mind, and gives them physical shape in the material world. Plant your goals into your subconscious as if you have already attained them. For example, ifyou want to be a decisive person, see yourself as decisive in your creative imagination. Thankfully see the goal as already achieved, and your subconscious will ensure that ithappens.
Even ifyou do not want something you think about and imagine a lot, you will get it. Your physical reality is a mirror of your thought patterns. If you dwell on your fears, then they are likely to happen. Change the way you think, and you will change your life.
If you dwell on wants and needs and dissatisfaction, then this is what you will create in your life (wants and needs). If you feel sick or awful, acknowledge that current reality, but then move on. Inner joy, peace, happiness and gratefulness comes first, and then the material means appears.
One of the results of meditating (page 56) is being able to watch yourself. More and more you will become aware of your thoughts and emotions, and how your ego rules your life. Notice how often you think in negative terms — criticising and judging yourself and others, feeling weak, inferior, sick, hurt, insulted, aggrieved and a raft of other negative sentiments. While your stated goals may be health, wealth and happiness, do you spend most of the time focusing on your aching leg, rude boss/children/neighbours, unpaid bills, excess weight and unpleasant weather?
Catch yourself in these situations, and turn what you are saying into positive statements. Start by congratulating yourself for noticing your negative thoughts — that is a clear sign of healing and growth. Align your
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thinking with the goals that you have written down. Even in a situation of conflict, pain or other difficulty, hold your goals in mind, gratefully and
joyfully.
Notice ifthe words that you speak are positive, healthy and constructive,
or whether you are sabotaging yourself. Take total responsibility for your thoughts — you are the on/y person running your mind and what your mouth says.
We create that to which we give our attention. You can focus your attention on the best in life, surround yourself with the best, and cause that to become your reality. Alternatively, if you allow your mind to dwell on the inferior, the miserly or the squalid, then that becomes your reality.
Do you like the way you look, feel and smell? Do you feel good about where you live, the kind of work you do, and how you express yourself through your dress, surroundings and possessions? Do you live in rooms covered with dirty clothes, musty linen, dust and papers? Is there a pile of dirty plates waiting in the sink? Is anything broken, needing repair or replacement? Is the food in your refrigerator old? How can you be bursting with vitality whilst living in such an environment? Energise the look, feel and effectiveness of your home — to reflect you.
High self-esteem produces high energy, which in turn attracts more success, fun and prosperity in an upward circle. Having high self-esteem is not being egotistical. It is an essential part of being a loving, effective, successful person. Egotism, in contrast, is trying to prove you are all those things when you are not.
Our society regards ageing and degeneration as ‘“normal”. Insurance companies, hospitals, retirement homes and funeral parlours expect to handle people’s declining bodies. Even your doctor may brush away your lack of energy, and aches and pains as an inevitable consequence of advancing years. Society and everyone around you fully expect you to look and feel worse each year. Youngsters in their teens and twenties, according to the Western society mass consciousness around us, are in their prime. People in their 30s should be suffering their first ageing and degeneration, according to this thinking.
People in their 40s are regarded as middle-aged. People in their 50s and 60s retire, an official stamp that they are past it,no longer contributing to society, and are now a burden. Most people regard old age as a time of inactivity, triviality, and a point beyond which you no longer need to grow, change, learn or take risks.
If you embrace the thoughts, attitudes and mannerisms that society expects of you, you will bring on this ageing. Do you conform to what is expected of your age group? Do you play the sports, listen to the music, study, and have interests, hobbies and recreations “appropriate” for your age? How do you dress? How is your posture? Do you have a youthful voice? Are you living the life that you love, or living the life that you think society expects of you?
An aged person’s sick, feeble, degenerate body is a mirror of his or her mind. The negative thoughts in such a person are the cause of their ageing. If this degeneration is your deepest belief, then that is what will happen to you. Are you bent over, old and stooped? Straighten your back, stand firmly on the ground, and hold your head high. Do you walk with small slow steps, with little purpose in your movement? Walk as if you are already strong and youthful, and know where you are going. Are you rigid in your thinking, with firm views on politics, society, money and the way things should be? Or are you open to changing the views which you may have held for many years? Are you able to accept people and things the way they are, without condemning or criticising them? Are you learning new things every day?
Many people throughout history have lived well beyond a century while retaining youthful looks, perfect health and all their faculties. Ifyou want this kindoflife, then firstaccept itand picture itinyour mind as“you”. Ifitseems an impossible dream, it will remain just that. Once your mind accepts with grateful and joyful certainty that this iswho you are, then itwill happen.
Children have excellent imaginations, unfettered by years of restrictions placed by society and other (sometimes well-meaning) people. A good imagination isthekeytoalllearningandproblem solving,andisessentialfor a sense of humour. The better your imagination, the more real are the pictures
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that you form in your mind.
Practise using your mind. The “use it or lose it” principle applies just as
much to your mental and spiritual facilities as itdoes to the rest of your body. Do crossword puzzles, play chess, visit places you have never been to, connect with new people, play with children, take up dancing and art and music or the study of small insects. Enjoy humour, be flexible, opening your life to change and the unexpected. Act more like a child, growing, learning and wondering. Become younger.
Remember however, that your thoughts are not a substitute or excuse for action. You still need to be alert, seize opportunities, take action, and persevere.
ATTITUDE
YOUR ATTITUDE MATTERS
our attitude to life is one of the most important determinants of your Wwhealthandlongevity.Howyouthinkaboutandseeyourselfaffectsevery aspect of your being — not just your health, but also your achievements,
relationships, wealth, abilities and even your character. At work and home, if you feel valued, loved and appreciated, that you belong to a worthwhile group or organisation, and that you are working toward a higher goal, this will add immeasurably to your sense of satisfaction and well-being. Ifyou are thankful rather than resentful towards life, and accepting rather than controlling, you will have a profound effect on your health, longevity, and even your bank balance!
Your attitude is entirely up to you. You can choose which audio tracks you want to run in your head. You can choose whether to be resentful, angry or sad day after day, or whether you will let itgo and get on with your life.
Your past, or the world around you is not the cause of your attitude to life. You can choose to blame the age at which you were potty trained or some other story for your behaviour today, or drop itcompletely.
When you see yourself as valuable, loveable, and connected to everything and everyone around you, your energy and immunity tend to remain high. The
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feeling that you do make a difference in this world and in people’s lives is essential to your health and well-being. A sense of being able to influence events around you isparticularly important.
Many studies of cancer patients show that those who “give up” and see themselves as doomed do not have anything like the survival rate of those with a positive self-image.
A feeling of loneliness can lead to a significantly higher risk of dementia in old age.27 Close friends are vital. It is also important that you feel you have people in your life who value you and what you do. These people can be your family, friends, neighbours, customers or business associates. A pet can also fulfil this role — numerous studies have shown that pet owners are more relaxed and live longer. Pets usually enthusiastically, gratefully and unconditionally appreciate their owners.
Your work should connect you with other people. If you see your colleagues as competitors, your workplace cannot be a joyful place. In the happiest workplaces, everyone has an explicit invitation to work together cooperatively, and enjoy social, as well as work-based relationships with each other.
David Guttmann of the University of Michigan maintains that a sense of “active mastery” is the ego state most clearly associated with longevity. This means having freedom and choices within your own life and circumstances. It also means having a “core belief’ or grand purpose for your life. As a master, you are too busy, too enthused and too enchanted with your tasks, insights, realisations, developing new skills and with reaching your full potential, to give up. You are persistent. You are prepared to defy social expectations and convention. You relinquish your need for approval from others, knowing in your heart that you are doing exactly what you need to be doing.
exciting, meaningful things on their plates to sit and vegetate, surrender, get sick and die.
The irony is that as well as living the longest and being the healthiest, these people are also the most “successful” in life. They have too many
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“Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.” Susan Ertz
The most important attitudes are those of gratitude and acceptance. Ifyou are grateful for and accepting of all that life gives you, it is impossible to hold negative emotions such as resentment, neediness, anger and shame at the same time.
GRATITUDE
od, as used in this section, is the God within you, your truth and higher
cc. ThisGodisalsoloveanduniversalconnectionfromwhichall things proceed.
Gratitude means relating to God in a harmonious way. It means singing the name of God on a daily basis, and giving thanks for all that you have and who you are today. If there is one attitude that is required for a relationship with God, itisgratitude.
God can, and does give you everything that you desire. Gratitude connects you with the source from which all health, growth and abundance comes. What you put out is reflected back to you. The closer you are to the source of all power, the more power and faith you will have in your life.
A competitive attitude is contrary to a grateful one. If you feel that you have to elbow your way to the front of the queue to get what you want in life, in the end you will get the least. Trust that the universe is big enough, and that God ispowerful enough toprovide allyou could ever want, and more. Sure, you have to know what you want, ask for what you want, be willing to accept what you want, and get off your butt to create it, but there is no need to trample over your fellow human beings in the process.
If you are always grateful, you will live closer to God than when you withhold orforgettogivethankful acknowledgement. Ifyou feelthatlifehas given you a raw deal, or that you have been treated unfairly, or short-changed, then how can you possibly have aunity ofmind with God? Resentment isthe opposite of thanks or gratitude.
If you are grateful, you will naturally focus your mind and its power on
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the best in life, and draw these things to you. It is impossible to be grateful, and miserly, squalid, mean or mediocre at the same time. Without gratitude, you will soon become dissatisfied with your life, even ifyou are happy with itnow.
Without gratitude, your attention is drawn to what you do not want, or dislike. As you focus your attention on these things, the power of your mind will draw them to you. Even if you arrange your life to do everything else correctly, your miserly, resentful or ungrateful attitude to God will keep you in poverty. After receiving one gift from God, you prevent the receipt of more byfailingtogivethanks.
Are you grateful to your body for being your temple for all your life? Have you praised it,thanked itfor housing you, and told ithow beautiful itis? Look at your face, close up, in a mirror. Look at your whole body standing naked,
infront ofamirror. Then notice what your thoughts are. Do you focus on the wrinkles, the fat, the blemishes and distortions? Please go and spend two minutes doing this exercise — itisthe only way to “get it’. How can you bring out the best inyour body by criticising itand being resentful toward it? You body will thrive on genuine praise and love and thanks, just like any other being.
Gratitude is an excellent object on which to meditate. Such meditation will bring home the truth of the connection between your thanks and the flow of health, growth and abundance in your life.
Here is an email written by Brad Blanton‘s brother in law and friend Jack Stork.
“Hey Y’all,
Getting old is not really all that bad you know. Instead ofracing around
here in the morning trying to make iton time to ajob that Ireally do not want to go to, I take my time. Like an old dog, I wake every four hours or so and usuallyprymyselfoutofbedaround5:A.M. Thistimeofyearitisverydark then, the thermostat has been turned down to 60 degrees during the night and the transition from warm bed to chilly house will spur me to step out right Spry.
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Iput the tea kettle on thefire, dress as hurriedly as an old man who can- not reach his shoe laces can. Ifetch the paper out at the end of the driveway, take notice ofthe stars, greet the dogs and breathe the cold air as deeply as I can. By the time I get back, the tea kettle is hissing steam and I make myself acupofcoffeeandtakeittomytable.Thefurnace ishardatworkbutitis still a little chilly in here. Iwrap both hands around the hot coffee cup and envy no man.
I like sunrises. I have been present at over 25,000 of them in my lifetime, riding this old ball of earth out of the shadow into the light, and I still get a thrill from them. I sit here on my hill, looking out over a wide valley, town lights twinkling below and suddenly, the mountain across the valley stands out black against the faint gray of the sky. Then the clouds begin to show rich color and I am filled with gratitude.
I like the feeling of gratitude about as well as any, more than most. Gratitude seeps deep into my bones and makes mefeel prosperous all day. Gratitude is the only prayer that I offer. I ask for nothing more than I have and I am most grateful for you my friends.
Jack,”
ACCEPTANCE
ow you handle the stressful events in your life is critical to your health
IAL longevity.Ideally,youchoosetoaccepttheuncertaintyand unfairness of life, and adapt to events as they unfold around you. This is an attitude of going with life’s flow, rather than fighting against it.
You do not have a monopoly on the truth. In a situation of stress or conflict your viewpoint is limited. You do not have a patent on being right or accurately assessing any situation.
For example, let us say you have organised to go out to dinner with a friend. You are looking forward to this date, which took several weeks to set up. The day before your meeting, she phoned and left a terse message on your answering machine saying, “I’m sorry but Ican’t make our dinner tomorrow. Pll phone you next week.”
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Your immediate reaction might be one of feeling rejected, abandoned or slighted. You may feel angry or hurt that she does not consider your dinner engagement as important as you do. Your mind may conjure up all sorts of possibilities — she does not like you, she thinks you are trivial or boring or she had a better offer from someone else for tomorrow evening.
Notice that none of these reactions is necessarily the truth. She may have been immensely looking forward to your meeting, and holds you in high esteem. Perhaps a motor accident caused her to leave the brusque message cancelling your engagement. It is only when you speak to her that you will discover the facts of the situation.
The most successful and effective people have a relatively high degree of control of their lives.!°2 However, they are not “control freaks” who want both the major events in their lives and the minute to minute details to go exactly their way. Rather, they have dreams and goals, and take appropriate action to create them. When things don’t turn out the way they first expected, they adapt and learn. They give 100% and then accept what happens. They make choices, but are not strongly attached to the outcomes of their choices. The success orfailure of a task is not a reflection of their success orfailure as a human being. They ride the roller coaster of life with joy and elation. Their screams are ofexcitement as they accept forces completely beyond their control that push, pull, and throw them around. They go with the flow of the roller coaster, and have an exhilarating ride.
Less successful and effective people try to remain in control of the events around them by changing them from what they really are, or denying that they are happening. This is an attitude of resistance, contradiction, lying and going against the flow of life. Physically, itisexhausting, and emotionally itleads to false expectations, frustration, resentment and unfulfilled desires. If they are successful with a planned task, they feel it increases their worth as a human being. Conversely, failing to achieve a goal hurts them to their core. They resist the forces of life’s roller coaster, and tense their bodies at each corner, dip and peak. The ride is draining, terrifying, and generates a flood of stress hormones.
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The unhealthy, controlling approach is to insist on being right. These people resist events that are not going their way, and spend an enormous amount of energy justifying themselves. What they react to or resist most strongly is usually a reflection of what they are denying the most about themselves. Controllers lack the humility and flexibility required to adapt, grow and flourish in an ever-changing world. They pay a high price for never accepting the flow oflife as itis.
Shed the burden of judging others, and comparing yourself with them. Every time, you either feel inferior and resentful, or superior and arrogant. Either way, you waste an enormous amount of energy, and develop negative traits. Just accept that people are as they are, and when you get to know them and love them as imperfect fellow humans, you will grow in many ways.
Of course, it is not pleasant losing control of important aspects of your life. This will inevitably happen — you can expect the unexpected. There are healthy ways and unhealthy ways to deal with stress. The most widely used stress buster is an array of drugs, in the form of tranquilisers, sleeping pills, recreational drugs, alcohol and nicotine. Other examples of counter productive stress relief include promiscuous sex, television, overeating and computer games.
You will be able to cope in a healthy way if you are secure in yourself. This security comes from knowing that you are loveable, unique, valuable and capable. You are honest enough with yourself to admit that the truth is what you can see and hear, rather than a more elaborate story running in your mind. You also have the humility to admit when you are genuinely out of your depth, and know your limits. Ifyour approach toa situation isnot working, then have faith that there is more to learn. Ask for help, or trust that the passage of time will reveal a solution.
Are you stuck, feeling fearful or trapped in an unhappy situation? Is there something that you should be doing, but are not? Get up and do itnow — any action isbetter than no action. If itis amistake, at least you will soon learn a lesson. Alternatively, you can consciously choose to accept completely the situation, or your laziness, passivity and lack of action. With your total
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acceptance, you will stop beating yourself up, and there will be neither resistance nor negative emotion. You are free to enjoy each moment.
GENEROSITY
irst, be generous to yourself. It is a mark of a successful life to have
F sufficient to give; an abundance to give to yourself, your friends, family, and others.
Do you feel deserving of love, health, good food, friends, success, money, fun, travel, a lovely home, objects of art and beauty, beautiful clothes, work you are passionate about, an attractive body, a delicious lover, regular massages and other forms of bodywork, free time, relaxation or whatever itis that you yearn for or need for a complete and successful life? Alternatively, do you limit yourself, self-sabotage your efforts, or feel undeserving? You can’t be generous ifyou feel mean towards yourself.
Generosity means giving with your whole being. It means coming out from behind that mask, and saying Yes to yourself and other people. Yes with your resources, time and emotions. A loving smile, an appropriate touch or hug, a meal cooked with love, a good belly laugh, and a sincere desire to listen or give money when appropriate are all examples of a generous attitude to life. Of course, you give without thought of return (although it is interesting how often something comes back in unexpected ways).
Give so that others may grow, heal, advance and help themselves. Generosity means wishing for others also to have the good things you would like for yourself.
Generosity does not mean giving away your power, your sense of self, or giving anything to the point of pain or resentment. The universe has abundance beyond your imagination.
Helping your friends and loved ones can be one of the greatest sources of happiness. It is a blessing to have sufficient wealth to be able to give away many material gifts, but even without wealth your time, energy and friendship are treasured.
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LOVE (ESPECIALLY YOURSELF) Love is the power of life.
ove comes from accepting yourself, and life, and other people, without |bees othersfortheirbeliefs,wantingtochangethem,proveanything to them, or wanting anything whatsoever in return. It comes from life itself, just because you and others are alive.
The essence ofloveisnotafeelingoremotion —itisastateofbeing.Love expresses itself from a state of awareness, living in the moment, being present and connected with all. Love starts with self-value and self-acceptance, and then overflows to all around you. Ultimately, all love comes from within — you cannot earn it,you can only give itand receive it.
Love has great healing powers. It is a potent prescription for health and longevity. Lack of love for yourself and others gives rise to negative thoughts and emotions, stress, ageing and illness.
Disconnection. Let me describe a friend (we will call him Thomas) who suffered from a disease that is becoming endemic in the Western world. Initially Thomas seems engaging and pleasant, but perhaps a little aloof. He works as a computer consultant, mostly from home, and has been quite successful. As you get to know him, you may sense an underlying sadness and fear. He suffers from a long-term niggling hip pain, and a lack of energy — neither of which any doctor or health practitioner has helped with over the years. He has spent thousands of dollars on acupuncture, several forms of bodywork, and other holistic healing, and has even tried yoga - all to no avail. However, he looks in reasonably good shape. The lack of energy and hip pain
are now affecting his work and social life. He tends to stay at home in the evenings, watching television or sitting at his computer. He has not had a relationship with a woman for several years, has no children, no pets, and few personal responsibilities. The people in his life are acquaintances rather than close friends.
Thomas is not very aware of his feelings, and is not comfortable discussing them. When I asked him how he felt about his situation, he was unable to talk at a personal level about his feelings of frustration or sadness,
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but instead reverted to an intellectual commentary on his situation.
Thomas’s healing started when a counsellor he knew personally, spent some time with him. She pointed out that he had no meaningful connections in his life — no real friends, no mate, no lover, no pets and no work about which he was passionate. He was not totally committed to or in love with
anything or anyone, including himself.
She explained that people are naturally social, gregarious, communal
animals. Under ideal conditions, we live in families, tribes and villages. However, modern civilised society breaks those connections. From a young age, we are encouraged to go into our heads and be intellectual, reading, thinking, observing and acting while disconnected from others. In our modern computer based, time critical world, it is possible to earn a good income and live comfortably without needing to make any close connections or strong commitments.
Thomas’s life lacked meaning and worth, and his body reflected that mental, emotional and spiritual emptiness. His healing began when his attention moved from himself to others. He recognised that other people were meaningful and worthy. People had always been around him, but for the first time he started to connect. He started to care for, listen to, spend time with and enjoy others.
The change in Thomas has been dramatic. He now enjoys a circle of friends, and has a woman in his life. His self-confidence and energy have rocketed, and apparently his hip has healed.
Life becomes richer when you participate in a nurturing, supportive community.
Love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. Look for the love that you already have in your life — the friends, family and others to whom you are already willingly giving. Seek opportunities to give more — a sincere compliment, or even just an acknowledgement that someone is there, seen, appreciated, and valued. People like to hear that they are loved and cherished. Take advantage of opportunities to be affectionate (whilst also being considerate, appropriate and not intruding or making the other person
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uncomfortable). Take the initiative; give those around you permission to break down the barriers, regardless of what you may get in return.
Love is allowing your loved ones to do as they want, without the need that they satisfy you.
Love is harmonious existence, without attachments that imply wants, needs, expectations or ulterior motives. If you love someone because you want to be loved in return, you will never be committed and sure. Instead, it will be an exchange, and your concern will turn to who isgetting the best deal.
Most of us need periods of solitude in our lives, in addition to connection. It comes back to the Taoist precept of balance. If you feel overwhelmed or drained by the needs of others, then take time out — for their health, as well as your own.
Learn to love your body. Revere your body as a part of God. Has your love developed it into a healthy, vibrant, and attractive body? Look at your nude body in a full-length mirror. What are your feelings? Do you love it and accept it? Or do you criticise it,judge itand compare itwith what ithas been, or with other people? How can your body blossom and grow ifyou shower it with negative thoughts?
You can learn to accept your body, and love it,in meditation. Mantras to use include:
I thank my beautiful body for serving me.
I love my body / a particular part of my body. My body is a wondrous gift.
My body isa holy temple.
Iam so thankful for my body.
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RELAXATION WHAT IS MEDITATION?
n his book Siddhartha, Herman Hesse talks about a place that all of us can {Lee“Withinyouthereisastillnessandsanctuarytowhichyoucan retreat at any time and be yourself.” This haven is a place of safety and comfort, where you can sit and just be. In no way does itmull over the past or fret about the future. Neither does the turmoil of events in the current moment intrude.
Meditation involves both your body and your mind. It is easy to understand the importance of physical relaxation, because we all get tired after exercise, work or other activities during the day. Physical rest — sitting down for a period — or our sleep each night - rejuvenates us. Deep physical relaxation is revitalising and detoxifying. However, your mental state or attitude isjust as important.
You enter a place where time is not measured and valued by the hour. Meditation can sweep the clutter from your mind — the constant chatter, jumping from subject to subject; the focus on your ego - trying to look good
and avoiding looking bad; and the emotions coming from a story running in your head — lonely, angry, scared, guilty, proud or whatever.
The big benefit of meditation is that it is an antidote to stress. Stress and imbalance are at the root of many degenerative diseases and ageing. Simply by sitting still and doing nothing for a while each day, you give your mind a chance to withdraw from the stresses of daily life and explore its own innate powers. Even as a newcomer to meditation, when the “monkey mind” hops from one trivial thought to another, meditation still boosts your immunity by switching your nervous system over to the restful, restorative, immune- enhancing parasympathetic mode. Meditation results in deep physical relaxation, a more relaxed posture, biochemical changes and detoxification both physically and psychologically. Meditation helps greatly with your ability to cope with the stresses and disappointments of life. It starts with physical relaxation, and leads on to a feeling of calm, ease and mental relaxation.
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Meditation is experiential — it is something you have to try for yourself to know the rich gifts itcan bring. There is little value in reading about itand understanding it,unless you actually do ityourself.
“In medicine, we realise that people who dont have enough time are probably going to develop health problems.” Deepak Chopra.°2 Most people in the Western world fear time. Time pressure causes the release of stress hormones in your body. Think of a task you can easily do in a few minutes, such as taking a shower, making a phone call, or eating a snack. Now repeat
the task when an authority has given you a sufficient, but strict time limit — a deadline. You will probably hear a new voice running in the background of your mind, a voice of fear. Notice how the word deadline contains the word dead — ifyou do not do iton time, you are gone.
The fact that you are aware of time and its limitations places enormous stress on your whole being. Meditation helps you by removing time from your mind. It brings you back to just being, floating in a world where time does not exist.
There is another threatening deadline that many fear — their own death. If you feel the time pressure of this advancing deadline, your body will stress in the same way that itwill under any other stressor. Your death urge sends a message to your body’s cells that is self-fulfilling.
Meditation takes you to a place that is timeless, where linear time does not inexorably move forward. You escape the bounds of the material world. Death here loses itspower.
Ifyou have had strong peaks and troughs inyour emotions, orhave been stuck in a particular (negative) emotional state, meditation provides a sense of perspective, and shows you when you are letting that emotion dominate. A sense of balance, peace and harmony are the outcome. You will enjoy an improved ability to focus and concentrate. There will be less tension, or greater ease at both work and home. You will sleep better, and your responses, physically, mentally and sexually, will improve.
Note: if you suffer wild swings in your emotions, the cause is probably peaks and troughs in your blood glucose level and poor nutrition. Much of
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the focus of Grow Youthful is on achieving a steady blood glucose level through correcting your diet, suitable exercise, and other factors.
WATCHING YOURSELF
eing able to watch yourself and your thoughts is one of the wonderful
Bee ofmeditation.Eventuallyyoucanlookatyourself,your moods, and behaviour, almost as if you are someone else standing a few metres away, looking at your body. You can also watch what is going on inside your head. Ifyou are angry, you know what triggered it,how you have chosen to behave, what you are saying, and how you are feeling.
There are many books and courses available to help you to watch your mind and your behaviour, such as Wayne Dyer’s Your Erroneous Zones,?3 and courses run by Landmark Education all over the world. This is nothing new - virtually all the ancient traditions teach the same thing.
Practise watching yourself and how you behave in all situations — as problems arise during the day, when you are facing the emotions of others, and when you are by yourself. Be at least as interested in your reaction to any person or situation, as in the situation itself. Give at least as much attention to what is going on inside yourself as to the events in the world around you. You will then see the enormous amount of energy that you use in resisting, resenting, avoiding and complaining about the events and people around you.
For example, you are driving down the road in your car, and someone cuts you off and almost causes an accident. Without knowing whom they are, why they cut you off, or even ifthey meant to cut you off, you choose to be angry. You poison and acidify your own body, not theirs. I doubt that they feel sorry for their behaviour — they probably have not even noticed you.
It is a powerful realisation to be able to watch yourself and your behaviour in an unbiased way. Perhaps you are playing a game of tennis, and losing. Get out of your body, and watch what is going on. How are you behaving, what are you saying, and what emotions have you chosen to allow? Perhaps you are focusing on last night’s lack of sleep, or your opponent’s quite extraordinary string of lucky breaks, whilst at the same time
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saying to yourself over and over “I just can’t hit the ball today.” Watching yourself is invaluable in many situations — how you are behaving in the company of other people, how you are handling a setback, and which things in life make you resentful.
When you start to watch yourself, you are living consciously. Most people are unconscious, and do not even know it. They are so used to a continuous background of negative emotions and thoughts that they think it is normal. To cope, they use painkillers — excessive alcohol, work, sex, TV, computer games, food, drugs, gambling or other addictions. .
When something “goes wrong” in the life of an unconscious person, they over-react. Faced with a difficult person, a small loss or a threat to their ego, most people in Western society let their emotions run amok. They become depressed, angry, even violent, as they immerse themselves in inappropriate behaviour that they later regret.
Good questions to ask yourself frequently are “Am I at ease or resisting something in this moment?” and “What am I feeling right now?” If you are resisting something, you are creating your own unhappiness.
Anger is the result of wishing the world and people in itwere different, and that things were going the way you want them to go. You can choose to accept the situation, and stop causing your own pain, or take action to resolve it. Then drop it.
Watch your mind when you make a minor mistake. It may criticise you repeatedly, as you beat yourself up. Instead, look at the lesson you have learned from the mistake, and move on.
PREPARATION
Posture. Do not be too comfortable when doing these relaxation exercises. I suggest you should not be lying down. After all, you will need to integrate them into your everyday life, whatever you might be doing. An element of minor physical discomfort is essential, so you can learn to attain relaxation, whatever the circumstances. You want your relaxation to come from your mind, not from physical comfort and safe, serene surroundings.
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Sit cross-legged on a cushion on the floor, with your back unsupported. Keep your back, head and neck in alignment, so that little muscular effort is needed to maintain the position. Your posture should be symmetrical, with your arms and legs in similar positions on each side of your body.
Alternatively, sit on a stool or straight backed chair. Your back should be straight and your head aligned above it,and your feet flat on the floor. Your arms can be resting on the chair’s arms, or on your lap.
Timing. I suggest doing the relaxation exercises for a total of 20 minutes each day — perhaps 10 minutes in the morning, and the same again in the evening. Itwill quickly become part of your routine, like cleaning your teeth, taking a shower or going to the toilet, especially after you enjoy the benefits of being more relaxed.
You can practise these exercises when doing simple things such as walking down the street. Take the opportunity to practise when you have a pause during the course of the day, and recapture the feeling of relaxation in your mind. At first, you will need the intention to do itconsciously, but after a while, it will penetrate your being and all that you do.
You may wish to spend more time meditating when you are able to attain a deep state of relaxation. There are no fixed rules — 20 minutes per day can give you profound benefits; additional time can take you to new places.
Disturbance. Choose a place and a time where you will not be disturbed. Take the phone off the hook, close the door, put up a “do not disturb” notice, and ensure the children are not going to want your attention.
RELAXATION EXERCISE
Relaxing your muscles isthe starting point when learning to meditate. Ifyou are stressed and anxious, all your muscles will be tense. Certain groups of muscles will be particularly tense, depending on your emotions, your upbringing, and your particular stresses. For example, anger may be reflected in the jaw muscles, fear in the knees and legs, sexual tensions in the hips, and heavy responsibilities in the neck, shoulders and back.
Relaxation is something you can do on your own, but more importantly,
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is something you should learn to do in the presence of other people. It is essential that you can relax in the company of members of your family, friends, opponents, workmates and all the other people in your life. If you can only relax when you take time out, and go somewhere different or isolate yourself, then you are letting your everyday circumstances control you.
Ifyou have a good imagination, you will be able to relax more easily. For example, if you can totally involve yourself in a scene from nature such as lying in the grass in a peaceful meadow, or walking in the sand on a beach, then you have the ability to relax at will. .
Most people are rather self-conscious about doing their relaxation exercises in the presence of others. They would rather do them in private, without letting anyone else know what is going on. However, one of the secrets of relaxation is to learn to use these techniques in the presence of your partner or other people in your life.
Relaxation exercises are not difficult. Quite a few people get a block because they are not immediately effective. Experience has shown that many people tend to give up easily on mental exercises. Accept that you are not going to get a dramatic overnight change in your state of mind or ability to relax, but rather a slow rate of improvement. You will have ups and downs in your progress. Consequently, it is quite difficult to confirm that you are improving — itrequires perseverance and faith to keep up the exercises for a period.
Some people find that after a few weeks of doing the relaxation exercises, the problems caused by their stress have disappeared. Most people who have done the exercises for long periods find that the techniques unconsciously become part of their way of living, and the calm and ease of mind add greatly to their lives. Relaxation is a pleasant and healthy non-drug form of treatment for amyriad of serious physical and mental problems. Once you realise how powerful, simple and effective relaxation is, it becomes a life-changing attitude to adopt.
Start the relaxation exercise by sitting up straight. Let your hand rest on
your thigh. Gently press the muscle on the top of your leg, feeling how firm
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Next, you can cycle through a series of muscles in your body, achieving a deeper feeling of relaxation. As you place your awareness on each muscle, you don’t necessarily need to tense it before relaxing it. Rather, just feel it, and then let itgo.
The exercise that follows takes at least ten minutes and longer if you cycle around your whole body. If you like, you can record the instructions that follow on tape, and play itback to yourself while you do the exercise. Record itslowly, in a calm voice.
Close your eyes gently. Take a slow, deep breath, filling your lower lungs. Pause for a moment, and then exhale fully. Continue to breathe slowly and naturally. Let’s start with your left hand. Feel your thumb, feel the tension in it,and allow itto relax. Let its full weight rest on your thigh, or your chair’s arm. Now turn your attention to your first finger, and then each of the other fingers. Your hand is heavy and comfortable. Feel your wrist, feel your arm, feel your elbow, really feel them. They are natural, just there, part of your body. More and more of your body is relaxing, as you move your awareness up your arm to your left shoulder. Feel your arm hanging from your shoulder, feel the weight of it.Your arm isnow so relaxed ithardly seems to belong to you. From your shoulder, place your awareness on the left side of your neck, then the back of your neck. Take your time; there is no rush, no goal. Just be, just unravel and relax. Your throat, your jaw, your tongue are all quite natural, and loose and heavy. Let your jaw sag a little. Your face starts to relax, and your lips part slightly. Feel the muscles in your cheeks, and around your eyes — your skin starts to smooth out as the tension evaporates. Your eyes are focused on nothing — infinity. Your eyes carry a lot of tension — they
itis.Now make as ifto liftup and straighten your leg, but do not actually move it.Your hand will feel the muscle firm. Now allow the muscle to let go, and your hand will feel itsoften. Next, try doing itwithout your hand on your thigh. You are still quite aware of the muscle tensing and hardening, and then softening and letting go. Do this a few times, and you will capture the feeling of tensing then relaxing your muscles just with your mind, while sitting quite peacefully.
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are an important connection with the stress of the outside world. The muscles of your eyes are deep inside your head — place your gentle, tender awareness on them, feel them relax, utterly let go. Now move to your forehead, to the tension in the skin, and feel itsmooth and relax. Gently place your attention on your scalp. Feel any hair. Relax across the fine network of muscles all across the top of your head. Relax your ears, feel them shift down a fraction of a millimetre. Turn your attention to the right side of your body. Come down the right side of your neck, spending time with the same muscles that youdidontheleftside.Come down toyourshoulder,andagainletyourneck and shoulder muscles totally let go. Feel the weight of your right arm, just hanging, just being. Go down through your elbow, down to your wrist, into the palm of your hand, your thumb, each finger, relaxing, and letting them be. Let the full weight of your arm, your hand, and each finger rest on whatever is supporting them. Gradually turn your attention to your feet. Feel where your feet are touching the floor. Ifyou have bare feet, feel the texture of the floor, the connection with the ground, the temperature of the floor and the air around your feet. If you are wearing shoes, feel their texture, their shape, and their pressure points around your feet. Place your attention on your left foot, on each toe, on the ball of the foot, on the arch, and on the heel. Relax them; let them spread out under the weight of the leg. Now feel your left calf muscle. Be aware of any pain or tension, and let itpass. Let itgo so your leg feels heavy and comfortable. Your whole body feels natural, and calm, and safe, and at ease. Feel your thigh, and the muscles on top, and underneath. Relax them, let the tension flow away. Your whole left leg feels heavy, just an object attached to your body. Go to your right foot, and again, place your attention on each toe, on the ball of the foot, on the arch, and on the heel. Let them relax and spread out under the whole weight of your leg.
Slowly move up to your calf, and any pain or tension there. Let itpass; let it go, so your leg feels heavy and comfortable. Go up to the big muscles around your thigh, and let them rest, let them relax deeply. Feel the weight of both your legs, just being, quite still, held up by the floor. Now feel your buttocks, soft and spreading on the chair or cushion. Feel the weight of your back,
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pressing down into your hipbones, and the weight on the seat of your chair or cushion. Deeply relax these big muscles, on your seat and going up your back. Your back is tall and balanced, carrying the weight of your shoulders and head. Let them be still, let them rest. Come to the front of your body, to your chest. Listen to your breathing, feel the air entering through your nose, passing through your windpipe, and down into your lungs. Watch it,let itbe, nothing isright or wrong. Come down to your abdomen, feel itmoving as you breathe. Let your belly relax, and push out. Move down to your genitals, feel them, and accept them. Your whole body is safe, still.
You feel the relaxation right through your body. Your face is utterly relaxed, your forehead, your eyes, your lips. You feel itdeeply, you feel itin your mind.
After doing this exercise, you will notice that physical relaxation leads to a state of calm and peace, in which your emotions settle down. Physical relaxation leads to mental relaxation, and then emotional quietening.
If you are having difficulty staying in touch with the parts of your body as you do the above exercise, then try touching the place where your attention is fixed. You can even imagine that you are giving yourself a massage, or that you are painting that body part with an enormous paintbrush. After you have done ita few times, you will find iteasier to do the exercise mentally, and will not need to touch your body physically.
OBSTACLES TO MEDITATING
Too Easy? Meditation isso simple, so easy, and so straightforward that many people find ithard to believe that something so natural could effectively help them, when they have already tried dozens of pills, drugs, drinks and other ways of attempting to relax. Western culture does not promote simple, experiential cures. Rather, we are used to buying a pill, or paying for a tool or technique. We do not try meditation because itseems too cheap and too easy.
The Intellect. Meditation isabout experiencing, feeling and being. Itis not about intellectually understanding and achieving. You will not “get it”
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until you actually do it,experience it,letgo ofeverything inyour mind and just “be.”
It is the intellectual assessment and criticism of ideas that makes them seem complicated, and this has no part in meditation. Notice how the language in the relaxation exercise is simple, not intellectual. It is natural and easy.
In the West, we have an over-emphasis on using our minds to exert our conscious wills — in other words, most of us are control freaks! This emphasis on logical, linear, verbal exertion is not healthy, and extracts a heavy toll from the stress itinduces
To meditate you start with some simple guides in your mind, do the simple act that goes with it,and experience the simple feelings. You watch your muscles relaxing. You experience it— deeply — without the intervention of critical thought. There is no goal, no measure, no hurry or rush, the whole thing is easy and natural, in its own time.
Effort. The harder you try, the less successful a meditator you will be. Yes, it requires discipline to find and spend the time, to sit through any discomfort and to persevere. However, in the middle of a meditation no effort is required. Nothing is forced, nothing has to be achieved or done. This also applies to your breathing. You cannot do deep belly breathing while totally relaxing all your muscles. Just let your breath come and go as it wants to, without thinking about it.
Just be patient, caring, gentle and loving with yourself. Ifyou did not do an exercise properly, or you seem to be progressing slowly, do not feel upset or frustrated. Italltakes time, and your mind will proceed as slowly or as fast as itwants to.
Restlessness is a difficulty for some newcomers. You may sit down ready to start, and then immediately find yourself fidgeting or wanting to move about. Your clothes may be uncomfortable or some other distraction may appear. If this is a problem, make yourself comfortable and do the exercise for only two or three minutes. Then have a rest or a stretch, before trying the exercise again. Ifyou persevere, the restlessness will soon pass, and then you
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can attempt the exercises from less comfortable postures.
At first, you may only relax a few parts of the body, but as you repeat this
exercise a number of times, the relaxation will become deeper, more extensive and more natural.
Chatter — Monkey Mind. Our minds are constantly active, assessing, criticising, judging, thinking, imagining, daydreaming and chattering. There is a constant dialogue going on — a voice that almost never stops. There are only short periods when itquietens — during deep sleep, during states of utter bliss, and during deep meditation. After you read this, you may think you have the power to tell this voice to shut up, but itwill still be chattering away. Try it— can you still your internal voice? I’ll bet the chatter continues, with the voice saying: “See, Imanaged to do it! Look, my mind is quiet!”
Wandering Mind. Your mind tends to wander away as you are doing the exercise. One moment you are relaxing a part of your body, and the next instant you are thinking about tonight’s dinner or a problem with your partner. Don’t worry — everyone’s mind wanders in this manner. When you notice that your mind has drifted away, gently acknowledge the new subject, and then go back to the exercise. Do not under any circumstances judge yourself, or criticise yourself. It is quite normal and reasonable and everybody does it most of the time. Even experienced meditators find the majority of their meditation consists of wandering.
A meditation object is a common technique used to tether a wandering mind. An object issomething you focus on inthe early part of themeditation, while your mind is chattering and wandering. Many meditators use the breath. You can hear your breathing, and feel it at various points. Some people focus on the tip ofthe nose, feeling the rush of air with each in-breath and out-breath. Others feel the air in the throat, or in the top of the lungs. The breath isaparticularly good object, and Irecommend itforallbeginners, and also for experienced meditators.
You can use other parts of your body as a meditation object, along with any of your senses. Try meditating on the tastes in your mouth, or the taste, feel and texture of the saliva on your tongue. You can also hold a tiny portion
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of food in your mouth — perhaps a seed, or some other food that will not dissolve too quickly.
Try using your heartbeat as an object. It is easy in a quiet environment. This is calming, as your heartbeat slows down along with the relaxation of your body. If you think about or try to measure your heartbeat while meditating, you are using your intellect, and will probably spoil the meditation! Some experienced meditators can slow their heartbeat at will (outside of their meditations), as a result of the connection they have forged with their hearts during their meditations. |
A mantra is another common meditation object. This is aword or phrase that you repeat over and over. There are many different techniques. You can repeat the phrase in your mind, with your lips and tongue remaining still. Alternatively, you can say the phrase, chant, or sing it.Tibetan monks sing, hum and chant their mantras in the weirdest cacophony of sounds. Chanting is a beautiful way of “getting out of your mind.” Tuneless humming is another excellent technique.
Most ancient traditions have a science of sounds, based on mantras and
chanting. These sounds evoke higher states of consciousness, when you
”
chant them or repeat them. Here are some examples: “aum”, “om mani
padme hung”, “soham”, “shalom” and “om namah shivaya.”
Candles, flowers, pebbles, the palm of your hand, plants, mountains or
other visual meditation objects are also used as a focal point for the eye. Sounds can also make a good meditation object. They should preferably be random and unpredictable. The sound of splashing water, the wind, the rain and a fire are suitable. Most music is not suitable as a meditation object because it is predictable, and your mind can get attached to the melody.
While it is quite relaxing to listen to a piece of music, it is unlikely to help you achieve deep and total relaxation. Music designed as a meditation object is random and unstructured. Other types of meditation music may be more structured, but still, they do not have a melody.
When you are ina state of total relaxation or regression (see below), a wandering mind is not a problem, but one of the delights of meditation. In
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such a state it is unlikely that your mind will focus on your problems and concerns. Instead, it is more like dreaming, where seemingly irrelevant thoughts and images can occur.
Letting Go. Our ancestors were conditioned to be on guard. Out in the wild, or when on their own, those who ignored their sense of sight, sound or smell did not survive. It was necessary to be alert and on the lookout all the time. Survival required a constant level of awareness to the threats that were out there.
To relax, itisnecessary to feel safe. When you feel safe and secure, you can go “off duty” and shut down the radar that is constantly on the lookout for dangers. Ifyou hear a noise in the next room, your mind does not click in and say, “Who is it? What are they doing?” It simply hears the noise in the next room, ithas no significance and needs no thought.
Further meditation requires a sense of trust. Trust in yourself, and trust in the process. It is only in a position of trust and safety that you can become like a small child. You can then let go of the protection around you, put down your guard, and be yourself.
Sleeping. Ifyou find yourself drifting off to sleep when you are doing the exercises, then use amore uncomfortable posture. This iswhy sitting isthe most common meditation posture. Try not to lie down when you meditate - abed isespecially unsuitable.
Getting Soft. Do not worry about losing your keen or sharp edge. On the contrary, meditation helps you live without stress, tension and all the health problems that brings, while being more alert and effective. Ifyou are able to relax, you will be more, not less, effective in your work and in your life. Relaxation is not about avoiding any issues, or becoming a vegetable. Rather, itisabout learning how to live easily and effectively, with the minimum of effort.
GOING FURTHER
The Gap Between the Breaths. When you are ina state of total relaxation, and you have released the tension from all your muscles, your breathing still
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requires some muscular “effort.” You need to breathe, your heart needs to keep pumping, and your basic metabolism continues. Some yogis claim to achieve a state of suspended animation, but that is beyond the scope of this book.
Each in-breath requires muscular contraction, which may be automatic or conscious, depending upon where you have focused your attention. The out- breathalsorequiresasmalleffort,justtoletitgo.However, thereisapoint between breaths where your body is completely still, and you can relax totally. If you are using your breath as a meditation object, as you relax, use the gap between your breaths as the object. It is a beautiful point of tranquillity.
Physical Activity. After some practise at relaxing, you can try meditating while you are actually doing things. To start with, try opening your eyes a little, and then closing them, perhaps in time with your breathing. As you breathe in, open your eyes, and close them as you breathe out. All the time, maintain deep relaxation in the rest of your body, with calm and peace in your mind. Next, try walking slowly and deliberately. Be conscious of the relaxation of the muscles in your face, and the calm of your mind. In a similar manner, you can progress to doing routine or rhythmical tasks while meditating.
The enlightened Indian master, Osho, developed a variety of “active” meditations. They are particularly suitable for Westerners, who tend to be more intellectual and rigid than Eastern people. Best known is the Dynamic Meditation, performed over an hour with its own CD music. Its five stages consist of energising breathing, explosive chaos, hammering the sex centre, holding a frozen posture, and a dancing celebration.
Many of Osho’s meditations are based around dancing, although watching, listening, laughing, crying, sex and many other activities are involved. Ithoroughly recommend them!
Regression. When you achieve a state of muscular relaxation, your mind calms, the chatter slows, you become less focused on your ego, and your emotions are checked. This state of physical and mental calm can lead to
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regression. Regression is quite a normal process — we have all previously been there. Your mind functions in a simpler, more primitive manner. It becomes less alert, so you are not concerned with your immediate surroundings. You are aware of sights, sounds and smells around you, but you do not engage them. Perhaps a heavy truck drives past, the room is filled with the sound of the diesel engine, the walls vibrate, and there is a smell of dust and diesel exhaust fumes. You are aware of them through your senses, but do not react to them.
When you are regressed, your intellect does not operate. The critical side of your mind closes down. When you become aware of the truck, with its noise and fumes, you do not judge itas good or bad. Itjust is.
Similarly, if a bird was singing the most exquisite song outside your window, or the perfume ofa lily filled the room, you would not judge itas good or bad. It is simply there.
You have probably already experienced regression at times in your life. Think of an instance when you were living totally in the moment, unconcerned with the pressures and threats of the world. Many people achieve this state during orgasm. Other possibilities are when you are enjoying the company of a happy or sleeping infant, when you are relaxing in a hot bath, when you are lying in a field gazing at the clouds, or when you are totally engrossed in playing with an animal or a small child.
In regression you have no sense of time, no judgements, no criticisms or thinking or analysis. Just a total calm, drifting. A sense of abandonment, letting go of everything.
The sense of drifting and abandonment does not come easily and all at once. You may get a taste of it,then itstops, and then itwill start again.
Dream State. Some people enter a dream state during total relaxation or regression. Unattached and seemingly irrelevant thoughts, pictures and moving images appear and float past, a kaleidoscope of colours can manifest, sounds and smells may occur, and people, known or unknown may appear or converse. This is a delightful and pleasant spot to go to, but it can also be a trap, holding you in this space and preventing you from continuing on your
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journey.
Bliss is a point of utter abandonment, drifting in timeless space, free of
your body, the world, and all thought. At some stage itwill just appear. You will be there, and itisquite beautiful. Some people describe itas going back to a pre-birth state, suspended safely in the amniotic fluid in your mother’s body. You had never had a thought of any kind, nothing was good or bad or of the least concern. Life was just “being”, in a primitive pre-emotional state.
Then your mind will kick in and say “Hey, I’ve done it! I’ve achieved bliss!” and itwill instantly go, and you have lost it. |
Healing. When you have gained some meditation experience, you can warm or cool different parts of your body. Start meditating while holding a thermometer in your hand. Feel the cool air entering your nostrils, and flowing into your lungs. The thermometer is a piece of ice that you can barely hold. After a few minutes, come out of the meditation and check the temperature — itwill probably have dropped 2-5°C. Go back into meditation, this time feeling the hot air in your chest. Think and feel heat coming from the thermometer, which is a glowing red coal in your hand. Again, come out of your meditation after a few minutes, and check the temperature. This time itwill likely be a few degrees warmer.
When you place your attention on a body part and heat itup, the blood flow dramatically increases. This assists with the removal of toxins from that area. In some circumstances, the temperature increase is not just measurable — it is positively hot! You can combine these techniques with breathing exercises, particularly the retention part of the breathing cycle (see page 238). Breath retention can generate substantial heat.
With a feel for internal energy, you can focus wherever you want in your body, and apply that power to heal injuries, balance energies, enhance cerebral energy, stimulate glandular secretions, exchange energy with your sexual partner, and even dissolve tumours. We are now moving into the area of energy work. In reiki, for example, the energy and heat coming from the practitioner’s hands are obvious even ifthey are not touching you.
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SOME OTHER MEDITATION TECHNIQUES
Tantric Meditation
Tantra considers that every cell in your body and in every other living thing isalive and conscious. Everything isconnected. What ishere, iselsewhere.
What isnot here, isnowhere},
Tantra is an essentially feminine approach to life, in contrast to Taoism,
which is male-centred. Consciousness does not belong to the brain alone, but to the entire body, and elsewhere. If you have good feelings in your mind, they will permeate and affect every cell in your body. That positive energy will in turn radiate outwards from your being to other consciousness. Tantra views your body as a living temple, in which there is no border between the flesh and the spirit. Maintaining physical, mental and emotional health therefore becomes a duty. A creative energy, God, or Kundalini, is present everywhere, here and now.
Tantra is not a religion or dogma. It holds that the universe is concrete, and that you can merge with itthrough meditation. Tantric meditation does not exclude feelings; on the contrary, they are its driving force. Typical Tantric meditations often contemplate your origins, or the origins of the universe. Picture your mother, hold some good things about her; picture her mother, and her love and intentions for her child. Again, picture her mother, and so on.
Another theme could be lying in warm seawater on a deserted, calm, warm night, millions of years ago, before there were any dangers. There is a moon above, and gentle waves ebb and flow in time with your breathing. The ocean is a gigantic body, a cradle of life, your mother’s womb.
Transcendental Meditation
TMTM isapeaceful meditation where you sitcomfortably with your eyes closed for twenty minutes, twice each day. You silently repeat a personal mantra, given to you by your teacher. TM must be learned from a certified teacher, not from laypersons, a book, CD or video.
TM has a large worldwide following, and a lot of the published research
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on meditation seems to have examined TM rather than other meditation methods. The benefits of TM (and all other meditations in varying degrees) include deep relaxation, the elimination of stress, good health, improved thinking and creativity, and a clearer and happier outlook on all aspects of life.
Autogenics
The traditional meditation techniques described in this chapter need a minimum of twenty minutes a day to attain deep relaxation. If you plan to spend additional time exploring the new physical, mental, emotional and spiritual worlds that this opens up, then these techniques are a good starting point. However, if your time is limited, and you are simply looking for a quick yet powerful tool to help you relax and detoxify at all levels, then Autogenics isworth trying.
The German psychiatrist, Johannes Schultz, developed this technique in the early 1930’s. In essence, itworks at an emotional level, and attains a state similar to regression. It can bring about physical, emotional and spiritual detoxification. Autogenics consists of a series of simple mental exercises that you can learn and integrate in a couple of weeks. Initially, ittakes about 10- 15 minutes to run through the exercise, and you need to do itthree times each day. After you are able to attain a deep state of relaxation and calming of your emotions, you still need to practise it every day, but you can do it more quickly — even in2-3 minutes ifyou are short oftime. This isatechnique that you can use every day — on the bus, in your office, or sitting at a café. Many people who have used this powerful stress-busting procedure have transformed their lives. They have a sense of great burdens being lifted away, freeing them of responsibilities and encumbers imposed by society. Some have felt a new release of creative energy, and the freedom to live their lives
by their own values.
When you are in a relaxed and abandoned state, your body will naturally
balance its life energies — this is called homeostasis. If you are stressed, homeostasis will calm you. Ifyou feel confused, itwill clear your mind. If
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you are fatigued, you will be refreshed. If you have high blood pressure, it will measurably fall. It improves the balance between the left and the right hemispheres of your brain, leading to both clearer thought and higher creativity. Recoveries from addictions such as alcohol, drugs and overeating have been reported, as well as the healing of stress-related illnesses such as asthma and skin inflammations.
The technique is quite simple. It dwells on feelings of heaviness and warmth, around your legs and arms. It also attends to your heartbeat, breathing, stomach and forehead. When you have finished the exercise, you come back to a healthy, everyday level of consciousness with a final step called “The Cancellation, or The Return.”
Begin the Autogenic exercise from a comfortable position, with your eyes closed. Take a deep breath, pause for a second, and then exhale completely. Breathe slowly and naturally, and feel the full weight of your body sinking into your chair or cushion. Indulge the feelings of warmth and heaviness. Start with your dominant arm (right or left). Slowly repeat each of the following phrases three times in your mind:
My rightarm isheavy
Let go of the tension in your arm as you feel its weight and warmth.
My leftarm isheavy Both arms are heavy My rightlegisheavy
Continue to breathe slowly and naturally. Remember to repeat each phrase three times.
My leftlegisheavy
Both legs are heavy
Let go of the tension in your legs. Arms and legs heavy
Arms and legs warm
My breathing iscalm and clear My stomach iswarm
My forehead iscool
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Feel the relaxation in your scalp, your forehead, your eyes, your whole face. Peace right through me
Enjoy the gentle calm throughout your body.
At the end of the exercise, bring yourself back to the state of
consciousness in which you normally live with the Cancellation or Return. Quickly clench both your fists, take a deep breath, and lift your arms above your head, out sideways, or in front of you. Breathe out slowly, return your arms and unclenched fists to your sides, and lastly, open your eyes. For a few seconds: Be here, now, with whatever is, then continue with your day. If you feel you are not fully alert, repeat the cancellation.
As you gain practise with Autogenics, you can use some additional phrases:
My neck and shoulders are heavy Followed by
Iam atpeace
The above isparticularly effective atreducing stress. My heartbeat iscalm and regular
Feel your strong and regular heartbeat as you repeat this phrase three times. After you have been practicing for a week or two, you will find that the phrase My right arm is heavy will put you in the Autogenic state within seconds. For most people, this will be the first time in their lives that they
have had the means to relax in stressful situations.
Autogenics measurably lowers your heartbeat and blood pressure. Italso
gives you a physical, psychological and spiritual cleansing, smoothing out muscular tensions and cleansing thought patterns that may have been crippling you for years.
While this cleansing is taking place, there may be some side effects for a week or two. Your arms or legs may twitch, your stomach may rumble, or you may feel brief bouts of dizziness, sounds or visual effects. This is simply the release of the physical and emotional stresses that you have accumulated and stored in your body over your lifetime. You may have sudden and inexplicable depression, joy or guilt rising to the surface. Ifyou are prepared
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for these effects, you will know that they are simply part of the detoxification process that isleading you on toa life-changing renewal.
Autosuggestion
After you have practised the above relaxation exercise every day for aweek or two, you should be able to attain a state of deep relaxation and regression. When you are ina state of regression, you mind accepts thoughts uncritically. The suggestions themselves must be simple and primitive, matching your state of mind. Your acceptance of ideas in this state depends upon your feelings toward the person making them, rather than the merits of the idea itself. During regression, your intellect closes down, and you are more like a small child who is open to suggestions from his or her parent. While you are regressed, you can use the process of suggestion to influence the working of your mind in a way that would be impossible if you were in your normal alert, critical and intellectual state. Autosuggestion ispresenting new ideas to yourself while in a regressed state. Examples of new states that you may wish to take in include feeling confident, safe, virile, grateful, joyful and accepting. Disorders such as stuttering, nervous rashes, smoking, nail biting, addictions, irrational behaviour, blushing and sterility have all been successfully treated with autosuggestion. This apparent diversity of problems has a common cause: anxiety and stress.
The example trains of thought below are given merely as guides. Modify them according to your own needs. Prepare them and have them in your mind before you start to meditate. But remember that the procedure is only effective when you are thoroughly relaxed, and have let yourself regress into a primitive and uncritical mode.
Perhaps you are feeling apprehensive. Here are the thoughts that you might mull over while regressed:
Relaxed
Relaxed in all of my body Relaxed in myface Relaxed and calm
TL
Calm in my mind
Calm right through me
Here is a thought train to use ifyou are feeling down or depressed:
Relaxed
Good to relax
Relaxed inallofmy body
Good tofeel relaxed
Wonderful feeling ;
Here is a possible thought train if you are feeling tense. Start with the general relaxation of your whole body. There is a close relationship between the muscles in your face and your state of mind. It is important to relax the muscles in your face and in your eye sockets, as this will have a strong bearing on your emotions and mental calm.
Relaxed
Whole ofmy body relaxed
Itisinmyface
Jaw isloose
Lips apart
Soft around eyes Smooth face
Feel my mind relaxed Relaxed mind
Perhaps you have been taking tranquilisers or sedatives, and want to use a natural means to relax, rather than drugs:
Relaxed
Natural to relax
My whole body relaxed
The natural way to gather strength Clean body
Clean and calm and natural
You can use autosuggestion to heal a myriad of both mental and physical problems caused by stress. For example, use itto develop particular traits,
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Insomnia: heavy, drowsy, heavy all through me, heavy eyes
Phobias: visualising yourself at ease in the phobic situation.
Sexual difficulties: thighs relaxed, genitals relaxed, natural, good, feel it
all through me
Neuro-audio technologies
You can fast track your way to deep meditation with audio tapes or CDs that play brain wave entrainment sounds. Within minutes, most people can achieve quite a deep state of meditation. You listen to them through stereo headphones, while comfortably seated with your eyes closed. The sounds are mostly synthesised — deep, relaxing notes reminiscent of a church organ, rain, waterfalls, the wind, humming, thunder and bells.
Although both channels may appear to be the same, the system plays separate sounds into the left and right headphones that are slightly out of phase. The sounds are so immersive that they tend to carry you along. They shift your brain waves out of the faster beta frequency, which is your normal state of awareness, to slower alpha, theta and delta frequencies. As you enter the slower states, the system can integrate disparate parts of your brain, and enhance your nervous system and several neurological functions. You will notice the first changes within hours, but over months and years of using the full program, significant physical, mental and emotional changes take place. The level of DHEA in your brain rises, and the level of the hormone cortisol in your body drops.
The system is like a continual but gentle challenge to your nervous system, its current structures and pathways. It forces the creation of new pathways between parts of your brain that had not been communicating optimally before. In particular, it improves the integration between the left and the right sides of your brain, resulting in whole brain thinking. You gain improved learning ability, analysis and creativity. It also relaxes you, providing a sense of ease and peace. Immediately after listening to the sounds, you will feel brighter, happier, and more centred, aware and creative.
such as acceptance, flexibility and clarity. Other maladies that are often cured include:
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The disadvantage of this method of meditation is that you will never reach the deepest places that unassisted meditation can eventually take you, mainly because unassisted meditation requires intent. Another problem is that you will not have a trigger to relax you and put you into a meditative state. When your emotions are running wild, or you are feeling stressed at work for example, it may not be possible to take time out with the headphones. The headphones are also quite loud and intense — not conducive to absolute, peaceful bliss. I personally think that these CDs are a great tool for enhancing your brain and nervous system, and should be used in addition to unassisted meditation.
Holosync is a good example of this technology. There are many other similar CDs available, such as those sold by The Synchronicity Foundation, Hemi-sync, and MindSync.
COMMENTS
*Itisnotimportant howyoumeditate, butthefactthatyoudosointhefirst place.
¢Techniques that work for some, may not work for others.
*You need to make the time, and in the early days, itcan be an effort. After a while, itbecomes easy and pleasurable, and the rewards are obvious. *Accept your situation, your feelings and your circumstances. Anything that you feel right now, whether ithappens to be anger, fear, shame, inadequacy or stress, is OK. Being in denial about your weaknesses, failings and disappointments will often prolong your situation. Ifeverything isperfect, well then there is nowhere further to go, is there?
“Only let the moving waters calm down, and the sun and moon will be reflected on the surface ofyour being” — Rumi.
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LIVING FOOD
WHAT IS LIVING FOOD?
Only eat foods that spoil or rot, but eat them before they do.
iving foods are delicious, deeply nourishing and sustaining. When you |keane eatlivingfoods,youdonotwanttoovereat.Theyareone of the foundations for a long, youthful and satisfying life.
The foods I recommend in this chapter will raise your energy to sustained levels you have never known before. A diet for a long and vital life isbased on vegetables, fruit, “good” oils, nuts, pulses, whole grains and for most people, fish, eggs, poultry and meat. Many of these foods have been fermented, and contain “good” bacteria.
A diet of organically grown living food will heal your digestive system, remove toxins, and then heal your body. It will also have a dramatic effect on your mental health and state of well being. In controlled studies, anorexia,’ attention deficit disorder, antisocial and delinquent behaviour, depression, 58 insomnia and schizophrenia>® have all been improved or cured with nutrition alone. The internationally renowned mental health expert Dr Carl Pfeiffer, who spent his career researching the biochemistry of mental illness, maintains that, “if there is a drug that can alter brain chemistry for good effect, there's a nutrient that can do it without side effects.”
The food you eat can directly affect your genes.!9> First and most obviously, any toxins in foods can affect your organs, your cells, and even damage the transcription (copying) of your genes. Less obviously, a new area of research known as nutrigenomics has shown that some foods alter the transcription of your genes with positive or unknown effects. After a food has altered a gene, your cells will continue to be replaced using copies of the new gene.
Converting from processed foods to living foods means changing from a trolley of boxes, packets and tins at the supermarket every week, to a larger load of fresh, organic produce. A better alternative than supermarkets are the organic and free-range shops that are springing up around every
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city. Some farmers also drive into the city and sell their produce from the side of a truck at a growers market. The ultimate is to grow your own, or personally know the farmer who grew the produce.
This is not as daunting as it sounds. A small city garden, once it is established, can provide much of the fruit and vegetables consumed by a family. You get organic, ripe picked fruit, vegetables and herbs that are in season, have ten times as much flavour as supermarket produce, and even more nutrition. If you cannot have a garden, you can grow a few plants in pots or a window box. Eating at least some living plants will make a big difference to your health.
DIETARY EVOLUTION
re-human. About seven million years ago, one of the species of
[PA aoe intherainforestsofAfricabeganthegradualprocessof evolution into our earliest hominid (human-like) ancestors. It took two to three million years before the first of them were walking upright, with many human characteristics.
Most apes are herbivores, eating a diet of fruits, roots, shoots, selected leaves, stems, nuts, berries and insects. Some species supplement their diet with eggs and small animals. It seems reasonable to assume that hominids, with their greater intelligence and hunting skills, would have relied on animal foods more than any other apes. Therefore, these early humans would also have eaten eggs, birds, fish and meat.
According to Dr S. Boyd Eaton of Emory University in Atlanta, the climate began to cool around 2.5 million years ago, with the start of the first of a series of ice ages. The rich herbivorous gardens in the tropical forests declined. Open grasslands became the dominant type of vegetation, and grazing animals flourished. To survive, early humans became increasingly carnivorous.
In that time, humans developed a few metabolic similarities with carnivores. We need a regular supply of zinc, iodine and iron, and we are unable to synthesise vitamin A, vitamin B12, essential fatty acids and the
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amino acid taurine. Meats are the best sources of these nutrients.
Are humans carnivores, herbivores or omnivores? Let us compare: Attraction. Carnivores can smell blood and meat easily. When they see
or smell meat, they start to salivate. Most humans do not salivate at the sight of fresh meat, though it could be argued that this is part of our conditioning. Most people salivate from the smell of baking bread, or the sight of sweet foods or a dish with their fancy of fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy, fish, meat, poultry and oils.
Agility. Carnivores are adapted to catching prey. They move quickly to catch, kill and consume their prey. Humans have low agility — most people would have a hard time catching even a chicken in an open space.
Teeth. Carnivores have long, sharp incisors and canine teeth. They tear off meat and swallow itin large hunks. Herbivores have incisors for cutting or ripping plants, and flat teeth for grinding. Human canine and incisor teeth are small compared to those of a carnivore and are, perhaps, better suited to biting tough vegetables rather than animal skin and bone.
Saliva. Carnivores have relatively littlesaliva, and itislow indigestive enzymes. Herbivores produce lots of saliva that contains ptyalin and other digestive enzymes, which start to digest carbohydrates whilst they are still in their mouth. Humans produce copious saliva with digestive enzymes suited to carbohydrates.
Stomach. Carnivores have strong stomach acid that ensures that most bacteria and other microorganisms in their food are destroyed. Enzymes produced by the carnivore’s pancreas, gall bladder and liver digest its food in the small intestine. Nutrients from that food are absorbed through the wall of the small intestine. Herbivores have between one and four digestive chambers. The early chambers contain high concentrations of bacteria and protozoa, and involve regurgitation and chewing the cud. The last chamber is most like a stomach and contains weak acid designed to kill the billions of gut flora that have digested the food earlier. Humans have an acid stomach that breaks down food, though the acid is not as strong as that in a carnivorous stomach. We produce digestive enzymes, and nutrients are
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absorbed through the wall of the small intestine.
Digestive tract. Carnivores have a short digestive tract — a lion’s is
about four metres long. Flesh eaters have a fast digestive system, so that the meat they eat is sterilised in a strong acid stomach, quickly digested, and quickly excreted. Carnivores often manage on one meal per day, whereas herbivores spend a large part of the day eating. Herbivores have a large stomach, and digestion is dependent on the action of bacteria. Ruminants may graze for eight hours per day, and spend many more hours chewing the cud. Humans have and need bacteria in their digestive system — mostly in the large colon.
In summary, modern humans seem to be adapted to an omnivorous diet. We can digest meat, but it is not our staple food. We are well adapted to eating other animal foods like fish, eggs and birds, and plant foods like vegetables and fruits. We do not have the ability to digest dry raw grains or cellulose. Many but not all humans can digest raw dairy products and cooked grains and legumes. When grains and legumes have been soaked or sprouted, and grains and dairy products have been cultured, they become more digestible and nutritious as human food.
Palaeolithic. Our stone-age ancestors roamed the world for 2.5 million years, the time immediately prior to the evolution of Homo Sapiens. Itwas the longest and last major developmental period before modern man appeared. By contrast, the last 10.000 years, during which agriculture with its grains, domestic animals and dairy produce emerged, is but a pinprick in the scale of human evolution. Our physiology and biochemistry is the same as that of the Palaeolithic People. They:
* were meat eaters. According to a study by Professor Loren Cordain, Dr Eaton (above) and other scientists,!© 65% of stone-age man’s calories came from meat and other animal sources, and 35% from plants. Other writers such as Jared Diamond maintain that their diets contained a lower proportion ofmeat.?!4
* ate a rich variety of wild vegetables, fruit, nuts and legumes
* did not eat grains and cereals, or consume dairy products
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They would also have consumed around 100 grams of fibre per day — three times as much as most modern people. More importantly, the fibre was not from cereals, as it is now. Instead, all their fibre came from wild fruits and vegetables, nuts, herbs, shoots and roots.
Their diet would have been fresh, wild, and without any refining or processing. All their foods were in-season, and the fruits were picked ripe. They would have had around 300 times more phytonutrients than the typical modern Western diet. The micronutrients in their different foods would have supported each other, in symbiotic relationships.
Of particular note is the low proportion of carbohydrate. The little they ate came from nuts, fruits, legumes and vegetables, all unrefined, unprocessed, raw and fresh. They would have been slow-digesting, low Glycemic index (page 175) carbohydrates, providing them with strength and endurance. Palaeolithic people did not suffer from wild blood glucose fluctuations, energy and mood swings, and hunger pangs.
This raises the question — should we be eating 65% animal products, like our Palaeolithic ancestors? In my opinion, the answer is no, because the Palaeolithic diet would have provided for the requirements of a different life in those pre-historic times. They needed great strength and endurance as hunter-gatherers. Their priorities would have been survival, reproducing, and then feeding and protecting their young. Their life expectancy was around 30 years, provided they survived the appallingly high infant mortality at the time. The low adult life expectancy was because of the sheer violence and danger of their lives, not because of ill health. If these Stone Age people had been safe and protected, they would have lived far longer on their diet of rich, wild, varied organic foods. Their high meat diet was geared for strength and survival, not health and longevity.
In contrast, these days we do not need great physical strength to survive, nor are we likely to go for an entire day without a meal. The most successful people today are able to adapt to the stress and pollution of our modern lives, and use their brainpower for long periods.
Early Agriculture. About 10,000 years ago, the first people started
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growing wheat. Grains were originally grown as a food for animals, not for humans, because humans cannot eat and digest raw cereals. However, our early ancestors soon discovered how to eat the grains. They would have roasted and parched the grains, ground them between stones and cooked the dough over a fire, boiled them into gruel, and fermented the first forms of beer. They would also have found that soaking and sprouting grains makes them digestible.
A variety of grains has become the mainstay of the human diet in the last 6,000 to 7,000 years as people found them to be an easy and cheap food source.
Human’s brains are considerably bigger than those of other primates. Our brains use 25% of our calories. Therefore, we need to extract more nutrition and calories from the food we eat. According to Dr Eaton the only way early humans could do this was to eat a higher proportion of animal products than other apes did. The recent advent of agriculture and a grain- based diet provides cheap high-calorie food. Farming, particularly of grains, has been the key to the growth of the world human population, and a less active lifestyle that permitted the rise of permanent cities and civilisations.
The ancient Tao texts recognised grains as newcomers to the human diet. For the first time humans had high carbohydrate meals, high in starch. Taoists repeatedly and clearly stated that grains should be avoided, as they had ruinous effects on health and longevity.
There have been around 500 generations since people started eating grains as a substantial portion of their diet. This may have provided some time for our digestive systems to adapt partially. It may also explain why grain allergies are so widespread today.
The early whole grain foods were top quality, unrefined, low GI carbohydrates by today’s standards. They would have been digested and absorbed slowly, providing a consistent level of slow release energy. A steady blood glucose level fuelled the first farmers working muscles for long after the meal. It also provided these late stone-age people with better
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brain function.
There has been a steady increase in the carbohydrate consumption of
people around the world since then. In addition, the milling, refining and processing of grains has become more sophisticated. In the last couple of centuries, white bread, polished rice and highly refined flours have appeared. Modern milling methods scrape away the nutrient-laden germ and bran on grains, leaving only the starchy white pith. Most commercial grain foods are nutritionally barren. There is a strong argument that many degenerative illnesses are correlated with the introduction of carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates, to our diet. Numerous studies show that modern high carbohydrate diets, particularly refined foods, are responsible for fluctuations in our blood glucose level that lead to hunger pangs, low energy, a stressed and swollen pancreas, hormonal upsets, insulin resistance, a variety of degenerative diseases and rapid ageing.
Our ancestors would not have consumed dairy products prior to the advent of agriculture. It was only after they started growing grains and other crops that they could domesticate the first goats, sheep, pigs and other animals.
Modern Milling. During the last century, high-speed rolling mills have replaced traditional millstones, where whole grains were ground at low speeds to make coarse natural flour. The speed at which the modern mills grind produces intense heat in the microstructure of the grain particles. The natural oils in the grain kernels are oxidised, and aside from being toxic, give the flour a rancid flavour. The solution was to de-germinate the grain, by pulverising it with rollers and removing the kernels, which contain unsaturated oils and vitamins. You can buy the kernels as wheat germ in health food stores. The grain husks (bran) are also removed, along with fibre, magnesium and more vitamins. The resulting white flour is dead, de- natured, pure starch particles, finely milled with a huge surface area and high Glycemic Index.
This fine white flour has excellent commercial properties. It is quite
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Dry grains that have not been soaked, fermented or sprouted contain phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors (page 181), which make them virtually indigestible. Phytic acid causes mineral deficiencies and bone loss. Many traditional types of bread are made from fermented or sprouted grains; all the other traditional breads are made over a period of many hours or even days. However, modern commercial breads, cakes and pastries are made in only a few hours — insufficient time to break down the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors.
Standard American Diet (SAD). The low point in the evolution of human eating habits isthe SAD. High inflavour, low innutrition, available within seconds, 24 hours per day, appealingly packaged, reliable and consistent.
Processed foods include fast foods, packets, cans and jars of ready to eat convenience food, precooked frozen dinners and packaged snacks. They are usually cooked, and often processed at high temperature and pressure. Processed “foods” are dead, containing no enzymes (page 162). They include debilitating, denatured ingredients such as sugar, refined starch in the form of flour, pasteurised cow’s milk, refined salt, and hydrogenated and damaged vegetable oils. In addition, the processed food industry uses over 5,000 synthetic chemicals as preservatives, stabilisers, flavour enhancers, colours or emulsifiers. Your body correctly recognises most of them as toxic foreign agents that ittries to eliminate, putting great strain on your digestive and immune systems. After years of daily exposure to such “foods”, your exhausted immune system leaves you vulnerable to attack by microbes, toxins, and cancerous cells.
Processed foods are toxic and addictive, and are the primary reason for
stable, and has a shelf life of years. It makes light, fluffy breads and pastries, and provides a wide array of options for cakes, biscuits and baking. It is suited to the large scale, commercial production of bread and other refined foods. After the food industry discovered how to mill white flour on a large scale, they promoted is as making superior, better tasting products.
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Fast and processed foods appear to be cheap, but that is an illusion. In the long term, processed food is extraordinarily expensive.
The objective of food manufacturers is to make a profit. They buy the cheapest possible ingredients, package them attractively, advertise the product, and sell it at the highest possible mark-up. Processed foods have the following characteristics:
¢ Transportable — tough, inert and resistant to heat, light and vibration
¢ Long shelf life, sometimes for months or years
*Addictive — laced with sugar, refined salt, caffeine and other “hard to give up” ingredients. A successful manufactured food is one that does not satisfy, but rather induces repeated purchases
¢Highly flavoured with synthetic flavouring (which ischeaper and usually indistinguishable in taste and smell from the real ingredient). Sugar and salt are also extensively used
* Attractive. A great deal of thought and expense goes into the packaging of the product, and artificially colouring it
* Easy to use. Flows freely, doesn’t need stirring or mixing
A good example of processed food is breakfast cereal. To make corn flakes and puffed wheat, a small quantity of grains are heated and compressed to a pressure of around 1500 pounds per square inch, before explosive release. The molecular structure of the grain is transformed, and
it is no longer recognised as a food by your body. An experiment®* at Ann Arbor University in 1960 fed cornflakes to one group of rats, and the boxes they came in to another. The cornflake-fed rats all died before the first of the cardboard-fed rats succumbed. The results were never published.
Sugar is added to most processed foods — soft drinks, fruit juices, dairy products such as ice cream and yogurt, cakes, pastries, breads, sauces, jams, jellies and dressings. The main sugars used are sucrose (table sugar), glucose and high fructose corn syrup. None of these sugars has any
nutritional benefits — quite the contrary — they are industrial poisons that
the epidemic of obesity in the Western world. They cause you to overeat, and lower your sense of well being.! 14
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ravage your health and longevity by causing wild fluctuations in your blood glucose levels.
The top selling products in Western supermarkets are soft drinks, breads made from fine ground refined flour, potatoes and fries, breakfast cereals, white rice, pizza, pasta, sugars, sweets (candy), jams and fruit
juices. Factories and laboratories manufacture these SAD foods, not nature. SAD “foods” bear no resemblance to anything you could find in the wild, in a garden, or in the kitchen or food preparation area of any traditional culture. |
SAD foods include herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics and hormones. You do not know what the food is made from. Manufacturers keep their ingredients and recipes secret unless forced to display them.
Variety. Our early ancestors ate from hundreds, if not thousands of different plants. Even a century ago, the variety of fruits and vegetables available was many times greater than itistoday. Icounted the number of different fruits, vegetables and herbs for sale in a large supermarket — the total was 70. Today, only 30 crops account for 95% of everything humanity eats, and just three of them (rice, corn and wheat) represent 80% of mankind’s food. If you eat only a limited number of foods, you draw heavily on the enzymes required to digest those particular foods. This can lead to the exhaustion of your digestive mechanism. You can also become addicted to those foods, and giving them up can be as difficult as healing an alcohol or drug addiction.
FARMING METHODS
CONVENTIONAL (CHEMICAL) FARMING
road acre or “business” farming requires that vegetables and other |Biaee are uniformly planted over large areas. Acombination of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and biocides are applied according to a schedule provided by the chemical suppliers, and are used even ifthe particular crop shows no specific need for that input. This means that the system provided by the chemical companies will work reasonably
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reliably, even on sandy barren soils. It has to, because after years of using the chemical input system, the soils are destroyed, and the insect and bacterial life that would provide natural protection and sustenance to crops is lost.
Chemical farming is oriented towards large-scale production. It is a reliable method of getting huge quantities of fruit and vegetables into supermarkets at low prices. Large fields of identical crops or trees are easier to harvest than small or mixed areas of crops. Large-scale mechanization of tilling, planting, fertilizing, watering, spraying and harvesting is possible. The huge output from these farms can be stored, transported and marketed at low cost. All the inputs can be reliably budgeted in advance, as can the sales of the good-looking but un-nutritious crops.
Crops produced using chemical farming are deceptively attractive. The nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in fertilisers are sufficient to produce a healthy-looking fruit or vegetable. Unfortunately, as the years go by, each harvest will contain fewer and fewer minerals. Zinc, magnesium, manganese, selenium, chromium, molybdenum and many other trace minerals are lost from the soil and never replaced.
The average person eating chemically farmed produce consumes 5 kg of food additives each year. If they are consuming non-organic fruit and vegetables, 4.5 litres of pesticides and herbicides were sprayed on the foods they ate. Thousands of new chemicals have been introduced into the environment in the last two decades, and most of them have found their way into the food chain.
The worst contaminated®*© non-organic produce are strawberries, potatoes, raisins, red and green bell peppers, spinach, cherries, peaches, bananas, cantaloupe, celery, apples, pears, apricots, green beans, grapes and cucumbers. Usually peanuts are highly contaminated with pesticide, and are susceptible to toxic moulds (e.g. aflatoxin).
Washing conventional produce. Here are some tips on preparing foods that have been sprayed or grown with chemicals.
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If the fruit or vegetable has a shiny waxy finish sprayed on by the producer, washing will not remove the fungicides and pesticides under the wax, So you need to peel them. Apples and cucumbers are often waxed.
A 1996 study3® tested the effectiveness of washing grapes, berries, beans, leafy green vegetables and several fruits in the kitchen. They swirled them in a dilute solution of dish detergent in room temperature water for five to ten seconds, and then rinsed them. Sturdier fruits and vegetables were scrubbed with a vegetable brush. If the item was peeled, it was not necessary to wash it. Washing in this manner removed all traces of pesticides from more than half the samples, and significantly reduced the residues in all the others.
If you have a water ioniser, the acid water it produces is suitable for washing fruit and vegetables. Acid water kills many of the small insects and bacteria that may be on the plants, and itreacts with and neutralises many agricultural chemicals. After washing in acid water, rinse the produce in tap water.
Heavy metal pollution is also a common occurrence. You can remove most of these metals by washing them in a bow] of acid water, or tap water to which you add two tablespoons of vinegar. Elements such as lead, cadmium and mercury react with the acid and can then be washed away.
ORGANIC
Organic produce is grown naturally, without the use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or biocides. The soil should be pollutant free, alive and well structured. If manufactured chemical products have previously been used the land, it can take decades to rehabilitate the soil.!°4 Heavy use of fertilizers in the past can cause a deficiency of micronutrients in the crops produced,!98 as well as ruin the soil.
Organic crops have significantly higher levels of micronutrients and alkaline-forming minerals, are sweeter tasting, more intensely flavoured, and have greater resistance to disease and insect infestations.47°
A quick way to compare the quality of some fruits and vegetables is to
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If you have to use non-organic fruit or vegetables because you genuinely cannot afford them, or they are not available, then seek the best quality produce that you can and wash it carefully as described above. Grow some herbs or vegetables in a window box or in your back yard. The addition of even small quantities of vegetables and herbs picked a few minutes prior to consumption adds greatly to the life and nutrient spectrum of your food intake.
PERMACULTURE
Permaculture techniques! are often used in smaller organic farms where natural biological processes support each other. For example, compatible plants are placed next to each other where the smells, compost, shade or soil nitrogen from one plant benefits the plant next to it. Poultry has a part to play, eating insect pests and fertilizing the fruit trees. Fish are required in the ponds, eating mosquito larvae in addition to aquatic plants. Insects, wild birds and small animals are attracted into this circular process, where each component has a valuable place in this natural system. Permaculture systems do not allow for the ongoing and large-scale removal of crops from the system. Rather, everything is re-circulated.
BIODYNAMICS
Biodynamics takes organic farming further. Ituses techniques developed in the early 20" century by Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and scientist. Farmers applying these practices have repeatedly shown that in a few years they can create rich deep friable soils that might otherwise take many decades to develop. The methods may seem weird to a newcomer. Phases of the moon, and a preparation made from cow horns, manure, and
cut them and expose them to the air, and check how long they take to brown (oxidise). I have seen a nutrient poor, non-organic apple that has browned significantly within half an hour. On the other hand, a slice of organic apple fresh picked from a tree may take many hours to start browning.
flowers picked on the day they open are involved. However, they work, and
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people who try them have transformed their farms and their crops. Scientific research is gradually uncovering why biodynamic farms are so healthy. On the day a flower opens for example, its roots shoot up a selection of trace elements to the bud. The next day, those trace elements are returned to the roots.
The focus of biodynamics is to enhance living processes using the forces of air, water, sun and soil. Used correctly, they can dramatically transform soil and all that is produced from it.
Organic and biodynamic food tastes better than chemically produced food. It is alive, full of flavour, and lasts longer — a broccoli was still crisp and firm after two weeks in my fridge, when the supermarket equivalent would have been tired and wilted after less than a week.
FREE-RANGE
Animals and birds that are free to roam around the farm and forage for their natural diet, eating wild vegetation, insects, and worms and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise, produce free-range products. They are not cooped up in small cages or feeding lots, nor are they fed any commercial feeds or supplements.
Generally, the best animal products come from wild animals, in their natural habitat eating their natural foods. However, wild animal products, with the exception of ocean swimming fish, are simply not available to most people today, especially city dwellers.
Free-range animals are leaner, healthier, and have more essential fatty acids (especially Omega-3s). Wild or free-range meats can have up to a third more protein than the meat of confined animals, one sixth the level of fat, and a far better profile of minerals (especially zinc).
The natural diet of cattle is wild grass. All animals need to exercise, forage, and eat their natural diets — which may consist of grasses, shoots, leaves, grubs and other insects.
Poultry farms and eggs that claim to be free-range are often not. They are an improvement on the tiny battery cages in the worst cases, but the
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hens are still fed an artificial diet and are limited in their ability to range. Animals, including fish and poultry, that are fed on grain and other feeds rather than their natural diet produce flesh and eggs that are deficient in nutrients, especially Omega-3 essential fatty acids. There is a correlation between many twentieth century diseases, especially heart disease, and the
consumption of the meat of grain-fed cattle.!84
Feeding animals on grains and some of the appalling ingredients in
animal feeds, such as sawdust, ash, dried and powdered slaughterhouse and abattoir waste, pig and poultry farm manure and grain milling by-products? can only mean they produce sick meat, milk and eggs. Farmed fish look different to wild fish, with tatty fins and a different colour. Battery farmed chickens are the most awful, with poor feather coverage, numerous illnesses and aggressive behaviour.
Animals that are fed on feeds rather than their natural diets get sick, so most commercial feeds include small quantities of antibiotics. Eat the products of these animals, and you get an unwanted dose of antibiotics. These regular doses of antibiotics depress your immune system, leading to numerous diseases. This is also responsible for the development of strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria, causing a threat to the community’s health.
Various synthetic hormones are also fed to and injected into animals to make them gain weight faster. Steroid hormones cause cattle to grow fat fast so it stands to reason that they contribute to obesity in humans who consume the meat and milk of these animals. Hormones are used to bring entire herds of cows into heat at the same time for breeding, to increase milk production, and induce abortions in pregnant cows scheduled for slaughter. These female (oestrogenic) type hormones are suspected as a cause ofbreast and ovarian cancer in women, prostrate cancers in men, and premature puberty in children. This is especially true for growing children. Whenever big North American fast food chains featuring beef and milk products set up operations in Asian countries, the once healthy children there soon show all the signs of chronic ill health that plague American children: obesity, acne and pimples, respiratory infections, premature
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puberty, and behavioural abnormalities.
Cattle absorb the chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides used in
their feed crops. The outbreak of mad cow disease in England in the late 80’s was probably caused by feeds that included animal products.
When animals are confined in a small feedlot or cage and cannot move around freely, and are overfed on an unnatural diet of grains, they gain an excess of fat that tends to deposit in and around their muscles. Much of the grain-fed beef produced in North America, Europe and Japan is “marbled” with such fat. In Australia, as well as many South American and African countries, the cattle are free to range and the fat content within the muscles is almost as low as in game meat, at around 5%. Selvedge fat is the fat under the hide, around membranes and between muscles — the fat that you can easily cut off. If the meat you are eating is not organic, cut off the selvedge fat because toxins such as pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones tend to accumulate in the animal’s selvedge fat and skin.
Kangaroo isprobably the best choice inAustralian domestic meat. They are either wild or farmed in large ranges. Most Australian cattle are free ranging, but there is an increasing tendency to put them in feedlots, especially prior to slaughter. Australian sheep are normally allowed to range freely. They are out in the sun and fresh air, and are not usually contaminated with drugs and hormones (though most are dipped for parasites such as ticks). Lamb has always been the meat of choice in India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, where arteriosclerosis and heart disease have never been prevalent. Even better than lamb iswild game such as deer, pheasant, duck and quail, but these meats are hard to find.
PICKING GREEN FRUIT
t is criminal to pick unripe, green fruit. Green harvesting typically
|beeapickingfruitsevendayspriortoripening,andiswidely practised throughout the world. Green picked fruit has almost no vitamins and minerals, but instead contains salicylates, a natural preservative and insecticide.
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People are chomping into fruit thinking they are eating nutritious food, when it is simply not so. All these years you thought oranges were a rich source of vitamin C, but many supermarket oranges contain none — not even a trace.>© It is essential that your fruit is ripened on the tree, or on the vine, and not after picking. The worst affected are tomatoes, citrus and various berries. The only fruits that may be picked under-ripe are avocados and bananas.
Salicylates occur in most green fruits and in some vegetables, such as radish, capsicum and zucchini. They act as a natural preservative to delay rotting, and as an insecticide.
In the last 3 days of a fruit’s ripening, salicylate levels fall and are replaced by anti-oxidants entering through the stem of the plant. For example, a large green apple contains about 150mg of salicylate, and in the last three days as the apple fully ripens most of the salicylates are removed, and replaced with anti-oxidants in the form of a diverse range of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin C, zinc and selenium.?°
Soon after salicylates were discovered, they were used as a preservative in factory-processed foods but were banned in the 1950’s because many people were reacting adversely with headaches, indigestion, vomiting, diarrhoea, aches and pains, coughing and wheezing, a blocked or runny nose and itchy rashes. They are also responsible for hyperactivity in children. Salicylates inhibit the uptake of some minerals such as zinc. You get a triple whammy when you eat green—picked fruit:
* a dose of salicylates
* no or low nutrients, especially vitamin C, zinc and selenium
¢ a digestion inhibitor that stops you absorbing what little minerals there may be in the green-picked fruit
The practise of picking fruit green is quite understandable, because if all fruit were picked fully ripe, the cost of each piece of fruit at your supermarket or greengrocer would be many times higher. A soft ripe peach would have to be handled, transported and stored differently, and would last only a small fraction of the time that a green picked peach would.
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Most fruit is picked green and hard, and force-ripened immediately prior to its sale. Chemicals such as ethylene gas are used to artificially ripen and colour the fruit. There is little physical damage to the fruit, and little chance itwill over-ripen and spoil before sale.
It is well worth paying several times the price for tree or vine ripened fruits. Grow your own fruits in your backyard, or buy fruit directly from organic suppliers or co-operatives where you can speak to the grower and ensure that itwas picked ripe.
Deterioration within Minutes. All animals need living food. Fruits and vegetables develop phytonutrients and enzymes as they grow. Think of any herbivore grazing on grass. The grass is alive and growing right up until the moment it goes into the animal’s mouth. Any animal in the wild eats ripe fruit, straight from the tree or vine and into the animal’s mouth. Our early hunter-gatherer ancestors would have enjoyed the same level of freshness.
Some fruits and vegetables will start to change within seconds of being picked. The chi, or life of the produce starts to die from that point, as the micronutrients deteriorate. Of course, different types of fruit and vegetables can take from hours to days before they lose most of their nutrition. For example, a ripe and soft peach will be perfect when picked, but will be noticeably softer and less life filled after a couple of hours in the sun. In contrast, apumpkin may not change noticeably for weeks.
If you do not have your own garden, search for whatever is grown locally, and avoid the tired, limp fruit and vegetables at your supermarket. There are increasing numbers of grower markets in all cities. Many people with rural smallholdings have excess from their trees and gardens, and are glad to make some extra money. I have found a couple of such suppliers by talking to friends and reading the local newspapers.
A small suburban backyard can produce a surprising amount of food. I strongly recommend speaking to an expert before starting a garden. It is important to know which trees and vegetables thrive under the local conditions. Equally important is keeping to permaculture principles,!°
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If you do not have a garden, at least get a couple of planter boxes and grow some herbs, tomatoes and other vegetables on your balcony or windowsill. You can treat yourself to chives, basil, mint, thyme and other fresh and full flavoured produce, and at least a portion of your diet will be alive.
IN SEASON
ets go back to our ancestors 50,000 years ago. Would they have been
|besettoeatfruitandvegetablesimportedfromadifferentclimate,or from the opposite side of the world, where a different season is in progress? Nature provides food packed with the nutrients you need for the season you are in, and the place where you are. A healthful diet in one location is frequently disastrous for different people elsewhere in the world.
In winter, rooty, dense, high-energy vegetables are most suitable for making delicious nourishing soups for those cold days. Artichokes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrot, cauliflower, leeks, parsnips, peas, silver beet, spinach and turnips are typically available in winter. At the end of winter, the first shoots and buds appear — high nutrient food, in preparation for the summer activity ahead. Summer produces light and alkaline salad vegetables that are rich in vitamins and minerals, such as capsicum, corn, cucumber, endive, lettuce, spinach, watercress and leafy herbs like basil and parsley. Summer fruits include peaches, apricots and nectarines.
RICHEST PART OF FRUIT/VEGETABLES
he most nutritious part of a cabbage is the outer dark green leaves. Most people throw away the oldest, toughest and most insect-eaten
leaves. The same applies to any other vegetable — most nutrients are concentrated towards the outside, or in the outer green leaves. With fruit,
where everything supports everything else. A small suburban permaculture garden can provide most ofafamily’s needs, and once itissetup itrequires little regular work. Such a garden is a great source of organic, ripe and fresh produce.
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the minerals, vitamins and enzymes are located predominantly in the skins and rinds, particularly the white pulpy flesh immediately under the skin. For example, with watermelon, the white flesh under the skin (the least palatable) is also the most nourishing. The core and the seeds in most fruits are also highly nutritious - another part that we tend to throw away. Have you ever seen an animal ignoring the core ofa fruit, the pips, or its skin?
When you eat a fruit or vegetable, you can often eat the whole, complete item. For example, with a beetroot, eat the leaves and stalks along with the roots. Eat broccoli and cauliflower leaves, as well as the flowers. With fruit, eat the skin, the core and the seeds, as well as the tender inner portion. The white fibres between the segments of an orange or other citrus fruit are rich in enzymes and amino acids. In addition to consuming the most nutritious part ofthe plant as explained above, you also get the benefit of symbiosis. The complex enzymes and other components of each part of the plant support the others.
Sometimes the stalks may be pithy, the leaves may be bitter, or the skin ofa fruit may be uninteresting (who likes orange peel?) However, do keep experimenting — you will add to your nutrition, waste less, and find some new favourites. I used to throw away broccoli stalks for example. Nowadays I peel them, and expose a delicious crunchy vegetable high in vitamin C.
There are two provisos here — the skins and outer leaves are likely to be the most contaminated or polluted. If the produce is non-organic, and has been sprayed with pesticides or fungicides, or ifithas been sitting outside in traffic fumes or other pollution, then the outer leaves or skins should be thrown away. Effective ways of washing produce are discussed on page 100.
Secondly, do not eat any additional parts of nightshade vegetables such as tomato, potato, capsicum and aubergine (page 198). For example, the leaves of a tomato plant or the flowers of a potato are poisonous. The roots, leaves and shoots of many wild plants are also toxic. Among common fruits and vegetables, avoid carrot and rhubarb greens and the outside skins of
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MODERATION OVEREATING
vereating has a devastating effect on your health and longevity. After O;:meal,youshouldfeelsatisfied,orideallyjustslightlyhungry.The pleasurable groans and belt loosening that end many meals have a high cost in terms of your health and longevity. In many cultures around the world such as France, Japan, China, Korea, Nepal and India, overeating is considered disgusting. You will enjoy your food more by emphasising its quality and presentation, rather than how much you can cram onto a plate and into your stomach.
The amount offood you eat (and your resulting weight) ispivotal to your health and longevity. A mass of scientific research confirms this.!9> 20, 21, 22, 41,117 Ancient Tao and Buddhist teachings have repeatedly
emphasised this point over the centuries.
Although being overweight is caused by several factors such as your
level of physical activity, the quality of your diet and having a low muscle mass, Overeating is the main cause. More than half the population of all English-speaking countries is overweight or obese. In the year 2000 around 55% of North Americans were overweight, of which 25% were obese.*!B By2004,theoverweighthadincreasedto64%ofalladults. 31%ofpeople over the age of 20 are now obese!938 25% of children are overweight.!!4 Overweight and obese people will grow old early, and suffer high rates of degenerative diseases such as heart and artery disease, and diabetes.,
Why is overeating so damaging to your body? If 90% of the free radicals in your body come from the food you eat (page 154), itfollows that overeating is about the most damaging thing you can do to your rate of ageing.
Overeating also produces high levels of toxic waste. Western lifestyles do not eliminate these wastes efficiently, and instead they accumulate. Excess calories are stored as fat. This leads to hormonal imbalances, toxic
orange and grapefruit in large quantities because of the toxins they contain.
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acid build up, sickness and ageing.
An excess of carbohydrates from overeating raises your blood glucose
level, which in turn raises your insulin level, raises your triglycerides, and lowers your HDL (good) cholesterol. Itputs you at risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It stresses all your organs, diverting energy and enzymes to a heavy digestive process. In particular it damages your digestive system (poor nutrition or assimilation is at the root of virtually all degenerative diseases).
However, it is important that you are not malnourished in any way. For a long and healthy life, you need a high quality, high nutrient diet, with the minimum amount of calories for your level of activity. Reduce your calories, but ensure you get a full range of macro and micronutrients. Jfyou are getting all the nutrients you need, you are less likely to feel inappropriately hungry. Cravings for sweet, fatty or salty foods are indicative of an imbalance in your body, rather than genuine hunger.
You are only likely to follow the diet recommended in Grow Youthful for the rest of your life ifyou find ittotally satisfying and enjoyable. Food is one of the great pleasures in this world, and I am certainly not asking you to forgo it.A healthy diet isabsolutely delicious, especially once you have recovered from the sugar-salt-fat excesses of the SAD.
¢ The thinner you are, the healthier and longer-lived you will be, provided your slim body is not caused by smoking or illness.4!©
* If you have a lean body, do not be too smug. What is important is that your weight today is close to your weight when you were 20 years old. If
you are several kilos more today than you were at the age of 20, your risk of degenerative diseases and ageing is higher even though your weight seems reasonable.
* Where you have put on weight is also important — if your gut is fatter today than at the age of 20, you are more at risk than if the fat is around your thighs and hips.4!P
* Middle-aged spread is not inevitable. If you keep the same body shape throughout your life, you will likely be healthy, youthful and long-lived.
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WE ARE ENCOURAGED TO OVEREAT
Western (particularly North American) society encourages overeating. The food industries spend billions of dollars each year to entice and mislead us. The most obvious example is in the advertising of fast food and soft drinks. We see healthy, beautiful, slim, energetic and life-filled young people enjoying these products. The truth is that never touching processed foods and soft drinks is the best thing that you can do for your health. Other industries also encourage us to eat more — dairy, potato, egg, beef, fruit juice and sweets all have their message.
Value is emphasised. Larger portions and servings or free extras are a clever marketing ploy, but completely inappropriate for food where it is quality rather than quantity that matters.
Restaurant portions are often excessively large — itisnot uncommon to be served a meal totalling 1,500 calories — sufficient energy for an entire day. “All you can eat” restaurants and “help yourself” buffets give a sense of bountiful food and massive choice, encouraging you to take larger portions and eat far more than you would otherwise.
There is a hidden side to commercial food production that is very active. More than sight and sound are used to entice us — your taste and smell are open to manipulation too. Today, it is possible to create virtually any flavour or smell in the laboratory. Exotic and enticing chemical tangs and aromas are added to processed foods at a lower cost than the real ingredients — so chemicals are widely used. The sugar and refined salt content of most processed foods is also raised to make them more addictive. These false foods are available everywhere in our cities — gas stations, sports and entertainment venues, corner and department stores.
WHY DOES CALORIE RESTRICTION WORK?
Most conventional dieticians recommend that a moderately active woman consume around 1800-2000 calories per day and a similar man 2300-2500 calories per day. While this level of calories is unlikely to lead to obesity, itwill encompass a “normal” level of ageing and sickness. Reducing these
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Calorie restriction leads to a total improvement in your health and Vitality, with all organs benefiting, especially your pancreas, kidneys and brain. Blood glucose, insulin and lipid levels are normalised, reducing all kinds of autoimmune diseases, especially heart disease and diabetes.
Calorie restriction improves your health and longevity by:
* Reducing free radicals. 90% of the free radicals in your body come from the food that you eat (page 154). The more you eat, the more free radicals are produced. If you can restrict the energy (calorie) component of your food, it will have a dramatic effect on the level of free radicals in your body.
*Improving your metabolism. After afew weeks on reduced calories, your metabolism becomes more efficient, and produces even fewer free radicals as a by-product.
¢ Lowering your blood glucose level. This leads to reduced levels of Advanced Glycosylated End products. AGEs are sugary, inflammatory build-ups near the surface of arteries and capillaries, leading to heart and kidney disease, blindness and impotence.
¢ Lowering your blood insulin level. Insuiin is secreted in response to
glucose, primarily from carbohydrates. The damage caused by excess insulin isdiscussed on page 263.
HOW TO AVOID OVEREATING
*The most effective thing you can do to reduce your hunger isconvert from processed food to living food.
Most people in the Western world suffer from malnutrition. It seems hard to believe. Your first thought might be just the opposite — most people are overweight. They seem to be suffering from anything but malnourishment in this world of plenty. How is itpossible?
The modern Western diet provides excessive calories, but little nutrition. Processed foods sometimes taste good, but only fresh natural
daily calorie levels by 40% to 1200 for women and 1500 for men will open your life to a new era of top quality food, health and longevity.
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This may seem to be a daunting task, but it is not. A handful of fresh raw nuts or sprouted seeds isjust as quick as a bowl of packaged breakfast cereal with pasteurised milk; a slice of Essene bread with avocado is no more trouble than a hamburger; a piece of fruit is as easy as a packet of potato crisps. It is just a matter of habit.
¢ According to Ayurvedic tradition, there are six basic tastes: sweet, salt, sour, bitter, pungent and astringent. The standard American diet is high in sugar and salt, but low or without the other flavours. If you have a meal with a balance of all the tastes, you are less likely to feel (inappropriately) hungry after.
* Slow down, fully appreciate, enjoy. This may mean changing a lifetime eating habit. Chew slowly and thoroughly and fully sense your food (page
106). Your body will feed back a lot of information, including whether the food you are eating is nourishing or not. The feeling of satiety or fullness will be clearer. You may not even like what you are eating if you pay attention!
* It takes about 20 minutes for the “stomach is full” signal to reach the brain. If you are eating rapidly, which most overweight people do, you can consume a lot of food after your stomach is full and before you feel satiated. Slow down.
* Have a starter 15 minutes before the main meal. It will make you less likely to overeat during the main meal.
* Have some protein with every meal. Protein makes you feel full. Your protein does not have to be in a concentrated form (meat, fish, eggs and diary).Itispreferablethatalotofitcomes fromnuts,seeds,beans,grains, and even vegetables, all of which contain some protein. This protein will maintain your blood glucose level at a more stable level, again reducing the
foods nourish our bodies. Most Westerners’ bodies are crying out for nourishing, living food. The more refined, processed or cooked a food is, the less nutrition itprovides. Starved of real nutrition, their body’s instinct is to eat more. If you eat mostly processed food, you are likely to be continually hungry.
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likelihood of getting hunger pangs.
* Minimise the number of components in each meal. Your hypothalamus makes you hungry for each unique food flavour that itrecognises when you eat, until you have had sufficient of that particular food. So if you have a meal with many food flavours and types, itisdifficult to avoid overeating. The secret is to keep your meals simple, and base them on just one or two main components and flavours.
* People commonly overeat because of their psychological needs, not because they are hungry. They consume large quantities of bad calories for emotional reasons. Chocolate, ice cream, potato crisps or fries eaten daily are a serious problem. Food provides an anaesthetic against emotional pain; it can be a substitute for love; it fills an inner emptiness from a lack of connection to others; and itsoothes anxiety. The chapter LIVING THE LIFE YOU LOVE discusses loving yourself and finding fulfilment from within rather than outside yourself (do not worry — you will become a more attractive human being!)
¢ Drink a glass of water half an hour before your meal. Frequently you are not hungry — rather you are thirsty. Thirty minutes gives enough time for it
to be absorbed into your blood, and then back again into your stomach as digestive juices, improving your digestion.
*ItisOK to say no. You do not have to eat something just because itisput in front of you. Be honest with other people about what you really want, and they will be more likely to cater for your needs in the future.
¢ Minimise temptation by not having addictive foods in your house. I find that if Ihave ice cream or black chocolate in the kitchen, I simply cannot leave them alone. However, I always have a supply of fresh fruits, raw vegetables, olives and raw nuts.
* Reducing the proportion of refined carbohydrates and sugars in your diet will make a dramatic difference to your calorie intake. Stay away from white and even whole wheat breads. Replace them with dense whole grain “peasant” breads. Replace sticky white rice with long grained brown “basmati” rice. If you eat a high GI food (page 265), eat it in moderation,
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during the day.
EATING TIPS - HOW AND WHEN CHEWING
ome people are fast eaters, and others are slow eaters. From a health S pointofview,theleisurelyeaterswinoutright.Chewyourfoodslowly and thoroughly — ideally 25 to 50 times per mouthful. Yes, I can hear some
people saying “that’s ridiculous”, but the more you chew your food and the slower you eat, the easier itisto digest. Chewing breaks your food into the smallest possible particles, making them more digestible. Most people have damaged digestive systems, and eating slowly helps immensely.
Chewing your food slowly particularly applies to carbohydrates such as bread, rice, potatoes, grains, pasta, cakes and other starches. Your saliva contains the alkaline enzyme ptyalin, which starts digesting starchy carbohydrates while they are still in your mouth. If you eat these foods without chewing them until they are virtually a liquid, you may suffer from poor digestion and flatulence. In the long-term, bolting down starches will cause serious damage to your digestive system, and shorten your life.
Chewing your food exercises your jaw muscles, maintaining the youthful structure of your face. The masseter is one of the strongest muscles in the body, and needs regular exercise.
If you chew your food thoroughly, your digestion is dramatically improved. Your digestive system is able to extract more of the nutrients and energy in the food you eat, so you can reduce the amount of food you eat by as much as a half, with no feeling of hunger, or loss of energy or nutrition.34
FOOD COMBINATIONS
You can assist your digestion by eating small, simple meals with just a few
and as part of a mixed meal. Eating low GI foods will ensure that your blood glucose level remains stable, and you do not have hunger pangs
ingredients that are compatible with each other. Proteins do not combine
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Carbohydrate foods are best eaten on their own, or combined with vegetables and fats. They include all flour, starch and sugar based products like breads, pastries, biscuits, cakes, potatoes, rice and pasta. The digestion of carbohydrates starts in your mouth, and then continues in your stomach and small intestine.
Protein digestion needs concentrated digestive juices and strong acid in the stomach, before completing in the small intestine. It is best to eat proteins at the beginning of a meal, before your digestive juices are diluted with other foods. Concentrated protein foods like meat, eggs, dairy and fish are best eaten on their own, or with vegetables (except potatoes) and fats. This also applies to less concentrated proteins such as legumes and nuts. Examples of poor protein combinations include meat and potatoes, meat pies, fish and chips, and an egg sandwich.
Fruit, and particularly melons, are rapidly digested, usually in less than 30 minutes. The best way to eat most fruits is separate from main meals. In particular, citrus fruits do not digest well with grains.
A few fruits do not ferment as quickly, such as bananas, dates, dried fruit, apples and coconut. They take 45-60 minutes before passing through your stomach. You can combine these fruits with fats and foods such as complex carbohydrates like whole oats, millet or rye. You can also mix them with your muesli, bake them into a dense wholegrain cake, or slice them on heavy bread.
Milk — drink it on its own, or leave it alone. Milk contains a fat that combines poorly with other foods. Itcurdles immediately itenters your stomach. If there is any other food present the curds coagulate around the other food particles and insulate them from your gastric juices, delaying digestion. Eating meat and milk together imposes a digestive conflict on the stomach, and was even forbidden in the bible. Other dairy products like kefir, yogurt and cheeses are more digestible as they have already been
well with carbohydrates because the starches in carbohydrates need an alkaline environment for their digestion, in contrast to proteins, which need an acid environment.
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curdled in an acidic environment.
most desserts are difficult to digest.
SIMPLE MEALS
For optimum digestion, eat simple meals with just a few components.’© If you have a severely damaged digestive system this is the best way to eat while healing. Modern Western diets have far too many components. Meals often consist of more than one course, and each course comprises several different kinds of food. In contrast, every traditional culture has a coarse, unrefined staple food that provides a carbohydrate base for most meals. Rice is a staple throughout Asia, maize in Southern Africa and parts of South America, yams in some parts ofthe tropics, wheat in Western Europe and North America, and rye in Northern Europe. Usually these staples have vegetables added, and small quantities of meat, fish, eggs or dairy products.
Go back to our Palaeolithic ancestors. Most meals would have consisted of vegetables or fruit they had just found. If they killed a small animal, they would eat itsoon after. They would seldom have consumed different types of meats, dairy, eggs and fruits together. The way we eat a formal meal today, with a starter, amain course and a sweet is excessive!
PEACEFUL EATING
Eat your food peacefully, sitting down comfortably, with no stressful distractions such as TV, phone calls or business meetings. The ideal is to sit down by yourself or with friends, and give all your attention to the enjoyment of your food. You need time to properly chew and fully taste each mouthful. Eating is a conscious action.
Acids inhibit starch digestion. For example, bread digests badly with vinegar or wine.
Sugar inhibits the action of the alkaline enzyme ptyalin, which breaks down starches. Try not to consume any sugar products with starches. Bread with honey or jam, sweetened rice, waffles with syrup, cakes, pastries and
If you are relaxed and thoughtful as you eat, your digestive system will
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concentrate on the considerable task of extracting the maximum value from the food you are consuming, not diverted by stress enzymes.
Do not eat ifyou are tired, stressed, angry, excited, overheated, chilled, in pain, or have a high fever. Strong emotions generate hormones in your blood, and redirect enzyme components from your digestive system to produce them. Physical activity and strong emotions tend to shut down your digestive system.
TEMPERATURE
Avoid extremes of hot and cold in both food and drink. They are unnatural —no animal consumes boiling or freezing foods. Excessively hot food or drink can irritate or even burn the tender lining of your mouth and throat. During the cold of winter, hot (but not scalding) food and drink is warming and comforting, so it is appropriate to have hot meals then. However, consider how often you have a hot cup oftea or coffee, or a hot meal purely out of habit.
Iced drinks halt the digestive process by constricting the ducts that secrete gastric juices into your stomach, and by cooling your stomach below the optimum temperature for digestion. Slamming down a can of iced soft drink after a hard game of sport is positively damaging to your digestive system. Cool water is appropriate — the same temperature that it might be if left in a nearby river, or the ocean.
MAIN MEAL OF THE DAY
For many people, breakfast should be the largest and most important meal of the day. It is not a good idea to skip breakfast, or just have a sugary snack and a cup of coffee. By mid morning, you will be hungry and over- compensate. A “traditional” breakfast is a sensible meal — fresh fruit, yogurt, eggs, fish, oatmeal porridge etc.
It is best to wait 30 minutes after getting up before eating breakfast. Your digestive system needs time to activate after its overnight fast. However, it is a good idea to drink a glass of water when you get up.
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Allow four hours between meals for complete digestion.
SNACKING
Every part of your body needs regular rest — and sometimes a holiday. The same applies to your digestive system. It is not meant to be under a constant digestive load. Try to let each meal digest completely before you start the next. Digestion uses energy, and the enzymes involved draw on the rest of your body. Let your glands rest and rejuvenate between meals. Snacking between meals and eating late at night deprives your body of the energy it needs for detoxification, repair and growth — which occur primarily while you are sleeping.
Thin people who are physically active may sometimes need a snack, but generally, hunger pangs and sugar cravings are a symptom of metabolic syndrome (page 261). If your digestive system is healthy, and you are eating a nutritious balance of complex carbohydrates, proteins and oils, you should not feel hungry between meals.
Some people choose to have smaller meals and eat more frequently. It is worth experimenting to see how this suits your particular body, particularly if you are a vegetarian.
It is acceptable for children to have additional food, but well nourished children do not snack incessantly. Children who are able to follow the dietary recommendations in Grow Youthful, drinking adequate water, and especially avoiding sweets and soft drinks, have a great start in life.
DRINKING WITH MEALS
There are two schools of thought on drinking with food. The first says that
It is also acceptable to eat your largest meal in the middle of the day. Remember, after your main meal you need time to rest and digest. Your own schedule will determine which meal is your main one. If it has to be inthe evening, ensure itiscompleted no less than four hours before you go to sleep.
that drinks dilute your stomach acid and digestive enzymes, inhibiting your
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digestion. They advise to avoid drinking up to half an hour before a meal, and at least an hour afterwards.
The other school recommends drinking with your meals. All aspects of digestion need copious quantities of water; you would have to drink aLOT of water before your digestion was diluted and weakened.
Itend towards drinking a little with my meals. Itisworth experimenting and discovering what works best for you. If you drink wine or beer, a glass with a meal is acceptable. Wine and beer are acidic, so they assist the digestion of proteins. There is an element of good sense behind the traditional accompaniment of wine with concentrated proteins such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and cheese. However, avoid wine with a starchy carbohydrate meal.
FOOD PREPARED WITH LOVE
It is adamning indictment offood manufacturers, the supermarkets, and their unconscious consumers that soft drinks, full of sugar and laced with phosphoric acid, are the number one selling item in supermarkets.
any people do not even know what real food is — where it comes INL andwhatittasteslike.Lookatasupermarket,abakery,a canteen, any TV advertisement, or even a hospital’s kitchen. You will see food in packets, made with refined ingredients, damaged fats, sugar, and contaminated with a variety of manufactured chemicals. They are made with the cheapest of ingredients with the objectives of looking good, lasting a long time, and appealing to the sweet and jaded taste buds of a malnourished population.
The continued use of technologies such as herbicides, pesticides, refining, shelf life extension and irradiation separate us from nature and the living food it produces. Real food nourishes our bodies and souls at every level.
Yes, good food does take more time and energy to prepare. The daily use of fast foods is laziness posing as convenience. It seems that cost, convenience and reliability are more important than caring for our bodies.
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The irony is that real food takes time and love to prepare, but not necessarily much money. The richest countries in the world have malnourished populations. In any city, the richest citizens do not necessarily eat the best.
The most nourishing ingredients are those grown in your own back garden, or on a nearby organic farm, where you personally know and trust the farmer. For those living in cities, organic fruit and vegetable shops and farmer’s markets are rapidly growing. Ask around to find where farmers come into the city once or twice a week, and sell direct from the side of their truck.
The time you spend preparing food is a measure of the love you have for yourself and others, bringing them nourishment and sustenance. Fresh, attractive, varied, in season and balanced dishes are a delicious expression of your love.
Food is enhanced by being shared. A meal prepared with care and love, and relished with family and friends is one of life’s pleasures. Amidst conversation and laughter, allfood ishealthy food. What you believe about your food or a particular diet will make it work or fail. If you thoroughly enjoy a meal, and feel nourished by the food, then that is what you will experience. Alternatively, ifyou have any negative feelings about the food you are eating, they will ultimately manifest in your body.
Consider a dish prepared by an exhausted, resentful, underpaid employee of an abusive, greedy and unethical fast food business, located on a busy and accident-prone freeway intersection. Then consider exactly the same dish prepared specially for you by a trusted friend, as awelcome to his or her home. The friend is centred and peaceful, and the preparation is agenerous and loving gift to you. Idoubt that current scientific analysis could discern much difference between the two dishes ifthey used the same ingredients, but Iknow which one Iwould prefer to eat! Food ismore than
Ready to eat food in boxes, packets, tins and frozen microwave meals will only take a year or two to manifest in the diseases, depressions and aggression that plague our society.
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the sum of its nutrients — ittakes on the energy of the place and the people that prepared it. Living food has a spiritual quality.
This is regardless of the fact that your friend may have sourced some of the ingredients from his organic back garden; that he would have washed them more carefully; and paid more attention whilst preparing them. There is more to it than the food being set in front of you on the table in an atmosphere of love and trust and generosity. The food itself has a different energy.
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MORE ON FOOD MACRONUTRIENTS
arbohydrates, proteins and fats are macronutrients. For good health, all
This section will show you that most people on a standard Western diet eat insufficient protein and “good” oils. On the other hand, they consume dangerously high quantities of carbohydrates (especially refined carbohydrates and sugars), and toxic quantities of “bad” oils.
CARBOHYDRATE
Carbohydrates are sugars and starches. Simple carbohydrates are sugars — colourless, odourless, sweet and water-soluble. They include glucose, fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (the primary sugar in milk), galactose (another milk sugar), maltose (produced by sprouting grains) and sucrose (table sugar).
Complex carbohydrates are starches, found in the roots (e.g. potatoes and carrots), fruits and seeds ofplants. When you eat a complex carbohydrate the starches are broken down into sugars by your digestive system, and the fibre in itpasses through you, largely unchanged.
Examples of unrefined carbohydrate foods include vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, seeds and beans. The best carbohydrates (as with all other foods) are natural, unrefined, wholegrain and unprocessed.
Refined high-carbohydrate foods are made from flours and sugars, and include breads, cakes, biscuits, pasta, noodles, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, syrups, jams, fruit juices, all sugars and sweets.
Your digestive system converts carbohydrates to glucose, which is its preferred source of energy.
In nature, carbohydrates come packaged with minerals, vitamins, fats, proteins, fibres and enzymes that allow their slow digestion and use. However, the more refined and processed a carbohydrate, the more your body needs to draw on its own stores of these micronutrients to digest them.
GC arerequiredeveryday,andpreferablyeverymeal.Mostfoods already contain some combination of the three.
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Sugars and refined carbohydrates also digest too quickly, spiking your blood with glucose, causing wild swings in your hormones, and leading to diabetes. Sugars also promote the growth of fungi, an endemic problem responsible for many diseases today (page 261).
Walter Willett?? has shown that refined carbohydrate, especially refined flour and added sugar, is the chief culprit in obesity, which is so widespread today. The direct connection between soft drinks, bread, pasta, noodles, biscuits, cakes and potatoes with high blood glucose levels means that carbohydrates play an important role in the development of diabetes, one of the fastest growing degenerative diseases in the Western world (page 261). In North America, diabetes increased by 40% in the 20 years up to the turn of the century, and this explosion is expected to continue, or even increase around the world. Your blood glucose level has a strong link to the development of cardiovascular and many other degenerative diseases, and your rate of ageing.
A high sugar, refined carbohydrate diet puts your blood glucose level on a roller coaster, and this causes other hormones to fluctuate (See the section A NEW EPIDEMIC). The result is a cycle of craving for stimulation, excitement and exhilaration — followed by a depletion of energy, stress, tiredness, apathy and depression.
Stay away from foods and drinks that have been processed and refined, or have added sugars. Get the bulk of your calories from unprocessed vegetables and fruits. Replace light, refined, white and wholemeal breads with dense, heavy, grainy breads. Choose heavier, denser, non-sticky brown rices and wholegrain pastas. Experiment with less familiar grains like quinoa, bulgur wheat (coarsely ground sprouted wheat), buckwheat, whole oats, kasha and amaranth. These grains and seeds are highly nutritious, protecting you from a range of degenerative diseases. They also introduce a delicious range of tastes, textures and colours to expand your palate.
The Glycemic Index (page 265) is a good tool for choosing a diet that will provide energy for your muscles and brain for hours after you eat a meal, without spiking your blood glucose level or causing hunger pangs. Ifyou do
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Whole grains protect you against diabetes, heart disease, cancer, constipation and other gastrointestinal problems.*!© They keep your stool soft and bulky, and help prevent diverticulosis, the development of small irritable pouches along your colon. In addition to “slow release” carbohydrates, whole grains contain fibre, anti-oxidants, minerals (magnesium, selenium, manganese etc) and phytoestrogens. Oatmeal porridge, brown rice, wholegrain pasta and wholegrain bread are good examples of the carbohydrate foods to eat. However, standard brown bread, or bread made with wholemeal flour are not recommended — they are both made from refined flour.
The energy from your food should match your level of activity. Most of us spend our lives sitting — driving, at the computer, at the office, in the lounge and at the dining table. You need a steady level of blood glucose that matches your level of activity. You can get around a third of your total calories from unrefined, low GI carbohydrates. If you are overweight or not physically active most of the day, then further reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat. A high carbohydrate diet is especially bad for sedentary, obese people, raising their risk of heart and other degenerative diseases.4!F
Lean and active people best tolerate starches. Very few people need quick access to energy from lots of carbohydrates — only professional sports people, and those doing heavy manual labour.
Glyconutrients
In spite of my constant warnings to eliminate sugar from your diet, there are eight essential sugars that your body must have for good health. There may also be other sugars, though research has not shown their beneficial effects so clearly. When your body isyoung and healthy, itisable to make some of these sugars from glucose. However, a diet that is rich in these sugars has been proven to result in excellent health, longevity and self-healing
eat a high GI food, eat itin moderation; also balance itby eating itwith other low GI foods as part of the same meal.
ability 11.112,
17
These glyconutrients are found in vine-ripened or tree-ripened fruits, berries and vegetables grown and harvested in your own garden or freshly purchased from farmers’ markets. Their content decreases with processing and storage. In other words, the living food diet recommended in Grow Youthful will maximise your glyconutrient intake.
Glyconutrients are essential for the healthy operation of your body’s cells. With the widespread use of processed food, the average person no longer gets sufficient glyconutrients. The result is that many normal body functions are compromised, including the immune system, cell regeneration, and energy production.
The eight sugars are glucose, mannose, xylose, galactose, fucose, N- acetylneuraminic acid or sialic acid, N-acetylglucosamine, and N-acetyl- galactosamine. You do not need to supplement glucose — most people get more than enough. Most people probably need to concentrate on getting sufficient mannose. The best source of mannose is aloe vera, other sources include shiitake mushrooms, cordyceps sinensis, kelp and fenugreek. Berries are an important source of most of the eight, as is aloe vera. Other sources of some of the glyconutrients include kelp and wakame seaweed, kefir, raw honey,eggs,gelatineandfreshcoconuts. Ifyoumake avegetable/fruitjuice every day with your juicer, and use a variety of ripe-picked and fresh produce along with a piece of aloe vera, you will get most of these essential sugars.
A rich source of N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyl-galactosamine is cartilage and bones (see bone stock, page 154). If you are a vegetarian, shiitake mushrooms are an alternative source.
Glyconutrient supplements are available, often through multi-level marketing organisations. They are usually effective, and have an amazing track record in healing many nervous disorders including fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis. However, they are very expensive. If you eat, almost every day, a handful of berries, a pinch of ground fenugreek, a little shiitake mushroom or a pinch of their powder, a little seaweed, and a cup of a stock as described above, you will boost your health, energy and disease resistance quite noticeably.
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PROTEIN
What isprotein?
Proteins are large complex molecules made from amino acids. A constant supply of amino acids is required to construct proteins to build, repair and maintain your body. When you eat proteins, they are broken down into amino acids, which your body then uses to build its own proteins. For this reason, you need to eat proteins every day.
Proteins are made from a pool of 22 amino acids. Your body can make thirteen of them, but you have to get the missing nine from your food. Ifyou do not get sufficient of these nine essential amino acids from your food, your body will start breaking down and consuming your own muscles to obtain them. You can also get some of the missing essential amino acids from the rich bacterial sources in your lower digestive tract, or from the cells that constantly slough off its lining. Deficiency of essential amino acids is a surprisingly common problem, because people eat cooked, poor quality proteins and have damaged digestive systems.
Protein is an inefficient fuel source, with a high proportion of the energy in itused to dismantle and metabolise the protein molecules. This may be one reason why high protein weight-loss diets, such as the Atkins24 and Montignac?> diets, are effective — they are simply an inefficient use of food energy. Another reason is that protein makes you feel full (satiated).
Protein is a complex, dirty fuel. When breaking down protein, various toxic by-products are released, which put a load on your kidneys. In contrast, carbohydrates and fats are clean burning fuels, leaving only water and carbon dioxide.
Types of dietary protein
Animal proteins are complete proteins. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products contain proteins made from all 22 amino acids. To get the nine
Your body is made from at least ten thousand different proteins. After water, most of your body weight is protein. Your skin and hair are mostly protein, as are your blood, enzymes, muscles, veins and arteries, and other organs.
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essential amino acids that your body is not able to make, you have to eat complete proteins, or a sufficient variety of incomplete proteins. That is why it is particularly important for vegetarians to eat a variety of protein sources, such as nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, brown rice, beans, vegetables and whole grains.
The most concentrated sources of protein include meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Less concentrated sources include beans, lentils, nuts and seeds. Even smaller quantities of proteins are found in grains, and most vegetables and fruits.
Plant proteins are the simplest proteins, some even occurring as amino acids. Plant proteins are free of nucleo-proteins, which lead to the formation of uric acid.’“ Therefore, plant proteins place less burden on your kidneys, and low levels of uric acid mean less likelihood of gout or rheumatism.
Plant proteins are usually cheaper than animal proteins, and are less likely to contain environmental poisons because they are lower on the food chain.
One of the richest sources of plant protein is soaked, fermented or sprouted grains and nuts. Some but not all properly prepared legumes are also a good source. If you rely only on nuts and seeds for your protein, you may suffer an amino acid imbalance, with high levels of arginine and low levels of lysine, for example. Sunflower, sesame, flax, poppy and pumpkin seed are good foods in small quantities. The same applies to nuts — almonds,
brazils, hazels, pecans and walnuts in particular. Eat a small handful each day, to get proteins, vitamins, minerals and numerous other nutrients. See page 182 for how to make nut and grain milks.
Small cream coloured quinoa seeds have been a staple food in the Andes Mountains for millennia. Quinoa is unique in that it contains complete protein, similar to meat and eggs. It contains significantly more high quality protein than any other grain, and is rich in vitamins, essential fatty acids and minerals, especially calcium, B vitamins and vitamin E. It is a high quality all round complete food known as the “mother grain” by the Aztecs. You can
soak itovernight and add itto your muesli, or boil itfor 15-25 minutes and
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serve as a low GI carbohydrate with vegetables.
Mushrooms are a delicious source of protein, also rich in trace minerals and vitamins. They can reduce your blood cholesterol and enhance your immune system. Avoid raw mushrooms — they contain toxins which cooking breaks down.!8B
Gluten isagrain protein. The highest levels occur inwheat, but itisalso found in other grains such as rye, barley and oats. It is popular in Chinese cooking, and pieces of it are fried and sold as mock duck or abalone. However, I do not recommend gluten as a protein source — many people are allergic to wheat products, particularly the gluten in wheat. Gluten irritates the lining of the gut. Some people are susceptible to celiac disease, caused by gluten in wheat products — intestinal mal-absorption resulting in diarrhoea, hypocalcemia, a tendency to bleed and malnutrition.
Animal proteins are complex, complete proteins, a good source of nutrition. They include meat, dairy products, eggs, fish, birds and some insects.
If you are on a high animal protein diet, it is important that it quickly move through your digestive system. If animal proteins remain in your gut for longer than eighteen hours, they can putrefy and release organic toxins such as phenols, indoles and skatoles, and high levels of putrefactive bacteria build up in the intestines. Uric acid and other toxic by-products are then produced, placing a burden on your kidneys and liver to eliminate them. If your digestive system is constipated and you eat meat or other animal products, the waste products can build up, particularly in your colon. Some of these toxins may be absorbed into your bloodstream and other organs.’“
Stay clear of milk, whey, soy, casein and egg white powders. Isolated protein powders are sold in health food stores and used as body building products or in weight loss diets. They are usually processed at high temperatures, and the proteins are denatured to the point where they are useless. They can contain nitrates and other carcinogens.®4
Soybeans are a source of incomplete protein. Soy products include tofu, tempeh, miso, soymilk and tamari. Soy is discussed on page 202.
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How much do you need?
A surprising number of people in the Western world suffer from a lack of protein. The causes are:
*Poor digestion. Many adults have adamaged digestive system thatdoes not effectively extract the amino acids from the foods they eat.
*Ageing. As people get older, they tend to eat less protein every day, whilst at the same time their digestive systems are becoming less efficient.
* Junk food. Those eating a high proportion of processed food suffer a lack of protein (and virtually every other nutrient).
Everybody’s protein needs are different. Few people seem to thrive on a vegan (no animal products) diet; most feel drained or weak without occasional eggs, fish or meat. Many vegetarians find they need a small amount of meat every few weeks to maintain their colour, strength and energy. Your protein needs may be related to the food that you had as a child — what your digestive system adapted to in those formative years. Too early an exposure to cow’s milk, say before the age of two, can trigger protein digestive problems, allergies and immune problems for the rest of the child’s fife. 12
It is important to listen to your intuition, and observe the effects of different foods on your body — your energy level, your skin, your tongue and breath, your eliminations. If you are diabetic, or concerned about excessive consumption of concentrated proteins, then enjoy more beans, lentils, nuts and seeds.
If you eat insufficient protein, you will be malnourished, have low muscle bulk, and have weak immune, digestive and glandular systems. Your skin will look sallow and aged. Increasing the amount of protein in your diet often improves your digestion. This is especially the case if you are not getting enough of the nine amino acids that can only be obtained from your food. Early signs of protein deficiency include the slow healing of wounds, and the slow growth of hair and nails.
Ifyour body gets more protein than itneeds, itwill convert the excess to glucose. Protein digestion produces nitrogen (especially ammonia, as uric
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acid) as a by-product, which places a burden on your kidneys to eliminate. Long-term high protein diets may result in liver and kidney disease, and damage to your immune system resulting in allergy and autoimmune problems. !8C
Walter Willett, Professor of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School, recommends | gram of protein per day for each kilogram that you weigh.*! I would apply this rule of thumb to a city dweller who does not get much exercise — perhaps half an hour of walking or housework per day. Remember, this is the actual weight of protein that you need, not the weight of the food. Meat and fish average 25-30% protein, so to get 50 grams of protein you would have to eat 150-200 grams of flesh.
Increase your protein intake in the following cases:
*Add 15% ifyou are significantly overweight, breastfeeding, or do moderate exercise at least 30 minutes per day, three times per week.
¢ Add 30% if you exercise an hour a day, five days per week. This is especially important ifyou are doing a weight-training program.
*Add 60% ifyou are very active, exercising or manually working at least two hours per day, five days per week.
* Growing children need a higher proportion of protein in their diets than adults do. A large, active teenager doing lots of sport and outdoors activity needs the most protein.
SOURCES OF PROTEIN
% protein by weight for selected foods
Spirulina seaweed (dry) ay! Pumpkin seeds (pepitas, dry) a3 Beef (roasted, fat trimmed) 32 Salmon (fresh, cooked) 27 Pork 26 Chicken /Turkey (roasted) 26 Cheddar cheese 20 Fish (average, cooked) 23 Peanut butter 25 Sardine (canned) is Peanuts 24 Lamb (broiled, fat trimmed) 22 Almonds 21
Lentils (cooked)
Bread (white/Vienna) Hommos
Macadamia nuts
Tofu
Pasta (cooked)
Cereal (rice crispy)
Alfalfa seeds, sprouted, raw Ice cream vanilla
Milk shake thick vanilla Yogurt
Broccoli (raw)
Corn (sweet, yellow, cooked)
20 Milk (cow’s)
19 Rice, brown cooked ie Soymilk
Salmon (canned)
Sunflower seeds (dry)
Soya beans, cooked
Tahini (sesame seed paste)
Walnuts
Hamburger meat (fast food)
Brazilnuts Potato(baked) CBG“i>G"SOGOCdI8GSGhOohoSo0S"Oo.o,reoo
Egg
Cottage cheese
Miso
Barley, pearl, raw, dry
Bread (whole-wheat)
Beans (cooked) black or kidney 9
Banana
Orange (raw)
Butter
Mango
Apple (raw, with skin)
Oils (olive, or other vegetable)
iS=O©oS © n 0.3 0
Source: U.S. Dept. Agriculture, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.
Spinach (raw) Mushrooms (cooked) Spinach (cooked)
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You need surprisingly little protein for good health and long life when:
*your digestive system isworking efficiently
* you are living in a pristine environment
*you are relaxed, fulfilled and happy
* you are not exercising strenuously for hours every day *your body isalkaline and healthy
Patrick Holford?! advises us not to consume more than 40 grams of concentrated protein per day. For a meat eater, this means a small amount of meat once per day, and preferably no more than three times per week.
According to Ann Wigmore, you can maintain maximum health on 20 grams of raw, plant based protein per day in the above circumstances’.“ However, I believe that your protein needs go up substantially when the above conditions do not apply.
Protein issensitive toheat, and cooking downgrades itsquality. Wigmore maintains that your daily requirement of protein doubles if you eat cooked rather than raw proteins.’B
Proteins are more satiating than carbohydrates and fats.4?© Ifyou eat 500 calories of protein, you should feel full and satisfied. In contrast, ifyou eat 500 calories of carbohydrates or oily food (like roasted nuts) you can still feel hungry.
Try not to cook proteins with sugar. I strongly recommend that you toss any sugar in your pantry into the bin (unless you are using it to make kombucha). Sugar and proteins combine to form Advanced Glycosylated End products (AGEs). Cellular damage, rapid ageing, cataracts, poor skin and more are the outcome of the proteins binding with the sugar. Avoid Oriental recipes that include sugar, and browned foods such as baked custard, browned cheese toppings, crusty breads, biscuits, pastries and basted or crusted meats.
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FAT
We allneed fats
Low fat diets are a mistake.84-!!© Both animal and plant foods always come with fat, and this is how we should consume them. Animal fats are rich in vitamins A, D and other nutrients that are essential for good digestion, particularly of proteins. Low fat milk and other low fat processed foods can cause serious deficiencies of fat-soluble nutrients.
You need about a tablespoon of a good oil with each meal. Ifyou include the fats in the fish, meat, dairy, avocados, olives, nuts and seeds that you eat, then oil should provide a minimum of a third of your calories.
Top quality extra virgin olive oil is a good general kitchen oil, ideal for salads, dips and dressings. You can use it to cook at low temperatures (i.e. with water present). The best oils to cook with are coconut oil or ghee. These healthy oils can withstand moderate cooking temperatures that would turn most other oils toxic. Butter is another fat I use daily (margarine is a poison). You can use fresh, organic, cold pressed sesame, peanut, macadamia, walnut and mustard seed oils in moderation. Buy only small amounts, and keep them tightly sealed in the refrigerator.
The problem with our diets today is not the inclusion of fats, but the type of fats we consume. There are definitely good fats and bad fats. Good fats are highly nutritious and are essential for the proper functioning of your brain, heart, hormone production, membranes, nervous and immune and many other body systems. Good fats are natural and unadulterated, coming from cold-pressed olives and coconuts, fish, wild or free ranging animals, nuts and seeds. Bad fats, widely used in fast and processed foods, are manufactured non-foods that are responsible for many diseases.
Fats taste good, improving and releasing the flavour of most foods. They also have a rich and smooth “mouth feel”, and can change the texture of food by crisping it.Many cooking cultures rely on fats for their personality — think of chocolate, full of cocoa butter, Indian foods with their spices fried in ghee, tropical Asian foods based around coconut oil, Mediterranean foods based on olive oil, French foods rich in butter and cream, and modern Western foods
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with so much that is deep fried or fat based.
Your body cannot break down fats into glucose, in the same way itbreaks down carbohydrates for their energy. Fats do not cause a rise in your blood glucose level after you have eaten them. Instead, your blood lipid (fat) levels can rise. Most of your cells can directly use these fats as an energy source, but some, such as brain cells, can only use glucose.
Fats help moderate the rises in blood glucose and insulin that occur after eating carbohydrates.
Fats do not make you feel full (with the exception of Omega-3s). It is easy to “passively over-consume” when eating fatty foods.49?P For example, potato crisps and cooked peanuts both contain lots of fat. After eating a 100- gram packet of crisps (340 calories) or peanuts (585 calories) you may still feel peckish. This is in spite of the fact that you have consumed 15-30% of your daily food calories! By contrast, 500 calories of vegetable salad, fruit, legumes, egg, fish, meat or low GI carbohydrates such as whole grain bread would be a meal in itself, and you should feel full.
For the last two decades, experts thought that high cholesterol in our food was the culprit in heart disease. However, low cholesterol (low fat) diets do not reduce heart disease.4° If you eat less cholesterol, your liver simply produces more of this essential nutrient. Conversely, when you eat lots of cholesterol, your liver compensates by producing less. The ratio of “good” HDL to “bad” LDL cholesterol is a better factor to control. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) carry fats and cholesterols from the liver to the artery walls and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) mop itup, take itthrough the artery walls, and back to the liver. Ifyou have a high LDL/HDL ratio, you are likely to have a build up of lipoproteins (and cholesterol) in the walls of your blood vessels, causing a severe inflammatory reaction. Free radicals attack
Fats occur in both plants and animals. Plants store their oils in their seeds and nuts, and occasionally in their fruits, such as in olives and avocados. Fats hold about twice as much energy as complex carbohydrates and natural sugars. They are also clean burning, releasing their energy and burning into carbon dioxide and water.
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setting the scene for blood clots.
Saturated fats
Animals, including people, store most of their fat in a saturated form. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are relatively stable and inactive. They tend to be solid at room temperature. Good sources of SFAs are dairy products, meats and coconut oils.
Research over a decade ago concluded that there was probably a connection between high consumption of saturated fats and high levels of bad LDL cholesterol and heart and artery disease+!© However, many recent researchers such as Mary Enig%4-!!© have found that it is polyunsaturated vegetable oils rather than SFAs that are responsible for the epidemic of heart disease today. This resonates with my own experience. For decades, | mistakenly existed on a low fat diet, taking particular care to avoid saturated fats. I suffered high LDL cholesterol levels, a stressed outlook on life, and looked older than my age. Since re-introducing SFAs into my diet and avoiding the bad fats discussed below, my cholesterol ratio and stress levels have gone down to unusually low levels, and my health and feeling of wellbeing have dramatically improved.
You need SFAs in your diet for good health. Fish, coconut oil, meat and dairy food (preferably as kefir) will provide them. Saturated fats are essential for the integrity of cell membranes, the production of many hormones, for taking up calcium, for good liver, digestion and immune function, and in vitamin and essential fatty acid pathways.
Butterfat (Ghee) gives the mouth feel and flavour to ice creams, cheeses, creams and so on. You can make itby heating butter and straining itto remove the milk solids. The result is the most saturated of animal fats, at around 66%. Ghee is a stable cooking fat that can be stored un- refrigerated. It can better withstand higher temperatures than most other cooking fats, and is the main cooking fat used in India.
Coconut oil contains 90% SFAs, but mainly of a different type. Over
and oxidise the build up, damaging the artery linings, clogging arteries, and
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SFAs, will store for years.
Monounsaturated fats
Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) are liquid, cloudy or somewhat solid at room temperature. The best sources of MUFAs are olive oil, avocados, fresh raw nuts and seeds. Almond, cashew, hazels, macadamia, peanut, pecan and pistachio oils are all high in MUFAs.
I recommend extra virgin, cold expeller-pressed virgin olive oil for everyday use in your kitchen. It should have a golden yellow colour and look slightly cloudy. The freshest oils have a hot “chilli” flavour that disappears few weeks or months after picking — this heat is prized among people knowledgeable about olive oil, proving that it is fresh. Ripe olives are a soft fruit, and the oil is extracted without using the harsh methods needed to extract most other vegetable oils. If you find olive oil’s flavour too strong for some dishes, “light” olive oils are available with a lighter colour and more neutral flavour, but remember they have been refined and so will be less nutritious. Olive oil can usually stand light cooking such as steam frying vegetables, without breaking down into dangerous trans fats (see below). However, saturated fats are more suitable for cooking and frying.
MUFAs slow down the entry of carbohydrate into your bloodstream,!4? helping to protect you from metabolic syndrome and its
half of coconut oil comprises medium chain triglycerides, which can lower your body fat, improve glucose metabolism and your HDL/LDL cholesterol ratio, and reverse arteriosclerosis. It is a rich source of lauric acid, which enhances your immune system and has potent antiviral, antifungal and antimicrobial properties. Palm oil is another source of lauric acid. When you heat it,itdoes not create high levels of free radicals. For this reason, coconut oil is the best oil to use for cooking. Irecommend raw, unprocessed coconut oil as one of the principal oils to use in your kitchen. Iuse itevery day, both to eat and to put on my skin. Coconut oil, like other
swings in glucose and energy levels. MUFAs also soothe inflammation.
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Although canola oil is high in MUFAs, and has a good balance of Omega-3 and 6’s, try to avoid it. Canola is a derivative of rapeseed, and contains up to 5% toxic erucic acid, and iso-thio-cyanates, which are cyanide-containing compounds. In addition, chemical sprays are used heavily on most canola crops, and heat, solvents and bleaching are the normal methods of extracting the oil from the seeds. Canola oil is an industrial oil, used as a lubricant, and as a feedstock for soap and synthetic rubbers.
Peanut oil is around 50% MUFA, with some PUFA and Omega-6s. It has a neutral taste. I do not normally recommend it because it is often damaged during extraction, and can contain aflatoxin from mouldy nuts.
Polyunsaturated fats
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are liquid at room temperature, and even in freezing conditions. You get them from the seeds of flax, grapes, sesame, sunflower, safflower, pumpkin and mustard, and in nuts (particularly walnuts), fish, soy, cottonseed and corn. These golden “vegetable oils” sell in large quantities in supermarkets, under the guise of being healthy oils.
PUFAs oxidise and degrade quickly on exposure to heat, light and air, so they are not suitable for cooking. If they oxidise or go rancid, they generate free radicals. Flaxseed oil in particular is highly reactive, and oxidises on exposure to air at room temperature. Rancid oils are toxic and responsible for many diseases — see page 139.
Modern Western diets contain an excessively high level of PUFAs, as do virtually all processed foods. These vegetable oils interfere with the production of prostaglandins, a hormone involved in your immune responses, brain and nervous system. This causes inflammation, an unfortunate part of many degenerative diseases. If you suffer from autoimmune disorders, allergies, a high toxic load or chronic infections, you are also likely to suffer from an inflammatory spiral of pain, redness,
irritation and swelling. Arthritis, rheumatism, gout, myalgia, skin
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inflammations and stomach ulcers are typical inflammatory diseases. Cottonseed and soybean oils are particularly dangerous. Both are extracted using heat, solvents, bleaches and other chemical processes that damage the PUFAs. Soybeans and particularly soy oil contains a toxic
chemical called phytohemagglutinin (PHG) present as phytic acid, which causes blood thickening, arterial plaque, immune and hormonal problems. Cottonseed oil contains various toxic residues such as glossypoll, which inhibits the production of sperm.
Essential fats
Many natural fats such as fish, seed and nut oils contain small quantities of important PUFAs called essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs are essential for your digestive system, the provision of energy and transport of oxygen, blood cell functions, clotting and keeping blood vessels clean and well lubricated, the maintenance of cell membranes, the manufacture of hormones, and the structure of the brain, nerves, eyes, reproductive organs and ears.
Your body is not able to make two of these EFAs — linoleic acid (Omega-6) and linolenic acid (Omega-3), so you have to get them from your food. Dr. Cass Ingram, one ofAmerica’s leading nutritional scientists, maintains virtually all Americans are deficient in both these EFAs, with the Omega-3 deficiency often being critical.2°
Farmed fish and feedlot animals are a poor source of EFAs. Salmon produced in fish farms, eggs produced by chickens cooped up in pens rather than free to scratch around in the grass, and beef produced by cattle in feedlots rather than free ranging grass-eating animals are all deficient in EFAs.
Unfortunately, EFAs degrade easily. They oxidise (turn rancid) when exposed to the air, degrade when exposed to the sun or bright light, and cannot be heated. In the shop, EFA supplements such as flax and fish oils should come in a sealed opaque container topped up with nitrogen, and stored in the cooler. It is important to check their use-by date. Throw them
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A shortage of Omega-3 oils in your diet can cause numerous problems such as inflammation, lack of strength and coordination, growth retardation, brain dysfunctions including behavioural and learning problems, and dry or inflamed skin.
Sufficient Omega-3s will:
* give you a well-hydrated, beautiful skin *reduce inflammation
*protect against heart and artery disease *maintain cellular hydration
*protect and enhance your brain and nervous system *protect you from metabolic syndrome
You need to eat both marine and plant sources of Omega-3 oils — they are both required and are not substitutes for each other.+7 Try to geta little Omega-3 oil every day — from leafy green vegetables, a small portion of oily fish,, or free-ranging, non-feedlot meat, eggs or dairy. You can boost your intake over a few months with a daily tablespoon of ground flax or mustard seeds,oruptohalfateaspoon offreshcodliveroil,flax,mustard seed or evening primrose oil. Do not overdose with EFA supplements. Excess Omega oils are associated with cancer and heart disease!.4
The richest sources of marine Omega-3 EFAs are sardines, salmon and mackerel (both fresh and canned). Canned sardines are a good source (yes, canned!) Marine Omega-3s are also found in oily cold-water fish like herring, swordfish, mullet, tailor and tuna. Oysters, squid and calamari are other sources. People in Japan and the Pacific islands eat plenty of natural raw fish oils (think of sashimi and sushi) and they are renowned for their low incidence of cancer and heart disease.
Omega-3 oils (particularly the marine oils), are rich in two EFAs called
away ifthey have been open longer than six weeks. Do not eat them ifthey taste the least bit rancid, as they can become quite toxic, and a concentrated source offree radicals.
(leva
Codliveroilisarichsourceofvitamins AandD,DHA andEPA.EPA is essential for the proper function of the brain and nervous system, and vitamin A confers resistance to infectious diseases, helps prevent cancer, and is essential for good health. For couples wanting to conceive, both the woman and her partner can take a cod liver oil supplement for several months before conception. The woman can continue with it during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.
The maximum short-term dose for adults should be one teaspoon per day, and for children half a teaspoon. Over a period of months, take less than half of that. You can stir the cod liver oil into body temperature food or drink. I do not like the fishy taste, which makes me reluctant to take it as an ongoing supplement. I find the unpleasant flavour is masked when taken with a sip of my morning vegetable juice. It is more effective when consumed along with a high quality organic butter made from the milk of grass-fed cows.
The best sources of plant Omega-3s are flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, mustard seeds, walnuts, and dark leafy green vegetables. Grass contains Omega-3 oils, and animals that are free to graze on grasses have these oils in their flesh. Omega-3 enriched eggs sold in some health food stores are a good source.
Flax oil is the richest source of plant Omega-3s. The fresh oil tastes sweet and nutty. Only buy small quantities, keep itsealed and refrigerated, and never heat it.
Flax oil isso unstable that Icannot recommend itunless you are certain that itisfresh. Itonly needs an hour inthe sun on the way from the factory
EPA and DHA. They are effective blood thinners, controlling blood stickiness, dissolving clots, dredging excess cholesterol and fatty deposits, improving blood circulation and lowering the risk of heart disease. EPA and DHA are essential for good brain function (vision, learning, coordination, and moods), your immune system, and controlling inflammation.
to ruin it. Oxidised flax oil is known as linseed oil, a thick oil that dries to
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a shiny shell and is used as the base for some paints. It has a characteristic smell, and if you detect it in any oil or foods containing oils, throw them out. Rancid oils are toxic (see Bad Oils, below). This especially applies to flax oil — you are better off avoiding itthan risking consuming flax oil that is even slightly off.
A safer and cheaper source of plant Omega-3s is flax seeds. Grind them at low speed (little micro-heat) and store them in the fridge for amaximum of a few days. If you eat unbroken seeds, the oil is not as accessible. The meal is a good base for muesli, and you can sprinkle it on salads, vegetables and other dishes. Two tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseeds provides the equivalent of half a teaspoon of flax oil.
Omega-6 oils are needed for a healthy cardiovascular system. A deficiency of Omega-6s can cause high blood pressure, susceptibility to infections, liver and kidney degeneration, cardiovascular problems, slow healing and growth, dry eyes and skin, skin inflammation, hair loss, arthritis and behavioural disturbances.
However, do not be concerned about getting additional Omega-6s. If you concentrate on getting your Omega-3s, you will get all the Omega-6s you need. Some experts argue that Omega-6 levels for many people should be reduced.!8P Excess Omega-6 contributes to inflammatory diseases such as eczema, dermatitis and arthritis. It may also impair your mental functions including cognition and the way you feel about yourself.
Cold pressed or extracted sunflower, sesame, wheat germ, nut, corn and safflower oils are acceptable only in small quantities. They are high in Omega-6 EFAs and are likely to worsen your Omega-6 / 3 ratio.
Omega-6 /Omega-3 ratio. Our Palaeolithic ancestors ate a diet rich in both these EFAs, especially Omega-3s, with a ratio of between 1:1 and 1:4. Today, most of us consume a much lower level of both, but with a critical shortage of Omega-3s. Modern diets average a ratio of between 10:1 and 20:1. Many researchers believe there is a strong link between childhood ADD, hyperactivity, learning disorders and behavioural problems, and a high consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils with a high Omega-6 /
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Omega-3 ratio. This is typical of the “vegetable” oils used in processed and junk food, and the highly refined “golden” oils on supermarket shelves. They include canola, corn, cottonseed, margarines, soy and peanut oils. Other foods with a high ratio include feedlot produced meat and poultry, and several other vegetable oils such as grape seed, sesame, sunflower, safflower, avocado, almond and wheat germ oils. Try not to overeat foods that have a high Omega-6/3 ratio — such as nuts, avocados and battery- farmed chicken eggs.
OMEGA-3s (O-3s)
and Omega-6/3 ratios. %
Flax oil
Flax seeds
Canola oil (rape seed oil) Walnut oil
Butternuts, dried
Wheat germ oil
Soybean oil
Walnuts
Mayonnaise, soybean Canned Sardines
Cod, Atlantic
Mackerel, Atlantic Canned Mackerel
Bread -Soy & Linseed
Canned Salmon -Red Beechnuts, dried Tuna
Herring
oil by weight
O-6 O-3 O-3 O-3 0-6/3
Margarine, hard
Soybean kernels, roasted Canned Oysters, Smoked 4.6
Whitefish, lake Sturgeon, Atlantic Trout
Salmon, Red Anchovies
Canned Salmon -Pink
|ead | ao pose aR) S327 54.8 51.1 40.0 =| Vie 0.0 1.0 0.2 19 0.2 18.4
0.3 0.5
19.4
112
0.7 0.6 1.0 Od) 0.2 0.1
3303 0.0 20.8 0.0 11.2 0.0 10.4 0.0 8.7 0.0 6.9 0.0 6.8 0.0 6.0 0.0 4.2 0.0 0.2 530 0.0 3.0
0.1 Za 0.2 2D PARP 0.0 0.1 2.0 esl 0.0 02 lee 0.1 i ls 0.0 |e 0.0 0.1 1.4 0.2 hs) 0.0 Fe) 0.3 a 0.2 ih 0.0 1.4 0.1 IWR)
33.3 0.2 20.8 03 11.2 2.0 10.4 5.1 8.7 3.9 6.9 7.9 6.8 75 6.0 a 4.2 8.8 3.2 0.8 3.0 0.0 2.6 0.4 2.5 0.1 2.2 0.9 2.1 0.1 V7 10.8 1.7 0.2 1.6 03 thes 12.9 eS 15 1.5 3.1 1.5 0.5 i 0.4 1.4 0.7 1.4 0.5 1.4 0.1 1.4 0.1
135
plant marine total ratio
Sprat
Butter
Swordfish
Bluefish
Safflower oil Hickory nuts, dried Chicken fat
Eel, European
Eggs, Omega-3 Enriched
Bass, striped
Leeks
Atlantic Salmon
Pecan nuts
Carp 0.8
Oyster 0.4
Halibut, Pacific 0.2 0.1 0.4
Krill 0.0 Wheat germ 3.8 Hake, Pacific 0.2 Mussel 0.1 Sturgeon, common 0.1 Mackerel, Spanish 0.1 Canned Tuna 0.1 Squid 0.0 Tailor 0.1 Calamari 0.0 Sardine, fresh 0.0 Scallops 0.0 Bass, fresh water 0.4 Perch, Ocean 0.3 Beans, sprouted, cooked 0.2 Crab 0.1
0.6 0.4 fj} 20.9
19.9 0.5
0.2 1.0 0.0 ie 1.0 0.0
LA) 0.0 0.5 0.2 24.0
1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.3 0.0 0.8 OF 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.0
136
0.2 0.0 1.3 1.8 122 0.0
1.3 0.2 1.2 is 12 0.5 1.2 0.3 1.0 77.0 1.0 20.9 1.0 19:9 0.9 0.6 0.9 ibe 0.8 0.0 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.6 40.0 0.6 1.3 0.5 0.8 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.4 Ne 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.1
0.3 U3 0.1 0.4
0.0 0.5
0.4 0.0
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.4
0.1 0.3
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3 0.3
0.0 0.3 0.3
0.3 0.0 0.3 0.7 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.3
0.3 0.1 ee) 1.0
Mushrooms 0.1 Spinach, boiled 0.1 Snapper 0.1 Whiting 0.1 Macadamias
0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4
Canned Chic Peas Cheese Parmesan Cheese Cheddar, reduced fat
Cheese Mozzarella, reduced fat
Canned Baked Beans Canned Red Kidney Beans
13 0.2
0.8 0.2 0.0 0.6 0.2 0.0 0.4 0.2 0.0
Flounder
Clam, Japanese
Cod, Pacific
Haddock 0.0 Pumpkin seeds, dried
(pepita)
Lobster
Prawns
Turnips
Lamb -lean
Spinach, raw
Parsley
Hazelnuts
Avocado
Chocolate, milk Chocolate, Mars bar Olives
Cheese Cottage
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.1 0.1 7.0 0.1 ie) 0.1
0.0 0.1 0.8 0.0 0.1 70.0 0.0 0.1 19.0 0.0 0.1 8.0 0.0 0.1 5.0 0.0 0.1 4.0 0.0 0.1 2:0
137
0.3 0.2 0.0
0.2 les
0.0 0.2 6.5 0.2 4.0 0.2 3.0 0.2 2.0
0.1 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.5
0.1 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.0 0.0 2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.0
20.7
0.0 Wd 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.2 115.0
0.8 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.1
0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.6 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2
Beef- lean Pumpkin Green beans
0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
0.0 0.1 129 0.0 0.1 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.8
138
Source: U.S. Dept. Agriculture, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.
Bad fats
Hydrogenated and trans fats
Food manufacturers have discovered a cheap way of keeping processed foods fresh-looking and fresh-tasting longer. Hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans fats are stable, take longer to spoil or go rancid, can be heated to high temperatures, spread well, have good baking qualities, and have a good “mouth feel.” They keep breads moist, and act as an emulsifier — for example, stopping the oils separating in peanut butter.
Hydrogenated oils are made by heating them with hydrogen gas under pressure with a metal catalyst for several hours. The oil is converted from its natural cis state to a toxic trans-fatty acid (TFA). Margarine, solid fats (“shortening”) and liquid oils are produced. TFAs are also formed when polyunsaturated vegetable oils are exposed to excessive heat and light. These oils are a fat substitute with a molecular structure similar to plastic.
Trans fats occur naturally in meat and dairy products, and these trans fats are not harmful. Itisthe manmade trans fats that are dangerous.
Synthesised trans fats are associated with degenerative diseases and obesity. The first hydrogenated fat, margarine was invented in the 1860s by
Raspberries
Broccoli
Strawberries 0.1 Cauliflower 0.0 Lettuce 0.0 Eggs, ie (battery-raised Chicken)
0.0 0.1 2.0
0.2 0.1 OW 0.1
0.0 0.1 1.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 1.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.1 16.6
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a French chemist, Hippolyte Mége-Mouriés. Between 1920 and 1960, there was a huge increase in consumption in the Western world, particularly North America, which coincided with increases in the above diseases. Hydrogenated fats raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol level, lower the level of HDL (good) cholesterol, and raise blood triglycerides — exactly the opposite of what you want.
A quick way to paralyse your immune system is to eat significant quantities of deep-fried foods or hydrogenated fats every day. White blood cells that are the pillars of the immune system are particularly dependent on essential fatty acids. If you consume hydrogenated fats, they can replace the EFAs in your white blood cell membranes. This makes your white cells function sluggishly and their membranes actually become stiff.2© Your immune system is compromised and cancer or infections by yeasts, bacteria and viruses can occur.
Hydrogenated oils also inhibit the formation of eicosanoids hormones in your cells. This drives up the level of cholesterol, and doubles your risk of heart and artery diseases.’ They inhibit membrane functions, and are likely responsible for cancers, degenerative diseases, the obstruction of healing and immunity, and accelerated ageing.
Hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated and trans fats are found in margarine, vegetable shortenings, non-dairy creamers and toppings, commercial mayonnaise, bottled salad dressings, chocolate and virtually all commercial baked goods, frozen dinners and processed, packaged and snack foods. These oils are widely used by fast food outlets, and in particular for cooking fries (chips).
USA’s labelling laws have required trans and hydrogenated oils to be listed on food packaging since late 1999. In Australia, there is no such requirement, with all these oils listed as “vegetable oil”. If in doubt, assume that the product contains bad oils.
Oxidised fats
Oxidised fats smell and taste horrible. PUFAs go rancid when exposed to
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inflammation, and premature ageing, as discussed in the section on PUFAs.
Overheated fats
Try not to heat any oils to high temperatures, especially PUFAs. Heat damages the structure of oils, oxidises them, and creates some level of trans fats. Many of the golden vegetable oils sold in supermarkets have been heated and damaged during their processing — that is why you should look for cold-pressed, virgin oils.
Heating fats above 48°C destroys their enzymes. Raw fats, including saturated animal fats, are nutritious and easily digestible. Heated oils, without their food enzymes, are more difficult to digest (page 140).
Ensure cooking oils are not heated much beyond water’s boiling point by adding a little water when frying. Keep it fast, and keep the temperatures down. Stir-frying is a great way to cook, which adds to the flavours and does not do too much damage to the food.
Any oil heated to smoking hot becomes toxic. Ifithappens accidentally, throw it away. The smoke from burning oils is also highly toxic — avoid breathing it. This brings us to barbecues, which unfortunately are not a recommended method of cooking. If you have to use a barbecue, keep the temperature as low as possible, and do not cook the food directly in an open flame. Charred, blackened, burned oil and smoke saturated food is toxic.
If you absolutely must cook at high temperatures, use clarified butter (ghee). Ghee can withstand temperatures up to 200 degrees centigrade for short periods without severe damage.
light, heat and air. Flaxseed oil can go rancid within hours, but all PUFAs are subjecttorapiddeterioration.MUFAs suchasoliveoiltakelonger,andunder ideal conditions can last for months. Saturated fats are stable, and can even be stored outside the refrigerator for long periods. Itisstill agood idea to buy small quantities of any oils to ensure they are fresh, and to store them in a closed container in the fridge. Foods that contain oils such as nuts can go rancid, and foods cooked with oils, such as chips and baked goods can go off. Oxidised oils can cause cancers, arterial and other degenerative diseases,
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Used fats
Fats are damaged when they are heated several times or for long periods. I recommend that ifyou deep-fry any food, you throw away the oil after using itjust once. Unfortunately, most restaurants, cafeterias, fast food outlets and food manufacturers never do that. They only change the oil when itbecomes rancid, or too thick to use.
Deep fried foods are dangerous when they have been cooked in old, used oil — as is the case with almost all commercially prepared food. Within hours of such a meal, the toxic compounds in used fat restrict your blood flow and affect the lining of your arteries. In the long-term, degenerative diseases such as heart disease and cancers are the likely outcome of such a diet.28
Unnatural oils
Virtually all natural oils occur in a cis or undamaged configuration. Most oils that you buy in the supermarket are extracted using heat, pressure, bleaches, solvents and other chemical processes. This is the only way to extract several oils from their hard seed or bean source — particularly soy oil, and also cottonseed and canola. The “golden” oils that emerge from these industrial processes are no longer in their natural cis state. They are not living foods.
SOURCES OF SYNTHESISED TRANS FATS % by weight, average of several brands
Copha 30.8 (vegetable shortening)
Margarine 10.0 Potato Crisps — 10.0
cottonseed oil
Popcorn 8.0 Taco shells, corn 8.0 Biscuits vanilla creme eel Danish pastry 6.9 Biscuits choc chip (om) Biscuits chocolate créme 5.6 Biscuits crackers 55 Cake pound cholesterol free 5.4 Biscuits cheese aoe Chocolate bar -caramel 4.2 Corn chips 4.1 Chocolate - creamy desert ae7 Biscuits -plain buttermilk 3.6 Muffin 3.6 Doughnut plain 2.0 French fries - take away 2.5 French fries -frozen, raw 2D Mayonnaise 1.8 Sausage -bologna Re) Salad dressing 1:5 Olive oil — 1.0
cheap, second pressing
Sausage -Frankfurter 1.0 Soup - instant packet full fat 1.0
Bread brown 1.0 Cheese processed 0.8 Beef burger 0.8 Bread white 0.8 Breakfast cereal — 0.8
corn, oat, fruit
Breakfast cereal -rice crispy 0.8 Cheese spread 0.6 Cheesecake 0.6 Chicken burger 0.6 Breakfast cereal — 0.6
wheat bran, oat, fruit
Desert - frozen ice cream 0.4 Milkshake with ice cream 0.4 Cake pound fat free 0.4 Sunflower oil 0.3 Soup — 0.3
instant packet low fat
Bread rolls 0.3 Sausage — Pork 0.2 Canola oil 0.2 Breakfast cereal — 0.2
corn flakes
Chocolate -plain milk 0.1 Olive oil - virgin cold pressed 0.1 Potato Crisps — 0.1
soy and corn oils
Baby food — 0.1
vegetable beef pure
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143
Source: U.S. Dept. Agriculture, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.
MICRONUTRIENTS
YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT GETTING ENOUGH
icronutrients are the minerals, vitamins, enzymes, hormones and IN ee inyourfoodthatareessentialforyourvitalphysical and mental health. The best source of micronutrients is a varied diet of 100% organic, in-season vegetables, ripe-picked fruit, free ranging animal products, whole grains, legumes, raw nuts and seeds.
The health benefits you get from having a sufficient level of micronutrients are overwhelming. Hundreds of scientific studies published in respected medical journals have proved repeatedly that a sufficient intake of micronutrients is a key to health and longevity. Optimal nutrition will improve your immune system, raise your IQ and mental performance, lower your chances of getting a degenerative disease, make you look and feel vital, strong and well, and extend your life.
Patrick Holford?!" maintains that more than nine out of ten people are suffering from a severe micronutrient deficiency.°8” It is unlikely that you are getting the full range of micronutrients that you need for optimal health because:
* Few of us, especially those of us living in cities, eat only ripe-picked, organic and free-range foods. You may be eating lots of supermarket vegetables and fruit, mistakenly thinking you are getting sufficient micronutrients. Many supermarket oranges have no (yes, that is 0) vitamin C.36D With non-organic produce and green-picked fruit, the situation is serious. In the worst cases, fruit and vegetables that look ripe and appealing
Bread rye
Milkshake low fat
Palm oil
Peanut oil 0.0
0.1 Soy oil 0.0 0.1 Corn oil 0.0 0.0 Chicken breast (no skin) 0.0
*The majority of adults have damaged digestive systems, caused by years of misuse and dead food. Most people absorb only a small portion of the micronutrients in the food they eat.
* In today’s polluted and stressful world, you need higher levels of many micronutrients than you would if you were living in a pristine and perfect environment.
* Even best foods grown in some areas are deficient — for example, iodine is often lacking in soils some distance from the sea. The vast expanse of ancient sandy soils making up West Australia are deficient in most trace elements, especially zinc, selenium, molybdenum, magnesium and manganese.
* Most food (including organic and free-range food) is not as rich in micronutrientsasitusedtobe.When foodisexportedfromfarms,thereisa slow loss of nutrients from the soil. All over the world soils have gradually become mineral deficient, even in the richest deepest agricultural basins. When all the produce of a farm is consumed and recycled on the farm there is less loss of soil nutrients, but with most of the world’s population living in towns and cities this has not happened. Soil erosion and degradation have also taken a heavy toll in virtually every country. It may be possible to replace most of the lost minerals with seaweed, manure or compost imported from outside the farm, but this isexpensive and time consuming even on the smallest scale.
SUPER FOODS
Super foods are concentrated sources of nutrients - superb natural supplements of both macro and micronutrients, broad, complex and synergistic - just the way nature intended. All the super foods mentioned below (except cranberries) are alkaline-forming (page 278).
Super foods and herbs (along with the living foods recommended in Grow Youthful) are nearly always the most effective treatment for any
can contain negligible micronutrients. For example, in an extensive survey, carrots had between 70 and 18,500 ius of vitamin A.©8P The best had 264 times more than the worst!
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ailment. Many forward-thinking doctors are getting better results with diet and supplements than they used to with drugs. Nutrients often get to the root cause of the problem, rather than treating the symptoms. Most super foods do not have side effects, even in high doses. The same applies to the majority of herbs — though several herbs do have negative consequences when taken in high doses or for extended periods.
Remember that each of the superfoods below is not good for everyone. For example, my body does not particularly like blue-green algae — I find it a little astringent and do not get a warm feeling of nourishment from it.
The drug companies cannot patent naturally occurring foods and nutrients. It is only when a pill can be patented that big profits can be made. Therefore, they have little interest in promoting cheap natural sources of micronutrients, which are often the most effective prevention and cure for a wide range of diseases (page 299).
Bee pollen is flower pollen collected by honeybees from a variety of plants, and is the bee’s main food. It is a concentrated source of nutrients and phytonutrients, rich in carotenoids, flavonoids and phytosterols. The main benefitofbeepollenisthatitstimulatesyourimmune system.Researchhas shown it to be an effective treatment for prostate enlargement and prostatitis;°! food allergies, and in stimulating the immune system in cancer treatment.°? In another study, the control rats that were exposed to industrial solvents suffered significant liver damage, but there was little effect in those that were fed bee pollen.°
You can buy bee pollen from local beekeepers or health food stores. Start consuming itslowly, with a quarter teaspoon a couple of times a day. Some people are allergic to it,so watch your reactions when you first start.
Berries. Purple and blue coloured berries, such as black grapes, blackcurrants, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, blackberries, redcurrants and cranberries are rich in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. Look for black grapes with seeds — the seeds are highly nutritious. Blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, cranberries, loganberries, and raspberries are a rich source of a range of glyconutrients (page 116). Berries are such a
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Berries tend to be heavily sprayed, so wash fresh berries according to the instructions on page 90, or pick them wild yourself.
Bone Stock. Properly prepared stocks made from the carcasses of animals, fish and birds are a delicious and rich source of nutrients that are often missing in the modern diet. Stocks contain minerals from bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables in easily digestible electrolyte form. A little wine or vinegar added at the start helps draw the minerals into the broth.
Most traditional diets use meat on the bone, and value fish and chicken carcasses, fish heads, and chicken feet. “Jewish penicillin” is a chicken soup rich in gelatine, and traditionally used to enhance the immune system. Gelatine is an important component in digestion, attracting digestive juices to cooked food particles and helping to digest proteins effectively. French cuisine relies on stocks that just happen to be rich in a range of minerals, gelatine, iodine and glyconutrients. Stocks made by simmering bones and carcasses for 6-24 hours are a delicious and highly nutritious part of many cuisines, and their value has been proved over thousands of years.
Blue-green algae are a rich food, more than half of which is protein. They contain chlorophyll and a wide range of micronutrients, especially GLA (an Omega-6), vitamin B complex, minerals and beta-carotene. Algae foods can enhance the immune system, detoxify (especially heavy metals) andhealskinproblemsandarthritis.Spirulina, ChlorellaandKlamatharethe names given to algae from different sources. For many years, chlorella has been cultivated in third world countries as a cheap and highly nutritious form of protein. Warning — not all species of blue-green algae are super foods — some are toxic.
Coconut Oil. Coconuts are nature’s best source of lauric acid, which gives protection from yeasts, viruses, parasites and other pathogens in the digestive system. It is good for the skin, and enhances the immune system.
valuable food that Irecommend going out of your way to look for them, and to eat at least a few every day. Berries are often available in the frozen food section of a supermarket, and although frozen foods are not ideal, they do provide an easily accessible variety.
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Coconut oil should be organic, raw and unprocessed. A good quality coconut oil should be slightly off-white in colour and have an enticing smell. Poor quality coconut oil does not have that delicious “coconut cookie” smell, but instead has a slightly rancid smell and may be a browner colour.
Other sources of coconut oil are creamed coconut (hard white blocks that you can buy in Asian and some health food stores), canned coconut milk (buy whole, not lite milk, with no additives), and desiccated coconut (ensure ithas no added sugar, like that sold in most supermarkets). .
Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cress, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, radish and turnip. A phytonutrient in these vegetables named glucosinolate significantly enhances your liver’s detoxification ability. According to one study, eating these foods every day will halve your cancer risk.37!— However, I would advise you to monitor how you feel on a diet high in these vegetables because they contain goitrogens, which can inhibit your thyroid function. Light cooking destroys goitrogens.
Fish are a good source of protein and micronutrients, including the brain foods choline and DMAE. The Omega-3 essential fats DHA and EPA are found in most fish, especially carnivorous fish such as tuna and salmon. If you eat the fish raw, these nutrients are the most abundant and easy to assimilate, but ifyou prefer itcooked, then lightly steam or poach it.
However, freshwater fish and large carnivorous fish high in the food chain can have high levels of heavy metals, especially if they are caught in polluted areas (page 309).
Green grass juices are one of the most valuable nutritional secrets. Most of us have seen a cat eat grass. Many birds and animals, even carnivores, eat grasses. They instinctively know that their bodies need these greens, which may be different to their regular diet. People who drink a small daily glass of wheatgrass juice have had rapid healing of injuries and infections, and recovery from degenerative diseases and signs of detoxification, including grey hair returning to black.
You drink the juice from a tot-sized glass. The nutrients in the juice are
148
so powerful that the effect of knocking back a tot is almost heady. If you are not used to it,or your body isout of shape, acidic and toxic, itcan make you feel ill. So work up to it slowly.
Green grass juices combat the effect of a dead, processed, cooked food diet. The green chlorophyll and live enzymes are alkalising (page 278). Chlorophyll, formed by the sun in the leaves of plants, is renowned as a blood cleanser. Green juices are high in selenium, which assists in the elimination of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. They are rich in enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and anti-oxidants. An anti-ageing secret, the juice of young green grasses has been shown to provide DNA protection in old mice.48©
The best green juices are made from grass that has been cut and juiced in the last few minutes. You can grow and juice grasses yourself, using a manual or a slow electric juicer. To make your own green juice, plant wheat, barley, corn, millet, oats or rice seeds in shallow soil in a planter box. The best time to harvest the shoots is after 5-12 days, just before the shoot joints to form a stem and leaves — this is when the nutritional bounty 1s at its peak.
You can buy green powders that you mix with water, which are obviously not as good as the fresh juice. There are juice bars springing up around most cities.
Mineral tonics. You can buy mineral supplements made from the contents of rich glacial valleys, peat bogs and moors, seaweeds and natural saltpans. They are often sold as “colloidal minerals”. One of the most famous sources is the Neydharting Moor in upper Austria, which has been both a glacier and a lake over several million years. Around 150 acres in size, itis the depository of herbs, vegetation and glacial minerals in a complex biomass.
Mushrooms. Japanese and wild mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake, ganoderma, oyster, enokidake and reishi are highly nutritious, containing proteins, glyconutrients and a range of healing phytonutrients. However, the common button mushroom has little nutrition.
The Reishi mushroom is renowned for enhancing longevity, and is an
149
important part of traditional medicine in China and Japan. It is hard, bitter and not suitable for cooking. However, several of the other mushrooms mentioned above are delicious. They improve your immune function, protect against tumours, have strong anti-allergy and anti-inflammatory effects, and are good for your liver. Generally, mushrooms should not be eaten raw.!8B
Seaweeds are a superb source of minerals. Coming from the sea, they have traces of virtually all essential elements, especially iodine, magnesium, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium and phosphorus. They are also a good source of vitamin B1285©. Seaweed is available as kelp, wakame, nori and many other forms. They contain long chain complex sugars that some people are unable to digest. It is best to simmer them for a long period before eating them, to begin the breakdown of these fibre-like sugars. Seaweeds are useful for the removal of heavy metals or radioactive elements from your body®?.
Vegetable and fruit juices slow-squeezed from organic, ripe-picked, raw produce are rich in minerals, enzymes, structured water and phytonutrients (pages 183).
Wolfberry or Goji Berry. The Chinese wolfberry (/ycium barbarum) is a small red berry about the size of a raisin, with a taste somewhat similar. The Chinese have used them for thousands of years in teas, soups and stews. In traditional Chinese medicine, wolfberries act on the liver, lung and kidney channels, and enhance yin. They make a good wine, and an excellent health tonic. You can eat them raw, soak them, or use them in cooking.
Wolfberries are high in anti-oxidants, contain potent phytochemicals, and a good range of minerals and vitamins. They are used as an anti- inflammatory, an immune system booster, to improve eyesight, liver function, sperm production, and blood circulation. Chinese practitioners have used them to slow the ageing process, and as a cancer preventative and treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine uses them to treat vision disorders such as cataracts, retinopathy and macular degeneration.
Wolfberries are widely available in China, and are now grown all around the world. The dried berries are usually available at little cost in Chinese or Asian supply stores.
HERBS
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Aloe Vera has been used for centuries to heal the skin, and is a good sunburn treatment. As a food, itis apowerful detoxifier, and has antiviral and antiseptic properties. It is an aid to the immune, nervous and digestive systems. It has a strong alkalising effect.
Aloeveraisoneoftherichestsourcesofthreeglyconutrients.Grow them in your garden in a dry, sunny spot, and use a piece in your daily vegetable
juice.
Culinary herbs such as rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, sage,
peppermint and spearmint are one of nature’s richest sources of anti- oxidants. Fresh herbs have substantially higher levels of micronutrients than dried herbs, and they taste better. Ifyou have limited time and space, a small herb garden probably gives the highest health return for your efforts. You can experiment with steeping these herbs in boiling water, and drinking the tea they make. Rosemary makes a good anti-oxidant brew; make them weak, and drink those that feel good.
Echinacea (Purple Cone Flower). This herb stimulates your immune system, reduces inflammation, assists with healing wounds, and is an antibiotic and skin improver. Itisused todetoxify respiratory and circulatory systems. In past centuries, the roots and rhizomes were used to treat fevers and infections, and even serious conditions such as malaria, diphtheria, meningitis and typhoid. With the widespread use of chemical drugs this herb was almost forgotten, but recent research has shown that it can match virtually any antibiotic. Italso has anti-ageing properties.
Garlic is powerful anti-oxidant, with antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties. It contains about 200 known active compounds. Cheap, easily available and delicious, I use it regularly. It significantly
Thousands of herbs are used for healing, longevity, health maintenance, flavouring, smells, purgatives, abortion, you name it.Herbalists and Chinese herbalists are available in every city. A professional herbalist or naturopath can introduce you to a wider range of herbs if you have specific needs or ailments. Here are some of the herbs that assist with health and longevity.
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protects against stomach cancer>? and heart disease. It lowers blood cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, and prevents blood clotting. It is a powerful booster for your immune system, and is a dietary source of selenium. Itdestroys fungus and yeasts such as candida. Garlic isrenown in the Orient as a potent sexual tonic, which is why monastic kitchens throughout the Far East avoid it.
One study showed that women who ate garlic at least once a week were 50% less likely to get colon cancer than those who never ate it,possibly because of the phytonutrient allicin.4!4
It is most effective if consumed raw, as heat destroys many of garlic’s properties, particularly the potent antiseptic ones. If your salivary glands are working properly, and you drink enough water, your breath will not smell of garlic.
Ido not recommend garlic capsules or other preserved or dried forms, as it is likely that many of the compounds in raw garlic are destroyed in the processing.
Ginger. This hot or yang alkaline spice is used in about half of all Chinese herbal mixes. In India itishighly regarded for itswarming effect and ability to stimulate digestion, relieve aches and pains, and settle morning sickness and upset stomachs. So far, more than four hundred compounds have been identified inginger. Itisan anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, antibiotic and immune system stimulator. It improves the digestion of proteins, protects against both stomach ulcers and intestinal parasites, treats nausea and motion sickness, suppresses coughs, reduces fever, and diminishes pain. At a cellular level, it is an effective membrane fluidiser, and protects against cancer by
preventing some carcinogens from causing DNA damage.
Ginger can play an important role in the regulation of eicosanoids, a
group of hormones that mediate your healing and immunity. Eicosanoids imbalances may underlie many degenerative illnesses, and ginger somehow moderates them in a way that reduces inflammation and blood clotting. Ginger is as potent as many anti-inflammatory drugs now in use, and ithas no side effects (most of the drugs damage your stomach lining, and have
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other nasty effects).
Early on a cold winter morning a few years ago, I met a woman
swimming atthebeach where Ilive.The ocean temperature was about 15°C. AtfirstIguessed shewas inher40’s,butitwas onlywhen shetoldme one of her children was just about that age that I realised that she had managed to slow her ageing. Icommented on her youthful looks, and asked her ifthere was a reason for her good health (aside from taking a swim in the ocean nearly every morning). She replied that she ate a piece of raw ginger about the size of her thumbnail every day. It kept her youthful, and gave her protection from the cold.
You can peel, grate or chop ginger, and add it to many dishes, raw or cooked. Finely chop a piece the size of your fingernail, and use itto make a delicious tea. Nibble itwith nuts or fruit.
Ginseng. Eastern medicine has long revered this slow growing root as an effective treatment for numerous health conditions, and a herb that promotes strength, physical and mental endurance, sexual vitality and longevity. Siberian Ginseng (Panax Ginseng) is a Taoist favourite for life-prolonging health, though there are many other varieties available.
Western researchers are beginning to unravel some of the specific benefits of the herb, including new findings that show it to be an effective blood glucose modulator®+ and membrane fluidiser. Itsoothes and regulates the central nervous system, stimulates the secretion of various hormones, and is of particular value for middle-aged and older people.
Use ginseng in moderation and only for limited periods. It is a powerful and complex plant, which is immuno-suppressive in high doses.
Ginkgo Biloba. This ancient tree, possibly the world’s oldest living species, is renowned for its ability to resist disease, pollution and insect attack. Extracts from, or teas made with the leaves are useful for treating ailments caused by inelastic veins and arteries. Over a period of 6 to 12 weeks it improves blood flow and oxygen supply to all organs, particularly the brain. It is an effective anti-ageing supplement, which improves your short-term memory, raises your energy level and counters depression. It is
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used to treat several symptoms of ageing, including erectile dysfunction, tinnitus, depression, dementia and migraines.
Hydrocotyle Asiatica Minor. A member of the pennywort family, this herb grows wild in the tropical marshes of Asia. The leaves and seeds contain a potent alkaloid that has powerful rejuvenating effects on the nervous and endocrine systems. Several Chinese Taoists who lived into their second century have used it. In India, the guru Nanddo Narian taught his students that this herb was essential for longevity.
Maca (Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon). This root isanative ofthe central Andes in Peru. The locals have used it for centuries to gain strength, resistance, vigour and energy. It has a reputation as an endocrine stimulator. Ihave found that ithas aphrodisiacal properties. Itake iton an ongoing basis as a health maintenance and anti-ageing supplement. Some people report that it makes them feel happy. Importantly, I stop taking it for one week each month, otherwise it loses its effectiveness. Taking a break from continual consumption isimportant with many herbs.
Stevia. Ifyou want to sweeten your food without using sugar or chemical sweeteners, stevia is an effective and natural herbal alternative. Stevia Rebaudiana is a South American plant that has been used as a natural sweetener for generations. Apowder extract made from the leaves is300-400 times sweeter than table sugar. It is also available in liquid form, or as dried leaves. Itisrelatively stable during cooking. As aherb ithas anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties, and is used to treat burns, wounds and to strengthen the pancreas. It stabilises blood sugar levels, lowers blood pressure, and has even been used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.?>©
The powerful sugar industries lobbied against stevia and managed to get it banned as a sweetener in the USA, though it can be sold as a herb. In Europe it is completely banned. The irony is that sugar is the poison, not stevia.
Xylitol is another (non-herbal) sweetener that you can use in place of sugar. Originally made from birch bark, itisalso found in fibrous vegetables, fruit and corn cobs. Itlooks and tastes like sugar. However ithas aGlycemic
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Xylitol also has anti-fungal effects.
ANTI-OXIDANTS
Free Radicals. The calories in your food are converted into energy molecules (ATP), in a process that uses oxygen, and generates by-products called free radicals. About 90% of the free radicals in your body come from thefood you eat.'44
Many scientists say that free radicals are the prime agent of ageing. Ageing occurs when you are unable to deal with the level of oxidants in your body, and the damage caused by free radicals accumulates.
Surprisingly, free radicals are essential for many life-sustaining processes, such as the production of energy in your cells, defence against germs by your white blood cells, and the production of some hormones, such as corticosteroids, eicosanoids, oestrogen and testosterone. The problem is an excessive level of free radicals — so typical in a stressed modern lifestyle. Free radicals that are not immediately used by your body look for other molecules with which to react.
Free radicals are usually created by oxygen-based reactions, so they are also referred to as oxidising agents or oxidants. Oxidation is a natural process that occurs in the body all the time, but which plays a role in the development of many degenerative diseases. Free radicals are highly reactive, unstable molecules, that are desperate for electrons, and this property makes them react with healthy molecules in a destructive way. They grab whatever is handy -essential fatty acids, important structural or functional proteins, LDL cholesterol particles, your cell membranes and your DNA. After doing their damage, they also create toxic waste products that lower your energy level and interfere with processes such as cellular communication and protein, DNA and RNA synthesis. The cellular damage they cause accelerates your
index of 7, and is only slowly absorbed and metabolised by your body. This means ithas little effect on your insulin level. Ithas no known side effects other than being slightly laxative in large quantities. Bacteria cannot ferment it, so it restores alkalinity and inhibits plaque formation in your mouth.
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ageing. Over time, this damage results in various degenerative diseases. The more food you eat, the more free radicals are produced. This especially applies to the calorie content of your food, because itisthe energy conversion that generates free radicals. High energy, high Glycemic index
(page 269) carbohydrates are the worst foods. The sugar or refined flour in breads, cakes, soft drinks, biscuits, sweets, potatoes, jams and breakfast cereals generates high levels of free radicals that overwhelm your body’s neutralisation and elimination systems. .
Another major source of free radicals is your immune system. Because free radicals are so dangerous at a molecular level, one of the best ways to kill an invading organism is to bombard it with free radicals — and this is exactly what your white blood cells do.
Your diet, lifestyle, drugs, pollution and radiation are all accelerators of free radical production. A poor diet adds to the load, especially burned, browned or fried foods. There are many other sources of free radicals, such as stress and the environment in which you live. Cigarette smoking, air and traffic pollution, and exposure to strong sunlight are all significant sources.
To reduce the catastrophic damage done by free radicals:
* Most importantly, limit your intake of calories, particularly in the form of refined carbohydrates.
* Eat low Glycemic index foods (page 268). Keeping a stable blood glucose level gives your anti-oxidant and elimination systems time to work, and avoid the blood glucose peaks that are so damaging. These blood glucose peaks produce massive levels of free radicals.
¢ Eat foods high in natural anti-oxidants (page 155).
* Minimise your exposure to pollution, toxins, stress and radiation.
* In some cases, take a daily multi-vitamin multi-mineral supplement that includes a variety of anti-oxidants (page 157).
Anti-oxidants are a group of electron-donating compounds that help protect you from free radicals. They combat the effect of oxidants — those foods, chemicals and stressors that increase the level of free radicals. Your body naturally produces anti-oxidant enzymes and other molecules, and you
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get a variety of anti-oxidants from the food you eat. It is essential that your diet includes sufficient anti-oxidants and that your digestive system is able to extract them from the food you eat.
There are probably hundreds of different anti-oxidants in a bow] of fresh salad. Two of the most powerful are vitamins C and E. They work in concert with other vitamins and minerals, particularly manganese, zinc and selenium. Beta-carotene, coenzyme-Q, glutathione, lipoic acid, phenols, polyphenols, flavonoids and phytoestrogens are other important anti-oxidants. Carotenoids are a group of around 600 pigments in the protein complexes of bright coloured fruit and vegetables. They are powerful anti-oxidants, and include lutein, lycopene, alpha and beta-carotene, and zeaxanthin.
Scientists such as Bruce N. Ames of the University of California at Berkley have identified lipoic acid (also known as alpha-lipoic acid or ALA) as one of the most important anti-oxidants in the process of slowing ageing. However, itistoo early to say iftaking ALA supplements are effective. ALA isfound inspinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts, potatoes, yams, carrots, beets, yeast and red meat.
Each anti-oxidant has a unique set of properties and behaviours. Some work inside your cells, others on the cellular membranes, or in the intercellular fluids. Therefore, it is important to get a variety of anti-oxidants and their backup micronutrients. No single anti-oxidant can protect you from the whole range of free radicals.
The best source of anti-oxidants is a diet of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, seeds, beans, herbs, nuts and super foods (page 145). There is a huge body of research confirming that the range of anti-oxidants in such a diet lowers your cholesterol level (especially “bad” LDL), protects you from a range of cancers, eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration, and slows your ageing.4!!
There is little evidence to show that anti-oxidants taken individually are effective.
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SUPPLEMENTS
Do you need to take daily supplement pills of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients? If you are like the majority of health-conscious people, living in suburbia, feeling some of the stresses, subject to some level of pollution, and dependent to some extent on supermarkets and commercial foods, then this is a reasonable question.
If you live in a city, eat a diet of pre-prepared, processed and cooked food, are exposed to a high toxic acid load through stress, pollution and drugs, and are over 40, then your body needs all the help it can get. A daily broad-spectrum micronutrient multi-mineral multivitamin anti-oxidant supplement may help you to fight disease, neutralise toxins and guard against free radicals. However, do not delude yourself that taking pills is a substitute for a living food /super food diet. Pills are a last resort ifyou are not willing to change other aspects of your life.
Good digestion is the most important factor in getting all the nutrients you need. You can eat the most nutritious diet, and take additional supplements, but if you cannot digest them, you will still be malnourished. Years of poor eating make itlikely that most adults have a weak and damaged digestive system. Digestive supplements will help you if you suffer from digestive problems, and especially if your stomach is not very acid. Take some unpasteurised liquid whey, apple cider vinegar, or betaine hydrochloride before each meal that contains concentrated protein (page 282 for details). Comfrey is an excellent digestive herb. The digestive enzymes amylase, protease, lipase and cellulase are rich in fresh raw foods. If most of your food is cooked, or you do not eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, these enzymes will improve your digestion.
Supplements (as opposed to drugs) are a huge, multi-billion dollar industry. Health practitioners who sell supplements directly to their patients have a conflict of interest. Iknow a naturopath who derives three quarters of his income from the supplements he sells to his patients, and only one quarter of his income from his consultation fees. He is a competent practitioner, but there is no doubt that he over-prescribes an excessive range and quantity of
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Everybody’s micronutrient needs are different, depending upon their genes, family and health history, upbringing, exposure to pollution, lifestyle, diet, level of exercise, what medications or drugs they may be taking, whether they are premenstrual, menopausal, fighting an infection, feeling stressed and more. Smokers need more anti-oxidants, and regular drinkers need more vitamin B1 to prevent damage to the central nervous system. Professor Roger Williams’? describes how it is common to find a ten-fold difference in the requirements for a vitamin between one person and another. I have a strong preference to correct any deficiencies using living foods and superfoods, rather than pills, as explained below.
Micronutrients like to work as a team. Vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients work most effectively in synergy — where small quantities of each assist the naturally occurring quantities of all others. Synergy is an immensely complex process that science is only just starting to unravel.
You can take a dose of zinc sulphate or citrate to improve your skin or immunity, and itmay be effective. Combine itwith magnesium, and itwill double itsperformance. Combine itwith B vitamins, and awider range of vitamins and minerals, and itwill work more effectively again. Get itfrom a super food and the results may be spectacular. A synergistic combination of micronutrients is far more effective than taking the individual components. The interactions between the components are so complex that itisbest to rely on nature to create them wherever possible. The best supplements are made from wild herbs, super foods, seaweeds, peat bogs, glacial muds and natural minerals.
Most vitamins will not work without supporting minerals. We need minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, sulphur and potassium in relatively large quantities. Others, such as barium, bismuth, boron, chromium, cobalt, molybdenum, rubidium, selenium, titanium and vanadium are essential in micro-doses, but are toxic at higher levels. Your body continually needs a minimum array of minerals just to stay alive, but
expensive supplements, rather than first and primarily attempting to change his patient’s lifestyles and eating habits.
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optimal health requires higher levels, tailored to your individual needs.
A pill cannot possibly contain many of the living nutrients made by plants. Vegetables, fruits and herbs contain thousands of chemicals that have
health and synergistic properties. At present, this area is at the forefront of nutritional science, with most of these phytonutrients still undiscovered. A daily supplement pill can provide specific vitamins and minerals that science knows we need to maintain good health in today’s polluted world, but don’t kid yourself that a pill can in any way make up for a beautiful, fresh multi- coloured salad, or a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs on a daily basis.
A broad range of over 100 minerals is available in sea salt (page 200). If you throw away the refined table salt in your home and avoid foods made with refined salt, instead replacing itwith natural sea salt, you will get a most of the minerals your body needs. A year’s supply of Celtic sea salt only costs a few dollars. I strongly advise you to take this one simple action.
Most supplements are synthetic, made in laboratories from chemical ingredients, or extracted from natural products such as fruits, herbs or animal liver using solvents, precipitants or distillation. Some are even made from petroleum or coal tar based ingredients. These chemical processes denature the minerals and vitamins, stripping away their natural synergists., Even if they are combined with other vitamins and minerals in a “scientifically balanced” pill, they are only partly effective. It is through sheer strength and quantity that a portion of the isolated, concentrated micronutrients in these supplements isabsorbed and used.
Synthetic vitamins artificially increase your appetite. In order to absorb these hard-to-digest vitamins, your digestive system needs additional carbohydrates, proteins and micronutrients. Your body instinctively looks for more food, and feels hungry. Synthetic vitamins can lead to obesity.
It is essential that any supplement contains a broad range of minerals in a bio-available form. The least bio-available minerals are those in the form of a simple compound such as a sulphate, oxide, carbonate or chloride.
Science has found a way of making minerals more digestible through a
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process called chelation, in which mineral compounds are bound to larger food molecules. The availability of most minerals is higher in the form of chelates, ascorbates, citrates, gluconates or orotates. Remember that these factory-made minerals are not naturally occurring, and are therefore foreign to your body.
By far the most bio-available minerals are those that naturally occur in your food. These ionic minerals are so effective and accessible that you need far smaller quantities of them for optimal health. The best way to get selenium for example, is to eat foods grown in soils that are rich in selenium, or soils to which a selenium supplement has been added.
If you take a vitamin C tablet, only a small portion of it is accessible to your body, and only for a short time, sometimes less than two hours. The rest rapidly passes out in your urine. However, ifyou eat a fresh organic orange, ripe-picked off the tree, awide range of other micronutrients (synergists) will support the vitamin C in it.The small quantity of vitamin C in the orange is easily digestible, and will last all day.
Be aware that itiseasy to get an excess of one or more micronutrients if you are taking supplements. In most cases, this may have little effect, but it is not a good idea to take megadoses of any micronutrient. For example, selenium can be extremely toxic in high doses. A high dose of the apparently safe vitamin C thickens the blood, leading to blood clots. It can also lead to the formation of kidney and bladder stones. Synthetic vitamin C destroys some other vitamins.
Supplements should not include any vitamins or minerals that cannot easily be excreted if they are in excess of your body’s needs. The most common components which are included in excess are:
*Vitamin A. This fat-soluble vitamin can accumulate in your tissues, causing nausea, bone loss, fractures and skin problems. A good supplement will contain carotene or beta-carotene instead of vitamin A, because your body can convert them into vitamin A, and any excess is easily excreted.
* Iron. This mineral tends to accumulate in the body rather than be excreted, andinexcessitcanbedangerouslytoxic.Women canloseironintheirblood
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during their period, but men have no such outlet.
* Copper. The majority of the population have excess copper in their bodies (page 211).
A hair test is a fast and painless way of analysing the minerals and other elements in your body. Your naturopath or doctor can organise to send a sample of your hair to a laboratory. It provides a detailed report on the minerals in your body, showing whether the levels are low, normal or high. A full spectrum of elements is measured, including boron, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, zinc and many more. Toxic and heavy metals such as aluminium, barium, cadmium, lead, mercury and uranium are included. Most tests show the ratio between different minerals, along with graphs and explanations. The balance between different minerals that support or antagonise each other is particularly important. For example, high copper along with low zinc and molybdenum will cause a range of serious ailments.
Hair analysis usually indicates problems earlier than a blood analysis.3° Itisrelatively cheap, and good reference ranges have been determined, even allowing for the type of shampoo you are using. It does not involve the pain or discomfort of tissue biopsy.
ENZYME ACTIVE FOOD WHAT ISAN ENZYME?
nzymes make life possible. They are essential for every biochemical
reaction that takes place in your body. All your organs, tissues and cells are run by enzymes. No nutrient, mineral, vitamin or hormone can work without enzymes. Some are used for digestion, others to fight and remove dangerous microbes in your blood, yet others remove dead or damaged cells or toxins. Various glands and organs make enzymes. They are quite specific, custom-designed to do a particular task rapidly and efficiently. For example, protease is secreted in the stomach, to break down proteins such as meat or egg in the digestive process. Other enzymes can transform glucose into a
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range of sugars, starches, fats and proteins.
A catalyst is acompound that speeds up or assists a chemical reaction, but
enzymes are much more than chemical catalysts. Most catalysts only work at high temperatures and pressures, but enzymes work at body temperature, atmospheric pressure, and near neutral pH. Enzymes are essential for all the chemical reactions of life. They possess a life energy (chi) giving off radiation or electrical energy as they work.
Conventional nutrition says that enzymes in the food you eat are destroyed in your digestive system, so enzyme-rich food has no special benefits. However, research by Atturi Virtanen in Finland, A. Ohmann from Novo Nordisk, Denmark, and Kaspur Tropp in Wurzburg shows that they are not completely destroyed, and instead produce complex new health-giving chemicals during digestion. Some enzymes are so valuable that your digestive system takes special care not to damage them.
ENZYMES IN FOODS & JUICES
Fresh, raw and fermented foods are loaded with enzymes. The foods that are richest in enzymes are foods and drinks fermented with beneficial microorganisms, vegetables and fruit picked a few minutes ago, sprouted beans or seeds, or a wild fish, bird or animal slaughtered in the last hour. These foods are nutritious and easy to digest.
Cooking, and other forms of processing destroy the enzymes in living food. Our time and money oriented society demands fast, cheap, attractive and convenient food. Processed foods can be stored at room temperature for long periods with no obvious deterioration. They are manufactured by destroying the enzymes and bacteria in fresh food. Methods include cooking, irradiating with gamma or x-rays, adding sugar, salt, and a wide range of chemical stabilisers and preservatives, refining, pasteurising, dehydrating, packaging and canning.
Enzyme-dead foods provide little nutrition, and are responsible for a wide range of modern ills. If you eat enzyme-dead food, you stress your pituitary and pancreas glands as they try to produce sufficient enzymes to
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digest it.Virtually every adult who has eaten cooked, enzyme-dead food for years has pathologically swollen pituitary and pancreas glands. Other parts of your body, such as your brain, muscles, joints and nerves are deprived of the enzymes they require, because their components are re-directed to your digestive system. Over a number of years, your body simply does not have enough enzymes to metabolise, repair and grow, and also digest enzyme- dead food. The digestion of food takes priority, so the health of your body loses out.29
If your body is youthful and healthy, it can synthesise the enzymes it needs to digest your food and still perform all the other processes you need to stay healthy. When your body is not able to make all the enzymes itneeds you will age and suffer various illnesses. Most diseases are traceable to missing enzymes’.P
Dr Edward Howell”? argues that the unnecessary, unnatural and unabated depletion of the body’s enzyme production is “one of the paramount causes of premature ageing and early death” and “the underlying cause of almost all degenerative disease.” “When itgets to the point that you can t make certain enzymes, then your life ends.”
Ifyou eat mostly processed enzyme-dead food, itisdifficult to stay slim. The active enzymes in raw foods assist your digestive system to extract all the nutrients from the food, and you will feel less hungry. Unless your digestive system is in perfect condition (a rare occurrence), the food digests slowly and partially. Incompletely digested food provides a medium for harmful bacteria, yeasts and parasites to thrive. Indigestion and gas are the early warnings. In the long-term, you will suffer a build up of acidic waste (page 271). The fat that accumulates around the stomach, upper thighs, neck, major lymph nodes and other bulging parts of the body contains a high level of these fat-soluble toxins.
This type of fat is particularly difficult to get rid of, because as you reduce your calorie intake, it is not an accessible form of stored energy. If it were unpolluted, nutrient-rich fat,your body would use itwhen you exercise. Rather than using the toxic fat, your body will use any other source of
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calories itcan find.
If you go on a reduced calorie diet, you are more likely to burn up your
muscle rather than your fat (page 218). This is the worst possible outcome. You will look gaunt, and feel hungry, and low in energy and vitality. With a high fat, low muscle ratio, itis easier to put on the weight again after you stop dieting. If your dieting eventually starts to burn the calories in your accumulated fatty toxic waste, you will feel terrible. As the fat is burned, the fat-soluble toxins are released into your bloodstream.
Obesity is a long-term problem, with a long-term solution. A diet of raw, enzyme-alive food will halt, and gradually reverse the build-up of fatty toxic waste and excess weight.854
Dr Edward Howell maintains that “it was impossible to get people fat on raw foods, regardless of their calorie intake.”?? That is quite a statement — you can eat as much raw food as you want.
Ifyou eat a diet based on just a few foods, you may deplete the supply of specific enzymes. This is typical of the standard American diet, which is based on just a few foods like potatoes, tomatoes, beef, sugar and wheat.
One of the richest sources of life-prolonging enzymes is fermented foods (page 172). The freshly extracted juices of ripe, raw, organic vegetables and fruits are another good source. | am referring here to juices that you prepare yourself, not supermarket juices. Raw vegetable and fruit juices are also the best source of minerals, most vitamins, and a variety of other micronutrients. Fresh juices are an excellent means of alkalising your body (page 278). Of course, continue to eat raw vegetables and fruit, because they provide the fibrous bulk that is essential for your digestive system.
The enzymes in fresh juices make them easy to digest ifyou drink them slowly and let your saliva mix with them. Drink juices in small sips, and hold them in your mouth for a few seconds. The enzymes in your saliva start to digest the carbohydrates in the juice. If you dink them quickly, as most people do, the juice will miss this vital digestive step and are more likely to ferment in the acid environment of your stomach.
High-speed electric juicers destroy a portion of the enzymes and
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phytonutrients in the juice. The steel grater that pulverises the fruit or vegetable isspinning so fast that itgenerates heat on itsworking surface. For a few milliseconds, the temperature of the juice is raised, destroying a portion of the enzymes. Hand-squeezed juice or juice from a low speed electric juicer is preferable. If neither is available, juice from a high-speed juicer is still a good drink.
Low speed electric juicers have a slow-spinning auger that squeezes the juice out, rather than grating and using centrifugal force. The slow juicers are more adept at producing juices from a wide range of soft and hard produce. Some models can extract juice from grapes and other soft fruits, wheat grass
and other leaves, and hard vegetables. Others have an attachment that can make butters from nuts and beans, or even pasta. In contrast, the high-speed juicers work best with carrot and celery, and have no success extracting the juice from soft or leafy produce.
COOKING
Humans are the only animals that eat cooked food. We have only started cooking food in the recent history of our evolution. An excessive diet of cooked food can cause many degenerative illnesses. Cooking destroys the enzymes and many other valuable nutrients in the food.
If you eat a high proportion of cooked and processed foods, your body must divert much of its enzyme power to digestive duty, thereby reducing the availability of the raw materials needed to make other enzymes for the repair, growth and maintenance of your cells, anti-oxidant activity and other immune functions.
According to Dr Howell, 2° heating food to a temperature of 48°C (118°F) for 30 minutes will destroy virtually all the enzymes in it. If you put your hand in water at 48°C itwould feel uncomfortably hot, but would not burn you. This is not hot at all when it comes to cooking. At only slightly higher temperatures, all enzymes are destroyed within seconds, not minutes.
Cooking proteins binds them to some of the other nutrients in the food, and both the proteins and the other nutrients are difficult to digest. Virtually
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all the protein that our Palaeolithic ancestors ate was raw, including meat and eggs. Our digestive systems prefer raw proteins.
Protein is sensitive to heat, even low temperature cooking. Heat downgrades the nutritional value of protein. You need to double the quantity of protein to get the same nutritional input if you cook it.7B Cook meat at 115°C and the amino acids cysteine and lysine are destroyed. Glutamine is also sensitive to heat. Cooked milk proteins are unsafe, and the debilitating process of pasteurisation, to which nearly all public milk is subjected, is discussed on page 190.
Try to eat a living food diet with a high proportion of raw, unprocessed, fresh and fermented components. However, ifthe season (winter), climate, your sense of taste or your circumstances dictate that you wish to cook some of your food, you can still have a healthy diet. Taoists masters (page 198 & 250),manyofwhom itisclaimedreachedagesofover100years,atemostly lightly steamed vegetables. It is possible to cook foods without destroying too many of the enzymes provided you keep the cooking short, keep itmoist, and keep it cool. The traditional Western methods of baking, roasting and frying with long periods of hot dry heat are enzyme killers. Steaming and poaching are better — they ensure that the environment remains moist, and that the temperature is close to water’s boiling point. Stir-frying is also acceptable, provided cooking times are kept to under a minute, and preferably 30 seconds. I stir-fry my wet vegetables with a little oil, not too hot. The moisture content is maintained, the cooking time is very short, and the vegetables are still crispy — the internal cellular structure is still intact, and the internal enzymes are relatively undamaged.
To steam vegetables or any other foods, use a steamer that sits inside a pot, above a little boiling water. Alternatively, you can buy pots with a matched steamer that fits on top of the pot. One minute is enough for delicate vegetables such as broccoli or spinach, others may require five minutes, depending on the size you have cut them. Quickly rinse them in cold water to maintain the colour and stop the cooking.
If you boil foods that contain water-soluble vitamins, minerals or
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phytonutrients, you lose them unless you also drink the water.
Don’t add salt to your cooking water. Salty water has an osmotic attraction tothe fresh water invegetables and draws itout ofthem. Ifyou add salt to the water in which you are boiling vegetables, it will make them
soggy. If you have to add salt, add sea salt after cooking. It will dissolve to form a concentrated film on the surface of the vegetables, giving a more intense flavour with less salt.
When you cook fish, do it lightly and quickly. This is a chef’s secret — even slightly overcooked fish is tough and unpleasant.
Numerous health professionals and communities promote completely raw diets.’ This means raw vegetables, fruit, nuts and sprouted grains. Italso means raw flesh, eggs and unpasteurised dairy products, ifused. People on raw diets are thriving, and achieving perfect health and amazing healing. If you decide to change to a raw food diet, do itslowly — your digestive system will need several years to adapt. Initially, you may feel sick as old acid toxins stored in your body are released.
Exceptions - the following plant foods need to be cooked or fermented — both processes destroy the harmful chemicals mentioned below.
* Seeds, grains and legumes need to be cooked or sprouted. The human digestive system cannot cope with dry seeds, grains and legumes, unlike ruminants and a few other animals.
¢ Potatoes and turnips should be cooked. Potatoes contain hemagglutinins (which disrupt the functioning of red blood cells) which are destroyed by heat.
* Cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and kale contain goitrogens, which disrupt the functions of the thyroid gland. Light steaming or stir-frying destroys the goitrogens.
* For some fibrous vegetables, such as leeks, cooking helps to break down the cell membranes to make more nutrients available. Another secret with leeks is to chop them finely across their grain — this allows for less cooking, and they are delicious when stir-fried.
¢A few micronutrients (such as the carotenoids in carrots) are more available
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If you have a microwave oven (page 309), limit its use. Microwaves destroy food enzymes by altering their molecular structure.
Raw meat. Raw also applies to meat (fish, land animals and birds), but with some important provisos in our modern world. Ifyou eat flesh itshould be free ranging and organic. For example, Eskimos traditionally ate a diet of raw fish, raw meat and raw fat, and they never suffered from arthritis, heart disease or other degenerative ailments until they ate foods from outside their traditional diet. Prior to the introduction of modern processed foods, Eskimos virtually never got sick.
Wild game or birds are a good source of nutrition. They have fed on a variety of wild and organic seeds, berries, nuts, leaves, bark, grubs and herbs. The animals have been living in a natural environment where they obtain plenty of exercise, and are not stressed through being confined.
Remember that wild meat isprobably infected with parasites. According to the US Department of Agriculture, freezing raw meat for two weeks destroys the parasites. Marinading the minced or thinly sliced meat in an acid such as lemon juice or whey is another traditional approach to destroying parasites.
Raw fish (particularly cod) sometimes has parasites, and infections occur frequently among Japanese and Korean people who eat raw fish — such as sushi or sashimi. Fish loses its flavour and texture when frozen, so marinading the fish for a few hours in lemon juice or whey isa better solution. Smoking and sun drying are other solutions to parasites and spoilage that have been used for centuries.
This leaves fish as the only wild and natural source of raw flesh available to most people. Raw fish must be subject to scrupulous hygiene and freshness standards, especially ifithas been farmed, rather than caught wild. Raw wild fish is arguably the most nutritious source of concentrated protein
when they are cooked. Lycopene, the carotenoid pigment that protects against prostate cancer, isnot accessible from raw tomatoes, but isavailable when they are cooked, and then only if fat is present. A delicious marinara source, made with tomatoes and olive oil, is a perfect lycopene source.
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—rich in enzymes, EFAs and easily digestible.
Warning — do not eat raw meat purchased from a general butcher or
supermarket. Abattoirs are the most unhygienic places. As the carcasses are cut up, broken digestive tracts are acommon problem, with the contents being cross-contaminated with the meat. If any animals are sick or infected with parasites, the infections will find their way into the other meat. Poultry is worse, with the carcasses being de-feathered in baths with rotary feather pullers. These baths are a mix of feathers, blood, excreta and dirt. Raw chicken carcasses are positively dangerous, as is any juice that thaws out from them. If you eat supermarket meat, it must be cooked for your own protection.
SOAKING AND SPROUTING
any people find they do not thrive on legumes, grains, seeds, nuts and
INAEee suchasbreads,cakesorbeandishesmadefromthem.Do you suffer from indigestion, flatulence, heaviness and other maladies after eating them?
Dry grains, seeds and legumes contain enzyme inhibitors, which keep them dormant until they are soaked and start to sprout. One of the inhibitors is phytic acid in the outer layer or bran. The enzyme inhibitors make dry grains, seeds and beans virtually indigestible. Phytic acid also reacts with many essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc, and stops their absorption in your intestines.
A diet high in grains that have not been sprouted or soaked can lead to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss. Breads and other products made from flour that has not been wet for at least seven hours have a similar effect. Most commercial breads, pastries, biscuits etc are made from un-soaked flour.
Itisbest to soak any seed, grain, nut or legume before use. Aminimum of seven hours soaking in water de-activates most of the enzyme inhibitors. Soaking, fermenting and sprouting also break down gluten and other difficult-to-digest proteins into simpler components that are more easily
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digested. A day or two after soaking they should start to sprout. Sprouts are especially valuable because the nutrient content multiplies many times, and they become easily digestible.
Many traditional cultures that use grains or seeds first prepare them by soaking or fermenting. In India, rice and lentils are soaked for at least two days; in Africa and South America, corn or millet are fermented for several days; and in Europe, grains such as spelt and rye were soaked or fermented for several days.
Sprouted or fermented grains and traditional sourdough breads are made over a period of days. They are easy to digest, and contain a wide range of micronutrients including anti-oxidants made by the bacteria and yeasts. In contrast, commercially baked bread made from milled dry grains and fast acting yeast is prepared and baked in less than a few hours. No lactobacilli are involved, only one strain of yeast is used, and the conditions are not suitable for neutralising enzyme inhibitors and breaking down gluten into a more digestible form.
Sprouts are a living, enzyme-rich, low calorie food. Their vitamin A content will usually double, various B group vitamins will be 5 — 10 times higher, and vitamin C will increase by a similar order. Their protein content becomes easily digestible, and rich new nutrients such as enzymes and phytonutrients are created. They contain significant amounts of bio-available calcium, iron and zinc.
When adormant seed sprouts, itsstarch isconverted into simple sugars, and long chain proteins are split into smaller, easily digestible molecules. Sprouted beans and seeds are like a pre-digested food, one of the most enzyme-rich and nutritious foods known.
To sprout a grain, seed or bean, first wash them and then soak them in cool to tepid, preferably spring water. Sprouting is encouraged in slightly salty and acid water, so you can add a pinch of sea salt and a spoon of vinegar. Soaking time is normally 5 — 8 hours, but can be up to 24 hours for large hard beans. The sprouting time depends on the type of bean, grain or seed, how fresh and alive they are, and the temperature. For example, using
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top quality sunflower seeds in the summer, I have had sprouts starting in 8 hours. At the other extreme, large cannelloni beans can take two or more days to begin. Change the water every 8-12 hours. Broken and chipped seeds will not sprout, and chemically treated seeds will be less successful.
After soaking the seeds, put them in an open container secured with a cheesecloth top. Place the container so that excess water can drain out. The seeds need to be kept damp and aired, but not wet, otherwise there isa chance of mould or spoiling. Within 2-5 days most seeds and beans are ready. They are ready when the root (not the shoot, which is longer) is the length of the seed.
An alternative method of sprouting without soaking is to keep the seeds/beans damp for a longer period. They still need rinsing 2-3 times per day.
Most seeds sprout easily, as do many grains. Nuts are more difficult to sprout, but still soak them all, making them a highly nutritious and essential part of a living food diet.
Treat raw legumes with caution. Chic peas (also known as Garbanzo beans) are the most digestible of the beans, and the only bean you might consider eating raw. When sprouted with 1-2 cm tails, most of their enzyme inhibitors are inactivated or washed away.
Mung beans make an excellent sprout, used widely in Chinese cooking. However, they primarily use the sprouts and not the beans, and the sprouts are often stir-fried.
Soy and kidney bean sprouts are toxic. Sprouted lentils, black eyed beans, partridge peas, peanuts and vetch all have high levels of enzyme inhibitors which cause poor digestion and gas.
Alfalfa sprouts are mildly toxic — do not eat them every day, and avoid them if you are a cancer patient. They are highly nutritious, but if you have a weak immune system or suffer from inflammation, avoid them.
Most raw sprouts contain hemagglutinins, which inhibit the absorption of proteins and fats. The worst are soybeans and kidney beans, followed by Pinto, Navy, Black eye, Lima, Black beans, Aduki beans, lentils and peas
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Hemagglutinins are destroyed by cooking.
Essene bread is a traditional food, made the way the first breads were -
from sprouted grain, baked in the sun or at very low temperature. It is dense and heavy, full of flavour, and contains soft, sprouted, whole or lightly minced grains. It does not contain flour, added yeasts or any other ingredients. Essene bread is an excellent alkaline-forming food, nutritious, digestible, and a slow release carbohydrate.
You can buy Essene bread at your local health food store, or make it yourself. To make it,soak whole wheat or rye grains for 8 to 15 hours, and then leave them damp for another two days. Change the water at least twice a day while soaking and sprouting. When the grains are just starting to sprout, they are ready. The sprouts should be little more than a bulge that has just broken out. Pound the grains in a pestle and mortar or mince them. Ifyou use an electric food processor, use the slowest setting and process the grains lightly. Press the mixture, which should have the consistency of firm dough, into a baking tray. Put itin the sun or a warm place and “bake” itfor 12 — 24 hours. The hot sun, the top of a radiator or above a gas oven’s pilot burner are possibilities — you need a temperature of 22-33°C. The longer you “bake” it,the stronger the flavour.
You can also bake it in a slow oven at 110°C for two hours, though this will destroy the enzymes in the bread. The result will taste more like store- bought Essene breads — dense, heavy and sweet.
Feel free to experiment with the temperature and the baking time. You can also add vegetables, herbs, and spices such as fennel and caraway seeds to the mixture for a variety of flavours.
Ifyou are new to Essene bread, itis agood idea first to buy a loaf from your health food shop before making your own. This way, you get an idea of the required consistency, and just how delicious the product can be.
FERMENTED FOODS
A Syouage,particularlyifyouareeatingalargeproportionofcooked
foods, packaged foods, dairy, meats or eggs, your digestive system
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weakens, loses its efficiency, and becomes the underlying source of a wide range of ills. Fermented foods are an excellent source of easily digestible living food for a stressed or abused digestive system. A regular intake of fermented foods containing friendly bacteria heals your digestive system and lowers the call on your digestive enzymes.
Human populations that consume a large proportion of fermented foods in their diets enjoy superior health and longevity. For example in Georgia, Russia, where many of the villagers live to over a century, they consume sourdough bread, fermented vegetables, kefir, yogurt and sour milk (made from raw, not pasteurised milk).
Almost every culture includes a variety of fermented foods in its diet. Over the centuries, many European people have made yogurt and kefir from milk. Fermented cabbage is enjoyed by the Germans (Sauerkraut), Koreans (Kimchee) and Japanese. A variety of fermented vegetables is an important and delicious source of nutrients, especially in the winter months of Europe. In previous centuries, Sauerkraut was a boon to people living in the northern regions of the world during the winter, when a thick blanket of snow covered the ground. It sustained their health during the months when no fresh fruits and vegetables were available.
The Chinese and Japanese have a long tradition of using fermented soybean products such as Soy sauce and miso paste. Various types of miso can also include grains, beans, seaweed and spices such as ginger. The Indonesians make a fermented soybean called tempeh. Thai cuisine includes a pungent fermented fish sauce called nam-pla.
Eating or drinking fermented foods with your meals aids digestion, helping break down proteins and carbohydrates. That isone reason why wine and beer go so well with a protein meal.
Fermented products are a great source of pre-digested protein (amino acids), enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and /actobacillus and other beneficial bacteria. More importantly, they are in a bio-available form. “Friendly” bacteria such as Jactobacillus are sometimes added to the raw ingredients, or they are left to ferment with their own natural yeasts or enzymes.
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Fermentation can take from hours to months, while the microbes break down complex carbohydrates, sugars and proteins into more easily digestible forms, and produce organic acids including lactic acid and other by-products. Fermentation increases the vitamin and enzyme content of foods.
Fermented foods also colonise your intestinal tract with friendly flora. Lactic acid destroys harmful intestinal bacteria. Lactobacillus and other good bacteria keep a control on the population of harmful and putrefactive bacteria, maintain proper (acid) pH balance in your colon, and increase the frequency and bulk of bowel movements.
Several fermented health and longevity drinks that you can make yourself are discussed later in this book. Kombucha is a delicious detoxifying drink with hundreds of healing properties. Kefir is a fermented milk product that is reputed to be the secret of long life and health among the Caucasians. Rejuvelac is a living, enzyme-rich drink that heals your colon, and can be used in the production of other raw and fermented foods. EM brews are rich in organic acids, anti-oxidants and beneficial microorganisms.
Your intestines have evolved into a perfect bacterial farm. You provide the microbes in your gut with food and in return, they produce beneficial nutrients and help defend you from pathogens. Over the millennia, our ancestors fermented their foods and drinks. They developed beneficial microbial strains that prevent spoilage, fight infections, and increase the absorption of nutrients.
Beneficial microbes help you to fight infections. The competition between microbes is fierce, and the good bacteria that are the normal inhabitants of our guts fight off many foreign intruders. They are your first line of defence in the war of infection. For example, /actobacillus acidophilus produces several substances while fermenting milk, including acidolin, acidophillin, lactobacillan, and lactocidin. These substances inhibit pathogenic bacteria like salmonella, while leaving other friendly lactobacilli and human cells unharmed.
Bad microorganisms. Most bacteria and yeasts are unfriendly or harmful. Those that are used to ferment foods and drinks have been isolated
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and developed over many years. Ifyou are healthy, the vast majority of flora inside your body will be beneficial. However, there will always be a small proportion of harmful bacteria and yeasts waiting for an opportunity to multiply. Antibiotics indiscriminately destroy all the bacteria in your digestive system, leaving all kinds of fungi free to multiply with no bacterial competition. If you have a weak digestive system, eat foods that are rich in sugar and refined carbohydrates, or consume dead foods, you can produce a sugar and nutrient rich, pH neutral medium in which ‘harmful microorganisms can thrive. They can ferment (causing gas), and harmful bacteria or fungi can build up in your gut or other parts of your body. An overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria and yeasts can cause all kinds of problems, including candida, Crohn’s disease, ankylosing spondylitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. People with chronic yeast infections on the skin, or internally (candida) should be wary of fermented foods and drinks, particularly those with sugars or commercial vinegar in them, or any added brewers yeast. This includes pickles, beer and wine, cheeses (particularly smelly and blue cheeses), supermarket bread and old food that may be mouldy. Peanuts, corn and many grains are also widely affected with fungi. However, the fermented foods and drinks recommended in Grow Youthful can assist in healing fungal and other infections.
FOODS TO INCLUDE
BEANS
Beans (legumes) have a reputation as being difficult to digest and causing gas. However, ifyou follow some simple rules, beans are an easily digestible rich source of proteins, low Glycemic index carbohydrates, vitamins, protective phytonutrients and other nutrients. If you just cook the dry beans for a long period to soften them, you will not get much nutrition. Beans cooked in this manner will cause flatulence, and they may inhibit your absorption ofanumber ofminerals. Ifthey are undercooked anda littlehard, they will be even worse — you will suffer indigestion.
The secret with beans and a wide variety of other seeds and grains is to
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soak or sprout them. Sprouting makes them an easily digestible, highly nutritious complex carbohydrate protein-rich food that is also source of live enzymes, as discussed on page 161.
Most people undercook beans — they need 1-4 hours to cook, depending on the type of bean. Keep them well covered with water, as they swell 2-4 times their size and take up lots of water.
Another secret with beans is to add a little seaweed to the cooking water. A 3-5 cm (1-2 inch) piece of kombu adds to the flavour, softens the beans, and makes them more digestible. Seaweeds contain natural beneficial glutamates, in contrast to toxic monosodium glutamate (MSG) that is added to most processed food.
Do not add salt to the cooking water. It slows the water absorption, makes the beans hard and adds to the cooking time.
Grains and legumes are often served together, because they compliment each other so well. Common combinations are chickpeas with millet, lentils, kidney or Aduki beans with barley or rice, and corn bread with black-eyed peas.
Chic peas (also known as Garbanzo beans) are one of the most digestible legumes. They are traditionally used to make hummus, and are widely used in Middle Eastern cuisine.
The next most digestible beans are Aduki beans, which are particularly nourishing for your kidneys. Lentils, Mung beans and peas are also digestible. Less digestible are Pinto, Kidney, Navy, Black eye, Lima and Black beans, and chick peas. Hardest to digest are soybeans.
It is important to pick through any legumes or grains before you use them, and remove the discoloured, mis-shaped and broken items. Black or discoloured legumes are usually infected with fungi. The misshapen and broken pieces will not sprout, and can go slimy among the healthy sprouting legumes and grains when you soak them.
EGGS
Eggs are a rich source of just about every nutrient. The whites are a good
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source of protein, and the yolks are a treasure trove of vitamins and valuable fats. Eggs contain fat-soluble vitamins A and D, the B vitamin choline, folic acid, long chain fatty acids EPA and DHA, and many other nutrients. They are probably the most complete, nutritious and economical form of animal protein available.
Eggs are high in cholesterol, but high-cholesterol foods are unlikely to raise your blood cholesterol level (page 126). Eating a couple of eggs per day is likely to have the reverse effect and lower your LDL cholesterol level.
It is essential that you buy the best quality eggs that you can find — from hens free to range in pastures where they can stretch their wings, eat fruits, plants and seeds, and scratch around for bugs and worms. If you can find them, buy organic free-range eggs or Omega-3 enhanced eggs from hens whose diets are supplemented with flax seed or fishmeal. These eggs have an Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of virtually one-to-one, compared to commercial supermarket eggs with a deficient ratio of 17 to one.
A healthy egg has a strong shell, a dark yellow or orange yolk, and a white with two clearly defined parts — a thick part surrounding the yolk, and a thinner section on the outside.
Ask what date they were laid — you will often find eggs are at least a month old when you buy them — hardly a fresh food.
Most commercial eggs come from chickens cooped up in small cages under bright lights and fed on dry feed laced with synthetic hormones and antibiotics. Such eggs are not a living, nutritious and wholesome food. They have virtually no Omega-3 and contain low levels of vitamins and other nutrients.
Egg whites are a concentrated source of protein. However, they contain avidin (which interferes with the absorption of biotin) and trypsin inhibitors (which upset protein digestion). Lightly cooking the egg white will neutralise both these anti-nutrients.
A high proportion of the proteins and nutrients in an egg are destroyed by over-cooking. The best way to cook eggs is soft-boiled or lightly poached, with the whites solid and the yolks remaining soft. This retains most enzymes
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and nutritional value.
A study*° of the egg consumption of 120,000 people found that men and
women who ate an egg every day were no more likely to suffer from heart or artery disease than those who ate one egg per week. I feel that if they had been consuming organic free-range eggs rather than battery eggs, the case for eating eggs would have been much stronger.
FISH
According to Benjamin S. Frank,?° all life began in the sea, and you will enjoy a spectacular improvement in your health by returning to the sea for your nourishment. He advises that you eat sardines 3-4 times per week (fresh or a small can), and on each of the remaining days have salmon, any other kind of fish, or seafood. Beets, legumes, asparagus, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, radishes, scallions and spinach are also included in his diet. He claims that your skin will improve dramatically after a couple of months, along with the healing of many degenerative diseases.
There is no doubt that fish are an excellent source of essential fatty acids, particularly Omega-3s. They are an easily digestible form of concentrated and complete protein. Fish from the sea are rich in trace minerals, and are a good source of minerals that are no longer available from crops grown on depleted land.
Fresh fish does not have an unpleasant or “fishy” smell — it has a salty ocean aroma. The gills are bright red, rather than pink or grey. If you poke it with your finger itshould spring back rather than forming an indentation. Its eyes should be clear and protruding, rather than sunken and opaque.
As a depository of minerals, the sea is also accumulating increased levels of pollution. The most affected are large carnivorous fish higher up in the food chain such as shark, marlin, tuna, swordfish and mackerel. Shellfish are particularly adept at picking up heavy metals. Do not eat any fish or seafood caught in polluted waters near industry, mines and cities. Stay clear of oysters and mussels taken near cities and sources of pollution, fish caught in rivers you are not familiar with, or fish caught other than in the open ocean or a
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pristine coast. This isparticularly important ifyou are pregnant.
FRUITS
A fruit is any part of a plant that contains seeds. Many fruits are commonly used as vegetables, such as tomatoes, squashes, olives, cucumbers, eggplants
and avocados.
A good idea is to eat something from each of the following groups on
most days, provided they are in-season and grown locally:
* Yellow or orange fruits and vegetables. This includes stone fruits, bananas, apples and pears, and tropical fruits such as paw paws, mangos, passion fruit and custard apples.
* Red fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes are especially valuable, though they are one of the few fruits you need to cook to release their lycopene, a powerful anti-oxidant.
¢ The citrus family, including oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes, tangelos, cumquats and tangerines, are high in vitamin C and alkaline minerals.
* Berries and grapes, especially the black and purple coloured fruits, are rich in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents.
Fruits and vegetables are a good source of potassium, magnesium and other alkaline elements. They help to detoxify your body, and have many other benefits such as controlling your blood pressure and reducing the risk of fatal heart rhythms.
Generally, fruits digest more quickly than vegetables. Melons are the fastest digesting of all, so fast that it is best to eat them on their own rather than combine them with other foods (page 107). Fruits also have a higher sugar content than most vegetables. For this reason the major part of your diet should be vegetables rather than fruit. However, the range of micronutrients in fruits is so high and valuable that you should eat at least two or three different fruits every day.
FRUIT & VEGETABLE JUICES
Fruit and vegetable juices are an excellent and concentrated form of
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Fruit and carrot juices are also full of sugar — a glass of orange juice contains as much sugar as a candy bar. Limit the sweet juices to a 200 ml glass a day, and avoid them ifyou are overweight or suffering from candida or any of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Vegetable and herb juices are not as sweet, but they are still so concentrated that two glasses per day should be more than sufficient to gain a good boost of micronutrients. It is a good idea to dilute them with water, drink them slowly, and spread them over the day.
Try to avoid supermarket juices. Few of them contain unprocessed juice. Most have been spoiled with heat, concentrates, additional sugars, colouring and preservatives.
GRAINS & SEEDS
Whole grains contain complex carbohydrates, a significant level of proteins, oils, vitamins, minerals, and fibre, making them a truly “whole” food. Vegetarians can get most essential amino and fatty acids by eating a couple of handfuls of soaked or sprouted raw nuts and seeds every day. The best seeds are sunflower, pumpkin, and flax. Flax seed is good for the colon and pumpkin seed for the prostate.
Most of the world’s population get the bulk of their calories and nutrition from a staple grain such as rice, maize or wheat. You can buy whole grains and seeds such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, pumpkin, poppy, sunflower, sesame and quinoa at health food stores and many delicatessens.
Raw hard grains such as wheat, barley, rye and maize are inedible. The best way to prepare them (and all the soft grains and seeds too) is to soak them, preferably long enough that they start to sprout. If you eat them raw and sprouted you get far higher levels of nutrients, and they are more easily digestible. See page 169 for more details on how to sprout.
Humans cannot digest dry grains. If you soak them in water overnight,
nutrition, provided they are freshly made from ripe organic produce, using a hand operated or low-speed electric juicer. They are alkalising and rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
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this deactivates the enzyme inhibitors, softens their fibres, and makes their nutrients more digestible. Irecommend soaking them longer, until they start to sprout.
A second, but less nutritious way to eat whole grains itto toast them until golden brown. This process iscalled dextrinisation, and itconverts much of the (hard to digest) starch into (easily digested) simple sugars. Some of the nutrients, particularly essential fats, will be lost in the cooking. Cooking time varies depending on the type of grain, and how old it is. Fresh grains cook noticeably more quickly than grains that have been in storage for a while.
It is important that grains are fresh — in particular, that they have not been stored for long periods in conditions that are slightly damp, otherwise aflatoxin moulds, a potent carcinogen, can occur. Yeast and mould infection of grains and corn is a widespread problem.
Grains are best stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator. They contain polyunsaturated and essential oils that can spoil quickly, especially in the heat and light.
NUTS
Nuts are a great source of protein and many other micronutrients. Studies have shown that eating a handful of nuts several times a week will substantially lower your chances of getting cardiovascular disease.*!* True, they are high in fat, but they are good fats. A large handful of nuts might contain 200 calories, so they are not something you snack on anytime. However, they are an infinitely better alternative than chips or chocolate. Add them to vegetable dishes and use them instead of meat in your main dishes for delicious flavour, texture and nutrition. Eat nuts raw and freshly harvested. Stale nuts lose most of their nutritional value, and are prone to moulds that can make you ill. If you absolutely have to toast your nuts, cook them lightly at a low temperature.
A problem with eating large quantities of nuts (and seeds) is that they are high in copper. A large portion of the Western population suffers from copper accumulation (page 211).
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Raw walnuts are one of the richest sources of Omega-3 fatty acids. Raw almonds however, are high in Omega-6 essential fatty acids and low in Omega-3s.
Dry nuts contain an enzyme inhibitor that makes them difficult for some people to digest. If you soak them in water for 8-12 hours, this deactivates the inhibitor, softens their fibres, and makes them more digestible.
MILK MADE FROM GRAINS & NUTS
You can make delicious, digestible and nutritious milks with your blender. My favourite isalmond milk. Use itfor baking, cooking, making ice cream, asadrinkorinyourtea.Ilovetheflavour,useitwithmy muesli,tomake custard, and in sauces and soups. By varying the amount of water, you can make itas thin as milk or as thick as cream. You can use any kind of nut, or a wide range of seeds and grains. I have made delicious milks from sesame seeds, poppy seeds, oats and barley, in addition to almonds, hazels, cashews, brazils and other nuts.
To make milk, soak a cup of nuts or seeds in water for at least seven hours, until they are soft. Rinse them, then put them in a blender with a litre of water. Blend them on high for three to five minutes. This is heavy duty blending which is hard on your blender. After every two or three minutes, give the motor a rest for a few minutes to let itcool down.
Put a cloth in a large sieve, and place them over a bowl. Pour the blended mixture through the cloth. After a few minutes, lift up the edges ofthe cloth, twist and squeeze out the remaining milk. This step is optional — some people like to keep the nut meal in the milk.
Generally, these milks should not be boiled or overheated. It will destroy their enzymes and essential fatty acids. Some, such as sesame milk, tend to curdle ifthey are heated.
You can add a culture to the milk, to make it a highly digestible living food. Cultured nut and grain milks and cheeses tend to store a lot longer, and develop some delicious flavours. Try adding kefir grains, or Rejuvelac. Kefir grains will not reproduce in nut or grain milk.
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The protein content iseasily digestible, especially ifthe milk has been cultured. The oil content can be high if you are using some types of nuts rather than grains.
Ifyou keep the milk chilled, itwill last for several days before going sour. When itsours, itisstillahighly nutritious drink. Ifyou leave itlong enough it will curdle. You can put the curds in a cloth, gently squeeze them, and make a nut cheese.
A problem isthat most nut milks (except milks made from flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts) are high in Omega-6 essential fatty acids, and low in Omega-3’s (page 130). So if you are drinking a lot of almond or sesame milk, eat fish a couple of times a week or seek another source of Omega-3s.
Nut, seed and grain milks are available in most supermarkets and health food stores. The commercial nut and grain milks are often adulterated with added sugars, emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and bad oils.
VEGETABLES
A vegetable is any part of a plant that does not contain seeds. This leaves us with flowers (including the large flowers of cauliflower and broccoll1), stalks and stems, leaves, roots and bulbs.
Fresh vegetables should make up the major part of your diet. They are the earth’s most effective alkalisers, especially when consumed raw in salads or as freshly extracted juices. Vegetables are rich in nutrients, digest easily, and combine well with all other foods. They contain fibre, chlorophyll, minerals, vitamins and a wide range of phytonutrients that provide wonderful health and synergistic effects.
Hundreds of studies have shown that people who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables dramatically improve their digestion, and reduce their risk of getting any degenerative diseases.
Try to eat at least five, and preferably nine different pieces or serves of fruit or vegetables every day. They should be in season, organic, ripe-picked, as fresh as possible (preferably minutes since picked). Eat as much as you
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find palatable raw, though some vegetables such as tomatoes benefit from cooking (see page 179). This is a foundation for radiant good health and longevity.
Each individual fruit or vegetable probably contains hundreds of phytonutrients, and each family thousands. Nevertheless, no single vegetable or even family of vegetables contains all the nutrients you need. Many contain harmful compounds, and that is why variety is important. For example, sorrel, spinach, chard, rhubarb, tea, cocoa and beet greens contain harmful oxalic acid (page 190).
I suggest eating a few servings every week from each of the families, provided they are in season. The different families also complement each other with different colours and textures. A rainbow-coloured salad of dark green beetroot or spinach leaves, ripe red tomatoes, bright orange grated carrots and smooth green avocado for example, makes an attractive dish. Vegetables can be classified into the following families:
* Umbels include carrots, celery, parsnips and parsley. Carrots are one of the best sources of beta-carotene.
* Legumes include all kinds of beans and peas (rich in carotenoids) and alfalfa. They are high in protein and fibre, and contain folate and protease inhibitors, which protect against heart disease and cancer.
*Lilies include onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, chives and asparagus. They are high in sulphur containing compounds such as allicin, which protect against cancer.
*Melons and squashes include pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers and butternut. Cantaloupes and honeydew melons that are usually eaten as fruits are also included in this family.
*Crucifers include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, kale, collard, mustard greens, turnips and watercress. Some of the phytonutrients in this family seem to be able to protect mucous membranes, especially in the lungs and digestive tract. They are effective guardians against cancer, ulcers and infections in these organs
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* Solanums (nightshades) include eggplants, potatoes, peppers and tomatoes. Page 198 explains why many people do not eat nightshades.
PRODUCTS TO AVOID OR REDUCE ALCOHOL
Icohol is a two edged sword. For many people, a fine wine is one of NG pleasures.Othersuseitasacrutchtorelaxortoeasesocial interaction. Many studies show a limited amount of alcohol can be beneficial, more so for people over the age of 40. Up to one drink a day for women, and one or two a day for men reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by about a third, and also reduces the risk of a stroke*!/ or diabetes.4!M Moderate alcohol consumption raises the level of HDL, the good form of cholesterol. Most adults who do not suffer from depression or have a history of alcoholism will benefit from a daily drink before their main meal, particularly men who are at risk of heart disease. However, ifyou do not already drink alcohol, I do not think the benefits are a good enough reason to start.
Alcohol can destroy the liver, damage the brain, cause cancers (including breast cancer), heart and artery disease, and severely damage foetuses. The risk of cancer is higher if you drink alcohol, especially if you have insufficient folic acid in your diet. It also can have devastating social consequences.
Alcohol dehydrates the body and the brain cells. It is one of the few substances that manages to bypass some of the brain’s dehydration protection mechanisms.
Excess alcohol or hard liquor like brandy, vodka or whiskey raises your insulin level. Long-term drinking can contribute to metabolic syndrome.
Women trying to get pregnant, or who are in the early stages of pregnancy, should not drink any alcohol. It severely inhibits growth and development of the foetus, particularly the brain and the nervous system. It affects the foetus during the first few days of pregnancy, well before the mother knows she ispregnant.
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Other anti-oxidants are also found in wine and beer. Fermenting yeasts produce some anti-oxidants, as do the malt and hops used in beer.
ALLERGIC FOODS
A large portion of the population suffers from food allergies or sensitivities. Most people with inflammatory diseases have allergies to certain foods or chemicals. The most common allergic foods are pasteurised dairy products, wheat and other grains, beef, chilli, chocolate, coffee, eggs, nuts (especially peanuts) and oranges. Nightshades often cause sore and painful joints.
A simple test is to avoid all those foods for at least three weeks, and then start eating them again, one by one. Note any reactions during the days after you re-introduce each food. The affects to look for are a feeling of a full stomach, gas and bloating; increased mucus production; a loss of energy; and skin rashes. Skin inflammations, insomnia, joint pain, headaches and hoarseness are other symptoms to look for. Pay attention to how the food affects any particular ailments that you have.
A faster test is to avoid all suspect foods for at least four days. Then eat a moderate amount of one of the foods on an empty stomach. Test your pulse before eating the food, and minutes after the meal. Preferably, test it again during the following hour or two. Assuming that you have not changed your level of exertion, ifyour pulse rises by more than a few beats per minute, or ifyou feel any adverse reactions, then you are probably allergic to that food.
Ifyou are allergic to a food, sometimes eliminating itfor six months will remove the problem. Start eating it again in small quantities, but not every
Grape wine contains an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory called resveratrol. Itprotects against heart disease, cancer and many other diseases. It comes from the stems, leaves and skins of grapes, and is significantly higher in red wine as opposed to white, because the fruit sits in the wine for a longer period. High quality wines have higher levels than cheap “plonk”. Raw grape juice contains about a third as much resveratrol as a red wine. One or two glasses of red wine per day seem to provide good anti-oxidant protection.
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day. If the allergy has disappeared, still only consume that food in moderation.
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
Aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin and acesulfame-K are chemicals used as artificial sweeteners. Although they contain no calories, they stimulate the urge to overeat. Research has shown that you can be inappropriately hungry for up to 90 minutes after drinking a can of diet soft drink.8* The sweet taste on your tongue produces a hormone in your brain that says, “sugar is on the way.” Your pancreas secretes insulin into your blood, your liver stops producing glucose, and instead starts to store calories. However, no sugar arrives from the diet drink, so your blood glucose level shoots down. Naturally, you feel hungry.
Aspartame can produce methanol and other toxins inyour intestine. Itis highly addictive, and people who have been drinking soft drinks for an extended period find them almost impossible to give up. Aspartame and saccharin break down into a number of toxins (including formaldehyde) when heated or fermented. They have also been associated with mental and emotional problems. Cyclamate has unresolved questions concerning its association with cancer.
Sucralose is achemical made by modifying sugar. Itis600 times sweeter than table sugar, and is sometimes sold under the name Splenda. It is stable, is not easily broken down during digestion, and for some reason does not seem to produce as big a rise in blood insulin. Nevertheless, it is not a food, and like any other manufactured drug or chemical itmay have side effects, and may not be eliminated from your body.
If you need to sweeten your food, a good natural herbal alternative to both sugar and artificial sweeteners is stevia. Another sugar-like alternative isXylitol (page 153).
BAD OILS
Bad oils (page 138) are hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, trans
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fats, oils extracted under high temperature or pressure, old oils and re-heated oils. They include margarine, vegetable shortening, soy, canola and cotton seed oils. Most of these fats did not exist before the twentieth century, and they are a prime cause of many modern degenerative diseases and rapid ageing.
Bad oils are relatively cheap. They have properties suitable for processed food and a long shelf life, so they are widely used in take away foods and the food processing industry. Commercial deep-fried food and particularly fast food are guilty of using old and re-heated oils. Heating, cooling and then re- heating oils severely damages them.
To gain real health, you need to unplug from commercial food. Stay well away from biscuits, snack foods and baked foods that usually contain trans fats and hydrogenated oils.
BURNED FOOD
Try not to eat charred foods, or food cooked to a dark brown. Cut the burned food away. This includes burnt toast and cakes, flamed and barbequed meats, and cheese toppings grilled until crispy. All the nutrients in burnt foods are destroyed by such overcooking, and they are loaded with free radicals and carcinogens.
CAFFEINE
This addictive drug and dehydrating agent is present in most soft drinks, coffee, tea, sports drinks, guarana, cocoa and cigarettes. It has diuretic properties, acting on the kidneys to increase urine production. Itisthe perfect additive for soft drinks, with an average of 50 mg per can — you can drink many cans every day, and still never be satisfied.
After having had a caffeine drink, most people do not realise they are thirsty, and resort to (over) eating.8G An ironic effect of drinking soft drinks regularly, especially diet drinks, is obesity.
Caffeine overstimulates your body by causing a spike in your blood glucose level, giving a short-term boost to your energy. However, this causes
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your insulin level to rise excessively, causing metabolic syndrome. The constant or excess use of caffeine depletes your ability to store energy. Itcan give you the shakes, make you irritable, keep you from sleeping, reduce your long-term attention span and suppress your energy level.84 Caffeine inhibits the uptake of calcium (page 276).
Contrary to popular belief, a number of studies have shown that caffeine reduces your ability to remember lists of words. It slows down your ability to process ambiguous or confusing stimuli, and reduces your ability to focus. The affect isworse ifcombined with alcohol.
Coffee is high in caffeine, with an average cup containing around 85 mg. Do not drink coffee to the point where it causes the above symptoms. I suggest a maximum of one cup per day, or better still, every couple of days. Caffeine-free coffee is a good choice, but still drink it in moderation as it is usually made using petroleum based solvents. If you find coffee does not digest well, drink itwithout sweeteners, especially sugar. Also, drink itblack, with no milk or cream.
After it is ground, the oils in coffee easily go rancid. Try to use fresh, whole organic coffee beans, and grind them before you make a brew.
Coffee is an acid-forming drink. Acid-forming drinks increase your chances of bone loss or osteoporosis (page 276). In large quantities, it reduces your effectiveness in digesting minerals, particularly calcium.8>B
Coffee contains low levels of cadmium, which can build up in your body ifyou drink itregularly.
In defence of coffee, its delicious flavour and aroma relax you to the point that itcan act as a mild antidepressant. Several studies have shown that suicide rates are as much as 50% lower among coffee drinkers than non- coffee drinkers.4!N Coffee has a number of other benefits, such as lowering your chances of developing kidney stones and gallstones.
Tea (black tea). The caffeine content of tea ranges from 2.5% to 5.5% by weight, or 50 mg in a typical cup of tea. In the tea plant, caffeine is most concentrated in the tips of budding leaves. Strong “pick me up” teas have a higher proportion of these new leaves. Tea twigs have the least amount of
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caffeine, and the most minerals. Twig teas are sold as kukicha or bancha twig tea. Green tea contains less caffeine than black tea.
The tannin in black tea prevents the uptake of many valuable minerals, particularly zinc and iron. Tannin also inhibits the digestion ofprotein. Ifyou have to drink black tea (with or without milk), it is best not to have it less than an hour before or after a meal.
Oxalic acid is another harmful ingredient in tea. It blocks the absorption of some minerals (particularly calctum, iron, magnesium, sodium and potassium) and irritates the digestive tract. Green tea has about one-fifth the level of oxalic acid as black tea.
On the plus side, tea has some of the same benefits as coffee. It is refreshing and may lower your risk of getting kidney and gallstones. It also contains anti-oxidants.
Green tea is far more beneficial than black tea. |recommend green tea as a regular drink. Drink it diluted, the way the traditional Chinese do — just a small pinch of tealeaves in a whole pot. That way, the caffeine content is negligible. Green tea is rich in flavonoids (black tea has a lower level) that protect against cancer.
Here is how to decaffeinate your tea. Pour hot water into a cup or pot, and then insert the tea bag, leaves or infuser. Leave itfor 20 seconds without
jiggling, and then discard the clear-coloured water. Itwill contain most of the caffeine from the tea, because caffeine is highly water-soluble. Now make your tea with a second batch of water in the normal way.
DAIRY PRODUCTS (pasteurised)
You may be surprised to learn that most human beings do not drink or use cow’s milk. The majority of Asians and Africans cannot drink milk because itmakes them ill,so they have traditionally avoided it.
The only animal sourced carbohydrate in our diets is lactose, the sugar in milk. Itrequires the enzyme lactase to digest it,and many people, especially Asians and Africans, do not produce lactase after they are weaned in infancy. Generally, only the digestive systems of people of northern European origin
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(Caucasians) make lactase throughout their lives. Only about a quarter of the world’s adults are capable of digesting milk. For most adults, drinking a glass of milk has immediate consequences like nausea, cramps, bloating and diarrhoea.
Milk is a short-term nutrient for newborn mammals. When the time comes for weaning, the young offspring is introduced to the adult food for that species. Generally, no animal continues to drink milk after it has been weaned, nor does itdrink the milk of another species.
Cow’s milk is a high fat, complete protein food when consumed raw (not pasteurised). It contains all the enzymes necessary for its digestion, and the assimilation of its calctum and other minerals, sugars and wide range of vitamins. Raw milk is a nutritious food, as are products made from raw milk.
Over the centuries, most humans have consumed milk in a fermented state as curds and whey, yogurt, kefir, cheese, clabber and many other forms. The lactic acid-producing bacteria break down the milk sugar (lactose) and milk protein (casein), making itmore digestible. After the friendly lacto- bacteria have produced enough lactic acid to de-activate any putrefying bacteria, theproduct ispreserved forweeks, orinthecase ifcheese foryears.
In the Western world, we are encouraged to drink milk every day. Many old-fashioned dieticians and nutritionists say that pasteurised dairy products are an “essential food group.” Schools and even hospitals have included milk in their meals for years. However, the process of pasteurisation makes milk soindigestible thatitisthecause ofmany degenerative diseases.
Hundreds of scientific research publications®?:74 indicate that pasteurised cow’s milk may cause allergies, asthma, ear infections, tonsillar infections, intestinal bleeding, colic and childhood diabetes in children. Among adults, milk may be responsible for heart disease, arthritis, allergies, sinusitis, leukaemia, lymphoma and cancer (especially prostate and breast cancers). Many degenerative diseases have disappeared after eliminating all dairy products from the sufferer’s diet.
A study of children in Finland showed the world’s highest rate of dairy product consumption and the world’s highest rate of insulin dependent
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diabetes. Cow’s milk provides the trigger for the onset of insulin dependent diabetes in genetically susceptible infants. Keeping babies off dairy products for their first six months halves the risk of diabetes in susceptible infants. The trigger factor, a milk protein called bovine serum albumin (BSA), can also pass from the mother’s diet into her breast milk. So ifmothers avoid beef and cow’s milk, this may eliminate the risk of insulin dependent diabetes.3!G
Nearly all cows today are fed or injected with synthetic hormones, drugs and antibiotics to increase their milk production and keep diseases at bay. The food that cows eat also contains high levels of pesticides and herbicides, especially ifthey are lot-fed rather than free ranging. Any lactating mammal excretes toxins through her milk. This applies to both cows and humans. Women who consume conventional beef or dairy products have higher levels of toxins in their milk.
Cow’s milk has four times the protein and half the carbohydrate content of human milk. Human milk has the lowest protein content (0.9%) of all mammals. However, cow’s milk is deficient in essential fatty acids, with only one-tenth the level of human milk (and almost no linoleic acid). It is not suitable for human infants. Ahuman baby requires nutrients for advanced neurological development and delicate neuromuscular control. By contrast, a calf needs food for massive skeletal growth and huge muscle groups. Think of the difference between the demands made on a human hand compared to a cow’s hoof. Human infants specifically need mother’s milk for their brains, spinal cord and nerves. Many studies’* have shown that children fed on their mother’s milk are more intelligent than those fed on any formula milk are.
Contrary to what most advertising tells us, pasteurised milk is not a good source ofcalcium. Pasteurisation destroys the digestive enzymes in the milk, and alters itinother ways (see below). Itreduces the availability ofthe milk’s mineral components, making the calcium difficult to absorb. North American women consume great quantities of pasteurised milk products, yet suffer the world’s highest incidence of osteoporosis. By contrast, our Palaeolithic ancestors drank no milk whatsoever after weaning. Their skeletal remains show superb bone structure, flawless teeth, and reflect great strength and
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muscularity.
Cow’s milk contains nearly four times as much calcium as human milk -
about 118 mg per 100 grams, compared to 33 mg in human milk. But cow’s milk also contains five times the level of phosphorus at 97 mg per 100 grams, compared to 18 mg in human milk. Excessive phosphorus blocks the assimilation of calcium in your digestive tract.
You can get calcium from more wholesome foods than pasteurised milk. Compare the 118 mg calcium per 100 grams in cow’s milk with 100 grams of the following foods: broccoli (130 mg), almonds (254 mg), kale (187 mg), sardines (400 mg), sesame seeds (1,160 mg) and kelp (1,093 mg). Bone broth is an important source of calcium. To absorb calcium you need sufficient vitamin D in your body — which most people lack.
Pasteurisation. Calves fed on pasteurised milk from their own mother- cow usually die within six weeks, so it stands to reason that pasteurised cow’s milk isnot awholesome, life-sustaining food for calves, much less for humans.
Pasteurisation involves heating milk to 63 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes, and then rapidly cooling it,in order to kill the bacteria in it. A fast method is sometimes used, where milk is heated to 72 degrees centigrade for 17 seconds before cooling.
Raw milk contains the enzymes lactase (essential for the digestion of its sugars), lipase (essential for the digestion of milk fats) and phosphatase (essential for the digestion of the calcium in milk). Pasteurisation destroys these enzymes, and alters its proteins. One method of testing to see if milk has been fully pasteurised is to check that all phosphatase has been destroyed! Nobody can properly digest pasteurised milk. Human infants have trouble with it,as evidenced by colic, rashes, respiratory problems, gas and other common ailments of bottle-fed babies.
Pasteurisation kills some, but not all the bacteria in milk. It was an important factor in successfully reducing the spread of tuberculosis from cow’s milk last century. Without pasteurisation, producers would have to observe scrupulous cleanliness and hygiene for both the herd and the milk
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Pasteurisation makes the storage and handling of milk cheaper, because it lessens the responsibility on the dairy industry for hygiene and testing. It is also more profitable to pasteurise milk because it extends its shelf life. Pasteurisation makes the milk from marginally sick cows relatively “harmless” by killing most of the dangerous germs in their milk.
The risks in drinking raw milk today are real. There is widespread bacterial contamination in many, if not most dairies. Salmonella, E. coli, staphylococcal and brucellosis are common. In the United States, bovine leukaemia virus is found in more than 60% of dairy cows, or 80% of the herds there. When the raw milk is pooled, 90 — 95% of the milk is contaminated with this virus, which is destroyed in pasteurisation. In experiments, virtually all animals exposed to the virus develop leukaemia, including sheep, goats, and primates such as rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees./4
Dr. Francis M. Pottenger conducted a rigorous study’” between 1932 and 1942, comparing pasteurised and raw milk diets fed to 900 cats. One group received raw whole milk, and the other pasteurised milk from the same
source. Cooked food diets were also introduced, with an outcome similar to that of pasteurised milk.
The raw milk group thrived, remaining healthy, active and alert. Their kittens were as healthy as their parents were. This group was able to thrive and breed indefinitely.
The pasteurised milk group showed signs of chronic degenerative ailments normally associated with humans, such as heart disease, kidney failure, thyroid dysfunction, respiratory ailments, loss of teeth, brittle bones and liver inflammation. They were also listless and confused. The first kittens of the pasteurised milk group were all born with poor teeth and small, weak bones. This indicated a calcium deficiency from a lack of calcium
handling. They would have to test their milk continually for the presence of bacteria from sick cows or unsanitary dairy conditions. The dairy industries have lobbied so effectively for pasteurisation that in most Western countries, itisillegaltosellraw (unpasteurised) milk.
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absorption from pasteurised milk. By the time itgot to the third generation in the pasteurised group, many of the kittens were stillborn. Those born alive were all sterile and unable to reproduce. The experiment was forced to stop at that point.
Up to three generations of North Americans and Europeans have now fed on pasteurised milk. Exactly the same degenerative diseases, infertility problems and calcium deficiency as in the first and second generations of those kittens are occurring today.
A study in Norway showed people drinking 2 or more glasses of pasteurised milk per day had 3.5 times the incidence of cancer in their lymphatic organs.!7
Homogenisation. If you lived in the 1970’s or earlier, you may remember drinking bottles of milk with cream on the top. Homogenisation is the fragmentation and pulverisation of the fat molecules in milk, to stop them separating and rising to the top as cream. Unfortunately, homogenisation lets these tiny fragments of milk fat pass through the small intestine and into your blood. This greatly increases the amount of fat and cholesterol in your body. You absorb more milk fat from homogenised milk than from pure raw cream!
Low Fat Milk. Stay away from low fat, skim, high calcium and other de- natured dairy products. If you remove the fat from the milk, you remove the very thing that assists your digestive system to absorb many of the nutrients in the milk. Fat-soluble vitamins, minerals and enzymes all work in synergy with each other. If you consume low fat dairy products, the calcium from them may go primarily into your soft tissues, rather than building up your bones.8?4 The calcium in soft tissues causes degenerative diseases such as heart and artery disease, Alzheimer’s and arthritis. Low fat dairy products also make you unnecessarily hungry as your digestive system seeks the missing fat.8°4
Acceptable dairy products. Living in a city in the Western world, it is difficult to get raw milk, unless you personally know a farmer with some cows. In many cities itispossible to buy a share in a cow, to get legal access to your own raw milk. Here are some alternatives.
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Fermentation of milk (even pasteurised milk) into kefir, cheeses or sour yogurt makes them more digestible (page 183). Fresh unsweetened live culture yogurt is acceptable. It should taste quite sour — sweet or neutral tasting commercial yogurts, including those with added fruit, are unacceptable. In a good yogurt, the lactose has been pre-digested by lacto- bacteria.
Kefir isan excellent food. At least 30 bacteria and yeasts break down the lactose and proteins in the milk, turning itinto an easily digestible and highly nutritious drink. Kefir is one of the secrets of health and long life, and is discussed on page 343.
Fresh butter or Ghee made from the milk of grass-eating (as opposed to feedlot) animals is an excellent food, rich in vitamins A, D, E and K, and the cofactors necessary for their digestion. These nutrients are necessary for your digestive system to absorb the minerals in your food, and they are crucial for good sexual function.84 Butter is a good source of Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Use it-garlic, mushrooms and asparagus lightly sautéed inbutter are a delicious treat!
FRIED FOODS
Try to eliminate deep fried foods from your diet — especially those fried in polyunsaturated vegetable oils - they are one of the main culprits when it comes to disease and ageing. The worst offender is probably fries or chips from fast food take away outlets. A bag ofcrispy salted chips breaks virtually every rule of healthy eating. It is a dead food, laced with refined salt and cooked in poisonous oil that will spike your blood glucose, damage your cell membranes, and more.
There are delicious, healthy alternatives to fried and deep fried foods. Eating fried and fatty foods isjust a habit, and once itisbroken your leaner, cleaner body will thank you many times over.
FRUIT JUICES
Juices you prepare yourself from ripe, organic produce using a slow speed
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juicer are a concentrated source of living micronutrients and natural sugars, and their effect is alkaline-forming. An excellent drink to have every day, in small quantities.
The problem with fruit juices and a few of the vegetable juices such as carrot is that they are so concentrated and sweet that you should limit them to one glass per day. They are high in sugar (fructose) and a typical glass of orange juice may contain 150 — 170 calories. A glass of orange juice can contain more sugar and calories than a can of Coca Cola or other sugared soft drink. One glass per day, without any adjustment to your diet or exercise levels, will result in your putting on 7 kg over a year. If you drink a glass of
Juice every time you are thirsty, you will create a severe sugar, blood glucose, and weight problem. A good way to drink juices is to dilute them with three, four or more parts of water.
Supermarket juices usually have both preservatives and sugars added, and can be months old. They are often made from re-constituted concentrates. The worst of them use high fructose corn syrup, with small quantities of real juice added. These sweet, long-life bottled juices are a blood glucose spiking, dead food.
Grapefruit juice should be avoided by people taking medicinal drugs, because it interferes with the way some people absorb and metabolise them.*!° It also creates the conditions that may form kidney stones.
Many people are allergic to oranges. Orange juice in particular is high in potassium. Oranges and tomatoes can worsen arthritis or rheumatism, ifyou suffer from them. Take iteasy with these juices until you are aware of their effects on your body.
GRAINS (refined)
There is a strong argument that grains should not be part of the human diet (page 85). The practise of stripping away their husks, removing their kernel, and finely milling or polishing the remains at high speed is indefensible. The fine starchy flour produced is one of the pillars of the modern Western diet,
used to bake bread, cakes and biscuits. Polished white rice is an equally poor
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“food.” They contain almost no nutrition, are acid-forming, and lay the foundations for metabolic syndrome, yeast infection and obesity.
NIGHTSHADES
Solanums or nightshades are the family of vegetables that include tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants. Many people have eliminated nightshades from their diet and improved their health, particularly those suffering from some of the calcification problems described below.
The distinguishing feature of all nightshades is their high alkaloid content. Notorious alkaloids include caffeine, nicotine, morphine and cocaine. There is evidence that the alkaloids in nightshade vegetables may have adverse effects on some people. The traditional Chinese diet does not include nightshades, with the sole exception of eggplant. Taoists discourage eating all nightshades, including eggplant.
You may wish to make an exception with tomatoes, which are rich in lycopene, a powerful anti-oxidant that protects you from a variety of cancers. Your digestive system cannot easily extract itunless the tomato iscooked with oil. We can thank the Italians who developed Marinara sauce centuries ago, for the delicious combination oftomato, olive oil, garlic, basil, sage and thyme!
Nightshades such as tomato and potato are ubiquitous in the Western diet, particularly in fast food in the form of potato crisps / fries and tomato sauce / ketchup. Potatoes and tomatoes are fast growing, relatively cheap, easy to transport and store.
Nightshades may be responsible for the calcification of soft body tissues, a condition that has become prevalent in all modern industrial societies. They remove calcium from your teeth and bones, then deposit it in tissues and joints. The result is arthritis, arteriosclerosis, cerebral sclerosis, gout, kidney stones, migraine, osteoporosis, lupus and hypertension. Some sufferers have reported rapid recovery from these ailments when they eliminated nightshades from their diets. For the cure to be effective, it is important to remove every trace of nightshade alkaloids from your system over a period
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of six months. Also avoid nightshades hidden in processed foods and condiments such as potato flour, tomato sauce / ketchup, paprika, cayenne, Tabasco, and so on. Tobacco is a nightshade, so do not smoke either.
POTATOES
Studies have shown that potatoes do not contribute to any of the health benefits gained by eating other fruits and vegetables.4!? They are a high Glycemic index starchy carbohydrate that quickly raises your blood glucose level, leading to a host of degenerative diseases (page 260). Stay away from chips, crisps and fries. Limit your intake of boiled, baked and roasted potatoes. They are a staple part of the modern Western diet, but it is only in the last decade that researchers have confirmed just how harmful they can be.
If you buy fries or chips outside your home, they have probably been cooked in trans or hydrogenated oils (page 138). Even worse, these oils are likely to have been overheated, and used over long periods. A cup of hot chips or a packet of crunchy potato fries adds to your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a wide range of other degenerative diseases.
Green potatoes or potatoes that have been bruised contain glycoalkaloids, a poison similar in strength to strychnine*?. At around 0.5 grams per kilo, eating several kilos of green potatoes could kill you. This is another reason why the long-term consumption of a high potato diet is debilitating. Green potatoes are particularly dangerous to the foetus in the early days of pregnancy.
Sweet potatoes are from a different vegetable family and are a good source of nutrition.
REFINED SALT (but not natural sea salt)
The refined table salt that you buy in supermarkets bears no resemblance to sea salt, or the mineral salts that naturally occur in saltpans or in the soil.
Refined table salt is manufactured in the same process as industrial sodium chloride. The original sea salt is treated with lime or caustic soda to remove the magnesium, which fetches a higher price when sold separately to
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Refined table salt is so foreign to the human body that when it is eventually absorbed it causes oedema (water retention) and other degenerative diseases. Your blood pressure will rise, your hands and legs may swell, and aheavy load isplaced on your kidneys.
Most people on a Standard American Diet (SAD) have a craving for salt. Their bodies are actually crying out for the other minerals in sea salt, and eating salty processed foods or adding refined table salt makes little difference to their hunger. The average Westerner eats about nine grams of salt per day, which is about one and a half teaspoons®. A more natural level is about a quarter teaspoon (1.5 grams).8* You will get most of that from the salt that naturally occurs in your (organic) food.
Processed foods contain excessive quantities of refined salt, especially pretzels, chips and salted nuts. Eliminating processed foods is the best way to cut down on refined salt.
Either excessive or insufficient salt can cause headaches or migraines. Muscle cramps at night, asthma, or feeling faint or dizzy may be indicators of a salt and water shortage in your body. Paradoxically, a shortage of salt leads to an increase in the amount of saliva in your mouth.®! Salt is a natural antihistamine, and people with allergies can try increasing their unrefined sea salt intake.®!
Unrefined sea salt, mineral salt, Himalayan salt, and the natural salts found in saltpans are a completely different product. Five percent of the weight of unrefined sea salt is a treasure trove of around 100 elements and over 80 additional compounds. If you eat one and a half grams of unrefined sea salt per day, you will get 75 milligrams of essential minerals (in addition to sodium chloride) in this natural bio-available form. This is better than any manufactured multi-mineral tablet, because itincludes not only all the major minerals, but also traces of virtually every other micronutrient mineral known (see page 157).
industry. Most of the other valuable elements in the sea salt are also lost or extracted. The manufacturers then add an anti-caking agent such as aluminium silicate or sodium prussiate, bleaches and even white sugar.
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Natural sea salt varies in colour from off-white to grey-green to brown, ishygroscopic (attracts water) and feels slightly damp or sticky between the fingers. One of the best is Celtic salt, widely available in delicatessens and health food shops.
A low salt diet is a mistake.8© Dr. Michael Alderman, head of epidemiology at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York and president of the American Society of Hypertension, has shown that people on low salt diets are less healthy. He suggests that the obsession with low salt diets today is misdirected, and has come about because people are eating refined salt rather than natural sea salt. Use as much unrefined sea salt in your diet as feels right. If you live in a hot environment, exercise heavily or drink a lot of water, you may need to add salt to your food to replace that lost in your sweat and urine.
SOFT DRINKS
Soft drinks are poison. If you want true health and a long life, avoid soft drinks. Cans or bottles of colas, sweet tasting carbonated drinks, sports drinks, diet drinks and other high flavour liquids represent the worst of dead, chemical, manufactured, packaged food and drink. They are high in flavour, blasting your sense of taste with sweetness and synthetic fruits. They are addictive — do you know anyone who has drunk several cans a day for a year, and then found them easy to give up? They are made to be drunk icy cold — completely the wrong temperature. They are full of sugar (a can of Coca- Cola contains seven to ten teaspoons of sugar), phosphoric acid, carbonic acid, caffeine and a host of other chemicals, the precise formula which is held secret.
One can of soft drink per day will cause you to put on seven kilograms over a year. You would be hard pressed to cut out the 150 calories in a single can from your diet, or to do the extra exercise to burn it away. The average North American drinks just under two cans per day! No wonder obesity is such a problem. No wonder diabetes, insulin resistance and heart disease are so prevalent.
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Teen males in North America drink an average of over three cans of soft drink per day, with 10% of them drinking more than seven cans per day.7! This consumption is directly linked to childhood obesity and teenage type 2 diabetes.’! These children also face a higher risk later in their lives of degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, strokes, asthma and cancer. The advertisements show healthy young bodies wolfing down soft drinks in the midst of sport and fun, but the truth is that young people are for the first time suffering obesity and the onset of degenerative diseases previously only seen in adults.7!
Soft drinks (especially the colas) are so acidic that they can easily dissolve metals such as coins. Try leaving a coin in a glass of cola for a day. Sugar free drinks are even more dangerous. As explained on page 187,
they make you feel inappropriately hungry, among their other damaging effects. Sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame- K are chemicals, not foods. Why risk taking them over an extended period (your life)?
Why not start re-habituating your taste buds to water?
SOY PRODUCTS
Soybeans are a versatile and widely used food, high in protein (particularly the amino acids glycine and arginine) and containing Omega-6 and small quantities of Omega-3 essential fatty acids. However, I do not recommend any soy products except small quantities of those that have been fermented.
Soybeans are ground into flour and used in cooking, or made into soymilk or tofu. Tofu is a bland, smooth, soft white food that lends itself well to Asian style cuisine. In Indonesia, cooked soybeans are fermented and pressed into cakes called tempeh.
A wide variety of soymilks are available. Idon’t recommend any of them, because they contain phytic acids®+ which lead to mineral deficiencies. Soymilk contains PHG, discussed below. Virtually all commercial soy milks contain sugars and other additives.
Soy products are difficult to digest. The worst offenders are soy flour, soy
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grits and texturised vegetable protein (TVP), followed by soymilk and tofu. They can cause prolific flatulence because of the high levels of enzyme inhibitors in soybeans. The most digestible soy products are those that have been fermented — tempeh, miso, tamari and soy sauces. Fermented soy products contain anti-oxidants produced by the yeasts and lactic acid bacteria.
Soybeans contain natural oestrogenic compounds (phytoestrogens) that lead to hormonal upsets and promote breast cancer in older women.4!J Phytoestrogens are especially bad for young boys (babies and toddlers). The higher levels in white soy products (soymilk and tofu) interfere with their sexual development. Boys fed soy products suffer immature genitalia and the development of breasts. Girls can develop pubic and underarm hair and the onset of menses before the age of ten.
Soy products interfere with the absorption of zinc. If you are drinking soymilk, or eating tofu or other soy products every day, you may be zinc deficient, particularly ifyou are a vegetarian.
Soy products are high in aluminium. The soy plant has a particular affinity for aluminium, absorbs it from the soil, and concentrates it in the beans. Soymilk has around 100 times the aluminium content of cow’s milk.
Many people are allergic to soy products — particularly those that are unfermented, such as tofu and soymilk. This is another reason to avoid them. The Japanese, who have traditionally eaten tofu for centuries, only eat small quantities, combined with fish broth.
Soybeans and particularly soy oil contains a toxic chemical called phytohemagglutinin (PHG) present as a phytic acid, which causes blood thickening, arterial plaque, immune and hormonal problems. Unprocessed soy products such as soymilk and tofu also contain low levels of PHG. Fermented soy products such as miso, tempeh, tamari and soy sauce contain negligible PHG.
Avoid soy oil. It is extracted using heat, solvents, bleaches and other chemical processes that damage the oil’s structure.
Soybeans have been genetically engineered (GM) to make them resistant
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to herbicides. This enables the use of high levels of herbicides, so GM soybeans usually contain herbicide residue. Soy protein isolate is a high- protein soy flour made with GM soybeans. It is used in many processed foods, non-dairy desserts and soymilks.
SUGAR
Please try to eliminate all sugars from your diet, including foods sweetened or cooked with sugar. This single action can make a dramatic difference to your health and ageing. Sugar causes havoc with your hormones, feeds disease-causing fungi and bacteria in your blood and gut, decreases the oxygen in your blood, is severely acid forming, and leads to many diseases. Initially you may have cravings for sugar and miss the sweet taste of a modern convenience diet, but as your body heals and gets into balance, you will flourish. Sugar is discussed on page 114.
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WATER DEHYDRATION
tsounds incredible, but many people are dehydrated, and they do not even |faeit.Humansarewater-basedanimalsthatneedconstantandsufficient water. Our bodies are 75% water by weight. Brain tissue is 85% water. You need an ongoing supply of water to flush away the toxic wastes produced by your kidneys, for your digestive system to work, to prevent your body salts from getting too concentrated and to maintain your blood volume. Water is vital for the functioning of your electrical, energy, digestive and immune systems. It is essential for the storage of energy, the functioning of all organs, muscles, bones, nerves, and the transport of substances throughout the body and across cell membranes. You need a constant supply of water for a well- hydrated and healthy looking skin. Every aspect of a healthy body requires sufficient water.
When you are dehydrated, your body activates itswater rationing system. The top priority is to ensure that your brain gets sufficient water, by drawing water away from other parts of your body. The level of histamine in your body will go up, first making you feel tired, disoriented and grumpy. You will find it hard to concentrate. If dehydration continues, you may become constipated. Chronic or recurring pains that are not easily explained by injury or infection should first be considered as an indicator of thirst, before you investigate other avenues.8+
Low energy levels in your brain generate both hunger and_ thirst sensations. However, your body usually wants water, not food. Ifyou find yourself with a hunger pang, and drawn towards the refrigerator, first try drinking a glass of water. Often the hunger will disappear. We regularly do not recognise that we are thirsty, and our habitual and inappropriate response is to eat food. It is better to drink water at least half an hour before eating, and ifstill hungry, then to eat.
In the last 100 years, soft drink consumption in North America has increased 500 fold.8© Tea and coffee consumption have also increased dramatically. Millions of people quaff down milk (especially flavoured milk)
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and fruit juices, wrongly assuming they are natural and healthy drinks. Supermarket fruit juices are a super-concentrated flavour-packed drink, overloaded with sugar. In the midst of this orgy of taste, we have ignored the most important drink by far — water.
Manufactured beverages are no substitute for water, or for the water needs of the human body. Tea, coffee, sweet supermarket juices, manufactured beverages and especially alcohol are dehydrating — the net effect of drinking them is to remove water from your body. The commercial interest in selling you these drinks makes itdifficult to have the discipline to drink water. Our children are educated to drink milk and supermarket fruit juices — not water. Television and fast food promote soft drinks and juices, never water. A cultivated preference for the taste of these drinks automatically reduces the urge to drink water when they are not available.
Your sense ofthirst isoften apoor guide towhen you are actually thirsty, and itgets worse as you age. Part of the ageing process isthe “drying” of our cells — the ratio of the water content between the inside and the outside of the cell membrane decreases over the years. If you can maintain this water content, you will age less quickly. Remember, when you feel thirsty, your fluid levels are already too low. Many old people do not realise that they are severely dehydrated. Numerous studies of nursing homes have shown that most inmates are in a constant state of dehydration, and one of the most effective means of improving their health and vitality is to ensure they drink sufficient water.
Not only is our sense of thirst lost over the years, but also we tend to habitually drink dehydrating tea, coffee or alcoholic beverages. With so many flavoured drinks masking our thirst sensation, and with our cultivated tastes requiring something other than the blandness of water, we are often unaware of being thirsty.
An important sign of thirst is the colour of your urine. Light yellow or straw-coloured urine is normal. Darker yellow, orange or even brown urine is a sign of dehydration.
In his book Your Bodys Many Cries for Water Dr F. Batmanghelidj
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describes how long-term dehydration causes a long list of degenerative diseases (page 7). He maintains that morning sickness is a sign that both the foetus and the mother are thirsty.8@ For people who are chronically dehydrated, no medicine other than water will help. Doctors needlessly or harmfully treat the symptoms of millions of chronically ill patients with drugs, when water would treat the underlying cause. “/n my professional and scientific view, itisdehydration that isthe biggest killer, more than any other condition you can imagine” Dr F. Batmanghelidj.88
How could this situation come about, when the root cause to so many health problems can be cured so easily? It seems illogical that so many people are dehydrated. Water is easily and freely available. How can most people be thirsty when all they have to do is go to a tap and drink?
The first problem is professional pride. Our allopathic medical system uses drugs and medicines, each prescribed for a very specific illness. Going back to the simple needs of life, like water, food, exercise and air, then using them as a cheap and effective cure, is a rejection of the current system by admitting that the approach to health has been wrong.
Secondly, nobody can make big bucks selling you water. The pharmaceutical companies and established health system would be devastated if it were widely known that people could cure themselves so easily.2N Funding for the evaluation of water as a natural medicine is not readily available, and students in medical schools are not taught anything about many of the roles of water in the human body.8° The drink and beverage industries would be devastated ifmost people knew how harmful their products really are.
How much water? You may be surprised to find how little water you drink. I challenge you to fill a one and a half litre bottle with water and note how long it takes you to drink it. You need a bottle that size every day, including winter. In summer, with heavy exercise, or with heavy sweating, you can double it. When you are giving your body a real workout, you can lose well over a litre of water an hour, through the moisture in your out- breath and your sweat.
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I suggest that you drink a 200-250 ml glass of water on rising each morning, and wait at least half an hour before having breakfast. Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before other meals. In addition, drink a glass of water between meals.
A sick person should drink even more water. Sometimes there will be a remarkably quick recovery from an illness — within minutes or hours. But generally, the damage caused by dehydration over months or years will take a longer period of time to cure, because full re-hydration of the body at the cellular level is a slow process.
When you drink a glass of water, your stomach and upper intestine quickly absorbs it.Ifyou are not dehydrated, within 30 minutes almost the same volume secretes back into your stomach. Your digestive system depends upon copious amounts of water. Stomach pains, constipation and other digestive problems are often a sign of dehydration.
Tea, coffee, alcohol and soft drinks cause your body to lose water, so do not use them as a source of water; they do not count towards your water intake. They also rob your body of valuable minerals. If you drink any of them, you will need to increase your water intake just to compensate for their dehydrating effects.
Fruit and vegetables are 90% water. This water is easily accessible, and rich in micronutrients. A kilogram of fresh produce, such as four pieces of fruit and four serves of vegetables, provides 900 ml of water. If you are eating this much fruit and vegetables (which I thoroughly recommend), it counts toward your daily intake of water. You can also include mild fruit and herb teas, and diluted fresh fruit juices (with three or more parts water) in your daily water intake.
Drink water and especially juices, slowly. Sip your water throughout the day, rather than gulping it down. It is best to sip it in small quantities, and take time to mix itwith your saliva. This way, your body ismore easily able to absorb it.
Warning. Many people drink too much water, a particularly bad practice with soft or mineral deficient water (such as reverse osmosis or distilled
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water). Itputs a strain on your kidneys and may leach valuable minerals from your body. If your urine has no colour and looks almost like water, you are probably drinking too much.
Before increasing your water intake, it is important to ensure that your kidneys can process it.As you drink more water, your urine output should match it,rather than retaining water in your body, as indicated by increased weight or swelling in the legs or ankles. This is especially important if you are ill,when you should consult your doctor.
POLLUTION
he quality of tap water varies widely, depending on your location.
iia allpublicwatersuppliesarechlorinated,andmanyother chemicals such as fluorides and alum may be added. Pollution also occurs from copper pipes and old plumbing. A myriad of agricultural and industrial pollutants contaminates the water supply of virtually every city in the world. Chemical contamination of public water includes solvents, benzine (gasoline), prescription and non-prescription drugs, pesticides, agricultural fertilisers, steroids, detergents, disinfectants, fire retardants, antibiotics, reproductive hormones, plasticisers and fragrances. Most of these chemicals are present in only trace amounts, but their effects over long periods and in combination with each other are unknown.
In poorer countries, water pollution is also biological, with high levels of bacteria, sewage and other contaminants. Passing the water through a filter or boiling it usually makes it acceptable for drinking. Unfortunately, agricultural pollutants, particularly pesticides, are a rapidly increasing problem in the third world.
Most water authorities assume (or hope) that the catchment areas and aquifers from which their water is sourced are isolated and pollution free. Typically, they test for only a dozen or two chemicals out of at least a thousand that may be in the water supply.!! They are reluctant to provide contaminant information because ifminute traces ofpoisonous chemicals are widely dispersed in all the major sources of water, there are no economic or
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easy alternatives. It would be prohibitively expensive to filter all the water for a city to a level where it would remove trace chemicals. Separating drinking, cooking and bathing water from water used for other household and garden use would require a complete new water distribution system, and would still require high quality filtering of vast quantities of water. Nearly every city in the world is facing this problem, and it can only get worse.
A large part of your exposure to water pollution is through your skin and lungs. A bath or shower exposes your skin to many litres of water, and the heat opens your pores and evaporates any volatile chemicals in the water into the air and steam. There is little research in this area, but it is possible that you could even take up more water pollution through your bathing than through drinking and eating.
Filters are available to connect to your shower or bath, as well as your kitchen sink. Bathing filters usually have an active carbon cartridge, which removes the solid matter and the chlorine. Trace pollutants and many solvents remain, but these are the most practical filters for the job, performing at the high flow rate required for a shower. Eventually, water filters at the point of use will be standard in advanced societies.
Chlorine is added to the water to kill bacteria. It creates a dilute solution of hypochlorous acid. There is no doubt that in the long run it is harmful because itcombines with any hydrocarbons in the water to form carcinogenic chlorinated hydrocarbons. You can remove most of the chlorine from tap water by leaving itstanding in an open bowl for a few hours.
Fluorine is another chemical added to most water supplies, in the mistaken belief that itreduces tooth cavities’44. Ifyou are concerned about tooth decay, suggestions in Grow Youthful such as eliminating sugar from your diet will make cavities a thing of the past. It is extraordinary that fluoride is still added to public water supplies when the costs to the community’s health are so high. Research has shown that in low concentrations and over long periods, fluorides in drinking water cause immune problems including cancer, hormonal upsets, increased uptake of aluminium and lead, and brittle bones leading to a high level of hip
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fractures? 108,
Many Western countries have reversed their policy on fluorides and no
longer add them to drinking water. America and Australia have not woken up in this respect.
Copper poisoning is an unacknowledged epidemic.7©“ Copper is essential in minute quantities, but a blood or hair test shows copper to be in dangerous excess for nearly everyone today. We get most of this excess from the copper pipes and taps used in household plumbing. Blue-green stains around your plumbing are from copper corrosion. Most of the brown sediment in your water is also copper. The water takes up the copper when it is not flowing, particularly if a tap is not used for a day or more. Before using the tap, flush itfor afew seconds or minutes, depending on how long ithas been stagnant, and the length of your copper pipes coming from the mains connection to your property.
Another cause of copper overload is oestrogen excess or progesterone deficiency.78 Plastics, petroleum products, pesticides and the hormones in foods lead to the accumulation of these false oestrogens.
The following foods are high in copper and people with copper accumulation will often crave them: liver, oyster, lobster, mushroom, crab, nuts, beans, sunflower seeds, chocolate, bakers yeast, duck, turkey and chicken giblets, potatoes, white rice and raisins.
Copper is an antagonist to zinc, iron and manganese, so high copper levels inhibit your uptake of these minerals, particularly zinc. Copper is an acid-forming mineral (page 278). Excess copper is associated with schizophrenia, cardiovascular disease and arthritis. Copper should not be included inmulti-mineral supplements.
If you have a copper overload, the key is to take high dose zinc supplementation. Molybdenum, manganese, sulphur, and calcium adequacy are also important in reducing excessive copper stores.
Asbestos. Older water supply lines are often made from asbestos cement piping, which is usually acceptable as a biofilm forms on the interior of the pipe that protects the water from the contaminants. However, pipe breakages
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water.
DRINKING WATER
was recently in Bali, Indonesia, and after a couple of days had a wonderful
|ae)ofwell-being,healthandenergy.Iaskedmanyothervisitorsif they had had the same experience, and most reported that after a few days in the island paradise they had similar feelings. Several factors could account for this: the warm, calm, moist climate; the produce grown in rich volcanic soil; the food prepared using traditional ingredients and methods; and the calming spiritual energy of the island. Another possibility is the drinking water. The tap water is not safe to drink, and virtually all visitors rely on bottled spring water. This water comes from deep springs high in the volcanic mountains of Bali or East Java. It has high levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper and other minerals.
Increasing your consumption of good quality water can transform your health, and play a central role in the healing of virtually all degenerative diseases. Good water is rich in alkaline minerals (page 276), ionised, and an effective anti-oxidant (page 154).
Clean healthy water is becoming harder to find, and more expensive. The quality of the public water supply varies markedly around the world, between cities, and even within cities. Virtually every water utility adds chlorine to its water, and most also add fluorine, alum and other harmful chemicals. Water pollution (page 209) isendemic.
Tap water, spring water, and other unfiltered water usually contain some level of alkaline minerals such as calcium, sodium and potassium. There are also smaller quantities of awide range of other elements such as magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc, aluminium and iron. You want to leave these good minerals in your water, rather than having your filter remove them.
Hard water contains calcium salts, and is normally quite safe to drink. Populations where the water supply is very hard do not seem to show any adverse effects.8P
are common, and ifthey are cleaned asbestos contamination can enter the
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Here isa list of different types of drinking water and water filters.
* The best drinking water is glacial melt water, especially from an area with a relatively young geology. Glacial water is rich in a wide variety of minerals, and with a different molecular structure to most fresh water. The ice may have been formed hundreds, or even thousands of years ago, prior to the existence of the widespread pollution that we suffer today. As the ice melts, the water can flow under the glacier through the crushed rocks, muds and plants formed under the weight of the ice. Such water is tonised, unpolluted, naturally structured, and rich in a variety of minerals. Sometimes itisso mineral-rich that itisnot even clear.
Any water from melted ice tends to have this beneficial structure, similar to the structure in which water is held inside our cells. Another source is the undamaged juice of fruits and vegetables. Water in this form is easy for your body’s cells to assimilate. Populations all around the world that exist on melted ice water enjoy excellent health and slow rates of ageing. I recommend freezing your drinking water, and then leaving it in the sun to melt.
¢ Water from some but not all natural springs is also superb. The best water comes from relatively new geological regions such as volcanic or newly uplifted rock. It flows from deep springs high in pristine mountain areas above habitation and other sources of pollution.
¢Alkaline ionised water. You can install an ioniser on your kitchen sink. It takes tap water, filters it and then using electrolysis, splits it into water containing mostly acid minerals and water containing mostly alkaline minerals. The two types of water come out in two separate pipes. Buy a model with titanium electrodes or platinum-coated titanium electrodes.
Alkaline ionised water can be rich in bio-available minerals, helps remove toxic acid wastes from your body, and provides a raised level of oxygen in your blood. Some models have a cartridge that lets you add crushed coral or other alkaline minerals. This isa good idea, especially ifyou live in an area with poor mineral content in the water supply (such as West Australia, where Ilive).
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Many plants also thrive on alkaline ionised water.
The ioniser removes some but not all of the acid-forming minerals in the alkaline water, depending upon the pH level you select. For example, in highly alkaline water approximately half the fluorides are removed. At a pH of9.0,whichisthemaximum alkalinitythatyoushoulddrink,approximately one third of the fluorides are removed. The same applies to the other acid- forming minerals. The sediment and carbon pre-filters remove the chlorine and particle matter (see below).
Sang Whang,*4" Theodore Baroody*> and many other health writers maintain that the key to health and longevity is the management and disposal of acidic waste products. Alkaline ionised water can play an important part in this process (page 271).
The alkaline water has another characteristic — the water molecules are reconfigured into a lighter, simpler form that are more easily absorbed by your body and your cells.434 This type of water is particularly effective in preventing and removing accumulated acid toxins. It is also easier to drink. I find Ican drink about 30% more alkaline ionised water than tap water, before feeling full.
The acid water has some properties similar to the water from a natural hot mineral spring. Itwill restore skin acidity after washing, and you can use itas a hair conditioner. Itkeeps your face fresh and clean and protects you from acne. However, Iam reluctant to use iton my skin because of the high level of acidic pollutants in municipal water, such as fluorides. It is a versatile disinfectant both on your body, and for domestic tasks such as cleaning vegetables or washing the toilet. It adds substantially to the life of cut flowers.
Ionised alkaline water gives you an additional source of oxygen, provided in a body-friendly way. The effect is similar to deep breathing, exercise or sleeping in fresh air. Oxygen is an important degenerative disease treatment*®-49 and anti-ageing therapy (page 238). Insufficient oxygen leads to many degenerative diseases.
Warnings. Itisbest not todrink alkaline water with apH higher than 9.0.
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Harsh alkalinity can upset your body’s biochemistry. Do not consume alkaline water with any medicines, supplements, or other additives. The alkaline water is reactive, and can form potentially dangerous by-products when mixed with a drug or other chemical compounds.
I try not to drink alkaline water within an hour before or after a meal. This is particularly important with high protein meals, which need an acid environment in which to digest. Most people need more acid in their stomachs, and can improve their digestion by supplementing with hydrochloric acid (page 275). A glass of alkaline water does not help with the digestion of your protein food!
Store ionised water in sealed glass bottles rather than plastic bottles, because it can react with some plastics. It also reacts with the air and loses its ionisation if it is left exposed (of course, the alkaline minerals remain).
* Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration removes the most pollutants, including fluorides, low levels of agricultural (herbicide, fungicide) and industrial chemicals (such as benzine), leaving you with pure water. It also removes all the good minerals inthe water. RO water is“dead” water — itisso pure that fishcannotliveinit.Ifconsumed foralongperiod,itcanleachoutminerals like sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium from your body. A solution to the problem is to add a few grains of sea salt, colloidal or peat minerals to each ten-litre bottle of water before using it. That way, it is more like the water innature.
* Steam distilled water is an effective filtration system. The only remaining pollutants in this water are some of the volatile compounds that evaporate and then re-condense with the steam. It effectively removes the fluorides from the water. Distilled water is“dead” water (similar to RO water) that can leach minerals from your body in the long-term, so it is a good idea to add a few grains of minerals to each ten-litre bottle of water before using it. *Active carbon filters, made from charcoal, remove the chlorine and nasty
tastes from the water. Unfortunately, they do not remove the fluorides. A cheaper way to remove chlorine and some of the other dissolved gases is to leave the water standing in an open bowl or container for a few hours. Ifyou
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leave it in the sun, it is even better. Better restaurants do this, for a cheap source of good-tasting water.
Some manufacturers claim to have an alum or aluminium salt component in their filters to remove the fluorides. There is some controversy concerning the effectiveness of these filters.
¢ Rainwater varies, depending on your location. If you live near a city or source of air pollution, the rain may be acid and polluted. The first few rain showers of the season should be used to flush out the storage system. Leaves, bird droppings, insects and other biological pollutants can give the water a bacterial or parasitic content, so sometimes it may be necessary to boil it before drinking. Rainwater is almost devoid of minerals, it can never be a high quality drinking water.
*The bottled water that you can buy in a supermarket ranges in quality from superb through to worse than tap water. Spring and mountain stream water can vary considerably in mineral quality and pollution levels. Most office and supermarket bottled water comes straight from the public water supply, through a carbon filter, and into the bottle. Some bottled waters are also reverse osmosis filtered. Bottled water supplies are not always regulated.
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EXERCISE
21ST CENTURY SLOTHS
p until the start of the 20" century, virtually everyone was physically (Oe whethertheylikeditornot.Everydaylifecontainedlotsof physical activity. Most people lived on the land or did some form of manual work. Farms, factories and homes depended on physical labour. People did not have cars, labour saving devices and convenience stores. Instead, they walked everywhere - to work, school, shop or socialise. Vegetables were home grown, and all washing and housework was done by hand.
In 1900, more than three quarters of people’s daily calorie intake was spent on these daily work and survival activities. Advising a farmer or factory worker to take up a sport or exercise program would have been laughable. In our sedentary lives today, labour accounts for less than 1% of food calories expended.
The majority of people living in the Western world today do not exercise. This lack of exercise is partly responsible for the epidemic of obesity and the host of degenerative diseases in the population. Regular exercise throughout your life, particularly in your middle years (40-60), can offset the impact of chronic diseases, maintain physical function and significantly extend your life.!!>
We have created a comfortable, physically lazy society where it is possible to exist without doing any effective exercise. We complain when it is awkward to unpack the dishwasher into a cupboard in a poorly designed kitchen. The irony is that getting down on our hands and knees, and stretching to get to the back of a cupboard is a good mixture of weight bearing and stretching exercise. A hundred similar stretches and muscle tensions each day around our house and office would transform our health. Unfortunately, the trend in our workplaces and living areas is toward making our lives physically easier, to reducing muscular effort, and to minimising the risk of damaging our already weak backs and poor postures.
Watch a healthy toddler playing for a few minutes. In that short time, you will see the little one exercise every major muscle. The young child is
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constantly moving, bending, twisting, down on the ground, up again, in an endless variety of relaxed and full movements.
By comparison, the average adult mostly sits, stiffly and rigidly, while occasionally moving their hands or their arms in a constrained and repetitious pattern. This is because adults seldom play, but instead perform tasks while sitting. Driving, reading, working at a computer, sitting at a desk, preparing a meal, eating the meal, having a drink or a conversation with a friend and watching TV are all examples of the modern, low exercise way of living.
The human body needs to be used. Exercise need not be formal, in a gym, on a playing field or in a court. An hour of tennis or aerobics may suit some people, but for others walking, gardening, active housework, prolonged and varied sex, playful sport and physical work are perfect. None of these exercises need be excessively strenuous. If you can fill most of your day with this type of activity, fully and enthusiastically, you will get all the exercise you need.
After age 40, the average adult loses 100-150 grams of muscle a year and gains three times that much body fat, a condition known as sarcopenia. People who do not exercise lose their muscle bulk, and develop a pudgy, flabby “old person” look. A processed food diet or insufficient protein can also lead to muscle loss (page 118). These people have a high fat / muscle ratio, slow metabolism, and a distorted sense of hunger, making them want to eat more than they need.
Muscles need glucose and burn calories, even when they are resting. However, fat has a low rate of metabolic activity — ituses almost no energy. So as fat replaces muscle you get into a vicious circle where your metabolic rate falls and you burn even fewer calories. While eating exactly the same amount of food, and doing the same amount of exercise, you will put on more and more fat. As your bodyweight shifts from muscle to fat, it becomes harder to lose that weight.
Preserving your muscle strength and bulk is one of the keys to having a slim, vitally healthy, long-lived body. If you do not exercise, fat will
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slowly replace your muscles. “....building muscle in the elderly is the key to their rejuvenation.”!>
Your bathroom scales will not tell you that you are losing muscle and gaining fat. Fat weighs little compared to muscle, so at first you will not gain much weight. For a fifty-year-old person, a four-kilogram weight gain over ten years is a lot worse than it sounds. This person is likely to have lost two kilograms of muscle and gained six kilograms of fat.4!Q
As you start to exercise and build up your muscle mass, you will achieve only a minimal reduction (if any) in your weight, because muscle weighs more than fat. However, your body will be firmer, slimmer and look fantastic. So do not rely on your weight to measure your progress — you will probably be doing better than itindicates.
Even ifyou do not look fat, you can still have a high fat to muscle ratio. Some thin people — particularly women who have been sporadically dieting - have lost a lot of their muscle. Their high fat to muscle ratio makes it easy to put on weight again, and accelerates their ageing.
When you exercise your muscles, their cells are stimulated to grow and divide, so your muscles grow in strength and bulk. If you do not use them, they will literally disappear. Visit a seriously injured patient in any hospital, and see how their muscles have shortened and atrophied in just a few weeks. Muscle loss from a less dramatic lack of exercise may take years rather than weeks, but isjust as damaging.
Exercise has other benefits apart from building up your muscles, such as detoxification, burning calories and playing an essential role in your endocrine, immune, digestive and many other systems. If you are overweight, exercise is an essential part of your return to normality.
Exercise is a great stress reliever. A physical workout is an outlet for the “fight or flight” response. You probably have few (socially acceptable) opportunities to run or fight immediately you feel stressed, but you can go out for an hours walk, jog, game of tennis or other physical activity. It will relieve your muscles, force you to breathe deeply, and shift the toxins formed from the by-products of stress hormones.
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The increased muscle temperature that exercise brings on is an effective tranquiliser. Aerobic exercise also alters your brain chemistry, producing noradrenaline and norepinephrine. These hormones, which make you feel more optimistic and that you have a sense of power over your life, are deficient in depressed people. Exercise also greatly increases your production of beta-endorphins, which have a calming and uplifting effect on your whole body through their action on your central nervous system. Numerous studies have shown that when depressed people start to exercise, even as little as taking a brisk 30 minute walk three times a week, their depression lifts.
Exercise is necessary for the hormonal mechanism that controls your appetite to work properly. People who do not exercise suffer from distorted appetites, feeling hungrier than their bodies really are.°8© Obesity is a vicious downward spiral, because the fatter they get, the harder it is to exercise, the less effective is the exercise, and the hungrier they feel.
TYPES OF EXERCISE \),Jalkingbrisklyisagreatformofexercise.Youcandoitanytime
and place, and do not need special equipment. If you breathe deeply, swing your arms and keep a vigorous pace, you will get a good cardiovascular workout. Gardening or light physical work is also great. Jogging, swimming, cycling and aerobic sports such as tennis, baseball and soccer can give you the same workout in a shorter period, also making you fitter. Adrenalin sports such as sprinting, downhill skiing, sky diving and the fastest, most intense aerobics classes are not good forms of exercise because there is a large element of stress in them, and they do not include extended periods of cardiovascular or muscle exercise.
Aerobic exercise uses oxygen, and involves moving your muscles. It increases your heart and breathing rates. Walking, running and playing most sports are forms of aerobic exercise.
Aerobic exercise raises your body temperature, stretches your muscles, organs and joints, and moves your whole body. It increases your blood
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flow, so your heart, lungs and arteries get a workout plus spring clean. It breaks down accumulated toxins, especially under your skin and around organs such as the liver and the intestines. The blood capillaries surrounding these acid fats are usually constricted. This is where the heat, stretching, flexing, straining and relaxing from exercise are so important. Exercise also increases your pulse rate, and the amount of blood flowing around your body — the effect is similar to having a hot high-pressure hose washing out your body.
At a cellular level, the effects of aerobic exercise may be even more important. It speeds up the flow of oxygen, glucose and nutrients into cells through their membranes, and of wastes back out of your cells. Moderate exercise has a fluidising effect on cellular membranes, dramatically improving your health whilst lowering your biological age.
Aerobic exercise is required for the daily elimination of toxins, and the removal of accumulated acid wastes. If you are not removing waste products from your body, you will certainly feel it. Wastes in your bloodstream make you feel tired, low in energy or even nauseous. Ifyou do not eliminate them, they will be stored as toxic acid fat, liver stones, kidney stones, crystalline deposits in your joints, cataracts in your eyes, plaque in your arteries or in your digestive tract. These toxins can also cause cancers and mental disorders.
It is important to drink water during and after exercise, to assist your kidneys and liver in removing these toxic wastes. This is why you may feel tired, or dizzy or faint during exercise — from the increased level of toxins in your blood.
Moderate, consistent, regular aerobic exercise will:
*detoxify your body
* strengthen your heart and lungs, and maintain the elasticity of your arteries
*raise your HDL (good) cholesterol
*lower both excess blood glucose and excess insulin
* lower your blood pressure, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels
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* help maintain a healthy digestive system and bowel function, particularly by massaging and stretching your internal organs
* improve your immune system, and protect you from cancer and other degenerative diseases
* assist with stress and depression. Pleasant and regular exercise is an antidote for depression
Anaerobic exercise is exercise without oxygen. You can’t last long without oxygen, so anaerobic exercises don’t last long either. Swimming under water is a good example. Sprinting is another — you run as fast as you can without much breathing for a few seconds, and then when you slow down or stop you breathe deeply to catch up.
When you do intense anaerobic exercise, you typically feel a burning sensation in your muscles. Lactic acid is produced as a by-product of the glucose used, and causes the burning feeling. Less oxygen than normal reaches the muscle being exercised, and a high level of carbon dioxide accumulates.
Surprisingly, anaerobic exercise burns much more glucose than aerobic exercise. Tests have shown that over the same period, anaerobic exercise can burn up to 18 times more glucose that aerobic exercise.
Isotonic exercise, (also called resistance or strength training) stretches and exerts your muscles, but does not necessarily move them. Holding a weight in the air or pushing one hand against the other are examples of isotonic exercise. Weight training, and slow push-ups, squats and sit-ups are examples of anaerobic isotonic exercises.
Resistance exercise builds your muscle strength and mass. The benefits ofaregular weights or strength program are overwhelming. Itwill increase the size of your muscles, along with impressive gains in their strength and tone. It is the only effective way to increase your muscle bulk and reduce your fat to muscle ratio.
Do not worry about gaining weight or additional bulk through having more muscle. You will not end up with the physique and muscle mass of a body builder without long periods of daily training.
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Isotonic exercise has significant anti-ageing effects. You will:
* look good, with a firm, toned body
* lower your fat to muscle ratio, making it easy to stay slim
* store less fat-soluble toxins with less fat around your body
* be less likely to suffer hunger pangs or low energy between meals. Having good muscle bulk will help you avoid blood glucose spikes and the horrible consequences (see the section ANEW EPIDEMIC). Itwill give you a good reservoir of energy when you do need it
*strengthen and build your bones. Ifyou stress abone repeatedly, bending itjust slightly, the cells inside the bone sense this movement and go into a growth mode, making the bone both denser and stronger. Compression on a bone, by lifting weights or carrying a heavy load, triggers a similar growth response in that bone. Conversely, bones lacking in stress or compression weaken and lose weight. Lack of exercise is one of the causes of the epidemic of osteoporosis today
* release growth hormones (page 288) and testosterone. Weight training makes you younger
Stretching is another vital form of exercise. Frank Lipman!!°B explains how flexibility may be the most important factor in maintaining your athletic ability as the years go by. Yoga (page 245) and Pilates are excellent forms of stretching exercise for people of all ages, in all states of health.Istronglyrecommend learningatleastafewposturestomixinwith the other exercise that you do. Flexibility is central to maintaining your body’s physical and mental facilities over the years.
THE EXERCISE MYTH
he idea that the best way to lose weight and get fit is to run a couple of
Sees adayissimplywrong.Ifyouseeagroupofoverweightmen and women jogging or doing a vigorous aerobics class, panting, red-faced and straining, they are kidding themselves. They are doing nothing to burn their fat. The irony is that their over-vigorous exercise may be worsening their fat to muscle ratio.
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High intensity aerobic exercise that causes a rapid pulse, fast breathing and lots of sweating may make you fitter, but is not an effective way to build up your muscles and shed fat. Rather than burning fat, this kind of exercise uses the energy that is most quickly and easily available to your body — the glucose stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. If this glycogen runs out, the next quickest and easiest source of glucose isyour muscles. Itmakes little use of your stores of fat.
To burn the fat stored around your body, your aerobic exercise should be at a moderate level, and of /ong duration. The secret is that your breathing should be deep and controlled, with no sense that you are out of breath. Fat needs plenty of oxygen to burn.
When you start to exercise, your body first uses the energy stored as glycogen. However, after about 30 minutes of sustained but comfortable exercise, your body makes an important switch. Instead of burning mostly glycogen, itstarts to burn more and more stored fat. After 30 minutes, more than half the energy you are using comes from your fat! If you exercise at least three times a week, an even higher proportion of fat is used.
A fat-breaking enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase is released after half an hour of exercise, with significant amounts available after an hour of continued exercise with deep comfortable breathing. This enzyme remains active for up to 12 hours. The longer you exercise at this sustained, moderate level, the more the enzyme isactivated. Ithas a long lasting and direct effect on breaking down the fat in your body. Italso cleans your blood vessel walls of fatty plaque and deposits.
Oxygen is one of the keys to using fat. Fat, at 9 calories per gram, contains more than twice the energy of glycogen (4 calories per gram). Fat, being calorie dense, needs plenty of oxygen to burn. If you breathe deeply and sufficiently while doing aerobic exercise, you can burn fat. However, as you exercise harder, less oxygen is available in your body. If you exercise at a rate where you become short of breath, your body will be forced to get its glucose energy from easier sources - your stored glycogen, or next, the protein in your muscles.
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Ifyou are unfit and overweight, the best exercise to shed fat and get back into shape is sustained fast walking. Active housework, swimming, gardening, or other sustained activity is also suitable. Keep it to a level you can maintain, but not to the point where you are out of breath or over- exerting.
Isuggest you exercise on an empty stomach. Digestion uses an enormous amount of energy, so if your last meal is fully digested you will have more, not less energy available. The feeling of a full gut does not assist with any kind of exercise, especially yoga. If you exercise with a full stomach, your digestion is slowed or halted. The food sits as a dead weight until you rest and digestion starts again. On an empty stomach, the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver is used up more quickly, after which you start to burn fat.
HOW MUCH?
* Before you start an exercise program, check with your doctor. You may have to get through a potentially painful and sometimes risky period of adapting your body to the point where you can sustain daily activity. The good news is that as you get fitter and your health improves, it gets easier. Most people who have persisted with an easy exercise program, report that what in the beginning seemed like a chore became sheer pleasure after a month. Once your body becomes accustomed to exercise itcraves more, as your hormonal and digestive functions are restored, toxic acid wastes are eliminated and muscle strength isbuilt up.
«Anymovement isbetterthannoactivityatall.Fiveminutescleaningupthe lounge, ten minutes vacuuming the carpet or weeding in the garden and a
walk to the shops all add up and are beneficial.
*Take iteasy. Ifyou are going to exercise for the rest of your life, ithas to be enjoyable and invigorating, rather than painful and exhausting. Exercise is not about getting grimly serious, fixed on achieving a regular state of near- exhaustion come rain, pollution or disenchanted spouse.
* You are never too old to start. In fact, the greatest benefits from weight training are among the elderly. You can start with weights as light as your
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water bottle.
*The ideal exercise program both increases your muscle bulk and gives your cardiovascular system aworkout. Ifyou look atpeople who have been doing only aerobic exercises for years, huffing and puffing at running, swimming and aerobics classes, you will notice that they find itdifficult to lose weight. Too much aerobic exercise can actually reduce your muscle mass, so you burn less fat.
* To enjoy all the health, youth and long-life benefits of exercise, you need to exercise virtually every day. You cannot justify doing twice as much half as often.
¢ Start your exercise with a warm up. A few minutes of gentle exercise to raise your pulse and breathing, plus some gentle stretches prepare your body for the exercise to come. It also reduces the risk of muscle tears and sprains that can occur with cold and stiff muscles.
It is essential, after aerobic exercise, to keep moving while you cool down. When you are doing aerobic exercise, your muscles help your heart to pump your blood around your body. Ifyou stop suddenly, your heart immediately has to take up the extra load. This puts a dangerous strain on your heart. If you have been jogging for example, taper it off with a few minutes of walking. You can also gently stretch for several minutes, whilst breathing deeply (no bouncing stretches). The cool down period also helps remove waste products such as lactic acid from your muscle tissue.
* If you only have a few minutes available to exercise, use that time for a walk or stretch. However, do not kid yourself that you can use that short period to give your body everything itneeds.
* It is possible to over-exercise, with a disproportionate number of long- distance runners and tri-athletes presenting with immune, gastro-intestinal, muscular-skeletal and respiratory problems. Long-distance athletes generally use 10-20 times more oxygen than people with sedentary lives do. Itwould seem obvious that with the raised levels of oxygen passing through their blood and cells, they would also generate higher levels of free radicals. Athletes who suffer weakness or pain for days after their exercise are
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obviously over-doing it. All athletes need higher levels of anti-oxidants to provide protection against the raised level of free radicals in their bodies.
What is the right level of exercise activity? A rule of thumb is that you should just be able to carry on a conversation while you exercise. If you cannot talk, then ease off a bit. Alternatively, ifyour heart and breathing are not much faster than normal, you can exercise harder. More technically, your maximum heart rate should be 220 minus your age in years. Ideally, while you are exercising, itshould be 65% — 75% of that figure. For example, a 50- year-oldpersonshouldhaveamaximum heartrateof170,andshouldideally exercise at a rate of 110-130.
If you are not accustomed to exercise, and take your heart rate to approximately 85% of its maximum for more than 10 minutes, you can damage your body and accelerate your ageing. In unfit people, this level of exercise releases excessive free radicals. Those who are very fit, such as trained athletes, seem to be protected from these adverse effects provided they have a good diet with plenty of anti-oxidants.°8
Avoid short bursts of intense exercise if you live a sedentary life. If you are short of time, you cannot compensate by trying to pack a full day’s exercise into just a few minutes. Five to fifteen minutes of vigorous exercise gets your heart and breath rates up, but is not long enough to induce the beneficial hormonal changes that come with sustained exercise. If you have been inactive during the day, a few minutes of strong exercise raises your blood glucose level. This leads to raised insulin and cortisol levels, metabolic syndrome, and the typical degenerative problems caused by a modern Western lifestyle. On the other hand, low intensity exercise for an extended period combats metabolic syndrome. It not only helps to reduce fat, but also helps maintain a stable blood glucose level and increases your insulin sensitivity.
I suggest a minimum of 30 minutes aerobic exercise per day. Thirty minutes each day is not a lot when you compare it to the daily activities of our early and even recent ancestors. If you are sitting at a computer or desk ordrivingalargepartoftheday,itisimportant tocompensate forthose long
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periods of inactivity on a daily basis. For example, I walk rather than drive everywhere that I possibly can. A fifteen-minute walk to the shops would have taken half that time to drive and park anyway, so itisan efficient use of time. I get my day’s exercise, save some car mileage, and make a small contribution to cutting down on traffic congestion and air pollution. If you can get a friend or business acquaintance to walk with you, itcan be an even more pleasant and productive time. I usually use the stairs rather than an elevator, and take the opportunity to stretch, yawn and deep breathe wherever possible.
Walking is the best exercise! Your anatomy is designed to walk as its primary manner of movement. Modern life, with its long periods of sitting at desks, sitting on couches, sitting in cars, sitting at dining tables and sitting
-most of the rest of our waking hours denies our backs this most fundamental need. Walking isyour best protection against developing back pain. Walking briskly exercises all your major muscles in a relatively slow, aerobic, ongoing manner. It stimulates your digestive system, assisting with peristalsis, and gently massaging the abdominal organs. Walking for more than 30 minutes is an effective form of weight control, as explained above. It is relaxing, and provides the opportunity for deep and regular breathing. Walking has substantial benefits for your cardiovascular system. It lowers your blood pressure, improves your cholesterol levels, and reduces your chances of a heart attack or stroke. Walkers are less likely to develop type II diabetes.
Your resting, or base metabolism is the energy you need just to stay alive. While you are resting, many body systems are still active. You need to breathe, your heart beats, you need to maintain your body temperature, your brain is functioning, digestion may be taking place, and more. You still use energy and generate waste products when you are lying down doing nothing. Your base metabolism can use as much as two thirds of your energy needs. An average 68 kg adult burns less than half a calorie per minute while sleeping, or the equivalent of about a 100 watt light globe. If you start any additional physical or mental activity, this basic energy requirement rapidly
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increases to around 200-400 watts (activity such as walking, housework, sports, office work, gardening, sex and all the social and living activities you do every day). 20-25% of this energy is used by your brain, depending on its level of activity.
Aerobic exercise does not burn many calories. Running a mile burns an average of only 300 calories — hardly half of a typical meal. Walking burns between 290 and 430 calories per hour, depending on your weight, walking speed and other factors. Other daily activities such as gardening or active housework consume a similar level of energy. You need to do enough exercise to burn at least 2000 calories per week. If you lead a moderately active life, doing housework or other light physical work, gardening, walking, moving, dancing and keeping on the go, and you also do at least 30 minutes aerobic or cardiovascular exercise each day, then you will easily burn that much.
When you do sustained exercise such as running, swimming or cycling, your metabolic rate goes up by 8-10 times its resting value, and remains higher for up to 15 hours after the exercise.
Pleasant aerobic exercise creates an alkaline response in your body because of the increased oxygenation. Exercise past the point of exhaustion releases excess stored acidity.43! If you exercise excessively, your cortisol and free radical levels will rise. Intensive aerobic exercisers such as marathon runners and those who exercise in polluted cities breathe in high levels of nitrogen and sulphur oxides, and ozone that can impair their immunity and open them to infections.
For the average adult, I suggest a maximum of 60 minutes isotonic exercise in a day, depending on your level of fitness. Thereafter cortisol levels rise, testosterone levels fall, the benefits are lost and your ageing accelerates.
When you do intense isotonic exercise such as weights at the gym, micro- tears occur in your muscles. This is quite normal and beneficial, leading to the production of hormones to repair them. Ifyou are young and healthy this repair can occur in 24 hours, but for most adults restoration takes 48 hours.
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For this reason, Irecommend doing isotonic exercise every second day, and rotating the groups of muscles that you exercise each time. Exercise the same muscle once, or at that most twice in the same week. For example, you can do legs and abdomen on Monday, neck, back and chest on Wednesday, and shoulders and arms on Friday. Try to exercise as many different muscles as possible each week, rather than a restricted set. Of course, you can still do your aerobic exercises every day.
First, gently warm up your body with some stretching and aerobic moving exercises. When warm, you are ready to do your weight or resistance exercises. For each muscle group, first do a warm up set of 12-15 easy repetitions. After a rest of perhaps a minute, do a second set of 6-10 medium to heavy repetitions, which should take those muscles to exhaustion. Depending on your training program, do not do any more sets (or at the most, do one more set of 14-18 repetitions). This is the optimum for rebuilding your muscle strength and bulk, whilst gaining all the youthing benefits that come from isotonic exercise. The medium heavy repetitions should be at 80%ofyouronerepetitionmaximum (1RM).Thisistheheaviestweightthat you can liftonly once.
As you lift each weight during the repetitions, do not let it loosely fall back to the starting position. Keep the pressure on it all the way down. The greatest benefit from isotonic exercise comes as your muscle is lengthening while under load.
Ideally, you should have a walk, or do some other sustained aerobic exercise after the isotonic exercise. Remember, itisonly after 30 minutes of exercise that the hormonal changes occur that cause your body to burn fat rather than glycogen. After the isotonic exercise, your body will be in this mode, and during your walk you will be burning stored fat.
BREATHING
AN IMPORTANT SECRET
D: notunderestimatetheimportanceofgoodbreathing.Ifyoupractise
everything else, and yet breathe poorly, you will never attain perfect
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health and great age.
Most people do not breathe properly. They do not even know how to
breathe! The typical adult uses only the least efficient, top part of his or her lungs. They take many more breaths than they need to, all short and shallow.
To add to the problem, city air is often chronically deficient in oxygen (page 317). We tend not to breathe as deeply in a polluted and oxygen deficient environment.
The average adult breathes about 10,000 — 12,000 litres of air each day. The oxygen that ends up in your bloodstream depends upon the level of pollution and ionisation in the air, and the effectiveness of your breathing.
Most people use less than one seventh of the capacity of their lungs, breathing at a rate of roughly 15 - 20 times per minute. Those who have developed good breathing techniques and are using their lungs to the full, may take 4 — 6 breaths per minute. Sages who have developed extraordinary powers of health and longevity may breathe at even slower rates, depending on the techniques they have chosen.
The passages in your throat and lungs are wet, or at least they should be ifyou are drinking enough water. They are covered with mucus, and the wet sticky surface traps most of the dust and other particles in the air. Hair- like structures called cilia line these passages, and in a healthy respiratory system, they help move the contaminated mucus back up to your throat and mouth. Cigarette smoking kills or stuns the cilia resulting in a lot more pollution going down into the lungs, not just the cigarette smoke. If you stop smoking, the cilia will eventually recover.
If the mucus gets too dry or dirty, a crust develops and clogs your breathing passages, and the cilia can no longer perform their sweeping action. Additional dust and debris accumulates, and the antibodies in your air passages are overwhelmed, making you vulnerable to colds and ‘flu.
Try to breathe in through your nose — here is why. The airway in your nose is not a straight passage, but instead it has bulges and convolutions that make the airstream turbulent, so that it covers a greater surface area.
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This moisturises and warms the incoming air, and protects your lungs from coldness and dryness. Your nose is also an effective filter for dust, microorganisms and pollutants. This explains why ethnic groups that developed in cold or dry desert climates have longer, more substantial noses with narrow nostrils — the cold or dry air is forced over a greater surface area of warm, moist lining before entering the lungs. In contrast, groups from warm humid climates tend to have short flat noses, which take less effort to breathe the air that is already warm and moist. In cold and dry climates, you should breathe both in and out through your nose. The out- breath replenishes the heat and moisture from the inhalation. In a hot humid climate, you can use exhalation through your mouth as a method to expel excess heat.
When at rest, your brain uses about 20% of the total oxygen used by your body. A good oxygen supply is critical for your brain — your most important organ. If it does not get enough, you will feel drowsy and have negative, even depressing thoughts. People with sedentary jobs who spend most of the day in poorly ventilated city offices are particularly at risk. With a long-term lack of oxygen, you will become irritable, senile, negatively affected by alcohol, and your senses of sight, hearing, taste and smell will deteriorate. Chronic under-breathing can cause chest pains and palpitations, muscular pains in the chest, neck and back, tingling and numbness in the limbs, fainting, blackouts, dizziness, and visual upsets, digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, depression, poor sleep patterns and nightmares.
The most important measure ofthe health of your respiratory system is the volume of air you can blow out after taking the biggest inhalation that you can. After you have exhaled, there is always a little air left in your lungs — the residual volume. The less air that remains the better, because the toxins in your lungs are exhaled completely, rather than being recirculated. The wider your lungs can expand, and the smaller they can contract is a measure of the elasticity of their tissue. Young and healthy tissue 1squite flexible.
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Your can divide your nervous system into conscious activities that you directly control, such as moving a hand or a foot, and autonomic or subconscious activities, such as your heart beating or the movement of your colon. Breathing is normally an automatic activity, but with your intention you can bring itunder conscious control. Unconscious breathing does a poor job of emptying your lungs completely, and waste elimination is inefficient.
Deeper and fuller use of your lungs has remarkable detoxification, healing, energising and rejuvenation effects. You can learn how to breathe slowly and deeply, filling and emptying your lungs completely. The in- breath should first fill your abdomen, and then fill your chest. You can hold it for up to a few seconds. Depending on the type of breathing, you may also pause after the out-breath. The rich levels of oxygen that fill your body from controlled breathing, particularly during meditation or healing therapy, lead to clear and creative thinking, emotional opening, and senses that are more acute. Breathing is the focus (object) of some types of meditation.
Your breathing reflects your emotions, and you can use itto access and control them. Shallow breathing or holding your breath is associated with danger and can generate feelings of fear. Anger has a certain tight way of breathing with shallow inhalation and short, panting exhalation. Sadness creates irregular breathing, like when you are sobbing. On the other hand, feelings of joy, vitality and strength induce deep, confident breaths.
When you breathe deeply and consciously, suppressed or subconscious feelings can begin to surface. Some people find it relatively easy to experience, acknowledge and face the feelings that come up. It is then possible to release them and move on. Others, who are more rigid, closed, suppressed or in denial may find they are unable to let go of their shielding around their feelings.
The more civilised and intellectual you are, the less likely itisthat you will breathe deeply and truly feel your body, your emotions, and the instant inwhich you are living. Itreally isthe difference between being awake and
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being asleep.
All the Eastern philosophies include a variety of breathing exercises,
especially the Taoists. Controlled breathing is an effective form of medical therapy, and has been a formal branch of Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. Chinese doctors have long recognised that poor breathing causes a variety of diseases, and a loss of strength and energy. They have effectively prescribed breathing exercises to cure a wide variety of diseases. The Western world does not even have a specific word that denotes breath control. Western doctors have little understanding of the air, and how its ionisation is the basis for health and longevity.
In Ayurvedic medicine, the ancient healing art of India, breath is the link between the body and the mind / spirit. The prana, or breath, profoundly influences the entire body, mind and spirit. Breathing exercises, called pranayamas, are taught to maintain and heal the whole being. They are also the basis of yoga.
Some smells and scents contain bioactive energy, which your nose efficiently directs into your bloodstream. Ancient Arab physicians observed that perfumers and incense makers rarely succumbed to plagues of cholera and other diseases. This observation led to the development of aromatherapy, in which the essential oils of various plants are used to cure specific ailments. “Glands” in the roots, stems, leaves, seeds and flowers of plants produce these oils, which are extracted in a concentrated form. Aromatherapy works only with oils extracted from living plants — synthetic scents have no therapeutic value. Essential oils that are good for your skin and you can add to a base oil or your skin cream include frankincense, rose, patchouli, jasmine, sandalwood, lavender and geranium.
CLEANING YOUR NASAL PASSAGES
You can do a nose douche to clean out your nasal passages and restore their self-cleansing ability. Ifyour nose islined with crusted mucus, itconstrains your ability to breathe deeply, as well as doing a poor job in filtering, warming and moisturising the air going into your lungs. A douche or nefi
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as yoga practitioners call it, loosens and flushes away dried encrusted mucus and other debris. You will be amazed at what comes out the first time you do it.After washing the sensitive olfactory nerve endings, your sense of smell will be renewed. Your taste will also improve, because it is closely linked to your nose. More importantly, whether you practise deep breathing or not, there will be less resistance during each inhalation because of the clear passages, and your lungs will naturally fill further. You will feel more vital and energetic, and will be less likely to suffer a head cold or respiratory disease.
You can do a douche perhaps once a month, depending upon the level of pollution in the atmosphere in which you live. Warm halfa litre of clean, preferably filtered water to body temperature, and dissolve % to ? of a level teaspoon of sea salt in it. If you get the right temperature and salinity, it feels quite comfortable and does not burn when in your nose. Put the solution in a container with a spout, such as a plastic squeeze bottle or a small teapot. Sit down, turn your head to one side, and insert the spout in the upper nostril and pour. If your nose is not too blocked, the solution will come out of your lower nostril. Ifthere is ablockage, you may have to suck a bit. Be careful not to swallow or inhale the water. After pouring out half the solution, change sides. Finally, block each nostril and vigorously blow out the other. This is the point where all the gunk emerges! You are clean. Doesn’t itfeel good?
TYPES OF BREATHING
Chest Breathing. The delicate lungs of a foetus spend months immersed in the warm, liquid security of the mother’s amniotic fluid. A newborn baby’s first breath is surely a scream of pain. Many people never get over that trauma, fearing more anguish if they breathe fully.
Society reinforces this life-sapping childhood habit throughout the rest of our lives. As children, many of us learned that being totally alive and expressive was unacceptable to the adults around us, and we learned to stifle that vitality by holding our breath. Our parents and teachers tell us to
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stand up straight, pull our tummies in, and puff out our chests. This applies at school, in the military, and at both work and home. Remember the last time you met someone important or whom you wanted to impress. Try to feel the posture that you adopted!
Apparently, the most attractive models are those with big chests and breasts and board-flat stomachs. These “beautiful people” breathe into their upper chests, and pull in their stomachs. Some clothes are constricting around the waist. Such fashions restrict deep breathing, forcing itto the top part of the lungs. This is also the natural tendency for most Western people when they see an attractive member of the opposite sex. Men particularly, stand up tall, pull in their loose and sagging gut, and puff out their chest in a swagger. This is precisely the wrong way to breathe.
Laziness, ignorance, stress, constipation, pollution and smoking all add to the over-reliance on the muscles high in the chest area used to breathe in.
To expand your chest, you contract the intercostal muscles around your ribs. This creates a vacuum in your upper lungs, so air is pulled in through your trachea. Air does not get into your lower lungs, with their greater surface area and rich network of blood vessels and alveoli. The most efficient part of your lungs remains unused! The tissue in your lungs is designed to be continually stretched and contracted, and this lack of use will gradually ossify your lower lungs.
If you are not fully using all of your lungs, you will need to take about three times as many breaths just to get the same volume of air.
Clavicular Breathing is bad for your health, posture and emotions. We tend to use clavicular breathing when we are extremely stressed or fearful ~ the clavicles (collarbones) expand and contract only a narrow upper portion of your lungs. People who continually breathe like this are prone to anxiety. Victims of asthma and emphysema breathe this way all the time. Their breathing sounds like a panting dog — it needs to be rapid just to get sufficient air to stay alive. Their heartbeat has to be rapid to pump more blood to pick up the small quantity of oxygen that their lungs ingest. If you
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notice that you are breathing this way, take a few slow deep breaths right into your belly, holding each breath for a few seconds. Exhale slowly through pursed lips. The anxiety will disappear!
Diaphragmatic Breathing. Look at a sleeping infant, or a cat or a dog stretched out for its daytime snooze. Their whole being is relaxed. Notice that their belly is the focus of their breathing action. Your diaphragm is the key to deep, powerful breathing which uses the lower part of your lungs.
Your diaphragm is the layer of muscle and membrane that separates your chest (thoracic) cavity from your gut (abdominal) cavity. When you breathe in deeply, your diaphragm contracts and descends, and your gut pushes outwards. As you continue inhaling, the top of your chest fills, and your ribs expand. In good breathing, your lower lungs fill first, “from the bottom up”, followed by your ribs fanning out and chest expanding.
When you breathe out, your diaphragm relaxes and rises back up. In the second phase of exhalation, you can squeeze out the remaining air from your chest. Singers and people who play wind instruments learn to use their lungs in this way, more than doubling the capacity of each breath.
The lower part of your lungs has a richer blood flow (perfusion) than the upper part. Not using your lower lungs is an unnecessary waste, leading to under-oxygenation (hypoperfusion) of your blood, under-removal of carbon dioxide and other toxins, and consequences such as a low level of energy and degenerative diseases.
Ironically, breathing with the belly will also give you a better-looking body. Pushing your belly out on the in-breath, and pulling it in on the out- breath, develops your muscles in harmony with your breathing rhythm. You exercise all the muscles required to push, pull, and hold, rather than just sucking in. You workout a wide variety of muscles, your liver, spleen, intestines and entire abdominal cavity are continually massaged, and your gut area looks and feels firm and toned. Do not worry — breathing in this way will not give you a potbelly — just the opposite.
BREATHING EXERCISES
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You will find that you have more energy almost immediately. You can start applying diaphragmatic breathing in real life situations, such as when you are face to face in conflict with someone, when you feel overwhelmed, depressed, tired, sick or stressed.
Phone Book Exercise. This exercise is an introduction to deep abdominal breathing, clearly showing you how your abdomen moves as your lower lungs expand and contract. Lie on your back on a firm surface such as a carpet or lawn, but not a bed. Place a phone directory book on your abdomen, just touching your lower ribs. Put your hands by your sides with palms facing up. Your legs should be straight and slightly apart. Totally relax, and listen to your breathing. This exercise has four stages to each breathing cycle — inhalation, retention, exhalation and a pause. You will find itslows down your rate ofbreathing, and your goal should be 4—6 in-breaths per minute.
Inhalation. Breathe slowly through your nose, through flared nostrils, drawing air into the bottom ofyour lungs by lifting the book. Aim to inhale for four seconds. Now hold the book as high as you can as you continue to inhale through your nose. Hold itup there, as you complete filling the top part of your lungs.
Retention. Hold your breath for 2-5 seconds. This stage is essential because it triggers cellular respiration or the “dive response.” This is the energy mechanism used by diving mammals such as seals or dolphins. The human foetus also receives and uses energy and oxygen in this manner. The heartbeat more than halves, blood pressure is reduced, and considerable heat is produced. Adult humans still have this response, but most have lost itthrough lack of use. Do not hold your breath for longer than 10 seconds
Breathing is normally an unconscious process. Improving your breathing needs a period of training where you use conscious intention until it becomes automatic. It is simply a matter of doing the exercises, and at other times during the day, when you remember, paying attention to how you are breathing.
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without the instruction and guidance of an experienced teacher. Exhalation. When you exhale, start by lowering the book. After the book is as low as it will go, then squeeze your chest and exhale from the
top part of your lungs. Your out breath should take 50-100% longer than your in breath — at least six seconds.
Pause for 3 seconds. This will give you an “air hunger” to stimulate a healthy inhalation.
Do not force any part of this exercise beyond your natural capacity. The entire breathing cycle should be smooth and flowing. At first, you may have a few splutters, bursts of breath, or stalls, but this is quite normal. Eventually, your breathing will become smooth, regular and rhythmic.
Practise the phone book exercise for 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning, and again before you go to bed, until you have a good feel for how your abdomen is the key to using your lung’s full capacity. Once you have the feel for belly breathing, do the exercises in standing or sitting positions. Eventually your unconscious everyday breathing will use your abdominal muscles without your having to think about it.
Breathing exercises in the sitting and standing positions still use the four stages of inhalation, retention, exhalation and a pause. Focus on the slow, smooth, deliberate rhythm and regularity of each stage, rather than on prolonging them. At first your lungs, diaphragm and whole respiratory system will resist the rigors of this natural way of breathing because of the long neglect. With perseverance and daily practice, the energy boost becomes so obvious that it is hard to break.
Standing. A good standing posture has both your feet firmly flat on the ground, with your knees bent ever so slightly. You centre your weight over your hips, with your chest and head balanced in line above them. Standing is the best position, because it lets your blood circulate freely to all parts of your body, it does not interrupt the free flow of energy through the energetic meridians (chakras), and it provides the maximum potential gradient between heaven (the head) and the earth (feet). The ancient masters used to refer to a person’s stance as his/her horse. They had a
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saying, “a man is only as strong as his horse.”
Sitting. You can deep breathe while driving, sitting at your desk, or
working. The idea istodo itwhenever you think ofit:develop your belly breathingsothatitbecomes automatic,allofthetime.Ifyouareabletosit cross-legged on the floor or on a cushion, this is a good posture. It is easier and more comfortable if you sit on a phone book covered with a cushion. This will tilt your pelvis forward, and keep your spine erect. Try to sit in the lotus position, where each foot is on top of the opposite calf. Most Westerners are not flexible enough to do it, and the few who can find it uncomfortable. Agood compromise ishalf lotus, where only one foot ison top of a calf. The lotus positions are stable, with the spine and head balanced above a firm foundation.
Breathing Modes. Taoists refer to two types of breathing. The Warrior's Breath is a powerful, audible, forceful and deliberate way of
breathing. Itrequires your focus and attention. Itstimulates your systems for “battle”, i.e. activity. Use it for breathing exercises aimed at raising your energy level, strengthening your body, and promoting physical health and vitality.
The Scholar's Breath on the other hand, is silent, natural, gentle and relatively effortless. It is calming, suitable for meditation, concentration, contemplation, and breathing exercises before you go to sleep. Use it during your daily activities, such as walking, reading, working, and so on. Although itdoes not require the same focus and attention as the Warrior’s Breath, try to remain aware of the process, and ensure that all four stages of breathing are rhythmically performed. When using the Scholar’s Breath, your diaphragm is still the key to breathing.
You can use either mode to perform any breathing exercise — they are not exercises in themselves. You can also use combinations of the two during any exercise or meditation, depending on the effect you wish to achieve. For example, you may wish to stimulate your energy with Warrior’s Breath when you start a meditation, and then use the more passive Scholar’s Breath. With experience you will become familiar with
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the subtleties of each mode, and know intuitively when to use them. Tongue Position. During breathing exercises, and when doing yoga, you normally place your tongue in the yoga position. Put the tip of your tongue where your front teeth emerge from the roof of your mouth, and
then slide it a few millimetres backwards. It should be resting on the alveolar ridge, the soft tissue between the teeth and the roof of the mouth. This completes a bio-energetic connection in your body, and encourages you to breathe through your nose. In those breathing exercises where you breathe through your mouth, you still maintain this tongue position.
Bellows Breathing is a good detoxifying exercise to purify your lungs and blood. The additional oxygen in your blood also stimulates your metabolism, so you can use it to wake up if you are feeling physically sluggish or mentally drowsy. It calms you, restores emotional equilibrium, stimulates your digestive system, and gives you a boost of energy.
This yoga breathing is completely different to the other exercises discussed so far. Iparticularly recommend itto those exposed to polluted air such as smokers and city dwellers. It opens the air passages in your throat and head, purges the stale air throughout your lungs, and flushes the alveoli of accumulated toxins.
It is not a hyperventilation technique, which would quickly raise your oxygen level. Rather, the bellows breathing activates your central nervous system and energy centres.
Sit or stand with your back straight, eyes closed, and tongue in the yogic position with your mouth closed. Start with a strong contraction of your abdominal muscles to expel all the air from your lungs. Let your lungs refill naturally, using little effort, until they are about half full. There is no pause or retention of breath in this exercise — only inhalation and exhalation. When your lungs are half-full, again forcefully expel all the air. Repeat this cycle at a rate of one to three breaths per second. As this is a de-toxifying exercise, your lungs should never be more than half-full while you are doing it.The emphasis ison exhalation and expulsion, rather than the in-breath.
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This is real exercise — your muscles will get tired. The first time you do it,try to keep itup for 20 seconds. Each day, increase itby up to 5 seconds, until you can do bellows breathing for two minutes.
When you return to normal breathing, you will feel a subtle tingling of energy throughout your body, perhaps concentrated in your arms. You will feel more alert and awake. As you gain experience with this exercise, you will become aware of the energy itcreates. Itcan warm you ifyou are cold, re-energise you ifyou are feeling drowsy after lunch, or wake you up ifyou are feeling sleepy while driving.
If you feel light-headed or faint while doing it, take a long slow and deep inhalation, and pause for a few seconds before starting again. It leaves your blood highly oxygenated, so it is a good idea to take a few deep breaths at the end of this exercise to restore a normal level.
BENEFITS OF DEEP BREATHING
Breathing exercises and good breathing technique give you immediate rewards, and immeasurable long-term benefits. This key to optimal health takes little time and effort, and provides a high payback for such a small investment. The Taoist view is that the energy and detoxification provided by good breathing is even more important to health and longevity than that from food and water.
Mental and Emotional. Shallow breathing or even holding your breath is associated with fear, frustration and anger. Small children often hold their breath in frustration in a conflict. Think of a time you have been fearful, and how shallow your breathing became. An excellent way to combat stress is to take a deep breath, right down into your belly. Slow breathing down into your belly is immensely relaxing and empowering. Your memory, creativity, awareness and other mental facilities are improved. Deep breathing calms your emotions, brings them under conscious control, and restores equilibrium.
Strength. If you are an athlete, learning correct breathing techniques will give you additional strength and endurance, even if you are doing
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everything else correctly. Ifyou are inbusiness, deep breathing will greatly improve your focus and concentration, give you a stronger more confident voice, and a profound sense of strength coming from your hara, or belly. If you feel over-run or stressed, deep breathing is an anchor in the turmoil, and the key to restoring calm. If you are sick, breathing is the key to your recovery. It will also help you lead a longer, more energetic, vital, stress- free life.
Posture. Good breathing improves your posture. Poor breathers typically have a weak, collapsed posture, or a “military” posture, with the chest stuck out and the tummy pulled in.
Health. Deliberate, controlled breathing can regulate all your vital functions. People who have practised breathing for some time can consciously regulate their pulse, blood pressure, digestion, ejaculation, hormone secretion, skin temperature and a lot more.
Deep breathing retards your sympathetic nervous system, lowering your pulse and blood pressure and suppressing the production of adrenalin. It stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system, promoting your digestive, eliminative, immune and other functions. It is primarily the retention phase in diaphragmatic breathing that results in these beneficial nervous responses. It is a highly effective form of protective therapy against the nervous stresses and strains experienced by harried urban dwellers.
Deep breathing massages your liver, spleen, intestines and the glands in your abdominal cavity. This assists with digestive peristalsis (digestive movement). It stimulates the secretion of hormones, with particular benefit to your digestive and immune systems. There is a measurable increase in the helper / suppressor ratio among your T lymphocytes.
No matter how polluted the air is, we must continue to breathe. Good breathing techniques help you to extract the maximum amount of oxygen from the air, and so will minimise your intake of pollutants. It is not advisable to do aerobic exercise in severely polluted air, as the exercise will increase the volume of air and pollution that passes through your lungs.
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Energy. Slow, deep breathing provides more arterial oxygen saturation than shallow rapid breathing, even though the volume of air breathed by the shallow rapid breathing may be greater. Slow and extensive use of your entire lung’s spongy tissue takes in far more oxygen, and exhales more toxic waste gases than fast and limited use. Oxygen is the key ingredient in our metabolism. Any restriction on our breathing, or pollution in the air we breathe, can upset the production of the ATP energy molecule and restrain our energy and vitality.
Lung Capacity. Full and deep use of your lungs stretches your lung tissue, as well as making itmore flexible. Studies in China have shown that people taking up the practice of deep breathing can increase their lung capacity by over a litre after a year of training.>® With the additional lung capacity, these people can breathe even more slowly.
Longevity. Taoists maintain that each of us is given a fixed number of breaths and heartbeats for our life, so those who breathe quickly or who have a fast pulse will live fewer years. If you slow the number of breaths you take each minute, you will greatly enhance your respiratory efficiency. The rich level of oxygen in your blood means your heart will not need to pump as hard, and itwill have more time to rest between each beat. You will conserve vital energy and live longer.
Detoxification. Your breath is one of the means by which your body excretes toxins. It is the primary means of expelling carbon dioxide, and an important outlet for small quantities of other wastes. I am sure you have smelt the breath of someone whose body is filled with toxic acid waste, particularly if his or her liver is functioning poorly. Their foul breath is a reflection of their internal state, and the result of each organ’s desperate attempts to get rid of the toxins by all possible means.
Detoxifying or cleansing breathing stresses exhalation. If you find yourself spontaneously sighing during the day, it is an indication that you have a build-up of toxins that some deep breathing could rectify.
For example, after you have had an alcoholic drink, most of the alcohol is broken down and removed by your liver, but your breath also expels
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small quantities of the alcohol in your blood.
Spiritual. Eastern philosophers have been aware of the relationship
between breathing and the spirit for thousands of years. Breathing integrates the air and the environment with your body, mind and spirit. Yogis and sages of all disciplines use breath control to expand the consciousness. Deep breathing at a rate of less than four times per minute stimulates the pineal gland. This is one of the keys to the opening of the sixth chakra, and clairvoyance.
Sleep. Deep breathing exercises before bed slow your heartbeat, regulate your respiration and relax your mind. Many people suffer from sleep apnoea, a disorder in which shallow and irregular breathing cause a deficiency of oxygen to the brain, so the victims sleep lightly and wake up many times during the night gasping for breath. Twenty minutes of deep diaphragmatic exercises before bed establishes a good breathing pattern and strong pulse that will eventually develop into a habit while sleeping. It will also reduce the amount of sleep you need by up to an hour.
YOGA
here else can you get three youthing secrets - exercise, breathing
WwW: meditation-inonepackage?Forthosewhohavenevertriedit, yoga conjures up pictures of gurus, swamis and Eastern holy men standing on their heads while performing impossibly contorted poses. However, the yoga that is making inroads in every Western city today is more practical and has no religious connotations for most of the people who practise it.No matter what physical state you are in,Ithoroughly recommend yoga. Even if you have a bad back and a highly inflexible body, there are gentle beginner’s postures you can start with. Yoga is an excellent exercise to assist with recovery from injuries.
Over a period of 60-90 minutes, you might perform 20 to 60 postures (asanas), depending on the style of yoga. All the while, you focus on deep, rhythmic breathing.
There are several different styles of yoga. They generally have the same
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or similar postures, but place a different emphasis on the alignment of the body, holding the postures, the coordination of breath and movement or the flow from one posture to another. They all share acommon lineage.
Ashtanga is the “hot yoga,” the most physically demanding. It is a regimented style, with each session comprising the same fixed sequence of postures performed without a break over a period of 60-90 minutes. It emphasises generating heat, rather than relaxation.
Hatha yoga isanother style that iswidely practised. Also known as “sun and moon” yoga, itemphasises both physical postures and energy centres for the purpose of cleansing and balancing, and ultimately, for attaining reunion with the totality of existence. It combines both active and passive aspects of yoga, with the emphasis on passive.
B.K.S. Iyengar is an influential teacher of the Hatha style. He teaches students to hold poses for longer than other schools of yoga would, and encourages them to experience the precise skeletal and muscular demands of each pose. Props such as belts, chairs, blocks and blankets are used to help get into and hold the poses.
Integral yoga is also widely practised. Depending on the teacher, it brings together different yoga styles, such as Kundalini (creative energy), Bhakti (devotion), Karma (service) and Raja (royal yoga, for the path of self-mastery).
Other yoga disciplines include Kriya yoga (work), Laya yoga (energy centres), Gnani yoga (the path of spiritual knowledge) and Tantric yoga (enlightenment through sexual practices and rituals).
Physically, yoga will develop strength in your muscles, by both stretching and flexing them. Itisalso an exercise inrelaxation, because you will not be able to get into many of the postures without relaxing some of the muscles involved. Over time, the mobility of your joints will improve, and your muscles will extend. Your body alignment and posture will look better, and your sense of balance will stabilise. It decreases muscular tension, helps you relax physically and mentally, improves your circulation, and assists your detoxification system.
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Most exercise programs in the Western world are oriented toward developing our visible or exterior physique. Walking, running, all sports and weight training lead to a stronger or leaner looking body. The major muscles that we present to the world are in the legs, buttocks, arms, back and shoulders. Consider however, that all the other muscles in our body are equally important and deserving of exercise. An exercise program should include muscles that we are not normally aware of using, or that we would not normally think of including in our daily regime.
One of the strengths of yoga is that there are postures that encompass all of the body, exercising, stretching, squeezing and inverting a full variety of “internal” muscles and organs. Your eyes, face, tongue, diaphragm, urinary and anus muscles have an important part to play in many postures!
When I first started yoga in my late 40’s, I could hardly touch my toes without bending my knees. Within three years, I could put the palms of my hands flat on the ground while keeping my knees straight. There were similar improvements in flexibility throughout my body. Ifeel that the “use it or lose it” principle applies with yoga just as with every other aspect of life. With the gentle, respectful and firm discipline of yoga, I expect my flexibility and joint mobility to continue to improve over the years.
Another experience I had in my first few yoga sessions was feeling nauseous. My teacher suggested Iwas not breathing deeply and fully, and that I had a tendency to hold my breath under the strain of the postures, rather than deeply breathe into them. Once I got over this hurdle, I found that the hour of deep and rhythmic breathing in a yoga session left my body refreshed and tingling all over. Itwas as ifmy body was saying, “thank you for the gift of the time and the effort in that yoga session.”
As you gain experience, yoga also becomes a meditation. Your breathing and body sensations become the centre of your attention. The clutter of activity and chatter in your mind slows, and eventually quietens. Time fades away as the yoga session becomes an experience of being.
Relaxation is an important part of the training of middle and long distance athletes. They learn to use every muscle as effectively as possible,
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which means that some muscles need to be relaxed while others are performing. A long distance runner learns to relax his or her face, jaw, neck and shoulders, and have a grace and rhythm throughout the rest of their body. People who have practised yoga for some time are experts in “selective exertion.” Each yoga posture, which they hold for a few seconds or minutes, concentrates on stretching or flexing a limited group of muscles. The rest of their body is relaxed, and their breathing is deep and refreshing.
Yoga requires that you treat your body with reverence. It provides a base from which you can develop many physical, mental and spiritual qualities. Your body becomes your temple. Yoga’s discipline, respect, humility, dedication and attention provide a foundation for personal and spiritual growth.
Yoga is not something you can learn from a book. I strongly recommend that you find a good teacher to get you started, to demonstrate the breathing and postures, to explain the philosophies, and to monitor and adjust your postures. It is important that your teacher is experienced, and that you have a good relationship. A few years ago, I had back pain (something I seldom suffer) the day after doing yoga. My teacher immediately knew the answer — I had been doing a more advanced posture before Iwas ready for it.
SEX
WE ARE SEXUAL BEINGS
onsider how your entire life is defined by whether you are male or Ge Whenyoumeetsomeone,yourfirstimpressioniswhether
they are a man or a woman. Their charisma and power is based on their sexual energy, which may be beautiful or ugly, strong or weak. Attraction or repulsion, and dominance or submission is dependent on this energy.
Sexual energy, or drive, is the basis of personal creativity and power. The most attractive, influential or charismatic people have a high level of sexual or Kundalini energy. Sexual energy has an emotional dimension, the
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love between a man and a woman. If you can refine your awareness of sexual energy, with or without a partner, you have a key to new levels of consciousness, creativity and power.
With a partner, lovemaking is a powerful healing tonic. The sharing of the human life force makes you happier, younger and healthier. Without a partner, making love with yourself is a healing, affirming exercise of your body. Remember the maxim — use itor lose it.
Sex provides all the health benefits of physical exercise. It raises the pulse, increases the rate of breathing, generates internal heat, and exercises a deep array of muscles. It reduces the tendency to eat compulsively, while raising the metabolism and burning calories. People with satisfying sex lives are less likely to be obese. They are more relaxed - love and connection are a powerful antidote to stress. People with enjoyable sex lives improve both their health and life expectancy.
If you are one of a healthy couple in a mutually monogamous heterosexual relationship, the exchange of bodily fluids is a more potent tonic than any herb or medicine according to many Taoist texts.
You can indulge in sex, right up until the end of your life. On average, most people over 60 say they are having better sex than when they were in their 40’s.!°4 Granted, they may need a little more time and stimulation to get started. However, they have a sense of freedom and confidence missing when they were younger. They are willing to shed inhibitions, experiment, and find new ways of getting pleasure. The most common problems reported by the elderly are problems with erection and lubrication, and loss of libido — in most cases, easily curable.
YOUR VOICE AND AGEING
ave you noticed how most old men have a shrill, feeble voice? Many
Ilswomenhaveaweak-soundingvoice;othersdevelopadeep, masculine voice.
Strong, young virile men speak with a deep, sexually charged voice. Women in the prime of their life have a voice that is feminine, melodious,
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alive and sexual.
Your voice reflects the sexual energy in your body. It is based on the
self-confidence, self-love and power that you project out into the world. If your voice isweak, feeble or shrill, itis asign that your sexual energy is low and physical deterioration of your body has started.
I have explained how one key to growing younger is thinking and acting younger, and refusing to take on the ageing expectations of those around you. Growing youthful means acting younger in every way. If you are a man, you can make an effort to lower your voice. Listen to yourself speak, and even better, record your voice. Then consciously make an effort to speak with depth and confidence. Most men find that their voice is weakest when they are speaking to someone who disempowers them. This can be someone who has authority over them (a boss or a parent) or a competitor. This is an important clue as to where in your life you are the most disempowered. Similarly, women may find their voice shrills or fades in certain situations.
Practise speaking with a sexually charged voice at every possible opportunity. I am not suggesting that you act or fa/k sexually, just that you let your voice represent the full creative energy within you. Exercise your voice by humming, and for men, lower your voice in steps until itisas low as you can go. As little as a few minutes of deep humming and chanting is a powerful start to the day, which will help you to hold your voice in a low pitch for the rest of the day.
TAOIST SECRETS
Taoism
Longevity is a Chinese obsession, and in ancient China the oldest people were treated with great respect and honour. The 8000-year-old tradition of Taoism is a complete philosophy of life — not a religion. Its principles include balance, simplicity, economy, honesty, fairness, individual freedom, education and regeneration.
It teaches boundless love for the universe, and all that lives in it. In this
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universe, humans are tiny, insignificant and vulnerable creatures. Energy and momentum are the sources of all life and the basis of nature. It is essential to be in harmony with these sources, otherwise we are fighting against nature and will lose. Taoism is about being flexible enough to go with the flow of nature, rather than against it.Nothing that isforced, that goes against theflow, will endure. Only when something iscomfortable and natural and flows, can itbecome a lifelong habit.
The Taoist view is that nature designed the human body to. live an average life span of about 100 years, and if you take measures to prolong your life, you can live to 150 years or more. In addition to the extra years, you can enjoy health, vitality, clarity, and equanimity. These benefits provide a base upon which to complete spiritual practices and growth, and to pass on these insights. If your sole purpose in using these practices is to enjoy extra years of sensual self-indulgence, then you are likely to be disappointed, because they require that you genuinely want them rather than force yourself.
A Taoist is relaxed, natural, and indulges in a life that is both easy and pleasant. He or she is encouraged to cultivate better taste, healthy living, and to enjoy the beauties of taste, touch, sound, smell and carnal love. Sexual love is regarded as natural and healthy.
Taoism emphasises the harmony of man and woman, and daily non- ejaculatory sexual connection, even in old age. Thousands of years ago, they understood the phrase “use it or lose it.” Our sex organs are like the other organs in our bodies — they need regular use to stay strong and healthy. Healthy organs produce the myriad of hormones and enzymes that keep our bodies fit and young. Feeling young, sexual, and wanted is important at a psychological, emotional and spiritual level as the years pass. We are fundamentally sexual beings, and whatever our age, we need to love and be loved at all levels.
Sex involves deep physical, emotional and spiritual connection. Men and women secrete many different hormones and enzymes, and the best way to get some of them is from the body of amember of the opposite sex.
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This includes saliva, breath, sweat, genital secretions, and sometimes the breasts!24. What a delightful way of taking your medicine!
Regulation ofEjaculation
One of the secrets of vital health and long life is regular, even daily exercise of our sexual organs. However, male ejaculation represents a massive loss of nutrients and energy. In contrast, female ejaculation is regarded as harmless, and her orgasms are encouraged for the health and longevity of both partners.
Semen is a highly nutritious, life filled, valuable liquid in the male body. When the average man ejaculates, he loses around 2-5 ml of semen, which contains 200-500 million sperm cells. The semen supports these sperm cells in a liquid treasure trove of minerals, trace elements, proteins, vitamins, ions, hormones, enzymes and other nutritious substances. Up to 3 mg of zinc is lost in an ejaculation.
Taoists say that the replacement of the semen lost in an ejaculation takes 25 — 40% of a man’s daily energy output. It is even more taxing on his endocrine (glandular) and immunological systems.°“ However, the greatest loss from his semen is his vital energy, life force or life essence (chi).
Another essential liquid in the body is blood. After giving a blood donation, you feel weak for several hours or longer, and they tell you not to give another donation for four months. A blood donation has some parallels to male ejaculation. Both represent a loss of nutrients and life energy through a valuable body fluid, and requires a period of recuperation.> The Taoist sages maintained that semen has 100 times the vital power of blood.°B Regard an ejaculation as similar to a blood donation — the conscious gift of a precious resource.
The loss of nutrients from an ejaculation means that your body will recoup them from wherever else they are available. Other body systems that use those nutrients will suffer. For example, nutrients that would have been used to make digestive enzymes are diverted. Unfortunately, this is
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the beginning of a vicious circle — poor digestion means that fewer nutrients are extracted from your food, which further weakens the digestive system, and so on.
The higher mind or spirit also stagnates with excessive ejaculation, and is unable to rejuvenate itself. This is why many traditional spiritual orders around the world require celibacy.
Some Taoists maintain that excessive ejaculation leads to balding. Many men who start daily, high volume ejaculation in their early teens suffer severe loss of hair, among other emaciating symptoms.
Simone de Beauvoir, in her book Old Age, describes a typical pattern of health and sexual power for a Western man. She explains how an unfortunate man by the name of Paul Leautaud broke the three basic rules of the Tao of Loving. He:
* never knew what excessive ejaculation was for his particular body
*did not understand that ejaculation and orgasm isnot the same thing
* failed to satisfy his woman
The story goes that when Leautaud was fifty years old, he met awoman whom he called “Madame” and described as “a truly passionate woman, wonderfully equipped for pleasure and exactly to my taste.” Seven years later, they still had an active sex life, but Leautaud was feeling the strain of not being able to perform as often as his unsatisfied partner would like. He now referred to his lover as “The Panther.” Taoists recognize that this reflects the emaciated state of the man, rather than the sexual appetite of the woman.
Leautaud’s solution to his problem was to cut back further on his lovemaking. He felt inadequate and weak, and his woman became even more frustrated. Two years later, he referred to her as “The Scourge.” He still loved her, but he was tired and weak. He started masturbating — the worst possible form of release in his situation. There was no harmony of Yin and Yang in his life. He was still losing his male essence, but gaining no compensating female essence. He forfeited the touch and pleasure of a naked loving woman. Leautaud described his old age as “deep sorrow.”
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Indeed, many big spending ejaculators exhibit an unconscious anger towards women. They instinctively know that women are draining them, but are trapped ina circle of pleasure without an escape. Such men will try to regain their strength, or compensate in different ways. Megavitamins, gyms, health clubs and sports are one approach. Aphrodisiacs, hormones or drugs are another. Frequently they will seek to compensate for their dwindling sexual powers and physical strength with money or political power. A spiritual path, good friends and a loving family may slow the process, but itwill continue.
Semen isan incomparable source ofnutrients and energy when retained and recirculated to your higher vital centres. You can learn to control its loss through ejaculation with many different methods. If you feel the urge toejaculatecoming,itisquiteOK tosaytoyourwoman to“Pleasekeep still” for a minute, until the urge goes, and your erection has reduced slightly. Withdrawal is another basic means of avoiding the urge to ejaculate.>© Perineum pressure?? is a beginner’s technique that lets the man maintain control of himself without involvement of his partner. Books are available® detailing exercises to control certain muscles, tendons and the fascia of the trunk, so that genital pressure spreads over the entire body and semen 1swithheld.
The younger and stronger a man is, the more frequently he can emit. AccordingtothelegendaryTaoistdoctorSunS’su-Mo,borninAD 581:“a man of twenty can have one emission every four days. A man of thirty can have one emission every eight days. A man of forty can have one emission every ten days. A man of fifty can have one emission every twenty days. A man of sixty should no longer emit. If he is exceptionally strong and healthy he can still have one emission monthly.” He also acknowledged that aman should not withhold ejaculation for too long, or he will suffer congestion and other illnesses.
The ancient Taoist text The Classic of the Elemental Maid is more generous. The anonymous author(s) say that virile young men between the ages of fifteen and twenty may ejaculate daily or even more frequently if
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they are strong. At thirty, a strong man may ejaculate daily, most men every two days. At forty, men may ejaculate every three to four days, at fifty every five to ten days, at sixty every ten to twenty days, and at seventy every thirty days — or not at all, if they are weak.
In another ancient text, The Secret Art of the Jade Chamber, Yu Fang Pi Chueh advises that men aged twenty may ejaculate once every two days, at thirty once every three days, at forty once every four days, at fifty once every five days, and at sixty not regularly at all!24. ;
Men who only ejaculate small quantities of semen are less prone to loss of nutrients and energy. A 1-2 ml ejaculation expends proportionately less than a 5-8 ml storm.
The season is also important. Taoist Liu Ching, in The Essentials of Nurturing Life, recommends, for a middle-aged man, an ejaculation once every three days in spring, once every two weeks in summer and autumn, and not at all in winter. This coincides with when the man’s sexual essence is stronger or weaker.
A man should not ejaculate prior to a sports event or any occasion in his life where he needs high energy, strength, stamina and maximum use of his faculties. However, loving non-ejaculatory sex with awoman before such an event is highly beneficial — the mixing of both yin and yang energies and essences will harmonise, balance and empower both the man and the woman.
Research by Professor Graham Giles’° found that men who ejaculated the most in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s later had 30% less prostate cancer than those who ejaculated the least. He suggested that “semen is a very potent and strong brew of lots of chemicals which, because of their biological reactivity, could be carcinogenic if left to lie around” and that “that frequent ejaculation prevented semen from building up in the ducts, where it could potentially become carcinogenic.” This argument has merit, particularly in a modern Western man who has a toxic body. Men who cleanse their bodies using the principles in Grow Youthful (living food, exercise, good breathing, plenty of water, etc) substantially reduce their
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risk of getting any type of cancer. Note that Professor Giles did not examine the benefits of non-ejaculatory sex, which is also likely to prevent build up and stagnation. Nevertheless itis areminder that men, especially healthy young men should regularly ejaculate. This isespecially important for men who have a high level of toxic accumulation.
Withholding ejaculation is something to take on slowly. Being a frequent ejaculator and then suddenly stopping could result in a feeling of discomfort or even pain around the testicles. For anewcomer, after aweek or two without ejaculation, there may be some uncomfortable pressure around the testicles. Make these changes slowly as with other recommendations inthisbook.
Benefits
Some women may initially object to non-ejaculatory sex. They instinctively know that the semen they are receiving is a powerful mix of nutrients and life force. They may also take pleasure in the feeling of ejaculation, and the knowledge (power) that they have brought their man to genital orgasm. However, the benefits of non-ejaculatory sex will soon become apparent. The strength, vitality and confidence of her man will increase. Sex will change from a few minutes of focus on the genitals to prolonged pleasure, not only in the genitals, but also throughout the body. A man who has not yet learned how to retain his semen knows instinctively that he is slowly wilting away, and subconsciously resents or fears this loss.
Most men, who simply ejaculate whenever they have sex, never become aware ofthe full power of their sexuality. You, as a man, can learn how not to ejaculate during sex, and transform the sexual energy that would have been lost in an ejaculation up into your heart, glands, brain and nervous system. Opening these energy channels up the spine and into the “Tan Tiens” (chakras) achieves a wonderful, yet different kind of full body orgasm. The sexual energy develops into a new form of power and creativity based on personal love and awareness. It is different to ordinary physical pleasure. The intensity is so great that it often leads to a spiritual
PaEW/
awakening.
A master of Tao is not anxious about ejaculation. He is free to make
love far longer and more frequently than a man who regularly ejaculates. This is like being a gourmet who can eat an indefinite amount of food! He is not concerned about ejaculating too soon, or at all. He has a huge boost in self-confidence, because issues such as premature ejaculation and impotence disappear when he knows he can achieve an erection and maintain it for a long period. He and his partner are not worried about pregnancy.
Regulating ejaculation leads to a long life. Taoists maintain that those who have practised these techniques often live for over one hundred years. Along with longevity comes radiant good health, lack of disease, sexual ability and enjoyment, emotional and spiritual health.
Sex without ejaculation stimulates precious hormonal secretions, instead of depleting them. His genital energy is transformed into creative energy. If he practises techniques which transform his sexual energy up into his chakras, his body is further replenished. With a woman lover, their energy exchange and meditation supercharge their sexual energy.
Over time, a man who retains his semen and drives its energy back up into his body will gain some extraordinary powers, such as healing and clairvoyance.®
Sexual satisfaction, and the physical, mental and spiritual health that it creates, are reflected in the lives of the lovers. The power struggle between males and females gradually diminishes, with more harmony in work, family, relationships and personal and spiritual growth. Both men and women find this to be nourishing to their core.
Female Satisfaction AccordingtotheTao,theonlytimelovemakingcanharmawoman isifit leaves her perpetually dissatisfied. This is one reason why the Tao of Loving stresses female satisfaction as a basic principle. Another is that the only way a female can satisfy a man is if she is a willing and satisfied
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participant herself. Itisonly through Yin and Yang (polarity) communion, in complete harmony, that each can fully satisfy the other, and fully benefit the other with the exchange of essences and energy.
Taoists have studied female satisfaction in detail. Jolan Chang discusses the five classic signs of female sexual satisfaction used over the millennia,?—= and has chapters on the appropriate use of thrusting and positions. Touch is also an integral and essential part of a fully satisfying sexual relationship.*
Kissing. The Taoists regard kissing as important as the genital connection. Perhaps this is why you seldom see Chinese kiss in public — to the initiated, kissing is an integral part of the sexual act. Real kissing, deep passionate connection using your mouth, lips and tongue, involves the exchange of fluids, heat and electrical energy. Kissing is an intimate connection and penetration that completes a circuit between the lover’s heads and their genitals, and harmonises the yin and yang (the female and male).
Some women can have an orgasm from erotic kissing, most find itmore gratifying and intimate than routine genital sex. You can also carry on kissing long after the genitals are exhausted.
Provided both the man and the woman enjoy kissing, they should kiss as deeply and as often as possible. Kissing is a simple, but important part of sex, with the only barriers being psychological. The challenge is to let go of any inhibitions or restrictions. The lips, tongue and mouth are highly sensitive erotic organs, analogous to the vulva and penis.
Cleanliness. Of course, itisvital that your mouth, teeth and saliva are healthy — bad breath, sores or tooth decay could make kissing unbearable. Most people, but not everyone, prefer that both they and their partner are clean before making love. I suggest that you do not use strong perfumes, and mostly use no perfumes at all. Those who smoke, drink, or eat garlic, onions or spicy foods should be considerate of their partner, and refrain from their habit if the partner does not indulge in the same.
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Tips
* Drinking 200 — 500 ml of water before sex will help sustain a firmer erection in men, and good lubrication in women.82 As emphasised throughout Grow Youthful, sufficient water is essential for peak physical performance and functioning of all bodily systems.
¢Masturbation has an important place for both men and women (especially if you don’t have a partner!) You can try sexual techniques without the pressure of needing to perform for a partner, particularly if that partner is exciting or new. For men it is good practice to come close to the point of ejaculation, and then back off.
* Try organic coconut oil as a lubricant.
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INSIDE YOUR BODY A NEWEPIDEMIC
SWEET FOODS
umans are naturally attracted towards sweet tastes. This worked well H:: ourearlyancestors,becausemostfruits,roots,nuts,grainsand leaves that are sweet are not poisonous.
Modern food processing has discovered how to extract the sweetness from many foods whilst discarding the remainder — often the most nutritious part. The taste for sweet foods is often cultivated in childhood. Sweet things are used as a reward, a special treat, or as an emotional pick-me-up.
More than half of the calories eaten by North Americans now come from refined carbohydrates and sugars.t!4 Breads, potatoes, breakfast cereals, sugars, jams, sweets, pastries, cakes, biscuits, soft drinks, sugared drinks, sports drinks, fruit juices, pasta and white rice are all examples of unnatural foods that quickly raise your blood glucose level to unhealthy highs.
These refined flours and high sugar foods and drinks are a “food” source that our digestive systems cannot cope with. Few naturally occurring foods have such high concentrations of fast-releasing sugars that make your blood glucose level rocket, and provide a rich food in your gut and blood for yeasts and unfriendly bacteria.
In the minutes after such a meal, you will feel good as your blood glucose level rises and you feel energised. Most people get this feeling after drinking a can of soft drink, eating a chocolate bar, bread, or other high GI food. Soon after, hunger pangs, low energy, and negative moods such as irritation and anxiety can set in. In the long-term, the consequences of these foods are disastrous.
You can break the habit by avoiding concentrated sweetness in the form of sugar, sweets, cakes and pastries, ice cream, soft drinks, neat fruit juice, dried fruits and desserts. Dilute your fruit juices with two parts water to one part juice, and de-program yourself back to healthier tastes.
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METABOLIC SYNDROME
erald M Reaven, an endocrinologist at Stanford University, first coined
G:.phrase“SyndromeX”inthelate‘80s.Atfirst,hethoughtit affected only a minority of the population, but more recent and widespread research indicates that two thirds of people over 25 suffer from itin varying degrees. Most people are not even aware that they have it. Other names for Syndrome X are pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a public health problem of endemic proportions, affecting both rich and poor countries. The populations of Western countries are worst affected, but this is rapidly changing as people in poor countries abandon their traditional diets for processed and refined foods. The aggressive marketing in poor countries by industries such as soft drinks, fast food, sugar, fine milled flour, sweets and processed foods means that metabolic syndrome is now an extensive problem in virtually every city in the world.
Most people suffering the initial symptoms — aches, pains, tiredness and a general feeling of malaise — pass this off as just a natural consequence of ageing. Indeed, metabolic syndrome will age you — fast.
You do not have to be showing all the symptoms of metabolic syndrome to be suffering from it. Thin people can be ill with it. It can remain hidden for years, while the sufferer looks for the cause of symptoms like chronic fatigue, an intense craving for sweets, fluid retention, and mental problems such as depression, anger, anxiety or chronic low self-esteem. Often itis not diagnosed for decades, until several serious diseases appear.
Most of your body’s cells prefer to use glucose as the fuel source for their energy. A constant and precise supply of glucose is needed in your blood to power most of life’s processes. If your blood glucose level falls, you will quickly feel tired and weak, and even fall unconscious.
Your blood glucose level goes up after you have eaten a meal. When your blood glucose level rises, your pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into your blood. In a youthful, healthy body, the insulin swiftly reduces your blood glucose level and safely stores the excess glucose as glycogen in your
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When your blood glucose level fluctuates wildly, or remains too high for long periods, your insulin loses its effectiveness. Your pancreas produces even more insulin in a desperate effort to lower your blood glucose. Eventually your cells have a feeble response to insulin’s signals. Instead of storing the glucose as glycogen, glucose remains at a high level in your blood. Your stressed pancreas secretes more and more insulin in an attempt to reduce the dangerously high blood glucose level. In the worst cases of metabolic syndrome, insulin levels can be up to 3-4 times normal levels over many years.
Insulin. Excess levels of insulin are involved in the deterioration of each of the ageing biomarkers mentioned on page 5, along with heart disease, !4 obesity,49“ and other diseases.
Insulin is one of the few hormones whose level increases as your body ages.
Protein lowers your insulin level, so it is a good idea to have a little protein with each meal. Protein stimulates the production of glucagon, which has the effect of moderating the level of insulin in your blood.
The level of fat in your diet has little effect on your insulin or glucagon levels. This suggests that limiting sugar and refined carbohydrate should be the focus of your diet. !>?
It is possible to test for your blood insulin level, but it is a tricky and expensive test. A cheap and easy test that is closely correlated to your blood insulinlevelisthefastingtriglyceride/HDL test—usuallypartofastandard cholesterol test. Virtually all type 2 diabetics have a ratio greater than 4. If your ratio is above 4, you are ageing faster than necessary, and your blood insulin level is almost certainly way too high. Seek a ratio below 2, and ideally below 1.
liver and muscles. The glycogen is immediately available when you need the energy. Ina healthy person, glucose isstored and retrieved easily. When your insulin works correctly, itkeeps your blood glucose at a constant, moderate level. This gives you sustained energy throughout the day, both physically and mentally.
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Causes of metabolic syndrome:
* Overeating. Excessively large meals result in a high level of blood glucose for extended periods.
* A high carbohydrate, sweet, refined food diet. These “foods” have high Glycemic Indexes, which result in an excessive blood glucose level for up to 3 hours after eating them.
*Prolonged stress or depression.
*Lack ofongoing exercise.
* Stimulants such as alcohol, smoking, artificial sweeteners and caffeine, which cause the (unnecessary) secretion of insulin into your blood.
* Low muscle mass. Glycogen is stored in your muscles and liver. The less muscle bulk you have, the less glycogen can be stored. Instead of storing the glucose for later use, you suffer the horrible effects of high blood glucose, wildly fluctuating hormones, and hunger pangs. The chapter on exercise discusses the types of exercise that will most effectively build up your muscle mass.
* High body fat. Excess fat often goes hand in hand with low muscle mass. ¢ Nutritional deficiency. Apart from its high Glycemic Index, the modern Western diet is deficient in Omega-3 essential fatty acids, quality proteins, “good” oils, fibre, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. Each of these deficiencies plays a part in promoting metabolic syndrome.
* Other factors which raise your blood glucose level are a low level of salt in
your body,®? alcohol (which is chemically similar to sugar), and stimulants such as caffeine in tea, coffee and soft drinks, and nicotine in cigarettes.
Consequences ofmetabolic syndrome:
* Low energy. Insulin resistance hinders the uptake of glucose by the mitochondria (power converters) in all the cells in your body. You feel tired, weak, and have low vitality and energy most of the time.
* Hormonal imbalance. Excess insulin in particular has disastrous effects on your health and longevity. Fluctuations in glucose and hormones also cause wild swings in your moods and energy level.
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* Raised blood fats. Your body gets rid of some of the excess glucose in your blood by storing it as fat. Your triglyceride and total cholesterol levels rise.49B “Good” HDL cholesterol levels fall, and “bad” LDL cholesterol levels rise. Oxidised LDL cholesterol isdeposited as plaque around veins and arteries. The risk of heart disease increases.
* Obesity. Most people suffering from metabolic syndrome tend to put on weight, and find itparticularly difficult to shed that fat. Instead of burning glucose as energy, your body tends to store it as fat. High levels of insulin “lock up” that fat, inhibiting its sustained release into your blood for energy. Your lack of energy means you tend to exercise less, which only makes the situation worse.
Ongoing high levels of insulin trigger your hypothalamus gland to produce the hormone that makes you feel hungry. Metabolic syndrome means you will often feel hungry when itisinappropriate.
*High blood pressure.
¢ Inflammation. Amyloid proteins are produced under metabolic syndrome conditions. They are found in the blockages in blood vessels that trigger heart attacks, and are also associated with inflammation. Heart and artery disease is in part an inflammatory disease.
* Depression, anxiety, irritability, loss of memory, mental decline, chronic fatigue and a low sense of self-worth.
* Degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer, eye problems and nervous diseases. You have a high probability of developing Adult Onset, or type II diabetes.
* Ageing. High levels of insulin will age you rapidly, as will the excess free radicals and all the other consequences of metabolic syndrome listed above. High blood glucose levels act as a powerful oxidant, damaging cells, causing inflammation and rapid ageing. Continual high blood glucose levels create toxic by-products called Advanced Glycosylated End products (AGEs).
Healing metabolic syndrome. The good news is that deterioration of these biomarkers is not a normal part of the ageing process. If you follow the changes to your lifestyle and diet Irecommend, your body will heal itself and
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all of these biomarkers will reverse their decline.
The most important thing to do is eat a low Glycemic index diet. The
transition may take a couple of weeks, and you may crave sugars and sweet foods during that time. If you can eliminate sugar and all foods made with sugar, and drastically cut down on foods made with flour and refined foods, then half the battle is won. After a few weeks, you will feel so much better, the cravings will go, and itwill be easy to continue.
Exercise is the second essential. Re-building your muscles and detoxifying your body is a necessary part of the healing process. Exercise sustained for at least 30 minutes, and where you breathe deeply and do not get out of breath, is the antidote to metabolic syndrome. It burns fat, helps maintain your blood glucose at a constant level, and improves your insulin sensitivity.
Relaxation (page 56) is the third essential.
Tests for metabolic syndrome. The conventional tests for diabetes do not show ifyou have metabolic syndrome. However, ifyou measure the insulin level in your blood at the same time as the glucose level, this can diagnose metabolic syndrome. Ifyour insulin ishigh, and blood glucose is moderately high two hours after consuming a measured dose of glucose, this shows insulin resistance.
Another test for metabolic syndrome measures Glycosylated haemoglobin — the extent to which your red blood cells have become “sugar coated.” This occurs when your blood glucose level is too high over a long period. Both these tests are available through your doctor.
GLYCEMIC INDEX
he Glycemic Index (GI) is a valuable guide to healthy eating because it
i... whyregular,highconsumptionofhighGIfoodsisdangerous. The GI measures how different carbohydrate foods affect your blood glucose level for up to 2 — 3 hours after eating them. The faster your blood glucose level rises after eating the food, the higher the GI.
A Glis calculated for a particular food by feeding a portion that provides
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exactly 50 grams of carbohydrates to each of a panel of volunteers. The portions of baked potatoes and dates (which have some of the highest GI values) are minute, whereas the volunteers testing watermelon (one of the lowest values) almost had to eat a bucketful. During the next three hours, the blood glucose levels of the volunteers are measured every 15 or 30 minutes, and an average is calculated. This is compared to a reference food, usually pure glucose or fine milled white bread.
Glucose is assigned a value of 100. All other foods (except maltose, with a value of 105) have values less than 100. Foods rated below 55 have a low GI, and foods above 70 are classified as high GI. Low GI foods provide energy in a slow, sustained released form. Glucose is stored and released over a longer period, and you are less likely to feel hungry during this time. High GI foods provide a quick burst of energy, but you may be hungry sooner after eating them.
A high blood glucose level raises your insulin level and exposes your body to various toxic effects. It may be simplistic to say that low GI foods are good and high GI foods are bad, but it does seem that an excessive proportion of high GI foods in your diet, especially a high carbohydrate diet, will cause illness and ageing.
What causes a food to have a low or a high GI?
* Structure. If the food is light and fluffy and made from finely milled flour, it will have a higher GI than one that is dense, compacted and coarse. If a food isswollen or expanded from heat or water, such as baked potato, ithas a greater surface area for your digestive juices to work on, and the delicate structure of the food reacts quickly. Refined foods, and light puffed up rice cakes and “diet” crisp breads have very high Gls. Light, fluffy baked potatoes have a GI of 95! By contrast, a low GI food has large, dense, heavy particles, which take longer to digest. Traditional heavy whole grain breads and al dente pasta are healthier forms of carbohydrate.
* Sugar (type and amount). Fructose, the natural sugar in most fruits and honey, has a surprisingly low GI of 20. This is one of the reasons why fruits and vegetables are excellent foods. The lactose in milk has a low value of 46.
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The GI of white table sugar is 65, in the mid to high range. Honey is 58, and maltose, produced by some sprouting grains, is 105. The ripeness ofa fruit, or the degree to which a food is souring has a significant effect on its sugar level. For example, an under-ripe banana can have a GI of 30, and the same banana when over-ripe a GI of 52. Sweet ripe bananas can be as high as 75. Remember however, that green-picked fruit can be quite harmful (page 95). *Fibre. High levels slow down your digestion, and lower the GI. Beans, nuts and grains contain a good level of fibre.
* Fat. Fatty foods have a lower GI, because fat slows the rate at which you digest starch. Put some butter on your baked potato and you lower the GI.
It is OK to eat some high GI foods, but try to mix them with low GI foods. For example, have beans or vegetables with your favourite light French bread. Choose the largest, densest, most natural form of food — long grain, basmati and brown rice has a GI of 52-58 compared to short grain, fast cooking, Japanese style white rice at 72-75.
GLYCEMIC INDEX OF SELECTED FOODS
SUGAR
Maltose 105 Glucose 100 Sucrose (white table sugar) 65 Fructose (fruit sugar)
RICE
Glutinous rice White, instant White, short grain Brown, short grain White, long grain Brown, long grain
POTATO
White Desiree, boiled Baked
Instant
French fries
Mashed
Crisps
DAIRY
Ice cream - regular fat Ice cream - low fat Soymilk
Milk chocolate
Custard
Yogurt — plain
Yogurt -flavoured, fruit
Milk skimmed 32 Milk full fat, cows 31
DRINKS
Sports drink Lucozade Sports drink Gatorade Orange soft drink (Fanta) Orange cordial
Coca Cola
Orange juice, reconstituted Carrot juice
(fresh juiced, raw) Apple juice reconstituted
BARS & SWEETS Fruit bar
Jelly beans
Breakfast bar Fibre Plus Mars Bar
Muesli bar with dried fruit Chocolate, white
SPREADS
Honey
Jam, strawberry Marmalade, orange Peanut butter Hommos
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BREAD
White 18 Bagels 72 Whole wheat 69 Rye 63 Pitta af Whole grain 40
SNACKS & CAKES
Pancake, packet mix 102 Corn thins puffed corn cakes 87 Pretzels 83 Rice cakes puffed 82 Muffin, English Wit] Pop tart chocolate 70 Crackers, wheat 67 Cake, Angel 67 Popcorn 65 Muffin, apricot 60 coconut honey
Pastry 59 Cake, banana 50 Cake sponge plain 46 Pudding instant 46 packet & milk
Muffin, apple 44 Corn chips 42
Tomato soup 38
PASTA, GRAIN, NOODLE Buckwheat 54 Spaghetti 50
Oatmeal 49 Noodles, instant 46 Pasta, boiled 45 Fettuccine, egg, cooked 32 Noodles, Mung bean 26
(Lungkow)
BREAKFAST CEREAL
Rice crispies 85 Cornflakes 80 Puffed wheat 80 Coco Pops Ta Bran Flakes 74 Crunchy nut cornflakes 72 Shredded wheat 67 Muesli - Swiss 56 Muesli — toasted 43 Porridge oat cooked 43 Muesli - gluten free 40 All Bran with fruit & oats 39 All Bran 30
DRIED FRUIT
Dates 103 Raisins 64 Figs 61 Sultanas 56 Apricot 30 Apple a)
VEGETABLES
Parsnips boiled ml
Carrots- baked till 92 caramelised
Pumpkin
Carrots — boiled
Beetroot — canned
Sweet corn — boiled
Green peas
Peas, green frozen boiled 48 Sweet potato
Carrots — raw Tomatoes
FRUIT
Banana - ripe
Kiwi fruit
Apricot — whole Peach canned in syrup Banana -just ripe Grapes green
Orange — whole
Apple -whole Strawberries
Peach
Grapefruit 22 Cherries 23
LEGUMES
Canned Kidney beans Canned Baked beans Canned Lentils
Canned Chic peas Boiled Black eyed beans Boiled Butter beans Boiled Chic peas
Boiled Black beans Boiled Kidney beans Boiled Lentils
Boiled Pearl barley Boiled dried peas Boiled soy beans
Dahl Chic pea
NUTS
Cashew, roasted
Peanuts, roasted 13
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AGEING AND TOXIN ACCUMULATION
pes baby’sbodytissueiscleanandfresh—thesmellofan
infant confirms it. As time goes by the baby’s body slowly accumulates acidic wastes and loses its newborn perfection. The body of an aged and sick person is polluted with these wastes, both within the cells and outside the cells in fat, organs, tissues, bones and fluids. You can smell them.
The process of ageing starts from the beginning of life, and takes place even if there is no pollution in your food or environment. Food digestion, metabolism and the production of energy all produce wastes. Your health and ageing reflects how completely you are able to eliminate all wastes and other toxins, and what level remains in your cells and tissues.
If you look at a piece of aged tissue under a microscope, you will see clumps oftoxic fat, un-discarded metabolic wastes, brown pigments called lipofuscin, streaks of fibre and other degeneration. In sick and old people, there is a build up of lipofuscin deposits in the brain, heart, lungs and skin. Some of the skin age-pigments referred to as liver or age-spots are composed of lipofuscin. Alzheimer patients have higher levels of lipofuscin deposits than other people do.
The major factors that cause the accumulation of these toxins are stress in its various forms, a diet high in processed foods, lack of exercise, dehydration and pollution. Other risk factors include alcohol, smoking, caffeine, excessive or refined salt, sugar, medications and drugs (both recreational and pharmaceutical).
If you can slow the build up of these toxins in your fat, skin, joints, organs, glands and all other body tissues, you will slow your rate of ageing.
Initial signs of acid waste accumulation include:
+ feeling drowsy, tired, needing excessive sleep, weakness, low energy or hyperactivity
*bad breath and awhite coated tongue, unpleasant body odour
Die:
* skin problems such as acne, eczema, psoriasis and hives
*anxiety, depression, agitation, panic attacks, dizziness, headaches
* general aches and pains, muscular and joint pains
* a feeling of nausea and malaise
*premenstrual ormenstrual cramping
* loss of libido
* strong smelling faeces / urine, dark coloured urine. Diarrhoea or constipation
Advanced or long-term signs of acid waste accumulation include the degenerative diseases listed on page 7. This book shows you how to reduce the amount of toxins getting into your body, and help you get rid of the acid waste products that have already accumulated. You can do this with a moderate, living food diet, exercise, deep breathing, relaxation, meditation, and having an accepting, playful, thankful and positive attitude to life.
TOXIN & WASTE REMOVAL
he major organs that remove toxins from your body are your liver,
iieeelungs,kidneysandskin.Cellularwaste,andwastefrombody functions, is disposed of mainly through your faeces, urine, breath and sweat. Skin flaking, hair, nails, earwax, tears, eye mucus, “morning mouth” and phlegm all remove toxins. Your kidneys remove waste salts, ammonia, uric acid and other blood toxins, while your lungs remove carbon dioxide from the carbonic acid in your blood. Your bowel movements contain only a small portion of waste products from your body functions — they are primarily the remains of food and by-products of digestion.
If any of the cleansing functions of your organs are impaired, you will suffer a build up of toxins. A lack of movement and exercise resulting from sedentary lifestyle is usually the main cause of poor elimination. Your body dumps this waste into joints, body fat, lymph nodes, colonic
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sacculations and other nooks and crannies seemingly isolated from the bloodstream.
Fat-soluble toxins that you do not eliminate will be stored in your fat, particularly around the belly, hips, breasts and heart. The epidemic of obesity we see today isa reflection of high levels of (processed) food and low levels of elimination (exercise). Toxic fat is especially difficult to get rid of, because it is the last thing your body wants to release into your bloodstream to use as a fuel. If you burn this fat off too quickly, you will feel terrible from the toxins released into your blood. Loss of this kind of fat is best done over a period of many months or longer.
The removal of the toxic acid wastes accumulated in your body requires a two-pronged attack. First, your body must be as alkaline as possible. If your body remains too acidic, it will be difficult to dislodge the acid wastes. If you manage to shift them into your bloodstream, the high levels of toxicity will be dangerous, and you will feel ill during the process. Only after your body is more alkaline should the second step take place - the physical removal of these toxins.
Fasting, exercise, good breathing, heat and bodywork are the way to remove accumulated wastes. The stimulation of your lymphatic system is important, using exercise, heat, massage and brushing. Your lymph system connects to most major organs, and moves fluids away from tissues and back into the blood. It does not have a pump like the heart to move these fluids, but instead relies on the movement of your muscles and pressure changes from your breathing to stimulate the flow of lymph fluid. This is why aerobic exercise is an essential part of detoxification (and good health). Heat dilates (expands) your blood capillaries and lymph vessels, making it easier for these wastes to move through capillaries that may have been partially blocked for years.
It is important that you drink plenty of water while exercising and detoxifying, to assist your kidneys to remove the toxins from your blood as quickly as possible.
Bear in mind that these wastes have taken years to accumulate, and
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while their removal can be quicker, it is still a long-term task. If you can dislodge and remove accumulated wastes that are ten years old, your biological age will literally be ten years younger.
Chelation. Chelates are compounds that bind with specific metals or other toxins in your body. After binding, they are safely excreted. Sodium alginate, found in various seaweeds, is the most effective chelator for pulling radioactive materials out of your body.85P Other foods with chelating agents that protect against heavy metals and environmental contaminants such as DDT, aluminium, nitrates and nitrites include bee pollen, miso, pectin (in apples and sunflower seeds), kombucha, raw coriander leaves, the phytates in dry grains and seeds, yeast, garlic and blue-green algae.
ACID BALANCE FOOD ASH
fter digestion, the food you eat leaves a residue. Some kinds of foods ANGiaanalkalineresidue,someacidic.
If a food like a lemon tastes acid, and has an acidic pH of 3.5, you might ask how it can be alkaline-forming. The answer is that its acidic taste comes from organic acids in the raw fruit that are burnt away when you digest and metabolise it. What is important are the residual minerals such as potassium and magnesium that remain in the “ash.” It is similar to burning the lemon ina fire, and then testing the ash to see what minerals are left.
These elements are acid-forming: bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, copper, phosphorus, silicon and sulphur. They react with alkaline mineral reserves in your body, and make your urine more acid. Foods and other substances that contain a high proportion of these minerals are acid- forming.
The major alkaline-forming minerals are calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, nickel and manganese. Foods, drinks and water that contain a high portion of these minerals are alkaline-forming,
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and they make your urine more alkaline.
Unfortunately, our digestive systems do not burn food as completely as
a fire would. Partly burned waste products that remain are acidic. The less healthy and efficient your digestive system, the more acid are the wastes. Your body elimination systems are concerned with getting them out — hence sweat and urine are usually acidic.
Acid by-products from your metabolism include acetic acid, lactic acid, uric acid and carbonic acid. Powerful hydrochloric, sulphuric and phosphoric acids are made from the chlorine, sulphur and phosphorus in our food. Hydrochloric acid is the centre of the digestive process. After the food has been through your stomach, these powerful acids must be neutralised, and sufficient alkaline salts are required to do this. Good health and digestion are dependent upon having strong acids in your stomach, and sufficient alkaline salts, particularly carbonates of calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium.
Acidosis is when your body fluids have a tendency to be too acid, and is the cause of many degenerative diseases. Acid wastes can appear as crystalline deposits in joints (arthritis), or as kidney and liver stones. 99.9% of people have a body that is too acid.47© The more acidic your body is, the more you are open to infection by yeasts, bacteria, mould, viruses or fungi.43-93P Not only are these microforms dangerous in themselves, but they also excrete additional toxins as they digest your body’s glucose and nutrients. Kidney and urinary tract infections and candida are common in acid environments.
Acidosis means you have excess hydrogen in your body. Your body also neutralises these hydrogen-based acids with oxygen, resulting in a constant depletion of you internal oxygen. A theme in Grow Youthful is the different ways that you can increase the level of oxygen in your body (exercise, deep breathing and fresh air).
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ALKALINE RESERVES
ach of us has reserves of alkaline minerals in our bodies, primarily
bee andcalcium.Whenweeatmoreofthesemineralsthanare needed at the time, they are stored mainly as sodium and calcium bicarbonate, and are available when required. Most of these reserves exist as a buffer that is stored in your blood plasma.
pH (potential hydrogen) is a measure of acidity or alkalinity, with 1.0 the most acidic, 7.0 neutral and 14.0 the most alkaline. Your body tissues, and in particular your blood, require a precise pH level for good health.
Ideally, your urine and saliva should have an average pH of 6.4432 Their pH can vary by the minute, depending on what you have just eaten and whether your alkaline reserves are being drawn upon.
Your blood should have amildly alkaline pH of7.365. Ifitvaries even slightly from this normal pH level, itdraws on your reserves to correct it. A fast response isrequired, because the wrong blood pH will rapidly result in illness or death. Initially, your sodium bicarbonate reserves are used. If they run out, then the calcium bicarbonate and other alkaline minerals reserves are next in line.
Calcium is essential for healthy bones, nerves, muscles, cardiovascular and kidney functions. Your body contains nearly a kilogram ofcalcium, ofwhich about 99% isinyour bones.
Calcium is one of the major elements used in maintaining your blood’s pH, and consequently the acid / alkaline balance of your entire body. Calcium works in concert with the other acid neutralisers, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese and magnesium. Your body monitors your blood’s pH and calcium levels, and ifeither ofthem falls, itquickly draws on the reserves of calcium bicarbonate in your blood plasma. If your plasma reserves are insufficient, calcium is taken from your bones.
Under long-term acid conditions, your bone density will decrease and you will suffer from osteoporosis. When you have no reserves left and calcium has to be taken from your bone structure, your spine and pelvic bones are usually the first to suffer. From 10 — 40% of the calcium may be
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leached from mature bones before the loss can be seen on an X-ray.44B Calcium intakes vary widely around the world, from a low of around 300 mg / day in India, to 400 in Hong Kong, 1000 in the USA and
Australia, and 1400 in some Scandinavian countries. Interestingly, hip fractures are higher, not lower, in those countries where people consume the most calcium.®>
These statistics show that a high calcium diet does not prevent osteoporosis and bone loss or weakening. Advertisements encouraging us to drink milk and eat dairy products are sponsored by the dairy industry, and are misleading. The degenerative diseases caused by dairy products are described on page 190. Milk today is pasteurised and homogenised, and the calcium in this unnatural form is difficult to digest. These processed dairy products are highly acid-forming, and although a cup of milk contains nearly 300 mg of calcium, the little you are able to assimilate is lost in combating the acidity it forms.
Wheat products may cause hypocalcemia (calcium deficiency) and the recommended treatment isawheat-free diet.
The best sources of calcium are leafy green vegetables, legumes, onions, seaweeds, nuts, seeds (especially sesame seeds), sardines (with bones) and eggs. The calcium in these foods is easily digested and available to your body.
Potassium is needed by your muscles, heart, endocrine and nervous systems. Potassium assists in maintaining the pH balance in your blood, in concert with sodium. The sodium / potassium ratio is a long-term determinant of heart and kidney health. A diet with lots of animal products and processed foods is high in sodium, whereas a diet high in fruits and vegetables is high in potassium. Simply eat more fruits and vegetables (especially bananas) to improve the ratio.
The best sources of potassium are fruits and vegetables, molasses, nuts and seeds, wheat germ and brown rice. Sugar, refined salt, coffee and alcohol all leach potassium from your body.
Sodium occurs in your body mainly as salt — sodium chloride. Your
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blood sodium level is maintained in a narrow range, and deviations from itcan have a catastrophic effect. Salt is lost through sweat and urine, and is replaced from your diet. Most people consume excessive salt — the only people who need to replenish it are those who sweat a lot, exercising in hot environments.
Refined table salt is apoor source of sodium. If you buy salt ensure that it is un-refined sea salt, not processed and denatured supermarket salt (page 199). The best sources of sodium include celery, okra and goat’s milk. Salty meats such as bacon, ham and corned beef are poor foods, high in refined sodium chloride. White meats such as chicken, duck, lamb and pork contain more potassium than sodium.44©
FOOD ACIDITY
typical Western diet with a large proportion of processed and fast
AS ishighlyacid-forming.Theexcessivesugarandhigh proportion of (refined) carbohydrates are primarily responsible for the severe acid effect.
Good health and longevity require a balanced diet with a slightly acid to slightly alkaline overall effect, depending on your state of health, level oftoxicity, the food that you are used to, the season, the climate and most importantly, what feels good. We all need some acid-forming foods for good health. The point to bear in mind is the net effect of your diet and lifestyle. Ifyou live a busy, stressed life in a polluted city in summer in a hot climate, then more alkaline-forming foods will help to combat all these acid effects. Conversely, in winter in a cold climate you may be inclined to eat a hot meaty broth rather than a raw salad. The extreme meat eaters among humans are the Canadian Inuit (Eskimos), who consume mostly raw meat, fish and blubber, and remain healthy and vital on their traditional yet acid-forming diet.
A diet of alkaline-forming foods is a necessary preparation for fasting, colon cleansing and detoxification. However, people who live on such diets for long periods are usually gaunt and not particularly healthy.
If you eat an acid food, you can counter its effect by eating an alkaline food. For example, ifyou have some meat, cheese, eggs or refined bread, the acid effect can be neutralised with fresh vegetables. You can offset an acid meal hours later, with a melon.
The foods with the most alkaline-forming effect on your body are raw, unprocessed, fresh, organic, wild and ripe.
Nearly all fruits are alkaline-forming. The most alkalising are lemons and melons, followed by dates, figs, limes, mangos and pawpaw (papaya). The only acid-forming fruits are tomatoes, pomegranates, cranberries, plums and prunes.
Vegetables are alkaline-forming. The strongest are asparagus, parsley, all kinds of seaweed and watercress. Potatoes are acid-forming, but less so when eaten with their skins. Vegetable oils are all neutral, with olive oil being slightly alkaline-forming. Fresh cold pressed seed oils that have never been heated are also slightly alkaline-forming. Fruit, herb and vegetable juices, fresh squeezed in a slow juicer, are alkaline-forming. Commercially produced bottled juices bought in the supermarket can be acid-forming. Most herbs are alkaline-forming. Most spices (especially ginger) are slightly alkaline-forming. Apple cider vinegar or brown rice vinegar is slightly alkaline-forming and is a good digestive aid. White household vinegar is strongly acid-forming and should be avoided, along with refined table salt.
Dried beans are mildly acid-forming, but after they are sprouted, they are mildly alkaline-forming. Fresh beans and peas are alkaline-forming, especially if they are green. Soybean products such as soymilk, tofu, tempeh and soy cheese are neutral. The fermented soy products miso and tamari are alkaline-forming, but soy sauce is acid-forming.
All grains and seeds in the form ofbreads, cereals and pastas are acid- forming. Wheat is the most acidic, possibly because its high phytate content combines with alkaline minerals and carries them out the body. If the grains have been processed by having the husks or germ removed, they become very acid-forming. Bleached, refined white flours, and fluffy
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short grain white rice are extremely acid-forming.
Amaranth, millet and quinoa are neutral. Arrowroot flour is a good
alkaline-forming substitute for other flours and thickeners.
If the grains have been sprouted before cooking, or are whole and unrefined, this reduces their acidity. Raw sprouted grains are alkaline-
forming.
Almonds, chestnuts and coconuts are slightly alkaline-forming, but
most other nuts are slightly acid-forming. Roasting them makes them more acid-forming. Soaking nuts for a few hours makes them more alkaline-forming, and much easier to digest.
All meat, fish, eggs and poultry are acid-forming. Of these, fish and shellfish are the least acid-forming, followed by organic or wild birds and small animals. Smoked, processed and cured meats such as bacon, ham, salami, lunchmeats and hot dogs are made with nitrates and nitrites that are carcinogenic. They are dead, refined salt-processed foods with little nutritional value. Pork is the most acidifying of all commercial meats. It is hard on your liver, possibly because pork fat (lard) is difficult to digest. Pork consumption, especially with alcohol, may lead to cirrhosis of the liver.
Pasteurised dairy products have an acid-forming effect in your body, even though their calcium content would suggest otherwise. Animal fats like butter or lard are neutral to slightly acid-forming.
Sugar is extremely acid-forming in spite of the fact that when you burn it,itbreaks down into carbon, water and carbon dioxide, leaving no ash. Sugar’s acidity comes from its ability to grab oxygen with the highest priority.444 Natural sugars, such as brown rice syrup, honey and dried sugar cane juice are slightly alkaline-forming. Any form of processing makes them acid-forming. Artificial sweeteners are the worst — stay away from them!
Drinks. Alcoholic drinks are extremely acid-forming. The most acid are the cheap, strong, mass produced spirits, beers and wines. Fine wines, beers and brews hand made with organic ingredients are better, but still
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very acid-forming. Tea and coffee are very acid-forming, more so ifthey are cheap brands taken with milk and sugar. Herbal coffee substitutes are slightly acid-forming.
Caffeinated or carbonated soft drinks (sodas) are the worst of all. They contain sugars or artificial sweeteners in concentration, phosphoric acid and a variety of other toxic chemicals. They leave a complex acid waste after being “digested”, and rob your body of oxygen. A typical glass of cola has a highly acid pH of 2.5. Sang Whang*4P calculates that 32 glasses of alkaline water (not even normal water!) are required to neutralise one glass of cola. Soft drinks are one of the most insidious killers in our society today.
Water has little effect on your acid-base balance unless it has an alkaline pH. Ideally, your water should contain a range of alkaline minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron and manganese as alkaline hydroxides.
ACID /ALKALINE FORMING FOODS
VERY ALKALINE
Raw, Fresh, Wild/Organic, Ripe-picked Slow-squeezed fresh fruit, vegetable and herb juices Raw vegetables (except potato), seaweeds
Fresh herbs
Raw fruit
Beans, grains and seeds -sprouted
SLIGHTLY ALKALINE
Dried herbs, herbal teas
Lightly cooked vegetables
Raw nuts
Fresh spices
Honey, natural fruit sugars
NEUTRAL
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Vegetable oils
Soybean products -soymilk, tofu, soy cheese
Beans -boiled
Roasted nuts
SLIGHTLY ACID
Whole grains, raw seeds, brown rice
Wholegrain breads, whole cereals, heavy pasta
Supermarket bottled fruitjuices -reconstituted
Fish and shellfish
Tea, coffee
Poultry
Fine wine, hand made beers
Butter, cheese, cream, milk, eggs
VERY ACID
Refined breads, cakes, biscuits, white rice, light pasta, potato
Salt (refined), white vinegar, tomato sauce, supermarket mayonnaise Red meat
White sugar, artificial sweeteners, drugs, cheap alcoholic drinks Soft drinks, both sugared and diet. Sports drinks
Processed meats
Cooked, Unripe, Sweetened, Preserved, Canned, Smoked, Dried Grown with, or contains any kind of manufactured chemicals
Old, Refined, Burned, Deep-fried, Browned
STOMACH ACIDITY
ne ofthe keys to good health is an effective digestive system. If you
O*, extractallthenourishmentyouneedfromthefoodyoueat,your body will self-repair and function at its peak. Sadly, most Western adults suffer from a tired, inefficient and sick digestive system. This is caused by years of eating dead food, overeating, the stress and pollution of our modern lives, and by other poor habits such as eating on the run, iced drinks and drinking while eating.
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Your stomach needs to be very acid. Insufficient stomach acidity leads to poor digestion, and is the root cause of many diseases. Symptoms of weak stomach acid include gas, burping and heartburn immediately after a meal. The food seems to sit in the top of your stomach and digests slowly. Indigestion, constipation, bad breath, undigested food in your stools and weak and cracked fingernails are further symptoms. In the long term, insufficient acid can lead to many degenerative diseases, including eczema, hives, asthma, food allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, “leaky gut” and chronic infections of parasites or yeasts.
One ofthe first symptoms of digestive problems ispoor production of hydrochloric acid (HCl) in your stomach. HCl breaks down the food you eat into amino acids and other components. Strong HCl breaks down your food easily, cleans up waste by-products, and kills and digests harmful bacteria, parasites and fungi. Many amino acids, vitamins and minerals depend on strong HCI for absorption, and if your stomach is not acid enough, you will be deficient in these micronutrients.
Heartburn and reflux are caused by too little acid in your stomach, not too much! If your stomach is not acid enough, food sits in your stomach for too long, and eventually the fermenting gases push some of it up, burning your throat. Do not use antacid tablets. They contain aluminium and indigestible calcium, will harm your body, and have no benefits whatever. Indigestion, poor absorption, bloating and gas are also caused by insufficient stomach acid.
For many people the cure is easy. Liquid whey is the simplest, most natural and traditionally used solution to increasing your stomach’s acidity. I take a tablespoon every day, and particularly before a meal containing protein. The whey I am referring to here is the acidic, clear liquid that remains after you make curds or cheese from milk (NOT whey powder). You can make the best whey yourself, using kefir (page 343). I know several people who have healed long-term degenerative diseases with this single remedy.
If you are unable to obtain liquid whey, try a tablespoon of apple cider
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vinegar (ACV), an EM brew (page 347), lemon juice or a teaspoon of Swedish bitters in a small glass of water half an hour before meals. In many cases, this will relieve your symptoms. ACV is particularly effective.
If your symptoms have not cleared up after a couple of months, a stronger cure is to take hydrochloric acid (HCl) or betaine hydrochloride capsules (except if you have a peptic ulcer or are taking any kind of anti- inflammatory medication). Take a capsule or tablet at the start of a meal. If there is no burning or warming in your stomach, take another a couple of minutes into the meal. Over a few days, experiment to see how many capsules ittakes to achieve the warming, and then drop back to below that level. As your stomach rights itself over weeks or longer, you will need fewer capsules.
CANDIDA
andida is a yeast, one of around 500 bacteria and fungi (flora) present
@.yourintestines.Thesenaturalgutfloramakevitamins (particularly B12), steroids and fatty acids, break down toxins, help to digest and absorb nutrients, prevent the overgrowth of yeasts, parasites and bad bacteria, and are essential for the healthy functioning of your digestive system.
Candida albicans normally reproduces slowly, in a process called budding. If your gut is healthy, there is lots of competition between the different bacteria and fungi, and the candida’s reproduction is restricted. However, if the balance of micro-organisms in your gut is upset, the candida can proliferate out of control. The usual cause is antibiotics (page 303). Other causes include sugar, insufficient stomach acidity, chronic stress, environmental toxins, and drugs such as oral contraceptives, antacids and steroids.
Antibiotics kill all the bacteria in your gut indiscriminately — the good and the bad. Candida is not a bacterium and is unharmed by the antibiotics, so suddenly ithas no competition and can reproduce rapidly.
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It changes its method of reproduction, producing tubes or rhizoids. These tubes penetrate your intestinal tissue and blood vessels, exposing your blood to yeasts and the by-products of digestion.
In these circumstances, you are likely to develop allergies to the foods you eat most frequently. Your immune system sees the partially digested proteins in your blood as invaders (antigens), and responds by forming antibodies. The more you eat the food, the stronger the sensitivity or allergy reaction. The foods that candida sufferers most commonly react to are wheat, corn, soy and dairy products.
An overgrowth of candida produces large amounts of two toxins — alcohol and acetaldehyde. The effects of alcohol are well known. It is possible for a teetotaller suffering candida to be “drunk” most of the time. Many cases of children and adults behaving as if they were drunk have cleared up after removing a candida colony. Candida can be devastating during the early stages of pregnancy, when the foetus is so susceptible to alcohol.
Acetaldehyde affects brain function, making sufferers feel fuzzyheaded and unable to think clearly. The two toxins can cause mood swings and being irrational.
Other symptoms of candida include chronic yeast or fungal infections (often in the vagina, between the toes or on the nails), digestive problems such as flatulence or irritable bowel syndrome, alternating diarrhoea / constipation, abdominal bloating, PMS, muscle and joint pains, and ongoing fatigue.
Candia thrives when there is lots of sugar in your gut. People suffering from candida have cravings for sweet foods. Typically they will have a sugar-forming meal, feel good immediately after, but suffer flagging energy an hour or two later. Again, they will reach for a chocolate bar or something sweet, and the cycle continues.
If you suffer from a candida overload, it is important to eliminate all sugar in your diet, and refined high Glycemic index foods like pastries, breads, cakes, sweets, jams, fruit juices and soft drinks. Other foods that
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promote candida include alcohol, bakers and brewers yeast, mushrooms, mouldy foods, dried fruits, wheat and corn based products, fruits (especially sweet or mouldy fruit), white vinegar, pickles, dairy products (except kefir and sour yogurt) and some soy products. Many grains are contaminated with fungi.
Foods that provide good flora to help re-establish a balance in your intestines include unsweetened natural yogurt and kefir (see page 343). Coconut oil provides lauric acid, a natural anti-fungal that suppresses candida growth. Garlic is another useful anti-fungal food. From health food shops, you can buy capsules containing olive leaf extract, grapefruit seed extract, or oregano oil. You can also buy capsules containing lactobacillus acidophilus, saccharomyces boulardii and bifidobacteria to re-establish good bacteria.
For the first few days or weeks oftreating a candida infection, you may feel worse. As the yeasts die off they release toxins quicker than your body can eliminate them, causing fatigue, aches, pains and headaches. Drink plenty of water and herbal teas. A chronic candida infection may take months to heal.
FASTING
ave you noticed how animals and children stop eating when they are
lhe Fastingisaneffectivecureformanydiseases.Theancient Greeks fasted for health and long lives, and were renowned for their robust bodies. Fasting is frequently mentioned in the bible, and Jesus often fasted, sometimes for up to forty days. Taoist and Hindu masters require their students to fast for long periods to purify their minds and bodies, particularly before introducing them to advanced precepts. Fasting is the most effective method of cleansing your body, including your blood, organs, and all bodily tissues. In this age of pervasive pollution, it is more important than ever in warding off premature ageing and degeneration of your body due to toxicity.
Fasting need not mean total abstention from all food. If you are eating
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a poor diet, high in processed, fast or restaurant foods, then a seven-day detoxification fast that includes all the major food groups can be a delight to indulge in. Such a fast would include mostly raw fruit and vegetables. Stricter fasts may include only raw, fresh and organic fruit or vegetable
juice. Fasts should always include sufficient quantities of clean, mineral- rich water.
Fasting increases your energy level in the short-term (like missing one or a few meals) because digestion requires a lot of energy. Within twenty- four hours of reducing your food intake, your body starts to break down waste matter such as dead and damaged cells, metabolic wastes, salts accumulated in joints, various cysts and lumps, cancerous cells, pollutants, and harmful microbes. Your organs and glands get a much- needed rest, during which the enzyme power that would have been used for digestion is instead available for repair, detoxification and healing.
Fasting stimulates the production of human growth hormone, which can reverse your ageing — see below.
Fasting cleanses your entire body, right down to the cellular level, and purifies your blood. Your blood delivers nutrients and oxygen to the cells in your body, and collects the metabolic wastes from them. Blood circulates all the components of your immune system — T-cells, enzymes and other factors. If your blood is functioning poorly, you will be low in energy, high in toxins, and have a weak immune system. Symptoms include acne and pimples, liver spots on your skin, foul perspiration and body odour, and bad breath.
Fasting is one of the most effective immune-system boosters. When properly conducted, fasting can cure virtually all diseases including cancer, and rebuild your immune system. Other benefits of fasting include cleansing the lymph fluids, repairing tissues and healing internal and external injuries.
Fasting has a cleansing effect on your mind, increasing your awareness and concentration. Throughout the centuries, fasting has been associated with the development of spiritual awareness.
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When you fast, the waste products released from fat are more acidic than those normally in your body are. Therefore, there is a heavy drawdown on your alkaline mineral reserves. It is important that your body is as alkaline as possible prior to fasting, and that you replace the alkaline salts lost while fasting.
Avoid fasting in the winter, and be gentle on yourself if you have a strong vata constitution.
An effective way to detoxify and balance the pH of your entire alimentary canal is to eat nothing but fresh fruit for one to five days (it is best to do this under the supervision of an experienced practitioner). Fresh fruits are even more cleansing to the digestive tract than vegetables. Preferably, select just one variety of fruit, the best choices being grapefruit, black grapes, lemon (as juice, diluted with water), watermelon or apple. It is most effective for cleansing to consume the fruit as a juice, but you can also eat itwhole.
Human growth hormone (HGH). Raising your level of HGH is an effective means of reversing several of the biomarkers of ageing, and feeling and looking younger. There are two ways you can raise your HGH level: with injections of the synthetic hormone, at great risk and expense; or by getting your own pituitary gland to make it.
Injections of synthetic HGH significantly improve skin strength and thickness and bone density. In as little as a month, it can markedly improve your lean body mass and body fat. Getting your body to make its own HGH can achieve the same effects.
Natural HGH reaches its highest level in growing children. A deficiency in childhood causes dwarfism. HGH boosts tissue and bone growth in children, assists with the uptake of amino acids and fats, and helps with tissue repair. Doctors inject itinto patients who have suffered severe soft tissue trauma or burns.
Adults have some HGH in their bodies, but the level decreases with age. People with an ageing related deficiency of HGH become flabby, frail, fat, lethargic, grumpy, tire easily, lose interest in sex, have trouble
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sleeping, concentrating, remembering things and lose their zest for life. The good news isthatthese symptoms ofHGH deficiency arereversible. The beneficial effects of synthetic HGH are not permanent. When you
stop taking it,your body reverts to itsprevious state. The risks involved in taking synthetic HGH are just too great. Cancer and complex hormonal imbalances are associated with taking this chemical. Excess bone growth (acromegaly) and carpal tunnel syndrome are also possible consequences.
The only way to get safe, natural, effective, low cost youthful levels of HGHfortherestofyourlife,withoutanysideeffects,istomakeyour own. Grow Youthful discusses each of these techniques in more detail:
¢ Fasting
¢ Weight-bearing exercise. (A study showed that strength in elderly men is not enhanced by synthetic HGH injections ifthey are also doing weight training!.4F )
* Meditation
* Diet. A low carbohydrate, moderately high protein diet is the most effective. In addition, the amino acid arginine found in raw nuts, grains and beans stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete elevated levels of HGH ¢Sufficient relaxation and sleep
*The factors that cause metabolic syndrome also inhibit the production of HGH. A high carbohydrate high Glycemic index diet, with lots of “bad” fats and a high fat to muscle ratio all reduce the level of HGH in your body. The more insulin there is in your blood, the less HGH. !4E
PARASITES
s many as 95% of us have some form of parasite in our body, ranging
AS tapewormsseveralmetreslongtotinywormsandcystslittle larger than bacteria. There are thousands of different parasites that can infect the human body, although you are unlikely to be exposed to more than a few of them while living in one place. They have different life and breeding cycles. Most are located in the gut and digestive system, but the
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majority of your soft tissues are susceptible.
Most parasites enter your body through your mouth and the food you
eat, and reside in your gut. Others enter your body through your skin. If your skin is exposed to infected soil or water, the flukes can burrow through it and start their life cycle. If parasites are left untreated, some will eventually burrow through your gut and then infect other organs in your body. Parasites that have found their way into your liver, lungs and other organs can be difficult to treat.
Strong stomach acidity (page 282) is a good protection against parasites inyour food and drink. Ifyour stomach isnot acid enough, many parasites (or their eggs) and bacteria are able to pass undamaged through your stomach and infest the remainder of your digestive tract.
Initial symptoms of parasite infection include dark rings under the eyes, and niggling intestinal disturbances such as rectal itching, bloating, excessive gas and diarrhoea. Later, you may suffer weight loss, anaemia, allergies, skin complaints and fatigue. Advanced symptoms include a wide variety of degenerative diseases.
If you are not in perfect health, it is worth taking a herbal parasitic treatment every year or two, whether you are aware of any parasite symptoms or not.
Of those herbs that may be in your pantry, raw garlic, cloves and turmeric have anti-parasitic properties. Other herbs used include green hull of black walnut, wormwood, elecampane and extract of grapefruit seed. Herbs are an excellent general, long-term, and preventative parasite treatment. However, if you have a specific infection that has been identified, and a treatment exists for that particular parasite, a tablet or injection can often prove faster and more effective.
Wash your hands before meals and food preparation (yes, grandma was right).
Pets are a source of parasites. Keep them de-wormed, and do not let your pets come into contact with your food or food preparation areas.
Some parasites are highly infectious. Ifone member ofyour family has
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pinworms, for example, all members should be treated. (Pinworms are small white worms that you can clearly see in your faeces). Sometimes a worm tablet is the fastest and most effective means of treating the whole family together. At the same time, the toilet should be thoroughly cleaned, including the door handle, light switch and flushing button. Underpants and pyjama pants should be changed. Bed sheets, pillow cases and towels should also be changed, as the eggs are laid on the outside of the anus at night while the infected person sleeps.
Dirty fingernails are acommon place where worm eggs accumulate, so children in particular should have fingernails kept short and clean.
EXCRETION
t feels great to have a soft, complete, comfortable and voluminous
aaa atleastonceeveryday.Thereasonitfeelssogoodisthatan important detoxification system in your body is working correctly. It should take less than a minute, and be a pleasant experience.
For many people in the industrialised west, defecation is not like this. There is an element of (sometimes substantial) strain to eliminate. People sit on the toilet for many minutes, sometimes even long enough to read a book! Constipation is common, and can be painful. There is often a frustrated feeling that a little bit more still needs to come.
Ifyou are constipated, you may be:
¢drinking insufficient water *eating aprocessed food diet *sitting, rather than squatting
A course of colonics (page 293) can also make a dramatic difference ifyou are frequently constipated or have difficulty going to the toilet.
It is a good idea to squat rather than sit on a toilet. Every animal squats, and most people throughout the world squat, especially those in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is mainly in the industrialised west,
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where the modern “sit up” toilet is ubiquitous, that people suffer from toilet strain and all the consequences.
When you sit on a toilet, the lower end of your descending colon is bent. To evacuate your bowels requires a major muscular effort. This straining has several nasty consequences. The force can burst the minute blood vessels around the anal sphincter, causing bleeding piles or haemorrhoids. The strain can also cause varicose veins in the legs or a distended colon. It is a lot of wasted and unpleasant effort.
When you squat, your colon is aligned with your rectum and anus, making elimination easy and effortless.
How do you squat when every toilet is of the sit up type? One option is to squat on the toilet seat. Be aware that it can be a dangerous practice, as sit-on toilets are not designed to be squatted on, and there have been some nasty accidents when bowls have broken or collapsed. Another option is to buy a “Squatters platform” — a strong U shaped unit, the same height as the toilet bowl that fits around the sides and front of your bowl.
A good exercise to heal piles or haemorrhoids is anal sphincter contraction. Several times a day, take a deep breath and contract your anus three or four times. Hold the last contraction for a few seconds, and then relax while exhaling. Repeat the sequence two or three times. This exercise greatly assists with removing stale blood from the fine network of damaged capillaries around the anus.
If you are seriously constipated, do not use commercial laxatives — they only create dependence. The diet recommended in this book will regulate your digestive system to produce stools that are neither too soft nor too hard. The vegetable part of this diet is the most important component, especially soft, watery summer vegetables. Also ensure you are drinking enough water. Psyllium seed husks are a natural laxative, and can be sprinkled on your salad, muesli etc. They are like blotting paper, so it is a good idea to soak them before use.
Urine should be colourless, straw coloured or light yellow. If it is a dark yellow, orange or even brown, you are dehydrated, and your kidneys
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are under strain working at this level of concentration.
Sweat is another of the means that your body uses to eliminate acid
toxic wastes. It is necessary and healthy that you sweat to some extent. Perspiration keeps your skin acid, killing viruses and bacteria.
COLON CLEANSING
fyou have been eating pasteurised dairy products, cooked concentrated
(eae refinedflours,andprocessedfoods,thenyoualmostcertainly have a build-up of toxic mucus waste around your lower intestine, and possibly throughout your digestive system.
Remember that the lining of your colon sloughs off every 24-48 hours (page 8). Surgeons who have examined many colons, old and young, report that the inside of your gut is usually a pinkish colour, much like the inside of your mouth. The acidic mucus accumulation is not on the inside of your colon, but rather in the surrounding area.
Children as young as five can have mucus accumulation around their colons. Most adults who have eaten this kind of diet for decades have a toxic build-up in their lower intestine and a gut that hangs out over their belt.
Symptoms include an irritable gut, and sensitivity to certain (bad) foods with pain or bloating in the lower intestine after eating them. Your colon will not be able to maintain the correct water balance in the final stage of your digestion, and you will suffer from constipation or diarrhoea. Of course, such a colon provides the base for diseases and rapid ageing.
The best way to remove this accumulated waste is with fasting (page 286), alkaline foods and a series of colonic irrigations.
You can do a colonic at a colon clinic, or in your own home. It is best to get some professional guidance before doing iton your own. Ina clinic, a session takes 45-60 minutes. Between 25 and 70 litres of warm to tepid filtered water is gravity-fed through a small tube inserted in your rectum, and is gently used to flush the entire length of your large intestine. The therapist uses massage and pressure points to work loose and eliminate
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additional waste.
A more gentle alternative to a colonic is an enema using an enema bag,
tube and tap. Between % and two litres of filtered water gently flow down the tube into the rectum and lower colon. This is a procedure you can do yourself while kneeling on the bathroom floor, with your head down on the floor. Leave the water in for a few minutes or as long as you can, beforelettingitflowoutintothetoilet. AHigginson’s syringeisasimilar device you can get at most chemists — it has a rubber bulb for the water, rather than an enema bag.
A colonic may also wash out some of your beneficial intestinal flora and valuable nutrients. Your cleaned colon will immediately begin to grow good intestinal flora again, but it is a good idea to assist their replacement with products such as yogurt, kombucha and kefir. There is a small risk of infection from improperly cleaned equipment, especially if you suffer from haemorrhoids.
Do not expect to clean your colon completely with the first visit. You will likely feel cleansed and cathartic after each colonic, but ifyou have a toxic build up around your lower and upper colon, full removal can take ten or more sessions, and may require a special diet and fasting. Powdered psyllium seed husk, herbal cleansers and Bentonite all have powerful cleansing and detoxifying abilities, and are recommended along with a juice or living food fast during a course of colonics.
Emotions and painful memories are often stored in the colon. A colonic can feel great, but it can also tap and release these emotions. If strong feelings arise during the process, stay with it and allow the release of whatever is bottled up. You may also suffer symptoms such as nausea or headaches during or after the procedure — again this is a good sign, as it indicates the release of toxins. Go gently on yourself however, ifyou feel awful ease up on the severity of the colonics and your diet.
After colonic treatment, you can expect a clearer skin, more energy, mental clarity and fewer headaches. Circulatory, immune and weight problems often improve, among other positive side effects. In the long-
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term, a toxic colon can be responsible for a wide range of degenerative diseases.
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OUTSIDE YOUR BODY
ur early ancestors spent virtually all their waking hours outside in the
(ye air,subjecttotherhythmsofthesun,themoon,andtheseasons. They were immersed in daylight, ambient temperature, the wind and the rain. They could feel the air pressure and humidity, and were aware of the coming changes in the weather.
Today most of us are living and working indoors all the time. Our houses, schools, offices, cars and shops provide artificial environments. They often have sealed windows and air conditioning, temperature control, electric lighting and high levels of noise. We live in an artificial environment.
NANO-POLLUTION
ur Stolen Future,©® published in 1996, warns that our body chemistry,
O%, particularlyourhormonalsystems,arefarmoresensitivethanhad previously been realised. Only minute quantities of some manmade chemicals — at a concentration equivalent to a single drop in several Olympic sized swimming pools — over long periods can cause cancers, infertility, and mental disorders such as hyperactivity and ADD. These symptoms also apply to wildlife. Deformities, behavioural changes affecting migration, reproductive and social activities, and sterility are but some of the affects being documented.
Exposure to small quantities of a cocktail of toxins is thought to be more detrimental than exposure to a similar quantity of a single toxin. Professors Ana Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein at Boston’s Tufts University tested for the levels at which known carcinogens would individually cause proliferation of breast cancer cells. They then made cocktails of 5 to 10 of them, each at one tenth of the dose at which they were effective individually. These cocktails were many times more powerful, producing a rapid proliferation of breast cancer cells.4° Over 500,000 new manmade chemicals have been released into the environment around the world since the end of the Second World War.
Studying the effects of different pollutants is particularly difficult
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because ofthe:
*low concentrations involved.
*complexity. Thousands of different chemicals are in the environment, many of which interact with each other.
* long time periods. The effects can take decades to manifest.
You have no hope of avoiding all pollutants, no matter where you live in the world today. Even polar bears “are highly contaminated with industrial chemicals, including PCBs, the pesticide DDT, and several other persistent man-made compounds...”©°4 You can choose to live in a city, commute in the traffic every day, or live close to industry and other forms of pollution. This is not necessarily an unreasonable choice, but be aware of the higher load of pollutants to which you will be subjected.
There are steps you can take to protect yourself. They boil down to minimising the load of pollutants entering your body, and maximising their elimination. The elimination of toxins is the basis of every chapter in Grow Youthful. Sufficient exercise, water, deep breathing, chelation and deep rest enable the ongoing removal of toxins. Living food, moderation and fasting all promote self-repair. Specific techniques using heat, massage, powerful foods and drinks, brushing and scraping have also been used for centuries.
MEDICATIONS DRUGS
fficially,thefourthmostcommon causeofdeathintheUSA isadverse QO...reactions(ADR).!4Drugsandmedicationsofallsortsare possibly the leading direct cause of death and illness in the Western world. Antidepressants, tranquilisers, beta-blockers, antihistamines, antibiotics, steroids, vaccines, oral contraceptives, over-the-counter medications and thousands of other drugs are consumed in vast quantities every day, with their users hoping for the benefits advertised.
All recreational and mind-altering drugs such as cocaine, crack, speed, heroin and marijuana also have side effects. You cannot expect good health if you are using drugs. Emotionally they provide illusion, creating
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dependence. Spiritually, they disconnect you from your essence.
The official ADR figure does not include overdoses, or cases in which the drug was administered in error. Ifyou include the errors made by doctors and
medical staff, then current medical practises become the third leading cause of death in the USA, killing 250,000 people®®. This leading cause of death is anew phenomenon thathasonlycome aboutinthelastcentury.Isuspectthis figure is too low, as it only represents the numbers admitted to by doctors, insurance companies and their representative bodies.
If250,000 Americans were killed by medications, can you imagine how many more are alive, but suffering from side effects? Isuggest that nearly all people who are taking manufactured medicines are suffering the consequences in one form or another. Often, these illnesses will seem unrelated to the medications. Millions ofpeople are sick and dying because of the drugs and medications they are taking!
On 18 July 2002 the Australian Council for Health and Safety released a news item stating that 2-3% of hospital admissions in Australia, totalling 140,000 patients, were caused by ADR. I suspect this figure is many orders of magnitude too low. Firstly, the pride of the medical profession is at stake, having to admit that a large proportion of illnesses, hospital admissions and
deaths are caused by the very medications they are prescribing! According to Dr David Lipschitz,?°4 26% of hospital admissions in the USA are due to drug related illnesses. He adds that among adults who are taking eleven or more drugs daily, the risk of adverse reactions approaches 100%.
The Western allopathic approach to treating disease is often the cause of the disease, not the cure. Drugs interact with each other and with pollutants in the environment to form complex, un-researched by-products, often in minute quantities. Sometimes these complex chemicals are unique to the particular individual, depending on the combination of drugs they are taking, foods they are eating, and pollutants to which they are exposed.
Human biochemical, electrical and energy systems are so complex that at this time science has little understanding of them. Our knowledge of hormones, enzymes, electrical and energy systems is increasing rapidly, but
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we still have little idea of the ramifications of using manufactured (unnatural) drugs and medications in our bodies. The interactions of drugs with our hormones, enzymes and with other drugs, foods and pollutants are complex, subtle and often long-term.
I firmly believe that nutrition is the key to good health. Natural micronutrients and herbs, (along with the living foods recommended in Grow Youthful) are nearly always the most effective treatment for any ailment.
Many forward-thinking doctors are getting better results with diet and supplements than with drugs. Whilst manufactured drugs have a place in the treatment of chronic diseases and life-threatening illnesses, they also have a cost. Do not take any drug lightly.
Drug Companies. The objective of drug manufacturing companies is to maximise their profits. They spend at least two and a half times more on marketing than on research.*!-!97 They have no incentive whatsoever to provide the cheapest, most effective alternative for any ailment. On the contrary, they will usually try to hide or discredit any alternative to their current, most expensive, patented drug.'°7
The pharmaceutical drug industry is based on patents and legal approvals. The granting of a patent and approval for sale for a drug or a manufacturing process provides the lifeblood for most drug companies. They will do anything to secure as many patents as possible in order to stifle their competition, and maximise their profits by selling at a high price to as many customers as possible.
IntheUSA in2004prescriptiondrugswerea$200billiondollarindustry, growing at 12% per annum and the fastest growing component in healthcare. The average annual cost of each of the fifty most commonly used drugs by the elderly was $1500.
It requires enormous capital and long testing periods before a drug is approved for sale to the public. In America, it often takes 10 years and $1 billion to get a new drug onto the market. Only a few companies have the resources to do this. The bigger and more profitable the industry, the more it can afford to lobby (bribe) politicians and decision makers to pass laws that
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benefit the industry. Usually new drugs approved for patent and sale are “me too” drugs, with a slightly altered molecule to an existing drug. In the USA, the testing required for drugs does not require that they be compared with their close cousins, with any other drugs, or with any natural or traditional medicines. It is sufficient to show that they are effective in curing a particular ailment. The fact that they may be less effective than all the alternatives is deliberately concealed. Frequently a new and less effective “me too” drug will go on sale with a new patent, a high price, and a campaign to hide or discredit the expired-patent drug itisreplacing!.°7
This is why drug companies are not interested in natural or traditional products, which are usually more effective than pharmaceuticals, and have no side effects. There are numerous examples of effective natural cures that are not used because there is no financial incentive for anyone to do so. For example, vitamin C is a cheap, effective natural antihistamine, with no side effects. Perhaps you are allergic to pollen. Next time you find yourself sneezing, try it!
Vitamin C has proved more effective than AZT in suppressing HIV in infected people.?!© AZT costs 10 to 20 times more. Nevertheless, AZT is widely promoted and used rather than vitamin C.
Colloidal silver is an effective antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral, cheap and without side effects if used correctly. It is subject to an ongoing campaign to discredit it.
Old diuretics are far more effective for treating high blood pressure than new drugs like ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers, but are seldom used.!97 There are many more examples.
Western (Allopathic) Medicine treats symptoms, not causes. The focus ison an immediate cure, rather than investigating why the problem occurred. The doctor and the allopathic medical system, rather than the patient, take responsibility for the patient’s health and care. Little emphasis is placed on self-care, personal responsibility and the interconnections that every aspect of our being has on every other aspect.
The doctor typically diagnoses a symptom, and prescribes a drug or
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medication to cure the symptom. These drugs are so powerful and dangerous that the public needs to be protected from them with laws that only allow them to be dispensed with a prescription.
Allopathic medicine provides effective treatment ifyou have an acute injury. If Iwere seriously injured ina traffic accident, or suffering a life- threatening infection, my immediate choice of treatment would be a modern hospital. Drugs can also provide a rapid cure of many infections, but often with recurrence or serious side effects (page 297).
Western medicine’s weakness isinitstreatment ofdegenerative diseases. Frequently it is completely ineffective or exacerbates the situation. Degenerative diseases always have a cause. Treating the symptoms of a disease will provide no more than temporary relief. Causes include factors such as chronic stress, negative lifestyles, dehydration, toxic environmental factors, junk food, over-eating with malnutrition, antibiotics, microwaves, water and air pollution, poor breathing and lack of exercise.
The idea that germs cause disease, proved by Louis Pasteur in the nineteenth century, provided the basis for “combat” medicine, which fights diseases with drugs. It sees ill health as a battle, rather than the final symptoms of an imbalance. Cancers are burned, irradiated or cut out, and heart disease is palliated with bypass surgery and drugs. The steroid or anti- inflammatory drugs used to treat arthritis reduce the pain, but do nothing to stop the progression of the disease. A single course of antibiotics increases the risk of subsequent infection by several times. All drugs and medications have side effects, even those you can buy over the counter. Painkillers increase the risk of headaches, decongestant cold cures increase the risk of a stroke, and even aspirin damages your digestive tract.
The root causes of most degenerative diseases are often embarrassingly simple, but nobody can make big money out of fixing them. Our allopathic medical system is geared towards treating a certain number of patients per hour, and prescribing drugs to “cure” the symptoms presented. Yes itworks, at a superficial level. The medications prescribed often produce a rapid but temporary cure or relief from the symptoms. It suits modern society — a quick
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visit to the doctor, a pill, a rapid cure. People do not want to take responsibility for their health, or think about the long-term consequences of their lifestyles.
The current system is lucrative for doctors, and suppliers of drugs and medical equipment. Most doctors budget their time in terms of minutes per patient. Drug and medicine manufacturers sell large quantities of their products on an ongoing basis. Patients are locked into the system until they die. The price of drugs and consultations steadily goes up, taking a larger and larger portion of the total economy.
Drugs are sold in standardised doses, with no allowance for patient’s individual needs. Often, drugs are tested on healthy young volunteers and doses are based on their results. In the same way that some people are heavily affected by alcohol, and others not at all, different people react to drugs in different ways. The standard dose may be effective for some people and damaging forothers.!!54
There is no financial incentive for the doctors or the drug manufacturers to change. The pride of the medical establishment is also at stake. Imagine conventional, allopathic doctors admitting that a drug or medicine should be the last, rather than first choice for most complaints. Momentum also plays a large part — a change of culture is required, which may take at least one generation of doctors. There will be a lot of resistance to changing the curricula at medical schools. A different type of person needs to be attracted into medicine — less drawn to the prestige and large incomes, more willing to spend time with patients, and with a great respect for both nature and ancient wisdom.
It would be almost impossible for a doctor or any conventional medical specialist to have written this book. Health professionals are beholden to their professional associations, which rigidly (and profitably) adhere to conventional and accepted medical practises. The average medical curriculum includes only a few days looking at food and diet. Many Western doctors graduate ignorant of the significance of living food, sufficient hydration, good breathing, healthy lifestyle, and most importantly, one’s
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mind — expectations and attitude to life.
A change of culture is also required in the general population. Many
people do not want to take responsibility for their own health, and prefer a system of doctors and fast cures — until their first serious illness. Often, the cure to an ailment is remarkably simple - the ignorance of both the doctors and the public is responsible for its continuance. In the long-term, the key to excellent health iscommon sense and self-responsibility.
ANTIBIOTICS
“The history of medicine shows us very clearly that there is a recurring tendency for different forms of treatment to become fashionable and to be used overenthusiastically, often to the exclusion ofsimpler and more effective
forms oftreatment.” Ainslie Meares.>+
Antibiotics were responsible for the elimination of many of the diseases
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as cholera, diphtheria, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, smallpox and tuberculosis. Initially penicillin was effective in curing bacterial infections. However, in the areas where it was widely used, the bacteria gradually developed a resistance to it. Larger doses were needed for longer periods.
If an infection is treated but not cured with an antibiotic, the bacteria that survive are those with the most resistance to that antibiotic. The worst possible case is where a person or animal is given low doses of an antibiotic over a long period — not sufficient to kill the bacteria, but instead providing an environment in which successive generations of the bacteria develop resistance to that antibiotic. This is happening today in several areas. Doctors have prescribed antibiotics for the most minor infections, not aware of the devastating side effects on the gut and digestive systems of their patients. Antibiotics are routinely included in poultry and stock feeds. Many chickens and cows spend their entire (and short) lives on low doses of antibiotics, because the stock feed companies have discovered that this is a cheap and effective way to keep the animals alive and apparently healthy. Italso makes
them grow faster, although the reason why this happens is not clear. Without
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the antibiotics, the animals would rapidly succumb to the poor stock food quality, crowded conditions, lack of hygiene and stress. Because of the uninhibited use of antibiotics, today there are drug-resistant strains of virtually every disease-causing bacteria.
Doctors treating remote tribal communities in Africa and other less developed parts of the world have been amazed at the effectiveness of “basic” antibiotics such as penicillin, which would have had little success in the Western world in combating the same bacteria.
Up to 2%% of your body’s weight consists of bacteria. Most of these bacteria are beneficial or even essential for your life. About 400-500 different strains of bacteria weighing up to 2 kg reside mainly in your digestive tract, and throughout your body. They play an important part in your immune system, and protect you from pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses. Bacteria are resident on all your membranes, protecting you against infection. It is essential to have bacteria on your throat, urethra, nasal passages, vaginal walls etc. They also play an essential role in your digestion — without them, you cannot break down many foods and absorb the nutrients. Bacteria also assist in the production of some vitamins.
When you take an antibiotic, you destroy most of the friendly bacteria in your body, in addition to the target pathogens. It can take six months or more to restore a balance of bacteria in your gut and throughout your body.>!P For months after taking an antibiotic, you are vulnerable to invasion by bacteria, fungi (see candida page 284) and viruses. According to Geoffrey Cannon,>> antibiotics have a connection with new diseases that are emerging. Canon and many other researchers believe it is unwise to use antibiotics, except where the infection is acute or life threatening.
The rate of infections and deaths from infectious diseases is increasing rapidly.>> In the long-term, itseems that the widespread use of antibiotics is having exactly the opposite effect to that intended. In addition, antibiotics are frequently ineffective — they don’t work against viruses or fungi, are not suitable for gut infections, and should never be used to prevent infections (such as in some acne treatments, or malaria preventatives).
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Your best defence against infection is a strong immune system based on an uncompromised bacterial population in your gut, and an acid stomach. If you succumb to an infection, use a natural cure such as colloidal silver or herbs that do not have the devastating consequences of antibiotics.
Other natural alternatives to antibiotics include beneficial bacteria (page 173) that reinforce the body’s natural defences, and overwhelm the pathogenic bacteria. You can get them as powders or capsules from your practitioner or health food store, and they are in fermented foods such as
sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, yogurt and Kombucha. Various herbs and foods are effective in fighting specific infections, without upsetting your intestinal flora. For example, garlic, ginger, grapefruit seed extract, aloe vera, vitamin C, zine and Artemisia are but a few that a naturopath may prescribe.
HOUSEHOLD POISONS
ave you just bought a new car, house, carpet, or set of furniture? Well,
labsthenextfewmonthsyouwillbeexposedtoacocktailoftoxic gases. New vehicles have a potent array of paints, plastics, vinyls, carpets, sealers and numerous other chemical agents. The best thing you can do until that “new car” smell is completely gone is leave the windows open as much as possible. Similarly, if you have new paint, carpet, floor sealers, curtains (drapes), or whatever in your house, leave the windows wide open, and get as much fresh air through the place as possible. Try to do that all the time, not just when there are poisonous gases around.
Marking pens, highlighters, artist’s paints and other stationery are an insidious source of toxins, especially those based on solvents other than water. Some pens use complex proprietary chemicals or xylene. Do not use stationery in a closed room ifyou can smell the inks or solvents.
Formaldehyde is widely used in the manufacture of chipboard, plywood and carpet, and can leach out of furniture and floors made with them for over five years after their manufacture. It is used in many household and personal care items — even some shampoos. Formaldehyde combines with the proteins in your blood. Your immune system thinks your own proteins are foreign,
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and attacks them. Formaldehyde is a strong poison with no antidote. The list of other poisons used in manufacturing household goods today numbers in the thousands.
Aluminium is widely used in food packaging, cheaper forms of cookware, deodorants, antacid medications, public water supplies and toothpaste. Ifyou have any aluminium pots, pans or cutlery (stainless steel is OK), may Isuggest that you throw them out. Ithas been clearly demonstrated that aluminium is associated with premature senility and memory loss.3!4
Aluminium isazincantagonist—inotherwords,itpreventsyourbody from taking up zinc, and disrupts the activities of this essential mineral. On the flip side, having sufficient zinc will reduce your uptake of aluminium.
Plastics can contain several thousand different chemicals, none of which the plastics industry is obliged to disclose. Some of these chemicals have strong hormone disrupting effects, particularly alkyphenols.?!® Plastic food wrapping & containers are suspect. Never heat foods in plastic, especially in a microwave oven. Plastic should not be used for the storage of food or drink, neither is cling film recommended for wrapping. Glass is the preferred storage material for all food and drink.
Washing, cleaning, polishing, insulation materials, glues, solvents, carpet, paint, dye, plastic, bleaching, deodorising, perfuming, antibacterial and thousands of other household products contain a myriad of chemicals you could not hope to be aware of. The best advice is to use as few as possible, stick to products made with natural ingredients that you understand, and ensure that you only use them in a well-ventilated area.
I recently bought a spectacle lens cleaner, which worked beautifully. On reading the writing on the can, Idiscovered itcontains isopropyl alcohol. The instructions said to use it in a well-ventilated area. I suggest only using it outside, and while wearing rubber gloves and holding itdownwind!
Carbon tetrachloride isused as the cleaning agent for dry cleaning. Itcan enter your body by being breathed in, or through your skin, and can cause chemical sensitivities. Air all dry-cleaned clothes before wearing them.
Shampoos, soaps, cleaning and shaving products, cosmetics, hair dye,
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toothpaste and mouthwash are absorbed through your skin or mouth. Ifthey are not made from natural and organic ingredients, you will be taking in a wide range of unknown toxins. Ifyou would not be willing to eat it,do not put it on your skin (that is a bit severe — I would not eat soap for example, but you get the drift).
Iwalked down to my local supermarket and picked up a container of skin cream, a stick of “natural” deodorant, a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of shampoo. Between them, they contained the following chemicals:
Sodium Lauryl and Laureth Sulphate, Paraffin (petroleum oil), Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol, Cetamacrogol, Octyl Palmitate, Cyclomethicone, Ceteth-20, Steareth-2, Glycerin, Stearyl alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl alcohol, Tocopheryl acetate, Carbomer, Potassium Sorbate, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben, Polyparaben, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Stearate, Hydrogenated Castor oil, Sodium Fluoride, Cocamide, Lauramide, Monethanolamine, Diethanolamine and Triethanolamine.
The toothpaste did not list its ingredients, with the exception of Sodium Fluoride, but itwould almost certainly have contained other chemicals.
Most of these ingredients are toxic chemicals.*© Others include collagen, bentonite, kaolin, butane, propane and talc. Some damage, dry and clog your skin, strip off the natural layer of oils, and leave itrough and pitted. Others are implicated in the development of degenerative diseases.
My advice is to read the ingredients on the container of any product before you buy it. If there are any you do not understand, or they are not listed, put itback on the shelf.
Also, question whether you need to use many of these products at all, or in the same quantities. Throughout my twenties and thirties, I suffered from a skin rash on my legs every winter. Eventually, an (enlightened) doctor, who also happened to be a naturopath, asked if Iwashed my legs with soap. “Of course”, I replied. He told me to stop using soap in my bathroom, unless there was a heavy build-up of grease or dirt that I could not wash or flannel off any other way. The rash disappeared and a bar of soap now lasts many months.
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Not just new products and furnishings are dangerous. Old carpets are a notorious source of allergens, and I know of many cases where people have ripped up the carpets in a house, sanded and sealed the floors, and transformed their health. Carpets harbour dust mites, animal dander, skin, hair and a range of other pollutants. If carpets, floors, walls or ceilings get damp or are poorly ventilated, mould or mildew can develop with severe affects on your health.
HEAVY METALS
ercury cadmium and lead are the three most common toxic heavy
INVAEee foundinthebody.Theyaresynergistic—thatis,theyassist each other. Thousands of household and industrial products such as paint, insecticides, fungicides (bathroom mildew remover) and cleaners contain heavy metals.
Cadmium is contained in superphosphate fertiliser, and we absorb cadmium from the bread made from plants grown in soils to which these fertilisers are added.7°© Cadmium also builds up in your body when you drink coffee regularly. Cadmium isan antagonist to magnesium, and inhibits the uptake of magnesium from our food.
Lead leads to a variety of degenerative diseases, and impairs memory and intelligence. Lead is an antagonist to iron — a high level of lead in your body inhibits the uptake of iron. The most common source of lead pollution is from vehicle exhausts, though the advent of low lead petrol has improved the situation since the 1980’s, when an estimated 50% of schoolchildren had lead levels high enough to impair their intelligence.©8“ High levels of lead pollution are also found in the tap water of new houses, in which copper plumbing has been joined with solder. Flush the tap for a few seconds before using it.Other sources of lead are cosmetics, paint, cigarettes and pesticides.
Mercury pollutes many seemingly harmless everyday products. It is used in some public water supplies as mercuric acid, giving tap water its sparkle. All seawater throughout the world now contains traces of mercury, with the worst areas near industry, mines, and the mouths of polluted rivers.
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Fish and seafood caught near these sources of pollution are affected, and should not be consumed, especially by pregnant women. The higher up the food chain, and the older the animals, the worse the effect. Avoid large carnivorous fish caught in polluted waters. Shellfish are also particularly adept at picking up heavy metals from the sea. The Australian coastline is relatively unpolluted compared to the rest of the world.
The silver-grey coloured mercury amalgam dental fillings that millions of people have in their teeth are one of the worst sources of mercury poisoning. These fillings constantly and slowly leach mercury into your saliva as they wear down through chewing, grinding and brushing over the years. They are so toxic that when they are removed from your mouth they are required by law to be disposed of as hazardous toxic waste (page 330).
The diseases caused by mercury are extremely variable with each individual person. Research over many decades has proven mercury to be the cause of a wide range of degenerative diseases”?.
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
n the last few decades, we have been immersed in a sea of new
| etree pollutionfromsourcessuchashouseholdandbusiness electrical supply cables, high voltage power grid cables, transformers, radio and television broadcasts, microwaves from phone company links, mobile phones, wireless computer networks and microwave ovens, and radiation from television and computer screens.
Artificial electromagnetic fields inhibit the functions of the pineal, pituitary, and other parts of the brain and impair immunity by knocking human energy systems off balance. Remember that our bodies are complex electrical-biological systems.
Constant low levels of radiation over extended periods of months or years are likely to be harmful at a cellular level. However, there has been little researchinthisarea,simplybecauseitissodifficulttocarryout.How do you measure the effects of low levels of radiation (to which most of us are exposed) over a decade or more?
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I will outline the steps you can take to minimise your exposure to radiation. Do the best that you can, within your means, and then forget about it.Fretting or worrying about a nearby cable or tower will do more harm than the radiation itself!
* Try not to spend a large portion of you time close to high voltage overhead power supply lines. Try not to live or sleep within 300-500 metres of the high voltage lines used to supply cities, towns and industrial estates (typically 100,000 — 220,000 volts). The incidence of cancer (particularly leukaemia) within this range is doubled.!!8
*Check the location of the power cables around your house. You do not want to be sleeping or spending long periods close to any cables in the walls, but particularly those that have heavy use such as supplying the electric oven or heater. People sleeping up against a wall with the house’s power distribution box immediately on the other side of the wall, have higher levels of cancer than otherwise.
* There could not be a better way of getting 220 volts close to your body for hours at a time, than an electric blanket. Do not use an electric blanket whilst you sleep. Remember that the level of radiation decreases with the cube of the distance from the source. ItisOK to use an electric blanket to warm your bed, but unplug itfrom the wall (rather than just turn itoff) before you climb in.
* The most significant new source of microwave radiation is wireless computer networks. Nearly all new notebook computers are now wireless ready — all you need is a base station to connect up to the internet. The base station is always switched on and emits microwave radiation 24 hours a day. Within 3 metres of a wireless transmitter the radiation is at a significant and dangerous level. There is little research in this area, but as the story below shows, a base station can affect your health. Your next-door neighbour may have a wireless network that could be affecting you. Internet cafés, hotels, schools, colleges, coffee shops, airports and other public and private places now offer wireless internet base stations.
I heard of a family who bought a new wireless modem base station and
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put itin the hallway of their home. In the months after setting itup, the entire family of 5 were abnormally fatigued with disturbed sleep patterns. A fit 49 year old woman with no pre-existing heart or respiratory problems developed a disruption to her heart rhythm. For 6 weeks the arrhythmia continued to the point where she was aware of it for the majority of the day. She also experienced insomnia and tightness of her upper chest. After disconnecting the wireless base station it took 3 weeks for all her symptoms to return to normal. The 18 year old daughter had an episode of extreme dizziness-lasting a whole day after close contact with the transmitter. The 22 year old son experienced vomiting and vertigo, disabling him for a day after spending 2 hours within two meters of the wireless modem. If this is how it affects a healthy family of adults over a short period of time, what will be the consequences on a cross-section of the general population?
* Microwave ovens do emit significant radiation, no matter what the oven’s manual says. If you use a microwave oven, stand well clear when you use it. Microwaves damage food by breaking down proteins, phytonutrients and enzymes. The effect is similar to cooking, but probably more detrimental (page 168).
No level of microwave radiation is safe. The greatest danger is from ongoing but low levels of radiation — exactly what the most recent sources of radiation such as wireless networking and mobile phones bathe us in. Unfortunately there is not often a clear connection between the microwave radiation and the onset of some degenerative illness. Itmay take years before the problems develop, and they will manifest in completely different degenerative illnesses in different people. Microwaves are a primary stimulator of human stress response. Passive exposure to microwave radiation triggers this stress response in even the calmest, most balanced individuals. In laboratory tests conducted on rats, exposure to microwaves at levels twenty times less than the current USA safety standards brought on sufficient stress to exhaust them, and cause a complete breakdown of their immune systems.
* Keep away from phone company mobile phone aerials. They emit a
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constant level of directional microwave radiation. The radiation decreases with the cube of your distance from the aerial. You do not want to be living or working in the path of the focus of one of these aerials.
* Mobile phones emit a significant level of microwave radiation. If you cannot avoid having one, then minimise its use. You can buy a separate aerial that you can place a meter away from your body while you are speaking, and this substantially reduces the radiation levels.
*New digital cordless phones. People have never thought of cordless phones with their limited ranges as being dangerous. However, the current digital phones operate in the multi-GHz microwave band. Many people limit their use of mobile phone but use the cordless at home for long periods, mistakenly thinking itissafe.
*Old style cathode ray tube computer monitors and television screens emit a variety of radiation. CRT computer screens are the worst offenders, because we sit close to them, and do not move for extended periods. CRTs also spray our skins, and eye surfaces with ion and microscopic particles. My advice is to get a liquid crystal computer monitor, similar to those used in notebook computers. The level of radiation and body stress emanating from an LCD screen isalmost negligible. Ifyou are stuck with an old CRT monitor, place itas far away from your body as possible.
You may feel that the only way to get away from all this radiation is to go and live in the country. However, be aware that some rural areas are worse than the cities. Check where the high voltage inter-city power lines are located, where the main radio and television broadcasting towers are, and where the communications companies have their long distance microwave aerials.
Itsounds as ifyou cannot get away from electromagnetic radiation, no matter where you live — and that is true. However, I do not mean to be alarmist. Minimise your exposure to the strongest sources of radiation, especially those where you spend long periods, and you will be OK.
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CLIMATE L.youhavelivedinseveraldifferentclimatesforanylengthoftime,you
will probably know that one of them is more agreeable to your general health than the others are. Sudden changes in the weather or very cold, hot or humid weather can make you feel tired and run down, or exacerbate any existing illnesses. High altitude, air conditioning and excessive exposure to the wind, cold or the sun can have similar effects. People with chronic fatigue and low energy, or those suffering from degenerative diseases such as arthritis, asthma and allergies often report that climatic factors have a close connection to their complaints. Warm dry weather with plenty of sunshine seems to make most people feel better, but itdoes depend on your particular body (page 15).
The seasons also directly affect our health. Winter is associated with depression and fatigue, spring with regeneration and renewal, summer with strength, growth and activity, followed by autumn with mellow pleasantry.
SUNLIGHT
or good health, we need daily exposure to gentle sunlight. Of course, too much can harm you, but do not avoid the sun — take advantage of its
health and longevity benefits.
The ideal is half to one hour of gentle natural sunlight each day. Sunlight
on your skin creates vitamin D. It is essential for optimum hormonal production, the creation of other nutrients, the health of your immune system, and to assist acid / alkaline balance in your body.4+! The healthiest sunlight is when the sun is at an angle to the horizon, rather than directly overhead. Wear as little clothing as possible, weather allowing. Between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm in the summer in most temperate to tropical countries, the sun istoo strong, and can accelerate your ageing. If you have to be outside during that time, cover your skin, wear sunglasses and stay as much as possible in the shade. The indirect sunlight you receive while standing in the shade will be sufficient for your body’s daily needs.
A lack of sunlight leads to many problems, such as anaemia, depression,
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Your pituitary gland receives light energy through your retina and optic nerve. Light also influences your pineal gland and regulates many human biorhythms, particularly sleep.
Full-spectrum light contains all the wavelengths of natural sunlight. Ordinary light bulbs have a deficient spectrum compared to sunlight. Fluorescent light and television screens are not only deficient, but also vibrate erratically. They irritate your pituitary gland and the central nervous system. Several studies have shown that when fluorescent lights were replaced with full-spectrum lights, the abnormal behaviour patterns and learning impediments exhibited by some children were corrected.
You are more likely to overdose with sunlight in the summer, closer to the equator, at high altitudes, and near reflective surfaces like snow, water and white sand. Strong or excessive sunlight damages your skin, and creates free radicals that cause further ageing. If you want proof that the sun is a major cause of skin ageing, compare the skin on the outer side of your arm with the skin under your armpit. For most people living in sunny climates, the exposed skin looks older.
Two out of three Australians will develop some type of skin cancer during their lives. Most of these cancers are not malignant, but they are still an indication of the level of sun damage that occurs to the average person’s skin. A single day of severe, blistering sunburn can cause the development of a cancer between two and twenty years later. Repeated mild burning over the years can achieve the same effect. Excessive sun causes your skin to go a little red, to feel uncomfortable with a slight stinging, dry or windblown effect, and may cause peeling after a few days in more severe cases.
Harsh sunlight can damage your eyes, clouding the clear lenses and eventually causing cataracts, macular and other retinal degeneration. A high level of free radicals from too much sun damages your immune system, making you susceptible to a wide range of infections, skin cancers and
and vitamin D deficiency. The production of the hormone melatonin is related to sunlight, and people not exposed to sufficient sunlight can suffer depression.3°4
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Sunscreens. I personally do not use sunscreens. Firstly, I do not understand the chemicals they contain, and choose not to rub them into my skin.ZineoxideisOK touseasasunblockonyourskin,butIhaveheard too many stories about the cancer-causing and health effects of other chemicals. Unfortunately, there is virtually no research in this area ~ who would ever sponsor it? The manufacturers of sunscreens would prefer to suppress this kind of information.
There are three main kinds of skin cancer: basal cell, squamous cell, and malignant melanoma. Basal cell and squamous cell cancers are common, medically minor, and not usually counted in cancer statistics. They are caused primarily by ultraviolet-B light, the short wavelength light that causes sunburn and does not penetrate the skin deeply. Most sunscreens can block the UV-B rays and help prevent sunburn and these “minor” cancers.
Ultraviolet-A radiation has a longer wavelength, and penetrates right through the outer skin down to the melanocytes, the cells that become cancerous in melanoma cases. Most sunscreens (particularly the older formulas) are not as effective at blocking itout. Melanomas are deadly, and used to be rare. In the developed world, their incidence increased dramatically in the 40 years up to 1990, though they have levelled out since then, 106
People spend more time in the sun without being burned when they use sunscreens. Unfortunately, the ultraviolet-A radiation is still penetrating their skin in a large dose, and their natural early warning system (sunburn) has been blocked by the sunscreen.
The only effective way to prevent melanomas is to cover up. Our ancestors did in the days before sunscreen, and itobviously worked because melanoma was so rare in those days. The levelling out in the rate of skin cancers in the last 15-20 years is because people (particularly those with fair skins) are getting that message.
theumatic problems, especially in older people. Herpes sufferers have long known of the association between over-exposure to sun and the outbreak of sores.
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AIR
AIR IONISATION
here are good scientific reasons to live on a mountain or near the sea, ee fromthebeauty.Peopleinsuchlocationslivelonger,*4Fanditis not only because they are often far from sources of pollution. Spend some time high up in the mountains, or walking on a beach breathing in air that has
just blown off an unpolluted ocean and you will feel rejuvenated. The “energy” in this high quality air is quite tangible. It comes from negative ions — highly active molecular fragments, each of which carries a negative charge equivalent to one electron. Ifyou breathe this air deeply and fully, itwill heal, restore and re-energise your body.
Atmospheric negative-ion energy, along with the ionic energy extracted from your food, is the basis of all life and biological energy.
Air conditioning, central heating, and sealed, unventilated rooms or buildings neutralise the negative ions in the air. Most of us have experienced the exhaustion that comes from working all day in a heated, air-conditioned or sealed building, even ifthe work has not been physically demanding. By contrast, people such as farmers who work outdoors in clean rural air, can be physically active all day and still not feel exhausted. This is mainly because of the high levels of negative ions in the clean country air.
Air molecules can be ionised with an electric charge. The sun’s rays and the electric potential between the earth and the atmosphere ionises air molecules. Negative ions are air molecules with an extra electron. They are attracted upwards, towards the clouds in the sky. Positive ions are molecules with a missing electron. They are attracted toward the ground, and dissipate into the earth. Most of the remaining ions just above the earth are negative.
Both positive and negative ions attach to pollutants or dust in the air. The positive ions, along with their contaminants, dissipate into the ground. Negative ions are attracted high up into the atmosphere.
This is nature’s way of cleaning the air. Wherever the air is weakly ionised, it is dirtier. In highly polluted urban areas, the sun’s rays do not get through strongly. The air is also ineffectively ionised in lowland areas, far
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from the sea. Pollution is a vicious circle — the more polluted is the air, the less able nature is to clean it. Polluted city air can contain about 500 positive ions for each negative ion. Clean air out in the country, by contrast, has roughly three negative ions for each positive ion.
The tissues that absorb most of the negative ion energy from the air are located in your nasal cavities. Your lungs and skin also take in this energy. The negative ions have a direct effect on your energy levels and all vital functions (immunity, digestion, circulatory and so on).
You can buy an air ioniser for your house or car. They generate negative ions, which clean the air, and are also reputed to make you feel good. The negative ions attach to pollen, dust and pollution, and then move to earth — the walls and floor of the room. More advanced models collect the dust by shooting out negative ions for about 10 seconds, and then change to a high plus voltage to attract back the negative ions, with the dust attached, into the unit’s dust collector.
I have a major reservation with air ionisers, in that many or all of them produce ozone. It is a toxic chemical that masks and eliminates odours, making the air seem fresher and cleaner. However, ozone compromises your immune system, and isoften associated with asthma and respiratory diseases. It also impairs oxygen uptake, and the production of energy in your body.
AIR POLLUTION
he air in today’s cities is heavily polluted. It is not life-giving or filled
hes healthyenergycarriedbynegativeions.Instead,itimpairs longevity and vitality.
Vehicle exhaust fumes are responsible for more than half the air pollution in both advanced and less developed countries throughout the world. Other major sources of pollution are industry, electricity generation, fires for cooking and heating, and refuse disposal. The major components of this pollution are carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides. Ozone isanother pollutant, formed inareaction
from exhaust fumes. In the high atmosphere, it protects us from the sun’s
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harmful rays, but itisatoxic substance tobreathe.
At sea level, pristine air comprises 20% oxygen. In urban areas, where
vehicles, heaters, power stations and other exhausts spew carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, the oxygen level falls to around 10%.>° Trees and other vegetation are sparse, so there is little to correct the imbalance.
Air conditioning and central heating rob the air in closed buildings of vital negative-ion energy. Air pollutants such as motor-vehicle exhaust, smoke and industrial emissions have the same effect. They fill the air with heavy positive ions that negate the activity of negative ions. Unless you compensate for such “dead” air with internal energy practises such as yoga and deep breathing, or alternatively purchase an air ioniser, your immune system will be stressed, leaving you vulnerable to fatigue and the mildest infections.
The sick building syndrome is very real. It applies to offices, homes, aeroplanes, new cars and any other environments that may be under- ventilated, over-insulated and using new or complex construction materials. This dangerous air-tightening of buildings, particularly high rises and offices, has resulted from the owners looking for greater efficiencies in heating and air conditioning systems. At the same time, thousands of new chemicals have found their way into these airtight environments. The regular cleaning and maintenance of air conditioners is critical, and an easy task to ignore. The ultimate and widely publicised peak of air conditioning neglect is Legionnaires disease. This deadly airborne infection isoften caused by dirty air conditioning systems containing water that has been allowed to stagnate. When people die from Legionnaires, this tends to get the headlines. However, stagnant or polluted air in a building seems to be accepted, because it is so difficult to make the connection between the bad air and subsequent illnesses.
If you choose to work or live in a building, a major consideration should be the quality of the air in it. Can you open the windows? Would you want to open the windows? Is itlocated downtown ina city, or near an industrial
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area or source of pollution?
Stoves, heaters and fireplaces emit carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide,
benzpyrenes and other carcinogenic hydrocarbons and particulates. It is essential that gas stoves and heaters be effectively exhausted out of the room. An un-flued gas heater will make you tired and rob you of energy. In susceptible people these heaters can cause chronic fatigue and depression.
Avoid room deodorisers and air fresheners. They merely mask odours, and add new pollutants to your immediate atmosphere.
Better ventilation can substantially reduce most indoor pollution problems. Studies comparing the health of workers in buildings with windows that can open with workers in buildings with sealed windows are quite startling. Those in the sealed window building suffered two to three times the levels of respiratory diseases and other complaints such as chronic fatigue, headaches, stuffy noses, sore throats and itchy eyes and noses.°/7
The dangers of passive smoking have been well publicised. If you are sharing a room with a smoker, you raise your risk of cancer quite substantially, and accelerate your ageing. Numerous studies have shown that passive smoking raises your risk of heart disease, lung disease and cancer. Pregnant women will give birth to lower weight babies. Children of smokers have higher levels of respiratory illnesses for many years.
OUT IN NATURE THE OCEAN
he ocean is a rich soup of minerals and vital energy. All kinds of ‘|Pam flowbackintotheseafromtherivers—itistheultimate depository. The surf continually enlivens and aerates the water. On page 152 Itellthe story of awoman who has slowed her ageing by swimming inthe cold ocean every day. Seawater, provided it is not polluted, is a boost to health and long life.
As you swim, your skin (and the odd gulp of water) is able to take in any elements that you may be lacking. This is why walking on the beach and getting your feet wet in seawater is so healthy. It is a cure for many skin
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complaints such as fungal infections like athletes foot.
Walking barefoot massages the numerous nerve endings in your feet, and
positively affects the functioning of your internal organs.
Your body is like a complex battery and walking barefoot on the beach or
on the earth grounds itand has ionising effects. The human body evolved with bare feet, not shoes.
Most oceans are also cold. A regular swim, at least once a week, but possibly daily, subjects your body to healthy stresses, and boosts your immune system and resistance to diseases. A cold environment is alkalising.
If you live far from the ocean, and cannot access it regularly, a clean, fresh mountain stream or unpolluted river is a good substitute. It is important that the water is alive and moving, not dead or stagnant. Ideally, it should have flowed over waterfalls and rapids, aerating and enlivening it.As proof that it is alive, an abundance of plant life, fish and animals should be living in that water. What is good for nature is good for you.
TREES, FOREST
Trees are an important connection with nature. They humidify, oxygenise and scent the air with their volatile oils and fragrance. They provide shade in summer, beauty throughout the year, the sound of rustling leaves, and provide a home for birds, insects and small animals.
If you choose to live in or near a forest, you will enjoy all the above benefits, and something more. Trees have an energy that science has not yet defined. Embrace and hug a mature tree — it is both grounding and energising, especially if you are barefoot, and the tree and the earth are slightly damp. Do Ihear sceptical sounds coming from your head? Try it!
VIEWS, PEACE
Have you ever thought about why panoramic views make you feel good? When you look out over the ocean, across a wide valley, at distant mountain peaksorwithyoureyesfocusedonthefardistance,itiscalming.When your eyes are completely relaxed they focus on infinity. If you live in a city, and
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think you have little opportunity to enjoy such vistas, stare at the moon or lie on your back and watch the clouds.
When our distant ancestors were located on the top of a hill, and had a good view of their surroundings, they were safer, less likely to be attacked. There is something instinctively secure about living in a house that is high up, and “in control.”
If you want to get to know the God within you, seek silence, solitude, space and nature. Yes, you can do itin the parks and viewpoints of a bustling city, but the majesty and peace of a mountain, forest or ocean make iteasier.
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MORE LONG-LIFE SECRETS ONGOING INFECTIONS
ou may be surprised to hear that most people have serious, ongoing DyGator infectionsintheirbodies.Theseinfectionsneverletup,and after months or years, their immune system becomes weakened. Few people, including most doctors, suspect that there is a strong link between chronic pathogenic infections and numerous degenerative diseases (such as heart disease and cancer)!98, 109.
Those on a high sugar, high carbohydrate, refined food diet are usually infected with candida and other yeasts. Fungal infections are found throughout the body, most commonly in the colon (see candida, page 284), the skin and nails (particularly around the feet), the urinary tract and the lungs.
The most common source of ongoing bacterial infection isyour teeth and gums. Root canals, posts, poor dental work, infected gums and decaying teeth can harbour infections (page 330). Often there is no pain, and no obvious symptoms such as bad breath or visible damage. The bacteria that cause these infections trigger an immune response that often causes inflammation and other reactions throughout the body.
Unaware doctors routinely use antibiotics to treat infections without questioning why the patient was infected in the first place. Antibiotics do have a place in treating serious or life-threatening bacterial infections. However, there is a simple, effective, cheap, natural cure for fungal and bacterial infections — colloidal silver. The diet and lifestyle recommended in Grow Youthful will prevent the onset of these infections in the first place.
COLLOIDAL SILVER POWERFUL ANTIMICROBIAL
n 1998 Iwent to India for a couple of months. July was the first month of Lemonsoon,andIenjoyedthesteamyhotweather,walkingeverywhere between bus rides. I wore open leather sandals, and my feet got wet negotiating the muddy, smelly puddles. When I got back to Australia, my
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toenails turned brown and the skin on my feet peeled with a fungal infection. The infection took years to heal, and itwas only in 2007 that the last thick, brown, soft toenail finally reverted to being clear and healthy. The cure finally came several months after I eliminated sugar from my diet, took colloidal silver, and put two drops of cheap white distilled vinegar at the base and end of the nail twice a day.
Colloidal silver (CS) is a natural and well-proved antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial liquid. Itheals or relieves an extraordinary number of infections and diseases, and helps burns and injuries to heal without scarring. Ithas no known side effects, but see RISKS below.
CS is the only antibiotic known to kill all types of bacteria, in addition to viruses and funguses. It is the only antibiotic that does not harm your body. In contrast, pharmaceutical antibiotics can damage the liver, kidneys, digestive system and many other parts of the body, and leave the colon susceptible to candida infection. Each of the pharmaceutical antibiotics will only kill a few types of germs, with some germs becoming resistant to all these antibiotics (Super Bugs). CS kills the lot.
Healers have known for thousands of years that silver prevents disease. Centuries ago, royal families could afford to use silver cutlery and crockery. This was not just for the beauty of the silverware — they enjoyed freedom from infectious diseases, unlike commoners who ate from earthenware jugs and bowls and were more frequently ill. Over the years, minute amounts of silver wore off their utensils and mixed into their food and drink, and their skin and blood developed a slight bluish tint. This is why royalty were called “blue bloods”. This condition is known as argyria. (Note: you won’t get argyria after consuming properly produced CS.)
CS first came into widespread use in the USA around 1900, and was used inmainstream medicine until 1938. Up until 1970 itwas common practise for scientists to sterilise a petri dish with a silver coin. CS has been deliberately discredited by the pharmaceutical industry because it is not patentable, can be produced independently of the industry, and is cheap to make.
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USES
CS protects against infections, diseases, contagious outbreaks and serious burn toxicity. An initial dose is about 20 ml per day at a concentration of 15 ppm — more or less, depending on the state of your immune system. When you are taking CS, you should not get colds, ‘flu or other infections. Increase the dose ifyou do, and lower itifyou seem to be protected. You may need to increase this dose by several times when treating some types of infections. Use half the adult dose for children, and a few drops for infants (preferably externally).
Do NOT swallow the CS immediately. Rather, hold itin your mouth and swirl itunder your tongue for as long as you can (several minutes). This is the best way for your body to absorb the colloidal particles.
Ifyou take the CS atthe same time as eating aprobiotic, or fermented / living food like sauerkraut or kefir, it will kill the flora and fauna in the food. For this reason I take CS at the most distant time possible from living food meals.
CS can be applied directly anywhere - to infections, burns or open wounds on your skin, fungus affected nails, and as eye, ear and nose drops. Itisparticularly effective ifa dressing isused to keep the underlying wound or infection wet with CS. Most antiseptics sting when applied to a wound, because they are damaging the surrounding tissue’s cells, but CS does no harm to the surrounding tissues.
Here is a partial list of the diseases and infections that CS has been used to treat:
acne, allergies, AIDS, appendicitis, arthritis, athletes foot, bladder infection, blepharitis, blood parasites, blood poisoning, boils, bubonic plague, burns, cancer, candida, canine parvovirus, chilblains, cholera, colitis, conjunctivitis, cystitis, dandruff, dermatitis, diarrhoea, diphtheria, dysentery, ear infections, eczema, encephalitis, fibrositis, furunculosis, gastritis, gonorrhoea, hay fever, herpes, impetigo, indigestion, influenza, keratitis, leprosy, leukaemia, lupus, lymphangitis, lyme disease, malaria, meningitis, neurasthenia, parasitic infections (their eggs are destroyed), pleurisy,
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pneumonia, pruritis, psoriasis, purulent ophthalmia, rheumatism, rhinitis, ringworm, scarlet fever, septic conditions (eyes, ears, mouth, throat), seborrhoea, septicaemia, shingles, staph and strep infections, stomach flu, syphilis, thrush (yeast infection), thyroid infections, tonsillitis, toxaemia, trachoma, trench foot, tuberculosis, typhoid, ulcerated stomach, virus (all forms), warts, whooping cough, yeast infections (females).
To treat infections of teeth or gums, hold the CS for as long as you can in your mouth — perhaps 20 minutes. Sometimes CS may not be able to get to the source of the infection inside poor dental work. The solution is to remove the source of the infection — the root canalled tooth or post.
CS has a wide range of veterinary uses, is extremely effective and cheap for swimming pool purification, and is an effective fungicide for gardening and hydroponics. Itmakes an effective and harmless underarm deodorant.
CS kills pathogens rapidly, so your body’s eliminatory systems (liver, kidneys, skin, bowels, lungs) may become temporarily overloaded. The resulting toxic overload may mean you feel quite ill— a healing crisis. Drink lots of water, litres every day. Enemas also help.
WHAT ISCS?
CS ismade from pure, distilled water and silver, using electrolysis. The word “colloidal” means that microscopic-sized solid silver particles are suspended in the water. These silver ions have a positive charge, therefore they repel each other and remain permanently suspended in the water.
CS looks like water, though itmay sometimes have a yellow tint. You can test that itcontains colloidal particles by shining a laser pointer light through itin a darkened room. You can clearly see a pencil of light through the liquid. Ifyou cannot see this pencil of light, then there are no colloidal particles and itisnot safe to use — see argyria below. Ifthe edges of this light pencil have a “sparkle”, then the colloidal particles are large. If there is less sparkle and a clear edge to the light, the particles are small and the CS is of a high quality.
The concentration of silver in the water is usually measured in parts per million (ppm). CS is typically between 3 and 100 ppm. You can measure the
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ionic portion (the strength) of the CS with a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter.
HOW ITWORKS
Scientists are not sure about how CS works. The presence of CS near any bacterium or fungus seems to disable their oxygen metabolism, and they usually die within a few minutes. They are then excreted from the body. It is possible that the colloidal particles are an oxidizing catalyst, killing the single-celled organisms with which itmakes contact. CS may also interfere with the microbe’s respiration by disabling the enzymes on which anaerobic micro-organisms depend; tie up the sulphur in the microbe, or short the electrostatic fields in the cell. With viruses, silver may cause the virus DNA or RNA to revert to being undifferentiated; itmay also repair the broken segment of DNA of a virus, making itcomplete but dysfunctional.
When you take a good quality CS, the small-sized colloidal particles are quickly absorbed through your mouth, stomach and upper colon into your bloodstream. The ionic portion of the CS turns into silver chloride and also goes into your bloodstream. The silver chloride plates out onto the colloidal particles already there, and they grow by a small amount. They are still far too small to get caught up in your tissues, and they eventually get removed by the kidneys. So colloidal silver is actually a protection against argyria (see below).
RISKS
DESTROYING YOUR DIGESTIVE BACTERIA
Your digestive system and especially the large colon contain hundreds of different types of beneficial bacteria. Can CS destroy them, similarly to when you take a course of antibiotics? (See page 303) The answer is yes, so be careful. If you drink CS in small quantities (less than a small mouthful), nearly all of itwill be absorbed through the membranes in your mouth, and particularly under your tongue. Swirl each mouthful around under your tongue, and hold itfor as long as you can, rather than swallowing. That way most of it will be absorbed before it reaches your stomach. Your small
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intestine is also very effective at absorbing CS, and for most people little will pass on to the large intestine where the majority of your beneficial bacteria reside. It will destroy microorganisms, good and bad, in your mouth, throat and stomach. In summary, ifyou gulp down a large quantity of CS, this is a realrisk.ItisalsoagoodreasonNOT touseCSasanongoingpreventative.
ARGYRIA
When you have silver salts in your bloodstream, they have a strong tendency to bind (plate) with any silver particles they meet. If you have sufficient CS particles in your blood, that is good — the salts bind with these particles. The silver particles do their job in your body and are then excreted. However, if you have no CS particles in your blood, the silver salts turn into silver molecules in your skin. The action of light on your skin is similar to the photographic process that occurs when you take a picture (with a film camera). If the level of silver salts is sufficiently low, the silver molecules are swept out of your skin by the blood flow and everything is fine. However if the level of silver salts in your blood is over some minimum level the molecules will increase in size as the salts plate out on them, growing so rapidly that they become stuck in your skin. The skin takes a permanent black or blue cast. This is called argyria, the result of taking silver compounds without any colloidal component.
This iswhy itisimportant that you only use high quality CS, and that you use itcorrectly. The CS should have a high level of fine colloidal particles.
BUYING /MAKING CS
You can buy bottles of CS in chemists and health food shops. Look for a clear liquid made from 99.98% pure (or better) silver, at a concentration of 15-20 parts per million. You can test for the existence of colloidal particles using a laser pointer (see below), and get an estimation of the concentration using a TDS meter.
Store CS in a dark place, away from electromagnetic fields. It does not matter whether it is kept cold or warm. Light can damage a CS solution, so
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it should be kept in a dark amber or cobalt blue glass bottle, in a dark cupboard. Electromagnetic fields can destroy the colloidal particles, so keep itaway from electric wiring, microwaves, radiation etc. This iswhy itshould not be stored in a refrigerator.
Itispossible to make your own CS with 1-3 nine volt batteries and some silver wire, but it is impossible to make a good quality brew of any strength using this method. Many different CS generation kits are sold on the internet. There is no control or regulation of the industry, and some kits are sold by charlatans.
If you are going to buy a CS generator, look for the following features:
Constant current circuitry. When you first start making the brew, the conductivity of the water is very low. As ionic silver is produced, the conductivity increases and the current increases exponentially. This creates two problems: firstly, the appropriate brew time for a certain ppm will vary widely depending on the initial conductivity and temperature; secondly, the high current towards the end causes an excessive increase in the particle size, making the brew less than optimum for both stability and effectiveness. Your generator must have electronic circuitry that reduces the current as the solution concentrates. It is almost impossible to produce a brew with a concentration of over 5 ppm without constant current circuitry.
Ihave seen a web site advertising a generator, and describing itas “over- current protected”. In fact, itwas a 1.5 amp transformer of the kind that you can buy at an electronics store for a few dollars. It had voltage selection from 3 to 12 volts, and no constant current circuitry whatsoever. The “over-current protection” was just a type of fuse to ensure it would not burn out. The amperage was about 1000 times higher than needed to make a good quality CS. Beware!
Stirrer. As the CS is produced, it tends to concentrate around the electrodes, and stirring or movement is necessary to prevent a build-up. Many generators have a small light bulb under the container, and the warmth from the globe creates thermal currents. This is the least expensive method, but not very effective. You can stir itby hand, as long as you won’t get bored
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having to stir it every few minutes over a period of several hours. Other generators use an aquarium bubbler or pump to agitate the water. There is some debate about whether introducing carbon dioxide and dust from the air creates silver salts. At least a bubbler is easily installed, reliable and reasonably cheap.
Mechanical stirrers are the most effective, where a motor drives a paddle, moves the electrodes, or moves a magnetic stirrer. Ensure the stirrer turns at a maximum of 30 revolutions per minute, because ifthey stir too fast there will be a build-up of salt on the electrodes and the brew will be spoiled.
Polarity reverser. During electrolysis, black silver powder builds up on the cathode, and brown silver oxide on the anode. Reversing the polarity of the current every few minutes reduces these build-ups. Ifyou do not reverse polarity during brewing, then wipe the electrodes after each use without using any soap or detergent.
Electrical current. Most units operate at 24 — 36 volts. The lower voltage units make finer, better quality small colloidal particles. The maximum amperage passing through the water should be | ma (milliamp, or
1/1000 amp). Higher amperage will create large colloidal particles.
High quality distilled water. Tap water, filtered water and spring water have too high a mineral content to make CS. Rain water is usually too polluted, though in rare cases it is borderline acceptable. Even domestic
reverse osmosis water filters usually do not produce the purity required to make CS. The best water to use is steam distilled, or high quality reverse osmosis filtered. You can buy these waters in the “household products” sections of supermarkets, general stores, and sometimes auto parts stores, or make your own with a steam distiller. You can test the purity of the water with a TDS meter — itshould have a reading of 0— 3 ppm. Ifyou use anything other than the most pure distilled water, you risk having insufficient colloids in your CS, and a high level of silver salts. Salts such as silver chloride or silver fluoride taken without colloidal silver can cause argyria.
Pure silver. High quality silver of 0.9998 purity or better should be used.
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BIOCOMPATIBLE DENTISTRY
oor dental practises are responsible for the illnesses of millions of people
[pee theworld,primarilyinrichdevelopedcountries.Theyarethe cause of many degenerative diseases for several reasons.
Firstly metals, and particularly mercury, are not compatible with your body. Mercury fillings (the silver grey or black fillings that millions of people have in their mouths) are highly toxic. Mercury amalgam fillings are responsible for many serious and apparently chronic diseases (page 330).
The amount of mercury that goes into the average mercury amalgam tooth fillingissufficient tokillyou ifitwas taken allatonce. Approximately 50% ofanamalgam fillingismercury. 25-30% issilver,andtheremainder is usually zine and tin. An amalgam filling can leak mercury vapour over many years, slowly making you sick with degenerative illnesses.
Conventional dentists have been taught that mercury is harmless in fillings. Few dentists are willing to question orthodoxy and go against the recommendations of their dental association. Therefore, you will have to search for enlightened dentists who use composite plastic instead of mercury amalgam fillings. Happily, their numbers are expanding.
Composite plastic will last for many years if the job is done correctly. They require more skill. Ifyour dentist argues that composite fillings are too weak and short-lived to use, find another dentist. Today’s composite and ceramic materials are tough and durable, and used properly they will outlast amalgam fillings and conventional dental work. They look good — usually you can’t tell that any dental work has been done. Most importantly, they don’t slowly poison your body. I personally feel that a dentist who is not capable of doing composite fillings should not be allowed to practise.
If your dentist insists on using a mercury amalgam filling, I suggest you ask him / her for a written and signed confirmation that it is safe and will not harm you. Watch their reaction!
Root canals, cavitations (see below) and tooth inserts usually harbour infections. These infections are not normally painful — you don’t know that the infection is there. Instead, they provide a low level and ongoing source
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of bacteria and their toxic by-products entering your bloodstream. Year after year, your immune system has to fight the bacteria and their toxins coming from the base of a root-canalled tooth, from the cavitation left by an improperly removed tooth, or from the gap surrounding the post and false tooth of an insert drilled into your jaw. Ifyou are young and healthy and have a strong immune system, you won’t notice this assault on your body. But if you have had such an infection for years and your immune system is weak, it can be the frustrating and perplexing cause of numerous degenerative diseases. ;
The surface of a tooth (enamel) is the hardest part. Under the enamel, most of the tooth is made up of bone-like dentine. The dentine is made up of microscopic tubules that transport nutrients from the blood supply to all parts of the tooth. When a root canal is performed, these tubules remain intact and are not sterilised. Polymorphic bacteria colonise the tubules, gradually learning to thrive without oxygen, and becoming smaller and more toxic.
Gum disease (gingivitis) and tooth decay are also correlated with these diseases. A strain of bacteria commonly found in tooth plaque has also been found in the fatty deposits that clog arteries. Tooth plaque, the sticky coat of bacteria and acids that eventually hardens into calculus or tartar, is the cause of gingivitis and tooth decay.
To slow your rate of ageing, help gain total health and save your teeth: * Eliminate sugar. If you eat no sugar or refined flour, your teeth will stop rotting (politely called dental decay). People who never have sugar from the youngest age (as in many traditional societies) keep a full and healthy set of teeth all their lives. This is the most important step you can take to stop the formation of dental plaque.
* Clean your teeth properly. You do not need to brush your teeth after every meal ifyou enjoy healthy no-sugar food and drink. Itisbetter to thoroughly clean your teeth once per day, or even every few days. Proper cleaning takes several minutes. Flossing is the most important part of cleaning your teeth.
Also brush them gently and thoroughly, up and down rather than backwards and forwards. (Brush your gums towards the top of each tooth). It is essential
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to floss your teeth every day because the rubbing of fibrous food over your teeth as you chew does not clean the area between your teeth. If you are consuming any sugar, plaque will build up in the gaps between your teeth. If you find flossing painful or your gums bleed, then your gums are likely infected. Isuggest that you gently persist with the flossing, but ifthe bleeding and pain continue, then seek the help of a biocompatible dentist.
¢Minimal dental treatment. Most conventional dental techniques (see below) lead to the death of the tooth and an ongoing source of infection or toxins in your body. Itispreferable tohave atooth (PROPERLY) removed rather than suffer a root canal, bridge or insert.
* Other factors such as hydration, diet and exercise discussed in Grow Youthful will ensure that you have sweet breath, healthy gums and minimal ongoing deterioration of your teeth.
If you are in the unfortunate position of having a painful infection or abscess deep in a tooth’s root, you are likely to agree gratefully to the root canal that most conventional dentists will recommend. Ifthe infection cannot be controlled, the better (and cheaper) solution is often the full and proper removal of the tooth. Yes, it means having a gap in your teeth. A bridge, which many dentists will suggest, will substantially shorten the life of the two surrounding teeth.
Biocompatible dentists:
*do NOT recommend mercury amalgam fillings
*do NOT recommend root canals
*do NOT recommend bridges
*doNOT recommend inserts(ametalpostdrilledintothejawbone,andused as a base for a false tooth)
* acknowledge the debilitating effect on your health and the death of your teeth from the above four procedures
* are very reluctant to do crowns, and acknowledge that a crown is the beginning of the end of a tooth. Instead, they would recommend an inlay or an onlay
*are competent with bonding, and use bonding and veneering techniques in
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preference to traditional fillings
* have experience removing mercury fillings and are aware of the toxicity of
mercury vapour when removing mercury fillings, and would use a dental dam
* have experience with performing extractions without leaving cavitations (alveolar cavitational osteopathosis) i.e. holes left from incompletely extracted teeth which never heal properly, don’t fill with bone, and remain as an ongoing source of infection, often for the rest of your life). The removal of a root-canalled tooth has a special protocol — the periodontal ligament should be removed, along with 1 mm of the bone socket, using a burr. A saline solution is used to wash out the chips.
Bernard Jerome’s book Tooth Truth? is recommended, and provides more detail and explanation.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
This traditional drink is an effective treatment for allergies, candida, arthritis, gout, acid reflux (heartburn), chronic fatigue, high cholesterol, and infections such as sore throats, sinus, ‘flu and acne. Apple cider vinegar (ACV) isTHE cure for excruciating joint and muscle pain, fatigue and chronic upper respiratory infections. It relieves insect bites and some skin allergies, and curbs excessive appetite. It improves your skin and hair, is a powerful detoxifier and is the basis for several “fountain of youth” drinks.
ACV isan alkaline forming drink, even though ittastes acid. Ithas anti- fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral properties, primarily coming from the acetic acid and malic acid in the vinegar. It is rich in organic acids (including more than a dozen different carbolic acids), vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and apple pectin.
ACV iseffectiveatstoppingmany allergies,likethosefrompollen,dust, dander and food. Take itas a daily tonic, or at the first sign of an allergy such as a sinus headache, stuffy nose or itchy watery eyes. ACV can stop an allergic reaction within hours or days, depending upon how advanced itis.
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Here isthe recipe for afountain ofyouth drink that Iuse. ¥,teaspoon ofblackstrap molasses
2 tablespoons of ACV
Y,teaspoon baking soda
a shake of cayenne pepper
Y4teaspoon turmeric powder
1glassofwarm tohotwater
Notes: the molasses is rich in minerals and a great skin purifier. However,
you may need to avoid itor substitute stevia ifyou suffer from candida or diabetes. Adjust the molasses to taste. The ACV will make your skin glow. Turmeric is an anti-oxidant herb with numerous healing properties — detoxifying, digestive, and skin enhancing. Baking soda alkalizes the formula.
You can also use ACV asa skin rinse. Itwill make your skin look younger, and helps those with eczema or psoriasis. Use two tablespoons of ACV inaglassofwateroracupofACV inyourbath.
Dosage. Mix two tablespoons (32 ml) of ACV in a 200 ml glass of water. You can take up to three glasses per day. Some people like to sip this mixture throughout the day, others drink the glass at once. Different brands of ACV vary in strength. The strongest brands can actually promote yeast infections in women and heartburn, milder brands are effective cures. Try to buy an organic, unpasteurised, milder product such as Braggs. There are many brands available, try to avoid the big “corporate” brands that are sold in supermarkets.
You may be concerned about the effect of the ACV’s acidity on your teeth. Ongoing acidity in the mouth can cause dentin sensitivity and erosion of the tooth enamel. The solution is to add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to the mix, approximately 1/4 of a teaspoon per two tablespoons of ACV, depending on the brand. The result should have a pH of between 6 and 7, according to your taste. Do not worry that the baking soda would make the ACV less effective, because the sodium bicarbonate stored in your body would do exactly the same thing soon after you drink it.
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KOMBUCHA
A DELICIOUS YOUTHING DRINK
ombucha (KT) is a piquant and natural detoxifying drink that you can ake yourself. Itscost isinsignificant, as itismade from only tea and sugar. Ithas several hundred healing properties, and isrenowned as an anti- ageing treatment and secret to retaining youthful looks. It is an effective and
natural way of removing heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. People who drink itseem to be a lot healthier and younger-looking than the rest of the population. It has powerful detoxifying and immune-enhancing qualities.
Kombucha drinkers around the world are so enthusiastic that there are literally dozens of web sites and email lists that you can subscribe to, to get a starter culture, ask questions and trade experiences. The passion and knowledge available on the internet is quite humbling. An up-to-date list of the best web sites and links is available at www.growyouthful.com.
KT is a tonic, complete therapy and preventative medicine. You can also apply ittopically as a compress, add itto your bath, make itinto an effective cream that heals leg ulcers and fungal nail infections, use it to start fermentation in food recipes, use itwith animals, and in the garden.
MAKING A BREW
You make Kombucha with sugar, tea and a culture (a symbiosis of bacteria and yeasts). Its taste can range from something similar to champagne, a refreshing light wine, to strong apple cider vinegar, depending on the amount and acidity of the starter, the fermentation time, the amount of sugar and type of tea that you use. An older, tart brew is more acidic and has a higher level of healing properties than a young, mild and slightly sweet brew.
You need not be too concerned about using sugar. In a strong, tart tea, brewed over two weeks, only 3% of the sugar remains. 97% of the sugar is consumed and converted by the culture.
KT is easy to make. First, you need a “starter” in the form of a pancake- like “mushroom”, and some live KT tea. You can get a starter from a friend
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contacts.
RECIPE
For one litre of KT you need:
60-90 grams of white or raw sugar
3-5 grams of tea leaves
100 ml of KT from a previous brew (10% required asa starter). apieceofkombucha mushroom
Boil the water and the sugar. Tap or spring water is fine, but not distilled or reverse osmosis filtered water, because the brew needs the minerals found in most water. Add the tea, and leave it to sit for at least ten minutes before removing the tealeaves or bags. I usually leave them in until it is completely cool. When your tea is at room temperature, you can pour it into your brewing bowl and add the mushroom and the starter. Itisimportant that ithas cooledcompletely—ifitisabove35°C,youcankillthestarter. Coveritwith a clean cloth that lets itbreathe. Iuse an old piece of bed-sheet, and a large elastic band to hold ittaut over the top of the bowl. Put itin a quiet place out of sunlight, where it will remain at a stable temperature between 23°C and 30°C. Use a bowl made from glass, china, enamel or glazed terracotta. Metal, lead crystal and cheap plastic are unacceptable. KT reacts strongly with any metal, and can take up toxins from some plastics. The bowl should have a wide top for good breathing.
Within a few days, a clear or translucent thin skin will start to form on the top of the liquid, and itwill smell fermented. The brewing time depends on the temperature, and your taste requirements. After 5-15 days, the new mushroom culture will be a centimetre thick, and grey, cream or peach coloured.
Before you bottle your brew, remove the mushroom culture that has formed on the top, and keep a saucer-sized piece of it for your next brew. Also keep some of the brew asa starter.
Stir up the sediment that has formed in the bottom of the bowl, and then
already brewing Kombucha, or check www.growyouthful.com for a list of
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bottle it in glass bottles, tightly capped. The sediment contains yeasts that make itfizzy. Itneeds a day or two after bottling to build up enough pressure to make a fizz. Iput itin the fridge for a few hours before serving -otherwise itgets too fizzy, overflowing and stirring up the sediment.
You may wish to pour itthrough a tea strainer before drinking it,to filter out the (harmless) stringy growths and remnants of the culture. However, if you pour itcarefully itisusually clear.
Making Kombucha has almost as many variables as does making wine. The longer itisleft,the sourer itwill become. The more starter youuse, the more acidic you make it.You can use a variety of teas such as ordinary black tea, oolong or green tea. Iprefer green tea because ithas anti-carcinogenic properties, is beneficial to the heart and blood circulation, has less caffeine and is particularly nutritious. Green tea also gives a slightly milder flavour to the brew. Generally, the finest teas make the best brew.
Normal kitchen hygiene is OK — your equipment does not need to be sterile. Mould can form if the brew is not acidic enough — usually because insufficient starter was used. It can also form because of poor hygiene or cigarette smoke. Ifthere isany mould on your culture, throw itaway, and do not risk drinking it. Other factors which can spoil a culture are sunlight, contact with metal, cigarette smoke, insufficient air, or water with no minerals in it(distilled or reverse osmosis filtered).
Do not add other ingredients to the brew. Thousands of enthusiastic brewers have experimented over the years, and keep coming back to the basic ingredients of sugar, water and tea. Do not add vitamins, preservatives, other yeasts, real mushrooms, artificial sweeteners, oxygen drops, fresh or dried fruit, coffee or anything outside the basic guidelines.
A few herbs, such as elderflower, raspberry, nettle, rosehip and hibiscus add delicious flavours and other characteristics to the brew, including the medicinal benefits of the herb. Elderflower in particular, adds a high level of fizz and sparkle to the drink, and imparts a “dry Muscat” flavour. However, Earl Grey tea, and many other herbs with aromatic oils can kill your fungus. (Earl Grey is made with bergamot, citrus oil). I suggest you do not
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experiment with herbs until you have completed several brews, and are familiar with the variables in a “normal” brew. Ensure you keep a backup, in case your brew dies.
I usually use a portion of (green) tea when making a herbal KT. Herbal Kombucha ismore expensive to make — generally, you need to use six times more herbs (by weight) than the tea you are replacing.
DRINKING KT
Remember that Kombucha is a powerful detoxifier. When you start using it, drink a small amount, and drink more water during the day. Perhaps start with 50 or 100 ml on the first day, and watch for any effects. Some people notice gas, stomach-ache, nausea, fatigue, pimples, rashes, diarrhoea, or a headache. These effects are temporary, normal, and the result of beneficial bacteria repopulating your gut, and the dislodging of toxins into your bloodstream. Additional water helps excrete these toxins through your liver and kidneys as quickly as possible. People with disease or severe toxic conditions may experience a healing crisis ifthey drink too much too soon.
There are as many ways of drinking KT as there are people who drink it. Some people have a 300 ml glass half an hour after rising in the morning. You can drink it mid-morning or mid-afternoon, or with meals. A lighter “champagne” or “wine” Kombucha makes a superb pre-meal aperitif, a stronger brew is more like a wine.
I feel that there are limits to the amount of KT you should drink. I have several friends who drink around 500 ml of KT per day, and have exceeded that quantity myself over the years. Over a period of years, large quantities can be hard on your liver, being such a potent detoxifying drink.
As a cancer treatment, and in treating specific ailments, KT has been used in quantities up to 2 litres per day, for up to 6 weeks. You can increase from your normal dose at the onset of an infection, or during stress, illness, or exposure to environmental toxins or radiation.
Children can drink Kombucha, in quantities adjusted for age or weight. You can also dilute itwith water.
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Kombucha should not be drunk during before or during pregnancy, because of the alcohol itcontains (up to 1%).
Diabetics should drink longer fermented sour teas, so that most of the sugar has been converted. Making the tea with less than 60 grams per litre will reduce many of its beneficial characteristics.
HISTORY
The earliest record of Kombucha seems to have been in 414 B.C. in Korea. It showed up in China in 221 B.C. during the Tsin Dynasty, and soon found its way into Japan, Russia and India. In Russia, itbecame established as an effective folk medicine in many rural communities.
After World War I, Russian researchers were looking at why cancer appeared to be on the increase in their country. They found that two particular areas of the country stood out like neon signs because they were almost cancer free. The people in these areas also lived longer, regardless of the fact that alcohol and tobacco consumption was higher there. They reported that the men of the region used to drink large quantities of Kombucha before their drinking bouts. This was the first modern scientific evidence that KT is indeed an immune system booster and body detoxifier. In the 1950’s itre- surfaced when Soviet doctors discovered whole communities that had apparently been protected from dangerous environmental pollution by KT.
KT became popular in Japan after World War I. Visitors to areas where the tea has been consumed for generations are surprised to see that the women are virtually unwrinkled, with few other visible signs of ageing. Samurai warriors used to keep KT cultures in field flasks, regularly topping them up with fresh tea and sugar. The tea is again widely used in Japan. Today, at least six million people around the world brew KT, and several times that number drink it.
WHAT ISKT?
The“mushroom” isajelly-likemembrane thatfloatsinanutrientsolutionof
tea and sugar exposed to oxygen. At the right temperature, it constantly
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multiplies. It first spreads over the entire surface of the tea and then it thickens. Itreproduces bya process ofcylindrical binary fission, unlike other yeasts that reproduce with spores. The membrane is a symbiosis of yeast cells and different bacteria. The principle yeast is the tropical Schizo saccharomycoses Pombe. Others varyingly include Saccharomyces Ludwigii, torula and apiculatis types, Pichia fermentans and Mycoderma. The principle bacteria include Bacterium xylinum, Bacterium gluconicum, Acetobacter ketogenum, and Acetobacteria xylinium, Brown xylinioides and Acetobacteria pasteurianum. There is some dispute as to what the KT mushroom is.Some microbiologists have argued that itisnot afungus, but a lichen. Others disagree, saying lichen is a symbiosis of algae and fungus and requires light to build chlorophyll by photosynthesis, a typical feature of algae. However, KT flourishes in the dark because it contains no algae components.
The KT culture transforms the tea into enzymes, vitamins and organic acids. The fermented mixture contains 0.5-1% alcohol, gluconic acid, glycuronic acid, L-lactic acid, acetic acid, carbonic acid, caprylic acid, citric acid, malic acid, usnic acid, vitamins Bl, B2, B3, B6 and B12 and C, folic acid, amino acids, and other substances with antibiotic, antiseptic and detoxifying characteristics.
Thekombucha culturedoesnotbreakdown thecaffeineinthetea.Ifyou want a low-caffeine kombucha, it is quite acceptable to make it with decaffeinated tea or green tea. Similarly, the oxalic acid in the tea you use remains in the KT brew. Yet another reason to use green tea, which has around one-fifth the level of oxalic acid as black tea.
BENEFITS
Most people feel better after a month of daily use, some sooner. The first improvement is usually increased energy, and better skin colour. Some serious disease conditions may take years to heal, depending on the person and many other factors. Kombucha has helped with a wide variety of acute and chronic conditions. I have read literally hundreds of enthusiastic emails
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from several KT email lists. People with difficult long-term illnesses such as arthritis, digestive disorders, high blood pressure, poor circulation, high cholesterol and cancer have finally found effective cures by using KT. Older people, many of whom doctors have been unable to help, have found relief for their ailments. In addition, Kombucha has also proved to be an effective aid for the alarming numbers of young people who are developing illnesses from poorly functioning immune systems, such as eczema, acne, allergies and chronic fatigue syndrome. KT has successfully treated a variety of cancers, sexual and menopausal problems, arthritis, rheumatism, cataracts and other cornea formations.
Metabolic Balance and Energy. Metabolic balancing is perhaps the most important function of Kombucha. This is one reason why it is not symptom specific — not always helping a specific immune-related illness, but rather targeting your weakness or imbalance. It does not affect specific organs in your body; instead, it influences your entire organism through metabolic stabilisation. You can see its strengthening effects through its influence on the liver, the blood, the digestive system, and the normalising of acidity or pH. KT invigorates and purifies the entire glandular system and metabolism. Itisan excellent preventative and maintenance tonic, increasing your energy level and protecting against or alleviating cancers.
KT will increase your stamina, and reduce muscle pain and fatigue. Some athletes requiring long endurance use it.
Pro-biotic. KT encourages the growth of beneficial bifida bacteria in your intestines, particularly those that produce lactic acid. Bifida are similar to acidophilus bacteria, the active organisms in live yoghurt. KT produces two organic acids, lactic acid and acetic acid, which accelerate this pro-biotic effect. Lactic acid is essential for healthy digestive action, and for energy production by the liver. Acetic acid is an antiseptic and inhibitor of pathogenic bacteria.
As KT is a “yeast” as well as a bacterial ferment, you may be inclined to avoid KT ifyou suffer from candida. However, Schizo saccharomycoses isa yeast that does not have spores and is therefore not in the family of candida,
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so it is antagonistic to the troublesome yeast that infects so many people. Experience shows that the yeasts found in the Kombucha culture do not stimulate the candida yeasts as they are of a different type; candida sufferers have therefore often found relief in taking Kombucha. Gluconic acid strengthens the walls of the gut, which combats yeast infections such as candida. KT helps with constipation, infectious diarrhoea, dysentery, digestion, nervous stomach, colitis, inflamed large and small intestines and ulcers.
Blood. KT has blood thinning qualities. If you prick your finger and bleed too freely, you may be drinking too much. Reduce or stop drinking ita week before surgery. Similarly, ifyou suffer from heavy periods, stop taking KT aweek beforehand.
Skin. KT improves your skin elasticity, tone and colour. It acts as a humectant (moisturiser). Most people using itreport a reduction of wrinkles, scarring, freckles, brown age spots and rashes. It has been used to treat psoriasis, eczema, acne, tropical ulcers, rashes, boils, warts, and many fungal infections like athletes foot and tinea (using creamed culture on the skin, dabbed on skin, or drinking the tea). It thickens your hair, and reduces grey hair and balding. KT speeds nail and hair growth
Detoxifier. Glycuronic acid (GA) binds toxins in your liver, and makes them water-soluble. Your kidneys then eliminate these toxins in your urine. People starting to drink KT show traces of environmental toxins such as lead andmercury intheirurine.Asadetoxifyingagent,GA hascome intoitsown today in our highly polluted world. It is one of the few agents that can cope with the poisonous products of the petroleum industry, including all the plastics, herbicides, pesticides and resins. It “kidnaps” the phenols in the liver which are then eliminated by the kidneys. Your intestines or urinary system cannot reabsorb toxins bound by GA. GA isalso abuilding block for connective tissue, cartilage, stomach lining, vitreous humour of the eye and heparin.
Another by-product of GA is glucosamine, used in the structures associated with cartilage, collagen and the fluids that lubricate the joints.
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Collagen reduces wrinkles, while arthritis sufferers have their deficient cartilage and joint fluids replenished.
Antibiotic. The antibiotic properties, primarily from the usnic acid, only develop after the 7'* or 8t* day. They also require a brewing temperature above 23°C. The acetic acid bacteria produced are strongly antagonistic to streptococci, diplococci, flexner and shigella.
Acidity Balance. Your metabolism depends on an acid-alkaline balance that constantly responds to the food that you eat, the air you breathe, and to your emotional state. Your body has a remarkable balancing system that maintains different organs at the pH level each requires for optimum health. Toxins make both cells and organs more acid. Kombucha’s acids are able to bind to many toxins, which are then flushed out through the liver and kidneys. Kombucha is a valuable restorative of liver function, and treatment for kidney and liver stones.
Mental. KT combats depression. When a KT website sent out a questionnaire to its members, 81% of over 400 respondents reported a “feeling of well being.” Usually, they noticed this improvement within the first couple of weeks after beginning to drink Kombucha Tea. Those that had been drinking itfor years still reported this benefit.
If drunk immediately before retiring to sleep, KT helps some people go to sleep, and keeps others awake. Itwould seem logical that a tart, low sugar brew would be best for insomnia. Many people who drink Kombucha have reported vivid dreams.
KEFIR
efir is a refreshing, probiotic cultured milk drink that originated in the
|eae CaucasusMountainsmanycenturiesago.Ithasathick creamy sticky consistency, tastes a little like yogurt, and has a milky, yeasty smell. Many aromatic compounds contribute to its unique flavour and distinctive pleasant aroma. Kefir has a slight natural carbonated effervescence, and contains between 0.08 - 2 % alcohol.
Unlike yogurt, kefir contains around thirty strains of bacteria and yeast,
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including /actobacillus bacteria. The culture comes in translucent balls called grains, though these grains have nothing to do with any kind of cereal. They are a complex bio-matrix structure of soluble gel-polysaccharide, organic acids, yeasts and bacteria. This polysaccharide called kefiran is made from two mono-saccharides, glucose and galactose in almost equal proportions.
Kefir grains are remarkably tough, resilient and adaptive. They stay alive when kept in a refrigerator, though freezing will destroy them. Ifyou want to consume kefir every day, keep the brew at room temperature. If you put the brew in your refrigerator, it will slow the brewing process or even “hibernate”. Keep itin a sealed container.
Kefir is unlike other dairy products, because it is easily digestible and contains little sugar (lactose), especially if you let it ferment for a longer period. The proteins in the milk are also broken down, and are virtually in a pre-digested state. I sometimes drink it on its own, as a meal in itself, and a source of protein. You can combine itwith fruit or muesli, or use itto make a smoothie. It makes a good starter for sourdough breads, cakes, and all forms of baking. If, like most people, you have a damaged digestive system, a glass of kefir is a soothing and healing product. You may find that during the hours after drinking it,your stomach feels settled and stable.
Kefir has anti-tumour properties, preventing the development of metastasis. It is an anti-inflammatory and is an excellent stimulant for your immune system. The grains produce their own antibiotics. Kefir is rich in minerals and vitamins, particularly the B group. Kefir slows the ageing process. Ithas many healing properties, helping with heart and artery disease, lowering cholesterol levels and regulating blood pressure. It assists your digestive system, healing the liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, gall bladder and stomach ulcers, and soothing your digestive and urinary tracts.
You make Kefir by placing 1-2 tablespoons of kefir grains in 1 cup (250 ml) of milk, and leaving itto ferment for 24-48 hours at a temperature of 18- 30°C (longer period at lower temperatures). You can eat itright away or store itin a glass jar, not more than % full. Put a lid on the jar, and tighten itifyou want kefir with a slight fizz. You can use pasteurised, raw milk, full cream or
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low fat milk. Traditionally it is made with raw un-homogenised milk, and that is what makes the best kefir and is by far the most nutritious and digestible.
After fermentation, fish the kefir grains out of the liquid, and use them to start your next brew. You can consume the liquid right away or store itin the refrigerator for later use.
Try not to expose kefir to metal, especially metals other than stainless steel. Do not use a metal spoon, metal sieve or metal containers. I use a plastic sieve and spoons, and glass containers. |
There is no need to wash the kefir grains between each brew - this may even damage them. Some people give their grains a “rest” in filtered water between once a week and once every few months. This rest can be 12-24 hours, and the water produced is a nourishing drink.
If you don’t want to make kefir for a month or two, cover the grains with milk or kefir in a sealed container, and put itin the fridge. When you get back the brew might be a bit cheesy and quite strong, but itshould be nourishing and the grains will resurrect when they are again in milk at room temperature.
Secondary Fermentation. This is the traditional or “no-fridge” method of storing kefir. You can bottle the liquid and store itat room temperature for up to one week. This will cause secondary fermentation, and the kefir will be fizzy. It will have higher levels of folic acid, alcohol (but less than 2%) and B group vitamins. The secondary fermentation will consume most of the remaining lactose in the kefir, making itsuitable for lactose intolerant people, or those who need to watch their sugar intake (e.g. diabetics). The longer you leave it,the sourer its taste.
Fill the bottle only *% full. Release the build-up of CO2 gas daily, and give the bottle a gentle shake at least once a day. The agitation is necessary to mix the yeast colonies back into the kefir and prevent mould developing. You can pour out kefir to use at any time, or top itup with fresh kefir made that day —as an ongoing storage method.
Kefir Grains. The kefir grains vary in size from the size of a pea to that
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of a golf ball. They can take from days to months to double in size. They are also highly nutritious, though they are a bit rubbery and have little flavour. You can search for a source on the internet, or check www.growyouthful.com, which also has links to other sites where you can read up on kefir’s history, properties, brewing and recipes.
REJUVELAC
ou can make this living, enzyme rich drink by soaking sprouted whole
NVee oatorbarleygrainsinwater.Thetasteissubtle,aliveand slightly tart. The first batch is sweet and grassy flavoured, subsequent batches become weaker and more acidic.
Drink itas a digestive aid, a detoxifier, and use itas a “starter” for other fermented foods such as raw nut and seed sauces, cheeses and essene breads. Some people use the spent grains to make essene bread.
It contains eight of the B vitamins, vitamins E and K, and a variety of proteins, dextrines, carbohydrates, phosphates, saccharines and amylases. It is rich in enzymes that assist both your digestion, and the growth of friendly bacteria such as lactobacillus bifidus. Lactobacillus produces a lactic acid that helps your colon maintain its natural, vitamin producing facility. It also helps cleanse your intestinal tract.
To make Rejuvelac, soak a cup of wheat grains (berries) overnight after washing them well and discarding any dead or discoloured seeds. Change the water 2-3 times per day. After the grains sprout, and the sprouts are about the same length as the grains, put them in a tall container and cover them (plus 25%) with spring or filtered water. Keep the container in a quiet dark place. After two days, pour off the first batch of Rejuvelac.
Add a similar amount of water to the sprouts, and pour off your second batch after another 24-48 hours. You can repeat this process 2 — 4 times, with each batch a little different, but eventually getting weak and insipid.
Warmer temperatures in summer will decrease the fermenting times by as much as a third. You can experiment with other whole grains, such as millet, oats, rice, barley, rye and buckwheat.
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EMTM (EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS)
n the early 1960’s a Japanese professor of horticulture Dr Teruo Higa!!9,
|frasesacombinationofmicroorganismsthathaveanextraordinary effect on soil, water, plants, animals and people. He named them Effective MicroorganismsTM.
There are two opposing forces in nature — the life force (syn-entropy) that organises and builds, and is responsible for wholeness, health and vitality. The opposing force (entropy) isthat of decay, destruction, pollution, sickness and ultimately death. The driving power behind both these life forces is some of the tiniest life forms known — bacteria, yeasts and fungi.
If you examine a sample of soil, you can see which of the two forces is in control. When anabiotic or regenerative types of microorganisms predominate, the plants growing in itwill be healthy, pest and disease free. The soil will steadily improve without the use of chemical fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides. If degenerative or pathogenic microorganisms dominate, the soil produces weak, sickly plants afflicted with severe pest infestation, where any growth requires the support of agricultural chemicals and artificial fertilizers.
Using EM, Dr Higo has multiplied agricultural yields many times, all without the use of artificial chemicals or fertilizers. Adding EM to degenerate soil rapidly turns itaround. Itpromotes a healthy balance of microorganisms and insects, eliminating those that previously had a harmful dominance, and converting their residues into healthy compost.
EM has a regenerative energy. Dr Higa believes they change the sub- atomic particles of whatever they are in contact with, enhancing and transforming their energy patterns.
EM ismade from between eight and 100 lactic acid bacteria, purple non- sulphur bacteria (PNSB) and yeasts, depending upon the source. The lactic acid bacteria and the yeasts are beneficial organisms widely found in fermented foods and in the GI tract of healthy humans and animals. The lactic acid bacteria include Jactobacillus plantarum, lactobacillus casei, lactobacillus fermentum, lactobacillus salivarius and lactobacillus
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delbrueckii. The yeast issaccharomyces cerevisiae. The PNSB consists of the rhodobacter capsulatus, rhodobacter sphaeroides, rhodospeudomonas
palustris and rhodospirillium families. PNSB are widely dispersed in soil, plant leaves and roots, ponds, streams, salt-water marshes, ocean shores, snow, ice, freshwater fish, aged and fermented cheeses, and rainwater.
EM eats almost anything — vegetable and animal waste products and materials of all kinds, and toxic chemical wastes. They break them down using reductive (anti-oxidant) mechanisms rather than the more common oxidative putrefying decay mechanisms used by many other organisms. PNSBs convert the waste and toxins into water, nutrients and various anti- oxidants. EM also generates beneficial amino acids, organic acids, polysaccharides and vitamins. EM can help turn any type of soil, deserts included, into good, arable land capable of producing harvests several times greater than the current yield.
When using EM in an organic garden, you do not need to compost or add animal manure in the traditional way. You simply add EM to cut weeds and grasses, which are turned into fertiliser. Other chemicals and toxins in the soil are also broken down.
Where land has previously been used for conventional chemical farming, the EM actually eats the pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals in the soil, including dangerous dioxins and PCBs. Over a period of three to four years, farmers can convert from chemical to organic farming. Pleasingly, farmers do not suffer the crop reduction usually experienced during a transition.®>
The applications for EM are widespread:
Agriculture and food production. EM is creating a new type of biological farming with increased yields, soil improvement, rehabilitation, relatively easy conversion from conventional chemical farming, and efficient farming on a small scale.
Pollution and environment. Microbes are one of the most powerful aids to detoxification. They continually mutate and adapt, and after a few years exposed to the most potent toxins, are often able to break them down.
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Bacteriologists visit old toxic waste sites and military dumps in search of new strainsofbacterialivingoffthecontaminants inthesoil.EM iseffective in breaking down toxins without the need for this initial adaptation. EM is used to reclaim polluted rivers, ponds and waterways. It is suitable for sewage treatment, consuming the harmful organisms that grow in sewage. EM breaks down the toxins responsible for serious soil and environmental pollution. EM has neutralised the radiation in the soil around parts of Chernobyl, measurably showing that plants, animals and humans do not take up radioactive particles.8> |
EM isused as an anti fungal spray inhouses, on lawns, and inagriculture. It is used as a dishwashing and cleaning agent, to remove all sorts of odours in the home and in agriculture, as an additive to baths and hot tubs, and as an effective composting and anti odour agent in eco-toilets.
Health and medical. EM acts at physical, mental and spiritual levels. The syntropic effect builds and repairs cells, improves your digestion, removes toxins, reverses the ageing process and raises your life force.
The beneficial flora in our gut does a large part of the digestion of the foods we eat. These flora are built up over our entire lives, starting with the bacteria in our mother’s milk, continuing with hands on the ground, in the mouth and everywhere else as a toddler, and persisting throughout most adult’s lives with the bacteria and fungi present on all raw natural foods and drinks.
Unfortunately, the gut flora of most modern humans is grossly unbalanced due to the sterility of the foods we eat and the water we drink. Processed foods, the chlorination of water, the widespread use of antibiotics and antimicrobials, and the obsession that many people have with cleanliness has severely damaged the balance of microorganisms inside most people. Modern humans have far too few beneficial microbes and an overabundance of less-desirable microbes that thrive in oxidizing environments. Allergies, asthma, digestive problems, immune and other degenerative diseases are the result.
The fermented and living foods recommended in Grow Youthful help
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People who drink EM products are able to more easily digest a variety of foods, and have a good level of protection from pathological bacteria. I hear of numerous cases of such people travelling in India, Indonesia and other countries where water may be tainted with raw sewage, and street vendors have no idea of modern hygiene. Westerners drinking EM products who partake of the local food and water are protected in the same way as the local inhabitants. This is in contrast to the diarrhoea and even dysentery suffered by most westerners who eat these foods.
EM is also used to brew drinks with high levels of anti-oxidants and other nutrients. Some drinks can boost the immune system, neutralise free radicals, and shift toxins out of your body.
Where to get EM products. You can purchase an EM culture from suppliers in most western countries; the quality can vary considerably. Most cultures are sold for horticulture, agriculture, animal food and care, sewage and drinking water treatment, and pollution and ecological recovery, rather than human consumption. However, many people are experimenting, brewing different drinks using EM cultures. The Grow Youthful web site www.growyouthful.com includes EM resources and links.
Some people attempt to duplicate a valid EM culture at home. Using a recipe for an EM extender, they hope to reproduce it. Unfortunately, these extender brews do not duplicate the complete range of microorganisms that were in the original EM culture — they only include those that reproduce in the conditions of that particular brew. Some ofthe cheap EM cultures sold on the internet may be brewed in this manner.
restore this balance of beneficial microorganisms. Drinking an EM brew helpswiththerestorationofyourdigestivesystem.TheEM repopulatesyour digestive system and particularly your large intestine with natural and beneficial microorganisms. People drinking EM products grow more robust and healthy. Those who are underweight manage to gain weight easily. Those who are overweight are less chronically hungry.
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SLEEP AND REST
Sc isoneofyouth’ssecrets.Ithasadirecteffectonyourvitalityand
rejuvenation. If you get regular and sufficient deep sleep, your nervous and digestive systems greatly benefit, and you will enjoy a high level of vitality and energy. You will be more likely to digest your food fully, providing a base for good health.
Sleep is the time when your body detoxifies, and your tissues repair and grow. When you sleep, and even when you rest, toxic waste products are processedandeliminatedatalllevels,fromsubcellulartobodyHeh
During sleep, your ego-driven mind takes a rest, and instead your brain processes, connects and stores the images and experiences you had during the day.
Most adults need between six and eight hours of sleep per day, and children need more. Excessive sleep is as detrimental as getting too little. With too much sleep, you will feel physically and mentally sluggish, and it can even lead to depression.
If you adopt the life changes suggested in Grow Youthful, you will need less sleep. Just a few hours of deep sleep, combined with meditation and a midday nap, can provide sufficient for optimal health. Each individual is different, so you will have to find what suits you.
Make your sleep pattern a part of your daily routine. Animals instinctively go to sleep when the sun is at the same position each day. Humans have this instinct too, but most choose to ignore it. We sleep best during the night, when the sun is down, and wake up naturally early in the morning, just before the sun rises. Virtually all long-lived disciplines and traditional ethnic groups keep to such a cycle. The Taoist masters, and people from the Hunza and Abkhazian regions enjoy superb health and many centenarians. They typically go to sleep after the sun sets, and wake before sunrise. As the hours of darkness contract and extend during winter and summer, they adjust their bedtime accordingly. The important point is that
they keep a regular routine, and do not work late into the night, long after the sun has set, only to wake late in the morning after the sun has been up for
shy)
some time.
Many cultures, particularly the Mediterraneans, have a sleep or rest in the
middle of the day. Irecommend this, especially in the summer in hot climates when the sun is strong and harsh around midday. Half an hour of sleep or a catnap in the middle of the day is worth an hour of sleep at night, so it is an efficient use of your time. Taking off that time after your lunch is part of a relaxed and natural lifestyle.
Convention has itthat older people need less sleep than younger people do. Growing children certainly need more sleep. However, older adults need as much sleep as young adults if they are operating at the same level of physical and mental fitness and activity.3°8
Sondra Ray?’4 describes how some people, particularly those who are fifty years old or more, find that they wake up at four or five in the morning. They worry that they “can’t sleep” and sometimes take sleeping pills. What isactually happening isthat they are coming into their spiritual age, and they have no sleeping problem at all. They should be working and using that time for spiritual endeavour.
You get tired after a long period of work, physical exercise, or stress. A build-up of toxic acid wastes causes the fatigue in your limbs or throughout your body. The activity generates the waste products more quickly than the disposal mechanisms can get rid of them. When you rest, the toxins are discarded faster than they are generated.
Sleeping Tips. Here are a couple of ways to ensure you quickly fall to sleep, and then have continual deep and restful sleep.
* Try not to eat for at least four hours before going to bed. Detoxifying processes use large amounts of energy during your sleep, and you do not want to sabotage them by diverting energy to your digestive system. In addition, ifyou eat soon before sleeping, your food will not be fully digested, and a slow or partial digestive process will continue while you sleep. You will wake with a full and sluggish feeling. Incompletely digested food breeds harmful bacteria, and builds up toxic waste in your intestines. Your digestion needs a rest as well as the rest of your body.
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* Sleep in a well-ventilated room. With sleep being a detoxifying process, you want the most clean, oxygen rich, ionised air possible. Ideally, sleep out in the fresh air. If you live in a polluted city or cold climate this may not be possible, but ensure that a window is open to allow fresh air in and the removal of stale air.
* The temperature in your room should be comfortable but cool for the best sleep.
* Sleep on a firm mattress, and use a small, firm, low pillow. Mostly, lie on your back with your arms stretched alongside your body. The mattress should be on the floor, or on a solid base. If you are used to a soft mattress, for the first few days of sleeping on a firm mattress you may feel muscle and spinal pain. Soft, sagging mattresses and high pillows do considerable harm to your posture and spinal alignment. In addition to back problems, spinal misalignment can affect your liver, and indirectly, your general health.
¢ Try to drink your last drink at least 30-60 minutes before going to bed. Allow enough time for liquids to pass through before you retire, so you do not have to get up during the night to urinate.
¢ Avoid caffeine and alcohol for several hours before you go to sleep. Caffeine is a stimulant, which keeps you awake, and a diuretic, which stimulates the flow of urine. Alcohol may relax you, and help you get to sleep, but it is a drug-assisted sleep that does not revitalise and cleanse your body.
* Avoid sweet foods in the evening or late afternoon. I have noticed that eating dried fruit, in particular raisins and Goji berries, keeps me awake at night.
+Experiment with when you eat your proteins. Many people find that eating proteins for breakfast or lunch is OK, whereas proteins consumed after 2-3 pm disrupts their sleep. Proteins eaten after 2-3 pm can interfere with your liver’s ability to cleanse your blood and process wastes while you are sleeping. Sleep is a time of cleansing, not protein digestion. You will have difficulty properly digesting and completely metabolising proteins consumed
less than 7-8 hours before going to sleep. Proteins are acidifying, whereas
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you will sleep better with alkaline, oxygen-rich foods for dinner. Other people find the opposite.
* Drink a small cup of sour yogurt or kefir, or a small glass of kombucha before going to bed. You will have to experiment as everybody is different. The important point is not to consume too much and impose on your digestive system. One or two spoons of yogurt or fifty ml of kombucha may be sufficient.
* Exercise has a positive effect on deep sleep. If you are fit, you will have better circulation, resulting in more efficient detoxification during your sleep. However, exercise is a stimulant, so do not exercise less than an hour before retiring.
* Do not take B vitamins late at night, as they may keep you awake.
¢Ifyou are using mineral supplements (especially calcium and magnesium), take them in the evening. They help you get a night of deep sleep.
* Taoists and yogis say that your head should face to the north for a good sleep. This aligns your body with the earth’s magnetic field.
* Take a warm bath before going to bed. The heat relaxes your muscles, which in turn relaxes your mind.
* Several herbs such as valerian, vervain, chamomile, skullcap and passiflora can assist with sleep. They are quite subtle and may need a week or two to show their effect. Discontinue their use after a few months.
BATHING, SAUNAS
eople have sought hot baths since the ancient Egyptian and Assyrian
| ea, orevenearlier.AncientRomancultureandarchitecturewas based around water and baths. In the last millennium, the Japanese, Eastern Europeans and Scandinavians have made bathing an important part of their culture. The Greeks, Germans, Eskimos, Irish, Mexicans, Mayans, North American Indians, Romans, Russians, Slavs and Turks all have a history of some form of perspiration bathing. Mineral hot springs have been popular for centuries, for relaxation and healing. Today, we expect access to hot and cold water as part of normal life.
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Humans instinctively know that bathing in water is therapeutic. Each of us spent nine months suspended in fluid before birth.
Water:
* reconnects us with that state of nirvana. Hot baths are pleasurable, relaxing and have a spiritual dimension. Sondra Ray says, “The convenient availability ofhot running water inalmost every house has done more for the spiritual evolution of our civilization than all the churches and metaphysical groups put together....°37B
* washes your skin, removing the toxins eliminated through your body’s largest organ.
* stimulates your sense of touch. Splashing water on your face or wetting your hands or any other part of your body rouses your skin and adrenal glands in a way that nothing else can.
*warm water opens your pores, relaxes your nervous system and stimulates blood circulation by dilating your blood vessels. A larger volume of blood than normal then circulates near your skin. Ifyou follow itwith ashort cold shower, it contracts your surface blood vessels and sends the warm blood
back into your deeper tissues.
Cold water closes your pores and stimulates your nervous system. The
combination of hot and cold improves your skin tone, and gives ita younger healthier appearance. If you have a warm bath or shower finished with cool water, itcan increase your peripheral blood circulation, stimulate your entire nervous system including the brain and spine, increase body metabolism and stimulate your immune system.
Cold Water has a rejuvenating effect on your skin. Splash your face with cool water twice a day, and always finish off a shower with thirty seconds of comfortably cold water. Keep this up throughout your life, and your skin will look many years younger.
Use as little soap as possible — only when you need to remove grease or intractable dirt on your skin. The idea of lathering your whole body with soap every day is harmful and wasteful. Your skin contains natural oils and
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bacteria that are beneficial. Most parts of your body need no more than water to wash. Ifyou suffer from skin inflammation, you may find that abandoning the soap will help considerably. The best kind of soap is one that does not dry your skin. It should be slightly acid, in balance with your skin, which has an acid pH. The best soaps are free from deodorants, perfumes or other additives, and are made from simple ingredients that you can understand, like olive oil, cocoa butter or glycerine.
Skin oils. If you suffer from eczema, psoriasis, hives, dermatitis or other skin inflammations, obviously you need to address the root cause. Likely causes are the thrust of this whole book. However, you can often get relief or even a cure by using oil on your skin. You will need to experiment to find which type of oil is most effective for your particular skin. Usually the cheapest and most effective for eczema is castor oil. Apply a thin layer every day, or even twice a day. Leave iton for at least an hour. Wipe itoff with a tissue or soft cloth, rather than washing itoff. Other oils that can be effective in treating skin inflammations are coconut oil and rosehip oil.
The traditional Yoga approach to bathing uses cool water only. First, you do some exercise to warm your body — a yoga session, a brisk walk, or some other activity that will raise your pulse, breathing and body temperature. You are then ready to take a shower or bathe in cool water. It should be cool, but not cold to the point where it is unpleasant. You may find over the months that you can adapt to colder water, but let this happen naturally. Rub your body vigorously with your hands, and breathe deeply. After a short wash, you can again rub yourself with your hands before drying. Dress warmly. You will feel rejuvenated and good all day.
The more modern approach to revitalising bathing does not first require you to exercise to warm your body. First, take a hot shower or bath for a few minutes. Follow it with gentle, cool water for half a minute. The idea is to cool the surface of your skin, but no deeper. Dry, dress warmly, and then spend a few minutes doing light exercise. The effect should be similar to that ofYoga bathing.
Spa baths and hot tubs offer a bathing experience in warm to hot water,
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typically under 40°C. Spas are usually made of plastic or acrylic, and are easy to clean. Tubs are typically made of wood, and have a warm look, feel and ambience. However, they are more difficult to clean, and tend to leak if allowed to dry out. Tubs and spas require good water hygiene, ideally using ultraviolet light, hydrogen peroxide, effective microorganisms (EM), colloidal silver or ozone. Unfortunately chemicals and disinfectants such as chlorine are usually used, which negate their health aspects.
Saunas, sweatlodges, hot spas, baths and tubs are all means of raising your skin temperature, dilating your blood capillaries, increasing your heart rate and having a good sweat. Sweat carries out excess salt, along with other minerals, wastes and toxins. Chemically, sweat is similar to urine. Regular sweating takes some of the load off your liver and kidneys. Saunas are an effective treatment for the removal of toxins stored in lipid tissue (your fat).12
Ensure you drink enough to replace your fluids after sweating. If you want to drink whilst in the sauna, you may achieve the best detoxifying effects by sipping a warm weak green or herbal tea.
In Finland, the sauna is an integral part of their life, providing not only physical, but also mental and spiritual cleansing. Some Finns rank the sauna in holiness with the church, and regard the sauna stove as an altar. Most homes and apartments have a sauna. The Finns alternate between dry and wet heat in their saunas. The dry heat is at a low humidity of around 10%, and a higher temperature (70°C-100°C). They then douse water on the stove or rocks, raising the humidity to 30% or more, and lowering the temperature to less than 50°C. They may have several 10-minute cycles of wet and dry, finishing each with a plunge into cold water or snow outside.
Some people prefer the dry heat; others find itcan irritate their eyes or nasal passages. You can bear higher temperatures in dry heat. Steam is more enveloping; you sweat more and really feel the heat. If you have never done a sauna before, start gently and gradually increase the temperature over the weeks.
If you remain in a hot sauna for a long period, and continually breathe
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deeply, you will raise your body temperature. This is something you should only do under experienced supervision. Normally your body will regulate its internal temperature, but over a period of an hour, it can rise considerably. This is a self-induced artificial fever. Fever is a natural body response to viral infections or toxins. It will burn waste products and eliminate them through your skin, and raise your metabolism. The increased temperature will destroy a high proportion of the viruses in your body, and inhibit the further growth of invading viruses and bacteria. Some doctors routinely try to bring down the temperature of a fever with drugs, but unless the temperature is dangerously high, this simply counters nature’s cure.
High temperatures also stimulate your glandular and immune systems. Saunas have a positive effect on simple infections, arthritis, allergies, congestion, headaches, skin disorders, insomnia and cancer.
I have witnessed sick people enter a sweatlodge and emerge much improved. They are particularly effective with viral infections, and throat and lung infections. Check with your doctor before doing a sauna and especially a sweatlodge, particularly ifyou have high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease. Young children should not be subjected to high temperatures, as their heat regulating mechanisms are not fully developed and their skin and organs are more sensitive.
A sweatlodge is based on a North American Indian tradition. The participants sit in a circle inside a tepee or tent, in which a pile of rocks in the centre of the tent has been heated beforehand. One person leads the sweatlodge, splashing water on the rocks to generate steam, also burning herbs, grasses and oils on the rocks, and leading the chanting by the group. The sweatlodge is probably the hottest of all the “sauna” traditions — the chanting is necessary to force continued deep breathing by the participants. The deep breathing and long periods in the tent (one to two hours) raises the entire body temperature, not just the skin. This has the effect of a high fever, and is immensely cleansing. On exiting the tent, a cold swim or even a cold garden hose is necessary to lower your body temperature. You also need to drink enough water to replace the lost fluids. A sweatlodge is not a gentle
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activity Ihave done ina short period.
BODYWORK
n the late 1940’s the psychiatrist Rene Spitz discovered that more than
|Feeofbabiesatorphanagesdiedintheirfirstyear,eventhoughtheyhad sufficient food, clothing, housing and medical care. They succumbed because they were denied the human essential of touch, love and communication.
The sheer pleasure of any touch and connection is a wonderful antidote to stress. A loving touch, stroke or hug is something we all need, every day. Massage, as a calming and healing form of touch, is a great stress reducer.
A skilled massage affects all aspects of your being — your body, mind and spirit — and can be deeply relaxing and transforming. Itgives you some of the benefits of exercise, and several benefits of its own. Of course, a massage is in no way a substitute for exercise, which is one of the pillars of longevity.
Massage and other forms of bodywork can help to move acid wastes that have accumulated in your body. The massaged area warms up, muscles and lymph nodes are manipulated, and movement occurs through lymph vessels. A deep massage can release a high level of wastes, causing muscle soreness. The therapist should assess the patient’s level of toxic accumulation, and decide on the level of work accordingly. It is a good idea to drink water during or after the massage, to help flush out the wastes.
Alexander Technique focuses on your posture — particularly your head, neck and spine. AShakespearean actor named Frederick Matthias Alexander, who was having trouble projecting his voice, developed itaround 1900. He could converse normally, but onstage his voice lost its power. When doctors were unable to help, he spent hours performing in front of a triple mirror, closely examining his posture. When he corrected his head, neck and spine,
practise that you do every few days; I restrict them to once every few weeks. It is also a cathartic spiritual experience — a strong meditation, a state of no- mind, and a confrontation of your deep fears. I have found sweatlodges to be the most physically, mentally and spiritually demanding and cleansing
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his acting voice took on a new power.
Today the Alexander technique is most popular among actors, singers,
dancers, musicians and other performers. It uses exercise and gentle manipulation to undo the rigidity of adult muscles and posture, and regain the physical flexibility of children. In a session, you actively participate as you are guided through a series of movements while walking, sitting, standing and talking.
Practitioners claim that itreduces back pain, eliminates learning blocks, improves posture, and assists with both awareness and relaxation.
Feldenkrais. Moshe Feldenkrais was born in Russia in 1919. He worked for the British Admiralty during World War II in nuclear radiation research and anti-submarine technology. He was also a cartographer, a mechanical engineer, an educator and a black belt in judo. Plagued by injured knees from a sports injury after the war, he studied neurophysiology, physics and neuropsychology while searching for an answer. His outcome was a complete healing, rather than the orthopaedic surgery his doctors had urged upon him.
His gentle training program improves flexibility, range of motion, coordination and function. Impressive results have been obtained with people suffering from neuromuscular disorders such as strokes, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. Older people with rigid and inflexible bodies report easier and fuller movement, and improved coordination.
Depending on your needs, your instructor guides you through a series of simple movements, repeated several times. They might ask you, “What is your right shoulder doing as you perform this movement? Is it stooping forwards, or tilting to the left?” You quickly become aware of poor posture and restrictive movements. The technique retrains, and even restructures your nervous system, bypassing damaged areas. Nervous or psychological blockages are reintegrated into new patterns of movement. You can later continue practicing the movements without the instructor. In essence, the Feldenkrais method aims to bring you to what he called functional integration — rejuvenating both your body and your psyche.
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Rolfing. This deep bodywork concentrates on your fascia — the connective tissue between your muscle and bone. Healthy fascia is moist, flexible and mobile, whereas chronic stress, toxicity and inactivity cause itto thicken, harden and lose itsmobility. This iswhat ishappening when you feel a knot in a neck or shoulder muscle.
A Rolfing program consists of ten one or two hour sessions, during which the practitioner uses deep pressure from fingers, palms and elbows to open up tense points. It is not a technique for the faint-hearted, as getting into the fascia’s knots can be temporarily painful. However, itisan effective method of releasing repressed material in parts of your body, such as stored fear, anger and resentment. A good practitioner can transform these holding patterns of bad posture and chronic pain, and bring your stored emotions to the surface. You will feel rejuvenated, both physically and psychologically. Your carriage will be more erect, and your body movements smoother and more relaxed.
Trager. Milton Trager was a doctor, acrobat, boxing trainer and follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who brought Ayurvedic medicine to America. In this approach, the practitioner rhythmically rocks, cradles, bounces and moves your body over a sixty to ninety minute session. Trager uses light touchandfinemovements tohelpyoufeelwhatitisliketomove freelyand effortlessly. This gentle approach restores your sense of balance, both physically and emotionally. As well as being deeply relaxing, itreduces pain, loosens your joints and increases their range of movement. By building new connections between the nervous system and muscles, itishelpful for people with neuromuscular disorders such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries, as well as a range of other diseases such as asthma, autism and polio.
Others. There are hundreds of different forms of bodywork available. Shiatsu is a traditional Japanese healing art that comes in many different forms. It is concerned with your body’s energy flows, so most of the work focuses on your back and neck. The practitioner uses fingers, elbows, palms, arms and even feet to stretch, press and hold your body. Regular Shiatsu
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sessions feel great, and help to maintain your energy and relieve stress pains and nervous disorders.
Watsu is a water-based therapy, where the practitioner holds you while in a warm pool. Your body is gently manipulated and glided through a series of flowing movements. You also develop new breathing techniques and a high level of trust in the practitioner. The warm weightlessness and incredibly long periods you find yourself effortlessly holding your breath are deeply relaxing, and put you in touch with your body.
Chiropractic medicine and osteopathy focus on spinal misalignments. Acupuncture is an extensive health care system developed over 2300 years. It stimulates the nervous system, releases hormones, and works with
subtle energy channels throughout the body. It is an effective treatment for many problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia, resolving aches and pains, reducing inflammation and scar tissue, and boosting the immune system.
SKIN BRUSHING
Get yourself a natural vegetable or hog bristle brush, preferably with a long handle. You can brush virtually all your skin each day, with the exception of the most sensitive parts — your eyelids, nipples and genitals. The best time to brush is before you bath or shower, after which you can wash away the loose skin and debris dislodged by the brushing. Dry skin brushing assists with the removal of toxins from your skin by stimulating your capillaries, oil and sweat glands, and scouring dirt and dry and encrusted skin and oil. It acts as a massage for lymphatic stimulation. Moreover, it feels great! Many European doctors recommend finishing with a cold shower, starting for ten seconds, and increasing over the weeks to thirty seconds as you get used to it.Itmakes your body feel alive and tingling, and stimulates your immune system. People who have done this over the seasons say that they have fewer instances of colds and ‘flu.
An alternative is wet brushing in the shower or bath with an abrasive flannel. Your grandparents probably used a flannel when they took a wash.
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The abrasiveness of the cloth does a far better cleaning job than your hands, lifting off dead skin flakes and opening pores.
TONGUE SCRAPING
When I wake up every morning, the first thing I do after getting out of bed isscrape my tongue. Ido itbefore cleaning my teeth, and before my saliva starts to flow.
You can use a special tongue scraper, or a spoon. Scrape it across the back, top and sides of your tongue three or four times, and spit out the thick waste accumulated during the night. You can buy or make a tongue scraper —a U shaped metal tape that you hold with two hands and pull along the length of your tongue.
You will be surprised by how much thick, mucus waste you scrape off. Whilst this is a minor part of your daily routine, the few seconds that ittakes are well worthwhile, and help with your detoxification.
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TOP ANTI-AGEING TIPS
*Your mind has the greatest effect on your body. Thankfully and lovingly hold a picture in your imagination of the body you want.
* Banish the ageing expectations of those around you.
* Relax and enjoy your life. Getting serious about following the rules is not healthy.
* Follow your gut instincts, feelings and instantaneous first impressions. *Friends — enjoy them and spend time with them. Love them, laugh and play with them. Be generous with and thankful for your friends. Choose friends who are as positive as you are.
* Meditate. Experiment with different methods, and discover what suits you. * Do whatever you need to do to feel a sense of worth in life, that you have something to contribute to others.
¢ Live in the moment. Enjoy this minute. And the next. And the next........ * Go slowly and gently when making the changes to your life recommended in Grow Youthful. Be sensitive to your body’s needs and responses.
*Take totalresponsibility forevery aspect ofyour life—what you need todo to enjoy the life you really want.
* Do not overeat! You should never feel over-full, bloated, or wish that you had had less.
* Do load bearing (isotonic) exercise a minimum of twice a week, lifting weights or pushing against resistance.
* Walk virtually every day for at least thirty minutes. Walk everywhere you can.
* Drink at least 1.5 litres of clean, mineral-rich water every day.
*Eliminate allfoods made with sugar and flour.
¢ Eliminate “bad” oils and thrive on “good” oils.
* Food. The key words are fresh, ripe-picked, local, in season, raw, organic and free-range.
* Experiment with super foods and herbs, nature’s micronutrient supplements.
*Practise deep breathing.
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* Doctors — look for a holistic doctor who will listen to you, take your full history, and spend time with you. Ideally, he or she should also have a background in nutrition, naturopathy and herbs. Stay clear of “production line” doctors who typically spend less than ten minutes with patients and usually write them a prescription.
* Get off drugs and medications. Usually a natural food or herb is more effective, longer lasting, and has no side effects. Of course, do this with the cooperation of your doctor — ifyou can find such an enlightened practitioner.
What I have shared with you in this book are some of my most precious insights. You may be thinking, “That all sounds great, but I'll never be able todoallthis.My bodyisnotwhatitusedtobe.”Iwantyoutoknow thatby reading Grow Youthful you have already taken the first step to an extraordinary life. As you start to practise the wisdom in this book, your worldwillchange.My lifeisinconceivablydifferenttowhatitwastenyears ago, richer and more satisfying. Ifind iteasier to accept the world as itis,and people as they are, while still having a vision of living in a higher civilisation. I hope that what I have shared with you will open the door to your becoming a new breed of human being — long lived, strong, energetically healthy, mature, indulging in the moment, and joyful.
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2. Thompson, P.D. More on low fat diets. New England Journal of Medicine 338, 1998.
3. Chang, Jolan. The Tao of Love and Sex. Penguin 1977. A. page 94, B. p.43, Csp.392D sp425 pls:
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6. Chia, Mantak & Winn, Michael. Taoist Secrets of Love, Cultivating Male Sexual Energy. Aurora Press. 1984. A. page xvii, B. p.3.
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8. Batmanghelidj, F. Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. 1992. A. page 55, B. p:-89eC.p98,Dypll7,Bip.6ljlop.10];Gpoo. pier;Dpbliin66k p.-148, Lip.26, M, p.21, N. p.15620rp.160, BP.p.143;.Q.1p31 22.
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11. Archer, John, Australia’s Drinking Water, the Coming Crisis. 2001. Pure Water Press.
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Abkhazia 2, 351 accepting 45 acesulfame 187, 202 acetaldehyde 285
acid water 91, 170 acid-forming foods 274 acidophilus 174, 286 acidosis 275
acne 94, 214, 272, 287, 304, 324, 333, 341, 342
acupuncture 53, 362
ADD 133, 296
addictions 16, 40, 59, 74, 76, 89, 102, 106
adrenaline 24, 220, 243 adverse drug reactions 297 aerobic capacity 5
aerobic exercise 220 aflatoxin 90, 129, 181
age measurements 4 age spots 271, 287, 342 ageing 4
accelerated 5, 124, 139, 264, 293, 3137319
anaerobic exercise 222 definitions 4
dehydration 205
enzymes 162
fried foods 196
herbs to slow ageing 150 is not necessary 4, 41 markers 4
meditation 56 skin 271
your voice 249
AGEs 103, 124, 264 agriculture 84, 86
AIDs 324
air conditioning 313, 316, 318
air ioniser 317
alcohol 185, 189, 206, 232, 271, 277, 280, 339, 353
Alexander technique 359
alfalfa 171
algae 145, 274, 340
alkaline water 214, 215 alkaline-forming foods 278
alkaloids 198
allergic foods 186, 203
allergies 85, 121, 129, 145, 186, 191, 200, 283, 285, 290, 313, 324, 333, 349, 358
allopathic 207, 298, 300
alpha-lipoic acid See lipoic acid aluminium 161, 203, 210, 212, 216, 306
Alzheimer’s disease 264, 271 amalgam fillings 330, 332
amino acids 118, 121, 116, 283 anaerobic exercise 222
antacid 283, 284, 306
antibiotics 94, 284, 303, 322, 344 antifungal 128, 150, 300, 323 antihistamine 200, 297, 300 anti-oxidants 96, 116, 145, 148, 154, 170, 174, 186, 203
antiseptic 324
antiviral 128, 150, 300, 323
anus 291
apnoea 245
appetite 220
apple cider vinegar 157, 279, 283,
333
arginine 119, 289
argyria 323, 327 aromatherapy 334 arteriosclerosis 95, 128, 198 arthritis 198, 275, 324
INDEX
caused by fruit juice 197 caused by nightshades 186 caused by PUFAs 129 climate 313
copper 211
dairy products 190
Omega oils 133
treated with kombucha 341
artificial sweeteners 187 asbestos 211
ascorbates 160 aspartame 187
athletes 226
Atkins diet 118
attention deficit disorder See ADD Autogenics 73
autosuggestion 76
awareness 31, 53, 62, 63, 68, 78, 242, 249, 256, 287, 360
Ayurvedic 5, 14, 104, 234, 361 bacteria 80, 172, 303, 322, 339
bad breath 268, 271, 283
bad fats 125, 138
balance 39
balding 253
barbecues 253
barefoot 320
barium 158, 161
basal metabolic rate 5
bathing 354
beans 175, 268
cooking 176
sprouted 162, 170, 281 bee pollen 145, 274
beef 102, 278
allergy 186
breast feeding 192 corned 278 feedlot 95 grain-fed 94
bellows breathing 241
berries 117, 145, 179 beta-carotene 146, 156, 160, 184 bio-availability 159 biocompatible dentistry 330 biodynamics 92
biological age 4
biological farming 348 biomarkers 5
bismuth 158
bloating 283
blood
acidity 272
cells 154, 167
cleanser 148, 285
donation 252
fats 264
glucose 23, 84, 103, 115, 152,
187, 196, 221, 227, 260, 261, 266 insulin 187, 262
oxygen level 238, 241, 318 plasma 276
pressure 5, 179, 200, 238, 243, 300
replacement 8
test 211
thickening 130, 203
thinners 132, 342 blood type 14
body fat 5
body temperature regulation 6 boiling 109
bone
acidity 276
calcium 276
density 192, 276, 288 growth 223, 288 nightshades 198 replacement 8
bone stock 146
boron 158, 161
bovine serum albumin 192
374
brain
alcohol 185
blood glucose 115, 187 calorie consumption 84 calorie restriction benefits 103 development 192
DHEA 78
EFAs 130
exercise 220 extended use 84 feeling good 28 foods 147, 152, 163 lipofuscin ageing 271 meditation 72, 79 nutritional healing 80 omega-3 126
oxygen 232, 245 radiation 309
steady blood glucose 115 thirst 205
tissue 205
breakfast cereal See cereal, breakfast breast cancer 185, 296
breathing 230
clavicular 236
diaphragmatic 237
broad acre farming 90
broccoli 93, 98, 99, 147, 166, 183, 193
bromine 274
browning fruit 92
brushing 309, 362
brussels sprouts 98, 147, 156, 167, 184
Buddhist 100
burned food 188
burns 323
butterfat 127
cabbage 98, 147, 167, 173, 184 cadmium 91, 148, 161, 189, 308, 335 caffeine 188, 201, 353
blood glucose 188, 263 inkombucha 335 insulin 261
loss of calcium 189, 276 memory 152
calcium 158, 170, 189, 191, 193, 270 274, 276, 280
deficiency 127, 189 excess copper 211
intakes 274
leached from bone 277 loss from nightshades 198 milk 190
milk fat assists 195 reserves 276 sources 276
calendar age 4 calorie restriction 102 calories 229
cancer
alcohol 185
artificial sweetener 187
attitude 45, 56
bee pollen 145
dairy products 191, 195 dehydration 205
Gui WAN, WS, Nee, WAN, WSL, Gh 195
exercise 222
fasting 286
fluorine 210
garlic 150
ginger 151
green tea 190
kombucha 335
Metabolic syndrome 261 passive smoking 319
pollution 99, 296
power cables 310
saunas 357
sun 313
>
375
wake up call 10
candida 151), 175,.275;284; 322,333 canola oil 129
carbohydrates 114
blood glucose 101, 260 diet 103, 104, 180 early agriculture 84 emotions 22
free radicals 154 Palaeolithic diet 84 satiating 124
carbon tetrachloride 306
carbonic acid 201, 272, 275, 340 carnivores 81
carotenoids 145, 156, 167, 184 carpet 305, 308
cartilage 117, 342
castor oil 307, 356
cataracts 8, 124, 149, 156, 221, 314, 341
cauliflower 98, 99, 138, 147, 178, 183, 185
celery 90, 165, 178, 184, 278
celiac disease 120
celibacy 253
cell
acidity 341
blood glucose 126, 261, 262 division 219, 221
fatdamage 139
free radicals 154
hydration 206
membranes 125, 154, 156, 167, AV YA
oxygen 28, 287
toxin 271, 287, 341, 349
Celtic salt 201
central heating 316, 318
cereal, breakfast 88, 104, 114, 142, 260
chakra 239, 245, 256
chelation 160, 274, 297 chemical farming 90, 348 chemicals
allergies 186
in food 87, 90, 102, 111, 187, 201, 281
in household goods 305, 306 pollution 209, 212, 296, 315
chewing 106, 309
Chic peas 171, 176, 270
chicken 94, 169, 278, 303
childhood obesity See Obesity, child- hood
chimpanzees 81, 194
Chinese
cooking 120, 171, 173, 198 herbs 149, 150, 151, 190 longevity 3, 250
medicine 149, 150, 234
sex 258
chiropractic medicine 362
chlorella 146
chlorine 210, 212. 214) 215, 2743 IIE SOY
chlorophyll 146, 148, 183, 340 cholera 303, 324
cholesterol 101, 120, 126, 132, 139,
LSI ASS. LOS 422 T2822 622 333, 341
choline 147
chromium 90, 158, 161
chronic fatigue 7, 313, 319, 333, 341 cigarette smoke 155, 188, 231, 263, Bay
cis fats 138
citrates 158, 160
citrus 179
civilisation 12 clairvoyance 245 clavicular breathing 236 climate 313
376
cobalt 158, 161
coconut oil 125, 146, 259, 356 cod liver oil 131
coffee 188
colas 201
colloidal minerals 148
colloidal silver 300, 322
colon 272
comfrey 157
complex carbohydrates 114 composite dental filling 330 computer screens 309, 312 computers 309
concentration 240
conception 132
confidence 54, 249
conscious 24, 59, 67, 69, 108, 233, 238, 242, 249, 287
constipation 291
control freaks 65
conventional produce 90
cooking 165
best ways 124, 165, 167, 181 burned food toxic 188 destroys enzymes 165, 167 destroys oils 167
destroys proteins 187, 124, 177 cooking oils 140
cool down 226
copper 161, 169, 181, 209, 211, 212, 274
cortisol 24, 25, 29, 78, 227, 229 cosmetics 306, 308
cottonseed oil 130
craving 16, 110, 200, 261, 285 Crohn’s disease: 75
crying 29
cyclamate 187
cysteine 166
cysts 287
dairy products 190, 344
damp 308
de Beauvoir, Simone 253 decaffeinated tea 190
deep fried food 196
degenerative diseases 7
dehydration 205
dental dam 333
dental fillings 309, 330
depression 23, 30, 75, 185, 264, 313, 351
breathing 230
exercise 220
herbs 152
Metabolic syndrome 263, 264 nutrition 23, 30, 75, 185, 264,
S353 5
dermatitis 133, 324, 356 detoxification 291, 357
breathing 230, 238, 240 diet 110, 146, 346 exercise 217
fasting 286
meditation 56, 72, 78
sleep 351
DHA 132, 147, 177
DHEA 78
diabetes 110, 227, 261, 262, 264
alcohol 185
child 7
dairy products 192
diet 100, 103, 192 Metabolic syndrome 262
diaphragmatic breathing 237 diarrhoea 272
diet
Standard American Diet (SAD) 87
Western 84, 103, 108, 114, 129, 197, 263
dieting 164, 219
digestion 106, 107, 108, 183, 225,
Bal,
228, 253, 267, 274, 346 ageing 4
bacteria 162, 304
enzymes 161, 287, 340, 346 healed with protein 118 herbs 150
kombucha 335
protein 118
supplements 157
digestive system 282 disconnection 53
diseases 7
distilled water 215, 325, 329 diverticulosis 116
drinking with meals 110 drugs 297
dry cleaning 306
duck 95, 120, 211, 278 dwarfism 288
eating
how to eat 106, 109, 112
too much 100, 102, 103, 106, 263, 364
when to eat 106, 109
with water 111
echinacea 150
eczema 7, 133, 272, 283, 324,334, 341, 356
EFA See essential fats
effective age 4
effective microorganisms 347, 357
enema 294 energy
ATP 154, 244
lack of 6, 41, 43, 53, 221, 264, DTN 33
sustained 114, 240, 294, 347 swings 84, 128, 188, 261, 263 universal 19
enzyme inhibitors 87, 169 enzymes 101, 155, 161, 170, 287, 346
EPA 132, 147, 177
erectile dysfunction 153
Eskimos 168, 278, 354
essene bread 172
essential fats 130
essential proteins 118
evolution 81
excretion 291
exercise 217, 271
aerobic 220, 271 anaerobic 222 depression 23, 220 how much? 225 insulin 262
lack of 217, 263, 264, 271, 301 muscle gain 218, 222, 228, 263 weight 223
eye degeneration 8, 32, 87, 96, 101, 111, 134, 187, 196, 198, 260 fasting 286
fat
bad 125, 127, 138
blood glucose 121
burning 118, 126, 140, 224, 230, 249, 264
cholesterol 126, 127
feeling full 126
hydrogenated 138
metabolic rate 218
overheated 140
Com Sle OSL 186, 277
7 l26n (SONG
Leni? 6.
ego 20
eicosanoids 139, 151, 154 ejaculation 252, 253
electric blanket 310
electrolysis 213, 325, 329 electromagnetic radiation 309, 312 EM See effective microorganisms emotions 22
378
oxidised 139 trans 138 used 141
fat to muscle ratio 6, 222 fear 1, 6, 22
feedlot 95, 130, 196 Feldenkrais, Moshe 360 fenugreek 117
fermented foods 85, 172
fibre 84, 86, 99, 114, 116, 180, 271 fibromyalgia 117
fight or flight 25
fillings 309, 330
filter
air316
water 212
Finland 162, 191, 357
fish 92219 SID 1255 L468 167 wLa8s 278, 280, 309
farmed 93, 130 isitfresh? 178
no ageing diet 178 oil 130
pollution 178, 309 raw 168
flavonoids 145, 156, 190 flax oil 132
flossing 331
flour
refined 86, 89, 116, 155, 260,
293"331
fluorine 210, 212, 274, 177, 185, 340, 345
folic acid 196, 346, 352
food additives 90
food allergy 186, 283
food temperature 109
formaldehyde 305
fountain ofyouth drink 333
Frank, Benjamin S. 178
free radicals 103, 126, 128, 129, 154
free-range 93
fried foods 196
fructose 88, 114, 197, 266
fruit 179, 201, 274
fruit juice 88, 114, 117, 164, 196, 206, 260, 282, 285
fungal infection 320
fungal spray 349
fungicide 325
galactose 114, 117, 344
game meat 95, 168
Garbanzo beans 171, 176
garlic 150, 184, 196, 258, 286 gelatine 117, 146
generous 52
genetic inheritance 9, 192
ghee 125, 127, 140, 196
ginger 151, 173, 279, 305
ginkgo biloba 152
ginseng 152
glucagon 262
gluconates 160
glucose 114, 266
glutamine 166
gluten 120, 169
Glycemic Index 84, 115, 265 glycogen 261
glyconutrients 116, 145, 148, 150 God 47
goitrogens 147, 167
goji berry 149
grains 180, 187, 279
green fruit 95
green grass juice 147
green juices 148
green tea 190, 337, 340 grounding 20
haemorrhoids 292, 294
hair mineral test 161
hard water 212
HDL See high density lipoprotein
379
heart 67, 69, 74, 244 alcohol 185
breathing 230, 233, 240
diet 100, 103-6, 1255 178, Lois 201, 283
disease 100, 116, 127, 141, 151, 319
exercise 25, 220, 22). 350)
heartburn 283
heavy metals 91, 146, 161, 178, 274, 308, 335
hemagglutinins 167, 171
herbicides 89
herbivores 81
herbs 150
herpes 7, 315, 324
HGH See human growth hormone high carbohydrate diet 85, 116, 263, 266, 289) 322
high protein diet 118
high-density lipoprotein 126 Himalayan salt 200
HIV 307
hives 272, 283, 356
Holosyne 79
hominid 81
homogenised milk 195
hormones 24, 50, 57, 78, 89, 94, 109,
Dy, sy, WSIS), Wav, IG AS OU. 209, 219, 243, 251,263,314 horseradish 147
Howell, Edward 163
human growth hormone 288 hunger 84, 86, 101, 103, 105, 110,
Iisa ZO0R20Snelen22on200 Hunza 2,351
hydrochloric acid 275, 283 hydrocotyle asiatica 153 hydrogen 276
hydrogen peroxide 357 hydrogenated fats 138
hyperactivity 96, 133, 271, 296 hypocalcaemia 120, 277 hypothalamus 105, 264
ieee
imagination 41 immune
deficiency 24, 87, 94, 117, 139, 287, 304
enhancement 56, 120, 128, 132, 1434515072225 3135320; 88550508362
impotence 8, 103, 257
indigestion 96, 163, 169, 175, 283, 324
infection 322
inflammation 7, 30, 74, 103, 126, 140, 145, 149, 171, 186, 194, 264, 284, 322, 356, 362
insomnia 8, 16, 30, 78, 80, 186, 311, 343, 358
insulin 260, 289
resistance 263
sensitivity 5 integrity 33
intelligence 81, 308
intuition 17, 121
iodine 81, 144, 146, 149, 274 ionised
air 353
water 205 ioniser
air 317
water 213 IQ 143
iron 81, 160, 169, 211, 274, 276, 281, 308
irritable bowel syndrome 232, 283, 285
isotonic exercise 222, 230
Japanese diet 95, 131, 168, 173, 203
juice
380
enzymes 162
fasting 286
fruit 196
fruit and vegetable 179
fruit, high Glycemic index 268 fruit, high sugar 180, 197, 204 grapefruit 197
low speed juicer 165
sugar 180, 197
supermarket 197
vegetable 179
vegetable, alkaline forming 274 wheatgrass 147
kangaroo 95
kapha 14
kefir 172, 343
kelp 117, 149, 193 kidneys 24, 272, 342 kissing 258
klamath 146
kombucha 335
lactase 190, 193
lactic acid 222
lactobacillus 175, 286, 344 lactose 114, 190, 196, 266, 345 lamb 95, 123, 278
laser 325
laughter 27
lauric acid 128, 146, 286
LDL See low density lipoprotein lead 91, 148, 161, 210, 308, 335, 342 leaky gut 283
lean body mass 6
learning disabilities 8, 78, 131, 133, 314
left-brain 29
Legionnaires disease 318
legumes 83, 107, 167, 171, 175, 184 life expectancy 9, 38, 84
lifestyle 9, 14, 154, 272
linoleic acid 130, 192
linolenic acid 130, 192 lipofuscin 271
lipoic acid 156
liver 24, 244, 271, 341 liver spots 287
living in the moment 26
loneliness 46
long-lived people 2, 250, 263, 322, Boil
low fat diet 125, 127
low salt diet 201
low-density lipoprotein 126 lycopene 156, 168, 179, 198 lymph 163, 195, 272, 287, 359 lysine 119, 166
Maca 153
macular degeneration 149, 156 magnesium 86, 90, 116, 144, 149, 158, 169, 179, 190, 199, 212, 274, 308
maitake mushrooms 148 malnutrition 103, 120, 301
maltose 114, 226
manganese 90, 116, 144, 156, 161, P|, DIE. IIKS; PASI
mantra 67
margarine 138
masturbation 259
mattress 253
meal times 109
meat 80, 81, 93, 95, 111, 118, 120, 161, 188, 278, 280
medications 297 meditation 56
active 71
object 66 melanoma 315
memory 4, 30, 152, 242, 264, 306, 308
menopause 158, 341
mental
381
age 3
decline 133, 187, 261, 294 enhancement 54, 143, 223, 228,
241, 242, 262, 294, 343, 349 mercury amalgam fillings 309, 330 metabolism 103, 228 micronutrients 143, 157
sufficient intake 143 microwave 309
migraine 153, 198, 200 mildew 308
milk 190
calcium 192
cow's 190
digestion 107
fat digests calcium 192 homogenised 195
nut 182 pasteurised 190 raw 191
sugar 191
milk — cow’s
early exposure 191
milk powder 191
mineral tonic 148
minerals 90, 93, 96, 99, 146, 148,
156, 178, 2119274; 337
miso 120, 123, 173, 203, 274, 279, 305
mobile phones 311, 312
moderation 100
molybdenum 90, 144, 158, 161, 211 money 34
monkey mind 56, 66 monounsaturated fat 128
Montignac diet 118
morning sickness 151, 207
mould 90, 129, 171, 175, 181, 275, 286, 308, 337, 345
mucus 30, 231, 293, 363
multiple sclerosis 117, 360
muscle 220
gam 217,222, 2257230
glycogen 224, 261
oe IAN, ILI, OS) a?
mass 95, 118, 218, 222, 226, 263 pain 333, 361, 362
relaxation 354
strength 5,218, 222
mushrooms 117, 148, 178
mutton 95
nails 322
naturopath 150, 157, 161, 305, 307, 365
nerves 130, 163, 192, 205, 276 networks 309
neuro-audio technology 78 neurotic 30
nightshades 198
nori 149
nose 232
notebook computers 310 nut milk 182
nut oils 130
nutritional supplements See supple- ments
nuts 181
obesity 88, 102, 164, 264
childhood 7, 94, 202, 217, 264 oil See fat
olive oil 125
omega-3 93, 129, 130, 147, 177, 182, 196, 202, 263
omega-6 130, 202
omega-3/6 ratio 133
organic produce 18, 80, 91, 112, 143,
177, 280, 287, 348 orotates 160
Osho 69 osteoporosis 276 overeating 100 overheated fats 140
382
oxalic acid 184, 190, 340
oxidants 159
oxidised fats 154
oxygen 28, 130, 152, 204, 213, 244, 2Ia5317, 320, 353
OZONE 22925 7.397)
Palaeolithic diet 83, 108, 133, 166,
192
pancreas 82, 86, 103, 153, 162, 187, 261, 344
parasympathetic nervous system 56, 243
passive smoking 319
Pasteur, Louis 301
pasteurisation 166, 191
peanut oil 129
pennywort 153
permaculture 92, 97
pesticides 89
Pfeiffer, Carl 80
pH 276, 281
pharmaceuticals 299
phosphatase 193
phosphoric acid 111, 201, 275, 281 phosphorus 193, 274
phytic acid 87, 169
phytoestrogens 116, 156, 203 phytonutrients 84, 97, 143, 151, 159, 169,175, 183; 26353117333
piles 292
pillow 353
pitta 14
plastic 138, 305, 330, 342, 357 pollution 209, 296, 347
polyunsaturated fat 129
pork 278, 280
potassium 90, 149, 158, 161, 179, 1905212) 215, 2745281
potatoes 199 power cables 310 pre-diabetes 261
processed food characteristics 87 processed meats 282 prostaglandins 129
prostate 145,168, 255
prostate cancer 168 protein 118, 123
animal 120 atstartofmeal 107 concentrated 118, 154, 293 cooking 124
deficiency 118
destroyed by heat 165 eggs 176
how much? 121
plant 119
satiating 124
soy 202
sufficiency 118
with sugar 121
protein powders 120 psoriasis 272, 325, 356 ptyalin 82, 106, 108 quinoa 115, 119, 180, 280 radiation 309
radish 96, 147, 178, 184 rainwater 216
rancid fats 129, 139, 141 rapeseed 129
raw food 11, 14, 16, 157, 163, 167 raw meat 168, 278
raw milk 191
refined flour 86
refined salt 199
reflux 283
regression 69
rejuvelac 346
rejuvenation 10, 35, 56, 110, 153, DING), PBB), PS3., HG; Soll, 35s) HE) renewal of body parts 8 resistance exercise 222 resveratrol 186
383
reverse osmosis water 215 ripe fruit 97
Rolfing 361
rosehip oil 337, 356 rubidium 158
saccharin 187, 202
salicylates 95
salmonella 174, 194
salt 14, 30, 87, 101, 148, 159, 162, Gia li Owl W2682 278.5211 sarcopenia 218
sardines 178 satiating 104 saturated fat 127 sauerkraut 173 saunas 354
sea salt 199
seafood 178
seasons 313
seaweed 149
seborrhoea 325
seeds 180
selenium 90, 96, 116, 144, 148, 151, 156, 160
self-esteem 43, 261 self-image 11, 46 self-repair 8 semen 252 Shankara 6
sheep 95
shiatsu 361
shiitake mushrooms 117, 148 sick building syndrome 318 silicone 274
silver 322
skin 342
ageing 4, 7, 118, 121, 271, 313, 322
cancer 314
inflammation 131, 133, 356 maintenance 271, 288, 294, 315,
355, 357 oils 356
rejuvenation 29, 62, 128, 146, 178, 205, 234, 287, 294, 334, 355, 362
replacement 8
sleep 10, 40, 57, 68, 189, 232, 237, 245,271,351
smoking 76, 101, 155, 231
snacking 110
soaking 85, 169
soap 355
sodas 199
sodium 158, 161, 212, 215, 274, 276 soft drinks 201
soil 347
solanums 198
Sonnenschein, Carlos 296
Soto, Ana 296
soup 146
soy
children 203
oil 130, 141, 202, 203 toxins 203
soy products 120, 202, 279 soybeans 202
sperm 130, 252
spinach 90, 98, 156, 166, 178, 184 spine 240, 355
spirit 45, 234, 245, 251, 357 spirulina 123, 146
splenda 187
sprouting 85, 169, 170 squatting 291
Standard American Diet (SAD) See diet
staple grains 180
starch 106
stationery 305 stevia 153 stock 146
384
stomach acid 282, 290 stress 24
subconscious 42 sucrose 84, 114
sugar 88, 108, 114, 124, 204, 278 sulphur 184, 229, 274, 326 sulphuric acid 275
Sun S’su-Mo 254
sunblock 315
sunburn 314
sunlight 313, 336
sunscreens 315
super foods 145
supermarkets 80, 89, 97, 111, 140, 143, 169, 180, 197, 206, 307 supplements 157
should not include 160
synthetic 159 sweat207,272,275,278,357,362 sweatlodge 357
sweet taste 260
sympathetic nervous system 243 Synchronicity Foundation 79 Syndrome X 261
syntropy 349
table salt 199
tamari 120, 203, 279
tannin 190
Tantra 72, 246
Tao 55, 250, 351
breathing 242, 244 diet 85, 110, 166, 198 herbs 152
longevity 2, 240, 351 Sex 252, 253; 256 wisdom 286, 351
TDS meter 326
tea 189, 335
teeth 330
television screens 312 tempeh 173, 305
temperature — food 109 thirst 105, 188, 205 thyroid 147, 167, 194 time management 34 titanium 158
TM See Transcendental Meditation tobacco 199, 339
tofu 202
Tolle, Eckhart 22
tomatoes 198
tongue 271 363
tongue — yogic position 241 tooth fillings 309, 330 touch 359
toxins 192, 214, 342, 348
body 120, 161, 167, 221, 271, 285
environmental 305, 307, 332 removal 25a cOmlole22 le 223, 232, 241, 244, 271, 296, 335; 399, 302
Trager, Milton 361
trans fats 138, 142, 187 Transcendental Meditation 72
trees 320
triglyceride 101, 128, 139, 221, 262 turmeric 290, 334
turnip 98, 137, 147, 167, 184 ultraviolet 357
unripe fruit 95
uranium 161
uric acid 119
urine 82, 160, 188, 201, 206, 209, DED. DYES. DLs, IS, SEIN. Sieh, Sos use itor lose it1]
used fats 141
vanadium 158
vata 15, 288
vegan 121
vegetable oils 127, 133, 139 vegetarian 14, 110, 117, 121, 180,
Br GYNATER COLLEGE LIBRARY
203
vinegar 108
virus 323
vitamiAn81,127,132,144,160, weighttraining230
170
vitamin B12 158
vitamin C 96, 160, 170, 177, 179, 300
vitamin D 193, 313
vitamin E 119
voice 249
wakame 149
walking 220, 225, 228, 316, 320 walnuts 182
warts 325
washing food 90
watching yourself 58
water 205, 259, 350
pollution 209 water filters 213, 329
wheat 277
wheatgrass juice 147
whey liquid 283
wine 111, 173, 185, 280
wireless computer networks 309 wolfberry 149
worms 289
xylene 305
xylitol 153
yeast infection See candida
yoga 245
yogurt 173, 343, 354
zine 81, 90, 96, 144, 156, 170, 190, 211, 305, 330
and soy 203
386
water ioniser 213 watsu 362 weight loss 223
==
Why do some people have vibrant health and youthful looks at 70, when others are already sick and old at 35? This easy-to-understand book shows you how to have itall - health, vitality and an exceptionally long and fulfilling life. Supported by recent scientific research, itcuts through much ofthe jargon and conflict around health and longevity. David Niven Miller writes in such a common-sense way that most of the book will seem obvious once you have read it.
Thom Rutledge, author ofEmbracing Fear
Marci Shimoff, Co-Author, Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul
Gr Karts Ullis, MD author of The Hormone Revolution We
dl runs wo the principles of good health in
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If you like life enough to want to stick around for as along as you can, and ifyou find the idea of taking excellent care of yourself— body, mind & spirit — appeal- ing, and if you are ready to accept full responsibility for your life, David Niven Miller’s book isessential reading.
And the next time a friend or relative gives birth, give them a copy ofthis book, but before you do, tape a big label with bold print across the front cover that says, “OWNER’S MANUAL.”
Thom Rutledge Author of Embracing Fear: How to Turn What Scares Us into Our Greatest
Gift
Grow Youthful is not only a brilliant, supportive and respectful guide to nutritional anti-aging, itexpands what itmeans to live a fabulous life. In his A-Z easy-to-under- stand, cutting edge approach to self-care and personal empowerment, David Niven Miller provides an abundance of compelling and intelligent information that invites the reader to step into life-changing, youthful quantum health.
Judith Sherven PhD and James Sniechowski PhD Authors of Be Loved for Who You Really Are
Grow Youthful is a clear, comprehensive, and impeccably researched guide to care for yourself — body and soul. Ifyou want to take responsibility for living a much longer, healthier and more functional life, this book says itall.
Marci Shimoff Co-Author, Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul
In Grow Youthful, David Niven Miller presents the reader with a concise and practical guide to both the art and the science of cultivating health and longevity at home. Meticulously researched and clearly written, this book sifts the grains of fact from the chaff of fiction in the growing field of holistic self-health care. Most importantly, David writes his book from the heart as well as the mind, providing his fortunate readers with a manual that conveys the spirit as well as the letter of the laws of life.
Daniel Reid Author of The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity, The Tao of Detox, and The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing
Grow Youthful is an essential guide to slow down or reverse the ravages of aging. A must read for anyone who is seeking a healthier future!
Gary Quinn Author, Living In The Spiritual Zone
I really like your book! I am impressed with the comprehensiveness of your whole approach and your willingness to go into everything that pertains to healthful living and to youthfulness at any age. Iwill recommend itto friends and clients and am very happy to endorse itfor you.
Brad Blanton, Ph.D. Author of Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth and Beyond Good and Evil: The Eternal Split-Second Sound-Light Being
Grow Youthful is an outstanding A-Z resource, and long overdue in the marketplace. When the wisdom and research contained herein are balanced with one’s own instinctual needs and tastes, the resulting “recipe” must inevitably yield a happier and healthier life.
Mike Dooley Writer of Notes from the Universe and Infinite Possibilities
vi
Bravo! Grow Youthful is a marvellous book truly welcoming us into a new age of well-being in mind, body and spirit! I encourage everyone to read it carefully and be prepared for youthful feelings and facial expressions as well as a healthier body as you take in what David shares.
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, Positive Psychologist Author ofTHE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy: Recipes for
Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient isYOU! and DELIGHT
David has done a wonderful job of putting together an enormous amount of research with his own personal experience. Ifyou want to grow youthful, read and take this book to heart. He addresses every aspect of self-care.
Dr Margaret Paul, Ph.D. Author of Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?, Healing Your Aloneness, Inner Bonding, and Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By
God?
This is a high quality, practical, beneficial book that invites you to go to the realm of rejuvenation and the sheer happiness of being alive. Also an eruption of spontaneous healing can happen by following it. It gives you the inner urge to change your vibrations and become the best you can be.
Sondra Ray Author of 17 books, most recently Relationships Treasury
This isan extremely comprehensive book. Ittells you everything you need to know about how to age youthfully and happily, retaining your health, energy, wellness, and biological youth while advancing in age. It’s especially good regarding maintaining a youthful lifestyle, with relaxation techniques and sex. It is honestly written and direct. Itisessential reading, and Ithoroughly recommend it.
Dr Karlis Ullis, MD author of The Hormone Revolution Weight Loss Plan, Age Right, and Super “T”
Vii
David Niven Miller’s book “Grow Youthful” is amust read for all those who expect to grow old gracefully. As a senior member of society, this book has peaked my interest and infused me with greater knowledge and wisdom about the natural process of life. This book is a most welcome arrival for all of us. Enjoy!
Joan Marie Ambrose, author of Hello...Is Anybody Listening?! and Messages of Healing...Reflections and Thoughts to Feed the Soul
Your book isavery readable and balanced treatment ofslowing ageing. Ienjoyed it!I particularly enjoyed the systematic unpacking of alternatives in a wide range of areas.
Dr Richard Broome Transcendental Meditation teacher, international management consultant and facilitator
Attitude towards life and knowledge about the psycho-physical aspects of the body are of utmost importance in slowing aging. Grow Youthful provides both. David Niven Miller’s directives, practical insights, and wisdom bestow the reader with guidance and comfort.
Dr Peter M. Kalellis, PhD Author of Restoring Relationships, Five Things to Try Before You Say
Goodbye
I started reading this book and couldn’t put it down. Intelligently written with critical information distilled in easy to “digest” language. Grow Youthful delivers as itsays, as a practical guide to slowing down your aging. Seamlessly, iteducates and inspires one easily towards understanding and choosing healthier options.
Rochelle Blank A Natural Choice Holistic Health Counsellor &AADP member
Your book iscrafted beautifully. Iam finding itafantastic read and am making a number of changes to my lifestyle as a result of it.
Dr David Dembo Specialist Wellness medical doctor, Sydney, Australia
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My grateful thanks to the following people, who have assisted with the creation of this book with hours or days of discussion, and generous donations of time for editing and proofreading. Nevertheless, Grow Youthful does not in any way reflect their opinions — the responsibility for this text is mine.
Dr Jenny Tollet Quenton Miller Lisa Miller
Bill O’Brien Elspeth Taimre
Dr Alan Hancock Maneesha James Dr Antoni Milewski Lisa Summers Bhagawati Morriss Angie Lyndon
Dr Roger Philpott
Thanks also to my publisher John Hunt. John’s detailed advice, wisdom and years of experience in publishing, health and personal growth have helped to make a more convincing, consistent book.
THE AUTHOR
For most of my life, Itried to take good care of my body; mostly Itried to look after myself. I exercised almost every day, had a diet based on muesli and soymilk for ten years, and avoided animal fats as ifthey would kill me. Iwas passionately interested in health, and read every popular article in the media.
Frustratingly, I was not well. 1997 was a low point, stressed, unhappy and ageing fast. My doctor was little help. Ivisited a naturopath for the first time; she told me that Iwas on the fast track to serious illness ifIdid not change.
Ijoined a meditation class, dropped the soy products, was introduced to cut- ting edge therapy in a workshop called The Turning Point, and joined a men’s group. A big realisation for me was that most other people face the same fears that Ido. Everyone wants to live the best life that they can, with what they have.
In 1998, I visited an ashram in India for a couple of months, in what turned out to be a rigorous challenging of my conservative and straight-laced beliefs. Iwas born and brought up inZimbabwe, Africa. Sent toboarding school atthe age of eight, I was subject to strict discipline and the mentality of a militaristic society preparing their young men to be soldiers.
In the last few years, I have challenged most of my major beliefs, looking at who or where they came from, and the evidence to support them. This is an ongoing exercise in clarifying my current reality. I now feel my integrity, my love for others and myself, and accept my being and life “‘as is”. I have faced the fear of letting go of what I thought defined me.
My experience now isthat good health and happiness starts inthe mind and comes from attitude.
This book initially took eighteen months full-time to write, and has been constantly refined over a further three years. I have interviewed many people who are younger than their age, avidly followed up each new scientific study on ageing, and investigated why some cultures and traditions enjoy exception- al health and longevity. Grow Youthful picks through all the mis-information and complexity in the media and many studies, and presents it all in a simple and understandable way. My strength and gifttoyou isclarity.
The rewards from this work are blatantly obvious to my friends, including my two adult children. Iam years younger than when I started the project, and people remark that I have an amazing vitality and a clear energy for a fifty four year old.
I wish you well in accepting the health, philosophical and spiritual tradi- tions in this book, and a life that is so long and satisfying that few people would believe it is possible.
David Niven Miller, MA, Perth, Australia 2007.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
BLISS OR BLIGHT?
WHAT ISAGEING?
YOUR CHOICE SELF-HEALING
BEING CIVILIZED
YOU HAVE UNIQUE NEEDS LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
LIVING THE LIFE YOU LOVE
YOUR EGO AND YOUR GROWTH LEADING AN EFFECTIVE LIFE THE POWER OF YOUR THOUGHTS ATTITUDE
LOVE (ESPECIALLY YOURSELF)
RELAXATION
WHAT ISMEDITATION?
WATCHING YOURSELF
PREPARATION
RELAXATION EXERCISE
OBSTACLES TO MEDITATING
GOING FURTHER
SOME OTHER MEDITATION TECHNIQUES COMMENTS
LIVING FOOD
WHAT ISLIVING FOOD?
DIETARY EVOLUTION
FARMING METHODS
PICKING GREEN FRUIT
IN SEASON
RICHEST PART OF FRUIT /VEGETABLES
xi
MODERATION 100 EATING TIPS -HOW AND WHEN 106 FOOD PREPARED WITH LOVE 111
MORE ON FOOD 114 MACRONUTRIENTS 114 MICRONUTRIENTS 143 ENZYME ACTIVE FOOD 161
SOAKING AND SPROUTING 169 FERMENTED FOODS 172 FOODS TO INCLUDE 175 PRODUCTS TO AVOID OR REDUCE 185
WATER 205 DEHYDRATION 205 POLLUTION 209 DRINKING WATER 212
EXERCISE 217 21ST CENTURY SLOTHS 217 TYPES OF EXERCISE 220 THE EXERCISE MYTH me HOW MUCH? 225 BREATHING 230 YOGA 245 SEX 248
INSIDE YOUR BODY 260 A NEW EPIDEMIC 260 AGEING AND TOXIN ACCUMULATION 271 TOXIN & WASTE REMOVAL 272 ACID BALANCE 274 STOMACH ACIDITY 282 CANDIDA 284 FASTING 286 PARASITES 289
xii
EXCRETION
COLON CLEANSING OUTSIDE YOUR BODY
NANO-POLLUTION
MEDICATIONS
HOUSEHOLD POISONS
HEAVY METALS ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION CLIMATE
SUNLIGHT
AIR
OUT IN NATURE
MORE LONG-LIFE SECRETS ONGOING INFECTIONS COLLOIDAL SILVER BIOCOMPATIBLE DENTISTRY APPLE CIDER VINEGAR KOMBUCHA
KEFIR
REJUVELAC
EMTM (EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS) SLEEP AND REST
BATHING, SAUNAS
BODYWORK
TOP ANTI-AGEING TIPS BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
291 293 296 296 PeME 305 308
2 iby B15 313 316 319 322 ole 322 330
eye) SE) 343 346 347 Shell 354 359 364 366 373
INTRODUCTION
Make time for your health, and you will gain many additional youthful years. Ifyou have no time to spare, your ill health will take that time anyway.
BLISS OR BLIGHT?
ould you like to live to be 100, or perhaps much older? Ifyou had this
\Waee wouldyouenthusiasticallyaccept?
Fear usually inhibits those who refuse. Although our life expectancy is
increasing,” 7, 98, 100, 101 our health in our last few decades is not.2© These extrayearsarenotmuch funifyouareillandtiredallthetime,slow,con- fused and worn out. Who wants a feeble, bent, sick, painful, ugly old body with fading senses? Who wants to face loneliness, isolation, physical and sexual deprivation, poverty, loss of choices and being dependent on family, friends and the government?
In the developed world, our society considers most of those who reach their 70" birthday to be a burden. The “throw away” culture and “use by” dates that we apply to the goods we produce are also applied to our elderly. They consume housing, food and other goods and services, and provide lit- tle or nothing in return. Medical costs are spiralling, particularly for those in the last years of their life. Western families care for fewer and fewer of their elderly because today’s families are smaller, fragmenting, blending, and are unwilling or unable to support them.
We are facing a future in which a large and growing portion of our pop- ulation will be dependent on a limited minority of workers and producers. Will the state be able to afford to keep us? And ifso, at what standard of liv- ing? Is there an alternative?
Our society has conditioned us to believe that sickness and degenerative ageing are inevitable as the years go by. “Only the young are attractive, strong, vital, healthy, sensual, sexual, intelligent, creative and capable,” say messages from the media that pound us day after day. Advertisements for fast food, soft drinks, cosmetics, motor cars, cleaning products and electronics
nearly all use models in their teens or early 20’s. The health industry, insur- ance companies, pension funds, the retirement industry and many other insti- tutions have a large financial stake in this myth.
However, this widespread degeneration is not inevitable. I will show you how ageing and deterioration is a choice that most people make.
Many cultures, particularly traditional cultures, have handled ageing bet- ter than we do in the West today. Their oldest people lived with their fami- lies or tribes, and still contributed valuable work and knowledge. They were usually respected, healthy and active.
For example, longevity has always been a priority for the Chinese peo- ple. Virtually all the Taoist masters lived to well over one hundred years. Many Taoist texts>4->4 describe sages with life spans that seem unbeliev- able in Western society.
Several other cultures around the world have traditionally enjoyed long lives. The Hunzas, located in northern Pakistan, routinely live for over a cen- tury. People from Abkhazia, a mountainous part of southern Russia, and Vilcabamba, in Southern Ecuador, also have many centenarians. They are isolated from much of modern civilisation and pollution, and spend hours working their rich, dark-soiled fields. Their diet includes fresh vegetables, whole grains, meat, eggs, raw dairy products, fruit and mineralised mountain water. All these cultures place great value on longevity and their older citi- zens are valued and exalted.
The life experience, the maturity, the time and the love that the elderly have to offer is avast and unused resource. As we wake up to their social, economic and spiritual value, this human resource will transform. People liv- ing by the principles in Grow Youthful will resist ageing and degeneration, and will contribute to society, earning enough to pay the bills, and living independent, fulfilling lives. Those who have lived many years will no longer be a load on society, but will be a major economic, social and political force. These healthy, productive, wise and experienced long-lived people will con- tribute to and add to the diversity of our society at every level.
Biologically, old people have been of great value in our evolution. For
most living things (plants, insects, animals) the adults have done their job and can die after they have reproduced, and their young are growing indepen- dently. However, human tribes that had a few old people fared better than those with none. The knowledge and experience of the elderly helped their tribes to survive droughts, floods, plagues, and other calamities that only occur once every few decades. Hence, the genes from these tribes were passed on, whereas the genes from tribes where everyone died relatively young have not survived.?4
The presence of this mass of elderly people will also challenge the notion that time has to be a limited and scarce resource. They will enjoy more dis- cretionary time because their kids have grown up and left home, the mort- gage ispaid off, and they are not beholden to an employer or “make or break” business. More importantly, many of them will consciously choose how to spend their time rather than feeling obliged or forced. Some will enter a soul or spirit dimension in which they confront their mortality, gain a new per- spective on life, learn and grow into a stage of giving, and contributing to the community.
There need be little relationship between age and performance. Many people have performed their greatest work in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Fifty year olds have won marathons. Sixty year olds routinely lift heavier weights in the gymnasium than many twenty year olds. Seventy year olds enjoy pow- erful and creative careers. Some eighty year olds play a decent set of tennis. Ninety year olds can have active and thoroughly enjoyable sex lives. People in “extreme” old age exercise, play sport, excel in mental and psychological challenges, leading interesting and fulfilling lives. The many decades after you turn 60 can be the most productive, enjoyable, sexual and spiritual part of your life.
In his 90’s Michelangelo designed St Peters dome. Verdi at the age of eighty, wrote Falstaff: Alexander von Humboldt completed his naturalistic masterpiece Cosmos when aged eighty-nine. The recent Chinese leader Deng Hsiao-ping wielded power in China at the age of eighty-eight, despite a life- long tobacco habit. Moraji Desai, a former prime minister of India, lived a
healthy vibrant life until the age of one hundred.
You can find many examples in our Western culture today — people in
their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s who are working, contributing to society, and lead- ing full, active and healthy lives.
WHAT IS AGEING?
geing is a general deterioration of your body’s function and structure,
Neyourmind,astheyearsgoby.Itisasubtleandslowprocesswhere you gradually become aware that you no longer have the strength and vitali- ty that you used to have. Your skin has blemishes, wrinkles and sags a little, your hair and nails are thinner and weaker, your digestion is slow and tem- peramental, and a host of other changes creep throughout your body.
Ageing is the result of an accumulation of abuse and assaults to both your mind and body. We choose to age by accepting these abuses to the physical body, and fully expect to show sickness and deterioration as the years pass.
There are several ways to measure age. Calendar age is the one we usu- ally think of — the number of years that you have been alive. However, ifyou choose to maintain your youth into your old age, itbecomes almost irrele- vant.
Your mental age depends upon your short and long-term memory, speed of recall, power of analysis, clarity, creativity and ability to learn. It also reflects your attitude to life — whether you are stuck in the past, dogmatic and inflexible, or are open to change, learning and new ideas. It bears little rela- tion to your calendar age.
Your effective age reflects your ability to live independently and con- tribute to others and society.
Your Biological age mirrors your health, appearance, feelings and ener- gy. It compares you with healthy young people. It depends upon the total weight of all the positive factors and the total weight of all the negative fac- tors discussed in Grow Youthful. If you take full responsibility for all these factors, itispossible to subtract decades from your biological age.
You can do a quiz to estimate your biological age at
www.growyouthful.com It asks around 140 questions, and estimates how much your body has deteriorated compared to most people of your calendar age and sex.
Ayurvedic age. Several ancient traditions such as Taoism and early Ayurvedic medicine measure age by the number of breaths you have taken, or the number of heartbeats you have accumulated. This book shows you how to breathe deeply and efficiently, and more slowly. Ifyou can halve your rate of breathing, you may double your lifespan. If your cardiovascular sys- tem is healthy, you will have a slower pulse. A reduction in your pulse rate will give you a proportionate increase in your life.
Biomarkers. Two brilliant yet practical scientists at Tufts University — William J. Evans and Irwin H. Rosenberg, developed the following tests or markers of ageing in the late 80’s.!> They are now widely accepted as objec- tive measures of the age of a person — measurable, relevant, significant, and most importantly, reversible. Evans, Rosenberg, and many other researchers have proved that the accelerated ageing and the degenerative diseases that are endemic today are not a normal part of chronological ageing. This book explains how you can effectively prevent, and even reverse the deterioration of these biomarkers.
Your doctor can use these markers to assess your biological age during an examination. You can monitor your progress in reversing your ageing after you have implemented some of the changes I recommend, with a second examination months later.
The ten markers are:
*Lean body (muscle) mass
*Muscle strength
¢Basal metabolic rate
*Body fat
*Aerobic capacity
¢Blood pressure
*Insulin sensitivity and blood glucose tolerance *Cholesterol level and HDL/LDL ratio
*Bone density
«Body temperature regulation
The most important marker for you to focus on changing is Lean body mass. Lowering your fat to muscle ratio will make a dramatic difference to your health, vitality and rate of ageing.
YOUR CHOICE
fter years of conditioning by society, many people hold a deep belief
iNewoldageisatimeofweakness,inactivity(retirement),andno longer needing to take risks, grow or learn. They feel that no more great, exciting things are going to happen in their lives — that they are largely finished, and have nothing further to contribute. The widespread acceptance of notions such as “middle-aged”, “past it” and “over the hill” are a self- fulfilling belief, actually causing physical and mental degeneration.
Are you expecting to get sick, tired, haggard and feeble as you enter middle and then old age? Ifyou are expecting itto happen, and especially if you fear it,then itwill happen. “People grow old and die because they see others grow old and die”, said the ancient Indian sage, Shankara. Society dictates that we have a death urge.>/
Whether or not to throw in the towel is a choice that each of us has. You can choose to allow your mind and a harmful lifestyle to overwhelm your body’s natural state of health. Through low expectations, ignorance, self- sabotage and apathy you can enter a vicious downward spiral of degenerative diseases. Tiredness, limited energy and sickness tempt you to “give up.” A paunch, haggard skin, and not one but several chronic medical complaints are quite “normal” for a fifty year old on this path of least resistance.
The nature of death and disease has changed. Most Westerners do not face as high a risk of dying in a conflict or war as previous generations. Our workplaces and living environments are safer, reducing the risk of death or injury from an accident. Sewage and garbage is efficiently disposed of, and drinking water is less likely to be biologically contaminated, reducing the dangers of contagious diseases like smallpox.
Degenerative diseases have replaced infectious diseases as the scourge of our time. The plague of degenerative physical, mental and emotional diseases that we suffer today has causes that are avoidable. Even people in their 20’s and 30’s often have degenerative diseases that were found only in the old a century ago. Children are ageing rapidly, with childhood obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis now quite common rather than a medical rarity.934
The degenerative diseases of the 21* century are caused by:
* low expectations, negative attitudes and beliefs, and unhealthy values.
* persistent stress. People compete with each other with their minds, in a desperate search for instant gratification and quick fixes. They want happiness, fulfilment, appreciation, love, wealth, power and attractiveness — more than their neighbours have, and right now.
* persistent complex, stressors and toxins from our dead foods, medicines and homes.
* indulgent, lazy, lifestyles lacking in exercise, outdoor activities, fresh air and pristine water.
If you live this way of life, you are also likely to age quickly. Here is a list of some degenerative diseases:
¢ skin problems such as dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema, rashes, boils
* allergies to food and the environment
¢inflammation, slow healing
*adult onset diabetes, fluctuating energy levels, mood swings
*weight and obesity problems
* osteoporosis
*asthma, emphysema, catarrh
* arthritis, gout, kidney diseases, liver diseases, stones in the kidneys, liver or
gall bladder, bad breath, body odour, bursitis
* cancers
*chronic fatigue
*poor immunity resulting inpersistent fungal, viral and bacterial infections, frequent colds and ‘flu, frequent herpes eruptions
*heart and arterial disease, poor circulation, palpitations, angina, stroke
* eating and digestive problems, diarrhoea, stomach pains, constipation, heartburn, reflux, stomach ulcers, bulimia, colitis, flatulence, haemorrhoids, pot-belly
* brain, nerve and mental problems, headaches, migraines, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, hypertension and perceived stress, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, irritability, insomnia, malaise
*eye diseases, retinal damage, cataracts
* sexual and reproductive problems including frigidity, impotence and premature ejaculation, painful monthly periods
¢childhood learning and attention disorders, behavioural problems *baldness, greying hair
*muscle atrophy, back pain, neck pain, sciatica
Grow Youthful helps you make the choice for a long, healthy, youthful life. Itshows you how to prevent the onset of degenerative diseases, and slow or even reverse your ageing. Problems that have been troubling you for years will improve or disappear completely. Most of the new diseases in children are reversible.
SELF-HEALING
ollow the advice in this book, and after a few months, you will start to
IFv andfeelyounger.Yourbodywilldothisbecauseitisaself-healing organism. Itiscontinually changing. Everything isconstantly being broken down and rebuilt. The lining of a healthy colon, or the surface of your tongue is replaced every day or two. Your skin is replaced every month. Every three months, your blood is renewed. Within 6 months, virtually every protein in your body is replaced. This includes cells in every organ, muscle and connective tissue. 98% of your entire body, including your bones and the living parts of your teeth, is replaced each year.
As you start to practise the life-changing recommendations in Grow Youthful, you will rebuild your body with high quality proteins and nutrients, and a lower level of toxins. At every level, physical, mental and spiritual, you
can experience a transformation. Given the right nutrition, loving care, exercise and environment, your body can recover from years of abuse.
Sometimes modern medicine can extend the length of your life, but often at great cost and discomfort. The real determinants of your life expectancy and health are:
*Your mind. Particularly your beliefs and image ofyourself.
* How you treat your body. This includes what you eat and drink, how you breathe and exercise, and what medicines, drugs and personal products you do (or don’t) use.
*Your lifestyle. This includes your work, play, rest, relationships, and sexual habits.
* Your environment, in particular all the sources of pollution, radiation and toxins you are exposed to.
* Genetics plays a part in your longevity and health, but only a minor role when you are an adult. The importance of your genes decreases as you grow older.3!-534 Your lifestyle choices and behaviours have far more impact on your health and longevity than your heredity.
Your mind is the major determinant of your health and longevity. This book will show you how to clarify your priorities and discover what really matters for you; get to know your body and how to care for it;and take full responsibility for every aspect of your life. This means living by your own truth, not limitations imposed by others — family, friends, teachers, or a shallow and materialistic society. Ultimate health requires both physical and spiritual cleansing.
Characteristics such as being interested in other people, optimistic, satisfied, accepting, inquiring, flexible and focused will enrich and extend your life. Choosing to feel rejected, abandoned, disempowered, unattractive, asexual, bigoted, dogmatic, inflexible, angry, resentful, jealous, a burden on others or even useless, will have a marked effect on your health and ageing. You will see how these feelings are choices you make, not ways ofliving that you have to accept.
Staying disease-free and retaining your youthful abilities is the goal for
and get on with it. It also stopped the procrastination habits to healthy ones.
in changing sickening
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an empowered and fulfilling old age. A healthy, youthful body is:
* strong, with well-developed muscles and a confident upright flexible posture.
¢ slim, rather than overweight.
*infection resistant.
* able to see, hear, feel, smell and taste well.
* bright eyed, with a clear elastic skin, sweet breath and thick naturally coloured hair.
¢lucid and quick thinking.
*good-natured, with consistent energy, strength, enthusiasm and optimism. *with good appetite and digestion, enjoying sex, sleeping soundly, easy and regular bowels.
It is never too late to change! No matter how old you are, or how much you have used and abused your body, you can start a new life.
Sometimes we have to be “brought to the edge” or suffer a “wake up call” before we are willing to make the changes. So many people who have survived cancer have described it as the best thing that ever happened to them. It forced them to re-evaluate their lives, decide what was important,
At any age, you can change:
*Teens and 20’s. Ifyou happen to be fortunate enough
in your youth, you have the means to keep your
emotional vigour and young looks for many decades.
* 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. You can choose not to conform
your family, uninformed society and conventional medicine. Now isthe time to cleanse, rejuvenate, heal and reverse much of the ageing and deterioration that has started.
* 60’s and older. This is where the most dramatic changes can occur. Those who have reached what our society calls “old age” are usually painfully aware of effects of decades of neglect and abuse of their bodies. Most people at this age are suffering from several degenerative diseases, low energy, a
to gain this knowledge physical, mental and
to the expectations of
tired, worn out body, and a poor self-image or depression. To them, the possibility of regaining youth seems impossible. Nevertheless, thousands of people have done it. Healing, repair, age reversal and regeneration are attainable.
The process of ageing is usually so slow that you do not notice it. However, ifyou are severely depressed, distraught or traumatised, you can age noticeably in a period of weeks or months.
Similarly, slowing the ageing process takes time. As you detoxify, alkalise and strengthen your body while following the advice in Grow Youthful, be patient. After making some of the changes I recommend, you will not necessarily feel better immediately. If you have released toxins and they are in your bloodstream prior to elimination you will feel worse, not better. Skin eruptions, nausea, bad breath, white tongue, body odour and a feeling of malaise can last for days, weeks or months, depending upon how toxic you are. You will be tempted to give up and revert to your previous lifestyle. However, as your body repairs and cleanses, I can assure you that you will feel and see the dramatic positive effects within a year, and sometimes much less.
The maxim use it or lose it applies to every aspect of life — all your physical, sexual, social, artistic, creative and other abilities. It is easy to understand that you need to exercise your muscles to keep them taut and trim.However, the“useitorloseit”principleappliesjustasstronglytoyour mind*” and every other ability you have. The most creative, effective, humorous, focused, social, stimulating and artistic people are constantly exercising their gifts.
Any changes you make inyour lifebecause ofreading Grow Youthful should be comfortable and gradual. After many years of a particular diet, lack of exercise, or way of breathing, it may take months for your body to accept the changes and years to adjust fully. When I first tried eating complete meals ofraw food, Isuffered from diarrhoea. My digestive system has still not adapted, so a large portion of my diet is cooked, especially in winter. Habits also need time to change. I will make many suggestions that
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will put you back on the road to total health. Take iteasy, you will not be able to do everything at once, and itmight be quite harsh on your body and your mind if you attempted to. Gradually introduce what seems to be the easiest and most important to you. As your health improves, your energy level rises, and you feel happier and more enthusiastic, it will feel quite natural to change your way ofliving.
BEING CIVILIZED
ivilisation is a villain that disconnects us from our instinctive knowledge of what is right, good and healthy. It imposes intellectual,
non-intuitive values — new ways of life that others teach us as a means to survive. It teaches us to suppress our emotions and feelings. Little about civilisation comes from nature.
Civilisation gives us convenient transport. Jump on a bus, or drive just to go a kilometre. Take an elevator to go up three floors. The cost? An unfit, overweight, sick population.
Civilisation gives us manufactured foods — fast, convenient, attractive, addictive and so affordable. These fake foods are compromising the health and vitality of millions of people.
Civilisation encourages us to listen to the expert, to revere the person with the PhD. Your real interests require that you listen to your heart. I have found a loving friend to be a more effective counsellor than a professional charging their time at dollars per minute. In business, relationships and your everyday life,your “gut feeling” isusually correct.
Civilised people are impressed with the high-tech, expensive, complex approach to solving any problem. They usually overlook the simple, natural, low cost solution.
Ittakes many years of education and training to become civilised. Infants start life open to their senses, to anything they see, hear, feel, smell and taste. They are playful, feeling, flexible and completely without judgements and beliefs. Infants and toddlers are fully expressive, have boundless energy, and are unburdened with the worries of this life until parents, teachers and society
ie
teach them otherwise. A young person can do, be and feel anything, until they take on the limitations offered by their families, peers, role models and those in positions of authority.
To thrive in civilised society, to gain health and longevity, requires that you pay more attention to the feelings and other messages coming from your body. Forget about that image of who you are, and instead pay attention to the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings around you. True health requires that you challenge many of your beliefs and this picture of who you are, and that you are open to new ways of thinking. It will often require that you behave in ways that are contrary to the civilised practises of educated people, prevalent in schools, universities, government, businesses and the mass media. Pay attention to the pressures influencing your behaviour — the expectations of your friends, spouse, parents, co-workers and employers. Look at what the institutions around you are giving you (ease, luxury, convenience, status, appearance, entertainment) and taking from you (responsibility for all aspects of your life, control over your own life, your health, time and money). You then have the perspective to use and enjoy the benefits of civilisation, rather than becoming its victim.
YOU HAVE UNIQUE NEEDS
ach of us has a unique body with unique needs. In the same way that we
iraedifferentandhavedifferentpersonalities,ourdigestivesystems can be different. Some people thrive on certain foods (perhaps dairy, wheat products and corn), whereas for other people those same foods can be the cause of their health problems. We each need different types and amounts of nutrients, calories, water, sunlight, exercise, social interaction and every other aspect of life. Your needs also vary depending on your age, state of health, your mental state, location, the season and more. Many people eat what they think ishealthy food — and itmight be, but not for them. /fyou pay attention to what affects you positively or negatively, it will profoundly improve your health, wealth and happiness at every level. Fortunate are those people who discover early in their lives the foods, climate, people and
lifestyle that are most beneficial to them.
Many authors have tried to provide a framework to help you choose the
foods that are right for you. I have tried many of them. Eat Right for Your Blood Type, Zone, Macrobiotic, Vegetarian, Vegan, Low Fat, High Protein, Raw Food, The Mediterranean Diet and hundreds of others all claim to have a successful system. Each of them has avid followers who swear their system has changed their lives. What you do not hear about are the equal number of people who remain unaffected, or are worse off. One group of people may thrive on a diet and lifestyle in a particular location and climate; that same diet and lifestyle may be quite harmful for people who evolved or live in a faraway part of the world.
The basic suggestion that people with blood type A do best as vegetarians, and those with blood type O need meat in their diets, may be useful. If you are a blood type O on a vegetarian diet and are not thriving, then itisworth experimenting with fish or meat. Likewise, ifyou are ablood group A and eat meat regularly, less meat may be beneficial.
I have found Ayurveda to be useful and effective in classifying people, helping them to select the foods, climate, people and lifestyle that are most beneficial for their body type. This ancient Indian science of health is widely used throughout Asia and increasingly in the West. You may fall under one of the three main body types (doshas); most people are predominantly one, with a large dose of another. Children and adolescents tend to be more kapha, young adults are more pitta, and older people more vata, though this is not a rigid rule.
Kapha people have a larger, fuller, slower more solid build. They gain weight easily, which accumulates below the waist. They tend to have a good skin, a low-pitched voice, and well lubricated joints. They are tolerant, calm, patient, slow, strong, and have good endurance and stamina. Mentally they are slow to comprehend, but once grasped retain well.
Kaphas are adversely affected by rich, sweet (which they often crave), oily, sour and salty food. They are prone to congestion, and dairy products
cause mucus. They are not very thirsty and do not need to drink as much as
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other people. It is important that they get sufficient and regular exercise. Kaphas do not do well in cold, damp weather, preferring awarm mild climate. They thrive on pungent, bitter, astringent, warm, dry, light food such
as salads, white or lean meats, dry fruits like apple, figs, pears, dried fruits, tomato, eggplant, cauliflower, cabbage, buckwheat, millet and barley. They do not do well with sweet food, though honey isan exception.
In an unbalanced state, kaphas tend to be heavy, drowsy, constipated, dull, lazy, greedy, depressed, suffering itching and skin problems, and with excess mucus.
Pitta people are of medium and well-proportioned build, have warm hands and feet, perspire easily, and often have an oily coppery skin, with freckles, moles and blackheads. If they have excess weight, it tends to accumulate proportionately. They have a strong appetite and digestion, quick reactions, and a medium level of stamina. They are aggressive, sharp, forceful, fiery and vibrant. Their voice is mid-pitched, melodious or strong.
Pittas thrive in a cool climate. They need sweet, astringent, bitter, cold, heavy, dry foods like melons, raisins, dates, asparagus, leafy greens, broccoli, soft cheeses, barley and rice. Coolness balances them — cool drinks, cool breezes, cool watery food, and relaxation. They like cold showers and moonlight.
Pittas are adversely affected by heat and the sun, and by hot, acid, salty and dry foods. In an unbalanced state they exhibit anger, aggression, impatience and skin rashes.
Vata people tend to be thin or underweight, have flat chests, and noticeable veins and muscle tendons. Ifthey have excess weight, itisaround the gut or waist. They tend to be poorly proportioned, have dry, cracked skin; feel the cold; and have a high-pitched, dissonant or hoarse voice. They get tired easily, and can quickly be knocked off-centre or distracted. They are active, irregular, creative, cool-bodied, airy, easily distracted, alert, quick to understand and restless.
Vatas thrive in a warm, stable, still (not windy), moist climate. They need warm nourishing nurturing foods and emotions, and a calm, orderly, relaxing lifestyle, avoiding overexcitement and overexertion. They do best with
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Vata people do well with warm, sweet, salty, sour, oily heavier foods. This means wet, oily foods (soup, stew, and stir-fry) rather than cold or dry foods. They like sweet ripe fruits like cherries, stone fruits and berries, cucumbers, green peas, asparagus, cooked vegetables, wheat, oats, full cream dairy products, cream and butter.
Vatas are adversely affected by the cold, and dry, windy, weather. Other negatives are sudden changes like a death in the family, loss of job or fast change in the weather. They do not take well to rough-texture materials on the skin, rough words and behaviour or rushing.
In an unbalanced state, vatas are prone to dry or rough skin, being underweight, weak kidneys, bladder, and heart; constipation, arthritis, stiff, non-specific aches and pains, dry joints, poor immunity, insomnia, worry, depression, fatigue and confusion.
Foods to avoid: cold, dry (crackers, dried fruit, cereals, potato chips etc) astringent (dry tasting foods that pucker the mouth like beans, tea, pomegranates, lentils), bitter or pungent foods. Don’t drink cold drinks, or eat cold raw food — especially in the middle of winter. Stimulants like coffee, alcohol and tobacco should be avoided.
Vatas love massage, especially with warm sesame oil. They also like coconut oil, both to eat and on the skin.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
fyou have a craving or revulsion for a particular food, activity, friend, place,
|Fate,drugorwhatever,thenstopandobservewhatisgoingon.Letus say you have a craving for chocolate or ajunk food. Your body obviously needs something, but common sense tells you that itisunlikely to be the junk food. Ifyou indulge inthat craving, how do you feel afterwards?
Cravings can work in two ways. They can be directly for the nutrient your body needs. Ifyou have a strong desire for sardines, tomatoes or cheese, your body is probably deficient in one of the components of that food. Secondly,
regular meals, and sufficient and regular sleep. They flourish with stable relationships at work and home.
excesses also cause cravings, and this probably happens more frequently. If you long for something sweet, particularly ifithappens often, or after a meal, you may have candida or metabolic syndrome.
Intuition is a deep and all-knowing feeling of truth. Your intuition (or common sense, or gut-feel) should play an important part in your decision- making. Be attentive to your spontaneous feelings when you need to make a decision about food (or any other aspect of your life).
If you are not sure about a particular type of food or even a whole plate of food, then listen to your body. Sit quietly with the plate in front of you. Take a minute to look at it,smell it,and tune into it.You will know whether it is something deeply nourishing, neutral, or repulsive. Practise this technique, and you will become far more sensitive to the world around you.
Distinguishing between your desires and your intuition is not always easy. Desires come from your ego, from society’s expectations, and from what others have taught you. Desires are not the same as your true needs. Your desires are more concerned with your status in society, your image, and comparing yourself with other people. This is when your ego kicks in and fear, greed and reason cloud the correct decision.
Ifyou feel calm and relaxed about a choice, then your intuition istelling you to proceed. Choose those options that have a good gut feel, that seem to fit and be self-evident. Be present, listen and pay attention. Practice and a genuine desire to get to the truth will lead you there. Some people will describe this process as prayer, others as meditation, and others as growing or maturing.
As your sensitivity increases, you will learn to watch your body and its reaction to your environment. Your feelings and intuition will magnify your senses, and provide a powerful new guide.
Above all, enjoy, have fun, do not worry! If you break the rules or over- indulge occasionally, that is OK. Never feel guilty. If you have a double chocolate ice cream in your hand - enjoy itto the full. Savour it,smell it,totally indulge. If you beat yourself up for any misbehaviour, your feelings of guilt are likely to be far more harmful to your body than the indulgence itself. Ifyou can stick to the rules 90% and go astray 10% of the time, you are doing well.
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I read a health magazine for a number of years, and looked forward to the food column each month. The writer, who had her picture at the head of the column, was a healthy looking woman who obviously knew her stuff. She clearly explained why organic produce was so important, and grew many of her own herbs and vegetables. Her recipes were bursting with flavour, health and living energy, and her writing style was alive with enthusiasm. I would have given (almost) anything to be a regular guest in her kitchen.
Eventually, Imet her at a dinner party one evening. She was a classic type A personality — a perfectionist in all that she did, driven, impatient and in control. Ifeverything was not just so, right on time, she resented it.The stress and the imbalance in her life were obvious. She looked ten years older than her age, in spite of an enviable lifestyle that included wonderful organic foods, a stimulating job, a wide circle of friends, and sufficient time for exercise and socialising.
A long, healthy and happy life is a life of enjoyment, play, fun and thankfulness. It is a blessing to have a healthy, vital body; lots of money, a satisfying career or position in life; a soul mate lover with lots of delicious sex; and many close caring friends. However, obsessing after any of them or feeling the ache of missing out if any one of them is lacking, can detract from your whole life and shorten itby many years.
Grow Youthful is a guide to a healthy, long-lived, conscious way of life that feels good and makes sense. It is not a quick fix, a diet or a fad. This book shows you how to significantly slow your rate of ageing, and avoid the degenerative diseases that plague most people in their later years.
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LIVING THE LIFE YOU LOVE YOUR EGO AND YOUR GROWTH
ARE YOU GROWING?
A healthy, youthful person is loving, aware of their own body and surroundings, and full offun and humour. A.effective,fullyfunctioninghumanbeingcontinuestogrow
throughout his or her life. Growth means being open and available to change. Growth means continually shedding the beliefs, assumptions, judgements and opinions that you have built up in your mind to represent who you are. You must be willing to examine and re-examine everything,
including your most fundamental beliefs, and discard them ifnecessary.
If every aspect of your life is oriented towards evolution, you will shift the
balance of forces in your being. Your cells, tissues, organs, body systems, mind, psychology and feelings will tap the universal power of growth and creativity through their full use and expression.
The opposite of growing is dying. Old, stagnating people are set in their opinions, and have beliefs that are not open to change. How can you be a growing, evolving human being ifyou are absolutely convinced that you are right about your political persuasion, your religion, your area of expertise, your opinion of your neighbours and their kids, your boss, your partner, and any other judgments that you have made? You may have studied a subject for years, or had a deep-seated persuasion for most of your life, but always be open to the possibility that itmay not be serving you. Ifyou are living part of your life as a lie, itwill stress you.
In order to grow, it is even more important that you are open to changing your picture of who you are. This image of yourself and the expectations that come with itiswhat drives you. Most people spend their lives acting out what they have been taught to do, or what other people expect of them. They are polite, they do the right thing, they want to be good. Virtually all of us have hyperactive minds and egos, and we spend almost every waking minute trying to defend our image. We want to look good, and avoid looking bad.
It is a risky and thrilling process challenging this picture of yourself, detail
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bydetail.Why shouldanimageofyourselfasinteresting/boring/loud/ quiet etc limit you to behaving in that way? Is itserving you? Would you like to invent some new possibilities?
Growth also means being grounded in the experience of noticing what is happening around you and paying attention to what your senses and feelings are telling you. Grounding means paying attention to your body, your sense of connection to the earth, and standing firm, alert and balanced. You get real nourishment through touch, smell, taste, sound and sight - commonplace, everyday experiences. What you see and hear as an involved observer is likely to be closer to the truth than judgements and stories built up in your mind. How often have you made a judgement or built up an opinion only to find it was way off the mark when you visited the place or spoke directly to the people concerned?
It is an exciting process to ask these questions and be open to new and novel answers. Scary too. But as you start to let go of some of your beliefs and opinions and replace them with what the evidence around you indicates, or what you really want to do, your life becomes more aligned and effective. You save an enormous amount of thinking and stress, not worrying about what other people are thinking and whether you are doing the right thing.
YOUR EGO
our ego is your mental image of who you are. It is not the real you.
Nees itcomesfromyourupbringingandculturalconditioning.Your ego is a mental picture of yourself resulting from habituation by your society, culture, education, family, peers, workplace, and every otherworldly influence on your thinking. Often, itisquite inaccurate.
Your ego is motivated to maintain and enhance favourable views of itself. It will protect and promote this favourable mental image at almost any cost. It thinks it is all that you are, and threats to the ego are threats to your very life.
Researchers have shown that admitting an unwise decision threatens the ego. To avoid that, people continue to slog on with failed courses of action
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despite mounting losses. Threatened egotism “makes people more prone to become entrapped in losing endeavours”. !!9
Your ego wants to keep your past alive, itholds on to your history. After all, it says, your past is what makes you who you are today. If you are not happy now, your ego lets you use your past as an excuse. Your parents, your poor upbringing, that abusive teacher or sibling — your ego gives you many important and valid excuses for your lack of satisfaction today.
Your ego is also concerned about your future. After all, thinking about your future isthinking about your survival. Ifyou are not happy now, itisonly in the future that things can get better. The ego says, “When this event happens, then Iwill be happy and fulfilled.” The event may be more money, finding your soul mate, getting married, having children, the children growing up and leaving home, divorcing, losing weight, getting fit, a qualification, getting a promotion, retiring, or whatever. Most people spend their entire lives waiting, putting off fully living each day, hour and moment.
Your ego refuses to live in the present moment. It keeps you thinking, worrying, regretting, planning and explaining. It compares you to other people — mostly those who are doing better. Ithas agendas — everything you do has a reason. Itrules your life by what other people might think, rather than by your own truth.
Itisconcerned with your status, with doing better than others, with your influence over people, and with seeking power and control. The ego seeks possessions, education, appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, and beliefs in political, national, racial and religious ideals. Ittakes you away from living in the moment with enjoyment, fun and inspiration.
Your ego is active virtually all your waking hours, busy chattering away. There are scarcely more than a few minutes every day when it is not your driving force. Virtually every waking moment you spend trying to look good or avoid looking bad. “Rubbish”, Ihear you say. “I love my family, and give much of my time and energy to them, and also to the community. I’m not concerned with my image while doing that.” However, consider every
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interaction you have with other people. Every word you say has an agenda, usually designed to protect your status, power and appearance, and to make you look as good as possible in the eyes of the other person.
Brad Blanton’s book Radical Honesty?? explains how we have been brainwashed since the day we were born to lie and to behave according to the expectations of others. We fail to talk straight with strangers, friends, family, lovers, bosses and workmates. Instead, our egos are running full-throttle evaluating, judging, assuming, feeling righteous, and guessing how to maintain our image, whilst paying little attention to the people we are with and our environment. Itisnot surprising that most Western people are living in their heads, unhappy, not living to their full potential, wishing and hoping, and pretending that everything is all right.
Quoting Brad: “The rescue from our mind’ oppression comes from authentic contact and honest sharing with other human beings”. He clearly explains how telling the truth can transform your life. Take the risk that others might be offended or shocked or get their feelings hurt, and tell the truth. The emotional burden of holding onto your secrets, resentments, assumptions, fears, angers and shames is making you sick, old and bringing on a miserable early death. Clear, responsible and truthful communication will mean that others can trust what you say, and provide a foundation for real relationship. You will feel infinitely better after you have cleaned up your act.
In his book The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle maintains that 80-90% of most people’s thinking is repetitive and useless.374 This ego-driven thinking is mostly dysfunctional and negative. It inhibits the clearest type of thinking, access to your true self and real creativity. This compulsive, addictive thinking causes hormonal upsets, and is responsible for ageing and degenerative diseases.
YOUR EMOTIONS
ee arisewhereyourbodyandmindmeet.Thereisafeeling
attached to every single thought that you have. They are your body’s hormonal and biochemical responses to your thoughts and mental images.
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The more dominant is your ego and the more persistent your thoughts, the stronger will be your emotions.
Depression, anger, sadness and negative emotions often have a nutritional cause. It is difficult to stress a healthy body, whereas it takes little to set off someone who is run-down or out of balance. People who have made the lifestyle, diet and exercise changes recommended in Grow Youthful are unlikely to suffer from depression or mental illness.
Your emotions will tend to fluctuate wildly if your blood glucose and insulin levels are out of balance (page 262). One of the initial benefits you will notice when following the diet 1recommend is that your emotions and energy level will stabilise. This is the result of your blood glucose level stabilising, rather than oscillating through the peaks and troughs caused by eating sugar and refined carbohydrates.
Emotions do not come from your truth or higher self. However, they are an accurate reflection of your thought patterns. Ifyour mind isconfused, and conflicts with your emotions, then your emotions will be the more accurate reflection of your thoughts.
It is vital that you are aware of your negative emotions, and can feel them. If you suppress them, they will not go away. Rather, they will build up like a pressure cooker and eventually manifest physically. For example, repressed anger or sadness can make you ill, and may trigger unpleasant “mirror” responses in other people.
You can free yourself from these layers of pain by feeling them and fully being with the sensations. Live in the present, and acknowledge your feelings, rather than denying them. Itisthe only way to find out what your truth is.The alternative is to lie to yourself (and others), denying that you are feeling angry, sad, pissed off or other important feelings.
At first, this may seem like an exercise in masochism. Since early childhood, our society has taught us to repress our emotions, to hide our feelings, and to wear a mask that covers our true and natural selves. However, ifyou are living in the present, and can feel your emotions, you will see the truth behind them. They always come from your own conditioning, beliefs,
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and life experience. Other people are never the cause of your feelings, so there is no need to indulge in blame, denial and games.
Ifyour positive emotions are strangers to you, be on the lookout for them. Not feeling and expressing your positive emotions will make you dry, icy or lifeless. To a conditioned and blocked mind, feeling and openly expressing joy, love and trust is as difficult as feeling the negative emotions. Consciously enjoy emotions like compassion, insight, inspiration and revelation, and acknowledge yourself for doing this.
Conflict and negative emotions such as fear, anger, greed, selfishness, envy, sadness, anxiety, distrust, shame and guilt cause the secretion of adrenalin, cortisol and other hormones throughout your body. If you let such emotions dominate, they will drain your vitality. It is harmful to hold your emotions inside (usually in the heart or the stomach), painfully twisting and gnawing. Each emotion has a special relationship with specific organs in your body, and an excess of that emotion will damage that organ. Uncontrolled anger for example, damages the liver over time. Anger generates and wastes huge amounts of vital energy. Remember, if you can, how you felt in the aftermath of a fight, argument or temper tantrum - both physically and mentally depleted.
A recent study!9? found that the stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is enough to slow their bodies’ ability to heal from minor wounds by at least one day. Moreover, ifthe couple are routinely hostile toward each other, the delay in that healing process can be doubled. The researchers also concluded that after relatively minor arguments, their subjects were more susceptible to a range of degenerative diseases including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and type-2 diabetes.
Fear isassociated with the kidneys. Chronic fear suppresses your immune functions by triggering the adrenal gland to secrete adrenaline and cortisone. If fear or any other source of stress becomes chronic, adrenal burnout soon follows and the victim suffers from immune deficiency that renders the body easy prey to formerly harmless microbes in the environment.
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The “fight or flight” response is an ancient reaction to a perceived threat or challenge, such as the sighting of a potential prey or predator. Your adrenal glands secrete adrenalin and cortisol, your heart beat increases, the bronchi of your lungs dilate, digestion shuts down, muscle strength is increased and your pupils dilate. Energy is diverted from non-urgent tasks to prime your body for physical exertion.
The crisis or challenge our ancestors experienced was typically short- lived. Their high-energy response of running or fighting burned up the hormones and glucose in their blood. Such situations only occurred occasionally and when they passed, they quickly recovered their digestive energy and endocrine balance. Their bodies soon switched to the “rest and digest” state, with their heartbeat returning to normal, pupils contracting, and their digestive process restarting.
It is easy to see why our hunter-gather ancestors needed this response. However, modern stresses are not often physical threats where you need extra strength to run and throw rocks, after which you can relax again. Today’s stresses are mostly ongoing emotions and conflicts in your head. Stresses such as living with the threat of impending redundancy, or waiting for the results of medical tests, may continue for months without respite. Frustration in the office, marital conflict, news on television, repressed rage, peer pressures and exposure to microwaves and electromagnetic fields can trigger biochemical stress responses hundreds of times each day. These stresses are ongoing, week after week, month after month, with no letup. If you face continual stress, your body never has a chance to purge its stress toxins.
Your nervous, immune and glandular systems are intimately connected. Chronic stress is one of the primary causes of immune deficiency in today’s world, especially in the crowded urban centres of developed societies. If you are suffering from destructive emotional peaks and troughs, the first thing to do is tackle the organic reasons why your emotions may be haywire. Changing your diet, getting regular, sufficient exercise, drinking enough water, deep and proper breathing, or minimising your exposure to all forms of pollution may completely heal any emotional instability. You will also feel
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happier, stronger and more vital.
Communication is an emotional outlet. It is so important to tell the truth
and say what is really going on for you. Tell the truth in everything you say — risking the listener’s anger or condemnation. Usually, you will find your fears are unfounded. More importantly, your withheld feelings will not build up to festering resentments.
If you are still depressed or stuck in negative emotions, meditation, discussed on page 56, will help. Itisprofoundly calming and de-stressing, and helps you regain perspective in your life. It also provides the opportunity to watch your emotions and your behaviour, almost as if you are watching someone else. When you can stop and see what you are doing, itbecomes clear that you have a choice not to continue to behave that way.
As you become conscious of your emotions, they will no longer dominate you. Your presence and attention will grow. Instead of being emotionally caught up in life’s problems and dramas, you will enjoy a feeling of ease and acceptance. It is one of the keys to living in the moment, living in the now.
LIVING IN THE MOMENT
he present moment never ages. It is for action, doing and being. You can
ol[eafullyexpressandfeelyourselfrightnow.Thisinstantiswhereyou obtain the maximum joy and satisfaction in your life.
If you spend a lot of time living in your past, you will age rapidly. Check itout for yourself. Those people who often talk and think about their past are not young and vital. Ifyou spend much time dwelling on your memories, both good and bad, it prevents you from living in the present moment. Your cherished thoughts, achievements, adventures, experiences, regrets, guilt, resentment, sadness and frustrations are long gone. The dreadful things that you went through and your victim story are only a tape playing in your head. Letyourpastgo.Onlyrefertoitwhen itisrelevanttowhatyouaredoing now.
You cannot find yourself by immersing yourself in your past. The real you isthebeinglivinginthismoment. Ifyoudelveintoyourpast,youwillfindit
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is a bottomless pit — there is always more. When you release your past and all the explanations and excuses that go with it, you enjoy a new level of freedom. Itletsyou liveinthepresent moment, which isallyou have anyway.
Ifyou spend a lot of time and energy focusing on your future, you will feel stressed. Fear of change, loss, and death is one of the prime causes of ageing and degeneration. Your ego diverts your mind with hundreds of things that may or may not happen in the future, instead of letting you get on with living right now.
Stress occurs when you are so busy getting to some place in the future that the present moment is lost - reduced to a means of getting there. So many of us waste our lives working for something in the future and never enjoying the NOW. Itbecomes a habit, and even when what we have worked so hard for arrives, we do not stop to enjoy it.We are already working for the next thing. Instead, become aware of the wonderful life around you and in you each moment, and enjoy it for its own sake, without its link to the future.
Since ancient times, spiritual masters of all traditions have pointed to living in the now as the key to solving your problems. You cannot be both unhappy, and totally present in this moment. It is only when your mind holds on to your past, or dwells on your future, that your problems arise. Try it— focus your attention on the immediate moment, and say out aloud what problem you have in that very second. The answer: you had no problem in that particular second.
Time is the cause of your suffering and your troubles. Time is the essence of Western society, and civilisation. Our society teaches us that we are time bound. Free from time, you can pursue your goals with a joyful and playful energy.
LAUGHTER
PS isthesecretofyouth.Playmeanshavingfunandbeingchildlikeand
living in the innocent, carefree world of a child. It means being yourself thinking.
(totally) and living in the moment. It is not concerned with analysing or
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Laughter lightens life’s loads and is “the best medicine.” It gives you some of the benefits of good breathing, aerobic exercise and relaxation. A deep belly laugh increases the oxygen intake in your lungs and cells, giving your abdominal muscles, diaphragm and heart a healthy workout. It relaxes you, takes your mind off your concerns, and makes you more appealing socially. Laughter stimulates your brain to produce endorphins, natural opiates that lift you up and make you feel good.
Many of the benefits of laughter are similar to those you get from deep breathing (page 243). However, it is not the same as deep breathing, so | suggest you keep up your laughing every day. The oxygen bath that you get from laughing energises your cells, and induces a feeling of exuberance that lasts well after you stop laughing. Laughing is an anti-ageing therapy, and it makes you look younger by relaxing your face.
Ifyou find itdifficult laughing, or you just want some company while you practise laughing, then join a laughter club. Sometimes it is easier to laugh when others around you are laughing - they provide good company and practical support. The idea originated in India with Dr. Madan Kataria, a Bombay physician. Initially he gathered a few friends together for a good laugh every morning, but itrapidly grew to over 400 clubs in Bombay alone. People from all walks of life meet at parks, beaches and parking lots every morning for 20 minutes. Dr. Kataria says that, just as asense of humour leads to more laughter, the corollary is also true: laughter helps us develop our sense of humour.
When you are starting to laugh, it is quite OK to fake it. Just keep laughing, keep at it. Eventually you may laugh at yourself, and the stupidity of the situation.
The routine at most laughter clubs starts with some deep breathing exercises, and then a group chant in unison, “Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Ho-Ho...” which slowly increases in speed. Participants run through a medley of different types of laughs (such as a hearty laugh, cocktail laugh and dancing laugh). The forced laughter soon gives way to spontaneous giggles, chuckles and guffaws, and members leave the session feeling refreshed, relaxed and revitalized.
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There are now more than 1000 laughter clubs in cities all around the world. Many members claim that the laughter clubs have changed their entire outlook on life. Most of them say they have improved their self-confidence, their interpersonal relations with their co-workers, and their ability to concentrate. Members maintain that as little as fifteen seconds of laughter every day gives you many benefits that include lowering your cortisol level and stimulating your glandular and immune systems.
There are measurable physical differences between people who laugh a lot, and those who do not. The blood of laughers is a brighter red, and they have a healthy glow to their skin. This comes from a richer supply of oxygen, and the better removal of carbon dioxide.
CRYING
ave you ever found yourself starting to cry on what should be a happy,
Files event?Mostofushavesomuchpainandsadnessbottledupthat ittakes advantage of any emotional occasion to worm itsway out.
Society does not encourage crying. Have you ever cried inpublic? I'llbet everyone nearby felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. Even when a child cries, most parents immediately try to console the little one. Seldom do they let the child go into, and through the source of pain or frustration. Parents do not like their children to be unhappy or show painful emotions. Perhaps this is because the parents themselves are repressing the same emotions. Boys especially are taught not to cry — it shows weakness, rather than strength and “masculinity.”
Rational, left-brain types, especially men, have great difficulty crying. A man who cries in the workplace, on the sports field, or down at the pub is regarded as weak, effeminate and weird by his mates (ifhe has any). Men in particular carry armour, or a mask, behind which they hide their real feelings and emotions.
The result is that we live in a society where we suppress our real (negative) feelings. We do not feel free to cry when feeling sad, frustrated or
angry, or to shout, wave our arms, and act out our feelings with our bodies.
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We even repress positive emotions around other adults, and in the worst cases, all the time. How often do you whoop with joy, jump on the spot with happy anticipation, dance spontaneously, hug your friends and sing in the street?
The release of your emotions will help you come alive. Cry, laugh, shout with anger, and scream. Of course, let itout appropriately. Mostly, scream or shout into a pillow. Not too many people deserve, or want to receive that!
Crying is an invaluable means of psychological and physical release, especially from depression or bereavement. Tears have another huge benefit. Genuine crying contains toxic waste products related to stress reactions (as opposed to tears caused by strong wind or chopping onions, which are mainly salt and water.) The tears, mucus, and rhythmic action on the lungs and gut that come with a good cry are all powerful means of eliminating the hormonal by-products of emotions.
This isprobably why many women can handle stress and disappointments better than men can — they are able to release their emotions by crying and talking about their feelings. Women can get itout of their systems, because society does not place the same constraints of emotion on women, as it does on men.
In his book Cure by Crying, Thomas A. Stone says, “the more you cry, the more your mind will heal itself.” 35 Neurosis is stored traumatic memories. Theworsethememory (especiallyatayoungage),themorelikelyitistobe blocked. The most typical blocked memories are of physical, verbal and sexual abuse as a young child.
The majority of people suffer from some level of neurosis. Most of us have at least some painful memories that we have blocked, and can no longer remember. Holding these memories and keeping them blocked takes a lot of energy. This is why depressed people tend to have low energy. In a neurotic person, these forces manifest as anger, depression, nervousness or irritation. Other symptoms include headaches, shyness, insomnia and problems relating to the opposite sex. Over time, the neurosis shows as inflammation, digestive problems and other degenerative diseases. Not being aware of the real cause,
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the person blames it on their job, spouse, money or some other conflict or problem.
Neurotics do not know that they are neurotic. They cannot remember their traumas. Their lack of awareness is their biggest obstacle to being cured.
Stone recommends a form of primal therapy to uncover your repressed memories — going back to your earliest childhood, and re-living those times. It is helpful to have a friend or a therapist versed in the method to guide you. As you cry and the events surface, face them, cry about them, and be with them. The events will then lose their power over you as you let go of the past.
Crying often cures symptoms which have ailed sufferers for years.
LEADINGAN EFFECTIVE LIFE RESPONSIBILITY
hink back to when you were a little child — the security, comfort and total iPofresponsibilityofbeinglookedafterbyyourparentsorguardian. Most of us had everything provided, laid on. Our food, friends, housing,
recreation, clothing and virtually every other aspect of our lives was available with little or no effort. Unfortunately, few people completely grow out of this passive dependence, maturing to take full responsibility for every aspect of their lives. They want the government, community leaders, churches, schools, doctors, scientists, universities, the television and the media to take responsibility for their health, safety, welfare, education, bringing up their children, and for other challenges in life that require hard work, concentrated thinking, decisions and responsibility. When things go wrong, they look for the quick fix, the easy solution, and of course, someone to blame. Anyone to blame except themselves.
It is disastrous to assume that the government, health authorities, food producers, regulators, medical boards, doctors, the education system or any other authorities have your best interests at heart. They operate for the benefit of themselves, not their clients or customers. The profits of the processed food, drug and medical industries usually determine their priorities. They are rich enough to exert financial and political pressures at the highest levels.
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When people do not take responsibility for their lives, they suffer the consequences. The vast numbers of people who unthinkingly trust their wellbeing to health professionals, drug companies, medical insurance and hospitals are paying the price with sick, ageing bodies. Parents who hand over the upbringing of their children to teachers, schools, other parents, high priced tutors, and government remedial departments are also paying the price as their children develop to less than their potential. Those who do not take responsibility have many excuses, other people to blame.
The willingness to sue on the slightest pretext is another symptom of the lack of personal responsibility today. People who are injured or suffer a loss through their own stupidity or lack of attention are quick to blame anyone but themselves.
Taking full responsibility for your life and everything that happens in itis one of the greatest steps to freedom you will ever take. You take back control of your life. All the choices are yours. You have the power to choose the life that you love, and how itunfolds, rather than living according to the agendas of other people.
Consider this. After a disagreement with someone, you say to him or her, “You hurt my feelings.” In this case, you have placed all the responsibility on the other person, and taken none for yourself. You have given away all your power, because they completely control the situation, and you are powerless to influence it.You are just a victim.
Ifyousaytohimorher,“Ifeelhurt”,thatisanimprovement. Inthiscase, you are not blaming the other person. However, you are still not taking any responsibility, and so will still feel powerless. It is only when you acknowledge to yourself that you chose to feel hurt, that you can take control
Several industries have a lot to lose if we, as a society start to challenge how we think about our health and wellbeing. This book shows how the processed / packaged / fast food industry, producers of personal and household products, the pharmaceutical drug industry, and recreational drugs are partly responsible for the poor health of our population. They profit from the current situation and have little incentive to change.
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of the situation, how you feel, and how you behave.
Effective people who take responsibility for creating their lives do not
respond to or react against their circumstances and the people around them. They never say “if only .....” or “I wish .....” Rather than having their lives created by other people or the randomness of their circumstances, they channel their energy into their own priorities.
Your life today is the sum total of what you have done, of your own thoughts and actions. Whatever the reasons, justifications and excuses, itis you, and only you that have made you who you are right now. Accept responsibility for creating your life — what are you going to do, starting this moment, to become the person that you want to be? The exciting thing is that the power to be whoever you want to be is in your hands and your hands alone.
Integrity is doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it. When you say something, you always know it is the truth. Integrity means being on time for an appointment you have made, or fully completing a task when you said you would — no excuses. Integrity also applies to yourself — when you tell yourself that you are going to do something, you do itrather than let itslip away.
If you are not going to do something, or if you are not going to complete a task on time, then say so. You gain power by seeing your life unfold each day the way that you said itwould.
“_.it iswhat people do, not what they say or write, that predicts (their) future.”°38
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO?
re you living a life you love? Does it feel rich and effective, with
Nee thatisimportanttoyouinplaceorintheprocessofbeing realized? Or do you feel overwhelmed by demands on your time and energy? Or that you have little personal power?
If you woke up tomorrow morning with many millions of dollars in your
bank account, would it radically change the way you earn a living, or what
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you do for money? If your answer is an emphatic “Yes, yes, yes!” then I suggest that there is something seriously out of alignment in your life right now. The correct answer to this question is that you would continue doing what you are already doing — the money would simply let you do those things inamore luxurious way.
With your new millions, you could go and live in a breathtaking home on a tropical island, but what then? After a holiday and break, how would you fill your time? May I suggest that if the scope of the rest of your life on this tropical paradise were lying by the pool, ordering servants, watching videos and partying, then the rest of your life would be short and unfulfilled? Would you like to travel, study something, create something, grow in some way, have many friends, or would you seek solitude? What are your real interests? What seems like play? Ifyou could do anything, what would you do?
WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING THAT NOW? The excuses that you have, when you look at them in truth, are probably pathetic.
Kahil Gibran writes On Work in The Prophet, “And ifyou cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate ofthe temple and take alms ofthose who work with joy. For ifyou bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread.”
The primary advice I have given my children on work and career, and anyone else who has asked, is “Do what feels good, what you enjoy, what excites you. Don’t focus on the money or the rewards — they will follow of their own accord.”
Many people complain that they do not have goals about which they are passionate, or a wish list that excites them. If you feel this way, the answer is to look at your options and make some choices. CHOOSE! Any decision is acceptable when you cannot decide. When you make a choice and a commitment, your life will move. You gain experience, learn new skills, and your life has purpose.
It is possible that your choices will later change. You may no longer want something that you chose previously. In that case, choose something different. At least you have gained some experience from the previous choice.
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However, it is important that you do not give up because it is too hard or taking too long. Learning to play a musical instrument, learning a new language, creating a successful business or career, and many other worthy tasks can take years of effort. At times when there seems to be little progress, important assimilation and consolidation can be taking place.
Work to serve, not to get ahead. If your work is consistent with what you have chosen for your life, and you are being true to yourself, that changes everything. Even the most menial or unpleasant work is quite acceptable when itispart of a higher purpose. Itno longer makes you tired or ages you. Instead, itisrejuvenation, aservice, even an indulgence!
Do what you really want to do, as if you knew you could not fail. This attitude will free you from so many self-imposed limitations. Do not be attached to the outcome. Go for it with a passion, care about the work, immerse yourself in it,and whatever happens, happens.
YOUR CHOICES
ere is one of the most important and productive tasks that you can do in
lal wholelife.Writealistofthethingsthatyouwant,thatare important to you. Start by writing your ultimate choices. Ultimate choices are things that you want in themselves. They are not intermediate choices, stepping stones leading on to something else. For example, an ultimate choice may be “I want good health” or “I want a satisfying and loving relationship”. An intermediate choice supporting good health could be choosing to lose weight, and supporting that would be eating more nourishing food or joining a gym.
Here are some common ultimate choices:
*health or sickness
* life or death
*abundance orpoverty
*growth or stagnation
* security and safety or living on the edge
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*power or dependence *recognition or anonymity *peace or conflict
¢ love or hate
You may be surprised to see that some choices seem to be quite negative. Who would choose sickness instead of health, death instead of life, or poverty instead of abundance? However, the benefits of being sick might include sympathy, the attention of family and friends, avoiding hard work or exercise, or financial advantages. Death is a choice for people who have priorities higher than life itself.!3 Placing eternal truths, God or principles like freedom, nation or justice ahead of life can make death acceptable. The benefits of poverty might include a feeling of righteousness, the need to be accepted by (poor) friends and family, or living your belief that wealth is evil or that you don’t deserve to be rich.
Itisnot easy to admit that you have made negative choices for your life. The clue is that if you have areas of your life where you feel disempowered or frustrated, then you have probably chosen to be that way. Identifying your negative choices requires total honesty when you look at your life, examining exactly what you have created in the simplest terms. Often a loving and brutally honest friend or a young child will help you to see the way you really are. Ifyou were born with a handicap or injured in an accident, are you indulging in it?
It is important that you go through this process of honestly describing your life in this present moment. Do not try to explain or justify anything. Keep itshort and simple. For example, “I have a sore back”, “I have a ten year old red station wagon”, “I enjoy my work” and “I feel underpaid”.
Next, write a list of the areas where you would like things to be different (where you feel disempowered or frustrated). Keep itshort, to the point, and without any explanations. It is quite OK if it shows you to be greedy, controlling, needy, jealous, self-centred or fearful. You can also include in this list things that you would like to stay the same. Examples include: “I would
like my son to talk with me every day”, “I would like my partner to
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complement me for the way I look”, “I like my neighbourhood”, and “I want to earn twice my current earnings”.
Write your list of choices under headings such as Health, Personal Development, Partner, Social and Fun, Spiritual, Career, Financial, Family, Location and Lifestyle — whatever is important to you.
Ifyou have choices that conflict with each other, reconcile them with your ultimate choices. Perhaps you want to spend more time with your family, more time developing your career, and more time reading. Which of these further your most important ultimate choices? Where are you wasting time that does not further one of your ultimate choices?
It is important that you state each choice in positive terms. For example, “T will meet three possible new friends by the end of this month” rather than, “IT don’t want to be lonely.” You should be able to measure each choice, and know quite clearly whether you have achieved itor not. Choices are useless ifyou phrase them in weak, vague statements of something you hope to do (“I will try to”, “I would like to”, “perhaps”, ““sometime”). Nor are they helpful ifthey are part of your journey or process — “getting in touch with yourself”, “becoming a better person” or “overcoming self-sabotage” are non- measurable processes on the way to other choices. Your intermediate choices should be clear, positive, measurable tasks that you can do now or at a specific time.
The last step in making up this list is to review each choice that you have written down, and ask yourself “if itwas offered to me right now, would Itake it?” If your answer is a deep and thirsty YES, then it is a valid choice. However, if your answer is couched with ifs and buts and maybes and “not yet” then remove itfrom your list.
This is not a trivial task. It can take days of effort. Your ultimate choices are particularly significant, because you hold them in your subconscious, and they are charged with emotion. Write them down, declare them aloud, and share them with other people.
It is agood idea to repeat this exercise at least once a year. Your dreams and desires change continually. You will also be delighted to find that you can
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A good place to put your completed list of choices is in your diary. If you do not have a diary get one, and use itevery day.
WHAT ISSUCCESS?
rofessor Michael Marmot has shown that your position in the social
|Brees hasastronganddirectaffectonyourlengthoflifeandstateof health.!92 Living in a large house in a beautiful and safe neighbourhood, being wealthy, working in a managerial position, being tall and attractive, having many positive social relationships, being well educated, and generally having a prestigious high status life are all strongly correlated with health and longevity.
Conversely, as you move down the social ladder, your health and longevity deteriorate. Those at the bottom of the heap, even in the developed world with sufficient food, shelter and clothing, suffer markedly shorter lives and higher levels of sickness. The disadvantages of being lower class and having less compared with others, weigh heavily on life. They die younger and have higher risks of most diseases, as well as suicides, accidents and violent deaths.!?4 It is not true that people at the top suffer higher levels of stress and heart disease, !92B
This relationship between status and health is on a sliding scale. As you move slightly up or down, you health and life expectancy will change accordingly.
Professor Marmot proposes that there are two reasons why your position in society is important. Firstly, ifyou are at the top you have more autonomy or control over your life. Secondly, the higher up you are, the more opportunities you have for “full social engagement and participation.”
He provides data showing that the poorest households in the USA have four times the risk of death than the richest. His study of the British civil service showed a similar risk of death between its highest and lowest ranks.
tick off many items as time goes by. I have kept written goals for several decades, and it is most gratifying to go back and see how most of them are now in my life. The few that are not are no longer important to me.
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Other researchers have shown that the effect applies around the world, in both developed and less developed countries. A survey across 16 developed countries showed that unmarried men had twice the mortality of married men. Unmarried women had one and a half times the mortality of those who were married.
In my opinion, the reason higher-ranking and well-connected people lead longer and healthier lives is that they often have:
* perspective - they see “the big picture” and the range of opportunities available to them
* willingness - to take risks, make choices, and make them happen
* social skills — the ability to attract a positive partner, friends, and connections
* generosity and thankfulness, rather than jealousy, envy and grasping
In other words, these people are not stuck in a rut. They are able to create meaningful and satisfying lives.
I do not suggest that you pursue money, power, status, prestige, special abilities and appearance ahead of a more balance life. For health and youth, you need satisfying relationships, sufficient money for your needs, and the ability to make choices and implement them.
The most valuable things in life include love, truth, beauty, inspiration, connection, forgiveness, compassion, wisdom, support and being valued and appreciated. These jewels are available to all,though itdoes help ifyou have the time, opportunities, resources, partner, family and friends to get the most of them.
BALANCE & FLOW
odern Western culture is typified by excesses, taking things to the
Ns ees Beitmoney,food,work,leisure,exercise,entertainment, study or whatever, we tend to “go for it” or ignore it. Seldom do we feel a sense of balance, ease and flow. We often choose to over-ride our instincts,
continuing to do something long after itno longer feels right. Have you ever
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In every area of life, the key to health and mastery is balance. No aspect of your life should dominate the others; otherwise itbecomes an obsession or addiction. For example, work often dominates the lives of many people who have a full-time job. They do not work for themselves, but instead are bound by someone else’s goals. Their job takes a large portion of their waking hours, to the exclusion of family, friends, exercise, good food, sex, relaxation and other components of a rich life.
If you choose to live a balanced life, you will no longer push it to extremes. You will follow a daily and weekly routine, with periods of activity that include work, play, and rest. The rising and the setting of the sun will be part of a daily cycle that guides your sleep and waking.
The irony is that you will become more efficient, stronger, healthier, creative, have greater stamina and so on, if you pursue these traits from a balanced life, rather than a life of extreme dedication, sacrifice and hard work. When you work long hours, your efficiency and creativity falls off after a certain point. Itgets worse ifyou continue over-working day after day. Only when you make time for relaxation, rest, friends, family and self-nurturing will you become an effective person.
Obviously, itispossible to go out of balance in the other direction. Long periods of excessive rest and sleep, unfilled, aimless days, and “hanging out” without work for months soon take their toll. Again, your efficiency and creativity fall away.
One of the secrets of health and longevity is the establishment of body thythms that match the ebb and flow of energy in our lives. It is important to have regular daily cycles. Wake at more or less the same time each day, go to
same time.
pushed yourself to stay awake and keep doing something long after feeling exhausted, or continued eating after feeling full and knowing that you have had enough? Have you ever watched a computer screen or a television set until your eyes hurt, continued driving when your attention has been low, or had another drink when the previous one was enough?
the toilet, go for a walk, have your meals, work, and go to bed at roughly the
A
It takes time to get to know your body. Over the years, you get to know what feels best for you and when you have the most energy. Once you have a routine that feels good stay with it.
Routine in your day is also a powerful tool for reducing the stress of time pressure. A daily routine is a plan or a framework, allocating time to tasks with which you are familiar. You know how long ittakes to travel to a certain place, prepare and eat a meal, and do a piece of work or exercise. Planning your day removes the time stress. As you do each task, be totally with that task, living in the moment.
However, do not become dependent on your routines. If you have an unexpected event that upsets your schedule, itisimportant that ifyou choose, you can continue to function at every level. An unexpected visitor, a breakage in the kitchen or a small loss should not disrupt your life in any way. This is so important that it is necessary deliberately to break your routines on a regular basis. Take an annual holiday, take one day a week where you do not work or follow your normal routines, and make a point of visiting new places, meeting new people, and putting yourself out into the unknown.
THE POWER OF YOUR THOUGHTS
ife organises itself to suit the way you view it.You will attract into your
|asewhateveryouthinkaboutthemostfrequently,imaginethemost vividly, believe in the most strongly, and genuinely expect to happen. If your essence is positive, if you are an optimist by nature, and if your true expectations are of health, wealth and abundance, then this is what you will create for yourself.
Your mind works in pictures. When you say to yourself, “I don’t want to forget my glasses”, you get a mental picture of forgetting them, and so you are more likely to forget them. If you tell yourself, “I want to remember my glasses”, then you have a picture in your mind of remembering them, and you are likely to remember.
Say to yourself that you cannot remember names, or that you are a poor speller, and guess what — you will be just that. When you say to your children,
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“Don’t forget to bring your shoes”, then you are almost guaranteeing that they will forget them. Ifyou have alarge amount ofmoney inyour wallet, and you concentrate on not losing it, then its loss is likely. If you have a history of cancer in your family, and you think about it often, reading about it and focusing on what to do to protect yourself, you will likely develop that cancer. If you feel that life is tough, lonely, competitive or a struggle, then that is the kind of life you will create for yourself.
Your subconscious takes your thoughts, feelings and the images you hold in your mind, and gives them physical shape in the material world. Plant your goals into your subconscious as if you have already attained them. For example, ifyou want to be a decisive person, see yourself as decisive in your creative imagination. Thankfully see the goal as already achieved, and your subconscious will ensure that ithappens.
Even ifyou do not want something you think about and imagine a lot, you will get it. Your physical reality is a mirror of your thought patterns. If you dwell on your fears, then they are likely to happen. Change the way you think, and you will change your life.
If you dwell on wants and needs and dissatisfaction, then this is what you will create in your life (wants and needs). If you feel sick or awful, acknowledge that current reality, but then move on. Inner joy, peace, happiness and gratefulness comes first, and then the material means appears.
One of the results of meditating (page 56) is being able to watch yourself. More and more you will become aware of your thoughts and emotions, and how your ego rules your life. Notice how often you think in negative terms — criticising and judging yourself and others, feeling weak, inferior, sick, hurt, insulted, aggrieved and a raft of other negative sentiments. While your stated goals may be health, wealth and happiness, do you spend most of the time focusing on your aching leg, rude boss/children/neighbours, unpaid bills, excess weight and unpleasant weather?
Catch yourself in these situations, and turn what you are saying into positive statements. Start by congratulating yourself for noticing your negative thoughts — that is a clear sign of healing and growth. Align your
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thinking with the goals that you have written down. Even in a situation of conflict, pain or other difficulty, hold your goals in mind, gratefully and
joyfully.
Notice ifthe words that you speak are positive, healthy and constructive,
or whether you are sabotaging yourself. Take total responsibility for your thoughts — you are the on/y person running your mind and what your mouth says.
We create that to which we give our attention. You can focus your attention on the best in life, surround yourself with the best, and cause that to become your reality. Alternatively, if you allow your mind to dwell on the inferior, the miserly or the squalid, then that becomes your reality.
Do you like the way you look, feel and smell? Do you feel good about where you live, the kind of work you do, and how you express yourself through your dress, surroundings and possessions? Do you live in rooms covered with dirty clothes, musty linen, dust and papers? Is there a pile of dirty plates waiting in the sink? Is anything broken, needing repair or replacement? Is the food in your refrigerator old? How can you be bursting with vitality whilst living in such an environment? Energise the look, feel and effectiveness of your home — to reflect you.
High self-esteem produces high energy, which in turn attracts more success, fun and prosperity in an upward circle. Having high self-esteem is not being egotistical. It is an essential part of being a loving, effective, successful person. Egotism, in contrast, is trying to prove you are all those things when you are not.
Our society regards ageing and degeneration as ‘“normal”. Insurance companies, hospitals, retirement homes and funeral parlours expect to handle people’s declining bodies. Even your doctor may brush away your lack of energy, and aches and pains as an inevitable consequence of advancing years. Society and everyone around you fully expect you to look and feel worse each year. Youngsters in their teens and twenties, according to the Western society mass consciousness around us, are in their prime. People in their 30s should be suffering their first ageing and degeneration, according to this thinking.
People in their 40s are regarded as middle-aged. People in their 50s and 60s retire, an official stamp that they are past it,no longer contributing to society, and are now a burden. Most people regard old age as a time of inactivity, triviality, and a point beyond which you no longer need to grow, change, learn or take risks.
If you embrace the thoughts, attitudes and mannerisms that society expects of you, you will bring on this ageing. Do you conform to what is expected of your age group? Do you play the sports, listen to the music, study, and have interests, hobbies and recreations “appropriate” for your age? How do you dress? How is your posture? Do you have a youthful voice? Are you living the life that you love, or living the life that you think society expects of you?
An aged person’s sick, feeble, degenerate body is a mirror of his or her mind. The negative thoughts in such a person are the cause of their ageing. If this degeneration is your deepest belief, then that is what will happen to you. Are you bent over, old and stooped? Straighten your back, stand firmly on the ground, and hold your head high. Do you walk with small slow steps, with little purpose in your movement? Walk as if you are already strong and youthful, and know where you are going. Are you rigid in your thinking, with firm views on politics, society, money and the way things should be? Or are you open to changing the views which you may have held for many years? Are you able to accept people and things the way they are, without condemning or criticising them? Are you learning new things every day?
Many people throughout history have lived well beyond a century while retaining youthful looks, perfect health and all their faculties. Ifyou want this kindoflife, then firstaccept itand picture itinyour mind as“you”. Ifitseems an impossible dream, it will remain just that. Once your mind accepts with grateful and joyful certainty that this iswho you are, then itwill happen.
Children have excellent imaginations, unfettered by years of restrictions placed by society and other (sometimes well-meaning) people. A good imagination isthekeytoalllearningandproblem solving,andisessentialfor a sense of humour. The better your imagination, the more real are the pictures
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that you form in your mind.
Practise using your mind. The “use it or lose it” principle applies just as
much to your mental and spiritual facilities as itdoes to the rest of your body. Do crossword puzzles, play chess, visit places you have never been to, connect with new people, play with children, take up dancing and art and music or the study of small insects. Enjoy humour, be flexible, opening your life to change and the unexpected. Act more like a child, growing, learning and wondering. Become younger.
Remember however, that your thoughts are not a substitute or excuse for action. You still need to be alert, seize opportunities, take action, and persevere.
ATTITUDE
YOUR ATTITUDE MATTERS
our attitude to life is one of the most important determinants of your Wwhealthandlongevity.Howyouthinkaboutandseeyourselfaffectsevery aspect of your being — not just your health, but also your achievements,
relationships, wealth, abilities and even your character. At work and home, if you feel valued, loved and appreciated, that you belong to a worthwhile group or organisation, and that you are working toward a higher goal, this will add immeasurably to your sense of satisfaction and well-being. Ifyou are thankful rather than resentful towards life, and accepting rather than controlling, you will have a profound effect on your health, longevity, and even your bank balance!
Your attitude is entirely up to you. You can choose which audio tracks you want to run in your head. You can choose whether to be resentful, angry or sad day after day, or whether you will let itgo and get on with your life.
Your past, or the world around you is not the cause of your attitude to life. You can choose to blame the age at which you were potty trained or some other story for your behaviour today, or drop itcompletely.
When you see yourself as valuable, loveable, and connected to everything and everyone around you, your energy and immunity tend to remain high. The
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feeling that you do make a difference in this world and in people’s lives is essential to your health and well-being. A sense of being able to influence events around you isparticularly important.
Many studies of cancer patients show that those who “give up” and see themselves as doomed do not have anything like the survival rate of those with a positive self-image.
A feeling of loneliness can lead to a significantly higher risk of dementia in old age.27 Close friends are vital. It is also important that you feel you have people in your life who value you and what you do. These people can be your family, friends, neighbours, customers or business associates. A pet can also fulfil this role — numerous studies have shown that pet owners are more relaxed and live longer. Pets usually enthusiastically, gratefully and unconditionally appreciate their owners.
Your work should connect you with other people. If you see your colleagues as competitors, your workplace cannot be a joyful place. In the happiest workplaces, everyone has an explicit invitation to work together cooperatively, and enjoy social, as well as work-based relationships with each other.
David Guttmann of the University of Michigan maintains that a sense of “active mastery” is the ego state most clearly associated with longevity. This means having freedom and choices within your own life and circumstances. It also means having a “core belief’ or grand purpose for your life. As a master, you are too busy, too enthused and too enchanted with your tasks, insights, realisations, developing new skills and with reaching your full potential, to give up. You are persistent. You are prepared to defy social expectations and convention. You relinquish your need for approval from others, knowing in your heart that you are doing exactly what you need to be doing.
exciting, meaningful things on their plates to sit and vegetate, surrender, get sick and die.
The irony is that as well as living the longest and being the healthiest, these people are also the most “successful” in life. They have too many
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“Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.” Susan Ertz
The most important attitudes are those of gratitude and acceptance. Ifyou are grateful for and accepting of all that life gives you, it is impossible to hold negative emotions such as resentment, neediness, anger and shame at the same time.
GRATITUDE
od, as used in this section, is the God within you, your truth and higher
cc. ThisGodisalsoloveanduniversalconnectionfromwhichall things proceed.
Gratitude means relating to God in a harmonious way. It means singing the name of God on a daily basis, and giving thanks for all that you have and who you are today. If there is one attitude that is required for a relationship with God, itisgratitude.
God can, and does give you everything that you desire. Gratitude connects you with the source from which all health, growth and abundance comes. What you put out is reflected back to you. The closer you are to the source of all power, the more power and faith you will have in your life.
A competitive attitude is contrary to a grateful one. If you feel that you have to elbow your way to the front of the queue to get what you want in life, in the end you will get the least. Trust that the universe is big enough, and that God ispowerful enough toprovide allyou could ever want, and more. Sure, you have to know what you want, ask for what you want, be willing to accept what you want, and get off your butt to create it, but there is no need to trample over your fellow human beings in the process.
If you are always grateful, you will live closer to God than when you withhold orforgettogivethankful acknowledgement. Ifyou feelthatlifehas given you a raw deal, or that you have been treated unfairly, or short-changed, then how can you possibly have aunity ofmind with God? Resentment isthe opposite of thanks or gratitude.
If you are grateful, you will naturally focus your mind and its power on
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the best in life, and draw these things to you. It is impossible to be grateful, and miserly, squalid, mean or mediocre at the same time. Without gratitude, you will soon become dissatisfied with your life, even ifyou are happy with itnow.
Without gratitude, your attention is drawn to what you do not want, or dislike. As you focus your attention on these things, the power of your mind will draw them to you. Even if you arrange your life to do everything else correctly, your miserly, resentful or ungrateful attitude to God will keep you in poverty. After receiving one gift from God, you prevent the receipt of more byfailingtogivethanks.
Are you grateful to your body for being your temple for all your life? Have you praised it,thanked itfor housing you, and told ithow beautiful itis? Look at your face, close up, in a mirror. Look at your whole body standing naked,
infront ofamirror. Then notice what your thoughts are. Do you focus on the wrinkles, the fat, the blemishes and distortions? Please go and spend two minutes doing this exercise — itisthe only way to “get it’. How can you bring out the best inyour body by criticising itand being resentful toward it? You body will thrive on genuine praise and love and thanks, just like any other being.
Gratitude is an excellent object on which to meditate. Such meditation will bring home the truth of the connection between your thanks and the flow of health, growth and abundance in your life.
Here is an email written by Brad Blanton‘s brother in law and friend Jack Stork.
“Hey Y’all,
Getting old is not really all that bad you know. Instead ofracing around
here in the morning trying to make iton time to ajob that Ireally do not want to go to, I take my time. Like an old dog, I wake every four hours or so and usuallyprymyselfoutofbedaround5:A.M. Thistimeofyearitisverydark then, the thermostat has been turned down to 60 degrees during the night and the transition from warm bed to chilly house will spur me to step out right Spry.
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Iput the tea kettle on thefire, dress as hurriedly as an old man who can- not reach his shoe laces can. Ifetch the paper out at the end of the driveway, take notice ofthe stars, greet the dogs and breathe the cold air as deeply as I can. By the time I get back, the tea kettle is hissing steam and I make myself acupofcoffeeandtakeittomytable.Thefurnace ishardatworkbutitis still a little chilly in here. Iwrap both hands around the hot coffee cup and envy no man.
I like sunrises. I have been present at over 25,000 of them in my lifetime, riding this old ball of earth out of the shadow into the light, and I still get a thrill from them. I sit here on my hill, looking out over a wide valley, town lights twinkling below and suddenly, the mountain across the valley stands out black against the faint gray of the sky. Then the clouds begin to show rich color and I am filled with gratitude.
I like the feeling of gratitude about as well as any, more than most. Gratitude seeps deep into my bones and makes mefeel prosperous all day. Gratitude is the only prayer that I offer. I ask for nothing more than I have and I am most grateful for you my friends.
Jack,”
ACCEPTANCE
ow you handle the stressful events in your life is critical to your health
IAL longevity.Ideally,youchoosetoaccepttheuncertaintyand unfairness of life, and adapt to events as they unfold around you. This is an attitude of going with life’s flow, rather than fighting against it.
You do not have a monopoly on the truth. In a situation of stress or conflict your viewpoint is limited. You do not have a patent on being right or accurately assessing any situation.
For example, let us say you have organised to go out to dinner with a friend. You are looking forward to this date, which took several weeks to set up. The day before your meeting, she phoned and left a terse message on your answering machine saying, “I’m sorry but Ican’t make our dinner tomorrow. Pll phone you next week.”
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Your immediate reaction might be one of feeling rejected, abandoned or slighted. You may feel angry or hurt that she does not consider your dinner engagement as important as you do. Your mind may conjure up all sorts of possibilities — she does not like you, she thinks you are trivial or boring or she had a better offer from someone else for tomorrow evening.
Notice that none of these reactions is necessarily the truth. She may have been immensely looking forward to your meeting, and holds you in high esteem. Perhaps a motor accident caused her to leave the brusque message cancelling your engagement. It is only when you speak to her that you will discover the facts of the situation.
The most successful and effective people have a relatively high degree of control of their lives.!°2 However, they are not “control freaks” who want both the major events in their lives and the minute to minute details to go exactly their way. Rather, they have dreams and goals, and take appropriate action to create them. When things don’t turn out the way they first expected, they adapt and learn. They give 100% and then accept what happens. They make choices, but are not strongly attached to the outcomes of their choices. The success orfailure of a task is not a reflection of their success orfailure as a human being. They ride the roller coaster of life with joy and elation. Their screams are ofexcitement as they accept forces completely beyond their control that push, pull, and throw them around. They go with the flow of the roller coaster, and have an exhilarating ride.
Less successful and effective people try to remain in control of the events around them by changing them from what they really are, or denying that they are happening. This is an attitude of resistance, contradiction, lying and going against the flow of life. Physically, itisexhausting, and emotionally itleads to false expectations, frustration, resentment and unfulfilled desires. If they are successful with a planned task, they feel it increases their worth as a human being. Conversely, failing to achieve a goal hurts them to their core. They resist the forces of life’s roller coaster, and tense their bodies at each corner, dip and peak. The ride is draining, terrifying, and generates a flood of stress hormones.
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The unhealthy, controlling approach is to insist on being right. These people resist events that are not going their way, and spend an enormous amount of energy justifying themselves. What they react to or resist most strongly is usually a reflection of what they are denying the most about themselves. Controllers lack the humility and flexibility required to adapt, grow and flourish in an ever-changing world. They pay a high price for never accepting the flow oflife as itis.
Shed the burden of judging others, and comparing yourself with them. Every time, you either feel inferior and resentful, or superior and arrogant. Either way, you waste an enormous amount of energy, and develop negative traits. Just accept that people are as they are, and when you get to know them and love them as imperfect fellow humans, you will grow in many ways.
Of course, it is not pleasant losing control of important aspects of your life. This will inevitably happen — you can expect the unexpected. There are healthy ways and unhealthy ways to deal with stress. The most widely used stress buster is an array of drugs, in the form of tranquilisers, sleeping pills, recreational drugs, alcohol and nicotine. Other examples of counter productive stress relief include promiscuous sex, television, overeating and computer games.
You will be able to cope in a healthy way if you are secure in yourself. This security comes from knowing that you are loveable, unique, valuable and capable. You are honest enough with yourself to admit that the truth is what you can see and hear, rather than a more elaborate story running in your mind. You also have the humility to admit when you are genuinely out of your depth, and know your limits. Ifyour approach toa situation isnot working, then have faith that there is more to learn. Ask for help, or trust that the passage of time will reveal a solution.
Are you stuck, feeling fearful or trapped in an unhappy situation? Is there something that you should be doing, but are not? Get up and do itnow — any action isbetter than no action. If itis amistake, at least you will soon learn a lesson. Alternatively, you can consciously choose to accept completely the situation, or your laziness, passivity and lack of action. With your total
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acceptance, you will stop beating yourself up, and there will be neither resistance nor negative emotion. You are free to enjoy each moment.
GENEROSITY
irst, be generous to yourself. It is a mark of a successful life to have
F sufficient to give; an abundance to give to yourself, your friends, family, and others.
Do you feel deserving of love, health, good food, friends, success, money, fun, travel, a lovely home, objects of art and beauty, beautiful clothes, work you are passionate about, an attractive body, a delicious lover, regular massages and other forms of bodywork, free time, relaxation or whatever itis that you yearn for or need for a complete and successful life? Alternatively, do you limit yourself, self-sabotage your efforts, or feel undeserving? You can’t be generous ifyou feel mean towards yourself.
Generosity means giving with your whole being. It means coming out from behind that mask, and saying Yes to yourself and other people. Yes with your resources, time and emotions. A loving smile, an appropriate touch or hug, a meal cooked with love, a good belly laugh, and a sincere desire to listen or give money when appropriate are all examples of a generous attitude to life. Of course, you give without thought of return (although it is interesting how often something comes back in unexpected ways).
Give so that others may grow, heal, advance and help themselves. Generosity means wishing for others also to have the good things you would like for yourself.
Generosity does not mean giving away your power, your sense of self, or giving anything to the point of pain or resentment. The universe has abundance beyond your imagination.
Helping your friends and loved ones can be one of the greatest sources of happiness. It is a blessing to have sufficient wealth to be able to give away many material gifts, but even without wealth your time, energy and friendship are treasured.
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LOVE (ESPECIALLY YOURSELF) Love is the power of life.
ove comes from accepting yourself, and life, and other people, without |bees othersfortheirbeliefs,wantingtochangethem,proveanything to them, or wanting anything whatsoever in return. It comes from life itself, just because you and others are alive.
The essence ofloveisnotafeelingoremotion —itisastateofbeing.Love expresses itself from a state of awareness, living in the moment, being present and connected with all. Love starts with self-value and self-acceptance, and then overflows to all around you. Ultimately, all love comes from within — you cannot earn it,you can only give itand receive it.
Love has great healing powers. It is a potent prescription for health and longevity. Lack of love for yourself and others gives rise to negative thoughts and emotions, stress, ageing and illness.
Disconnection. Let me describe a friend (we will call him Thomas) who suffered from a disease that is becoming endemic in the Western world. Initially Thomas seems engaging and pleasant, but perhaps a little aloof. He works as a computer consultant, mostly from home, and has been quite successful. As you get to know him, you may sense an underlying sadness and fear. He suffers from a long-term niggling hip pain, and a lack of energy — neither of which any doctor or health practitioner has helped with over the years. He has spent thousands of dollars on acupuncture, several forms of bodywork, and other holistic healing, and has even tried yoga - all to no avail. However, he looks in reasonably good shape. The lack of energy and hip pain
are now affecting his work and social life. He tends to stay at home in the evenings, watching television or sitting at his computer. He has not had a relationship with a woman for several years, has no children, no pets, and few personal responsibilities. The people in his life are acquaintances rather than close friends.
Thomas is not very aware of his feelings, and is not comfortable discussing them. When I asked him how he felt about his situation, he was unable to talk at a personal level about his feelings of frustration or sadness,
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but instead reverted to an intellectual commentary on his situation.
Thomas’s healing started when a counsellor he knew personally, spent some time with him. She pointed out that he had no meaningful connections in his life — no real friends, no mate, no lover, no pets and no work about which he was passionate. He was not totally committed to or in love with
anything or anyone, including himself.
She explained that people are naturally social, gregarious, communal
animals. Under ideal conditions, we live in families, tribes and villages. However, modern civilised society breaks those connections. From a young age, we are encouraged to go into our heads and be intellectual, reading, thinking, observing and acting while disconnected from others. In our modern computer based, time critical world, it is possible to earn a good income and live comfortably without needing to make any close connections or strong commitments.
Thomas’s life lacked meaning and worth, and his body reflected that mental, emotional and spiritual emptiness. His healing began when his attention moved from himself to others. He recognised that other people were meaningful and worthy. People had always been around him, but for the first time he started to connect. He started to care for, listen to, spend time with and enjoy others.
The change in Thomas has been dramatic. He now enjoys a circle of friends, and has a woman in his life. His self-confidence and energy have rocketed, and apparently his hip has healed.
Life becomes richer when you participate in a nurturing, supportive community.
Love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. Look for the love that you already have in your life — the friends, family and others to whom you are already willingly giving. Seek opportunities to give more — a sincere compliment, or even just an acknowledgement that someone is there, seen, appreciated, and valued. People like to hear that they are loved and cherished. Take advantage of opportunities to be affectionate (whilst also being considerate, appropriate and not intruding or making the other person
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uncomfortable). Take the initiative; give those around you permission to break down the barriers, regardless of what you may get in return.
Love is allowing your loved ones to do as they want, without the need that they satisfy you.
Love is harmonious existence, without attachments that imply wants, needs, expectations or ulterior motives. If you love someone because you want to be loved in return, you will never be committed and sure. Instead, it will be an exchange, and your concern will turn to who isgetting the best deal.
Most of us need periods of solitude in our lives, in addition to connection. It comes back to the Taoist precept of balance. If you feel overwhelmed or drained by the needs of others, then take time out — for their health, as well as your own.
Learn to love your body. Revere your body as a part of God. Has your love developed it into a healthy, vibrant, and attractive body? Look at your nude body in a full-length mirror. What are your feelings? Do you love it and accept it? Or do you criticise it,judge itand compare itwith what ithas been, or with other people? How can your body blossom and grow ifyou shower it with negative thoughts?
You can learn to accept your body, and love it,in meditation. Mantras to use include:
I thank my beautiful body for serving me.
I love my body / a particular part of my body. My body is a wondrous gift.
My body isa holy temple.
Iam so thankful for my body.
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RELAXATION WHAT IS MEDITATION?
n his book Siddhartha, Herman Hesse talks about a place that all of us can {Lee“Withinyouthereisastillnessandsanctuarytowhichyoucan retreat at any time and be yourself.” This haven is a place of safety and comfort, where you can sit and just be. In no way does itmull over the past or fret about the future. Neither does the turmoil of events in the current moment intrude.
Meditation involves both your body and your mind. It is easy to understand the importance of physical relaxation, because we all get tired after exercise, work or other activities during the day. Physical rest — sitting down for a period — or our sleep each night - rejuvenates us. Deep physical relaxation is revitalising and detoxifying. However, your mental state or attitude isjust as important.
You enter a place where time is not measured and valued by the hour. Meditation can sweep the clutter from your mind — the constant chatter, jumping from subject to subject; the focus on your ego - trying to look good
and avoiding looking bad; and the emotions coming from a story running in your head — lonely, angry, scared, guilty, proud or whatever.
The big benefit of meditation is that it is an antidote to stress. Stress and imbalance are at the root of many degenerative diseases and ageing. Simply by sitting still and doing nothing for a while each day, you give your mind a chance to withdraw from the stresses of daily life and explore its own innate powers. Even as a newcomer to meditation, when the “monkey mind” hops from one trivial thought to another, meditation still boosts your immunity by switching your nervous system over to the restful, restorative, immune- enhancing parasympathetic mode. Meditation results in deep physical relaxation, a more relaxed posture, biochemical changes and detoxification both physically and psychologically. Meditation helps greatly with your ability to cope with the stresses and disappointments of life. It starts with physical relaxation, and leads on to a feeling of calm, ease and mental relaxation.
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Meditation is experiential — it is something you have to try for yourself to know the rich gifts itcan bring. There is little value in reading about itand understanding it,unless you actually do ityourself.
“In medicine, we realise that people who dont have enough time are probably going to develop health problems.” Deepak Chopra.°2 Most people in the Western world fear time. Time pressure causes the release of stress hormones in your body. Think of a task you can easily do in a few minutes, such as taking a shower, making a phone call, or eating a snack. Now repeat
the task when an authority has given you a sufficient, but strict time limit — a deadline. You will probably hear a new voice running in the background of your mind, a voice of fear. Notice how the word deadline contains the word dead — ifyou do not do iton time, you are gone.
The fact that you are aware of time and its limitations places enormous stress on your whole being. Meditation helps you by removing time from your mind. It brings you back to just being, floating in a world where time does not exist.
There is another threatening deadline that many fear — their own death. If you feel the time pressure of this advancing deadline, your body will stress in the same way that itwill under any other stressor. Your death urge sends a message to your body’s cells that is self-fulfilling.
Meditation takes you to a place that is timeless, where linear time does not inexorably move forward. You escape the bounds of the material world. Death here loses itspower.
Ifyou have had strong peaks and troughs inyour emotions, orhave been stuck in a particular (negative) emotional state, meditation provides a sense of perspective, and shows you when you are letting that emotion dominate. A sense of balance, peace and harmony are the outcome. You will enjoy an improved ability to focus and concentrate. There will be less tension, or greater ease at both work and home. You will sleep better, and your responses, physically, mentally and sexually, will improve.
Note: if you suffer wild swings in your emotions, the cause is probably peaks and troughs in your blood glucose level and poor nutrition. Much of
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the focus of Grow Youthful is on achieving a steady blood glucose level through correcting your diet, suitable exercise, and other factors.
WATCHING YOURSELF
eing able to watch yourself and your thoughts is one of the wonderful
Bee ofmeditation.Eventuallyyoucanlookatyourself,your moods, and behaviour, almost as if you are someone else standing a few metres away, looking at your body. You can also watch what is going on inside your head. Ifyou are angry, you know what triggered it,how you have chosen to behave, what you are saying, and how you are feeling.
There are many books and courses available to help you to watch your mind and your behaviour, such as Wayne Dyer’s Your Erroneous Zones,?3 and courses run by Landmark Education all over the world. This is nothing new - virtually all the ancient traditions teach the same thing.
Practise watching yourself and how you behave in all situations — as problems arise during the day, when you are facing the emotions of others, and when you are by yourself. Be at least as interested in your reaction to any person or situation, as in the situation itself. Give at least as much attention to what is going on inside yourself as to the events in the world around you. You will then see the enormous amount of energy that you use in resisting, resenting, avoiding and complaining about the events and people around you.
For example, you are driving down the road in your car, and someone cuts you off and almost causes an accident. Without knowing whom they are, why they cut you off, or even ifthey meant to cut you off, you choose to be angry. You poison and acidify your own body, not theirs. I doubt that they feel sorry for their behaviour — they probably have not even noticed you.
It is a powerful realisation to be able to watch yourself and your behaviour in an unbiased way. Perhaps you are playing a game of tennis, and losing. Get out of your body, and watch what is going on. How are you behaving, what are you saying, and what emotions have you chosen to allow? Perhaps you are focusing on last night’s lack of sleep, or your opponent’s quite extraordinary string of lucky breaks, whilst at the same time
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saying to yourself over and over “I just can’t hit the ball today.” Watching yourself is invaluable in many situations — how you are behaving in the company of other people, how you are handling a setback, and which things in life make you resentful.
When you start to watch yourself, you are living consciously. Most people are unconscious, and do not even know it. They are so used to a continuous background of negative emotions and thoughts that they think it is normal. To cope, they use painkillers — excessive alcohol, work, sex, TV, computer games, food, drugs, gambling or other addictions. .
When something “goes wrong” in the life of an unconscious person, they over-react. Faced with a difficult person, a small loss or a threat to their ego, most people in Western society let their emotions run amok. They become depressed, angry, even violent, as they immerse themselves in inappropriate behaviour that they later regret.
Good questions to ask yourself frequently are “Am I at ease or resisting something in this moment?” and “What am I feeling right now?” If you are resisting something, you are creating your own unhappiness.
Anger is the result of wishing the world and people in itwere different, and that things were going the way you want them to go. You can choose to accept the situation, and stop causing your own pain, or take action to resolve it. Then drop it.
Watch your mind when you make a minor mistake. It may criticise you repeatedly, as you beat yourself up. Instead, look at the lesson you have learned from the mistake, and move on.
PREPARATION
Posture. Do not be too comfortable when doing these relaxation exercises. I suggest you should not be lying down. After all, you will need to integrate them into your everyday life, whatever you might be doing. An element of minor physical discomfort is essential, so you can learn to attain relaxation, whatever the circumstances. You want your relaxation to come from your mind, not from physical comfort and safe, serene surroundings.
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Sit cross-legged on a cushion on the floor, with your back unsupported. Keep your back, head and neck in alignment, so that little muscular effort is needed to maintain the position. Your posture should be symmetrical, with your arms and legs in similar positions on each side of your body.
Alternatively, sit on a stool or straight backed chair. Your back should be straight and your head aligned above it,and your feet flat on the floor. Your arms can be resting on the chair’s arms, or on your lap.
Timing. I suggest doing the relaxation exercises for a total of 20 minutes each day — perhaps 10 minutes in the morning, and the same again in the evening. Itwill quickly become part of your routine, like cleaning your teeth, taking a shower or going to the toilet, especially after you enjoy the benefits of being more relaxed.
You can practise these exercises when doing simple things such as walking down the street. Take the opportunity to practise when you have a pause during the course of the day, and recapture the feeling of relaxation in your mind. At first, you will need the intention to do itconsciously, but after a while, it will penetrate your being and all that you do.
You may wish to spend more time meditating when you are able to attain a deep state of relaxation. There are no fixed rules — 20 minutes per day can give you profound benefits; additional time can take you to new places.
Disturbance. Choose a place and a time where you will not be disturbed. Take the phone off the hook, close the door, put up a “do not disturb” notice, and ensure the children are not going to want your attention.
RELAXATION EXERCISE
Relaxing your muscles isthe starting point when learning to meditate. Ifyou are stressed and anxious, all your muscles will be tense. Certain groups of muscles will be particularly tense, depending on your emotions, your upbringing, and your particular stresses. For example, anger may be reflected in the jaw muscles, fear in the knees and legs, sexual tensions in the hips, and heavy responsibilities in the neck, shoulders and back.
Relaxation is something you can do on your own, but more importantly,
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is something you should learn to do in the presence of other people. It is essential that you can relax in the company of members of your family, friends, opponents, workmates and all the other people in your life. If you can only relax when you take time out, and go somewhere different or isolate yourself, then you are letting your everyday circumstances control you.
Ifyou have a good imagination, you will be able to relax more easily. For example, if you can totally involve yourself in a scene from nature such as lying in the grass in a peaceful meadow, or walking in the sand on a beach, then you have the ability to relax at will. .
Most people are rather self-conscious about doing their relaxation exercises in the presence of others. They would rather do them in private, without letting anyone else know what is going on. However, one of the secrets of relaxation is to learn to use these techniques in the presence of your partner or other people in your life.
Relaxation exercises are not difficult. Quite a few people get a block because they are not immediately effective. Experience has shown that many people tend to give up easily on mental exercises. Accept that you are not going to get a dramatic overnight change in your state of mind or ability to relax, but rather a slow rate of improvement. You will have ups and downs in your progress. Consequently, it is quite difficult to confirm that you are improving — itrequires perseverance and faith to keep up the exercises for a period.
Some people find that after a few weeks of doing the relaxation exercises, the problems caused by their stress have disappeared. Most people who have done the exercises for long periods find that the techniques unconsciously become part of their way of living, and the calm and ease of mind add greatly to their lives. Relaxation is a pleasant and healthy non-drug form of treatment for amyriad of serious physical and mental problems. Once you realise how powerful, simple and effective relaxation is, it becomes a life-changing attitude to adopt.
Start the relaxation exercise by sitting up straight. Let your hand rest on
your thigh. Gently press the muscle on the top of your leg, feeling how firm
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Next, you can cycle through a series of muscles in your body, achieving a deeper feeling of relaxation. As you place your awareness on each muscle, you don’t necessarily need to tense it before relaxing it. Rather, just feel it, and then let itgo.
The exercise that follows takes at least ten minutes and longer if you cycle around your whole body. If you like, you can record the instructions that follow on tape, and play itback to yourself while you do the exercise. Record itslowly, in a calm voice.
Close your eyes gently. Take a slow, deep breath, filling your lower lungs. Pause for a moment, and then exhale fully. Continue to breathe slowly and naturally. Let’s start with your left hand. Feel your thumb, feel the tension in it,and allow itto relax. Let its full weight rest on your thigh, or your chair’s arm. Now turn your attention to your first finger, and then each of the other fingers. Your hand is heavy and comfortable. Feel your wrist, feel your arm, feel your elbow, really feel them. They are natural, just there, part of your body. More and more of your body is relaxing, as you move your awareness up your arm to your left shoulder. Feel your arm hanging from your shoulder, feel the weight of it.Your arm isnow so relaxed ithardly seems to belong to you. From your shoulder, place your awareness on the left side of your neck, then the back of your neck. Take your time; there is no rush, no goal. Just be, just unravel and relax. Your throat, your jaw, your tongue are all quite natural, and loose and heavy. Let your jaw sag a little. Your face starts to relax, and your lips part slightly. Feel the muscles in your cheeks, and around your eyes — your skin starts to smooth out as the tension evaporates. Your eyes are focused on nothing — infinity. Your eyes carry a lot of tension — they
itis.Now make as ifto liftup and straighten your leg, but do not actually move it.Your hand will feel the muscle firm. Now allow the muscle to let go, and your hand will feel itsoften. Next, try doing itwithout your hand on your thigh. You are still quite aware of the muscle tensing and hardening, and then softening and letting go. Do this a few times, and you will capture the feeling of tensing then relaxing your muscles just with your mind, while sitting quite peacefully.
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are an important connection with the stress of the outside world. The muscles of your eyes are deep inside your head — place your gentle, tender awareness on them, feel them relax, utterly let go. Now move to your forehead, to the tension in the skin, and feel itsmooth and relax. Gently place your attention on your scalp. Feel any hair. Relax across the fine network of muscles all across the top of your head. Relax your ears, feel them shift down a fraction of a millimetre. Turn your attention to the right side of your body. Come down the right side of your neck, spending time with the same muscles that youdidontheleftside.Come down toyourshoulder,andagainletyourneck and shoulder muscles totally let go. Feel the weight of your right arm, just hanging, just being. Go down through your elbow, down to your wrist, into the palm of your hand, your thumb, each finger, relaxing, and letting them be. Let the full weight of your arm, your hand, and each finger rest on whatever is supporting them. Gradually turn your attention to your feet. Feel where your feet are touching the floor. Ifyou have bare feet, feel the texture of the floor, the connection with the ground, the temperature of the floor and the air around your feet. If you are wearing shoes, feel their texture, their shape, and their pressure points around your feet. Place your attention on your left foot, on each toe, on the ball of the foot, on the arch, and on the heel. Relax them; let them spread out under the weight of the leg. Now feel your left calf muscle. Be aware of any pain or tension, and let itpass. Let itgo so your leg feels heavy and comfortable. Your whole body feels natural, and calm, and safe, and at ease. Feel your thigh, and the muscles on top, and underneath. Relax them, let the tension flow away. Your whole left leg feels heavy, just an object attached to your body. Go to your right foot, and again, place your attention on each toe, on the ball of the foot, on the arch, and on the heel. Let them relax and spread out under the whole weight of your leg.
Slowly move up to your calf, and any pain or tension there. Let itpass; let it go, so your leg feels heavy and comfortable. Go up to the big muscles around your thigh, and let them rest, let them relax deeply. Feel the weight of both your legs, just being, quite still, held up by the floor. Now feel your buttocks, soft and spreading on the chair or cushion. Feel the weight of your back,
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pressing down into your hipbones, and the weight on the seat of your chair or cushion. Deeply relax these big muscles, on your seat and going up your back. Your back is tall and balanced, carrying the weight of your shoulders and head. Let them be still, let them rest. Come to the front of your body, to your chest. Listen to your breathing, feel the air entering through your nose, passing through your windpipe, and down into your lungs. Watch it,let itbe, nothing isright or wrong. Come down to your abdomen, feel itmoving as you breathe. Let your belly relax, and push out. Move down to your genitals, feel them, and accept them. Your whole body is safe, still.
You feel the relaxation right through your body. Your face is utterly relaxed, your forehead, your eyes, your lips. You feel itdeeply, you feel itin your mind.
After doing this exercise, you will notice that physical relaxation leads to a state of calm and peace, in which your emotions settle down. Physical relaxation leads to mental relaxation, and then emotional quietening.
If you are having difficulty staying in touch with the parts of your body as you do the above exercise, then try touching the place where your attention is fixed. You can even imagine that you are giving yourself a massage, or that you are painting that body part with an enormous paintbrush. After you have done ita few times, you will find iteasier to do the exercise mentally, and will not need to touch your body physically.
OBSTACLES TO MEDITATING
Too Easy? Meditation isso simple, so easy, and so straightforward that many people find ithard to believe that something so natural could effectively help them, when they have already tried dozens of pills, drugs, drinks and other ways of attempting to relax. Western culture does not promote simple, experiential cures. Rather, we are used to buying a pill, or paying for a tool or technique. We do not try meditation because itseems too cheap and too easy.
The Intellect. Meditation isabout experiencing, feeling and being. Itis not about intellectually understanding and achieving. You will not “get it”
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until you actually do it,experience it,letgo ofeverything inyour mind and just “be.”
It is the intellectual assessment and criticism of ideas that makes them seem complicated, and this has no part in meditation. Notice how the language in the relaxation exercise is simple, not intellectual. It is natural and easy.
In the West, we have an over-emphasis on using our minds to exert our conscious wills — in other words, most of us are control freaks! This emphasis on logical, linear, verbal exertion is not healthy, and extracts a heavy toll from the stress itinduces
To meditate you start with some simple guides in your mind, do the simple act that goes with it,and experience the simple feelings. You watch your muscles relaxing. You experience it— deeply — without the intervention of critical thought. There is no goal, no measure, no hurry or rush, the whole thing is easy and natural, in its own time.
Effort. The harder you try, the less successful a meditator you will be. Yes, it requires discipline to find and spend the time, to sit through any discomfort and to persevere. However, in the middle of a meditation no effort is required. Nothing is forced, nothing has to be achieved or done. This also applies to your breathing. You cannot do deep belly breathing while totally relaxing all your muscles. Just let your breath come and go as it wants to, without thinking about it.
Just be patient, caring, gentle and loving with yourself. Ifyou did not do an exercise properly, or you seem to be progressing slowly, do not feel upset or frustrated. Italltakes time, and your mind will proceed as slowly or as fast as itwants to.
Restlessness is a difficulty for some newcomers. You may sit down ready to start, and then immediately find yourself fidgeting or wanting to move about. Your clothes may be uncomfortable or some other distraction may appear. If this is a problem, make yourself comfortable and do the exercise for only two or three minutes. Then have a rest or a stretch, before trying the exercise again. Ifyou persevere, the restlessness will soon pass, and then you
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can attempt the exercises from less comfortable postures.
At first, you may only relax a few parts of the body, but as you repeat this
exercise a number of times, the relaxation will become deeper, more extensive and more natural.
Chatter — Monkey Mind. Our minds are constantly active, assessing, criticising, judging, thinking, imagining, daydreaming and chattering. There is a constant dialogue going on — a voice that almost never stops. There are only short periods when itquietens — during deep sleep, during states of utter bliss, and during deep meditation. After you read this, you may think you have the power to tell this voice to shut up, but itwill still be chattering away. Try it— can you still your internal voice? I’ll bet the chatter continues, with the voice saying: “See, Imanaged to do it! Look, my mind is quiet!”
Wandering Mind. Your mind tends to wander away as you are doing the exercise. One moment you are relaxing a part of your body, and the next instant you are thinking about tonight’s dinner or a problem with your partner. Don’t worry — everyone’s mind wanders in this manner. When you notice that your mind has drifted away, gently acknowledge the new subject, and then go back to the exercise. Do not under any circumstances judge yourself, or criticise yourself. It is quite normal and reasonable and everybody does it most of the time. Even experienced meditators find the majority of their meditation consists of wandering.
A meditation object is a common technique used to tether a wandering mind. An object issomething you focus on inthe early part of themeditation, while your mind is chattering and wandering. Many meditators use the breath. You can hear your breathing, and feel it at various points. Some people focus on the tip ofthe nose, feeling the rush of air with each in-breath and out-breath. Others feel the air in the throat, or in the top of the lungs. The breath isaparticularly good object, and Irecommend itforallbeginners, and also for experienced meditators.
You can use other parts of your body as a meditation object, along with any of your senses. Try meditating on the tastes in your mouth, or the taste, feel and texture of the saliva on your tongue. You can also hold a tiny portion
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of food in your mouth — perhaps a seed, or some other food that will not dissolve too quickly.
Try using your heartbeat as an object. It is easy in a quiet environment. This is calming, as your heartbeat slows down along with the relaxation of your body. If you think about or try to measure your heartbeat while meditating, you are using your intellect, and will probably spoil the meditation! Some experienced meditators can slow their heartbeat at will (outside of their meditations), as a result of the connection they have forged with their hearts during their meditations. |
A mantra is another common meditation object. This is aword or phrase that you repeat over and over. There are many different techniques. You can repeat the phrase in your mind, with your lips and tongue remaining still. Alternatively, you can say the phrase, chant, or sing it.Tibetan monks sing, hum and chant their mantras in the weirdest cacophony of sounds. Chanting is a beautiful way of “getting out of your mind.” Tuneless humming is another excellent technique.
Most ancient traditions have a science of sounds, based on mantras and
chanting. These sounds evoke higher states of consciousness, when you
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chant them or repeat them. Here are some examples: “aum”, “om mani
padme hung”, “soham”, “shalom” and “om namah shivaya.”
Candles, flowers, pebbles, the palm of your hand, plants, mountains or
other visual meditation objects are also used as a focal point for the eye. Sounds can also make a good meditation object. They should preferably be random and unpredictable. The sound of splashing water, the wind, the rain and a fire are suitable. Most music is not suitable as a meditation object because it is predictable, and your mind can get attached to the melody.
While it is quite relaxing to listen to a piece of music, it is unlikely to help you achieve deep and total relaxation. Music designed as a meditation object is random and unstructured. Other types of meditation music may be more structured, but still, they do not have a melody.
When you are ina state of total relaxation or regression (see below), a wandering mind is not a problem, but one of the delights of meditation. In
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such a state it is unlikely that your mind will focus on your problems and concerns. Instead, it is more like dreaming, where seemingly irrelevant thoughts and images can occur.
Letting Go. Our ancestors were conditioned to be on guard. Out in the wild, or when on their own, those who ignored their sense of sight, sound or smell did not survive. It was necessary to be alert and on the lookout all the time. Survival required a constant level of awareness to the threats that were out there.
To relax, itisnecessary to feel safe. When you feel safe and secure, you can go “off duty” and shut down the radar that is constantly on the lookout for dangers. Ifyou hear a noise in the next room, your mind does not click in and say, “Who is it? What are they doing?” It simply hears the noise in the next room, ithas no significance and needs no thought.
Further meditation requires a sense of trust. Trust in yourself, and trust in the process. It is only in a position of trust and safety that you can become like a small child. You can then let go of the protection around you, put down your guard, and be yourself.
Sleeping. Ifyou find yourself drifting off to sleep when you are doing the exercises, then use amore uncomfortable posture. This iswhy sitting isthe most common meditation posture. Try not to lie down when you meditate - abed isespecially unsuitable.
Getting Soft. Do not worry about losing your keen or sharp edge. On the contrary, meditation helps you live without stress, tension and all the health problems that brings, while being more alert and effective. Ifyou are able to relax, you will be more, not less, effective in your work and in your life. Relaxation is not about avoiding any issues, or becoming a vegetable. Rather, itisabout learning how to live easily and effectively, with the minimum of effort.
GOING FURTHER
The Gap Between the Breaths. When you are ina state of total relaxation, and you have released the tension from all your muscles, your breathing still
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requires some muscular “effort.” You need to breathe, your heart needs to keep pumping, and your basic metabolism continues. Some yogis claim to achieve a state of suspended animation, but that is beyond the scope of this book.
Each in-breath requires muscular contraction, which may be automatic or conscious, depending upon where you have focused your attention. The out- breathalsorequiresasmalleffort,justtoletitgo.However, thereisapoint between breaths where your body is completely still, and you can relax totally. If you are using your breath as a meditation object, as you relax, use the gap between your breaths as the object. It is a beautiful point of tranquillity.
Physical Activity. After some practise at relaxing, you can try meditating while you are actually doing things. To start with, try opening your eyes a little, and then closing them, perhaps in time with your breathing. As you breathe in, open your eyes, and close them as you breathe out. All the time, maintain deep relaxation in the rest of your body, with calm and peace in your mind. Next, try walking slowly and deliberately. Be conscious of the relaxation of the muscles in your face, and the calm of your mind. In a similar manner, you can progress to doing routine or rhythmical tasks while meditating.
The enlightened Indian master, Osho, developed a variety of “active” meditations. They are particularly suitable for Westerners, who tend to be more intellectual and rigid than Eastern people. Best known is the Dynamic Meditation, performed over an hour with its own CD music. Its five stages consist of energising breathing, explosive chaos, hammering the sex centre, holding a frozen posture, and a dancing celebration.
Many of Osho’s meditations are based around dancing, although watching, listening, laughing, crying, sex and many other activities are involved. Ithoroughly recommend them!
Regression. When you achieve a state of muscular relaxation, your mind calms, the chatter slows, you become less focused on your ego, and your emotions are checked. This state of physical and mental calm can lead to
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regression. Regression is quite a normal process — we have all previously been there. Your mind functions in a simpler, more primitive manner. It becomes less alert, so you are not concerned with your immediate surroundings. You are aware of sights, sounds and smells around you, but you do not engage them. Perhaps a heavy truck drives past, the room is filled with the sound of the diesel engine, the walls vibrate, and there is a smell of dust and diesel exhaust fumes. You are aware of them through your senses, but do not react to them.
When you are regressed, your intellect does not operate. The critical side of your mind closes down. When you become aware of the truck, with its noise and fumes, you do not judge itas good or bad. Itjust is.
Similarly, if a bird was singing the most exquisite song outside your window, or the perfume ofa lily filled the room, you would not judge itas good or bad. It is simply there.
You have probably already experienced regression at times in your life. Think of an instance when you were living totally in the moment, unconcerned with the pressures and threats of the world. Many people achieve this state during orgasm. Other possibilities are when you are enjoying the company of a happy or sleeping infant, when you are relaxing in a hot bath, when you are lying in a field gazing at the clouds, or when you are totally engrossed in playing with an animal or a small child.
In regression you have no sense of time, no judgements, no criticisms or thinking or analysis. Just a total calm, drifting. A sense of abandonment, letting go of everything.
The sense of drifting and abandonment does not come easily and all at once. You may get a taste of it,then itstops, and then itwill start again.
Dream State. Some people enter a dream state during total relaxation or regression. Unattached and seemingly irrelevant thoughts, pictures and moving images appear and float past, a kaleidoscope of colours can manifest, sounds and smells may occur, and people, known or unknown may appear or converse. This is a delightful and pleasant spot to go to, but it can also be a trap, holding you in this space and preventing you from continuing on your
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journey.
Bliss is a point of utter abandonment, drifting in timeless space, free of
your body, the world, and all thought. At some stage itwill just appear. You will be there, and itisquite beautiful. Some people describe itas going back to a pre-birth state, suspended safely in the amniotic fluid in your mother’s body. You had never had a thought of any kind, nothing was good or bad or of the least concern. Life was just “being”, in a primitive pre-emotional state.
Then your mind will kick in and say “Hey, I’ve done it! I’ve achieved bliss!” and itwill instantly go, and you have lost it. |
Healing. When you have gained some meditation experience, you can warm or cool different parts of your body. Start meditating while holding a thermometer in your hand. Feel the cool air entering your nostrils, and flowing into your lungs. The thermometer is a piece of ice that you can barely hold. After a few minutes, come out of the meditation and check the temperature — itwill probably have dropped 2-5°C. Go back into meditation, this time feeling the hot air in your chest. Think and feel heat coming from the thermometer, which is a glowing red coal in your hand. Again, come out of your meditation after a few minutes, and check the temperature. This time itwill likely be a few degrees warmer.
When you place your attention on a body part and heat itup, the blood flow dramatically increases. This assists with the removal of toxins from that area. In some circumstances, the temperature increase is not just measurable — it is positively hot! You can combine these techniques with breathing exercises, particularly the retention part of the breathing cycle (see page 238). Breath retention can generate substantial heat.
With a feel for internal energy, you can focus wherever you want in your body, and apply that power to heal injuries, balance energies, enhance cerebral energy, stimulate glandular secretions, exchange energy with your sexual partner, and even dissolve tumours. We are now moving into the area of energy work. In reiki, for example, the energy and heat coming from the practitioner’s hands are obvious even ifthey are not touching you.
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SOME OTHER MEDITATION TECHNIQUES
Tantric Meditation
Tantra considers that every cell in your body and in every other living thing isalive and conscious. Everything isconnected. What ishere, iselsewhere.
What isnot here, isnowhere},
Tantra is an essentially feminine approach to life, in contrast to Taoism,
which is male-centred. Consciousness does not belong to the brain alone, but to the entire body, and elsewhere. If you have good feelings in your mind, they will permeate and affect every cell in your body. That positive energy will in turn radiate outwards from your being to other consciousness. Tantra views your body as a living temple, in which there is no border between the flesh and the spirit. Maintaining physical, mental and emotional health therefore becomes a duty. A creative energy, God, or Kundalini, is present everywhere, here and now.
Tantra is not a religion or dogma. It holds that the universe is concrete, and that you can merge with itthrough meditation. Tantric meditation does not exclude feelings; on the contrary, they are its driving force. Typical Tantric meditations often contemplate your origins, or the origins of the universe. Picture your mother, hold some good things about her; picture her mother, and her love and intentions for her child. Again, picture her mother, and so on.
Another theme could be lying in warm seawater on a deserted, calm, warm night, millions of years ago, before there were any dangers. There is a moon above, and gentle waves ebb and flow in time with your breathing. The ocean is a gigantic body, a cradle of life, your mother’s womb.
Transcendental Meditation
TMTM isapeaceful meditation where you sitcomfortably with your eyes closed for twenty minutes, twice each day. You silently repeat a personal mantra, given to you by your teacher. TM must be learned from a certified teacher, not from laypersons, a book, CD or video.
TM has a large worldwide following, and a lot of the published research
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on meditation seems to have examined TM rather than other meditation methods. The benefits of TM (and all other meditations in varying degrees) include deep relaxation, the elimination of stress, good health, improved thinking and creativity, and a clearer and happier outlook on all aspects of life.
Autogenics
The traditional meditation techniques described in this chapter need a minimum of twenty minutes a day to attain deep relaxation. If you plan to spend additional time exploring the new physical, mental, emotional and spiritual worlds that this opens up, then these techniques are a good starting point. However, if your time is limited, and you are simply looking for a quick yet powerful tool to help you relax and detoxify at all levels, then Autogenics isworth trying.
The German psychiatrist, Johannes Schultz, developed this technique in the early 1930’s. In essence, itworks at an emotional level, and attains a state similar to regression. It can bring about physical, emotional and spiritual detoxification. Autogenics consists of a series of simple mental exercises that you can learn and integrate in a couple of weeks. Initially, ittakes about 10- 15 minutes to run through the exercise, and you need to do itthree times each day. After you are able to attain a deep state of relaxation and calming of your emotions, you still need to practise it every day, but you can do it more quickly — even in2-3 minutes ifyou are short oftime. This isatechnique that you can use every day — on the bus, in your office, or sitting at a café. Many people who have used this powerful stress-busting procedure have transformed their lives. They have a sense of great burdens being lifted away, freeing them of responsibilities and encumbers imposed by society. Some have felt a new release of creative energy, and the freedom to live their lives
by their own values.
When you are in a relaxed and abandoned state, your body will naturally
balance its life energies — this is called homeostasis. If you are stressed, homeostasis will calm you. Ifyou feel confused, itwill clear your mind. If
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you are fatigued, you will be refreshed. If you have high blood pressure, it will measurably fall. It improves the balance between the left and the right hemispheres of your brain, leading to both clearer thought and higher creativity. Recoveries from addictions such as alcohol, drugs and overeating have been reported, as well as the healing of stress-related illnesses such as asthma and skin inflammations.
The technique is quite simple. It dwells on feelings of heaviness and warmth, around your legs and arms. It also attends to your heartbeat, breathing, stomach and forehead. When you have finished the exercise, you come back to a healthy, everyday level of consciousness with a final step called “The Cancellation, or The Return.”
Begin the Autogenic exercise from a comfortable position, with your eyes closed. Take a deep breath, pause for a second, and then exhale completely. Breathe slowly and naturally, and feel the full weight of your body sinking into your chair or cushion. Indulge the feelings of warmth and heaviness. Start with your dominant arm (right or left). Slowly repeat each of the following phrases three times in your mind:
My rightarm isheavy
Let go of the tension in your arm as you feel its weight and warmth.
My leftarm isheavy Both arms are heavy My rightlegisheavy
Continue to breathe slowly and naturally. Remember to repeat each phrase three times.
My leftlegisheavy
Both legs are heavy
Let go of the tension in your legs. Arms and legs heavy
Arms and legs warm
My breathing iscalm and clear My stomach iswarm
My forehead iscool
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Feel the relaxation in your scalp, your forehead, your eyes, your whole face. Peace right through me
Enjoy the gentle calm throughout your body.
At the end of the exercise, bring yourself back to the state of
consciousness in which you normally live with the Cancellation or Return. Quickly clench both your fists, take a deep breath, and lift your arms above your head, out sideways, or in front of you. Breathe out slowly, return your arms and unclenched fists to your sides, and lastly, open your eyes. For a few seconds: Be here, now, with whatever is, then continue with your day. If you feel you are not fully alert, repeat the cancellation.
As you gain practise with Autogenics, you can use some additional phrases:
My neck and shoulders are heavy Followed by
Iam atpeace
The above isparticularly effective atreducing stress. My heartbeat iscalm and regular
Feel your strong and regular heartbeat as you repeat this phrase three times. After you have been practicing for a week or two, you will find that the phrase My right arm is heavy will put you in the Autogenic state within seconds. For most people, this will be the first time in their lives that they
have had the means to relax in stressful situations.
Autogenics measurably lowers your heartbeat and blood pressure. Italso
gives you a physical, psychological and spiritual cleansing, smoothing out muscular tensions and cleansing thought patterns that may have been crippling you for years.
While this cleansing is taking place, there may be some side effects for a week or two. Your arms or legs may twitch, your stomach may rumble, or you may feel brief bouts of dizziness, sounds or visual effects. This is simply the release of the physical and emotional stresses that you have accumulated and stored in your body over your lifetime. You may have sudden and inexplicable depression, joy or guilt rising to the surface. Ifyou are prepared
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for these effects, you will know that they are simply part of the detoxification process that isleading you on toa life-changing renewal.
Autosuggestion
After you have practised the above relaxation exercise every day for aweek or two, you should be able to attain a state of deep relaxation and regression. When you are ina state of regression, you mind accepts thoughts uncritically. The suggestions themselves must be simple and primitive, matching your state of mind. Your acceptance of ideas in this state depends upon your feelings toward the person making them, rather than the merits of the idea itself. During regression, your intellect closes down, and you are more like a small child who is open to suggestions from his or her parent. While you are regressed, you can use the process of suggestion to influence the working of your mind in a way that would be impossible if you were in your normal alert, critical and intellectual state. Autosuggestion ispresenting new ideas to yourself while in a regressed state. Examples of new states that you may wish to take in include feeling confident, safe, virile, grateful, joyful and accepting. Disorders such as stuttering, nervous rashes, smoking, nail biting, addictions, irrational behaviour, blushing and sterility have all been successfully treated with autosuggestion. This apparent diversity of problems has a common cause: anxiety and stress.
The example trains of thought below are given merely as guides. Modify them according to your own needs. Prepare them and have them in your mind before you start to meditate. But remember that the procedure is only effective when you are thoroughly relaxed, and have let yourself regress into a primitive and uncritical mode.
Perhaps you are feeling apprehensive. Here are the thoughts that you might mull over while regressed:
Relaxed
Relaxed in all of my body Relaxed in myface Relaxed and calm
TL
Calm in my mind
Calm right through me
Here is a thought train to use ifyou are feeling down or depressed:
Relaxed
Good to relax
Relaxed inallofmy body
Good tofeel relaxed
Wonderful feeling ;
Here is a possible thought train if you are feeling tense. Start with the general relaxation of your whole body. There is a close relationship between the muscles in your face and your state of mind. It is important to relax the muscles in your face and in your eye sockets, as this will have a strong bearing on your emotions and mental calm.
Relaxed
Whole ofmy body relaxed
Itisinmyface
Jaw isloose
Lips apart
Soft around eyes Smooth face
Feel my mind relaxed Relaxed mind
Perhaps you have been taking tranquilisers or sedatives, and want to use a natural means to relax, rather than drugs:
Relaxed
Natural to relax
My whole body relaxed
The natural way to gather strength Clean body
Clean and calm and natural
You can use autosuggestion to heal a myriad of both mental and physical problems caused by stress. For example, use itto develop particular traits,
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Insomnia: heavy, drowsy, heavy all through me, heavy eyes
Phobias: visualising yourself at ease in the phobic situation.
Sexual difficulties: thighs relaxed, genitals relaxed, natural, good, feel it
all through me
Neuro-audio technologies
You can fast track your way to deep meditation with audio tapes or CDs that play brain wave entrainment sounds. Within minutes, most people can achieve quite a deep state of meditation. You listen to them through stereo headphones, while comfortably seated with your eyes closed. The sounds are mostly synthesised — deep, relaxing notes reminiscent of a church organ, rain, waterfalls, the wind, humming, thunder and bells.
Although both channels may appear to be the same, the system plays separate sounds into the left and right headphones that are slightly out of phase. The sounds are so immersive that they tend to carry you along. They shift your brain waves out of the faster beta frequency, which is your normal state of awareness, to slower alpha, theta and delta frequencies. As you enter the slower states, the system can integrate disparate parts of your brain, and enhance your nervous system and several neurological functions. You will notice the first changes within hours, but over months and years of using the full program, significant physical, mental and emotional changes take place. The level of DHEA in your brain rises, and the level of the hormone cortisol in your body drops.
The system is like a continual but gentle challenge to your nervous system, its current structures and pathways. It forces the creation of new pathways between parts of your brain that had not been communicating optimally before. In particular, it improves the integration between the left and the right sides of your brain, resulting in whole brain thinking. You gain improved learning ability, analysis and creativity. It also relaxes you, providing a sense of ease and peace. Immediately after listening to the sounds, you will feel brighter, happier, and more centred, aware and creative.
such as acceptance, flexibility and clarity. Other maladies that are often cured include:
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The disadvantage of this method of meditation is that you will never reach the deepest places that unassisted meditation can eventually take you, mainly because unassisted meditation requires intent. Another problem is that you will not have a trigger to relax you and put you into a meditative state. When your emotions are running wild, or you are feeling stressed at work for example, it may not be possible to take time out with the headphones. The headphones are also quite loud and intense — not conducive to absolute, peaceful bliss. I personally think that these CDs are a great tool for enhancing your brain and nervous system, and should be used in addition to unassisted meditation.
Holosync is a good example of this technology. There are many other similar CDs available, such as those sold by The Synchronicity Foundation, Hemi-sync, and MindSync.
COMMENTS
*Itisnotimportant howyoumeditate, butthefactthatyoudosointhefirst place.
¢Techniques that work for some, may not work for others.
*You need to make the time, and in the early days, itcan be an effort. After a while, itbecomes easy and pleasurable, and the rewards are obvious. *Accept your situation, your feelings and your circumstances. Anything that you feel right now, whether ithappens to be anger, fear, shame, inadequacy or stress, is OK. Being in denial about your weaknesses, failings and disappointments will often prolong your situation. Ifeverything isperfect, well then there is nowhere further to go, is there?
“Only let the moving waters calm down, and the sun and moon will be reflected on the surface ofyour being” — Rumi.
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LIVING FOOD
WHAT IS LIVING FOOD?
Only eat foods that spoil or rot, but eat them before they do.
iving foods are delicious, deeply nourishing and sustaining. When you |keane eatlivingfoods,youdonotwanttoovereat.Theyareone of the foundations for a long, youthful and satisfying life.
The foods I recommend in this chapter will raise your energy to sustained levels you have never known before. A diet for a long and vital life isbased on vegetables, fruit, “good” oils, nuts, pulses, whole grains and for most people, fish, eggs, poultry and meat. Many of these foods have been fermented, and contain “good” bacteria.
A diet of organically grown living food will heal your digestive system, remove toxins, and then heal your body. It will also have a dramatic effect on your mental health and state of well being. In controlled studies, anorexia,’ attention deficit disorder, antisocial and delinquent behaviour, depression, 58 insomnia and schizophrenia>® have all been improved or cured with nutrition alone. The internationally renowned mental health expert Dr Carl Pfeiffer, who spent his career researching the biochemistry of mental illness, maintains that, “if there is a drug that can alter brain chemistry for good effect, there's a nutrient that can do it without side effects.”
The food you eat can directly affect your genes.!9> First and most obviously, any toxins in foods can affect your organs, your cells, and even damage the transcription (copying) of your genes. Less obviously, a new area of research known as nutrigenomics has shown that some foods alter the transcription of your genes with positive or unknown effects. After a food has altered a gene, your cells will continue to be replaced using copies of the new gene.
Converting from processed foods to living foods means changing from a trolley of boxes, packets and tins at the supermarket every week, to a larger load of fresh, organic produce. A better alternative than supermarkets are the organic and free-range shops that are springing up around every
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city. Some farmers also drive into the city and sell their produce from the side of a truck at a growers market. The ultimate is to grow your own, or personally know the farmer who grew the produce.
This is not as daunting as it sounds. A small city garden, once it is established, can provide much of the fruit and vegetables consumed by a family. You get organic, ripe picked fruit, vegetables and herbs that are in season, have ten times as much flavour as supermarket produce, and even more nutrition. If you cannot have a garden, you can grow a few plants in pots or a window box. Eating at least some living plants will make a big difference to your health.
DIETARY EVOLUTION
re-human. About seven million years ago, one of the species of
[PA aoe intherainforestsofAfricabeganthegradualprocessof evolution into our earliest hominid (human-like) ancestors. It took two to three million years before the first of them were walking upright, with many human characteristics.
Most apes are herbivores, eating a diet of fruits, roots, shoots, selected leaves, stems, nuts, berries and insects. Some species supplement their diet with eggs and small animals. It seems reasonable to assume that hominids, with their greater intelligence and hunting skills, would have relied on animal foods more than any other apes. Therefore, these early humans would also have eaten eggs, birds, fish and meat.
According to Dr S. Boyd Eaton of Emory University in Atlanta, the climate began to cool around 2.5 million years ago, with the start of the first of a series of ice ages. The rich herbivorous gardens in the tropical forests declined. Open grasslands became the dominant type of vegetation, and grazing animals flourished. To survive, early humans became increasingly carnivorous.
In that time, humans developed a few metabolic similarities with carnivores. We need a regular supply of zinc, iodine and iron, and we are unable to synthesise vitamin A, vitamin B12, essential fatty acids and the
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amino acid taurine. Meats are the best sources of these nutrients.
Are humans carnivores, herbivores or omnivores? Let us compare: Attraction. Carnivores can smell blood and meat easily. When they see
or smell meat, they start to salivate. Most humans do not salivate at the sight of fresh meat, though it could be argued that this is part of our conditioning. Most people salivate from the smell of baking bread, or the sight of sweet foods or a dish with their fancy of fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy, fish, meat, poultry and oils.
Agility. Carnivores are adapted to catching prey. They move quickly to catch, kill and consume their prey. Humans have low agility — most people would have a hard time catching even a chicken in an open space.
Teeth. Carnivores have long, sharp incisors and canine teeth. They tear off meat and swallow itin large hunks. Herbivores have incisors for cutting or ripping plants, and flat teeth for grinding. Human canine and incisor teeth are small compared to those of a carnivore and are, perhaps, better suited to biting tough vegetables rather than animal skin and bone.
Saliva. Carnivores have relatively littlesaliva, and itislow indigestive enzymes. Herbivores produce lots of saliva that contains ptyalin and other digestive enzymes, which start to digest carbohydrates whilst they are still in their mouth. Humans produce copious saliva with digestive enzymes suited to carbohydrates.
Stomach. Carnivores have strong stomach acid that ensures that most bacteria and other microorganisms in their food are destroyed. Enzymes produced by the carnivore’s pancreas, gall bladder and liver digest its food in the small intestine. Nutrients from that food are absorbed through the wall of the small intestine. Herbivores have between one and four digestive chambers. The early chambers contain high concentrations of bacteria and protozoa, and involve regurgitation and chewing the cud. The last chamber is most like a stomach and contains weak acid designed to kill the billions of gut flora that have digested the food earlier. Humans have an acid stomach that breaks down food, though the acid is not as strong as that in a carnivorous stomach. We produce digestive enzymes, and nutrients are
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absorbed through the wall of the small intestine.
Digestive tract. Carnivores have a short digestive tract — a lion’s is
about four metres long. Flesh eaters have a fast digestive system, so that the meat they eat is sterilised in a strong acid stomach, quickly digested, and quickly excreted. Carnivores often manage on one meal per day, whereas herbivores spend a large part of the day eating. Herbivores have a large stomach, and digestion is dependent on the action of bacteria. Ruminants may graze for eight hours per day, and spend many more hours chewing the cud. Humans have and need bacteria in their digestive system — mostly in the large colon.
In summary, modern humans seem to be adapted to an omnivorous diet. We can digest meat, but it is not our staple food. We are well adapted to eating other animal foods like fish, eggs and birds, and plant foods like vegetables and fruits. We do not have the ability to digest dry raw grains or cellulose. Many but not all humans can digest raw dairy products and cooked grains and legumes. When grains and legumes have been soaked or sprouted, and grains and dairy products have been cultured, they become more digestible and nutritious as human food.
Palaeolithic. Our stone-age ancestors roamed the world for 2.5 million years, the time immediately prior to the evolution of Homo Sapiens. Itwas the longest and last major developmental period before modern man appeared. By contrast, the last 10.000 years, during which agriculture with its grains, domestic animals and dairy produce emerged, is but a pinprick in the scale of human evolution. Our physiology and biochemistry is the same as that of the Palaeolithic People. They:
* were meat eaters. According to a study by Professor Loren Cordain, Dr Eaton (above) and other scientists,!© 65% of stone-age man’s calories came from meat and other animal sources, and 35% from plants. Other writers such as Jared Diamond maintain that their diets contained a lower proportion ofmeat.?!4
* ate a rich variety of wild vegetables, fruit, nuts and legumes
* did not eat grains and cereals, or consume dairy products
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They would also have consumed around 100 grams of fibre per day — three times as much as most modern people. More importantly, the fibre was not from cereals, as it is now. Instead, all their fibre came from wild fruits and vegetables, nuts, herbs, shoots and roots.
Their diet would have been fresh, wild, and without any refining or processing. All their foods were in-season, and the fruits were picked ripe. They would have had around 300 times more phytonutrients than the typical modern Western diet. The micronutrients in their different foods would have supported each other, in symbiotic relationships.
Of particular note is the low proportion of carbohydrate. The little they ate came from nuts, fruits, legumes and vegetables, all unrefined, unprocessed, raw and fresh. They would have been slow-digesting, low Glycemic index (page 175) carbohydrates, providing them with strength and endurance. Palaeolithic people did not suffer from wild blood glucose fluctuations, energy and mood swings, and hunger pangs.
This raises the question — should we be eating 65% animal products, like our Palaeolithic ancestors? In my opinion, the answer is no, because the Palaeolithic diet would have provided for the requirements of a different life in those pre-historic times. They needed great strength and endurance as hunter-gatherers. Their priorities would have been survival, reproducing, and then feeding and protecting their young. Their life expectancy was around 30 years, provided they survived the appallingly high infant mortality at the time. The low adult life expectancy was because of the sheer violence and danger of their lives, not because of ill health. If these Stone Age people had been safe and protected, they would have lived far longer on their diet of rich, wild, varied organic foods. Their high meat diet was geared for strength and survival, not health and longevity.
In contrast, these days we do not need great physical strength to survive, nor are we likely to go for an entire day without a meal. The most successful people today are able to adapt to the stress and pollution of our modern lives, and use their brainpower for long periods.
Early Agriculture. About 10,000 years ago, the first people started
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growing wheat. Grains were originally grown as a food for animals, not for humans, because humans cannot eat and digest raw cereals. However, our early ancestors soon discovered how to eat the grains. They would have roasted and parched the grains, ground them between stones and cooked the dough over a fire, boiled them into gruel, and fermented the first forms of beer. They would also have found that soaking and sprouting grains makes them digestible.
A variety of grains has become the mainstay of the human diet in the last 6,000 to 7,000 years as people found them to be an easy and cheap food source.
Human’s brains are considerably bigger than those of other primates. Our brains use 25% of our calories. Therefore, we need to extract more nutrition and calories from the food we eat. According to Dr Eaton the only way early humans could do this was to eat a higher proportion of animal products than other apes did. The recent advent of agriculture and a grain- based diet provides cheap high-calorie food. Farming, particularly of grains, has been the key to the growth of the world human population, and a less active lifestyle that permitted the rise of permanent cities and civilisations.
The ancient Tao texts recognised grains as newcomers to the human diet. For the first time humans had high carbohydrate meals, high in starch. Taoists repeatedly and clearly stated that grains should be avoided, as they had ruinous effects on health and longevity.
There have been around 500 generations since people started eating grains as a substantial portion of their diet. This may have provided some time for our digestive systems to adapt partially. It may also explain why grain allergies are so widespread today.
The early whole grain foods were top quality, unrefined, low GI carbohydrates by today’s standards. They would have been digested and absorbed slowly, providing a consistent level of slow release energy. A steady blood glucose level fuelled the first farmers working muscles for long after the meal. It also provided these late stone-age people with better
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brain function.
There has been a steady increase in the carbohydrate consumption of
people around the world since then. In addition, the milling, refining and processing of grains has become more sophisticated. In the last couple of centuries, white bread, polished rice and highly refined flours have appeared. Modern milling methods scrape away the nutrient-laden germ and bran on grains, leaving only the starchy white pith. Most commercial grain foods are nutritionally barren. There is a strong argument that many degenerative illnesses are correlated with the introduction of carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates, to our diet. Numerous studies show that modern high carbohydrate diets, particularly refined foods, are responsible for fluctuations in our blood glucose level that lead to hunger pangs, low energy, a stressed and swollen pancreas, hormonal upsets, insulin resistance, a variety of degenerative diseases and rapid ageing.
Our ancestors would not have consumed dairy products prior to the advent of agriculture. It was only after they started growing grains and other crops that they could domesticate the first goats, sheep, pigs and other animals.
Modern Milling. During the last century, high-speed rolling mills have replaced traditional millstones, where whole grains were ground at low speeds to make coarse natural flour. The speed at which the modern mills grind produces intense heat in the microstructure of the grain particles. The natural oils in the grain kernels are oxidised, and aside from being toxic, give the flour a rancid flavour. The solution was to de-germinate the grain, by pulverising it with rollers and removing the kernels, which contain unsaturated oils and vitamins. You can buy the kernels as wheat germ in health food stores. The grain husks (bran) are also removed, along with fibre, magnesium and more vitamins. The resulting white flour is dead, de- natured, pure starch particles, finely milled with a huge surface area and high Glycemic Index.
This fine white flour has excellent commercial properties. It is quite
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Dry grains that have not been soaked, fermented or sprouted contain phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors (page 181), which make them virtually indigestible. Phytic acid causes mineral deficiencies and bone loss. Many traditional types of bread are made from fermented or sprouted grains; all the other traditional breads are made over a period of many hours or even days. However, modern commercial breads, cakes and pastries are made in only a few hours — insufficient time to break down the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors.
Standard American Diet (SAD). The low point in the evolution of human eating habits isthe SAD. High inflavour, low innutrition, available within seconds, 24 hours per day, appealingly packaged, reliable and consistent.
Processed foods include fast foods, packets, cans and jars of ready to eat convenience food, precooked frozen dinners and packaged snacks. They are usually cooked, and often processed at high temperature and pressure. Processed “foods” are dead, containing no enzymes (page 162). They include debilitating, denatured ingredients such as sugar, refined starch in the form of flour, pasteurised cow’s milk, refined salt, and hydrogenated and damaged vegetable oils. In addition, the processed food industry uses over 5,000 synthetic chemicals as preservatives, stabilisers, flavour enhancers, colours or emulsifiers. Your body correctly recognises most of them as toxic foreign agents that ittries to eliminate, putting great strain on your digestive and immune systems. After years of daily exposure to such “foods”, your exhausted immune system leaves you vulnerable to attack by microbes, toxins, and cancerous cells.
Processed foods are toxic and addictive, and are the primary reason for
stable, and has a shelf life of years. It makes light, fluffy breads and pastries, and provides a wide array of options for cakes, biscuits and baking. It is suited to the large scale, commercial production of bread and other refined foods. After the food industry discovered how to mill white flour on a large scale, they promoted is as making superior, better tasting products.
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Fast and processed foods appear to be cheap, but that is an illusion. In the long term, processed food is extraordinarily expensive.
The objective of food manufacturers is to make a profit. They buy the cheapest possible ingredients, package them attractively, advertise the product, and sell it at the highest possible mark-up. Processed foods have the following characteristics:
¢ Transportable — tough, inert and resistant to heat, light and vibration
¢ Long shelf life, sometimes for months or years
*Addictive — laced with sugar, refined salt, caffeine and other “hard to give up” ingredients. A successful manufactured food is one that does not satisfy, but rather induces repeated purchases
¢Highly flavoured with synthetic flavouring (which ischeaper and usually indistinguishable in taste and smell from the real ingredient). Sugar and salt are also extensively used
* Attractive. A great deal of thought and expense goes into the packaging of the product, and artificially colouring it
* Easy to use. Flows freely, doesn’t need stirring or mixing
A good example of processed food is breakfast cereal. To make corn flakes and puffed wheat, a small quantity of grains are heated and compressed to a pressure of around 1500 pounds per square inch, before explosive release. The molecular structure of the grain is transformed, and
it is no longer recognised as a food by your body. An experiment®* at Ann Arbor University in 1960 fed cornflakes to one group of rats, and the boxes they came in to another. The cornflake-fed rats all died before the first of the cardboard-fed rats succumbed. The results were never published.
Sugar is added to most processed foods — soft drinks, fruit juices, dairy products such as ice cream and yogurt, cakes, pastries, breads, sauces, jams, jellies and dressings. The main sugars used are sucrose (table sugar), glucose and high fructose corn syrup. None of these sugars has any
nutritional benefits — quite the contrary — they are industrial poisons that
the epidemic of obesity in the Western world. They cause you to overeat, and lower your sense of well being.! 14
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ravage your health and longevity by causing wild fluctuations in your blood glucose levels.
The top selling products in Western supermarkets are soft drinks, breads made from fine ground refined flour, potatoes and fries, breakfast cereals, white rice, pizza, pasta, sugars, sweets (candy), jams and fruit
juices. Factories and laboratories manufacture these SAD foods, not nature. SAD “foods” bear no resemblance to anything you could find in the wild, in a garden, or in the kitchen or food preparation area of any traditional culture. |
SAD foods include herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics and hormones. You do not know what the food is made from. Manufacturers keep their ingredients and recipes secret unless forced to display them.
Variety. Our early ancestors ate from hundreds, if not thousands of different plants. Even a century ago, the variety of fruits and vegetables available was many times greater than itistoday. Icounted the number of different fruits, vegetables and herbs for sale in a large supermarket — the total was 70. Today, only 30 crops account for 95% of everything humanity eats, and just three of them (rice, corn and wheat) represent 80% of mankind’s food. If you eat only a limited number of foods, you draw heavily on the enzymes required to digest those particular foods. This can lead to the exhaustion of your digestive mechanism. You can also become addicted to those foods, and giving them up can be as difficult as healing an alcohol or drug addiction.
FARMING METHODS
CONVENTIONAL (CHEMICAL) FARMING
road acre or “business” farming requires that vegetables and other |Biaee are uniformly planted over large areas. Acombination of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and biocides are applied according to a schedule provided by the chemical suppliers, and are used even ifthe particular crop shows no specific need for that input. This means that the system provided by the chemical companies will work reasonably
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reliably, even on sandy barren soils. It has to, because after years of using the chemical input system, the soils are destroyed, and the insect and bacterial life that would provide natural protection and sustenance to crops is lost.
Chemical farming is oriented towards large-scale production. It is a reliable method of getting huge quantities of fruit and vegetables into supermarkets at low prices. Large fields of identical crops or trees are easier to harvest than small or mixed areas of crops. Large-scale mechanization of tilling, planting, fertilizing, watering, spraying and harvesting is possible. The huge output from these farms can be stored, transported and marketed at low cost. All the inputs can be reliably budgeted in advance, as can the sales of the good-looking but un-nutritious crops.
Crops produced using chemical farming are deceptively attractive. The nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in fertilisers are sufficient to produce a healthy-looking fruit or vegetable. Unfortunately, as the years go by, each harvest will contain fewer and fewer minerals. Zinc, magnesium, manganese, selenium, chromium, molybdenum and many other trace minerals are lost from the soil and never replaced.
The average person eating chemically farmed produce consumes 5 kg of food additives each year. If they are consuming non-organic fruit and vegetables, 4.5 litres of pesticides and herbicides were sprayed on the foods they ate. Thousands of new chemicals have been introduced into the environment in the last two decades, and most of them have found their way into the food chain.
The worst contaminated®*© non-organic produce are strawberries, potatoes, raisins, red and green bell peppers, spinach, cherries, peaches, bananas, cantaloupe, celery, apples, pears, apricots, green beans, grapes and cucumbers. Usually peanuts are highly contaminated with pesticide, and are susceptible to toxic moulds (e.g. aflatoxin).
Washing conventional produce. Here are some tips on preparing foods that have been sprayed or grown with chemicals.
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If the fruit or vegetable has a shiny waxy finish sprayed on by the producer, washing will not remove the fungicides and pesticides under the wax, So you need to peel them. Apples and cucumbers are often waxed.
A 1996 study3® tested the effectiveness of washing grapes, berries, beans, leafy green vegetables and several fruits in the kitchen. They swirled them in a dilute solution of dish detergent in room temperature water for five to ten seconds, and then rinsed them. Sturdier fruits and vegetables were scrubbed with a vegetable brush. If the item was peeled, it was not necessary to wash it. Washing in this manner removed all traces of pesticides from more than half the samples, and significantly reduced the residues in all the others.
If you have a water ioniser, the acid water it produces is suitable for washing fruit and vegetables. Acid water kills many of the small insects and bacteria that may be on the plants, and itreacts with and neutralises many agricultural chemicals. After washing in acid water, rinse the produce in tap water.
Heavy metal pollution is also a common occurrence. You can remove most of these metals by washing them in a bow] of acid water, or tap water to which you add two tablespoons of vinegar. Elements such as lead, cadmium and mercury react with the acid and can then be washed away.
ORGANIC
Organic produce is grown naturally, without the use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or biocides. The soil should be pollutant free, alive and well structured. If manufactured chemical products have previously been used the land, it can take decades to rehabilitate the soil.!°4 Heavy use of fertilizers in the past can cause a deficiency of micronutrients in the crops produced,!98 as well as ruin the soil.
Organic crops have significantly higher levels of micronutrients and alkaline-forming minerals, are sweeter tasting, more intensely flavoured, and have greater resistance to disease and insect infestations.47°
A quick way to compare the quality of some fruits and vegetables is to
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If you have to use non-organic fruit or vegetables because you genuinely cannot afford them, or they are not available, then seek the best quality produce that you can and wash it carefully as described above. Grow some herbs or vegetables in a window box or in your back yard. The addition of even small quantities of vegetables and herbs picked a few minutes prior to consumption adds greatly to the life and nutrient spectrum of your food intake.
PERMACULTURE
Permaculture techniques! are often used in smaller organic farms where natural biological processes support each other. For example, compatible plants are placed next to each other where the smells, compost, shade or soil nitrogen from one plant benefits the plant next to it. Poultry has a part to play, eating insect pests and fertilizing the fruit trees. Fish are required in the ponds, eating mosquito larvae in addition to aquatic plants. Insects, wild birds and small animals are attracted into this circular process, where each component has a valuable place in this natural system. Permaculture systems do not allow for the ongoing and large-scale removal of crops from the system. Rather, everything is re-circulated.
BIODYNAMICS
Biodynamics takes organic farming further. Ituses techniques developed in the early 20" century by Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and scientist. Farmers applying these practices have repeatedly shown that in a few years they can create rich deep friable soils that might otherwise take many decades to develop. The methods may seem weird to a newcomer. Phases of the moon, and a preparation made from cow horns, manure, and
cut them and expose them to the air, and check how long they take to brown (oxidise). I have seen a nutrient poor, non-organic apple that has browned significantly within half an hour. On the other hand, a slice of organic apple fresh picked from a tree may take many hours to start browning.
flowers picked on the day they open are involved. However, they work, and
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people who try them have transformed their farms and their crops. Scientific research is gradually uncovering why biodynamic farms are so healthy. On the day a flower opens for example, its roots shoot up a selection of trace elements to the bud. The next day, those trace elements are returned to the roots.
The focus of biodynamics is to enhance living processes using the forces of air, water, sun and soil. Used correctly, they can dramatically transform soil and all that is produced from it.
Organic and biodynamic food tastes better than chemically produced food. It is alive, full of flavour, and lasts longer — a broccoli was still crisp and firm after two weeks in my fridge, when the supermarket equivalent would have been tired and wilted after less than a week.
FREE-RANGE
Animals and birds that are free to roam around the farm and forage for their natural diet, eating wild vegetation, insects, and worms and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise, produce free-range products. They are not cooped up in small cages or feeding lots, nor are they fed any commercial feeds or supplements.
Generally, the best animal products come from wild animals, in their natural habitat eating their natural foods. However, wild animal products, with the exception of ocean swimming fish, are simply not available to most people today, especially city dwellers.
Free-range animals are leaner, healthier, and have more essential fatty acids (especially Omega-3s). Wild or free-range meats can have up to a third more protein than the meat of confined animals, one sixth the level of fat, and a far better profile of minerals (especially zinc).
The natural diet of cattle is wild grass. All animals need to exercise, forage, and eat their natural diets — which may consist of grasses, shoots, leaves, grubs and other insects.
Poultry farms and eggs that claim to be free-range are often not. They are an improvement on the tiny battery cages in the worst cases, but the
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hens are still fed an artificial diet and are limited in their ability to range. Animals, including fish and poultry, that are fed on grain and other feeds rather than their natural diet produce flesh and eggs that are deficient in nutrients, especially Omega-3 essential fatty acids. There is a correlation between many twentieth century diseases, especially heart disease, and the
consumption of the meat of grain-fed cattle.!84
Feeding animals on grains and some of the appalling ingredients in
animal feeds, such as sawdust, ash, dried and powdered slaughterhouse and abattoir waste, pig and poultry farm manure and grain milling by-products? can only mean they produce sick meat, milk and eggs. Farmed fish look different to wild fish, with tatty fins and a different colour. Battery farmed chickens are the most awful, with poor feather coverage, numerous illnesses and aggressive behaviour.
Animals that are fed on feeds rather than their natural diets get sick, so most commercial feeds include small quantities of antibiotics. Eat the products of these animals, and you get an unwanted dose of antibiotics. These regular doses of antibiotics depress your immune system, leading to numerous diseases. This is also responsible for the development of strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria, causing a threat to the community’s health.
Various synthetic hormones are also fed to and injected into animals to make them gain weight faster. Steroid hormones cause cattle to grow fat fast so it stands to reason that they contribute to obesity in humans who consume the meat and milk of these animals. Hormones are used to bring entire herds of cows into heat at the same time for breeding, to increase milk production, and induce abortions in pregnant cows scheduled for slaughter. These female (oestrogenic) type hormones are suspected as a cause ofbreast and ovarian cancer in women, prostrate cancers in men, and premature puberty in children. This is especially true for growing children. Whenever big North American fast food chains featuring beef and milk products set up operations in Asian countries, the once healthy children there soon show all the signs of chronic ill health that plague American children: obesity, acne and pimples, respiratory infections, premature
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puberty, and behavioural abnormalities.
Cattle absorb the chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides used in
their feed crops. The outbreak of mad cow disease in England in the late 80’s was probably caused by feeds that included animal products.
When animals are confined in a small feedlot or cage and cannot move around freely, and are overfed on an unnatural diet of grains, they gain an excess of fat that tends to deposit in and around their muscles. Much of the grain-fed beef produced in North America, Europe and Japan is “marbled” with such fat. In Australia, as well as many South American and African countries, the cattle are free to range and the fat content within the muscles is almost as low as in game meat, at around 5%. Selvedge fat is the fat under the hide, around membranes and between muscles — the fat that you can easily cut off. If the meat you are eating is not organic, cut off the selvedge fat because toxins such as pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones tend to accumulate in the animal’s selvedge fat and skin.
Kangaroo isprobably the best choice inAustralian domestic meat. They are either wild or farmed in large ranges. Most Australian cattle are free ranging, but there is an increasing tendency to put them in feedlots, especially prior to slaughter. Australian sheep are normally allowed to range freely. They are out in the sun and fresh air, and are not usually contaminated with drugs and hormones (though most are dipped for parasites such as ticks). Lamb has always been the meat of choice in India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, where arteriosclerosis and heart disease have never been prevalent. Even better than lamb iswild game such as deer, pheasant, duck and quail, but these meats are hard to find.
PICKING GREEN FRUIT
t is criminal to pick unripe, green fruit. Green harvesting typically
|beeapickingfruitsevendayspriortoripening,andiswidely practised throughout the world. Green picked fruit has almost no vitamins and minerals, but instead contains salicylates, a natural preservative and insecticide.
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People are chomping into fruit thinking they are eating nutritious food, when it is simply not so. All these years you thought oranges were a rich source of vitamin C, but many supermarket oranges contain none — not even a trace.>© It is essential that your fruit is ripened on the tree, or on the vine, and not after picking. The worst affected are tomatoes, citrus and various berries. The only fruits that may be picked under-ripe are avocados and bananas.
Salicylates occur in most green fruits and in some vegetables, such as radish, capsicum and zucchini. They act as a natural preservative to delay rotting, and as an insecticide.
In the last 3 days of a fruit’s ripening, salicylate levels fall and are replaced by anti-oxidants entering through the stem of the plant. For example, a large green apple contains about 150mg of salicylate, and in the last three days as the apple fully ripens most of the salicylates are removed, and replaced with anti-oxidants in the form of a diverse range of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin C, zinc and selenium.?°
Soon after salicylates were discovered, they were used as a preservative in factory-processed foods but were banned in the 1950’s because many people were reacting adversely with headaches, indigestion, vomiting, diarrhoea, aches and pains, coughing and wheezing, a blocked or runny nose and itchy rashes. They are also responsible for hyperactivity in children. Salicylates inhibit the uptake of some minerals such as zinc. You get a triple whammy when you eat green—picked fruit:
* a dose of salicylates
* no or low nutrients, especially vitamin C, zinc and selenium
¢ a digestion inhibitor that stops you absorbing what little minerals there may be in the green-picked fruit
The practise of picking fruit green is quite understandable, because if all fruit were picked fully ripe, the cost of each piece of fruit at your supermarket or greengrocer would be many times higher. A soft ripe peach would have to be handled, transported and stored differently, and would last only a small fraction of the time that a green picked peach would.
7,
Most fruit is picked green and hard, and force-ripened immediately prior to its sale. Chemicals such as ethylene gas are used to artificially ripen and colour the fruit. There is little physical damage to the fruit, and little chance itwill over-ripen and spoil before sale.
It is well worth paying several times the price for tree or vine ripened fruits. Grow your own fruits in your backyard, or buy fruit directly from organic suppliers or co-operatives where you can speak to the grower and ensure that itwas picked ripe.
Deterioration within Minutes. All animals need living food. Fruits and vegetables develop phytonutrients and enzymes as they grow. Think of any herbivore grazing on grass. The grass is alive and growing right up until the moment it goes into the animal’s mouth. Any animal in the wild eats ripe fruit, straight from the tree or vine and into the animal’s mouth. Our early hunter-gatherer ancestors would have enjoyed the same level of freshness.
Some fruits and vegetables will start to change within seconds of being picked. The chi, or life of the produce starts to die from that point, as the micronutrients deteriorate. Of course, different types of fruit and vegetables can take from hours to days before they lose most of their nutrition. For example, a ripe and soft peach will be perfect when picked, but will be noticeably softer and less life filled after a couple of hours in the sun. In contrast, apumpkin may not change noticeably for weeks.
If you do not have your own garden, search for whatever is grown locally, and avoid the tired, limp fruit and vegetables at your supermarket. There are increasing numbers of grower markets in all cities. Many people with rural smallholdings have excess from their trees and gardens, and are glad to make some extra money. I have found a couple of such suppliers by talking to friends and reading the local newspapers.
A small suburban backyard can produce a surprising amount of food. I strongly recommend speaking to an expert before starting a garden. It is important to know which trees and vegetables thrive under the local conditions. Equally important is keeping to permaculture principles,!°
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If you do not have a garden, at least get a couple of planter boxes and grow some herbs, tomatoes and other vegetables on your balcony or windowsill. You can treat yourself to chives, basil, mint, thyme and other fresh and full flavoured produce, and at least a portion of your diet will be alive.
IN SEASON
ets go back to our ancestors 50,000 years ago. Would they have been
|besettoeatfruitandvegetablesimportedfromadifferentclimate,or from the opposite side of the world, where a different season is in progress? Nature provides food packed with the nutrients you need for the season you are in, and the place where you are. A healthful diet in one location is frequently disastrous for different people elsewhere in the world.
In winter, rooty, dense, high-energy vegetables are most suitable for making delicious nourishing soups for those cold days. Artichokes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrot, cauliflower, leeks, parsnips, peas, silver beet, spinach and turnips are typically available in winter. At the end of winter, the first shoots and buds appear — high nutrient food, in preparation for the summer activity ahead. Summer produces light and alkaline salad vegetables that are rich in vitamins and minerals, such as capsicum, corn, cucumber, endive, lettuce, spinach, watercress and leafy herbs like basil and parsley. Summer fruits include peaches, apricots and nectarines.
RICHEST PART OF FRUIT/VEGETABLES
he most nutritious part of a cabbage is the outer dark green leaves. Most people throw away the oldest, toughest and most insect-eaten
leaves. The same applies to any other vegetable — most nutrients are concentrated towards the outside, or in the outer green leaves. With fruit,
where everything supports everything else. A small suburban permaculture garden can provide most ofafamily’s needs, and once itissetup itrequires little regular work. Such a garden is a great source of organic, ripe and fresh produce.
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the minerals, vitamins and enzymes are located predominantly in the skins and rinds, particularly the white pulpy flesh immediately under the skin. For example, with watermelon, the white flesh under the skin (the least palatable) is also the most nourishing. The core and the seeds in most fruits are also highly nutritious - another part that we tend to throw away. Have you ever seen an animal ignoring the core ofa fruit, the pips, or its skin?
When you eat a fruit or vegetable, you can often eat the whole, complete item. For example, with a beetroot, eat the leaves and stalks along with the roots. Eat broccoli and cauliflower leaves, as well as the flowers. With fruit, eat the skin, the core and the seeds, as well as the tender inner portion. The white fibres between the segments of an orange or other citrus fruit are rich in enzymes and amino acids. In addition to consuming the most nutritious part ofthe plant as explained above, you also get the benefit of symbiosis. The complex enzymes and other components of each part of the plant support the others.
Sometimes the stalks may be pithy, the leaves may be bitter, or the skin ofa fruit may be uninteresting (who likes orange peel?) However, do keep experimenting — you will add to your nutrition, waste less, and find some new favourites. I used to throw away broccoli stalks for example. Nowadays I peel them, and expose a delicious crunchy vegetable high in vitamin C.
There are two provisos here — the skins and outer leaves are likely to be the most contaminated or polluted. If the produce is non-organic, and has been sprayed with pesticides or fungicides, or ifithas been sitting outside in traffic fumes or other pollution, then the outer leaves or skins should be thrown away. Effective ways of washing produce are discussed on page 100.
Secondly, do not eat any additional parts of nightshade vegetables such as tomato, potato, capsicum and aubergine (page 198). For example, the leaves of a tomato plant or the flowers of a potato are poisonous. The roots, leaves and shoots of many wild plants are also toxic. Among common fruits and vegetables, avoid carrot and rhubarb greens and the outside skins of
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MODERATION OVEREATING
vereating has a devastating effect on your health and longevity. After O;:meal,youshouldfeelsatisfied,orideallyjustslightlyhungry.The pleasurable groans and belt loosening that end many meals have a high cost in terms of your health and longevity. In many cultures around the world such as France, Japan, China, Korea, Nepal and India, overeating is considered disgusting. You will enjoy your food more by emphasising its quality and presentation, rather than how much you can cram onto a plate and into your stomach.
The amount offood you eat (and your resulting weight) ispivotal to your health and longevity. A mass of scientific research confirms this.!9> 20, 21, 22, 41,117 Ancient Tao and Buddhist teachings have repeatedly
emphasised this point over the centuries.
Although being overweight is caused by several factors such as your
level of physical activity, the quality of your diet and having a low muscle mass, Overeating is the main cause. More than half the population of all English-speaking countries is overweight or obese. In the year 2000 around 55% of North Americans were overweight, of which 25% were obese.*!B By2004,theoverweighthadincreasedto64%ofalladults. 31%ofpeople over the age of 20 are now obese!938 25% of children are overweight.!!4 Overweight and obese people will grow old early, and suffer high rates of degenerative diseases such as heart and artery disease, and diabetes.,
Why is overeating so damaging to your body? If 90% of the free radicals in your body come from the food you eat (page 154), itfollows that overeating is about the most damaging thing you can do to your rate of ageing.
Overeating also produces high levels of toxic waste. Western lifestyles do not eliminate these wastes efficiently, and instead they accumulate. Excess calories are stored as fat. This leads to hormonal imbalances, toxic
orange and grapefruit in large quantities because of the toxins they contain.
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acid build up, sickness and ageing.
An excess of carbohydrates from overeating raises your blood glucose
level, which in turn raises your insulin level, raises your triglycerides, and lowers your HDL (good) cholesterol. Itputs you at risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It stresses all your organs, diverting energy and enzymes to a heavy digestive process. In particular it damages your digestive system (poor nutrition or assimilation is at the root of virtually all degenerative diseases).
However, it is important that you are not malnourished in any way. For a long and healthy life, you need a high quality, high nutrient diet, with the minimum amount of calories for your level of activity. Reduce your calories, but ensure you get a full range of macro and micronutrients. Jfyou are getting all the nutrients you need, you are less likely to feel inappropriately hungry. Cravings for sweet, fatty or salty foods are indicative of an imbalance in your body, rather than genuine hunger.
You are only likely to follow the diet recommended in Grow Youthful for the rest of your life ifyou find ittotally satisfying and enjoyable. Food is one of the great pleasures in this world, and I am certainly not asking you to forgo it.A healthy diet isabsolutely delicious, especially once you have recovered from the sugar-salt-fat excesses of the SAD.
¢ The thinner you are, the healthier and longer-lived you will be, provided your slim body is not caused by smoking or illness.4!©
* If you have a lean body, do not be too smug. What is important is that your weight today is close to your weight when you were 20 years old. If
you are several kilos more today than you were at the age of 20, your risk of degenerative diseases and ageing is higher even though your weight seems reasonable.
* Where you have put on weight is also important — if your gut is fatter today than at the age of 20, you are more at risk than if the fat is around your thighs and hips.4!P
* Middle-aged spread is not inevitable. If you keep the same body shape throughout your life, you will likely be healthy, youthful and long-lived.
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WE ARE ENCOURAGED TO OVEREAT
Western (particularly North American) society encourages overeating. The food industries spend billions of dollars each year to entice and mislead us. The most obvious example is in the advertising of fast food and soft drinks. We see healthy, beautiful, slim, energetic and life-filled young people enjoying these products. The truth is that never touching processed foods and soft drinks is the best thing that you can do for your health. Other industries also encourage us to eat more — dairy, potato, egg, beef, fruit juice and sweets all have their message.
Value is emphasised. Larger portions and servings or free extras are a clever marketing ploy, but completely inappropriate for food where it is quality rather than quantity that matters.
Restaurant portions are often excessively large — itisnot uncommon to be served a meal totalling 1,500 calories — sufficient energy for an entire day. “All you can eat” restaurants and “help yourself” buffets give a sense of bountiful food and massive choice, encouraging you to take larger portions and eat far more than you would otherwise.
There is a hidden side to commercial food production that is very active. More than sight and sound are used to entice us — your taste and smell are open to manipulation too. Today, it is possible to create virtually any flavour or smell in the laboratory. Exotic and enticing chemical tangs and aromas are added to processed foods at a lower cost than the real ingredients — so chemicals are widely used. The sugar and refined salt content of most processed foods is also raised to make them more addictive. These false foods are available everywhere in our cities — gas stations, sports and entertainment venues, corner and department stores.
WHY DOES CALORIE RESTRICTION WORK?
Most conventional dieticians recommend that a moderately active woman consume around 1800-2000 calories per day and a similar man 2300-2500 calories per day. While this level of calories is unlikely to lead to obesity, itwill encompass a “normal” level of ageing and sickness. Reducing these
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Calorie restriction leads to a total improvement in your health and Vitality, with all organs benefiting, especially your pancreas, kidneys and brain. Blood glucose, insulin and lipid levels are normalised, reducing all kinds of autoimmune diseases, especially heart disease and diabetes.
Calorie restriction improves your health and longevity by:
* Reducing free radicals. 90% of the free radicals in your body come from the food that you eat (page 154). The more you eat, the more free radicals are produced. If you can restrict the energy (calorie) component of your food, it will have a dramatic effect on the level of free radicals in your body.
*Improving your metabolism. After afew weeks on reduced calories, your metabolism becomes more efficient, and produces even fewer free radicals as a by-product.
¢ Lowering your blood glucose level. This leads to reduced levels of Advanced Glycosylated End products. AGEs are sugary, inflammatory build-ups near the surface of arteries and capillaries, leading to heart and kidney disease, blindness and impotence.
¢ Lowering your blood insulin level. Insuiin is secreted in response to
glucose, primarily from carbohydrates. The damage caused by excess insulin isdiscussed on page 263.
HOW TO AVOID OVEREATING
*The most effective thing you can do to reduce your hunger isconvert from processed food to living food.
Most people in the Western world suffer from malnutrition. It seems hard to believe. Your first thought might be just the opposite — most people are overweight. They seem to be suffering from anything but malnourishment in this world of plenty. How is itpossible?
The modern Western diet provides excessive calories, but little nutrition. Processed foods sometimes taste good, but only fresh natural
daily calorie levels by 40% to 1200 for women and 1500 for men will open your life to a new era of top quality food, health and longevity.
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This may seem to be a daunting task, but it is not. A handful of fresh raw nuts or sprouted seeds isjust as quick as a bowl of packaged breakfast cereal with pasteurised milk; a slice of Essene bread with avocado is no more trouble than a hamburger; a piece of fruit is as easy as a packet of potato crisps. It is just a matter of habit.
¢ According to Ayurvedic tradition, there are six basic tastes: sweet, salt, sour, bitter, pungent and astringent. The standard American diet is high in sugar and salt, but low or without the other flavours. If you have a meal with a balance of all the tastes, you are less likely to feel (inappropriately) hungry after.
* Slow down, fully appreciate, enjoy. This may mean changing a lifetime eating habit. Chew slowly and thoroughly and fully sense your food (page
106). Your body will feed back a lot of information, including whether the food you are eating is nourishing or not. The feeling of satiety or fullness will be clearer. You may not even like what you are eating if you pay attention!
* It takes about 20 minutes for the “stomach is full” signal to reach the brain. If you are eating rapidly, which most overweight people do, you can consume a lot of food after your stomach is full and before you feel satiated. Slow down.
* Have a starter 15 minutes before the main meal. It will make you less likely to overeat during the main meal.
* Have some protein with every meal. Protein makes you feel full. Your protein does not have to be in a concentrated form (meat, fish, eggs and diary).Itispreferablethatalotofitcomes fromnuts,seeds,beans,grains, and even vegetables, all of which contain some protein. This protein will maintain your blood glucose level at a more stable level, again reducing the
foods nourish our bodies. Most Westerners’ bodies are crying out for nourishing, living food. The more refined, processed or cooked a food is, the less nutrition itprovides. Starved of real nutrition, their body’s instinct is to eat more. If you eat mostly processed food, you are likely to be continually hungry.
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likelihood of getting hunger pangs.
* Minimise the number of components in each meal. Your hypothalamus makes you hungry for each unique food flavour that itrecognises when you eat, until you have had sufficient of that particular food. So if you have a meal with many food flavours and types, itisdifficult to avoid overeating. The secret is to keep your meals simple, and base them on just one or two main components and flavours.
* People commonly overeat because of their psychological needs, not because they are hungry. They consume large quantities of bad calories for emotional reasons. Chocolate, ice cream, potato crisps or fries eaten daily are a serious problem. Food provides an anaesthetic against emotional pain; it can be a substitute for love; it fills an inner emptiness from a lack of connection to others; and itsoothes anxiety. The chapter LIVING THE LIFE YOU LOVE discusses loving yourself and finding fulfilment from within rather than outside yourself (do not worry — you will become a more attractive human being!)
¢ Drink a glass of water half an hour before your meal. Frequently you are not hungry — rather you are thirsty. Thirty minutes gives enough time for it
to be absorbed into your blood, and then back again into your stomach as digestive juices, improving your digestion.
*ItisOK to say no. You do not have to eat something just because itisput in front of you. Be honest with other people about what you really want, and they will be more likely to cater for your needs in the future.
¢ Minimise temptation by not having addictive foods in your house. I find that if Ihave ice cream or black chocolate in the kitchen, I simply cannot leave them alone. However, I always have a supply of fresh fruits, raw vegetables, olives and raw nuts.
* Reducing the proportion of refined carbohydrates and sugars in your diet will make a dramatic difference to your calorie intake. Stay away from white and even whole wheat breads. Replace them with dense whole grain “peasant” breads. Replace sticky white rice with long grained brown “basmati” rice. If you eat a high GI food (page 265), eat it in moderation,
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during the day.
EATING TIPS - HOW AND WHEN CHEWING
ome people are fast eaters, and others are slow eaters. From a health S pointofview,theleisurelyeaterswinoutright.Chewyourfoodslowly and thoroughly — ideally 25 to 50 times per mouthful. Yes, I can hear some
people saying “that’s ridiculous”, but the more you chew your food and the slower you eat, the easier itisto digest. Chewing breaks your food into the smallest possible particles, making them more digestible. Most people have damaged digestive systems, and eating slowly helps immensely.
Chewing your food slowly particularly applies to carbohydrates such as bread, rice, potatoes, grains, pasta, cakes and other starches. Your saliva contains the alkaline enzyme ptyalin, which starts digesting starchy carbohydrates while they are still in your mouth. If you eat these foods without chewing them until they are virtually a liquid, you may suffer from poor digestion and flatulence. In the long-term, bolting down starches will cause serious damage to your digestive system, and shorten your life.
Chewing your food exercises your jaw muscles, maintaining the youthful structure of your face. The masseter is one of the strongest muscles in the body, and needs regular exercise.
If you chew your food thoroughly, your digestion is dramatically improved. Your digestive system is able to extract more of the nutrients and energy in the food you eat, so you can reduce the amount of food you eat by as much as a half, with no feeling of hunger, or loss of energy or nutrition.34
FOOD COMBINATIONS
You can assist your digestion by eating small, simple meals with just a few
and as part of a mixed meal. Eating low GI foods will ensure that your blood glucose level remains stable, and you do not have hunger pangs
ingredients that are compatible with each other. Proteins do not combine
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Carbohydrate foods are best eaten on their own, or combined with vegetables and fats. They include all flour, starch and sugar based products like breads, pastries, biscuits, cakes, potatoes, rice and pasta. The digestion of carbohydrates starts in your mouth, and then continues in your stomach and small intestine.
Protein digestion needs concentrated digestive juices and strong acid in the stomach, before completing in the small intestine. It is best to eat proteins at the beginning of a meal, before your digestive juices are diluted with other foods. Concentrated protein foods like meat, eggs, dairy and fish are best eaten on their own, or with vegetables (except potatoes) and fats. This also applies to less concentrated proteins such as legumes and nuts. Examples of poor protein combinations include meat and potatoes, meat pies, fish and chips, and an egg sandwich.
Fruit, and particularly melons, are rapidly digested, usually in less than 30 minutes. The best way to eat most fruits is separate from main meals. In particular, citrus fruits do not digest well with grains.
A few fruits do not ferment as quickly, such as bananas, dates, dried fruit, apples and coconut. They take 45-60 minutes before passing through your stomach. You can combine these fruits with fats and foods such as complex carbohydrates like whole oats, millet or rye. You can also mix them with your muesli, bake them into a dense wholegrain cake, or slice them on heavy bread.
Milk — drink it on its own, or leave it alone. Milk contains a fat that combines poorly with other foods. Itcurdles immediately itenters your stomach. If there is any other food present the curds coagulate around the other food particles and insulate them from your gastric juices, delaying digestion. Eating meat and milk together imposes a digestive conflict on the stomach, and was even forbidden in the bible. Other dairy products like kefir, yogurt and cheeses are more digestible as they have already been
well with carbohydrates because the starches in carbohydrates need an alkaline environment for their digestion, in contrast to proteins, which need an acid environment.
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curdled in an acidic environment.
most desserts are difficult to digest.
SIMPLE MEALS
For optimum digestion, eat simple meals with just a few components.’© If you have a severely damaged digestive system this is the best way to eat while healing. Modern Western diets have far too many components. Meals often consist of more than one course, and each course comprises several different kinds of food. In contrast, every traditional culture has a coarse, unrefined staple food that provides a carbohydrate base for most meals. Rice is a staple throughout Asia, maize in Southern Africa and parts of South America, yams in some parts ofthe tropics, wheat in Western Europe and North America, and rye in Northern Europe. Usually these staples have vegetables added, and small quantities of meat, fish, eggs or dairy products.
Go back to our Palaeolithic ancestors. Most meals would have consisted of vegetables or fruit they had just found. If they killed a small animal, they would eat itsoon after. They would seldom have consumed different types of meats, dairy, eggs and fruits together. The way we eat a formal meal today, with a starter, amain course and a sweet is excessive!
PEACEFUL EATING
Eat your food peacefully, sitting down comfortably, with no stressful distractions such as TV, phone calls or business meetings. The ideal is to sit down by yourself or with friends, and give all your attention to the enjoyment of your food. You need time to properly chew and fully taste each mouthful. Eating is a conscious action.
Acids inhibit starch digestion. For example, bread digests badly with vinegar or wine.
Sugar inhibits the action of the alkaline enzyme ptyalin, which breaks down starches. Try not to consume any sugar products with starches. Bread with honey or jam, sweetened rice, waffles with syrup, cakes, pastries and
If you are relaxed and thoughtful as you eat, your digestive system will
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concentrate on the considerable task of extracting the maximum value from the food you are consuming, not diverted by stress enzymes.
Do not eat ifyou are tired, stressed, angry, excited, overheated, chilled, in pain, or have a high fever. Strong emotions generate hormones in your blood, and redirect enzyme components from your digestive system to produce them. Physical activity and strong emotions tend to shut down your digestive system.
TEMPERATURE
Avoid extremes of hot and cold in both food and drink. They are unnatural —no animal consumes boiling or freezing foods. Excessively hot food or drink can irritate or even burn the tender lining of your mouth and throat. During the cold of winter, hot (but not scalding) food and drink is warming and comforting, so it is appropriate to have hot meals then. However, consider how often you have a hot cup oftea or coffee, or a hot meal purely out of habit.
Iced drinks halt the digestive process by constricting the ducts that secrete gastric juices into your stomach, and by cooling your stomach below the optimum temperature for digestion. Slamming down a can of iced soft drink after a hard game of sport is positively damaging to your digestive system. Cool water is appropriate — the same temperature that it might be if left in a nearby river, or the ocean.
MAIN MEAL OF THE DAY
For many people, breakfast should be the largest and most important meal of the day. It is not a good idea to skip breakfast, or just have a sugary snack and a cup of coffee. By mid morning, you will be hungry and over- compensate. A “traditional” breakfast is a sensible meal — fresh fruit, yogurt, eggs, fish, oatmeal porridge etc.
It is best to wait 30 minutes after getting up before eating breakfast. Your digestive system needs time to activate after its overnight fast. However, it is a good idea to drink a glass of water when you get up.
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Allow four hours between meals for complete digestion.
SNACKING
Every part of your body needs regular rest — and sometimes a holiday. The same applies to your digestive system. It is not meant to be under a constant digestive load. Try to let each meal digest completely before you start the next. Digestion uses energy, and the enzymes involved draw on the rest of your body. Let your glands rest and rejuvenate between meals. Snacking between meals and eating late at night deprives your body of the energy it needs for detoxification, repair and growth — which occur primarily while you are sleeping.
Thin people who are physically active may sometimes need a snack, but generally, hunger pangs and sugar cravings are a symptom of metabolic syndrome (page 261). If your digestive system is healthy, and you are eating a nutritious balance of complex carbohydrates, proteins and oils, you should not feel hungry between meals.
Some people choose to have smaller meals and eat more frequently. It is worth experimenting to see how this suits your particular body, particularly if you are a vegetarian.
It is acceptable for children to have additional food, but well nourished children do not snack incessantly. Children who are able to follow the dietary recommendations in Grow Youthful, drinking adequate water, and especially avoiding sweets and soft drinks, have a great start in life.
DRINKING WITH MEALS
There are two schools of thought on drinking with food. The first says that
It is also acceptable to eat your largest meal in the middle of the day. Remember, after your main meal you need time to rest and digest. Your own schedule will determine which meal is your main one. If it has to be inthe evening, ensure itiscompleted no less than four hours before you go to sleep.
that drinks dilute your stomach acid and digestive enzymes, inhibiting your
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digestion. They advise to avoid drinking up to half an hour before a meal, and at least an hour afterwards.
The other school recommends drinking with your meals. All aspects of digestion need copious quantities of water; you would have to drink aLOT of water before your digestion was diluted and weakened.
Itend towards drinking a little with my meals. Itisworth experimenting and discovering what works best for you. If you drink wine or beer, a glass with a meal is acceptable. Wine and beer are acidic, so they assist the digestion of proteins. There is an element of good sense behind the traditional accompaniment of wine with concentrated proteins such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and cheese. However, avoid wine with a starchy carbohydrate meal.
FOOD PREPARED WITH LOVE
It is adamning indictment offood manufacturers, the supermarkets, and their unconscious consumers that soft drinks, full of sugar and laced with phosphoric acid, are the number one selling item in supermarkets.
any people do not even know what real food is — where it comes INL andwhatittasteslike.Lookatasupermarket,abakery,a canteen, any TV advertisement, or even a hospital’s kitchen. You will see food in packets, made with refined ingredients, damaged fats, sugar, and contaminated with a variety of manufactured chemicals. They are made with the cheapest of ingredients with the objectives of looking good, lasting a long time, and appealing to the sweet and jaded taste buds of a malnourished population.
The continued use of technologies such as herbicides, pesticides, refining, shelf life extension and irradiation separate us from nature and the living food it produces. Real food nourishes our bodies and souls at every level.
Yes, good food does take more time and energy to prepare. The daily use of fast foods is laziness posing as convenience. It seems that cost, convenience and reliability are more important than caring for our bodies.
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The irony is that real food takes time and love to prepare, but not necessarily much money. The richest countries in the world have malnourished populations. In any city, the richest citizens do not necessarily eat the best.
The most nourishing ingredients are those grown in your own back garden, or on a nearby organic farm, where you personally know and trust the farmer. For those living in cities, organic fruit and vegetable shops and farmer’s markets are rapidly growing. Ask around to find where farmers come into the city once or twice a week, and sell direct from the side of their truck.
The time you spend preparing food is a measure of the love you have for yourself and others, bringing them nourishment and sustenance. Fresh, attractive, varied, in season and balanced dishes are a delicious expression of your love.
Food is enhanced by being shared. A meal prepared with care and love, and relished with family and friends is one of life’s pleasures. Amidst conversation and laughter, allfood ishealthy food. What you believe about your food or a particular diet will make it work or fail. If you thoroughly enjoy a meal, and feel nourished by the food, then that is what you will experience. Alternatively, ifyou have any negative feelings about the food you are eating, they will ultimately manifest in your body.
Consider a dish prepared by an exhausted, resentful, underpaid employee of an abusive, greedy and unethical fast food business, located on a busy and accident-prone freeway intersection. Then consider exactly the same dish prepared specially for you by a trusted friend, as awelcome to his or her home. The friend is centred and peaceful, and the preparation is agenerous and loving gift to you. Idoubt that current scientific analysis could discern much difference between the two dishes ifthey used the same ingredients, but Iknow which one Iwould prefer to eat! Food ismore than
Ready to eat food in boxes, packets, tins and frozen microwave meals will only take a year or two to manifest in the diseases, depressions and aggression that plague our society.
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the sum of its nutrients — ittakes on the energy of the place and the people that prepared it. Living food has a spiritual quality.
This is regardless of the fact that your friend may have sourced some of the ingredients from his organic back garden; that he would have washed them more carefully; and paid more attention whilst preparing them. There is more to it than the food being set in front of you on the table in an atmosphere of love and trust and generosity. The food itself has a different energy.
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MORE ON FOOD MACRONUTRIENTS
arbohydrates, proteins and fats are macronutrients. For good health, all
This section will show you that most people on a standard Western diet eat insufficient protein and “good” oils. On the other hand, they consume dangerously high quantities of carbohydrates (especially refined carbohydrates and sugars), and toxic quantities of “bad” oils.
CARBOHYDRATE
Carbohydrates are sugars and starches. Simple carbohydrates are sugars — colourless, odourless, sweet and water-soluble. They include glucose, fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (the primary sugar in milk), galactose (another milk sugar), maltose (produced by sprouting grains) and sucrose (table sugar).
Complex carbohydrates are starches, found in the roots (e.g. potatoes and carrots), fruits and seeds ofplants. When you eat a complex carbohydrate the starches are broken down into sugars by your digestive system, and the fibre in itpasses through you, largely unchanged.
Examples of unrefined carbohydrate foods include vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, seeds and beans. The best carbohydrates (as with all other foods) are natural, unrefined, wholegrain and unprocessed.
Refined high-carbohydrate foods are made from flours and sugars, and include breads, cakes, biscuits, pasta, noodles, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, syrups, jams, fruit juices, all sugars and sweets.
Your digestive system converts carbohydrates to glucose, which is its preferred source of energy.
In nature, carbohydrates come packaged with minerals, vitamins, fats, proteins, fibres and enzymes that allow their slow digestion and use. However, the more refined and processed a carbohydrate, the more your body needs to draw on its own stores of these micronutrients to digest them.
GC arerequiredeveryday,andpreferablyeverymeal.Mostfoods already contain some combination of the three.
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Sugars and refined carbohydrates also digest too quickly, spiking your blood with glucose, causing wild swings in your hormones, and leading to diabetes. Sugars also promote the growth of fungi, an endemic problem responsible for many diseases today (page 261).
Walter Willett?? has shown that refined carbohydrate, especially refined flour and added sugar, is the chief culprit in obesity, which is so widespread today. The direct connection between soft drinks, bread, pasta, noodles, biscuits, cakes and potatoes with high blood glucose levels means that carbohydrates play an important role in the development of diabetes, one of the fastest growing degenerative diseases in the Western world (page 261). In North America, diabetes increased by 40% in the 20 years up to the turn of the century, and this explosion is expected to continue, or even increase around the world. Your blood glucose level has a strong link to the development of cardiovascular and many other degenerative diseases, and your rate of ageing.
A high sugar, refined carbohydrate diet puts your blood glucose level on a roller coaster, and this causes other hormones to fluctuate (See the section A NEW EPIDEMIC). The result is a cycle of craving for stimulation, excitement and exhilaration — followed by a depletion of energy, stress, tiredness, apathy and depression.
Stay away from foods and drinks that have been processed and refined, or have added sugars. Get the bulk of your calories from unprocessed vegetables and fruits. Replace light, refined, white and wholemeal breads with dense, heavy, grainy breads. Choose heavier, denser, non-sticky brown rices and wholegrain pastas. Experiment with less familiar grains like quinoa, bulgur wheat (coarsely ground sprouted wheat), buckwheat, whole oats, kasha and amaranth. These grains and seeds are highly nutritious, protecting you from a range of degenerative diseases. They also introduce a delicious range of tastes, textures and colours to expand your palate.
The Glycemic Index (page 265) is a good tool for choosing a diet that will provide energy for your muscles and brain for hours after you eat a meal, without spiking your blood glucose level or causing hunger pangs. Ifyou do
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Whole grains protect you against diabetes, heart disease, cancer, constipation and other gastrointestinal problems.*!© They keep your stool soft and bulky, and help prevent diverticulosis, the development of small irritable pouches along your colon. In addition to “slow release” carbohydrates, whole grains contain fibre, anti-oxidants, minerals (magnesium, selenium, manganese etc) and phytoestrogens. Oatmeal porridge, brown rice, wholegrain pasta and wholegrain bread are good examples of the carbohydrate foods to eat. However, standard brown bread, or bread made with wholemeal flour are not recommended — they are both made from refined flour.
The energy from your food should match your level of activity. Most of us spend our lives sitting — driving, at the computer, at the office, in the lounge and at the dining table. You need a steady level of blood glucose that matches your level of activity. You can get around a third of your total calories from unrefined, low GI carbohydrates. If you are overweight or not physically active most of the day, then further reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat. A high carbohydrate diet is especially bad for sedentary, obese people, raising their risk of heart and other degenerative diseases.4!F
Lean and active people best tolerate starches. Very few people need quick access to energy from lots of carbohydrates — only professional sports people, and those doing heavy manual labour.
Glyconutrients
In spite of my constant warnings to eliminate sugar from your diet, there are eight essential sugars that your body must have for good health. There may also be other sugars, though research has not shown their beneficial effects so clearly. When your body isyoung and healthy, itisable to make some of these sugars from glucose. However, a diet that is rich in these sugars has been proven to result in excellent health, longevity and self-healing
eat a high GI food, eat itin moderation; also balance itby eating itwith other low GI foods as part of the same meal.
ability 11.112,
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These glyconutrients are found in vine-ripened or tree-ripened fruits, berries and vegetables grown and harvested in your own garden or freshly purchased from farmers’ markets. Their content decreases with processing and storage. In other words, the living food diet recommended in Grow Youthful will maximise your glyconutrient intake.
Glyconutrients are essential for the healthy operation of your body’s cells. With the widespread use of processed food, the average person no longer gets sufficient glyconutrients. The result is that many normal body functions are compromised, including the immune system, cell regeneration, and energy production.
The eight sugars are glucose, mannose, xylose, galactose, fucose, N- acetylneuraminic acid or sialic acid, N-acetylglucosamine, and N-acetyl- galactosamine. You do not need to supplement glucose — most people get more than enough. Most people probably need to concentrate on getting sufficient mannose. The best source of mannose is aloe vera, other sources include shiitake mushrooms, cordyceps sinensis, kelp and fenugreek. Berries are an important source of most of the eight, as is aloe vera. Other sources of some of the glyconutrients include kelp and wakame seaweed, kefir, raw honey,eggs,gelatineandfreshcoconuts. Ifyoumake avegetable/fruitjuice every day with your juicer, and use a variety of ripe-picked and fresh produce along with a piece of aloe vera, you will get most of these essential sugars.
A rich source of N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyl-galactosamine is cartilage and bones (see bone stock, page 154). If you are a vegetarian, shiitake mushrooms are an alternative source.
Glyconutrient supplements are available, often through multi-level marketing organisations. They are usually effective, and have an amazing track record in healing many nervous disorders including fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis. However, they are very expensive. If you eat, almost every day, a handful of berries, a pinch of ground fenugreek, a little shiitake mushroom or a pinch of their powder, a little seaweed, and a cup of a stock as described above, you will boost your health, energy and disease resistance quite noticeably.
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PROTEIN
What isprotein?
Proteins are large complex molecules made from amino acids. A constant supply of amino acids is required to construct proteins to build, repair and maintain your body. When you eat proteins, they are broken down into amino acids, which your body then uses to build its own proteins. For this reason, you need to eat proteins every day.
Proteins are made from a pool of 22 amino acids. Your body can make thirteen of them, but you have to get the missing nine from your food. Ifyou do not get sufficient of these nine essential amino acids from your food, your body will start breaking down and consuming your own muscles to obtain them. You can also get some of the missing essential amino acids from the rich bacterial sources in your lower digestive tract, or from the cells that constantly slough off its lining. Deficiency of essential amino acids is a surprisingly common problem, because people eat cooked, poor quality proteins and have damaged digestive systems.
Protein is an inefficient fuel source, with a high proportion of the energy in itused to dismantle and metabolise the protein molecules. This may be one reason why high protein weight-loss diets, such as the Atkins24 and Montignac?> diets, are effective — they are simply an inefficient use of food energy. Another reason is that protein makes you feel full (satiated).
Protein is a complex, dirty fuel. When breaking down protein, various toxic by-products are released, which put a load on your kidneys. In contrast, carbohydrates and fats are clean burning fuels, leaving only water and carbon dioxide.
Types of dietary protein
Animal proteins are complete proteins. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products contain proteins made from all 22 amino acids. To get the nine
Your body is made from at least ten thousand different proteins. After water, most of your body weight is protein. Your skin and hair are mostly protein, as are your blood, enzymes, muscles, veins and arteries, and other organs.
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essential amino acids that your body is not able to make, you have to eat complete proteins, or a sufficient variety of incomplete proteins. That is why it is particularly important for vegetarians to eat a variety of protein sources, such as nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, brown rice, beans, vegetables and whole grains.
The most concentrated sources of protein include meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Less concentrated sources include beans, lentils, nuts and seeds. Even smaller quantities of proteins are found in grains, and most vegetables and fruits.
Plant proteins are the simplest proteins, some even occurring as amino acids. Plant proteins are free of nucleo-proteins, which lead to the formation of uric acid.’“ Therefore, plant proteins place less burden on your kidneys, and low levels of uric acid mean less likelihood of gout or rheumatism.
Plant proteins are usually cheaper than animal proteins, and are less likely to contain environmental poisons because they are lower on the food chain.
One of the richest sources of plant protein is soaked, fermented or sprouted grains and nuts. Some but not all properly prepared legumes are also a good source. If you rely only on nuts and seeds for your protein, you may suffer an amino acid imbalance, with high levels of arginine and low levels of lysine, for example. Sunflower, sesame, flax, poppy and pumpkin seed are good foods in small quantities. The same applies to nuts — almonds,
brazils, hazels, pecans and walnuts in particular. Eat a small handful each day, to get proteins, vitamins, minerals and numerous other nutrients. See page 182 for how to make nut and grain milks.
Small cream coloured quinoa seeds have been a staple food in the Andes Mountains for millennia. Quinoa is unique in that it contains complete protein, similar to meat and eggs. It contains significantly more high quality protein than any other grain, and is rich in vitamins, essential fatty acids and minerals, especially calcium, B vitamins and vitamin E. It is a high quality all round complete food known as the “mother grain” by the Aztecs. You can
soak itovernight and add itto your muesli, or boil itfor 15-25 minutes and
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serve as a low GI carbohydrate with vegetables.
Mushrooms are a delicious source of protein, also rich in trace minerals and vitamins. They can reduce your blood cholesterol and enhance your immune system. Avoid raw mushrooms — they contain toxins which cooking breaks down.!8B
Gluten isagrain protein. The highest levels occur inwheat, but itisalso found in other grains such as rye, barley and oats. It is popular in Chinese cooking, and pieces of it are fried and sold as mock duck or abalone. However, I do not recommend gluten as a protein source — many people are allergic to wheat products, particularly the gluten in wheat. Gluten irritates the lining of the gut. Some people are susceptible to celiac disease, caused by gluten in wheat products — intestinal mal-absorption resulting in diarrhoea, hypocalcemia, a tendency to bleed and malnutrition.
Animal proteins are complex, complete proteins, a good source of nutrition. They include meat, dairy products, eggs, fish, birds and some insects.
If you are on a high animal protein diet, it is important that it quickly move through your digestive system. If animal proteins remain in your gut for longer than eighteen hours, they can putrefy and release organic toxins such as phenols, indoles and skatoles, and high levels of putrefactive bacteria build up in the intestines. Uric acid and other toxic by-products are then produced, placing a burden on your kidneys and liver to eliminate them. If your digestive system is constipated and you eat meat or other animal products, the waste products can build up, particularly in your colon. Some of these toxins may be absorbed into your bloodstream and other organs.’“
Stay clear of milk, whey, soy, casein and egg white powders. Isolated protein powders are sold in health food stores and used as body building products or in weight loss diets. They are usually processed at high temperatures, and the proteins are denatured to the point where they are useless. They can contain nitrates and other carcinogens.®4
Soybeans are a source of incomplete protein. Soy products include tofu, tempeh, miso, soymilk and tamari. Soy is discussed on page 202.
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How much do you need?
A surprising number of people in the Western world suffer from a lack of protein. The causes are:
*Poor digestion. Many adults have adamaged digestive system thatdoes not effectively extract the amino acids from the foods they eat.
*Ageing. As people get older, they tend to eat less protein every day, whilst at the same time their digestive systems are becoming less efficient.
* Junk food. Those eating a high proportion of processed food suffer a lack of protein (and virtually every other nutrient).
Everybody’s protein needs are different. Few people seem to thrive on a vegan (no animal products) diet; most feel drained or weak without occasional eggs, fish or meat. Many vegetarians find they need a small amount of meat every few weeks to maintain their colour, strength and energy. Your protein needs may be related to the food that you had as a child — what your digestive system adapted to in those formative years. Too early an exposure to cow’s milk, say before the age of two, can trigger protein digestive problems, allergies and immune problems for the rest of the child’s fife. 12
It is important to listen to your intuition, and observe the effects of different foods on your body — your energy level, your skin, your tongue and breath, your eliminations. If you are diabetic, or concerned about excessive consumption of concentrated proteins, then enjoy more beans, lentils, nuts and seeds.
If you eat insufficient protein, you will be malnourished, have low muscle bulk, and have weak immune, digestive and glandular systems. Your skin will look sallow and aged. Increasing the amount of protein in your diet often improves your digestion. This is especially the case if you are not getting enough of the nine amino acids that can only be obtained from your food. Early signs of protein deficiency include the slow healing of wounds, and the slow growth of hair and nails.
Ifyour body gets more protein than itneeds, itwill convert the excess to glucose. Protein digestion produces nitrogen (especially ammonia, as uric
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acid) as a by-product, which places a burden on your kidneys to eliminate. Long-term high protein diets may result in liver and kidney disease, and damage to your immune system resulting in allergy and autoimmune problems. !8C
Walter Willett, Professor of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School, recommends | gram of protein per day for each kilogram that you weigh.*! I would apply this rule of thumb to a city dweller who does not get much exercise — perhaps half an hour of walking or housework per day. Remember, this is the actual weight of protein that you need, not the weight of the food. Meat and fish average 25-30% protein, so to get 50 grams of protein you would have to eat 150-200 grams of flesh.
Increase your protein intake in the following cases:
*Add 15% ifyou are significantly overweight, breastfeeding, or do moderate exercise at least 30 minutes per day, three times per week.
¢ Add 30% if you exercise an hour a day, five days per week. This is especially important ifyou are doing a weight-training program.
*Add 60% ifyou are very active, exercising or manually working at least two hours per day, five days per week.
* Growing children need a higher proportion of protein in their diets than adults do. A large, active teenager doing lots of sport and outdoors activity needs the most protein.
SOURCES OF PROTEIN
% protein by weight for selected foods
Spirulina seaweed (dry) ay! Pumpkin seeds (pepitas, dry) a3 Beef (roasted, fat trimmed) 32 Salmon (fresh, cooked) 27 Pork 26 Chicken /Turkey (roasted) 26 Cheddar cheese 20 Fish (average, cooked) 23 Peanut butter 25 Sardine (canned) is Peanuts 24 Lamb (broiled, fat trimmed) 22 Almonds 21
Lentils (cooked)
Bread (white/Vienna) Hommos
Macadamia nuts
Tofu
Pasta (cooked)
Cereal (rice crispy)
Alfalfa seeds, sprouted, raw Ice cream vanilla
Milk shake thick vanilla Yogurt
Broccoli (raw)
Corn (sweet, yellow, cooked)
20 Milk (cow’s)
19 Rice, brown cooked ie Soymilk
Salmon (canned)
Sunflower seeds (dry)
Soya beans, cooked
Tahini (sesame seed paste)
Walnuts
Hamburger meat (fast food)
Brazilnuts Potato(baked) CBG“i>G"SOGOCdI8GSGhOohoSo0S"Oo.o,reoo
Egg
Cottage cheese
Miso
Barley, pearl, raw, dry
Bread (whole-wheat)
Beans (cooked) black or kidney 9
Banana
Orange (raw)
Butter
Mango
Apple (raw, with skin)
Oils (olive, or other vegetable)
iS=O©oS © n 0.3 0
Source: U.S. Dept. Agriculture, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.
Spinach (raw) Mushrooms (cooked) Spinach (cooked)
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You need surprisingly little protein for good health and long life when:
*your digestive system isworking efficiently
* you are living in a pristine environment
*you are relaxed, fulfilled and happy
* you are not exercising strenuously for hours every day *your body isalkaline and healthy
Patrick Holford?! advises us not to consume more than 40 grams of concentrated protein per day. For a meat eater, this means a small amount of meat once per day, and preferably no more than three times per week.
According to Ann Wigmore, you can maintain maximum health on 20 grams of raw, plant based protein per day in the above circumstances’.“ However, I believe that your protein needs go up substantially when the above conditions do not apply.
Protein issensitive toheat, and cooking downgrades itsquality. Wigmore maintains that your daily requirement of protein doubles if you eat cooked rather than raw proteins.’B
Proteins are more satiating than carbohydrates and fats.4?© Ifyou eat 500 calories of protein, you should feel full and satisfied. In contrast, ifyou eat 500 calories of carbohydrates or oily food (like roasted nuts) you can still feel hungry.
Try not to cook proteins with sugar. I strongly recommend that you toss any sugar in your pantry into the bin (unless you are using it to make kombucha). Sugar and proteins combine to form Advanced Glycosylated End products (AGEs). Cellular damage, rapid ageing, cataracts, poor skin and more are the outcome of the proteins binding with the sugar. Avoid Oriental recipes that include sugar, and browned foods such as baked custard, browned cheese toppings, crusty breads, biscuits, pastries and basted or crusted meats.
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FAT
We allneed fats
Low fat diets are a mistake.84-!!© Both animal and plant foods always come with fat, and this is how we should consume them. Animal fats are rich in vitamins A, D and other nutrients that are essential for good digestion, particularly of proteins. Low fat milk and other low fat processed foods can cause serious deficiencies of fat-soluble nutrients.
You need about a tablespoon of a good oil with each meal. Ifyou include the fats in the fish, meat, dairy, avocados, olives, nuts and seeds that you eat, then oil should provide a minimum of a third of your calories.
Top quality extra virgin olive oil is a good general kitchen oil, ideal for salads, dips and dressings. You can use it to cook at low temperatures (i.e. with water present). The best oils to cook with are coconut oil or ghee. These healthy oils can withstand moderate cooking temperatures that would turn most other oils toxic. Butter is another fat I use daily (margarine is a poison). You can use fresh, organic, cold pressed sesame, peanut, macadamia, walnut and mustard seed oils in moderation. Buy only small amounts, and keep them tightly sealed in the refrigerator.
The problem with our diets today is not the inclusion of fats, but the type of fats we consume. There are definitely good fats and bad fats. Good fats are highly nutritious and are essential for the proper functioning of your brain, heart, hormone production, membranes, nervous and immune and many other body systems. Good fats are natural and unadulterated, coming from cold-pressed olives and coconuts, fish, wild or free ranging animals, nuts and seeds. Bad fats, widely used in fast and processed foods, are manufactured non-foods that are responsible for many diseases.
Fats taste good, improving and releasing the flavour of most foods. They also have a rich and smooth “mouth feel”, and can change the texture of food by crisping it.Many cooking cultures rely on fats for their personality — think of chocolate, full of cocoa butter, Indian foods with their spices fried in ghee, tropical Asian foods based around coconut oil, Mediterranean foods based on olive oil, French foods rich in butter and cream, and modern Western foods
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with so much that is deep fried or fat based.
Your body cannot break down fats into glucose, in the same way itbreaks down carbohydrates for their energy. Fats do not cause a rise in your blood glucose level after you have eaten them. Instead, your blood lipid (fat) levels can rise. Most of your cells can directly use these fats as an energy source, but some, such as brain cells, can only use glucose.
Fats help moderate the rises in blood glucose and insulin that occur after eating carbohydrates.
Fats do not make you feel full (with the exception of Omega-3s). It is easy to “passively over-consume” when eating fatty foods.49?P For example, potato crisps and cooked peanuts both contain lots of fat. After eating a 100- gram packet of crisps (340 calories) or peanuts (585 calories) you may still feel peckish. This is in spite of the fact that you have consumed 15-30% of your daily food calories! By contrast, 500 calories of vegetable salad, fruit, legumes, egg, fish, meat or low GI carbohydrates such as whole grain bread would be a meal in itself, and you should feel full.
For the last two decades, experts thought that high cholesterol in our food was the culprit in heart disease. However, low cholesterol (low fat) diets do not reduce heart disease.4° If you eat less cholesterol, your liver simply produces more of this essential nutrient. Conversely, when you eat lots of cholesterol, your liver compensates by producing less. The ratio of “good” HDL to “bad” LDL cholesterol is a better factor to control. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) carry fats and cholesterols from the liver to the artery walls and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) mop itup, take itthrough the artery walls, and back to the liver. Ifyou have a high LDL/HDL ratio, you are likely to have a build up of lipoproteins (and cholesterol) in the walls of your blood vessels, causing a severe inflammatory reaction. Free radicals attack
Fats occur in both plants and animals. Plants store their oils in their seeds and nuts, and occasionally in their fruits, such as in olives and avocados. Fats hold about twice as much energy as complex carbohydrates and natural sugars. They are also clean burning, releasing their energy and burning into carbon dioxide and water.
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setting the scene for blood clots.
Saturated fats
Animals, including people, store most of their fat in a saturated form. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are relatively stable and inactive. They tend to be solid at room temperature. Good sources of SFAs are dairy products, meats and coconut oils.
Research over a decade ago concluded that there was probably a connection between high consumption of saturated fats and high levels of bad LDL cholesterol and heart and artery disease+!© However, many recent researchers such as Mary Enig%4-!!© have found that it is polyunsaturated vegetable oils rather than SFAs that are responsible for the epidemic of heart disease today. This resonates with my own experience. For decades, | mistakenly existed on a low fat diet, taking particular care to avoid saturated fats. I suffered high LDL cholesterol levels, a stressed outlook on life, and looked older than my age. Since re-introducing SFAs into my diet and avoiding the bad fats discussed below, my cholesterol ratio and stress levels have gone down to unusually low levels, and my health and feeling of wellbeing have dramatically improved.
You need SFAs in your diet for good health. Fish, coconut oil, meat and dairy food (preferably as kefir) will provide them. Saturated fats are essential for the integrity of cell membranes, the production of many hormones, for taking up calcium, for good liver, digestion and immune function, and in vitamin and essential fatty acid pathways.
Butterfat (Ghee) gives the mouth feel and flavour to ice creams, cheeses, creams and so on. You can make itby heating butter and straining itto remove the milk solids. The result is the most saturated of animal fats, at around 66%. Ghee is a stable cooking fat that can be stored un- refrigerated. It can better withstand higher temperatures than most other cooking fats, and is the main cooking fat used in India.
Coconut oil contains 90% SFAs, but mainly of a different type. Over
and oxidise the build up, damaging the artery linings, clogging arteries, and
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SFAs, will store for years.
Monounsaturated fats
Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) are liquid, cloudy or somewhat solid at room temperature. The best sources of MUFAs are olive oil, avocados, fresh raw nuts and seeds. Almond, cashew, hazels, macadamia, peanut, pecan and pistachio oils are all high in MUFAs.
I recommend extra virgin, cold expeller-pressed virgin olive oil for everyday use in your kitchen. It should have a golden yellow colour and look slightly cloudy. The freshest oils have a hot “chilli” flavour that disappears few weeks or months after picking — this heat is prized among people knowledgeable about olive oil, proving that it is fresh. Ripe olives are a soft fruit, and the oil is extracted without using the harsh methods needed to extract most other vegetable oils. If you find olive oil’s flavour too strong for some dishes, “light” olive oils are available with a lighter colour and more neutral flavour, but remember they have been refined and so will be less nutritious. Olive oil can usually stand light cooking such as steam frying vegetables, without breaking down into dangerous trans fats (see below). However, saturated fats are more suitable for cooking and frying.
MUFAs slow down the entry of carbohydrate into your bloodstream,!4? helping to protect you from metabolic syndrome and its
half of coconut oil comprises medium chain triglycerides, which can lower your body fat, improve glucose metabolism and your HDL/LDL cholesterol ratio, and reverse arteriosclerosis. It is a rich source of lauric acid, which enhances your immune system and has potent antiviral, antifungal and antimicrobial properties. Palm oil is another source of lauric acid. When you heat it,itdoes not create high levels of free radicals. For this reason, coconut oil is the best oil to use for cooking. Irecommend raw, unprocessed coconut oil as one of the principal oils to use in your kitchen. Iuse itevery day, both to eat and to put on my skin. Coconut oil, like other
swings in glucose and energy levels. MUFAs also soothe inflammation.
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Although canola oil is high in MUFAs, and has a good balance of Omega-3 and 6’s, try to avoid it. Canola is a derivative of rapeseed, and contains up to 5% toxic erucic acid, and iso-thio-cyanates, which are cyanide-containing compounds. In addition, chemical sprays are used heavily on most canola crops, and heat, solvents and bleaching are the normal methods of extracting the oil from the seeds. Canola oil is an industrial oil, used as a lubricant, and as a feedstock for soap and synthetic rubbers.
Peanut oil is around 50% MUFA, with some PUFA and Omega-6s. It has a neutral taste. I do not normally recommend it because it is often damaged during extraction, and can contain aflatoxin from mouldy nuts.
Polyunsaturated fats
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are liquid at room temperature, and even in freezing conditions. You get them from the seeds of flax, grapes, sesame, sunflower, safflower, pumpkin and mustard, and in nuts (particularly walnuts), fish, soy, cottonseed and corn. These golden “vegetable oils” sell in large quantities in supermarkets, under the guise of being healthy oils.
PUFAs oxidise and degrade quickly on exposure to heat, light and air, so they are not suitable for cooking. If they oxidise or go rancid, they generate free radicals. Flaxseed oil in particular is highly reactive, and oxidises on exposure to air at room temperature. Rancid oils are toxic and responsible for many diseases — see page 139.
Modern Western diets contain an excessively high level of PUFAs, as do virtually all processed foods. These vegetable oils interfere with the production of prostaglandins, a hormone involved in your immune responses, brain and nervous system. This causes inflammation, an unfortunate part of many degenerative diseases. If you suffer from autoimmune disorders, allergies, a high toxic load or chronic infections, you are also likely to suffer from an inflammatory spiral of pain, redness,
irritation and swelling. Arthritis, rheumatism, gout, myalgia, skin
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inflammations and stomach ulcers are typical inflammatory diseases. Cottonseed and soybean oils are particularly dangerous. Both are extracted using heat, solvents, bleaches and other chemical processes that damage the PUFAs. Soybeans and particularly soy oil contains a toxic
chemical called phytohemagglutinin (PHG) present as phytic acid, which causes blood thickening, arterial plaque, immune and hormonal problems. Cottonseed oil contains various toxic residues such as glossypoll, which inhibits the production of sperm.
Essential fats
Many natural fats such as fish, seed and nut oils contain small quantities of important PUFAs called essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs are essential for your digestive system, the provision of energy and transport of oxygen, blood cell functions, clotting and keeping blood vessels clean and well lubricated, the maintenance of cell membranes, the manufacture of hormones, and the structure of the brain, nerves, eyes, reproductive organs and ears.
Your body is not able to make two of these EFAs — linoleic acid (Omega-6) and linolenic acid (Omega-3), so you have to get them from your food. Dr. Cass Ingram, one ofAmerica’s leading nutritional scientists, maintains virtually all Americans are deficient in both these EFAs, with the Omega-3 deficiency often being critical.2°
Farmed fish and feedlot animals are a poor source of EFAs. Salmon produced in fish farms, eggs produced by chickens cooped up in pens rather than free to scratch around in the grass, and beef produced by cattle in feedlots rather than free ranging grass-eating animals are all deficient in EFAs.
Unfortunately, EFAs degrade easily. They oxidise (turn rancid) when exposed to the air, degrade when exposed to the sun or bright light, and cannot be heated. In the shop, EFA supplements such as flax and fish oils should come in a sealed opaque container topped up with nitrogen, and stored in the cooler. It is important to check their use-by date. Throw them
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A shortage of Omega-3 oils in your diet can cause numerous problems such as inflammation, lack of strength and coordination, growth retardation, brain dysfunctions including behavioural and learning problems, and dry or inflamed skin.
Sufficient Omega-3s will:
* give you a well-hydrated, beautiful skin *reduce inflammation
*protect against heart and artery disease *maintain cellular hydration
*protect and enhance your brain and nervous system *protect you from metabolic syndrome
You need to eat both marine and plant sources of Omega-3 oils — they are both required and are not substitutes for each other.+7 Try to geta little Omega-3 oil every day — from leafy green vegetables, a small portion of oily fish,, or free-ranging, non-feedlot meat, eggs or dairy. You can boost your intake over a few months with a daily tablespoon of ground flax or mustard seeds,oruptohalfateaspoon offreshcodliveroil,flax,mustard seed or evening primrose oil. Do not overdose with EFA supplements. Excess Omega oils are associated with cancer and heart disease!.4
The richest sources of marine Omega-3 EFAs are sardines, salmon and mackerel (both fresh and canned). Canned sardines are a good source (yes, canned!) Marine Omega-3s are also found in oily cold-water fish like herring, swordfish, mullet, tailor and tuna. Oysters, squid and calamari are other sources. People in Japan and the Pacific islands eat plenty of natural raw fish oils (think of sashimi and sushi) and they are renowned for their low incidence of cancer and heart disease.
Omega-3 oils (particularly the marine oils), are rich in two EFAs called
away ifthey have been open longer than six weeks. Do not eat them ifthey taste the least bit rancid, as they can become quite toxic, and a concentrated source offree radicals.
(leva
Codliveroilisarichsourceofvitamins AandD,DHA andEPA.EPA is essential for the proper function of the brain and nervous system, and vitamin A confers resistance to infectious diseases, helps prevent cancer, and is essential for good health. For couples wanting to conceive, both the woman and her partner can take a cod liver oil supplement for several months before conception. The woman can continue with it during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.
The maximum short-term dose for adults should be one teaspoon per day, and for children half a teaspoon. Over a period of months, take less than half of that. You can stir the cod liver oil into body temperature food or drink. I do not like the fishy taste, which makes me reluctant to take it as an ongoing supplement. I find the unpleasant flavour is masked when taken with a sip of my morning vegetable juice. It is more effective when consumed along with a high quality organic butter made from the milk of grass-fed cows.
The best sources of plant Omega-3s are flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, mustard seeds, walnuts, and dark leafy green vegetables. Grass contains Omega-3 oils, and animals that are free to graze on grasses have these oils in their flesh. Omega-3 enriched eggs sold in some health food stores are a good source.
Flax oil is the richest source of plant Omega-3s. The fresh oil tastes sweet and nutty. Only buy small quantities, keep itsealed and refrigerated, and never heat it.
Flax oil isso unstable that Icannot recommend itunless you are certain that itisfresh. Itonly needs an hour inthe sun on the way from the factory
EPA and DHA. They are effective blood thinners, controlling blood stickiness, dissolving clots, dredging excess cholesterol and fatty deposits, improving blood circulation and lowering the risk of heart disease. EPA and DHA are essential for good brain function (vision, learning, coordination, and moods), your immune system, and controlling inflammation.
to ruin it. Oxidised flax oil is known as linseed oil, a thick oil that dries to
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a shiny shell and is used as the base for some paints. It has a characteristic smell, and if you detect it in any oil or foods containing oils, throw them out. Rancid oils are toxic (see Bad Oils, below). This especially applies to flax oil — you are better off avoiding itthan risking consuming flax oil that is even slightly off.
A safer and cheaper source of plant Omega-3s is flax seeds. Grind them at low speed (little micro-heat) and store them in the fridge for amaximum of a few days. If you eat unbroken seeds, the oil is not as accessible. The meal is a good base for muesli, and you can sprinkle it on salads, vegetables and other dishes. Two tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseeds provides the equivalent of half a teaspoon of flax oil.
Omega-6 oils are needed for a healthy cardiovascular system. A deficiency of Omega-6s can cause high blood pressure, susceptibility to infections, liver and kidney degeneration, cardiovascular problems, slow healing and growth, dry eyes and skin, skin inflammation, hair loss, arthritis and behavioural disturbances.
However, do not be concerned about getting additional Omega-6s. If you concentrate on getting your Omega-3s, you will get all the Omega-6s you need. Some experts argue that Omega-6 levels for many people should be reduced.!8P Excess Omega-6 contributes to inflammatory diseases such as eczema, dermatitis and arthritis. It may also impair your mental functions including cognition and the way you feel about yourself.
Cold pressed or extracted sunflower, sesame, wheat germ, nut, corn and safflower oils are acceptable only in small quantities. They are high in Omega-6 EFAs and are likely to worsen your Omega-6 / 3 ratio.
Omega-6 /Omega-3 ratio. Our Palaeolithic ancestors ate a diet rich in both these EFAs, especially Omega-3s, with a ratio of between 1:1 and 1:4. Today, most of us consume a much lower level of both, but with a critical shortage of Omega-3s. Modern diets average a ratio of between 10:1 and 20:1. Many researchers believe there is a strong link between childhood ADD, hyperactivity, learning disorders and behavioural problems, and a high consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils with a high Omega-6 /
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Omega-3 ratio. This is typical of the “vegetable” oils used in processed and junk food, and the highly refined “golden” oils on supermarket shelves. They include canola, corn, cottonseed, margarines, soy and peanut oils. Other foods with a high ratio include feedlot produced meat and poultry, and several other vegetable oils such as grape seed, sesame, sunflower, safflower, avocado, almond and wheat germ oils. Try not to overeat foods that have a high Omega-6/3 ratio — such as nuts, avocados and battery- farmed chicken eggs.
OMEGA-3s (O-3s)
and Omega-6/3 ratios. %
Flax oil
Flax seeds
Canola oil (rape seed oil) Walnut oil
Butternuts, dried
Wheat germ oil
Soybean oil
Walnuts
Mayonnaise, soybean Canned Sardines
Cod, Atlantic
Mackerel, Atlantic Canned Mackerel
Bread -Soy & Linseed
Canned Salmon -Red Beechnuts, dried Tuna
Herring
oil by weight
O-6 O-3 O-3 O-3 0-6/3
Margarine, hard
Soybean kernels, roasted Canned Oysters, Smoked 4.6
Whitefish, lake Sturgeon, Atlantic Trout
Salmon, Red Anchovies
Canned Salmon -Pink
|ead | ao pose aR) S327 54.8 51.1 40.0 =| Vie 0.0 1.0 0.2 19 0.2 18.4
0.3 0.5
19.4
112
0.7 0.6 1.0 Od) 0.2 0.1
3303 0.0 20.8 0.0 11.2 0.0 10.4 0.0 8.7 0.0 6.9 0.0 6.8 0.0 6.0 0.0 4.2 0.0 0.2 530 0.0 3.0
0.1 Za 0.2 2D PARP 0.0 0.1 2.0 esl 0.0 02 lee 0.1 i ls 0.0 |e 0.0 0.1 1.4 0.2 hs) 0.0 Fe) 0.3 a 0.2 ih 0.0 1.4 0.1 IWR)
33.3 0.2 20.8 03 11.2 2.0 10.4 5.1 8.7 3.9 6.9 7.9 6.8 75 6.0 a 4.2 8.8 3.2 0.8 3.0 0.0 2.6 0.4 2.5 0.1 2.2 0.9 2.1 0.1 V7 10.8 1.7 0.2 1.6 03 thes 12.9 eS 15 1.5 3.1 1.5 0.5 i 0.4 1.4 0.7 1.4 0.5 1.4 0.1 1.4 0.1
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plant marine total ratio
Sprat
Butter
Swordfish
Bluefish
Safflower oil Hickory nuts, dried Chicken fat
Eel, European
Eggs, Omega-3 Enriched
Bass, striped
Leeks
Atlantic Salmon
Pecan nuts
Carp 0.8
Oyster 0.4
Halibut, Pacific 0.2 0.1 0.4
Krill 0.0 Wheat germ 3.8 Hake, Pacific 0.2 Mussel 0.1 Sturgeon, common 0.1 Mackerel, Spanish 0.1 Canned Tuna 0.1 Squid 0.0 Tailor 0.1 Calamari 0.0 Sardine, fresh 0.0 Scallops 0.0 Bass, fresh water 0.4 Perch, Ocean 0.3 Beans, sprouted, cooked 0.2 Crab 0.1
0.6 0.4 fj} 20.9
19.9 0.5
0.2 1.0 0.0 ie 1.0 0.0
LA) 0.0 0.5 0.2 24.0
1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.3 0.0 0.8 OF 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.0
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0.2 0.0 1.3 1.8 122 0.0
1.3 0.2 1.2 is 12 0.5 1.2 0.3 1.0 77.0 1.0 20.9 1.0 19:9 0.9 0.6 0.9 ibe 0.8 0.0 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.6 40.0 0.6 1.3 0.5 0.8 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.4 Ne 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.1
0.3 U3 0.1 0.4
0.0 0.5
0.4 0.0
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.4
0.1 0.3
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.4
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3
0.0 0.3 0.3
0.0 0.3 0.3
0.3 0.0 0.3 0.7 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.3
0.3 0.1 ee) 1.0
Mushrooms 0.1 Spinach, boiled 0.1 Snapper 0.1 Whiting 0.1 Macadamias
0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4
Canned Chic Peas Cheese Parmesan Cheese Cheddar, reduced fat
Cheese Mozzarella, reduced fat
Canned Baked Beans Canned Red Kidney Beans
13 0.2
0.8 0.2 0.0 0.6 0.2 0.0 0.4 0.2 0.0
Flounder
Clam, Japanese
Cod, Pacific
Haddock 0.0 Pumpkin seeds, dried
(pepita)
Lobster
Prawns
Turnips
Lamb -lean
Spinach, raw
Parsley
Hazelnuts
Avocado
Chocolate, milk Chocolate, Mars bar Olives
Cheese Cottage
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.1 0.1 7.0 0.1 ie) 0.1
0.0 0.1 0.8 0.0 0.1 70.0 0.0 0.1 19.0 0.0 0.1 8.0 0.0 0.1 5.0 0.0 0.1 4.0 0.0 0.1 2:0
137
0.3 0.2 0.0
0.2 les
0.0 0.2 6.5 0.2 4.0 0.2 3.0 0.2 2.0
0.1 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.5
0.1 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.0 0.0 2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.0
20.7
0.0 Wd 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.2 115.0
0.8 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.1
0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.6 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2
Beef- lean Pumpkin Green beans
0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
0.0 0.1 129 0.0 0.1 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.8
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Source: U.S. Dept. Agriculture, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.
Bad fats
Hydrogenated and trans fats
Food manufacturers have discovered a cheap way of keeping processed foods fresh-looking and fresh-tasting longer. Hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans fats are stable, take longer to spoil or go rancid, can be heated to high temperatures, spread well, have good baking qualities, and have a good “mouth feel.” They keep breads moist, and act as an emulsifier — for example, stopping the oils separating in peanut butter.
Hydrogenated oils are made by heating them with hydrogen gas under pressure with a metal catalyst for several hours. The oil is converted from its natural cis state to a toxic trans-fatty acid (TFA). Margarine, solid fats (“shortening”) and liquid oils are produced. TFAs are also formed when polyunsaturated vegetable oils are exposed to excessive heat and light. These oils are a fat substitute with a molecular structure similar to plastic.
Trans fats occur naturally in meat and dairy products, and these trans fats are not harmful. Itisthe manmade trans fats that are dangerous.
Synthesised trans fats are associated with degenerative diseases and obesity. The first hydrogenated fat, margarine was invented in the 1860s by
Raspberries
Broccoli
Strawberries 0.1 Cauliflower 0.0 Lettuce 0.0 Eggs, ie (battery-raised Chicken)
0.0 0.1 2.0
0.2 0.1 OW 0.1
0.0 0.1 1.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 1.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.1 16.6
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a French chemist, Hippolyte Mége-Mouriés. Between 1920 and 1960, there was a huge increase in consumption in the Western world, particularly North America, which coincided with increases in the above diseases. Hydrogenated fats raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol level, lower the level of HDL (good) cholesterol, and raise blood triglycerides — exactly the opposite of what you want.
A quick way to paralyse your immune system is to eat significant quantities of deep-fried foods or hydrogenated fats every day. White blood cells that are the pillars of the immune system are particularly dependent on essential fatty acids. If you consume hydrogenated fats, they can replace the EFAs in your white blood cell membranes. This makes your white cells function sluggishly and their membranes actually become stiff.2© Your immune system is compromised and cancer or infections by yeasts, bacteria and viruses can occur.
Hydrogenated oils also inhibit the formation of eicosanoids hormones in your cells. This drives up the level of cholesterol, and doubles your risk of heart and artery diseases.’ They inhibit membrane functions, and are likely responsible for cancers, degenerative diseases, the obstruction of healing and immunity, and accelerated ageing.
Hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated and trans fats are found in margarine, vegetable shortenings, non-dairy creamers and toppings, commercial mayonnaise, bottled salad dressings, chocolate and virtually all commercial baked goods, frozen dinners and processed, packaged and snack foods. These oils are widely used by fast food outlets, and in particular for cooking fries (chips).
USA’s labelling laws have required trans and hydrogenated oils to be listed on food packaging since late 1999. In Australia, there is no such requirement, with all these oils listed as “vegetable oil”. If in doubt, assume that the product contains bad oils.
Oxidised fats
Oxidised fats smell and taste horrible. PUFAs go rancid when exposed to
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inflammation, and premature ageing, as discussed in the section on PUFAs.
Overheated fats
Try not to heat any oils to high temperatures, especially PUFAs. Heat damages the structure of oils, oxidises them, and creates some level of trans fats. Many of the golden vegetable oils sold in supermarkets have been heated and damaged during their processing — that is why you should look for cold-pressed, virgin oils.
Heating fats above 48°C destroys their enzymes. Raw fats, including saturated animal fats, are nutritious and easily digestible. Heated oils, without their food enzymes, are more difficult to digest (page 140).
Ensure cooking oils are not heated much beyond water’s boiling point by adding a little water when frying. Keep it fast, and keep the temperatures down. Stir-frying is a great way to cook, which adds to the flavours and does not do too much damage to the food.
Any oil heated to smoking hot becomes toxic. Ifithappens accidentally, throw it away. The smoke from burning oils is also highly toxic — avoid breathing it. This brings us to barbecues, which unfortunately are not a recommended method of cooking. If you have to use a barbecue, keep the temperature as low as possible, and do not cook the food directly in an open flame. Charred, blackened, burned oil and smoke saturated food is toxic.
If you absolutely must cook at high temperatures, use clarified butter (ghee). Ghee can withstand temperatures up to 200 degrees centigrade for short periods without severe damage.
light, heat and air. Flaxseed oil can go rancid within hours, but all PUFAs are subjecttorapiddeterioration.MUFAs suchasoliveoiltakelonger,andunder ideal conditions can last for months. Saturated fats are stable, and can even be stored outside the refrigerator for long periods. Itisstill agood idea to buy small quantities of any oils to ensure they are fresh, and to store them in a closed container in the fridge. Foods that contain oils such as nuts can go rancid, and foods cooked with oils, such as chips and baked goods can go off. Oxidised oils can cause cancers, arterial and other degenerative diseases,
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Used fats
Fats are damaged when they are heated several times or for long periods. I recommend that ifyou deep-fry any food, you throw away the oil after using itjust once. Unfortunately, most restaurants, cafeterias, fast food outlets and food manufacturers never do that. They only change the oil when itbecomes rancid, or too thick to use.
Deep fried foods are dangerous when they have been cooked in old, used oil — as is the case with almost all commercially prepared food. Within hours of such a meal, the toxic compounds in used fat restrict your blood flow and affect the lining of your arteries. In the long-term, degenerative diseases such as heart disease and cancers are the likely outcome of such a diet.28
Unnatural oils
Virtually all natural oils occur in a cis or undamaged configuration. Most oils that you buy in the supermarket are extracted using heat, pressure, bleaches, solvents and other chemical processes. This is the only way to extract several oils from their hard seed or bean source — particularly soy oil, and also cottonseed and canola. The “golden” oils that emerge from these industrial processes are no longer in their natural cis state. They are not living foods.
SOURCES OF SYNTHESISED TRANS FATS % by weight, average of several brands
Copha 30.8 (vegetable shortening)
Margarine 10.0 Potato Crisps — 10.0
cottonseed oil
Popcorn 8.0 Taco shells, corn 8.0 Biscuits vanilla creme eel Danish pastry 6.9 Biscuits choc chip (om) Biscuits chocolate créme 5.6 Biscuits crackers 55 Cake pound cholesterol free 5.4 Biscuits cheese aoe Chocolate bar -caramel 4.2 Corn chips 4.1 Chocolate - creamy desert ae7 Biscuits -plain buttermilk 3.6 Muffin 3.6 Doughnut plain 2.0 French fries - take away 2.5 French fries -frozen, raw 2D Mayonnaise 1.8 Sausage -bologna Re) Salad dressing 1:5 Olive oil — 1.0
cheap, second pressing
Sausage -Frankfurter 1.0 Soup - instant packet full fat 1.0
Bread brown 1.0 Cheese processed 0.8 Beef burger 0.8 Bread white 0.8 Breakfast cereal — 0.8
corn, oat, fruit
Breakfast cereal -rice crispy 0.8 Cheese spread 0.6 Cheesecake 0.6 Chicken burger 0.6 Breakfast cereal — 0.6
wheat bran, oat, fruit
Desert - frozen ice cream 0.4 Milkshake with ice cream 0.4 Cake pound fat free 0.4 Sunflower oil 0.3 Soup — 0.3
instant packet low fat
Bread rolls 0.3 Sausage — Pork 0.2 Canola oil 0.2 Breakfast cereal — 0.2
corn flakes
Chocolate -plain milk 0.1 Olive oil - virgin cold pressed 0.1 Potato Crisps — 0.1
soy and corn oils
Baby food — 0.1
vegetable beef pure
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143
Source: U.S. Dept. Agriculture, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18.
MICRONUTRIENTS
YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT GETTING ENOUGH
icronutrients are the minerals, vitamins, enzymes, hormones and IN ee inyourfoodthatareessentialforyourvitalphysical and mental health. The best source of micronutrients is a varied diet of 100% organic, in-season vegetables, ripe-picked fruit, free ranging animal products, whole grains, legumes, raw nuts and seeds.
The health benefits you get from having a sufficient level of micronutrients are overwhelming. Hundreds of scientific studies published in respected medical journals have proved repeatedly that a sufficient intake of micronutrients is a key to health and longevity. Optimal nutrition will improve your immune system, raise your IQ and mental performance, lower your chances of getting a degenerative disease, make you look and feel vital, strong and well, and extend your life.
Patrick Holford?!" maintains that more than nine out of ten people are suffering from a severe micronutrient deficiency.°8” It is unlikely that you are getting the full range of micronutrients that you need for optimal health because:
* Few of us, especially those of us living in cities, eat only ripe-picked, organic and free-range foods. You may be eating lots of supermarket vegetables and fruit, mistakenly thinking you are getting sufficient micronutrients. Many supermarket oranges have no (yes, that is 0) vitamin C.36D With non-organic produce and green-picked fruit, the situation is serious. In the worst cases, fruit and vegetables that look ripe and appealing
Bread rye
Milkshake low fat
Palm oil
Peanut oil 0.0
0.1 Soy oil 0.0 0.1 Corn oil 0.0 0.0 Chicken breast (no skin) 0.0
*The majority of adults have damaged digestive systems, caused by years of misuse and dead food. Most people absorb only a small portion of the micronutrients in the food they eat.
* In today’s polluted and stressful world, you need higher levels of many micronutrients than you would if you were living in a pristine and perfect environment.
* Even best foods grown in some areas are deficient — for example, iodine is often lacking in soils some distance from the sea. The vast expanse of ancient sandy soils making up West Australia are deficient in most trace elements, especially zinc, selenium, molybdenum, magnesium and manganese.
* Most food (including organic and free-range food) is not as rich in micronutrientsasitusedtobe.When foodisexportedfromfarms,thereisa slow loss of nutrients from the soil. All over the world soils have gradually become mineral deficient, even in the richest deepest agricultural basins. When all the produce of a farm is consumed and recycled on the farm there is less loss of soil nutrients, but with most of the world’s population living in towns and cities this has not happened. Soil erosion and degradation have also taken a heavy toll in virtually every country. It may be possible to replace most of the lost minerals with seaweed, manure or compost imported from outside the farm, but this isexpensive and time consuming even on the smallest scale.
SUPER FOODS
Super foods are concentrated sources of nutrients - superb natural supplements of both macro and micronutrients, broad, complex and synergistic - just the way nature intended. All the super foods mentioned below (except cranberries) are alkaline-forming (page 278).
Super foods and herbs (along with the living foods recommended in Grow Youthful) are nearly always the most effective treatment for any
can contain negligible micronutrients. For example, in an extensive survey, carrots had between 70 and 18,500 ius of vitamin A.©8P The best had 264 times more than the worst!
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ailment. Many forward-thinking doctors are getting better results with diet and supplements than they used to with drugs. Nutrients often get to the root cause of the problem, rather than treating the symptoms. Most super foods do not have side effects, even in high doses. The same applies to the majority of herbs — though several herbs do have negative consequences when taken in high doses or for extended periods.
Remember that each of the superfoods below is not good for everyone. For example, my body does not particularly like blue-green algae — I find it a little astringent and do not get a warm feeling of nourishment from it.
The drug companies cannot patent naturally occurring foods and nutrients. It is only when a pill can be patented that big profits can be made. Therefore, they have little interest in promoting cheap natural sources of micronutrients, which are often the most effective prevention and cure for a wide range of diseases (page 299).
Bee pollen is flower pollen collected by honeybees from a variety of plants, and is the bee’s main food. It is a concentrated source of nutrients and phytonutrients, rich in carotenoids, flavonoids and phytosterols. The main benefitofbeepollenisthatitstimulatesyourimmune system.Researchhas shown it to be an effective treatment for prostate enlargement and prostatitis;°! food allergies, and in stimulating the immune system in cancer treatment.°? In another study, the control rats that were exposed to industrial solvents suffered significant liver damage, but there was little effect in those that were fed bee pollen.°
You can buy bee pollen from local beekeepers or health food stores. Start consuming itslowly, with a quarter teaspoon a couple of times a day. Some people are allergic to it,so watch your reactions when you first start.
Berries. Purple and blue coloured berries, such as black grapes, blackcurrants, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, blackberries, redcurrants and cranberries are rich in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. Look for black grapes with seeds — the seeds are highly nutritious. Blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, cranberries, loganberries, and raspberries are a rich source of a range of glyconutrients (page 116). Berries are such a
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Berries tend to be heavily sprayed, so wash fresh berries according to the instructions on page 90, or pick them wild yourself.
Bone Stock. Properly prepared stocks made from the carcasses of animals, fish and birds are a delicious and rich source of nutrients that are often missing in the modern diet. Stocks contain minerals from bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables in easily digestible electrolyte form. A little wine or vinegar added at the start helps draw the minerals into the broth.
Most traditional diets use meat on the bone, and value fish and chicken carcasses, fish heads, and chicken feet. “Jewish penicillin” is a chicken soup rich in gelatine, and traditionally used to enhance the immune system. Gelatine is an important component in digestion, attracting digestive juices to cooked food particles and helping to digest proteins effectively. French cuisine relies on stocks that just happen to be rich in a range of minerals, gelatine, iodine and glyconutrients. Stocks made by simmering bones and carcasses for 6-24 hours are a delicious and highly nutritious part of many cuisines, and their value has been proved over thousands of years.
Blue-green algae are a rich food, more than half of which is protein. They contain chlorophyll and a wide range of micronutrients, especially GLA (an Omega-6), vitamin B complex, minerals and beta-carotene. Algae foods can enhance the immune system, detoxify (especially heavy metals) andhealskinproblemsandarthritis.Spirulina, ChlorellaandKlamatharethe names given to algae from different sources. For many years, chlorella has been cultivated in third world countries as a cheap and highly nutritious form of protein. Warning — not all species of blue-green algae are super foods — some are toxic.
Coconut Oil. Coconuts are nature’s best source of lauric acid, which gives protection from yeasts, viruses, parasites and other pathogens in the digestive system. It is good for the skin, and enhances the immune system.
valuable food that Irecommend going out of your way to look for them, and to eat at least a few every day. Berries are often available in the frozen food section of a supermarket, and although frozen foods are not ideal, they do provide an easily accessible variety.
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Coconut oil should be organic, raw and unprocessed. A good quality coconut oil should be slightly off-white in colour and have an enticing smell. Poor quality coconut oil does not have that delicious “coconut cookie” smell, but instead has a slightly rancid smell and may be a browner colour.
Other sources of coconut oil are creamed coconut (hard white blocks that you can buy in Asian and some health food stores), canned coconut milk (buy whole, not lite milk, with no additives), and desiccated coconut (ensure ithas no added sugar, like that sold in most supermarkets). .
Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cress, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, radish and turnip. A phytonutrient in these vegetables named glucosinolate significantly enhances your liver’s detoxification ability. According to one study, eating these foods every day will halve your cancer risk.37!— However, I would advise you to monitor how you feel on a diet high in these vegetables because they contain goitrogens, which can inhibit your thyroid function. Light cooking destroys goitrogens.
Fish are a good source of protein and micronutrients, including the brain foods choline and DMAE. The Omega-3 essential fats DHA and EPA are found in most fish, especially carnivorous fish such as tuna and salmon. If you eat the fish raw, these nutrients are the most abundant and easy to assimilate, but ifyou prefer itcooked, then lightly steam or poach it.
However, freshwater fish and large carnivorous fish high in the food chain can have high levels of heavy metals, especially if they are caught in polluted areas (page 309).
Green grass juices are one of the most valuable nutritional secrets. Most of us have seen a cat eat grass. Many birds and animals, even carnivores, eat grasses. They instinctively know that their bodies need these greens, which may be different to their regular diet. People who drink a small daily glass of wheatgrass juice have had rapid healing of injuries and infections, and recovery from degenerative diseases and signs of detoxification, including grey hair returning to black.
You drink the juice from a tot-sized glass. The nutrients in the juice are
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so powerful that the effect of knocking back a tot is almost heady. If you are not used to it,or your body isout of shape, acidic and toxic, itcan make you feel ill. So work up to it slowly.
Green grass juices combat the effect of a dead, processed, cooked food diet. The green chlorophyll and live enzymes are alkalising (page 278). Chlorophyll, formed by the sun in the leaves of plants, is renowned as a blood cleanser. Green juices are high in selenium, which assists in the elimination of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. They are rich in enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and anti-oxidants. An anti-ageing secret, the juice of young green grasses has been shown to provide DNA protection in old mice.48©
The best green juices are made from grass that has been cut and juiced in the last few minutes. You can grow and juice grasses yourself, using a manual or a slow electric juicer. To make your own green juice, plant wheat, barley, corn, millet, oats or rice seeds in shallow soil in a planter box. The best time to harvest the shoots is after 5-12 days, just before the shoot joints to form a stem and leaves — this is when the nutritional bounty 1s at its peak.
You can buy green powders that you mix with water, which are obviously not as good as the fresh juice. There are juice bars springing up around most cities.
Mineral tonics. You can buy mineral supplements made from the contents of rich glacial valleys, peat bogs and moors, seaweeds and natural saltpans. They are often sold as “colloidal minerals”. One of the most famous sources is the Neydharting Moor in upper Austria, which has been both a glacier and a lake over several million years. Around 150 acres in size, itis the depository of herbs, vegetation and glacial minerals in a complex biomass.
Mushrooms. Japanese and wild mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake, ganoderma, oyster, enokidake and reishi are highly nutritious, containing proteins, glyconutrients and a range of healing phytonutrients. However, the common button mushroom has little nutrition.
The Reishi mushroom is renowned for enhancing longevity, and is an
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important part of traditional medicine in China and Japan. It is hard, bitter and not suitable for cooking. However, several of the other mushrooms mentioned above are delicious. They improve your immune function, protect against tumours, have strong anti-allergy and anti-inflammatory effects, and are good for your liver. Generally, mushrooms should not be eaten raw.!8B
Seaweeds are a superb source of minerals. Coming from the sea, they have traces of virtually all essential elements, especially iodine, magnesium, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium and phosphorus. They are also a good source of vitamin B1285©. Seaweed is available as kelp, wakame, nori and many other forms. They contain long chain complex sugars that some people are unable to digest. It is best to simmer them for a long period before eating them, to begin the breakdown of these fibre-like sugars. Seaweeds are useful for the removal of heavy metals or radioactive elements from your body®?.
Vegetable and fruit juices slow-squeezed from organic, ripe-picked, raw produce are rich in minerals, enzymes, structured water and phytonutrients (pages 183).
Wolfberry or Goji Berry. The Chinese wolfberry (/ycium barbarum) is a small red berry about the size of a raisin, with a taste somewhat similar. The Chinese have used them for thousands of years in teas, soups and stews. In traditional Chinese medicine, wolfberries act on the liver, lung and kidney channels, and enhance yin. They make a good wine, and an excellent health tonic. You can eat them raw, soak them, or use them in cooking.
Wolfberries are high in anti-oxidants, contain potent phytochemicals, and a good range of minerals and vitamins. They are used as an anti- inflammatory, an immune system booster, to improve eyesight, liver function, sperm production, and blood circulation. Chinese practitioners have used them to slow the ageing process, and as a cancer preventative and treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine uses them to treat vision disorders such as cataracts, retinopathy and macular degeneration.
Wolfberries are widely available in China, and are now grown all around the world. The dried berries are usually available at little cost in Chinese or Asian supply stores.
HERBS
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Aloe Vera has been used for centuries to heal the skin, and is a good sunburn treatment. As a food, itis apowerful detoxifier, and has antiviral and antiseptic properties. It is an aid to the immune, nervous and digestive systems. It has a strong alkalising effect.
Aloeveraisoneoftherichestsourcesofthreeglyconutrients.Grow them in your garden in a dry, sunny spot, and use a piece in your daily vegetable
juice.
Culinary herbs such as rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, sage,
peppermint and spearmint are one of nature’s richest sources of anti- oxidants. Fresh herbs have substantially higher levels of micronutrients than dried herbs, and they taste better. Ifyou have limited time and space, a small herb garden probably gives the highest health return for your efforts. You can experiment with steeping these herbs in boiling water, and drinking the tea they make. Rosemary makes a good anti-oxidant brew; make them weak, and drink those that feel good.
Echinacea (Purple Cone Flower). This herb stimulates your immune system, reduces inflammation, assists with healing wounds, and is an antibiotic and skin improver. Itisused todetoxify respiratory and circulatory systems. In past centuries, the roots and rhizomes were used to treat fevers and infections, and even serious conditions such as malaria, diphtheria, meningitis and typhoid. With the widespread use of chemical drugs this herb was almost forgotten, but recent research has shown that it can match virtually any antibiotic. Italso has anti-ageing properties.
Garlic is powerful anti-oxidant, with antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties. It contains about 200 known active compounds. Cheap, easily available and delicious, I use it regularly. It significantly
Thousands of herbs are used for healing, longevity, health maintenance, flavouring, smells, purgatives, abortion, you name it.Herbalists and Chinese herbalists are available in every city. A professional herbalist or naturopath can introduce you to a wider range of herbs if you have specific needs or ailments. Here are some of the herbs that assist with health and longevity.
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protects against stomach cancer>? and heart disease. It lowers blood cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, and prevents blood clotting. It is a powerful booster for your immune system, and is a dietary source of selenium. Itdestroys fungus and yeasts such as candida. Garlic isrenown in the Orient as a potent sexual tonic, which is why monastic kitchens throughout the Far East avoid it.
One study showed that women who ate garlic at least once a week were 50% less likely to get colon cancer than those who never ate it,possibly because of the phytonutrient allicin.4!4
It is most effective if consumed raw, as heat destroys many of garlic’s properties, particularly the potent antiseptic ones. If your salivary glands are working properly, and you drink enough water, your breath will not smell of garlic.
Ido not recommend garlic capsules or other preserved or dried forms, as it is likely that many of the compounds in raw garlic are destroyed in the processing.
Ginger. This hot or yang alkaline spice is used in about half of all Chinese herbal mixes. In India itishighly regarded for itswarming effect and ability to stimulate digestion, relieve aches and pains, and settle morning sickness and upset stomachs. So far, more than four hundred compounds have been identified inginger. Itisan anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, antibiotic and immune system stimulator. It improves the digestion of proteins, protects against both stomach ulcers and intestinal parasites, treats nausea and motion sickness, suppresses coughs, reduces fever, and diminishes pain. At a cellular level, it is an effective membrane fluidiser, and protects against cancer by
preventing some carcinogens from causing DNA damage.
Ginger can play an important role in the regulation of eicosanoids, a
group of hormones that mediate your healing and immunity. Eicosanoids imbalances may underlie many degenerative illnesses, and ginger somehow moderates them in a way that reduces inflammation and blood clotting. Ginger is as potent as many anti-inflammatory drugs now in use, and ithas no side effects (most of the drugs damage your stomach lining, and have
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other nasty effects).
Early on a cold winter morning a few years ago, I met a woman
swimming atthebeach where Ilive.The ocean temperature was about 15°C. AtfirstIguessed shewas inher40’s,butitwas onlywhen shetoldme one of her children was just about that age that I realised that she had managed to slow her ageing. Icommented on her youthful looks, and asked her ifthere was a reason for her good health (aside from taking a swim in the ocean nearly every morning). She replied that she ate a piece of raw ginger about the size of her thumbnail every day. It kept her youthful, and gave her protection from the cold.
You can peel, grate or chop ginger, and add it to many dishes, raw or cooked. Finely chop a piece the size of your fingernail, and use itto make a delicious tea. Nibble itwith nuts or fruit.
Ginseng. Eastern medicine has long revered this slow growing root as an effective treatment for numerous health conditions, and a herb that promotes strength, physical and mental endurance, sexual vitality and longevity. Siberian Ginseng (Panax Ginseng) is a Taoist favourite for life-prolonging health, though there are many other varieties available.
Western researchers are beginning to unravel some of the specific benefits of the herb, including new findings that show it to be an effective blood glucose modulator®+ and membrane fluidiser. Itsoothes and regulates the central nervous system, stimulates the secretion of various hormones, and is of particular value for middle-aged and older people.
Use ginseng in moderation and only for limited periods. It is a powerful and complex plant, which is immuno-suppressive in high doses.
Ginkgo Biloba. This ancient tree, possibly the world’s oldest living species, is renowned for its ability to resist disease, pollution and insect attack. Extracts from, or teas made with the leaves are useful for treating ailments caused by inelastic veins and arteries. Over a period of 6 to 12 weeks it improves blood flow and oxygen supply to all organs, particularly the brain. It is an effective anti-ageing supplement, which improves your short-term memory, raises your energy level and counters depression. It is
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used to treat several symptoms of ageing, including erectile dysfunction, tinnitus, depression, dementia and migraines.
Hydrocotyle Asiatica Minor. A member of the pennywort family, this herb grows wild in the tropical marshes of Asia. The leaves and seeds contain a potent alkaloid that has powerful rejuvenating effects on the nervous and endocrine systems. Several Chinese Taoists who lived into their second century have used it. In India, the guru Nanddo Narian taught his students that this herb was essential for longevity.
Maca (Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon). This root isanative ofthe central Andes in Peru. The locals have used it for centuries to gain strength, resistance, vigour and energy. It has a reputation as an endocrine stimulator. Ihave found that ithas aphrodisiacal properties. Itake iton an ongoing basis as a health maintenance and anti-ageing supplement. Some people report that it makes them feel happy. Importantly, I stop taking it for one week each month, otherwise it loses its effectiveness. Taking a break from continual consumption isimportant with many herbs.
Stevia. Ifyou want to sweeten your food without using sugar or chemical sweeteners, stevia is an effective and natural herbal alternative. Stevia Rebaudiana is a South American plant that has been used as a natural sweetener for generations. Apowder extract made from the leaves is300-400 times sweeter than table sugar. It is also available in liquid form, or as dried leaves. Itisrelatively stable during cooking. As aherb ithas anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties, and is used to treat burns, wounds and to strengthen the pancreas. It stabilises blood sugar levels, lowers blood pressure, and has even been used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.?>©
The powerful sugar industries lobbied against stevia and managed to get it banned as a sweetener in the USA, though it can be sold as a herb. In Europe it is completely banned. The irony is that sugar is the poison, not stevia.
Xylitol is another (non-herbal) sweetener that you can use in place of sugar. Originally made from birch bark, itisalso found in fibrous vegetables, fruit and corn cobs. Itlooks and tastes like sugar. However ithas aGlycemic
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Xylitol also has anti-fungal effects.
ANTI-OXIDANTS
Free Radicals. The calories in your food are converted into energy molecules (ATP), in a process that uses oxygen, and generates by-products called free radicals. About 90% of the free radicals in your body come from thefood you eat.'44
Many scientists say that free radicals are the prime agent of ageing. Ageing occurs when you are unable to deal with the level of oxidants in your body, and the damage caused by free radicals accumulates.
Surprisingly, free radicals are essential for many life-sustaining processes, such as the production of energy in your cells, defence against germs by your white blood cells, and the production of some hormones, such as corticosteroids, eicosanoids, oestrogen and testosterone. The problem is an excessive level of free radicals — so typical in a stressed modern lifestyle. Free radicals that are not immediately used by your body look for other molecules with which to react.
Free radicals are usually created by oxygen-based reactions, so they are also referred to as oxidising agents or oxidants. Oxidation is a natural process that occurs in the body all the time, but which plays a role in the development of many degenerative diseases. Free radicals are highly reactive, unstable molecules, that are desperate for electrons, and this property makes them react with healthy molecules in a destructive way. They grab whatever is handy -essential fatty acids, important structural or functional proteins, LDL cholesterol particles, your cell membranes and your DNA. After doing their damage, they also create toxic waste products that lower your energy level and interfere with processes such as cellular communication and protein, DNA and RNA synthesis. The cellular damage they cause accelerates your
index of 7, and is only slowly absorbed and metabolised by your body. This means ithas little effect on your insulin level. Ithas no known side effects other than being slightly laxative in large quantities. Bacteria cannot ferment it, so it restores alkalinity and inhibits plaque formation in your mouth.
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ageing. Over time, this damage results in various degenerative diseases. The more food you eat, the more free radicals are produced. This especially applies to the calorie content of your food, because itisthe energy conversion that generates free radicals. High energy, high Glycemic index
(page 269) carbohydrates are the worst foods. The sugar or refined flour in breads, cakes, soft drinks, biscuits, sweets, potatoes, jams and breakfast cereals generates high levels of free radicals that overwhelm your body’s neutralisation and elimination systems. .
Another major source of free radicals is your immune system. Because free radicals are so dangerous at a molecular level, one of the best ways to kill an invading organism is to bombard it with free radicals — and this is exactly what your white blood cells do.
Your diet, lifestyle, drugs, pollution and radiation are all accelerators of free radical production. A poor diet adds to the load, especially burned, browned or fried foods. There are many other sources of free radicals, such as stress and the environment in which you live. Cigarette smoking, air and traffic pollution, and exposure to strong sunlight are all significant sources.
To reduce the catastrophic damage done by free radicals:
* Most importantly, limit your intake of calories, particularly in the form of refined carbohydrates.
* Eat low Glycemic index foods (page 268). Keeping a stable blood glucose level gives your anti-oxidant and elimination systems time to work, and avoid the blood glucose peaks that are so damaging. These blood glucose peaks produce massive levels of free radicals.
¢ Eat foods high in natural anti-oxidants (page 155).
* Minimise your exposure to pollution, toxins, stress and radiation.
* In some cases, take a daily multi-vitamin multi-mineral supplement that includes a variety of anti-oxidants (page 157).
Anti-oxidants are a group of electron-donating compounds that help protect you from free radicals. They combat the effect of oxidants — those foods, chemicals and stressors that increase the level of free radicals. Your body naturally produces anti-oxidant enzymes and other molecules, and you
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get a variety of anti-oxidants from the food you eat. It is essential that your diet includes sufficient anti-oxidants and that your digestive system is able to extract them from the food you eat.
There are probably hundreds of different anti-oxidants in a bow] of fresh salad. Two of the most powerful are vitamins C and E. They work in concert with other vitamins and minerals, particularly manganese, zinc and selenium. Beta-carotene, coenzyme-Q, glutathione, lipoic acid, phenols, polyphenols, flavonoids and phytoestrogens are other important anti-oxidants. Carotenoids are a group of around 600 pigments in the protein complexes of bright coloured fruit and vegetables. They are powerful anti-oxidants, and include lutein, lycopene, alpha and beta-carotene, and zeaxanthin.
Scientists such as Bruce N. Ames of the University of California at Berkley have identified lipoic acid (also known as alpha-lipoic acid or ALA) as one of the most important anti-oxidants in the process of slowing ageing. However, itistoo early to say iftaking ALA supplements are effective. ALA isfound inspinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts, potatoes, yams, carrots, beets, yeast and red meat.
Each anti-oxidant has a unique set of properties and behaviours. Some work inside your cells, others on the cellular membranes, or in the intercellular fluids. Therefore, it is important to get a variety of anti-oxidants and their backup micronutrients. No single anti-oxidant can protect you from the whole range of free radicals.
The best source of anti-oxidants is a diet of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, seeds, beans, herbs, nuts and super foods (page 145). There is a huge body of research confirming that the range of anti-oxidants in such a diet lowers your cholesterol level (especially “bad” LDL), protects you from a range of cancers, eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration, and slows your ageing.4!!
There is little evidence to show that anti-oxidants taken individually are effective.
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SUPPLEMENTS
Do you need to take daily supplement pills of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients? If you are like the majority of health-conscious people, living in suburbia, feeling some of the stresses, subject to some level of pollution, and dependent to some extent on supermarkets and commercial foods, then this is a reasonable question.
If you live in a city, eat a diet of pre-prepared, processed and cooked food, are exposed to a high toxic acid load through stress, pollution and drugs, and are over 40, then your body needs all the help it can get. A daily broad-spectrum micronutrient multi-mineral multivitamin anti-oxidant supplement may help you to fight disease, neutralise toxins and guard against free radicals. However, do not delude yourself that taking pills is a substitute for a living food /super food diet. Pills are a last resort ifyou are not willing to change other aspects of your life.
Good digestion is the most important factor in getting all the nutrients you need. You can eat the most nutritious diet, and take additional supplements, but if you cannot digest them, you will still be malnourished. Years of poor eating make itlikely that most adults have a weak and damaged digestive system. Digestive supplements will help you if you suffer from digestive problems, and especially if your stomach is not very acid. Take some unpasteurised liquid whey, apple cider vinegar, or betaine hydrochloride before each meal that contains concentrated protein (page 282 for details). Comfrey is an excellent digestive herb. The digestive enzymes amylase, protease, lipase and cellulase are rich in fresh raw foods. If most of your food is cooked, or you do not eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, these enzymes will improve your digestion.
Supplements (as opposed to drugs) are a huge, multi-billion dollar industry. Health practitioners who sell supplements directly to their patients have a conflict of interest. Iknow a naturopath who derives three quarters of his income from the supplements he sells to his patients, and only one quarter of his income from his consultation fees. He is a competent practitioner, but there is no doubt that he over-prescribes an excessive range and quantity of
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Everybody’s micronutrient needs are different, depending upon their genes, family and health history, upbringing, exposure to pollution, lifestyle, diet, level of exercise, what medications or drugs they may be taking, whether they are premenstrual, menopausal, fighting an infection, feeling stressed and more. Smokers need more anti-oxidants, and regular drinkers need more vitamin B1 to prevent damage to the central nervous system. Professor Roger Williams’? describes how it is common to find a ten-fold difference in the requirements for a vitamin between one person and another. I have a strong preference to correct any deficiencies using living foods and superfoods, rather than pills, as explained below.
Micronutrients like to work as a team. Vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients work most effectively in synergy — where small quantities of each assist the naturally occurring quantities of all others. Synergy is an immensely complex process that science is only just starting to unravel.
You can take a dose of zinc sulphate or citrate to improve your skin or immunity, and itmay be effective. Combine itwith magnesium, and itwill double itsperformance. Combine itwith B vitamins, and awider range of vitamins and minerals, and itwill work more effectively again. Get itfrom a super food and the results may be spectacular. A synergistic combination of micronutrients is far more effective than taking the individual components. The interactions between the components are so complex that itisbest to rely on nature to create them wherever possible. The best supplements are made from wild herbs, super foods, seaweeds, peat bogs, glacial muds and natural minerals.
Most vitamins will not work without supporting minerals. We need minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, sulphur and potassium in relatively large quantities. Others, such as barium, bismuth, boron, chromium, cobalt, molybdenum, rubidium, selenium, titanium and vanadium are essential in micro-doses, but are toxic at higher levels. Your body continually needs a minimum array of minerals just to stay alive, but
expensive supplements, rather than first and primarily attempting to change his patient’s lifestyles and eating habits.
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optimal health requires higher levels, tailored to your individual needs.
A pill cannot possibly contain many of the living nutrients made by plants. Vegetables, fruits and herbs contain thousands of chemicals that have
health and synergistic properties. At present, this area is at the forefront of nutritional science, with most of these phytonutrients still undiscovered. A daily supplement pill can provide specific vitamins and minerals that science knows we need to maintain good health in today’s polluted world, but don’t kid yourself that a pill can in any way make up for a beautiful, fresh multi- coloured salad, or a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs on a daily basis.
A broad range of over 100 minerals is available in sea salt (page 200). If you throw away the refined table salt in your home and avoid foods made with refined salt, instead replacing itwith natural sea salt, you will get a most of the minerals your body needs. A year’s supply of Celtic sea salt only costs a few dollars. I strongly advise you to take this one simple action.
Most supplements are synthetic, made in laboratories from chemical ingredients, or extracted from natural products such as fruits, herbs or animal liver using solvents, precipitants or distillation. Some are even made from petroleum or coal tar based ingredients. These chemical processes denature the minerals and vitamins, stripping away their natural synergists., Even if they are combined with other vitamins and minerals in a “scientifically balanced” pill, they are only partly effective. It is through sheer strength and quantity that a portion of the isolated, concentrated micronutrients in these supplements isabsorbed and used.
Synthetic vitamins artificially increase your appetite. In order to absorb these hard-to-digest vitamins, your digestive system needs additional carbohydrates, proteins and micronutrients. Your body instinctively looks for more food, and feels hungry. Synthetic vitamins can lead to obesity.
It is essential that any supplement contains a broad range of minerals in a bio-available form. The least bio-available minerals are those in the form of a simple compound such as a sulphate, oxide, carbonate or chloride.
Science has found a way of making minerals more digestible through a
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process called chelation, in which mineral compounds are bound to larger food molecules. The availability of most minerals is higher in the form of chelates, ascorbates, citrates, gluconates or orotates. Remember that these factory-made minerals are not naturally occurring, and are therefore foreign to your body.
By far the most bio-available minerals are those that naturally occur in your food. These ionic minerals are so effective and accessible that you need far smaller quantities of them for optimal health. The best way to get selenium for example, is to eat foods grown in soils that are rich in selenium, or soils to which a selenium supplement has been added.
If you take a vitamin C tablet, only a small portion of it is accessible to your body, and only for a short time, sometimes less than two hours. The rest rapidly passes out in your urine. However, ifyou eat a fresh organic orange, ripe-picked off the tree, awide range of other micronutrients (synergists) will support the vitamin C in it.The small quantity of vitamin C in the orange is easily digestible, and will last all day.
Be aware that itiseasy to get an excess of one or more micronutrients if you are taking supplements. In most cases, this may have little effect, but it is not a good idea to take megadoses of any micronutrient. For example, selenium can be extremely toxic in high doses. A high dose of the apparently safe vitamin C thickens the blood, leading to blood clots. It can also lead to the formation of kidney and bladder stones. Synthetic vitamin C destroys some other vitamins.
Supplements should not include any vitamins or minerals that cannot easily be excreted if they are in excess of your body’s needs. The most common components which are included in excess are:
*Vitamin A. This fat-soluble vitamin can accumulate in your tissues, causing nausea, bone loss, fractures and skin problems. A good supplement will contain carotene or beta-carotene instead of vitamin A, because your body can convert them into vitamin A, and any excess is easily excreted.
* Iron. This mineral tends to accumulate in the body rather than be excreted, andinexcessitcanbedangerouslytoxic.Women canloseironintheirblood
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during their period, but men have no such outlet.
* Copper. The majority of the population have excess copper in their bodies (page 211).
A hair test is a fast and painless way of analysing the minerals and other elements in your body. Your naturopath or doctor can organise to send a sample of your hair to a laboratory. It provides a detailed report on the minerals in your body, showing whether the levels are low, normal or high. A full spectrum of elements is measured, including boron, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, zinc and many more. Toxic and heavy metals such as aluminium, barium, cadmium, lead, mercury and uranium are included. Most tests show the ratio between different minerals, along with graphs and explanations. The balance between different minerals that support or antagonise each other is particularly important. For example, high copper along with low zinc and molybdenum will cause a range of serious ailments.
Hair analysis usually indicates problems earlier than a blood analysis.3° Itisrelatively cheap, and good reference ranges have been determined, even allowing for the type of shampoo you are using. It does not involve the pain or discomfort of tissue biopsy.
ENZYME ACTIVE FOOD WHAT ISAN ENZYME?
nzymes make life possible. They are essential for every biochemical
reaction that takes place in your body. All your organs, tissues and cells are run by enzymes. No nutrient, mineral, vitamin or hormone can work without enzymes. Some are used for digestion, others to fight and remove dangerous microbes in your blood, yet others remove dead or damaged cells or toxins. Various glands and organs make enzymes. They are quite specific, custom-designed to do a particular task rapidly and efficiently. For example, protease is secreted in the stomach, to break down proteins such as meat or egg in the digestive process. Other enzymes can transform glucose into a
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range of sugars, starches, fats and proteins.
A catalyst is acompound that speeds up or assists a chemical reaction, but
enzymes are much more than chemical catalysts. Most catalysts only work at high temperatures and pressures, but enzymes work at body temperature, atmospheric pressure, and near neutral pH. Enzymes are essential for all the chemical reactions of life. They possess a life energy (chi) giving off radiation or electrical energy as they work.
Conventional nutrition says that enzymes in the food you eat are destroyed in your digestive system, so enzyme-rich food has no special benefits. However, research by Atturi Virtanen in Finland, A. Ohmann from Novo Nordisk, Denmark, and Kaspur Tropp in Wurzburg shows that they are not completely destroyed, and instead produce complex new health-giving chemicals during digestion. Some enzymes are so valuable that your digestive system takes special care not to damage them.
ENZYMES IN FOODS & JUICES
Fresh, raw and fermented foods are loaded with enzymes. The foods that are richest in enzymes are foods and drinks fermented with beneficial microorganisms, vegetables and fruit picked a few minutes ago, sprouted beans or seeds, or a wild fish, bird or animal slaughtered in the last hour. These foods are nutritious and easy to digest.
Cooking, and other forms of processing destroy the enzymes in living food. Our time and money oriented society demands fast, cheap, attractive and convenient food. Processed foods can be stored at room temperature for long periods with no obvious deterioration. They are manufactured by destroying the enzymes and bacteria in fresh food. Methods include cooking, irradiating with gamma or x-rays, adding sugar, salt, and a wide range of chemical stabilisers and preservatives, refining, pasteurising, dehydrating, packaging and canning.
Enzyme-dead foods provide little nutrition, and are responsible for a wide range of modern ills. If you eat enzyme-dead food, you stress your pituitary and pancreas glands as they try to produce sufficient enzymes to
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digest it.Virtually every adult who has eaten cooked, enzyme-dead food for years has pathologically swollen pituitary and pancreas glands. Other parts of your body, such as your brain, muscles, joints and nerves are deprived of the enzymes they require, because their components are re-directed to your digestive system. Over a number of years, your body simply does not have enough enzymes to metabolise, repair and grow, and also digest enzyme- dead food. The digestion of food takes priority, so the health of your body loses out.29
If your body is youthful and healthy, it can synthesise the enzymes it needs to digest your food and still perform all the other processes you need to stay healthy. When your body is not able to make all the enzymes itneeds you will age and suffer various illnesses. Most diseases are traceable to missing enzymes’.P
Dr Edward Howell”? argues that the unnecessary, unnatural and unabated depletion of the body’s enzyme production is “one of the paramount causes of premature ageing and early death” and “the underlying cause of almost all degenerative disease.” “When itgets to the point that you can t make certain enzymes, then your life ends.”
Ifyou eat mostly processed enzyme-dead food, itisdifficult to stay slim. The active enzymes in raw foods assist your digestive system to extract all the nutrients from the food, and you will feel less hungry. Unless your digestive system is in perfect condition (a rare occurrence), the food digests slowly and partially. Incompletely digested food provides a medium for harmful bacteria, yeasts and parasites to thrive. Indigestion and gas are the early warnings. In the long-term, you will suffer a build up of acidic waste (page 271). The fat that accumulates around the stomach, upper thighs, neck, major lymph nodes and other bulging parts of the body contains a high level of these fat-soluble toxins.
This type of fat is particularly difficult to get rid of, because as you reduce your calorie intake, it is not an accessible form of stored energy. If it were unpolluted, nutrient-rich fat,your body would use itwhen you exercise. Rather than using the toxic fat, your body will use any other source of
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calories itcan find.
If you go on a reduced calorie diet, you are more likely to burn up your
muscle rather than your fat (page 218). This is the worst possible outcome. You will look gaunt, and feel hungry, and low in energy and vitality. With a high fat, low muscle ratio, itis easier to put on the weight again after you stop dieting. If your dieting eventually starts to burn the calories in your accumulated fatty toxic waste, you will feel terrible. As the fat is burned, the fat-soluble toxins are released into your bloodstream.
Obesity is a long-term problem, with a long-term solution. A diet of raw, enzyme-alive food will halt, and gradually reverse the build-up of fatty toxic waste and excess weight.854
Dr Edward Howell maintains that “it was impossible to get people fat on raw foods, regardless of their calorie intake.”?? That is quite a statement — you can eat as much raw food as you want.
Ifyou eat a diet based on just a few foods, you may deplete the supply of specific enzymes. This is typical of the standard American diet, which is based on just a few foods like potatoes, tomatoes, beef, sugar and wheat.
One of the richest sources of life-prolonging enzymes is fermented foods (page 172). The freshly extracted juices of ripe, raw, organic vegetables and fruits are another good source. | am referring here to juices that you prepare yourself, not supermarket juices. Raw vegetable and fruit juices are also the best source of minerals, most vitamins, and a variety of other micronutrients. Fresh juices are an excellent means of alkalising your body (page 278). Of course, continue to eat raw vegetables and fruit, because they provide the fibrous bulk that is essential for your digestive system.
The enzymes in fresh juices make them easy to digest ifyou drink them slowly and let your saliva mix with them. Drink juices in small sips, and hold them in your mouth for a few seconds. The enzymes in your saliva start to digest the carbohydrates in the juice. If you dink them quickly, as most people do, the juice will miss this vital digestive step and are more likely to ferment in the acid environment of your stomach.
High-speed electric juicers destroy a portion of the enzymes and
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phytonutrients in the juice. The steel grater that pulverises the fruit or vegetable isspinning so fast that itgenerates heat on itsworking surface. For a few milliseconds, the temperature of the juice is raised, destroying a portion of the enzymes. Hand-squeezed juice or juice from a low speed electric juicer is preferable. If neither is available, juice from a high-speed juicer is still a good drink.
Low speed electric juicers have a slow-spinning auger that squeezes the juice out, rather than grating and using centrifugal force. The slow juicers are more adept at producing juices from a wide range of soft and hard produce. Some models can extract juice from grapes and other soft fruits, wheat grass
and other leaves, and hard vegetables. Others have an attachment that can make butters from nuts and beans, or even pasta. In contrast, the high-speed juicers work best with carrot and celery, and have no success extracting the juice from soft or leafy produce.
COOKING
Humans are the only animals that eat cooked food. We have only started cooking food in the recent history of our evolution. An excessive diet of cooked food can cause many degenerative illnesses. Cooking destroys the enzymes and many other valuable nutrients in the food.
If you eat a high proportion of cooked and processed foods, your body must divert much of its enzyme power to digestive duty, thereby reducing the availability of the raw materials needed to make other enzymes for the repair, growth and maintenance of your cells, anti-oxidant activity and other immune functions.
According to Dr Howell, 2° heating food to a temperature of 48°C (118°F) for 30 minutes will destroy virtually all the enzymes in it. If you put your hand in water at 48°C itwould feel uncomfortably hot, but would not burn you. This is not hot at all when it comes to cooking. At only slightly higher temperatures, all enzymes are destroyed within seconds, not minutes.
Cooking proteins binds them to some of the other nutrients in the food, and both the proteins and the other nutrients are difficult to digest. Virtually
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all the protein that our Palaeolithic ancestors ate was raw, including meat and eggs. Our digestive systems prefer raw proteins.
Protein is sensitive to heat, even low temperature cooking. Heat downgrades the nutritional value of protein. You need to double the quantity of protein to get the same nutritional input if you cook it.7B Cook meat at 115°C and the amino acids cysteine and lysine are destroyed. Glutamine is also sensitive to heat. Cooked milk proteins are unsafe, and the debilitating process of pasteurisation, to which nearly all public milk is subjected, is discussed on page 190.
Try to eat a living food diet with a high proportion of raw, unprocessed, fresh and fermented components. However, ifthe season (winter), climate, your sense of taste or your circumstances dictate that you wish to cook some of your food, you can still have a healthy diet. Taoists masters (page 198 & 250),manyofwhom itisclaimedreachedagesofover100years,atemostly lightly steamed vegetables. It is possible to cook foods without destroying too many of the enzymes provided you keep the cooking short, keep itmoist, and keep it cool. The traditional Western methods of baking, roasting and frying with long periods of hot dry heat are enzyme killers. Steaming and poaching are better — they ensure that the environment remains moist, and that the temperature is close to water’s boiling point. Stir-frying is also acceptable, provided cooking times are kept to under a minute, and preferably 30 seconds. I stir-fry my wet vegetables with a little oil, not too hot. The moisture content is maintained, the cooking time is very short, and the vegetables are still crispy — the internal cellular structure is still intact, and the internal enzymes are relatively undamaged.
To steam vegetables or any other foods, use a steamer that sits inside a pot, above a little boiling water. Alternatively, you can buy pots with a matched steamer that fits on top of the pot. One minute is enough for delicate vegetables such as broccoli or spinach, others may require five minutes, depending on the size you have cut them. Quickly rinse them in cold water to maintain the colour and stop the cooking.
If you boil foods that contain water-soluble vitamins, minerals or
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phytonutrients, you lose them unless you also drink the water.
Don’t add salt to your cooking water. Salty water has an osmotic attraction tothe fresh water invegetables and draws itout ofthem. Ifyou add salt to the water in which you are boiling vegetables, it will make them
soggy. If you have to add salt, add sea salt after cooking. It will dissolve to form a concentrated film on the surface of the vegetables, giving a more intense flavour with less salt.
When you cook fish, do it lightly and quickly. This is a chef’s secret — even slightly overcooked fish is tough and unpleasant.
Numerous health professionals and communities promote completely raw diets.’ This means raw vegetables, fruit, nuts and sprouted grains. Italso means raw flesh, eggs and unpasteurised dairy products, ifused. People on raw diets are thriving, and achieving perfect health and amazing healing. If you decide to change to a raw food diet, do itslowly — your digestive system will need several years to adapt. Initially, you may feel sick as old acid toxins stored in your body are released.
Exceptions - the following plant foods need to be cooked or fermented — both processes destroy the harmful chemicals mentioned below.
* Seeds, grains and legumes need to be cooked or sprouted. The human digestive system cannot cope with dry seeds, grains and legumes, unlike ruminants and a few other animals.
¢ Potatoes and turnips should be cooked. Potatoes contain hemagglutinins (which disrupt the functioning of red blood cells) which are destroyed by heat.
* Cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and kale contain goitrogens, which disrupt the functions of the thyroid gland. Light steaming or stir-frying destroys the goitrogens.
* For some fibrous vegetables, such as leeks, cooking helps to break down the cell membranes to make more nutrients available. Another secret with leeks is to chop them finely across their grain — this allows for less cooking, and they are delicious when stir-fried.
¢A few micronutrients (such as the carotenoids in carrots) are more available
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If you have a microwave oven (page 309), limit its use. Microwaves destroy food enzymes by altering their molecular structure.
Raw meat. Raw also applies to meat (fish, land animals and birds), but with some important provisos in our modern world. Ifyou eat flesh itshould be free ranging and organic. For example, Eskimos traditionally ate a diet of raw fish, raw meat and raw fat, and they never suffered from arthritis, heart disease or other degenerative ailments until they ate foods from outside their traditional diet. Prior to the introduction of modern processed foods, Eskimos virtually never got sick.
Wild game or birds are a good source of nutrition. They have fed on a variety of wild and organic seeds, berries, nuts, leaves, bark, grubs and herbs. The animals have been living in a natural environment where they obtain plenty of exercise, and are not stressed through being confined.
Remember that wild meat isprobably infected with parasites. According to the US Department of Agriculture, freezing raw meat for two weeks destroys the parasites. Marinading the minced or thinly sliced meat in an acid such as lemon juice or whey is another traditional approach to destroying parasites.
Raw fish (particularly cod) sometimes has parasites, and infections occur frequently among Japanese and Korean people who eat raw fish — such as sushi or sashimi. Fish loses its flavour and texture when frozen, so marinading the fish for a few hours in lemon juice or whey isa better solution. Smoking and sun drying are other solutions to parasites and spoilage that have been used for centuries.
This leaves fish as the only wild and natural source of raw flesh available to most people. Raw fish must be subject to scrupulous hygiene and freshness standards, especially ifithas been farmed, rather than caught wild. Raw wild fish is arguably the most nutritious source of concentrated protein
when they are cooked. Lycopene, the carotenoid pigment that protects against prostate cancer, isnot accessible from raw tomatoes, but isavailable when they are cooked, and then only if fat is present. A delicious marinara source, made with tomatoes and olive oil, is a perfect lycopene source.
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—rich in enzymes, EFAs and easily digestible.
Warning — do not eat raw meat purchased from a general butcher or
supermarket. Abattoirs are the most unhygienic places. As the carcasses are cut up, broken digestive tracts are acommon problem, with the contents being cross-contaminated with the meat. If any animals are sick or infected with parasites, the infections will find their way into the other meat. Poultry is worse, with the carcasses being de-feathered in baths with rotary feather pullers. These baths are a mix of feathers, blood, excreta and dirt. Raw chicken carcasses are positively dangerous, as is any juice that thaws out from them. If you eat supermarket meat, it must be cooked for your own protection.
SOAKING AND SPROUTING
any people find they do not thrive on legumes, grains, seeds, nuts and
INAEee suchasbreads,cakesorbeandishesmadefromthem.Do you suffer from indigestion, flatulence, heaviness and other maladies after eating them?
Dry grains, seeds and legumes contain enzyme inhibitors, which keep them dormant until they are soaked and start to sprout. One of the inhibitors is phytic acid in the outer layer or bran. The enzyme inhibitors make dry grains, seeds and beans virtually indigestible. Phytic acid also reacts with many essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc, and stops their absorption in your intestines.
A diet high in grains that have not been sprouted or soaked can lead to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss. Breads and other products made from flour that has not been wet for at least seven hours have a similar effect. Most commercial breads, pastries, biscuits etc are made from un-soaked flour.
Itisbest to soak any seed, grain, nut or legume before use. Aminimum of seven hours soaking in water de-activates most of the enzyme inhibitors. Soaking, fermenting and sprouting also break down gluten and other difficult-to-digest proteins into simpler components that are more easily
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digested. A day or two after soaking they should start to sprout. Sprouts are especially valuable because the nutrient content multiplies many times, and they become easily digestible.
Many traditional cultures that use grains or seeds first prepare them by soaking or fermenting. In India, rice and lentils are soaked for at least two days; in Africa and South America, corn or millet are fermented for several days; and in Europe, grains such as spelt and rye were soaked or fermented for several days.
Sprouted or fermented grains and traditional sourdough breads are made over a period of days. They are easy to digest, and contain a wide range of micronutrients including anti-oxidants made by the bacteria and yeasts. In contrast, commercially baked bread made from milled dry grains and fast acting yeast is prepared and baked in less than a few hours. No lactobacilli are involved, only one strain of yeast is used, and the conditions are not suitable for neutralising enzyme inhibitors and breaking down gluten into a more digestible form.
Sprouts are a living, enzyme-rich, low calorie food. Their vitamin A content will usually double, various B group vitamins will be 5 — 10 times higher, and vitamin C will increase by a similar order. Their protein content becomes easily digestible, and rich new nutrients such as enzymes and phytonutrients are created. They contain significant amounts of bio-available calcium, iron and zinc.
When adormant seed sprouts, itsstarch isconverted into simple sugars, and long chain proteins are split into smaller, easily digestible molecules. Sprouted beans and seeds are like a pre-digested food, one of the most enzyme-rich and nutritious foods known.
To sprout a grain, seed or bean, first wash them and then soak them in cool to tepid, preferably spring water. Sprouting is encouraged in slightly salty and acid water, so you can add a pinch of sea salt and a spoon of vinegar. Soaking time is normally 5 — 8 hours, but can be up to 24 hours for large hard beans. The sprouting time depends on the type of bean, grain or seed, how fresh and alive they are, and the temperature. For example, using
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top quality sunflower seeds in the summer, I have had sprouts starting in 8 hours. At the other extreme, large cannelloni beans can take two or more days to begin. Change the water every 8-12 hours. Broken and chipped seeds will not sprout, and chemically treated seeds will be less successful.
After soaking the seeds, put them in an open container secured with a cheesecloth top. Place the container so that excess water can drain out. The seeds need to be kept damp and aired, but not wet, otherwise there isa chance of mould or spoiling. Within 2-5 days most seeds and beans are ready. They are ready when the root (not the shoot, which is longer) is the length of the seed.
An alternative method of sprouting without soaking is to keep the seeds/beans damp for a longer period. They still need rinsing 2-3 times per day.
Most seeds sprout easily, as do many grains. Nuts are more difficult to sprout, but still soak them all, making them a highly nutritious and essential part of a living food diet.
Treat raw legumes with caution. Chic peas (also known as Garbanzo beans) are the most digestible of the beans, and the only bean you might consider eating raw. When sprouted with 1-2 cm tails, most of their enzyme inhibitors are inactivated or washed away.
Mung beans make an excellent sprout, used widely in Chinese cooking. However, they primarily use the sprouts and not the beans, and the sprouts are often stir-fried.
Soy and kidney bean sprouts are toxic. Sprouted lentils, black eyed beans, partridge peas, peanuts and vetch all have high levels of enzyme inhibitors which cause poor digestion and gas.
Alfalfa sprouts are mildly toxic — do not eat them every day, and avoid them if you are a cancer patient. They are highly nutritious, but if you have a weak immune system or suffer from inflammation, avoid them.
Most raw sprouts contain hemagglutinins, which inhibit the absorption of proteins and fats. The worst are soybeans and kidney beans, followed by Pinto, Navy, Black eye, Lima, Black beans, Aduki beans, lentils and peas
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Hemagglutinins are destroyed by cooking.
Essene bread is a traditional food, made the way the first breads were -
from sprouted grain, baked in the sun or at very low temperature. It is dense and heavy, full of flavour, and contains soft, sprouted, whole or lightly minced grains. It does not contain flour, added yeasts or any other ingredients. Essene bread is an excellent alkaline-forming food, nutritious, digestible, and a slow release carbohydrate.
You can buy Essene bread at your local health food store, or make it yourself. To make it,soak whole wheat or rye grains for 8 to 15 hours, and then leave them damp for another two days. Change the water at least twice a day while soaking and sprouting. When the grains are just starting to sprout, they are ready. The sprouts should be little more than a bulge that has just broken out. Pound the grains in a pestle and mortar or mince them. Ifyou use an electric food processor, use the slowest setting and process the grains lightly. Press the mixture, which should have the consistency of firm dough, into a baking tray. Put itin the sun or a warm place and “bake” itfor 12 — 24 hours. The hot sun, the top of a radiator or above a gas oven’s pilot burner are possibilities — you need a temperature of 22-33°C. The longer you “bake” it,the stronger the flavour.
You can also bake it in a slow oven at 110°C for two hours, though this will destroy the enzymes in the bread. The result will taste more like store- bought Essene breads — dense, heavy and sweet.
Feel free to experiment with the temperature and the baking time. You can also add vegetables, herbs, and spices such as fennel and caraway seeds to the mixture for a variety of flavours.
Ifyou are new to Essene bread, itis agood idea first to buy a loaf from your health food shop before making your own. This way, you get an idea of the required consistency, and just how delicious the product can be.
FERMENTED FOODS
A Syouage,particularlyifyouareeatingalargeproportionofcooked
foods, packaged foods, dairy, meats or eggs, your digestive system
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weakens, loses its efficiency, and becomes the underlying source of a wide range of ills. Fermented foods are an excellent source of easily digestible living food for a stressed or abused digestive system. A regular intake of fermented foods containing friendly bacteria heals your digestive system and lowers the call on your digestive enzymes.
Human populations that consume a large proportion of fermented foods in their diets enjoy superior health and longevity. For example in Georgia, Russia, where many of the villagers live to over a century, they consume sourdough bread, fermented vegetables, kefir, yogurt and sour milk (made from raw, not pasteurised milk).
Almost every culture includes a variety of fermented foods in its diet. Over the centuries, many European people have made yogurt and kefir from milk. Fermented cabbage is enjoyed by the Germans (Sauerkraut), Koreans (Kimchee) and Japanese. A variety of fermented vegetables is an important and delicious source of nutrients, especially in the winter months of Europe. In previous centuries, Sauerkraut was a boon to people living in the northern regions of the world during the winter, when a thick blanket of snow covered the ground. It sustained their health during the months when no fresh fruits and vegetables were available.
The Chinese and Japanese have a long tradition of using fermented soybean products such as Soy sauce and miso paste. Various types of miso can also include grains, beans, seaweed and spices such as ginger. The Indonesians make a fermented soybean called tempeh. Thai cuisine includes a pungent fermented fish sauce called nam-pla.
Eating or drinking fermented foods with your meals aids digestion, helping break down proteins and carbohydrates. That isone reason why wine and beer go so well with a protein meal.
Fermented products are a great source of pre-digested protein (amino acids), enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and /actobacillus and other beneficial bacteria. More importantly, they are in a bio-available form. “Friendly” bacteria such as Jactobacillus are sometimes added to the raw ingredients, or they are left to ferment with their own natural yeasts or enzymes.
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Fermentation can take from hours to months, while the microbes break down complex carbohydrates, sugars and proteins into more easily digestible forms, and produce organic acids including lactic acid and other by-products. Fermentation increases the vitamin and enzyme content of foods.
Fermented foods also colonise your intestinal tract with friendly flora. Lactic acid destroys harmful intestinal bacteria. Lactobacillus and other good bacteria keep a control on the population of harmful and putrefactive bacteria, maintain proper (acid) pH balance in your colon, and increase the frequency and bulk of bowel movements.
Several fermented health and longevity drinks that you can make yourself are discussed later in this book. Kombucha is a delicious detoxifying drink with hundreds of healing properties. Kefir is a fermented milk product that is reputed to be the secret of long life and health among the Caucasians. Rejuvelac is a living, enzyme-rich drink that heals your colon, and can be used in the production of other raw and fermented foods. EM brews are rich in organic acids, anti-oxidants and beneficial microorganisms.
Your intestines have evolved into a perfect bacterial farm. You provide the microbes in your gut with food and in return, they produce beneficial nutrients and help defend you from pathogens. Over the millennia, our ancestors fermented their foods and drinks. They developed beneficial microbial strains that prevent spoilage, fight infections, and increase the absorption of nutrients.
Beneficial microbes help you to fight infections. The competition between microbes is fierce, and the good bacteria that are the normal inhabitants of our guts fight off many foreign intruders. They are your first line of defence in the war of infection. For example, /actobacillus acidophilus produces several substances while fermenting milk, including acidolin, acidophillin, lactobacillan, and lactocidin. These substances inhibit pathogenic bacteria like salmonella, while leaving other friendly lactobacilli and human cells unharmed.
Bad microorganisms. Most bacteria and yeasts are unfriendly or harmful. Those that are used to ferment foods and drinks have been isolated
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and developed over many years. Ifyou are healthy, the vast majority of flora inside your body will be beneficial. However, there will always be a small proportion of harmful bacteria and yeasts waiting for an opportunity to multiply. Antibiotics indiscriminately destroy all the bacteria in your digestive system, leaving all kinds of fungi free to multiply with no bacterial competition. If you have a weak digestive system, eat foods that are rich in sugar and refined carbohydrates, or consume dead foods, you can produce a sugar and nutrient rich, pH neutral medium in which ‘harmful microorganisms can thrive. They can ferment (causing gas), and harmful bacteria or fungi can build up in your gut or other parts of your body. An overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria and yeasts can cause all kinds of problems, including candida, Crohn’s disease, ankylosing spondylitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. People with chronic yeast infections on the skin, or internally (candida) should be wary of fermented foods and drinks, particularly those with sugars or commercial vinegar in them, or any added brewers yeast. This includes pickles, beer and wine, cheeses (particularly smelly and blue cheeses), supermarket bread and old food that may be mouldy. Peanuts, corn and many grains are also widely affected with fungi. However, the fermented foods and drinks recommended in Grow Youthful can assist in healing fungal and other infections.
FOODS TO INCLUDE
BEANS
Beans (legumes) have a reputation as being difficult to digest and causing gas. However, ifyou follow some simple rules, beans are an easily digestible rich source of proteins, low Glycemic index carbohydrates, vitamins, protective phytonutrients and other nutrients. If you just cook the dry beans for a long period to soften them, you will not get much nutrition. Beans cooked in this manner will cause flatulence, and they may inhibit your absorption ofanumber ofminerals. Ifthey are undercooked anda littlehard, they will be even worse — you will suffer indigestion.
The secret with beans and a wide variety of other seeds and grains is to
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soak or sprout them. Sprouting makes them an easily digestible, highly nutritious complex carbohydrate protein-rich food that is also source of live enzymes, as discussed on page 161.
Most people undercook beans — they need 1-4 hours to cook, depending on the type of bean. Keep them well covered with water, as they swell 2-4 times their size and take up lots of water.
Another secret with beans is to add a little seaweed to the cooking water. A 3-5 cm (1-2 inch) piece of kombu adds to the flavour, softens the beans, and makes them more digestible. Seaweeds contain natural beneficial glutamates, in contrast to toxic monosodium glutamate (MSG) that is added to most processed food.
Do not add salt to the cooking water. It slows the water absorption, makes the beans hard and adds to the cooking time.
Grains and legumes are often served together, because they compliment each other so well. Common combinations are chickpeas with millet, lentils, kidney or Aduki beans with barley or rice, and corn bread with black-eyed peas.
Chic peas (also known as Garbanzo beans) are one of the most digestible legumes. They are traditionally used to make hummus, and are widely used in Middle Eastern cuisine.
The next most digestible beans are Aduki beans, which are particularly nourishing for your kidneys. Lentils, Mung beans and peas are also digestible. Less digestible are Pinto, Kidney, Navy, Black eye, Lima and Black beans, and chick peas. Hardest to digest are soybeans.
It is important to pick through any legumes or grains before you use them, and remove the discoloured, mis-shaped and broken items. Black or discoloured legumes are usually infected with fungi. The misshapen and broken pieces will not sprout, and can go slimy among the healthy sprouting legumes and grains when you soak them.
EGGS
Eggs are a rich source of just about every nutrient. The whites are a good
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source of protein, and the yolks are a treasure trove of vitamins and valuable fats. Eggs contain fat-soluble vitamins A and D, the B vitamin choline, folic acid, long chain fatty acids EPA and DHA, and many other nutrients. They are probably the most complete, nutritious and economical form of animal protein available.
Eggs are high in cholesterol, but high-cholesterol foods are unlikely to raise your blood cholesterol level (page 126). Eating a couple of eggs per day is likely to have the reverse effect and lower your LDL cholesterol level.
It is essential that you buy the best quality eggs that you can find — from hens free to range in pastures where they can stretch their wings, eat fruits, plants and seeds, and scratch around for bugs and worms. If you can find them, buy organic free-range eggs or Omega-3 enhanced eggs from hens whose diets are supplemented with flax seed or fishmeal. These eggs have an Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of virtually one-to-one, compared to commercial supermarket eggs with a deficient ratio of 17 to one.
A healthy egg has a strong shell, a dark yellow or orange yolk, and a white with two clearly defined parts — a thick part surrounding the yolk, and a thinner section on the outside.
Ask what date they were laid — you will often find eggs are at least a month old when you buy them — hardly a fresh food.
Most commercial eggs come from chickens cooped up in small cages under bright lights and fed on dry feed laced with synthetic hormones and antibiotics. Such eggs are not a living, nutritious and wholesome food. They have virtually no Omega-3 and contain low levels of vitamins and other nutrients.
Egg whites are a concentrated source of protein. However, they contain avidin (which interferes with the absorption of biotin) and trypsin inhibitors (which upset protein digestion). Lightly cooking the egg white will neutralise both these anti-nutrients.
A high proportion of the proteins and nutrients in an egg are destroyed by over-cooking. The best way to cook eggs is soft-boiled or lightly poached, with the whites solid and the yolks remaining soft. This retains most enzymes
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and nutritional value.
A study*° of the egg consumption of 120,000 people found that men and
women who ate an egg every day were no more likely to suffer from heart or artery disease than those who ate one egg per week. I feel that if they had been consuming organic free-range eggs rather than battery eggs, the case for eating eggs would have been much stronger.
FISH
According to Benjamin S. Frank,?° all life began in the sea, and you will enjoy a spectacular improvement in your health by returning to the sea for your nourishment. He advises that you eat sardines 3-4 times per week (fresh or a small can), and on each of the remaining days have salmon, any other kind of fish, or seafood. Beets, legumes, asparagus, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, radishes, scallions and spinach are also included in his diet. He claims that your skin will improve dramatically after a couple of months, along with the healing of many degenerative diseases.
There is no doubt that fish are an excellent source of essential fatty acids, particularly Omega-3s. They are an easily digestible form of concentrated and complete protein. Fish from the sea are rich in trace minerals, and are a good source of minerals that are no longer available from crops grown on depleted land.
Fresh fish does not have an unpleasant or “fishy” smell — it has a salty ocean aroma. The gills are bright red, rather than pink or grey. If you poke it with your finger itshould spring back rather than forming an indentation. Its eyes should be clear and protruding, rather than sunken and opaque.
As a depository of minerals, the sea is also accumulating increased levels of pollution. The most affected are large carnivorous fish higher up in the food chain such as shark, marlin, tuna, swordfish and mackerel. Shellfish are particularly adept at picking up heavy metals. Do not eat any fish or seafood caught in polluted waters near industry, mines and cities. Stay clear of oysters and mussels taken near cities and sources of pollution, fish caught in rivers you are not familiar with, or fish caught other than in the open ocean or a
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pristine coast. This isparticularly important ifyou are pregnant.
FRUITS
A fruit is any part of a plant that contains seeds. Many fruits are commonly used as vegetables, such as tomatoes, squashes, olives, cucumbers, eggplants
and avocados.
A good idea is to eat something from each of the following groups on
most days, provided they are in-season and grown locally:
* Yellow or orange fruits and vegetables. This includes stone fruits, bananas, apples and pears, and tropical fruits such as paw paws, mangos, passion fruit and custard apples.
* Red fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes are especially valuable, though they are one of the few fruits you need to cook to release their lycopene, a powerful anti-oxidant.
¢ The citrus family, including oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes, tangelos, cumquats and tangerines, are high in vitamin C and alkaline minerals.
* Berries and grapes, especially the black and purple coloured fruits, are rich in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents.
Fruits and vegetables are a good source of potassium, magnesium and other alkaline elements. They help to detoxify your body, and have many other benefits such as controlling your blood pressure and reducing the risk of fatal heart rhythms.
Generally, fruits digest more quickly than vegetables. Melons are the fastest digesting of all, so fast that it is best to eat them on their own rather than combine them with other foods (page 107). Fruits also have a higher sugar content than most vegetables. For this reason the major part of your diet should be vegetables rather than fruit. However, the range of micronutrients in fruits is so high and valuable that you should eat at least two or three different fruits every day.
FRUIT & VEGETABLE JUICES
Fruit and vegetable juices are an excellent and concentrated form of
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Fruit and carrot juices are also full of sugar — a glass of orange juice contains as much sugar as a candy bar. Limit the sweet juices to a 200 ml glass a day, and avoid them ifyou are overweight or suffering from candida or any of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Vegetable and herb juices are not as sweet, but they are still so concentrated that two glasses per day should be more than sufficient to gain a good boost of micronutrients. It is a good idea to dilute them with water, drink them slowly, and spread them over the day.
Try to avoid supermarket juices. Few of them contain unprocessed juice. Most have been spoiled with heat, concentrates, additional sugars, colouring and preservatives.
GRAINS & SEEDS
Whole grains contain complex carbohydrates, a significant level of proteins, oils, vitamins, minerals, and fibre, making them a truly “whole” food. Vegetarians can get most essential amino and fatty acids by eating a couple of handfuls of soaked or sprouted raw nuts and seeds every day. The best seeds are sunflower, pumpkin, and flax. Flax seed is good for the colon and pumpkin seed for the prostate.
Most of the world’s population get the bulk of their calories and nutrition from a staple grain such as rice, maize or wheat. You can buy whole grains and seeds such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, pumpkin, poppy, sunflower, sesame and quinoa at health food stores and many delicatessens.
Raw hard grains such as wheat, barley, rye and maize are inedible. The best way to prepare them (and all the soft grains and seeds too) is to soak them, preferably long enough that they start to sprout. If you eat them raw and sprouted you get far higher levels of nutrients, and they are more easily digestible. See page 169 for more details on how to sprout.
Humans cannot digest dry grains. If you soak them in water overnight,
nutrition, provided they are freshly made from ripe organic produce, using a hand operated or low-speed electric juicer. They are alkalising and rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
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this deactivates the enzyme inhibitors, softens their fibres, and makes their nutrients more digestible. Irecommend soaking them longer, until they start to sprout.
A second, but less nutritious way to eat whole grains itto toast them until golden brown. This process iscalled dextrinisation, and itconverts much of the (hard to digest) starch into (easily digested) simple sugars. Some of the nutrients, particularly essential fats, will be lost in the cooking. Cooking time varies depending on the type of grain, and how old it is. Fresh grains cook noticeably more quickly than grains that have been in storage for a while.
It is important that grains are fresh — in particular, that they have not been stored for long periods in conditions that are slightly damp, otherwise aflatoxin moulds, a potent carcinogen, can occur. Yeast and mould infection of grains and corn is a widespread problem.
Grains are best stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator. They contain polyunsaturated and essential oils that can spoil quickly, especially in the heat and light.
NUTS
Nuts are a great source of protein and many other micronutrients. Studies have shown that eating a handful of nuts several times a week will substantially lower your chances of getting cardiovascular disease.*!* True, they are high in fat, but they are good fats. A large handful of nuts might contain 200 calories, so they are not something you snack on anytime. However, they are an infinitely better alternative than chips or chocolate. Add them to vegetable dishes and use them instead of meat in your main dishes for delicious flavour, texture and nutrition. Eat nuts raw and freshly harvested. Stale nuts lose most of their nutritional value, and are prone to moulds that can make you ill. If you absolutely have to toast your nuts, cook them lightly at a low temperature.
A problem with eating large quantities of nuts (and seeds) is that they are high in copper. A large portion of the Western population suffers from copper accumulation (page 211).
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Raw walnuts are one of the richest sources of Omega-3 fatty acids. Raw almonds however, are high in Omega-6 essential fatty acids and low in Omega-3s.
Dry nuts contain an enzyme inhibitor that makes them difficult for some people to digest. If you soak them in water for 8-12 hours, this deactivates the inhibitor, softens their fibres, and makes them more digestible.
MILK MADE FROM GRAINS & NUTS
You can make delicious, digestible and nutritious milks with your blender. My favourite isalmond milk. Use itfor baking, cooking, making ice cream, asadrinkorinyourtea.Ilovetheflavour,useitwithmy muesli,tomake custard, and in sauces and soups. By varying the amount of water, you can make itas thin as milk or as thick as cream. You can use any kind of nut, or a wide range of seeds and grains. I have made delicious milks from sesame seeds, poppy seeds, oats and barley, in addition to almonds, hazels, cashews, brazils and other nuts.
To make milk, soak a cup of nuts or seeds in water for at least seven hours, until they are soft. Rinse them, then put them in a blender with a litre of water. Blend them on high for three to five minutes. This is heavy duty blending which is hard on your blender. After every two or three minutes, give the motor a rest for a few minutes to let itcool down.
Put a cloth in a large sieve, and place them over a bowl. Pour the blended mixture through the cloth. After a few minutes, lift up the edges ofthe cloth, twist and squeeze out the remaining milk. This step is optional — some people like to keep the nut meal in the milk.
Generally, these milks should not be boiled or overheated. It will destroy their enzymes and essential fatty acids. Some, such as sesame milk, tend to curdle ifthey are heated.
You can add a culture to the milk, to make it a highly digestible living food. Cultured nut and grain milks and cheeses tend to store a lot longer, and develop some delicious flavours. Try adding kefir grains, or Rejuvelac. Kefir grains will not reproduce in nut or grain milk.
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The protein content iseasily digestible, especially ifthe milk has been cultured. The oil content can be high if you are using some types of nuts rather than grains.
Ifyou keep the milk chilled, itwill last for several days before going sour. When itsours, itisstillahighly nutritious drink. Ifyou leave itlong enough it will curdle. You can put the curds in a cloth, gently squeeze them, and make a nut cheese.
A problem isthat most nut milks (except milks made from flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts) are high in Omega-6 essential fatty acids, and low in Omega-3’s (page 130). So if you are drinking a lot of almond or sesame milk, eat fish a couple of times a week or seek another source of Omega-3s.
Nut, seed and grain milks are available in most supermarkets and health food stores. The commercial nut and grain milks are often adulterated with added sugars, emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and bad oils.
VEGETABLES
A vegetable is any part of a plant that does not contain seeds. This leaves us with flowers (including the large flowers of cauliflower and broccoll1), stalks and stems, leaves, roots and bulbs.
Fresh vegetables should make up the major part of your diet. They are the earth’s most effective alkalisers, especially when consumed raw in salads or as freshly extracted juices. Vegetables are rich in nutrients, digest easily, and combine well with all other foods. They contain fibre, chlorophyll, minerals, vitamins and a wide range of phytonutrients that provide wonderful health and synergistic effects.
Hundreds of studies have shown that people who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables dramatically improve their digestion, and reduce their risk of getting any degenerative diseases.
Try to eat at least five, and preferably nine different pieces or serves of fruit or vegetables every day. They should be in season, organic, ripe-picked, as fresh as possible (preferably minutes since picked). Eat as much as you
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find palatable raw, though some vegetables such as tomatoes benefit from cooking (see page 179). This is a foundation for radiant good health and longevity.
Each individual fruit or vegetable probably contains hundreds of phytonutrients, and each family thousands. Nevertheless, no single vegetable or even family of vegetables contains all the nutrients you need. Many contain harmful compounds, and that is why variety is important. For example, sorrel, spinach, chard, rhubarb, tea, cocoa and beet greens contain harmful oxalic acid (page 190).
I suggest eating a few servings every week from each of the families, provided they are in season. The different families also complement each other with different colours and textures. A rainbow-coloured salad of dark green beetroot or spinach leaves, ripe red tomatoes, bright orange grated carrots and smooth green avocado for example, makes an attractive dish. Vegetables can be classified into the following families:
* Umbels include carrots, celery, parsnips and parsley. Carrots are one of the best sources of beta-carotene.
* Legumes include all kinds of beans and peas (rich in carotenoids) and alfalfa. They are high in protein and fibre, and contain folate and protease inhibitors, which protect against heart disease and cancer.
*Lilies include onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, chives and asparagus. They are high in sulphur containing compounds such as allicin, which protect against cancer.
*Melons and squashes include pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers and butternut. Cantaloupes and honeydew melons that are usually eaten as fruits are also included in this family.
*Crucifers include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, kale, collard, mustard greens, turnips and watercress. Some of the phytonutrients in this family seem to be able to protect mucous membranes, especially in the lungs and digestive tract. They are effective guardians against cancer, ulcers and infections in these organs
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* Solanums (nightshades) include eggplants, potatoes, peppers and tomatoes. Page 198 explains why many people do not eat nightshades.
PRODUCTS TO AVOID OR REDUCE ALCOHOL
Icohol is a two edged sword. For many people, a fine wine is one of NG pleasures.Othersuseitasacrutchtorelaxortoeasesocial interaction. Many studies show a limited amount of alcohol can be beneficial, more so for people over the age of 40. Up to one drink a day for women, and one or two a day for men reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by about a third, and also reduces the risk of a stroke*!/ or diabetes.4!M Moderate alcohol consumption raises the level of HDL, the good form of cholesterol. Most adults who do not suffer from depression or have a history of alcoholism will benefit from a daily drink before their main meal, particularly men who are at risk of heart disease. However, ifyou do not already drink alcohol, I do not think the benefits are a good enough reason to start.
Alcohol can destroy the liver, damage the brain, cause cancers (including breast cancer), heart and artery disease, and severely damage foetuses. The risk of cancer is higher if you drink alcohol, especially if you have insufficient folic acid in your diet. It also can have devastating social consequences.
Alcohol dehydrates the body and the brain cells. It is one of the few substances that manages to bypass some of the brain’s dehydration protection mechanisms.
Excess alcohol or hard liquor like brandy, vodka or whiskey raises your insulin level. Long-term drinking can contribute to metabolic syndrome.
Women trying to get pregnant, or who are in the early stages of pregnancy, should not drink any alcohol. It severely inhibits growth and development of the foetus, particularly the brain and the nervous system. It affects the foetus during the first few days of pregnancy, well before the mother knows she ispregnant.
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Other anti-oxidants are also found in wine and beer. Fermenting yeasts produce some anti-oxidants, as do the malt and hops used in beer.
ALLERGIC FOODS
A large portion of the population suffers from food allergies or sensitivities. Most people with inflammatory diseases have allergies to certain foods or chemicals. The most common allergic foods are pasteurised dairy products, wheat and other grains, beef, chilli, chocolate, coffee, eggs, nuts (especially peanuts) and oranges. Nightshades often cause sore and painful joints.
A simple test is to avoid all those foods for at least three weeks, and then start eating them again, one by one. Note any reactions during the days after you re-introduce each food. The affects to look for are a feeling of a full stomach, gas and bloating; increased mucus production; a loss of energy; and skin rashes. Skin inflammations, insomnia, joint pain, headaches and hoarseness are other symptoms to look for. Pay attention to how the food affects any particular ailments that you have.
A faster test is to avoid all suspect foods for at least four days. Then eat a moderate amount of one of the foods on an empty stomach. Test your pulse before eating the food, and minutes after the meal. Preferably, test it again during the following hour or two. Assuming that you have not changed your level of exertion, ifyour pulse rises by more than a few beats per minute, or ifyou feel any adverse reactions, then you are probably allergic to that food.
Ifyou are allergic to a food, sometimes eliminating itfor six months will remove the problem. Start eating it again in small quantities, but not every
Grape wine contains an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory called resveratrol. Itprotects against heart disease, cancer and many other diseases. It comes from the stems, leaves and skins of grapes, and is significantly higher in red wine as opposed to white, because the fruit sits in the wine for a longer period. High quality wines have higher levels than cheap “plonk”. Raw grape juice contains about a third as much resveratrol as a red wine. One or two glasses of red wine per day seem to provide good anti-oxidant protection.
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day. If the allergy has disappeared, still only consume that food in moderation.
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
Aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin and acesulfame-K are chemicals used as artificial sweeteners. Although they contain no calories, they stimulate the urge to overeat. Research has shown that you can be inappropriately hungry for up to 90 minutes after drinking a can of diet soft drink.8* The sweet taste on your tongue produces a hormone in your brain that says, “sugar is on the way.” Your pancreas secretes insulin into your blood, your liver stops producing glucose, and instead starts to store calories. However, no sugar arrives from the diet drink, so your blood glucose level shoots down. Naturally, you feel hungry.
Aspartame can produce methanol and other toxins inyour intestine. Itis highly addictive, and people who have been drinking soft drinks for an extended period find them almost impossible to give up. Aspartame and saccharin break down into a number of toxins (including formaldehyde) when heated or fermented. They have also been associated with mental and emotional problems. Cyclamate has unresolved questions concerning its association with cancer.
Sucralose is achemical made by modifying sugar. Itis600 times sweeter than table sugar, and is sometimes sold under the name Splenda. It is stable, is not easily broken down during digestion, and for some reason does not seem to produce as big a rise in blood insulin. Nevertheless, it is not a food, and like any other manufactured drug or chemical itmay have side effects, and may not be eliminated from your body.
If you need to sweeten your food, a good natural herbal alternative to both sugar and artificial sweeteners is stevia. Another sugar-like alternative isXylitol (page 153).
BAD OILS
Bad oils (page 138) are hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, trans
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fats, oils extracted under high temperature or pressure, old oils and re-heated oils. They include margarine, vegetable shortening, soy, canola and cotton seed oils. Most of these fats did not exist before the twentieth century, and they are a prime cause of many modern degenerative diseases and rapid ageing.
Bad oils are relatively cheap. They have properties suitable for processed food and a long shelf life, so they are widely used in take away foods and the food processing industry. Commercial deep-fried food and particularly fast food are guilty of using old and re-heated oils. Heating, cooling and then re- heating oils severely damages them.
To gain real health, you need to unplug from commercial food. Stay well away from biscuits, snack foods and baked foods that usually contain trans fats and hydrogenated oils.
BURNED FOOD
Try not to eat charred foods, or food cooked to a dark brown. Cut the burned food away. This includes burnt toast and cakes, flamed and barbequed meats, and cheese toppings grilled until crispy. All the nutrients in burnt foods are destroyed by such overcooking, and they are loaded with free radicals and carcinogens.
CAFFEINE
This addictive drug and dehydrating agent is present in most soft drinks, coffee, tea, sports drinks, guarana, cocoa and cigarettes. It has diuretic properties, acting on the kidneys to increase urine production. Itisthe perfect additive for soft drinks, with an average of 50 mg per can — you can drink many cans every day, and still never be satisfied.
After having had a caffeine drink, most people do not realise they are thirsty, and resort to (over) eating.8G An ironic effect of drinking soft drinks regularly, especially diet drinks, is obesity.
Caffeine overstimulates your body by causing a spike in your blood glucose level, giving a short-term boost to your energy. However, this causes
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your insulin level to rise excessively, causing metabolic syndrome. The constant or excess use of caffeine depletes your ability to store energy. Itcan give you the shakes, make you irritable, keep you from sleeping, reduce your long-term attention span and suppress your energy level.84 Caffeine inhibits the uptake of calcium (page 276).
Contrary to popular belief, a number of studies have shown that caffeine reduces your ability to remember lists of words. It slows down your ability to process ambiguous or confusing stimuli, and reduces your ability to focus. The affect isworse ifcombined with alcohol.
Coffee is high in caffeine, with an average cup containing around 85 mg. Do not drink coffee to the point where it causes the above symptoms. I suggest a maximum of one cup per day, or better still, every couple of days. Caffeine-free coffee is a good choice, but still drink it in moderation as it is usually made using petroleum based solvents. If you find coffee does not digest well, drink itwithout sweeteners, especially sugar. Also, drink itblack, with no milk or cream.
After it is ground, the oils in coffee easily go rancid. Try to use fresh, whole organic coffee beans, and grind them before you make a brew.
Coffee is an acid-forming drink. Acid-forming drinks increase your chances of bone loss or osteoporosis (page 276). In large quantities, it reduces your effectiveness in digesting minerals, particularly calcium.8>B
Coffee contains low levels of cadmium, which can build up in your body ifyou drink itregularly.
In defence of coffee, its delicious flavour and aroma relax you to the point that itcan act as a mild antidepressant. Several studies have shown that suicide rates are as much as 50% lower among coffee drinkers than non- coffee drinkers.4!N Coffee has a number of other benefits, such as lowering your chances of developing kidney stones and gallstones.
Tea (black tea). The caffeine content of tea ranges from 2.5% to 5.5% by weight, or 50 mg in a typical cup of tea. In the tea plant, caffeine is most concentrated in the tips of budding leaves. Strong “pick me up” teas have a higher proportion of these new leaves. Tea twigs have the least amount of
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caffeine, and the most minerals. Twig teas are sold as kukicha or bancha twig tea. Green tea contains less caffeine than black tea.
The tannin in black tea prevents the uptake of many valuable minerals, particularly zinc and iron. Tannin also inhibits the digestion ofprotein. Ifyou have to drink black tea (with or without milk), it is best not to have it less than an hour before or after a meal.
Oxalic acid is another harmful ingredient in tea. It blocks the absorption of some minerals (particularly calctum, iron, magnesium, sodium and potassium) and irritates the digestive tract. Green tea has about one-fifth the level of oxalic acid as black tea.
On the plus side, tea has some of the same benefits as coffee. It is refreshing and may lower your risk of getting kidney and gallstones. It also contains anti-oxidants.
Green tea is far more beneficial than black tea. |recommend green tea as a regular drink. Drink it diluted, the way the traditional Chinese do — just a small pinch of tealeaves in a whole pot. That way, the caffeine content is negligible. Green tea is rich in flavonoids (black tea has a lower level) that protect against cancer.
Here is how to decaffeinate your tea. Pour hot water into a cup or pot, and then insert the tea bag, leaves or infuser. Leave itfor 20 seconds without
jiggling, and then discard the clear-coloured water. Itwill contain most of the caffeine from the tea, because caffeine is highly water-soluble. Now make your tea with a second batch of water in the normal way.
DAIRY PRODUCTS (pasteurised)
You may be surprised to learn that most human beings do not drink or use cow’s milk. The majority of Asians and Africans cannot drink milk because itmakes them ill,so they have traditionally avoided it.
The only animal sourced carbohydrate in our diets is lactose, the sugar in milk. Itrequires the enzyme lactase to digest it,and many people, especially Asians and Africans, do not produce lactase after they are weaned in infancy. Generally, only the digestive systems of people of northern European origin
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(Caucasians) make lactase throughout their lives. Only about a quarter of the world’s adults are capable of digesting milk. For most adults, drinking a glass of milk has immediate consequences like nausea, cramps, bloating and diarrhoea.
Milk is a short-term nutrient for newborn mammals. When the time comes for weaning, the young offspring is introduced to the adult food for that species. Generally, no animal continues to drink milk after it has been weaned, nor does itdrink the milk of another species.
Cow’s milk is a high fat, complete protein food when consumed raw (not pasteurised). It contains all the enzymes necessary for its digestion, and the assimilation of its calctum and other minerals, sugars and wide range of vitamins. Raw milk is a nutritious food, as are products made from raw milk.
Over the centuries, most humans have consumed milk in a fermented state as curds and whey, yogurt, kefir, cheese, clabber and many other forms. The lactic acid-producing bacteria break down the milk sugar (lactose) and milk protein (casein), making itmore digestible. After the friendly lacto- bacteria have produced enough lactic acid to de-activate any putrefying bacteria, theproduct ispreserved forweeks, orinthecase ifcheese foryears.
In the Western world, we are encouraged to drink milk every day. Many old-fashioned dieticians and nutritionists say that pasteurised dairy products are an “essential food group.” Schools and even hospitals have included milk in their meals for years. However, the process of pasteurisation makes milk soindigestible thatitisthecause ofmany degenerative diseases.
Hundreds of scientific research publications®?:74 indicate that pasteurised cow’s milk may cause allergies, asthma, ear infections, tonsillar infections, intestinal bleeding, colic and childhood diabetes in children. Among adults, milk may be responsible for heart disease, arthritis, allergies, sinusitis, leukaemia, lymphoma and cancer (especially prostate and breast cancers). Many degenerative diseases have disappeared after eliminating all dairy products from the sufferer’s diet.
A study of children in Finland showed the world’s highest rate of dairy product consumption and the world’s highest rate of insulin dependent
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diabetes. Cow’s milk provides the trigger for the onset of insulin dependent diabetes in genetically susceptible infants. Keeping babies off dairy products for their first six months halves the risk of diabetes in susceptible infants. The trigger factor, a milk protein called bovine serum albumin (BSA), can also pass from the mother’s diet into her breast milk. So ifmothers avoid beef and cow’s milk, this may eliminate the risk of insulin dependent diabetes.3!G
Nearly all cows today are fed or injected with synthetic hormones, drugs and antibiotics to increase their milk production and keep diseases at bay. The food that cows eat also contains high levels of pesticides and herbicides, especially ifthey are lot-fed rather than free ranging. Any lactating mammal excretes toxins through her milk. This applies to both cows and humans. Women who consume conventional beef or dairy products have higher levels of toxins in their milk.
Cow’s milk has four times the protein and half the carbohydrate content of human milk. Human milk has the lowest protein content (0.9%) of all mammals. However, cow’s milk is deficient in essential fatty acids, with only one-tenth the level of human milk (and almost no linoleic acid). It is not suitable for human infants. Ahuman baby requires nutrients for advanced neurological development and delicate neuromuscular control. By contrast, a calf needs food for massive skeletal growth and huge muscle groups. Think of the difference between the demands made on a human hand compared to a cow’s hoof. Human infants specifically need mother’s milk for their brains, spinal cord and nerves. Many studies’* have shown that children fed on their mother’s milk are more intelligent than those fed on any formula milk are.
Contrary to what most advertising tells us, pasteurised milk is not a good source ofcalcium. Pasteurisation destroys the digestive enzymes in the milk, and alters itinother ways (see below). Itreduces the availability ofthe milk’s mineral components, making the calcium difficult to absorb. North American women consume great quantities of pasteurised milk products, yet suffer the world’s highest incidence of osteoporosis. By contrast, our Palaeolithic ancestors drank no milk whatsoever after weaning. Their skeletal remains show superb bone structure, flawless teeth, and reflect great strength and
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muscularity.
Cow’s milk contains nearly four times as much calcium as human milk -
about 118 mg per 100 grams, compared to 33 mg in human milk. But cow’s milk also contains five times the level of phosphorus at 97 mg per 100 grams, compared to 18 mg in human milk. Excessive phosphorus blocks the assimilation of calcium in your digestive tract.
You can get calcium from more wholesome foods than pasteurised milk. Compare the 118 mg calcium per 100 grams in cow’s milk with 100 grams of the following foods: broccoli (130 mg), almonds (254 mg), kale (187 mg), sardines (400 mg), sesame seeds (1,160 mg) and kelp (1,093 mg). Bone broth is an important source of calcium. To absorb calcium you need sufficient vitamin D in your body — which most people lack.
Pasteurisation. Calves fed on pasteurised milk from their own mother- cow usually die within six weeks, so it stands to reason that pasteurised cow’s milk isnot awholesome, life-sustaining food for calves, much less for humans.
Pasteurisation involves heating milk to 63 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes, and then rapidly cooling it,in order to kill the bacteria in it. A fast method is sometimes used, where milk is heated to 72 degrees centigrade for 17 seconds before cooling.
Raw milk contains the enzymes lactase (essential for the digestion of its sugars), lipase (essential for the digestion of milk fats) and phosphatase (essential for the digestion of the calcium in milk). Pasteurisation destroys these enzymes, and alters its proteins. One method of testing to see if milk has been fully pasteurised is to check that all phosphatase has been destroyed! Nobody can properly digest pasteurised milk. Human infants have trouble with it,as evidenced by colic, rashes, respiratory problems, gas and other common ailments of bottle-fed babies.
Pasteurisation kills some, but not all the bacteria in milk. It was an important factor in successfully reducing the spread of tuberculosis from cow’s milk last century. Without pasteurisation, producers would have to observe scrupulous cleanliness and hygiene for both the herd and the milk
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Pasteurisation makes the storage and handling of milk cheaper, because it lessens the responsibility on the dairy industry for hygiene and testing. It is also more profitable to pasteurise milk because it extends its shelf life. Pasteurisation makes the milk from marginally sick cows relatively “harmless” by killing most of the dangerous germs in their milk.
The risks in drinking raw milk today are real. There is widespread bacterial contamination in many, if not most dairies. Salmonella, E. coli, staphylococcal and brucellosis are common. In the United States, bovine leukaemia virus is found in more than 60% of dairy cows, or 80% of the herds there. When the raw milk is pooled, 90 — 95% of the milk is contaminated with this virus, which is destroyed in pasteurisation. In experiments, virtually all animals exposed to the virus develop leukaemia, including sheep, goats, and primates such as rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees./4
Dr. Francis M. Pottenger conducted a rigorous study’” between 1932 and 1942, comparing pasteurised and raw milk diets fed to 900 cats. One group received raw whole milk, and the other pasteurised milk from the same
source. Cooked food diets were also introduced, with an outcome similar to that of pasteurised milk.
The raw milk group thrived, remaining healthy, active and alert. Their kittens were as healthy as their parents were. This group was able to thrive and breed indefinitely.
The pasteurised milk group showed signs of chronic degenerative ailments normally associated with humans, such as heart disease, kidney failure, thyroid dysfunction, respiratory ailments, loss of teeth, brittle bones and liver inflammation. They were also listless and confused. The first kittens of the pasteurised milk group were all born with poor teeth and small, weak bones. This indicated a calcium deficiency from a lack of calcium
handling. They would have to test their milk continually for the presence of bacteria from sick cows or unsanitary dairy conditions. The dairy industries have lobbied so effectively for pasteurisation that in most Western countries, itisillegaltosellraw (unpasteurised) milk.
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absorption from pasteurised milk. By the time itgot to the third generation in the pasteurised group, many of the kittens were stillborn. Those born alive were all sterile and unable to reproduce. The experiment was forced to stop at that point.
Up to three generations of North Americans and Europeans have now fed on pasteurised milk. Exactly the same degenerative diseases, infertility problems and calcium deficiency as in the first and second generations of those kittens are occurring today.
A study in Norway showed people drinking 2 or more glasses of pasteurised milk per day had 3.5 times the incidence of cancer in their lymphatic organs.!7
Homogenisation. If you lived in the 1970’s or earlier, you may remember drinking bottles of milk with cream on the top. Homogenisation is the fragmentation and pulverisation of the fat molecules in milk, to stop them separating and rising to the top as cream. Unfortunately, homogenisation lets these tiny fragments of milk fat pass through the small intestine and into your blood. This greatly increases the amount of fat and cholesterol in your body. You absorb more milk fat from homogenised milk than from pure raw cream!
Low Fat Milk. Stay away from low fat, skim, high calcium and other de- natured dairy products. If you remove the fat from the milk, you remove the very thing that assists your digestive system to absorb many of the nutrients in the milk. Fat-soluble vitamins, minerals and enzymes all work in synergy with each other. If you consume low fat dairy products, the calcium from them may go primarily into your soft tissues, rather than building up your bones.8?4 The calcium in soft tissues causes degenerative diseases such as heart and artery disease, Alzheimer’s and arthritis. Low fat dairy products also make you unnecessarily hungry as your digestive system seeks the missing fat.8°4
Acceptable dairy products. Living in a city in the Western world, it is difficult to get raw milk, unless you personally know a farmer with some cows. In many cities itispossible to buy a share in a cow, to get legal access to your own raw milk. Here are some alternatives.
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Fermentation of milk (even pasteurised milk) into kefir, cheeses or sour yogurt makes them more digestible (page 183). Fresh unsweetened live culture yogurt is acceptable. It should taste quite sour — sweet or neutral tasting commercial yogurts, including those with added fruit, are unacceptable. In a good yogurt, the lactose has been pre-digested by lacto- bacteria.
Kefir isan excellent food. At least 30 bacteria and yeasts break down the lactose and proteins in the milk, turning itinto an easily digestible and highly nutritious drink. Kefir is one of the secrets of health and long life, and is discussed on page 343.
Fresh butter or Ghee made from the milk of grass-eating (as opposed to feedlot) animals is an excellent food, rich in vitamins A, D, E and K, and the cofactors necessary for their digestion. These nutrients are necessary for your digestive system to absorb the minerals in your food, and they are crucial for good sexual function.84 Butter is a good source of Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Use it-garlic, mushrooms and asparagus lightly sautéed inbutter are a delicious treat!
FRIED FOODS
Try to eliminate deep fried foods from your diet — especially those fried in polyunsaturated vegetable oils - they are one of the main culprits when it comes to disease and ageing. The worst offender is probably fries or chips from fast food take away outlets. A bag ofcrispy salted chips breaks virtually every rule of healthy eating. It is a dead food, laced with refined salt and cooked in poisonous oil that will spike your blood glucose, damage your cell membranes, and more.
There are delicious, healthy alternatives to fried and deep fried foods. Eating fried and fatty foods isjust a habit, and once itisbroken your leaner, cleaner body will thank you many times over.
FRUIT JUICES
Juices you prepare yourself from ripe, organic produce using a slow speed
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juicer are a concentrated source of living micronutrients and natural sugars, and their effect is alkaline-forming. An excellent drink to have every day, in small quantities.
The problem with fruit juices and a few of the vegetable juices such as carrot is that they are so concentrated and sweet that you should limit them to one glass per day. They are high in sugar (fructose) and a typical glass of orange juice may contain 150 — 170 calories. A glass of orange juice can contain more sugar and calories than a can of Coca Cola or other sugared soft drink. One glass per day, without any adjustment to your diet or exercise levels, will result in your putting on 7 kg over a year. If you drink a glass of
Juice every time you are thirsty, you will create a severe sugar, blood glucose, and weight problem. A good way to drink juices is to dilute them with three, four or more parts of water.
Supermarket juices usually have both preservatives and sugars added, and can be months old. They are often made from re-constituted concentrates. The worst of them use high fructose corn syrup, with small quantities of real juice added. These sweet, long-life bottled juices are a blood glucose spiking, dead food.
Grapefruit juice should be avoided by people taking medicinal drugs, because it interferes with the way some people absorb and metabolise them.*!° It also creates the conditions that may form kidney stones.
Many people are allergic to oranges. Orange juice in particular is high in potassium. Oranges and tomatoes can worsen arthritis or rheumatism, ifyou suffer from them. Take iteasy with these juices until you are aware of their effects on your body.
GRAINS (refined)
There is a strong argument that grains should not be part of the human diet (page 85). The practise of stripping away their husks, removing their kernel, and finely milling or polishing the remains at high speed is indefensible. The fine starchy flour produced is one of the pillars of the modern Western diet,
used to bake bread, cakes and biscuits. Polished white rice is an equally poor
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“food.” They contain almost no nutrition, are acid-forming, and lay the foundations for metabolic syndrome, yeast infection and obesity.
NIGHTSHADES
Solanums or nightshades are the family of vegetables that include tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants. Many people have eliminated nightshades from their diet and improved their health, particularly those suffering from some of the calcification problems described below.
The distinguishing feature of all nightshades is their high alkaloid content. Notorious alkaloids include caffeine, nicotine, morphine and cocaine. There is evidence that the alkaloids in nightshade vegetables may have adverse effects on some people. The traditional Chinese diet does not include nightshades, with the sole exception of eggplant. Taoists discourage eating all nightshades, including eggplant.
You may wish to make an exception with tomatoes, which are rich in lycopene, a powerful anti-oxidant that protects you from a variety of cancers. Your digestive system cannot easily extract itunless the tomato iscooked with oil. We can thank the Italians who developed Marinara sauce centuries ago, for the delicious combination oftomato, olive oil, garlic, basil, sage and thyme!
Nightshades such as tomato and potato are ubiquitous in the Western diet, particularly in fast food in the form of potato crisps / fries and tomato sauce / ketchup. Potatoes and tomatoes are fast growing, relatively cheap, easy to transport and store.
Nightshades may be responsible for the calcification of soft body tissues, a condition that has become prevalent in all modern industrial societies. They remove calcium from your teeth and bones, then deposit it in tissues and joints. The result is arthritis, arteriosclerosis, cerebral sclerosis, gout, kidney stones, migraine, osteoporosis, lupus and hypertension. Some sufferers have reported rapid recovery from these ailments when they eliminated nightshades from their diets. For the cure to be effective, it is important to remove every trace of nightshade alkaloids from your system over a period
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of six months. Also avoid nightshades hidden in processed foods and condiments such as potato flour, tomato sauce / ketchup, paprika, cayenne, Tabasco, and so on. Tobacco is a nightshade, so do not smoke either.
POTATOES
Studies have shown that potatoes do not contribute to any of the health benefits gained by eating other fruits and vegetables.4!? They are a high Glycemic index starchy carbohydrate that quickly raises your blood glucose level, leading to a host of degenerative diseases (page 260). Stay away from chips, crisps and fries. Limit your intake of boiled, baked and roasted potatoes. They are a staple part of the modern Western diet, but it is only in the last decade that researchers have confirmed just how harmful they can be.
If you buy fries or chips outside your home, they have probably been cooked in trans or hydrogenated oils (page 138). Even worse, these oils are likely to have been overheated, and used over long periods. A cup of hot chips or a packet of crunchy potato fries adds to your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a wide range of other degenerative diseases.
Green potatoes or potatoes that have been bruised contain glycoalkaloids, a poison similar in strength to strychnine*?. At around 0.5 grams per kilo, eating several kilos of green potatoes could kill you. This is another reason why the long-term consumption of a high potato diet is debilitating. Green potatoes are particularly dangerous to the foetus in the early days of pregnancy.
Sweet potatoes are from a different vegetable family and are a good source of nutrition.
REFINED SALT (but not natural sea salt)
The refined table salt that you buy in supermarkets bears no resemblance to sea salt, or the mineral salts that naturally occur in saltpans or in the soil.
Refined table salt is manufactured in the same process as industrial sodium chloride. The original sea salt is treated with lime or caustic soda to remove the magnesium, which fetches a higher price when sold separately to
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Refined table salt is so foreign to the human body that when it is eventually absorbed it causes oedema (water retention) and other degenerative diseases. Your blood pressure will rise, your hands and legs may swell, and aheavy load isplaced on your kidneys.
Most people on a Standard American Diet (SAD) have a craving for salt. Their bodies are actually crying out for the other minerals in sea salt, and eating salty processed foods or adding refined table salt makes little difference to their hunger. The average Westerner eats about nine grams of salt per day, which is about one and a half teaspoons®. A more natural level is about a quarter teaspoon (1.5 grams).8* You will get most of that from the salt that naturally occurs in your (organic) food.
Processed foods contain excessive quantities of refined salt, especially pretzels, chips and salted nuts. Eliminating processed foods is the best way to cut down on refined salt.
Either excessive or insufficient salt can cause headaches or migraines. Muscle cramps at night, asthma, or feeling faint or dizzy may be indicators of a salt and water shortage in your body. Paradoxically, a shortage of salt leads to an increase in the amount of saliva in your mouth.®! Salt is a natural antihistamine, and people with allergies can try increasing their unrefined sea salt intake.®!
Unrefined sea salt, mineral salt, Himalayan salt, and the natural salts found in saltpans are a completely different product. Five percent of the weight of unrefined sea salt is a treasure trove of around 100 elements and over 80 additional compounds. If you eat one and a half grams of unrefined sea salt per day, you will get 75 milligrams of essential minerals (in addition to sodium chloride) in this natural bio-available form. This is better than any manufactured multi-mineral tablet, because itincludes not only all the major minerals, but also traces of virtually every other micronutrient mineral known (see page 157).
industry. Most of the other valuable elements in the sea salt are also lost or extracted. The manufacturers then add an anti-caking agent such as aluminium silicate or sodium prussiate, bleaches and even white sugar.
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Natural sea salt varies in colour from off-white to grey-green to brown, ishygroscopic (attracts water) and feels slightly damp or sticky between the fingers. One of the best is Celtic salt, widely available in delicatessens and health food shops.
A low salt diet is a mistake.8© Dr. Michael Alderman, head of epidemiology at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York and president of the American Society of Hypertension, has shown that people on low salt diets are less healthy. He suggests that the obsession with low salt diets today is misdirected, and has come about because people are eating refined salt rather than natural sea salt. Use as much unrefined sea salt in your diet as feels right. If you live in a hot environment, exercise heavily or drink a lot of water, you may need to add salt to your food to replace that lost in your sweat and urine.
SOFT DRINKS
Soft drinks are poison. If you want true health and a long life, avoid soft drinks. Cans or bottles of colas, sweet tasting carbonated drinks, sports drinks, diet drinks and other high flavour liquids represent the worst of dead, chemical, manufactured, packaged food and drink. They are high in flavour, blasting your sense of taste with sweetness and synthetic fruits. They are addictive — do you know anyone who has drunk several cans a day for a year, and then found them easy to give up? They are made to be drunk icy cold — completely the wrong temperature. They are full of sugar (a can of Coca- Cola contains seven to ten teaspoons of sugar), phosphoric acid, carbonic acid, caffeine and a host of other chemicals, the precise formula which is held secret.
One can of soft drink per day will cause you to put on seven kilograms over a year. You would be hard pressed to cut out the 150 calories in a single can from your diet, or to do the extra exercise to burn it away. The average North American drinks just under two cans per day! No wonder obesity is such a problem. No wonder diabetes, insulin resistance and heart disease are so prevalent.
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Teen males in North America drink an average of over three cans of soft drink per day, with 10% of them drinking more than seven cans per day.7! This consumption is directly linked to childhood obesity and teenage type 2 diabetes.’! These children also face a higher risk later in their lives of degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, strokes, asthma and cancer. The advertisements show healthy young bodies wolfing down soft drinks in the midst of sport and fun, but the truth is that young people are for the first time suffering obesity and the onset of degenerative diseases previously only seen in adults.7!
Soft drinks (especially the colas) are so acidic that they can easily dissolve metals such as coins. Try leaving a coin in a glass of cola for a day. Sugar free drinks are even more dangerous. As explained on page 187,
they make you feel inappropriately hungry, among their other damaging effects. Sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame- K are chemicals, not foods. Why risk taking them over an extended period (your life)?
Why not start re-habituating your taste buds to water?
SOY PRODUCTS
Soybeans are a versatile and widely used food, high in protein (particularly the amino acids glycine and arginine) and containing Omega-6 and small quantities of Omega-3 essential fatty acids. However, I do not recommend any soy products except small quantities of those that have been fermented.
Soybeans are ground into flour and used in cooking, or made into soymilk or tofu. Tofu is a bland, smooth, soft white food that lends itself well to Asian style cuisine. In Indonesia, cooked soybeans are fermented and pressed into cakes called tempeh.
A wide variety of soymilks are available. Idon’t recommend any of them, because they contain phytic acids®+ which lead to mineral deficiencies. Soymilk contains PHG, discussed below. Virtually all commercial soy milks contain sugars and other additives.
Soy products are difficult to digest. The worst offenders are soy flour, soy
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grits and texturised vegetable protein (TVP), followed by soymilk and tofu. They can cause prolific flatulence because of the high levels of enzyme inhibitors in soybeans. The most digestible soy products are those that have been fermented — tempeh, miso, tamari and soy sauces. Fermented soy products contain anti-oxidants produced by the yeasts and lactic acid bacteria.
Soybeans contain natural oestrogenic compounds (phytoestrogens) that lead to hormonal upsets and promote breast cancer in older women.4!J Phytoestrogens are especially bad for young boys (babies and toddlers). The higher levels in white soy products (soymilk and tofu) interfere with their sexual development. Boys fed soy products suffer immature genitalia and the development of breasts. Girls can develop pubic and underarm hair and the onset of menses before the age of ten.
Soy products interfere with the absorption of zinc. If you are drinking soymilk, or eating tofu or other soy products every day, you may be zinc deficient, particularly ifyou are a vegetarian.
Soy products are high in aluminium. The soy plant has a particular affinity for aluminium, absorbs it from the soil, and concentrates it in the beans. Soymilk has around 100 times the aluminium content of cow’s milk.
Many people are allergic to soy products — particularly those that are unfermented, such as tofu and soymilk. This is another reason to avoid them. The Japanese, who have traditionally eaten tofu for centuries, only eat small quantities, combined with fish broth.
Soybeans and particularly soy oil contains a toxic chemical called phytohemagglutinin (PHG) present as a phytic acid, which causes blood thickening, arterial plaque, immune and hormonal problems. Unprocessed soy products such as soymilk and tofu also contain low levels of PHG. Fermented soy products such as miso, tempeh, tamari and soy sauce contain negligible PHG.
Avoid soy oil. It is extracted using heat, solvents, bleaches and other chemical processes that damage the oil’s structure.
Soybeans have been genetically engineered (GM) to make them resistant
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to herbicides. This enables the use of high levels of herbicides, so GM soybeans usually contain herbicide residue. Soy protein isolate is a high- protein soy flour made with GM soybeans. It is used in many processed foods, non-dairy desserts and soymilks.
SUGAR
Please try to eliminate all sugars from your diet, including foods sweetened or cooked with sugar. This single action can make a dramatic difference to your health and ageing. Sugar causes havoc with your hormones, feeds disease-causing fungi and bacteria in your blood and gut, decreases the oxygen in your blood, is severely acid forming, and leads to many diseases. Initially you may have cravings for sugar and miss the sweet taste of a modern convenience diet, but as your body heals and gets into balance, you will flourish. Sugar is discussed on page 114.
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WATER DEHYDRATION
tsounds incredible, but many people are dehydrated, and they do not even |faeit.Humansarewater-basedanimalsthatneedconstantandsufficient water. Our bodies are 75% water by weight. Brain tissue is 85% water. You need an ongoing supply of water to flush away the toxic wastes produced by your kidneys, for your digestive system to work, to prevent your body salts from getting too concentrated and to maintain your blood volume. Water is vital for the functioning of your electrical, energy, digestive and immune systems. It is essential for the storage of energy, the functioning of all organs, muscles, bones, nerves, and the transport of substances throughout the body and across cell membranes. You need a constant supply of water for a well- hydrated and healthy looking skin. Every aspect of a healthy body requires sufficient water.
When you are dehydrated, your body activates itswater rationing system. The top priority is to ensure that your brain gets sufficient water, by drawing water away from other parts of your body. The level of histamine in your body will go up, first making you feel tired, disoriented and grumpy. You will find it hard to concentrate. If dehydration continues, you may become constipated. Chronic or recurring pains that are not easily explained by injury or infection should first be considered as an indicator of thirst, before you investigate other avenues.8+
Low energy levels in your brain generate both hunger and_ thirst sensations. However, your body usually wants water, not food. Ifyou find yourself with a hunger pang, and drawn towards the refrigerator, first try drinking a glass of water. Often the hunger will disappear. We regularly do not recognise that we are thirsty, and our habitual and inappropriate response is to eat food. It is better to drink water at least half an hour before eating, and ifstill hungry, then to eat.
In the last 100 years, soft drink consumption in North America has increased 500 fold.8© Tea and coffee consumption have also increased dramatically. Millions of people quaff down milk (especially flavoured milk)
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and fruit juices, wrongly assuming they are natural and healthy drinks. Supermarket fruit juices are a super-concentrated flavour-packed drink, overloaded with sugar. In the midst of this orgy of taste, we have ignored the most important drink by far — water.
Manufactured beverages are no substitute for water, or for the water needs of the human body. Tea, coffee, sweet supermarket juices, manufactured beverages and especially alcohol are dehydrating — the net effect of drinking them is to remove water from your body. The commercial interest in selling you these drinks makes itdifficult to have the discipline to drink water. Our children are educated to drink milk and supermarket fruit juices — not water. Television and fast food promote soft drinks and juices, never water. A cultivated preference for the taste of these drinks automatically reduces the urge to drink water when they are not available.
Your sense ofthirst isoften apoor guide towhen you are actually thirsty, and itgets worse as you age. Part of the ageing process isthe “drying” of our cells — the ratio of the water content between the inside and the outside of the cell membrane decreases over the years. If you can maintain this water content, you will age less quickly. Remember, when you feel thirsty, your fluid levels are already too low. Many old people do not realise that they are severely dehydrated. Numerous studies of nursing homes have shown that most inmates are in a constant state of dehydration, and one of the most effective means of improving their health and vitality is to ensure they drink sufficient water.
Not only is our sense of thirst lost over the years, but also we tend to habitually drink dehydrating tea, coffee or alcoholic beverages. With so many flavoured drinks masking our thirst sensation, and with our cultivated tastes requiring something other than the blandness of water, we are often unaware of being thirsty.
An important sign of thirst is the colour of your urine. Light yellow or straw-coloured urine is normal. Darker yellow, orange or even brown urine is a sign of dehydration.
In his book Your Bodys Many Cries for Water Dr F. Batmanghelidj
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describes how long-term dehydration causes a long list of degenerative diseases (page 7). He maintains that morning sickness is a sign that both the foetus and the mother are thirsty.8@ For people who are chronically dehydrated, no medicine other than water will help. Doctors needlessly or harmfully treat the symptoms of millions of chronically ill patients with drugs, when water would treat the underlying cause. “/n my professional and scientific view, itisdehydration that isthe biggest killer, more than any other condition you can imagine” Dr F. Batmanghelidj.88
How could this situation come about, when the root cause to so many health problems can be cured so easily? It seems illogical that so many people are dehydrated. Water is easily and freely available. How can most people be thirsty when all they have to do is go to a tap and drink?
The first problem is professional pride. Our allopathic medical system uses drugs and medicines, each prescribed for a very specific illness. Going back to the simple needs of life, like water, food, exercise and air, then using them as a cheap and effective cure, is a rejection of the current system by admitting that the approach to health has been wrong.
Secondly, nobody can make big bucks selling you water. The pharmaceutical companies and established health system would be devastated if it were widely known that people could cure themselves so easily.2N Funding for the evaluation of water as a natural medicine is not readily available, and students in medical schools are not taught anything about many of the roles of water in the human body.8° The drink and beverage industries would be devastated ifmost people knew how harmful their products really are.
How much water? You may be surprised to find how little water you drink. I challenge you to fill a one and a half litre bottle with water and note how long it takes you to drink it. You need a bottle that size every day, including winter. In summer, with heavy exercise, or with heavy sweating, you can double it. When you are giving your body a real workout, you can lose well over a litre of water an hour, through the moisture in your out- breath and your sweat.
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I suggest that you drink a 200-250 ml glass of water on rising each morning, and wait at least half an hour before having breakfast. Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before other meals. In addition, drink a glass of water between meals.
A sick person should drink even more water. Sometimes there will be a remarkably quick recovery from an illness — within minutes or hours. But generally, the damage caused by dehydration over months or years will take a longer period of time to cure, because full re-hydration of the body at the cellular level is a slow process.
When you drink a glass of water, your stomach and upper intestine quickly absorbs it.Ifyou are not dehydrated, within 30 minutes almost the same volume secretes back into your stomach. Your digestive system depends upon copious amounts of water. Stomach pains, constipation and other digestive problems are often a sign of dehydration.
Tea, coffee, alcohol and soft drinks cause your body to lose water, so do not use them as a source of water; they do not count towards your water intake. They also rob your body of valuable minerals. If you drink any of them, you will need to increase your water intake just to compensate for their dehydrating effects.
Fruit and vegetables are 90% water. This water is easily accessible, and rich in micronutrients. A kilogram of fresh produce, such as four pieces of fruit and four serves of vegetables, provides 900 ml of water. If you are eating this much fruit and vegetables (which I thoroughly recommend), it counts toward your daily intake of water. You can also include mild fruit and herb teas, and diluted fresh fruit juices (with three or more parts water) in your daily water intake.
Drink water and especially juices, slowly. Sip your water throughout the day, rather than gulping it down. It is best to sip it in small quantities, and take time to mix itwith your saliva. This way, your body ismore easily able to absorb it.
Warning. Many people drink too much water, a particularly bad practice with soft or mineral deficient water (such as reverse osmosis or distilled
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water). Itputs a strain on your kidneys and may leach valuable minerals from your body. If your urine has no colour and looks almost like water, you are probably drinking too much.
Before increasing your water intake, it is important to ensure that your kidneys can process it.As you drink more water, your urine output should match it,rather than retaining water in your body, as indicated by increased weight or swelling in the legs or ankles. This is especially important if you are ill,when you should consult your doctor.
POLLUTION
he quality of tap water varies widely, depending on your location.
iia allpublicwatersuppliesarechlorinated,andmanyother chemicals such as fluorides and alum may be added. Pollution also occurs from copper pipes and old plumbing. A myriad of agricultural and industrial pollutants contaminates the water supply of virtually every city in the world. Chemical contamination of public water includes solvents, benzine (gasoline), prescription and non-prescription drugs, pesticides, agricultural fertilisers, steroids, detergents, disinfectants, fire retardants, antibiotics, reproductive hormones, plasticisers and fragrances. Most of these chemicals are present in only trace amounts, but their effects over long periods and in combination with each other are unknown.
In poorer countries, water pollution is also biological, with high levels of bacteria, sewage and other contaminants. Passing the water through a filter or boiling it usually makes it acceptable for drinking. Unfortunately, agricultural pollutants, particularly pesticides, are a rapidly increasing problem in the third world.
Most water authorities assume (or hope) that the catchment areas and aquifers from which their water is sourced are isolated and pollution free. Typically, they test for only a dozen or two chemicals out of at least a thousand that may be in the water supply.!! They are reluctant to provide contaminant information because ifminute traces ofpoisonous chemicals are widely dispersed in all the major sources of water, there are no economic or
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easy alternatives. It would be prohibitively expensive to filter all the water for a city to a level where it would remove trace chemicals. Separating drinking, cooking and bathing water from water used for other household and garden use would require a complete new water distribution system, and would still require high quality filtering of vast quantities of water. Nearly every city in the world is facing this problem, and it can only get worse.
A large part of your exposure to water pollution is through your skin and lungs. A bath or shower exposes your skin to many litres of water, and the heat opens your pores and evaporates any volatile chemicals in the water into the air and steam. There is little research in this area, but it is possible that you could even take up more water pollution through your bathing than through drinking and eating.
Filters are available to connect to your shower or bath, as well as your kitchen sink. Bathing filters usually have an active carbon cartridge, which removes the solid matter and the chlorine. Trace pollutants and many solvents remain, but these are the most practical filters for the job, performing at the high flow rate required for a shower. Eventually, water filters at the point of use will be standard in advanced societies.
Chlorine is added to the water to kill bacteria. It creates a dilute solution of hypochlorous acid. There is no doubt that in the long run it is harmful because itcombines with any hydrocarbons in the water to form carcinogenic chlorinated hydrocarbons. You can remove most of the chlorine from tap water by leaving itstanding in an open bowl for a few hours.
Fluorine is another chemical added to most water supplies, in the mistaken belief that itreduces tooth cavities’44. Ifyou are concerned about tooth decay, suggestions in Grow Youthful such as eliminating sugar from your diet will make cavities a thing of the past. It is extraordinary that fluoride is still added to public water supplies when the costs to the community’s health are so high. Research has shown that in low concentrations and over long periods, fluorides in drinking water cause immune problems including cancer, hormonal upsets, increased uptake of aluminium and lead, and brittle bones leading to a high level of hip
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fractures? 108,
Many Western countries have reversed their policy on fluorides and no
longer add them to drinking water. America and Australia have not woken up in this respect.
Copper poisoning is an unacknowledged epidemic.7©“ Copper is essential in minute quantities, but a blood or hair test shows copper to be in dangerous excess for nearly everyone today. We get most of this excess from the copper pipes and taps used in household plumbing. Blue-green stains around your plumbing are from copper corrosion. Most of the brown sediment in your water is also copper. The water takes up the copper when it is not flowing, particularly if a tap is not used for a day or more. Before using the tap, flush itfor afew seconds or minutes, depending on how long ithas been stagnant, and the length of your copper pipes coming from the mains connection to your property.
Another cause of copper overload is oestrogen excess or progesterone deficiency.78 Plastics, petroleum products, pesticides and the hormones in foods lead to the accumulation of these false oestrogens.
The following foods are high in copper and people with copper accumulation will often crave them: liver, oyster, lobster, mushroom, crab, nuts, beans, sunflower seeds, chocolate, bakers yeast, duck, turkey and chicken giblets, potatoes, white rice and raisins.
Copper is an antagonist to zinc, iron and manganese, so high copper levels inhibit your uptake of these minerals, particularly zinc. Copper is an acid-forming mineral (page 278). Excess copper is associated with schizophrenia, cardiovascular disease and arthritis. Copper should not be included inmulti-mineral supplements.
If you have a copper overload, the key is to take high dose zinc supplementation. Molybdenum, manganese, sulphur, and calcium adequacy are also important in reducing excessive copper stores.
Asbestos. Older water supply lines are often made from asbestos cement piping, which is usually acceptable as a biofilm forms on the interior of the pipe that protects the water from the contaminants. However, pipe breakages
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water.
DRINKING WATER
was recently in Bali, Indonesia, and after a couple of days had a wonderful
|ae)ofwell-being,healthandenergy.Iaskedmanyothervisitorsif they had had the same experience, and most reported that after a few days in the island paradise they had similar feelings. Several factors could account for this: the warm, calm, moist climate; the produce grown in rich volcanic soil; the food prepared using traditional ingredients and methods; and the calming spiritual energy of the island. Another possibility is the drinking water. The tap water is not safe to drink, and virtually all visitors rely on bottled spring water. This water comes from deep springs high in the volcanic mountains of Bali or East Java. It has high levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper and other minerals.
Increasing your consumption of good quality water can transform your health, and play a central role in the healing of virtually all degenerative diseases. Good water is rich in alkaline minerals (page 276), ionised, and an effective anti-oxidant (page 154).
Clean healthy water is becoming harder to find, and more expensive. The quality of the public water supply varies markedly around the world, between cities, and even within cities. Virtually every water utility adds chlorine to its water, and most also add fluorine, alum and other harmful chemicals. Water pollution (page 209) isendemic.
Tap water, spring water, and other unfiltered water usually contain some level of alkaline minerals such as calcium, sodium and potassium. There are also smaller quantities of awide range of other elements such as magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc, aluminium and iron. You want to leave these good minerals in your water, rather than having your filter remove them.
Hard water contains calcium salts, and is normally quite safe to drink. Populations where the water supply is very hard do not seem to show any adverse effects.8P
are common, and ifthey are cleaned asbestos contamination can enter the
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Here isa list of different types of drinking water and water filters.
* The best drinking water is glacial melt water, especially from an area with a relatively young geology. Glacial water is rich in a wide variety of minerals, and with a different molecular structure to most fresh water. The ice may have been formed hundreds, or even thousands of years ago, prior to the existence of the widespread pollution that we suffer today. As the ice melts, the water can flow under the glacier through the crushed rocks, muds and plants formed under the weight of the ice. Such water is tonised, unpolluted, naturally structured, and rich in a variety of minerals. Sometimes itisso mineral-rich that itisnot even clear.
Any water from melted ice tends to have this beneficial structure, similar to the structure in which water is held inside our cells. Another source is the undamaged juice of fruits and vegetables. Water in this form is easy for your body’s cells to assimilate. Populations all around the world that exist on melted ice water enjoy excellent health and slow rates of ageing. I recommend freezing your drinking water, and then leaving it in the sun to melt.
¢ Water from some but not all natural springs is also superb. The best water comes from relatively new geological regions such as volcanic or newly uplifted rock. It flows from deep springs high in pristine mountain areas above habitation and other sources of pollution.
¢Alkaline ionised water. You can install an ioniser on your kitchen sink. It takes tap water, filters it and then using electrolysis, splits it into water containing mostly acid minerals and water containing mostly alkaline minerals. The two types of water come out in two separate pipes. Buy a model with titanium electrodes or platinum-coated titanium electrodes.
Alkaline ionised water can be rich in bio-available minerals, helps remove toxic acid wastes from your body, and provides a raised level of oxygen in your blood. Some models have a cartridge that lets you add crushed coral or other alkaline minerals. This isa good idea, especially ifyou live in an area with poor mineral content in the water supply (such as West Australia, where Ilive).
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Many plants also thrive on alkaline ionised water.
The ioniser removes some but not all of the acid-forming minerals in the alkaline water, depending upon the pH level you select. For example, in highly alkaline water approximately half the fluorides are removed. At a pH of9.0,whichisthemaximum alkalinitythatyoushoulddrink,approximately one third of the fluorides are removed. The same applies to the other acid- forming minerals. The sediment and carbon pre-filters remove the chlorine and particle matter (see below).
Sang Whang,*4" Theodore Baroody*> and many other health writers maintain that the key to health and longevity is the management and disposal of acidic waste products. Alkaline ionised water can play an important part in this process (page 271).
The alkaline water has another characteristic — the water molecules are reconfigured into a lighter, simpler form that are more easily absorbed by your body and your cells.434 This type of water is particularly effective in preventing and removing accumulated acid toxins. It is also easier to drink. I find Ican drink about 30% more alkaline ionised water than tap water, before feeling full.
The acid water has some properties similar to the water from a natural hot mineral spring. Itwill restore skin acidity after washing, and you can use itas a hair conditioner. Itkeeps your face fresh and clean and protects you from acne. However, Iam reluctant to use iton my skin because of the high level of acidic pollutants in municipal water, such as fluorides. It is a versatile disinfectant both on your body, and for domestic tasks such as cleaning vegetables or washing the toilet. It adds substantially to the life of cut flowers.
Ionised alkaline water gives you an additional source of oxygen, provided in a body-friendly way. The effect is similar to deep breathing, exercise or sleeping in fresh air. Oxygen is an important degenerative disease treatment*®-49 and anti-ageing therapy (page 238). Insufficient oxygen leads to many degenerative diseases.
Warnings. Itisbest not todrink alkaline water with apH higher than 9.0.
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Harsh alkalinity can upset your body’s biochemistry. Do not consume alkaline water with any medicines, supplements, or other additives. The alkaline water is reactive, and can form potentially dangerous by-products when mixed with a drug or other chemical compounds.
I try not to drink alkaline water within an hour before or after a meal. This is particularly important with high protein meals, which need an acid environment in which to digest. Most people need more acid in their stomachs, and can improve their digestion by supplementing with hydrochloric acid (page 275). A glass of alkaline water does not help with the digestion of your protein food!
Store ionised water in sealed glass bottles rather than plastic bottles, because it can react with some plastics. It also reacts with the air and loses its ionisation if it is left exposed (of course, the alkaline minerals remain).
* Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration removes the most pollutants, including fluorides, low levels of agricultural (herbicide, fungicide) and industrial chemicals (such as benzine), leaving you with pure water. It also removes all the good minerals inthe water. RO water is“dead” water — itisso pure that fishcannotliveinit.Ifconsumed foralongperiod,itcanleachoutminerals like sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium from your body. A solution to the problem is to add a few grains of sea salt, colloidal or peat minerals to each ten-litre bottle of water before using it. That way, it is more like the water innature.
* Steam distilled water is an effective filtration system. The only remaining pollutants in this water are some of the volatile compounds that evaporate and then re-condense with the steam. It effectively removes the fluorides from the water. Distilled water is“dead” water (similar to RO water) that can leach minerals from your body in the long-term, so it is a good idea to add a few grains of minerals to each ten-litre bottle of water before using it. *Active carbon filters, made from charcoal, remove the chlorine and nasty
tastes from the water. Unfortunately, they do not remove the fluorides. A cheaper way to remove chlorine and some of the other dissolved gases is to leave the water standing in an open bowl or container for a few hours. Ifyou
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leave it in the sun, it is even better. Better restaurants do this, for a cheap source of good-tasting water.
Some manufacturers claim to have an alum or aluminium salt component in their filters to remove the fluorides. There is some controversy concerning the effectiveness of these filters.
¢ Rainwater varies, depending on your location. If you live near a city or source of air pollution, the rain may be acid and polluted. The first few rain showers of the season should be used to flush out the storage system. Leaves, bird droppings, insects and other biological pollutants can give the water a bacterial or parasitic content, so sometimes it may be necessary to boil it before drinking. Rainwater is almost devoid of minerals, it can never be a high quality drinking water.
*The bottled water that you can buy in a supermarket ranges in quality from superb through to worse than tap water. Spring and mountain stream water can vary considerably in mineral quality and pollution levels. Most office and supermarket bottled water comes straight from the public water supply, through a carbon filter, and into the bottle. Some bottled waters are also reverse osmosis filtered. Bottled water supplies are not always regulated.
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EXERCISE
21ST CENTURY SLOTHS
p until the start of the 20" century, virtually everyone was physically (Oe whethertheylikeditornot.Everydaylifecontainedlotsof physical activity. Most people lived on the land or did some form of manual work. Farms, factories and homes depended on physical labour. People did not have cars, labour saving devices and convenience stores. Instead, they walked everywhere - to work, school, shop or socialise. Vegetables were home grown, and all washing and housework was done by hand.
In 1900, more than three quarters of people’s daily calorie intake was spent on these daily work and survival activities. Advising a farmer or factory worker to take up a sport or exercise program would have been laughable. In our sedentary lives today, labour accounts for less than 1% of food calories expended.
The majority of people living in the Western world today do not exercise. This lack of exercise is partly responsible for the epidemic of obesity and the host of degenerative diseases in the population. Regular exercise throughout your life, particularly in your middle years (40-60), can offset the impact of chronic diseases, maintain physical function and significantly extend your life.!!>
We have created a comfortable, physically lazy society where it is possible to exist without doing any effective exercise. We complain when it is awkward to unpack the dishwasher into a cupboard in a poorly designed kitchen. The irony is that getting down on our hands and knees, and stretching to get to the back of a cupboard is a good mixture of weight bearing and stretching exercise. A hundred similar stretches and muscle tensions each day around our house and office would transform our health. Unfortunately, the trend in our workplaces and living areas is toward making our lives physically easier, to reducing muscular effort, and to minimising the risk of damaging our already weak backs and poor postures.
Watch a healthy toddler playing for a few minutes. In that short time, you will see the little one exercise every major muscle. The young child is
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constantly moving, bending, twisting, down on the ground, up again, in an endless variety of relaxed and full movements.
By comparison, the average adult mostly sits, stiffly and rigidly, while occasionally moving their hands or their arms in a constrained and repetitious pattern. This is because adults seldom play, but instead perform tasks while sitting. Driving, reading, working at a computer, sitting at a desk, preparing a meal, eating the meal, having a drink or a conversation with a friend and watching TV are all examples of the modern, low exercise way of living.
The human body needs to be used. Exercise need not be formal, in a gym, on a playing field or in a court. An hour of tennis or aerobics may suit some people, but for others walking, gardening, active housework, prolonged and varied sex, playful sport and physical work are perfect. None of these exercises need be excessively strenuous. If you can fill most of your day with this type of activity, fully and enthusiastically, you will get all the exercise you need.
After age 40, the average adult loses 100-150 grams of muscle a year and gains three times that much body fat, a condition known as sarcopenia. People who do not exercise lose their muscle bulk, and develop a pudgy, flabby “old person” look. A processed food diet or insufficient protein can also lead to muscle loss (page 118). These people have a high fat / muscle ratio, slow metabolism, and a distorted sense of hunger, making them want to eat more than they need.
Muscles need glucose and burn calories, even when they are resting. However, fat has a low rate of metabolic activity — ituses almost no energy. So as fat replaces muscle you get into a vicious circle where your metabolic rate falls and you burn even fewer calories. While eating exactly the same amount of food, and doing the same amount of exercise, you will put on more and more fat. As your bodyweight shifts from muscle to fat, it becomes harder to lose that weight.
Preserving your muscle strength and bulk is one of the keys to having a slim, vitally healthy, long-lived body. If you do not exercise, fat will
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slowly replace your muscles. “....building muscle in the elderly is the key to their rejuvenation.”!>
Your bathroom scales will not tell you that you are losing muscle and gaining fat. Fat weighs little compared to muscle, so at first you will not gain much weight. For a fifty-year-old person, a four-kilogram weight gain over ten years is a lot worse than it sounds. This person is likely to have lost two kilograms of muscle and gained six kilograms of fat.4!Q
As you start to exercise and build up your muscle mass, you will achieve only a minimal reduction (if any) in your weight, because muscle weighs more than fat. However, your body will be firmer, slimmer and look fantastic. So do not rely on your weight to measure your progress — you will probably be doing better than itindicates.
Even ifyou do not look fat, you can still have a high fat to muscle ratio. Some thin people — particularly women who have been sporadically dieting - have lost a lot of their muscle. Their high fat to muscle ratio makes it easy to put on weight again, and accelerates their ageing.
When you exercise your muscles, their cells are stimulated to grow and divide, so your muscles grow in strength and bulk. If you do not use them, they will literally disappear. Visit a seriously injured patient in any hospital, and see how their muscles have shortened and atrophied in just a few weeks. Muscle loss from a less dramatic lack of exercise may take years rather than weeks, but isjust as damaging.
Exercise has other benefits apart from building up your muscles, such as detoxification, burning calories and playing an essential role in your endocrine, immune, digestive and many other systems. If you are overweight, exercise is an essential part of your return to normality.
Exercise is a great stress reliever. A physical workout is an outlet for the “fight or flight” response. You probably have few (socially acceptable) opportunities to run or fight immediately you feel stressed, but you can go out for an hours walk, jog, game of tennis or other physical activity. It will relieve your muscles, force you to breathe deeply, and shift the toxins formed from the by-products of stress hormones.
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The increased muscle temperature that exercise brings on is an effective tranquiliser. Aerobic exercise also alters your brain chemistry, producing noradrenaline and norepinephrine. These hormones, which make you feel more optimistic and that you have a sense of power over your life, are deficient in depressed people. Exercise also greatly increases your production of beta-endorphins, which have a calming and uplifting effect on your whole body through their action on your central nervous system. Numerous studies have shown that when depressed people start to exercise, even as little as taking a brisk 30 minute walk three times a week, their depression lifts.
Exercise is necessary for the hormonal mechanism that controls your appetite to work properly. People who do not exercise suffer from distorted appetites, feeling hungrier than their bodies really are.°8© Obesity is a vicious downward spiral, because the fatter they get, the harder it is to exercise, the less effective is the exercise, and the hungrier they feel.
TYPES OF EXERCISE \),Jalkingbrisklyisagreatformofexercise.Youcandoitanytime
and place, and do not need special equipment. If you breathe deeply, swing your arms and keep a vigorous pace, you will get a good cardiovascular workout. Gardening or light physical work is also great. Jogging, swimming, cycling and aerobic sports such as tennis, baseball and soccer can give you the same workout in a shorter period, also making you fitter. Adrenalin sports such as sprinting, downhill skiing, sky diving and the fastest, most intense aerobics classes are not good forms of exercise because there is a large element of stress in them, and they do not include extended periods of cardiovascular or muscle exercise.
Aerobic exercise uses oxygen, and involves moving your muscles. It increases your heart and breathing rates. Walking, running and playing most sports are forms of aerobic exercise.
Aerobic exercise raises your body temperature, stretches your muscles, organs and joints, and moves your whole body. It increases your blood
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flow, so your heart, lungs and arteries get a workout plus spring clean. It breaks down accumulated toxins, especially under your skin and around organs such as the liver and the intestines. The blood capillaries surrounding these acid fats are usually constricted. This is where the heat, stretching, flexing, straining and relaxing from exercise are so important. Exercise also increases your pulse rate, and the amount of blood flowing around your body — the effect is similar to having a hot high-pressure hose washing out your body.
At a cellular level, the effects of aerobic exercise may be even more important. It speeds up the flow of oxygen, glucose and nutrients into cells through their membranes, and of wastes back out of your cells. Moderate exercise has a fluidising effect on cellular membranes, dramatically improving your health whilst lowering your biological age.
Aerobic exercise is required for the daily elimination of toxins, and the removal of accumulated acid wastes. If you are not removing waste products from your body, you will certainly feel it. Wastes in your bloodstream make you feel tired, low in energy or even nauseous. Ifyou do not eliminate them, they will be stored as toxic acid fat, liver stones, kidney stones, crystalline deposits in your joints, cataracts in your eyes, plaque in your arteries or in your digestive tract. These toxins can also cause cancers and mental disorders.
It is important to drink water during and after exercise, to assist your kidneys and liver in removing these toxic wastes. This is why you may feel tired, or dizzy or faint during exercise — from the increased level of toxins in your blood.
Moderate, consistent, regular aerobic exercise will:
*detoxify your body
* strengthen your heart and lungs, and maintain the elasticity of your arteries
*raise your HDL (good) cholesterol
*lower both excess blood glucose and excess insulin
* lower your blood pressure, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels
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* help maintain a healthy digestive system and bowel function, particularly by massaging and stretching your internal organs
* improve your immune system, and protect you from cancer and other degenerative diseases
* assist with stress and depression. Pleasant and regular exercise is an antidote for depression
Anaerobic exercise is exercise without oxygen. You can’t last long without oxygen, so anaerobic exercises don’t last long either. Swimming under water is a good example. Sprinting is another — you run as fast as you can without much breathing for a few seconds, and then when you slow down or stop you breathe deeply to catch up.
When you do intense anaerobic exercise, you typically feel a burning sensation in your muscles. Lactic acid is produced as a by-product of the glucose used, and causes the burning feeling. Less oxygen than normal reaches the muscle being exercised, and a high level of carbon dioxide accumulates.
Surprisingly, anaerobic exercise burns much more glucose than aerobic exercise. Tests have shown that over the same period, anaerobic exercise can burn up to 18 times more glucose that aerobic exercise.
Isotonic exercise, (also called resistance or strength training) stretches and exerts your muscles, but does not necessarily move them. Holding a weight in the air or pushing one hand against the other are examples of isotonic exercise. Weight training, and slow push-ups, squats and sit-ups are examples of anaerobic isotonic exercises.
Resistance exercise builds your muscle strength and mass. The benefits ofaregular weights or strength program are overwhelming. Itwill increase the size of your muscles, along with impressive gains in their strength and tone. It is the only effective way to increase your muscle bulk and reduce your fat to muscle ratio.
Do not worry about gaining weight or additional bulk through having more muscle. You will not end up with the physique and muscle mass of a body builder without long periods of daily training.
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Isotonic exercise has significant anti-ageing effects. You will:
* look good, with a firm, toned body
* lower your fat to muscle ratio, making it easy to stay slim
* store less fat-soluble toxins with less fat around your body
* be less likely to suffer hunger pangs or low energy between meals. Having good muscle bulk will help you avoid blood glucose spikes and the horrible consequences (see the section ANEW EPIDEMIC). Itwill give you a good reservoir of energy when you do need it
*strengthen and build your bones. Ifyou stress abone repeatedly, bending itjust slightly, the cells inside the bone sense this movement and go into a growth mode, making the bone both denser and stronger. Compression on a bone, by lifting weights or carrying a heavy load, triggers a similar growth response in that bone. Conversely, bones lacking in stress or compression weaken and lose weight. Lack of exercise is one of the causes of the epidemic of osteoporosis today
* release growth hormones (page 288) and testosterone. Weight training makes you younger
Stretching is another vital form of exercise. Frank Lipman!!°B explains how flexibility may be the most important factor in maintaining your athletic ability as the years go by. Yoga (page 245) and Pilates are excellent forms of stretching exercise for people of all ages, in all states of health.Istronglyrecommend learningatleastafewposturestomixinwith the other exercise that you do. Flexibility is central to maintaining your body’s physical and mental facilities over the years.
THE EXERCISE MYTH
he idea that the best way to lose weight and get fit is to run a couple of
Sees adayissimplywrong.Ifyouseeagroupofoverweightmen and women jogging or doing a vigorous aerobics class, panting, red-faced and straining, they are kidding themselves. They are doing nothing to burn their fat. The irony is that their over-vigorous exercise may be worsening their fat to muscle ratio.
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High intensity aerobic exercise that causes a rapid pulse, fast breathing and lots of sweating may make you fitter, but is not an effective way to build up your muscles and shed fat. Rather than burning fat, this kind of exercise uses the energy that is most quickly and easily available to your body — the glucose stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. If this glycogen runs out, the next quickest and easiest source of glucose isyour muscles. Itmakes little use of your stores of fat.
To burn the fat stored around your body, your aerobic exercise should be at a moderate level, and of /ong duration. The secret is that your breathing should be deep and controlled, with no sense that you are out of breath. Fat needs plenty of oxygen to burn.
When you start to exercise, your body first uses the energy stored as glycogen. However, after about 30 minutes of sustained but comfortable exercise, your body makes an important switch. Instead of burning mostly glycogen, itstarts to burn more and more stored fat. After 30 minutes, more than half the energy you are using comes from your fat! If you exercise at least three times a week, an even higher proportion of fat is used.
A fat-breaking enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase is released after half an hour of exercise, with significant amounts available after an hour of continued exercise with deep comfortable breathing. This enzyme remains active for up to 12 hours. The longer you exercise at this sustained, moderate level, the more the enzyme isactivated. Ithas a long lasting and direct effect on breaking down the fat in your body. Italso cleans your blood vessel walls of fatty plaque and deposits.
Oxygen is one of the keys to using fat. Fat, at 9 calories per gram, contains more than twice the energy of glycogen (4 calories per gram). Fat, being calorie dense, needs plenty of oxygen to burn. If you breathe deeply and sufficiently while doing aerobic exercise, you can burn fat. However, as you exercise harder, less oxygen is available in your body. If you exercise at a rate where you become short of breath, your body will be forced to get its glucose energy from easier sources - your stored glycogen, or next, the protein in your muscles.
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Ifyou are unfit and overweight, the best exercise to shed fat and get back into shape is sustained fast walking. Active housework, swimming, gardening, or other sustained activity is also suitable. Keep it to a level you can maintain, but not to the point where you are out of breath or over- exerting.
Isuggest you exercise on an empty stomach. Digestion uses an enormous amount of energy, so if your last meal is fully digested you will have more, not less energy available. The feeling of a full gut does not assist with any kind of exercise, especially yoga. If you exercise with a full stomach, your digestion is slowed or halted. The food sits as a dead weight until you rest and digestion starts again. On an empty stomach, the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver is used up more quickly, after which you start to burn fat.
HOW MUCH?
* Before you start an exercise program, check with your doctor. You may have to get through a potentially painful and sometimes risky period of adapting your body to the point where you can sustain daily activity. The good news is that as you get fitter and your health improves, it gets easier. Most people who have persisted with an easy exercise program, report that what in the beginning seemed like a chore became sheer pleasure after a month. Once your body becomes accustomed to exercise itcraves more, as your hormonal and digestive functions are restored, toxic acid wastes are eliminated and muscle strength isbuilt up.
«Anymovement isbetterthannoactivityatall.Fiveminutescleaningupthe lounge, ten minutes vacuuming the carpet or weeding in the garden and a
walk to the shops all add up and are beneficial.
*Take iteasy. Ifyou are going to exercise for the rest of your life, ithas to be enjoyable and invigorating, rather than painful and exhausting. Exercise is not about getting grimly serious, fixed on achieving a regular state of near- exhaustion come rain, pollution or disenchanted spouse.
* You are never too old to start. In fact, the greatest benefits from weight training are among the elderly. You can start with weights as light as your
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water bottle.
*The ideal exercise program both increases your muscle bulk and gives your cardiovascular system aworkout. Ifyou look atpeople who have been doing only aerobic exercises for years, huffing and puffing at running, swimming and aerobics classes, you will notice that they find itdifficult to lose weight. Too much aerobic exercise can actually reduce your muscle mass, so you burn less fat.
* To enjoy all the health, youth and long-life benefits of exercise, you need to exercise virtually every day. You cannot justify doing twice as much half as often.
¢ Start your exercise with a warm up. A few minutes of gentle exercise to raise your pulse and breathing, plus some gentle stretches prepare your body for the exercise to come. It also reduces the risk of muscle tears and sprains that can occur with cold and stiff muscles.
It is essential, after aerobic exercise, to keep moving while you cool down. When you are doing aerobic exercise, your muscles help your heart to pump your blood around your body. Ifyou stop suddenly, your heart immediately has to take up the extra load. This puts a dangerous strain on your heart. If you have been jogging for example, taper it off with a few minutes of walking. You can also gently stretch for several minutes, whilst breathing deeply (no bouncing stretches). The cool down period also helps remove waste products such as lactic acid from your muscle tissue.
* If you only have a few minutes available to exercise, use that time for a walk or stretch. However, do not kid yourself that you can use that short period to give your body everything itneeds.
* It is possible to over-exercise, with a disproportionate number of long- distance runners and tri-athletes presenting with immune, gastro-intestinal, muscular-skeletal and respiratory problems. Long-distance athletes generally use 10-20 times more oxygen than people with sedentary lives do. Itwould seem obvious that with the raised levels of oxygen passing through their blood and cells, they would also generate higher levels of free radicals. Athletes who suffer weakness or pain for days after their exercise are
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obviously over-doing it. All athletes need higher levels of anti-oxidants to provide protection against the raised level of free radicals in their bodies.
What is the right level of exercise activity? A rule of thumb is that you should just be able to carry on a conversation while you exercise. If you cannot talk, then ease off a bit. Alternatively, ifyour heart and breathing are not much faster than normal, you can exercise harder. More technically, your maximum heart rate should be 220 minus your age in years. Ideally, while you are exercising, itshould be 65% — 75% of that figure. For example, a 50- year-oldpersonshouldhaveamaximum heartrateof170,andshouldideally exercise at a rate of 110-130.
If you are not accustomed to exercise, and take your heart rate to approximately 85% of its maximum for more than 10 minutes, you can damage your body and accelerate your ageing. In unfit people, this level of exercise releases excessive free radicals. Those who are very fit, such as trained athletes, seem to be protected from these adverse effects provided they have a good diet with plenty of anti-oxidants.°8
Avoid short bursts of intense exercise if you live a sedentary life. If you are short of time, you cannot compensate by trying to pack a full day’s exercise into just a few minutes. Five to fifteen minutes of vigorous exercise gets your heart and breath rates up, but is not long enough to induce the beneficial hormonal changes that come with sustained exercise. If you have been inactive during the day, a few minutes of strong exercise raises your blood glucose level. This leads to raised insulin and cortisol levels, metabolic syndrome, and the typical degenerative problems caused by a modern Western lifestyle. On the other hand, low intensity exercise for an extended period combats metabolic syndrome. It not only helps to reduce fat, but also helps maintain a stable blood glucose level and increases your insulin sensitivity.
I suggest a minimum of 30 minutes aerobic exercise per day. Thirty minutes each day is not a lot when you compare it to the daily activities of our early and even recent ancestors. If you are sitting at a computer or desk ordrivingalargepartoftheday,itisimportant tocompensate forthose long
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periods of inactivity on a daily basis. For example, I walk rather than drive everywhere that I possibly can. A fifteen-minute walk to the shops would have taken half that time to drive and park anyway, so itisan efficient use of time. I get my day’s exercise, save some car mileage, and make a small contribution to cutting down on traffic congestion and air pollution. If you can get a friend or business acquaintance to walk with you, itcan be an even more pleasant and productive time. I usually use the stairs rather than an elevator, and take the opportunity to stretch, yawn and deep breathe wherever possible.
Walking is the best exercise! Your anatomy is designed to walk as its primary manner of movement. Modern life, with its long periods of sitting at desks, sitting on couches, sitting in cars, sitting at dining tables and sitting
-most of the rest of our waking hours denies our backs this most fundamental need. Walking isyour best protection against developing back pain. Walking briskly exercises all your major muscles in a relatively slow, aerobic, ongoing manner. It stimulates your digestive system, assisting with peristalsis, and gently massaging the abdominal organs. Walking for more than 30 minutes is an effective form of weight control, as explained above. It is relaxing, and provides the opportunity for deep and regular breathing. Walking has substantial benefits for your cardiovascular system. It lowers your blood pressure, improves your cholesterol levels, and reduces your chances of a heart attack or stroke. Walkers are less likely to develop type II diabetes.
Your resting, or base metabolism is the energy you need just to stay alive. While you are resting, many body systems are still active. You need to breathe, your heart beats, you need to maintain your body temperature, your brain is functioning, digestion may be taking place, and more. You still use energy and generate waste products when you are lying down doing nothing. Your base metabolism can use as much as two thirds of your energy needs. An average 68 kg adult burns less than half a calorie per minute while sleeping, or the equivalent of about a 100 watt light globe. If you start any additional physical or mental activity, this basic energy requirement rapidly
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increases to around 200-400 watts (activity such as walking, housework, sports, office work, gardening, sex and all the social and living activities you do every day). 20-25% of this energy is used by your brain, depending on its level of activity.
Aerobic exercise does not burn many calories. Running a mile burns an average of only 300 calories — hardly half of a typical meal. Walking burns between 290 and 430 calories per hour, depending on your weight, walking speed and other factors. Other daily activities such as gardening or active housework consume a similar level of energy. You need to do enough exercise to burn at least 2000 calories per week. If you lead a moderately active life, doing housework or other light physical work, gardening, walking, moving, dancing and keeping on the go, and you also do at least 30 minutes aerobic or cardiovascular exercise each day, then you will easily burn that much.
When you do sustained exercise such as running, swimming or cycling, your metabolic rate goes up by 8-10 times its resting value, and remains higher for up to 15 hours after the exercise.
Pleasant aerobic exercise creates an alkaline response in your body because of the increased oxygenation. Exercise past the point of exhaustion releases excess stored acidity.43! If you exercise excessively, your cortisol and free radical levels will rise. Intensive aerobic exercisers such as marathon runners and those who exercise in polluted cities breathe in high levels of nitrogen and sulphur oxides, and ozone that can impair their immunity and open them to infections.
For the average adult, I suggest a maximum of 60 minutes isotonic exercise in a day, depending on your level of fitness. Thereafter cortisol levels rise, testosterone levels fall, the benefits are lost and your ageing accelerates.
When you do intense isotonic exercise such as weights at the gym, micro- tears occur in your muscles. This is quite normal and beneficial, leading to the production of hormones to repair them. Ifyou are young and healthy this repair can occur in 24 hours, but for most adults restoration takes 48 hours.
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For this reason, Irecommend doing isotonic exercise every second day, and rotating the groups of muscles that you exercise each time. Exercise the same muscle once, or at that most twice in the same week. For example, you can do legs and abdomen on Monday, neck, back and chest on Wednesday, and shoulders and arms on Friday. Try to exercise as many different muscles as possible each week, rather than a restricted set. Of course, you can still do your aerobic exercises every day.
First, gently warm up your body with some stretching and aerobic moving exercises. When warm, you are ready to do your weight or resistance exercises. For each muscle group, first do a warm up set of 12-15 easy repetitions. After a rest of perhaps a minute, do a second set of 6-10 medium to heavy repetitions, which should take those muscles to exhaustion. Depending on your training program, do not do any more sets (or at the most, do one more set of 14-18 repetitions). This is the optimum for rebuilding your muscle strength and bulk, whilst gaining all the youthing benefits that come from isotonic exercise. The medium heavy repetitions should be at 80%ofyouronerepetitionmaximum (1RM).Thisistheheaviestweightthat you can liftonly once.
As you lift each weight during the repetitions, do not let it loosely fall back to the starting position. Keep the pressure on it all the way down. The greatest benefit from isotonic exercise comes as your muscle is lengthening while under load.
Ideally, you should have a walk, or do some other sustained aerobic exercise after the isotonic exercise. Remember, itisonly after 30 minutes of exercise that the hormonal changes occur that cause your body to burn fat rather than glycogen. After the isotonic exercise, your body will be in this mode, and during your walk you will be burning stored fat.
BREATHING
AN IMPORTANT SECRET
D: notunderestimatetheimportanceofgoodbreathing.Ifyoupractise
everything else, and yet breathe poorly, you will never attain perfect
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health and great age.
Most people do not breathe properly. They do not even know how to
breathe! The typical adult uses only the least efficient, top part of his or her lungs. They take many more breaths than they need to, all short and shallow.
To add to the problem, city air is often chronically deficient in oxygen (page 317). We tend not to breathe as deeply in a polluted and oxygen deficient environment.
The average adult breathes about 10,000 — 12,000 litres of air each day. The oxygen that ends up in your bloodstream depends upon the level of pollution and ionisation in the air, and the effectiveness of your breathing.
Most people use less than one seventh of the capacity of their lungs, breathing at a rate of roughly 15 - 20 times per minute. Those who have developed good breathing techniques and are using their lungs to the full, may take 4 — 6 breaths per minute. Sages who have developed extraordinary powers of health and longevity may breathe at even slower rates, depending on the techniques they have chosen.
The passages in your throat and lungs are wet, or at least they should be ifyou are drinking enough water. They are covered with mucus, and the wet sticky surface traps most of the dust and other particles in the air. Hair- like structures called cilia line these passages, and in a healthy respiratory system, they help move the contaminated mucus back up to your throat and mouth. Cigarette smoking kills or stuns the cilia resulting in a lot more pollution going down into the lungs, not just the cigarette smoke. If you stop smoking, the cilia will eventually recover.
If the mucus gets too dry or dirty, a crust develops and clogs your breathing passages, and the cilia can no longer perform their sweeping action. Additional dust and debris accumulates, and the antibodies in your air passages are overwhelmed, making you vulnerable to colds and ‘flu.
Try to breathe in through your nose — here is why. The airway in your nose is not a straight passage, but instead it has bulges and convolutions that make the airstream turbulent, so that it covers a greater surface area.
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This moisturises and warms the incoming air, and protects your lungs from coldness and dryness. Your nose is also an effective filter for dust, microorganisms and pollutants. This explains why ethnic groups that developed in cold or dry desert climates have longer, more substantial noses with narrow nostrils — the cold or dry air is forced over a greater surface area of warm, moist lining before entering the lungs. In contrast, groups from warm humid climates tend to have short flat noses, which take less effort to breathe the air that is already warm and moist. In cold and dry climates, you should breathe both in and out through your nose. The out- breath replenishes the heat and moisture from the inhalation. In a hot humid climate, you can use exhalation through your mouth as a method to expel excess heat.
When at rest, your brain uses about 20% of the total oxygen used by your body. A good oxygen supply is critical for your brain — your most important organ. If it does not get enough, you will feel drowsy and have negative, even depressing thoughts. People with sedentary jobs who spend most of the day in poorly ventilated city offices are particularly at risk. With a long-term lack of oxygen, you will become irritable, senile, negatively affected by alcohol, and your senses of sight, hearing, taste and smell will deteriorate. Chronic under-breathing can cause chest pains and palpitations, muscular pains in the chest, neck and back, tingling and numbness in the limbs, fainting, blackouts, dizziness, and visual upsets, digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, depression, poor sleep patterns and nightmares.
The most important measure ofthe health of your respiratory system is the volume of air you can blow out after taking the biggest inhalation that you can. After you have exhaled, there is always a little air left in your lungs — the residual volume. The less air that remains the better, because the toxins in your lungs are exhaled completely, rather than being recirculated. The wider your lungs can expand, and the smaller they can contract is a measure of the elasticity of their tissue. Young and healthy tissue 1squite flexible.
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Your can divide your nervous system into conscious activities that you directly control, such as moving a hand or a foot, and autonomic or subconscious activities, such as your heart beating or the movement of your colon. Breathing is normally an automatic activity, but with your intention you can bring itunder conscious control. Unconscious breathing does a poor job of emptying your lungs completely, and waste elimination is inefficient.
Deeper and fuller use of your lungs has remarkable detoxification, healing, energising and rejuvenation effects. You can learn how to breathe slowly and deeply, filling and emptying your lungs completely. The in- breath should first fill your abdomen, and then fill your chest. You can hold it for up to a few seconds. Depending on the type of breathing, you may also pause after the out-breath. The rich levels of oxygen that fill your body from controlled breathing, particularly during meditation or healing therapy, lead to clear and creative thinking, emotional opening, and senses that are more acute. Breathing is the focus (object) of some types of meditation.
Your breathing reflects your emotions, and you can use itto access and control them. Shallow breathing or holding your breath is associated with danger and can generate feelings of fear. Anger has a certain tight way of breathing with shallow inhalation and short, panting exhalation. Sadness creates irregular breathing, like when you are sobbing. On the other hand, feelings of joy, vitality and strength induce deep, confident breaths.
When you breathe deeply and consciously, suppressed or subconscious feelings can begin to surface. Some people find it relatively easy to experience, acknowledge and face the feelings that come up. It is then possible to release them and move on. Others, who are more rigid, closed, suppressed or in denial may find they are unable to let go of their shielding around their feelings.
The more civilised and intellectual you are, the less likely itisthat you will breathe deeply and truly feel your body, your emotions, and the instant inwhich you are living. Itreally isthe difference between being awake and
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being asleep.
All the Eastern philosophies include a variety of breathing exercises,
especially the Taoists. Controlled breathing is an effective form of medical therapy, and has been a formal branch of Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. Chinese doctors have long recognised that poor breathing causes a variety of diseases, and a loss of strength and energy. They have effectively prescribed breathing exercises to cure a wide variety of diseases. The Western world does not even have a specific word that denotes breath control. Western doctors have little understanding of the air, and how its ionisation is the basis for health and longevity.
In Ayurvedic medicine, the ancient healing art of India, breath is the link between the body and the mind / spirit. The prana, or breath, profoundly influences the entire body, mind and spirit. Breathing exercises, called pranayamas, are taught to maintain and heal the whole being. They are also the basis of yoga.
Some smells and scents contain bioactive energy, which your nose efficiently directs into your bloodstream. Ancient Arab physicians observed that perfumers and incense makers rarely succumbed to plagues of cholera and other diseases. This observation led to the development of aromatherapy, in which the essential oils of various plants are used to cure specific ailments. “Glands” in the roots, stems, leaves, seeds and flowers of plants produce these oils, which are extracted in a concentrated form. Aromatherapy works only with oils extracted from living plants — synthetic scents have no therapeutic value. Essential oils that are good for your skin and you can add to a base oil or your skin cream include frankincense, rose, patchouli, jasmine, sandalwood, lavender and geranium.
CLEANING YOUR NASAL PASSAGES
You can do a nose douche to clean out your nasal passages and restore their self-cleansing ability. Ifyour nose islined with crusted mucus, itconstrains your ability to breathe deeply, as well as doing a poor job in filtering, warming and moisturising the air going into your lungs. A douche or nefi
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as yoga practitioners call it, loosens and flushes away dried encrusted mucus and other debris. You will be amazed at what comes out the first time you do it.After washing the sensitive olfactory nerve endings, your sense of smell will be renewed. Your taste will also improve, because it is closely linked to your nose. More importantly, whether you practise deep breathing or not, there will be less resistance during each inhalation because of the clear passages, and your lungs will naturally fill further. You will feel more vital and energetic, and will be less likely to suffer a head cold or respiratory disease.
You can do a douche perhaps once a month, depending upon the level of pollution in the atmosphere in which you live. Warm halfa litre of clean, preferably filtered water to body temperature, and dissolve % to ? of a level teaspoon of sea salt in it. If you get the right temperature and salinity, it feels quite comfortable and does not burn when in your nose. Put the solution in a container with a spout, such as a plastic squeeze bottle or a small teapot. Sit down, turn your head to one side, and insert the spout in the upper nostril and pour. If your nose is not too blocked, the solution will come out of your lower nostril. Ifthere is ablockage, you may have to suck a bit. Be careful not to swallow or inhale the water. After pouring out half the solution, change sides. Finally, block each nostril and vigorously blow out the other. This is the point where all the gunk emerges! You are clean. Doesn’t itfeel good?
TYPES OF BREATHING
Chest Breathing. The delicate lungs of a foetus spend months immersed in the warm, liquid security of the mother’s amniotic fluid. A newborn baby’s first breath is surely a scream of pain. Many people never get over that trauma, fearing more anguish if they breathe fully.
Society reinforces this life-sapping childhood habit throughout the rest of our lives. As children, many of us learned that being totally alive and expressive was unacceptable to the adults around us, and we learned to stifle that vitality by holding our breath. Our parents and teachers tell us to
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stand up straight, pull our tummies in, and puff out our chests. This applies at school, in the military, and at both work and home. Remember the last time you met someone important or whom you wanted to impress. Try to feel the posture that you adopted!
Apparently, the most attractive models are those with big chests and breasts and board-flat stomachs. These “beautiful people” breathe into their upper chests, and pull in their stomachs. Some clothes are constricting around the waist. Such fashions restrict deep breathing, forcing itto the top part of the lungs. This is also the natural tendency for most Western people when they see an attractive member of the opposite sex. Men particularly, stand up tall, pull in their loose and sagging gut, and puff out their chest in a swagger. This is precisely the wrong way to breathe.
Laziness, ignorance, stress, constipation, pollution and smoking all add to the over-reliance on the muscles high in the chest area used to breathe in.
To expand your chest, you contract the intercostal muscles around your ribs. This creates a vacuum in your upper lungs, so air is pulled in through your trachea. Air does not get into your lower lungs, with their greater surface area and rich network of blood vessels and alveoli. The most efficient part of your lungs remains unused! The tissue in your lungs is designed to be continually stretched and contracted, and this lack of use will gradually ossify your lower lungs.
If you are not fully using all of your lungs, you will need to take about three times as many breaths just to get the same volume of air.
Clavicular Breathing is bad for your health, posture and emotions. We tend to use clavicular breathing when we are extremely stressed or fearful ~ the clavicles (collarbones) expand and contract only a narrow upper portion of your lungs. People who continually breathe like this are prone to anxiety. Victims of asthma and emphysema breathe this way all the time. Their breathing sounds like a panting dog — it needs to be rapid just to get sufficient air to stay alive. Their heartbeat has to be rapid to pump more blood to pick up the small quantity of oxygen that their lungs ingest. If you
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notice that you are breathing this way, take a few slow deep breaths right into your belly, holding each breath for a few seconds. Exhale slowly through pursed lips. The anxiety will disappear!
Diaphragmatic Breathing. Look at a sleeping infant, or a cat or a dog stretched out for its daytime snooze. Their whole being is relaxed. Notice that their belly is the focus of their breathing action. Your diaphragm is the key to deep, powerful breathing which uses the lower part of your lungs.
Your diaphragm is the layer of muscle and membrane that separates your chest (thoracic) cavity from your gut (abdominal) cavity. When you breathe in deeply, your diaphragm contracts and descends, and your gut pushes outwards. As you continue inhaling, the top of your chest fills, and your ribs expand. In good breathing, your lower lungs fill first, “from the bottom up”, followed by your ribs fanning out and chest expanding.
When you breathe out, your diaphragm relaxes and rises back up. In the second phase of exhalation, you can squeeze out the remaining air from your chest. Singers and people who play wind instruments learn to use their lungs in this way, more than doubling the capacity of each breath.
The lower part of your lungs has a richer blood flow (perfusion) than the upper part. Not using your lower lungs is an unnecessary waste, leading to under-oxygenation (hypoperfusion) of your blood, under-removal of carbon dioxide and other toxins, and consequences such as a low level of energy and degenerative diseases.
Ironically, breathing with the belly will also give you a better-looking body. Pushing your belly out on the in-breath, and pulling it in on the out- breath, develops your muscles in harmony with your breathing rhythm. You exercise all the muscles required to push, pull, and hold, rather than just sucking in. You workout a wide variety of muscles, your liver, spleen, intestines and entire abdominal cavity are continually massaged, and your gut area looks and feels firm and toned. Do not worry — breathing in this way will not give you a potbelly — just the opposite.
BREATHING EXERCISES
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You will find that you have more energy almost immediately. You can start applying diaphragmatic breathing in real life situations, such as when you are face to face in conflict with someone, when you feel overwhelmed, depressed, tired, sick or stressed.
Phone Book Exercise. This exercise is an introduction to deep abdominal breathing, clearly showing you how your abdomen moves as your lower lungs expand and contract. Lie on your back on a firm surface such as a carpet or lawn, but not a bed. Place a phone directory book on your abdomen, just touching your lower ribs. Put your hands by your sides with palms facing up. Your legs should be straight and slightly apart. Totally relax, and listen to your breathing. This exercise has four stages to each breathing cycle — inhalation, retention, exhalation and a pause. You will find itslows down your rate ofbreathing, and your goal should be 4—6 in-breaths per minute.
Inhalation. Breathe slowly through your nose, through flared nostrils, drawing air into the bottom ofyour lungs by lifting the book. Aim to inhale for four seconds. Now hold the book as high as you can as you continue to inhale through your nose. Hold itup there, as you complete filling the top part of your lungs.
Retention. Hold your breath for 2-5 seconds. This stage is essential because it triggers cellular respiration or the “dive response.” This is the energy mechanism used by diving mammals such as seals or dolphins. The human foetus also receives and uses energy and oxygen in this manner. The heartbeat more than halves, blood pressure is reduced, and considerable heat is produced. Adult humans still have this response, but most have lost itthrough lack of use. Do not hold your breath for longer than 10 seconds
Breathing is normally an unconscious process. Improving your breathing needs a period of training where you use conscious intention until it becomes automatic. It is simply a matter of doing the exercises, and at other times during the day, when you remember, paying attention to how you are breathing.
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without the instruction and guidance of an experienced teacher. Exhalation. When you exhale, start by lowering the book. After the book is as low as it will go, then squeeze your chest and exhale from the
top part of your lungs. Your out breath should take 50-100% longer than your in breath — at least six seconds.
Pause for 3 seconds. This will give you an “air hunger” to stimulate a healthy inhalation.
Do not force any part of this exercise beyond your natural capacity. The entire breathing cycle should be smooth and flowing. At first, you may have a few splutters, bursts of breath, or stalls, but this is quite normal. Eventually, your breathing will become smooth, regular and rhythmic.
Practise the phone book exercise for 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning, and again before you go to bed, until you have a good feel for how your abdomen is the key to using your lung’s full capacity. Once you have the feel for belly breathing, do the exercises in standing or sitting positions. Eventually your unconscious everyday breathing will use your abdominal muscles without your having to think about it.
Breathing exercises in the sitting and standing positions still use the four stages of inhalation, retention, exhalation and a pause. Focus on the slow, smooth, deliberate rhythm and regularity of each stage, rather than on prolonging them. At first your lungs, diaphragm and whole respiratory system will resist the rigors of this natural way of breathing because of the long neglect. With perseverance and daily practice, the energy boost becomes so obvious that it is hard to break.
Standing. A good standing posture has both your feet firmly flat on the ground, with your knees bent ever so slightly. You centre your weight over your hips, with your chest and head balanced in line above them. Standing is the best position, because it lets your blood circulate freely to all parts of your body, it does not interrupt the free flow of energy through the energetic meridians (chakras), and it provides the maximum potential gradient between heaven (the head) and the earth (feet). The ancient masters used to refer to a person’s stance as his/her horse. They had a
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saying, “a man is only as strong as his horse.”
Sitting. You can deep breathe while driving, sitting at your desk, or
working. The idea istodo itwhenever you think ofit:develop your belly breathingsothatitbecomes automatic,allofthetime.Ifyouareabletosit cross-legged on the floor or on a cushion, this is a good posture. It is easier and more comfortable if you sit on a phone book covered with a cushion. This will tilt your pelvis forward, and keep your spine erect. Try to sit in the lotus position, where each foot is on top of the opposite calf. Most Westerners are not flexible enough to do it, and the few who can find it uncomfortable. Agood compromise ishalf lotus, where only one foot ison top of a calf. The lotus positions are stable, with the spine and head balanced above a firm foundation.
Breathing Modes. Taoists refer to two types of breathing. The Warrior's Breath is a powerful, audible, forceful and deliberate way of
breathing. Itrequires your focus and attention. Itstimulates your systems for “battle”, i.e. activity. Use it for breathing exercises aimed at raising your energy level, strengthening your body, and promoting physical health and vitality.
The Scholar's Breath on the other hand, is silent, natural, gentle and relatively effortless. It is calming, suitable for meditation, concentration, contemplation, and breathing exercises before you go to sleep. Use it during your daily activities, such as walking, reading, working, and so on. Although itdoes not require the same focus and attention as the Warrior’s Breath, try to remain aware of the process, and ensure that all four stages of breathing are rhythmically performed. When using the Scholar’s Breath, your diaphragm is still the key to breathing.
You can use either mode to perform any breathing exercise — they are not exercises in themselves. You can also use combinations of the two during any exercise or meditation, depending on the effect you wish to achieve. For example, you may wish to stimulate your energy with Warrior’s Breath when you start a meditation, and then use the more passive Scholar’s Breath. With experience you will become familiar with
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the subtleties of each mode, and know intuitively when to use them. Tongue Position. During breathing exercises, and when doing yoga, you normally place your tongue in the yoga position. Put the tip of your tongue where your front teeth emerge from the roof of your mouth, and
then slide it a few millimetres backwards. It should be resting on the alveolar ridge, the soft tissue between the teeth and the roof of the mouth. This completes a bio-energetic connection in your body, and encourages you to breathe through your nose. In those breathing exercises where you breathe through your mouth, you still maintain this tongue position.
Bellows Breathing is a good detoxifying exercise to purify your lungs and blood. The additional oxygen in your blood also stimulates your metabolism, so you can use it to wake up if you are feeling physically sluggish or mentally drowsy. It calms you, restores emotional equilibrium, stimulates your digestive system, and gives you a boost of energy.
This yoga breathing is completely different to the other exercises discussed so far. Iparticularly recommend itto those exposed to polluted air such as smokers and city dwellers. It opens the air passages in your throat and head, purges the stale air throughout your lungs, and flushes the alveoli of accumulated toxins.
It is not a hyperventilation technique, which would quickly raise your oxygen level. Rather, the bellows breathing activates your central nervous system and energy centres.
Sit or stand with your back straight, eyes closed, and tongue in the yogic position with your mouth closed. Start with a strong contraction of your abdominal muscles to expel all the air from your lungs. Let your lungs refill naturally, using little effort, until they are about half full. There is no pause or retention of breath in this exercise — only inhalation and exhalation. When your lungs are half-full, again forcefully expel all the air. Repeat this cycle at a rate of one to three breaths per second. As this is a de-toxifying exercise, your lungs should never be more than half-full while you are doing it.The emphasis ison exhalation and expulsion, rather than the in-breath.
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This is real exercise — your muscles will get tired. The first time you do it,try to keep itup for 20 seconds. Each day, increase itby up to 5 seconds, until you can do bellows breathing for two minutes.
When you return to normal breathing, you will feel a subtle tingling of energy throughout your body, perhaps concentrated in your arms. You will feel more alert and awake. As you gain experience with this exercise, you will become aware of the energy itcreates. Itcan warm you ifyou are cold, re-energise you ifyou are feeling drowsy after lunch, or wake you up ifyou are feeling sleepy while driving.
If you feel light-headed or faint while doing it, take a long slow and deep inhalation, and pause for a few seconds before starting again. It leaves your blood highly oxygenated, so it is a good idea to take a few deep breaths at the end of this exercise to restore a normal level.
BENEFITS OF DEEP BREATHING
Breathing exercises and good breathing technique give you immediate rewards, and immeasurable long-term benefits. This key to optimal health takes little time and effort, and provides a high payback for such a small investment. The Taoist view is that the energy and detoxification provided by good breathing is even more important to health and longevity than that from food and water.
Mental and Emotional. Shallow breathing or even holding your breath is associated with fear, frustration and anger. Small children often hold their breath in frustration in a conflict. Think of a time you have been fearful, and how shallow your breathing became. An excellent way to combat stress is to take a deep breath, right down into your belly. Slow breathing down into your belly is immensely relaxing and empowering. Your memory, creativity, awareness and other mental facilities are improved. Deep breathing calms your emotions, brings them under conscious control, and restores equilibrium.
Strength. If you are an athlete, learning correct breathing techniques will give you additional strength and endurance, even if you are doing
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everything else correctly. Ifyou are inbusiness, deep breathing will greatly improve your focus and concentration, give you a stronger more confident voice, and a profound sense of strength coming from your hara, or belly. If you feel over-run or stressed, deep breathing is an anchor in the turmoil, and the key to restoring calm. If you are sick, breathing is the key to your recovery. It will also help you lead a longer, more energetic, vital, stress- free life.
Posture. Good breathing improves your posture. Poor breathers typically have a weak, collapsed posture, or a “military” posture, with the chest stuck out and the tummy pulled in.
Health. Deliberate, controlled breathing can regulate all your vital functions. People who have practised breathing for some time can consciously regulate their pulse, blood pressure, digestion, ejaculation, hormone secretion, skin temperature and a lot more.
Deep breathing retards your sympathetic nervous system, lowering your pulse and blood pressure and suppressing the production of adrenalin. It stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system, promoting your digestive, eliminative, immune and other functions. It is primarily the retention phase in diaphragmatic breathing that results in these beneficial nervous responses. It is a highly effective form of protective therapy against the nervous stresses and strains experienced by harried urban dwellers.
Deep breathing massages your liver, spleen, intestines and the glands in your abdominal cavity. This assists with digestive peristalsis (digestive movement). It stimulates the secretion of hormones, with particular benefit to your digestive and immune systems. There is a measurable increase in the helper / suppressor ratio among your T lymphocytes.
No matter how polluted the air is, we must continue to breathe. Good breathing techniques help you to extract the maximum amount of oxygen from the air, and so will minimise your intake of pollutants. It is not advisable to do aerobic exercise in severely polluted air, as the exercise will increase the volume of air and pollution that passes through your lungs.
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Energy. Slow, deep breathing provides more arterial oxygen saturation than shallow rapid breathing, even though the volume of air breathed by the shallow rapid breathing may be greater. Slow and extensive use of your entire lung’s spongy tissue takes in far more oxygen, and exhales more toxic waste gases than fast and limited use. Oxygen is the key ingredient in our metabolism. Any restriction on our breathing, or pollution in the air we breathe, can upset the production of the ATP energy molecule and restrain our energy and vitality.
Lung Capacity. Full and deep use of your lungs stretches your lung tissue, as well as making itmore flexible. Studies in China have shown that people taking up the practice of deep breathing can increase their lung capacity by over a litre after a year of training.>® With the additional lung capacity, these people can breathe even more slowly.
Longevity. Taoists maintain that each of us is given a fixed number of breaths and heartbeats for our life, so those who breathe quickly or who have a fast pulse will live fewer years. If you slow the number of breaths you take each minute, you will greatly enhance your respiratory efficiency. The rich level of oxygen in your blood means your heart will not need to pump as hard, and itwill have more time to rest between each beat. You will conserve vital energy and live longer.
Detoxification. Your breath is one of the means by which your body excretes toxins. It is the primary means of expelling carbon dioxide, and an important outlet for small quantities of other wastes. I am sure you have smelt the breath of someone whose body is filled with toxic acid waste, particularly if his or her liver is functioning poorly. Their foul breath is a reflection of their internal state, and the result of each organ’s desperate attempts to get rid of the toxins by all possible means.
Detoxifying or cleansing breathing stresses exhalation. If you find yourself spontaneously sighing during the day, it is an indication that you have a build-up of toxins that some deep breathing could rectify.
For example, after you have had an alcoholic drink, most of the alcohol is broken down and removed by your liver, but your breath also expels
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small quantities of the alcohol in your blood.
Spiritual. Eastern philosophers have been aware of the relationship
between breathing and the spirit for thousands of years. Breathing integrates the air and the environment with your body, mind and spirit. Yogis and sages of all disciplines use breath control to expand the consciousness. Deep breathing at a rate of less than four times per minute stimulates the pineal gland. This is one of the keys to the opening of the sixth chakra, and clairvoyance.
Sleep. Deep breathing exercises before bed slow your heartbeat, regulate your respiration and relax your mind. Many people suffer from sleep apnoea, a disorder in which shallow and irregular breathing cause a deficiency of oxygen to the brain, so the victims sleep lightly and wake up many times during the night gasping for breath. Twenty minutes of deep diaphragmatic exercises before bed establishes a good breathing pattern and strong pulse that will eventually develop into a habit while sleeping. It will also reduce the amount of sleep you need by up to an hour.
YOGA
here else can you get three youthing secrets - exercise, breathing
WwW: meditation-inonepackage?Forthosewhohavenevertriedit, yoga conjures up pictures of gurus, swamis and Eastern holy men standing on their heads while performing impossibly contorted poses. However, the yoga that is making inroads in every Western city today is more practical and has no religious connotations for most of the people who practise it.No matter what physical state you are in,Ithoroughly recommend yoga. Even if you have a bad back and a highly inflexible body, there are gentle beginner’s postures you can start with. Yoga is an excellent exercise to assist with recovery from injuries.
Over a period of 60-90 minutes, you might perform 20 to 60 postures (asanas), depending on the style of yoga. All the while, you focus on deep, rhythmic breathing.
There are several different styles of yoga. They generally have the same
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or similar postures, but place a different emphasis on the alignment of the body, holding the postures, the coordination of breath and movement or the flow from one posture to another. They all share acommon lineage.
Ashtanga is the “hot yoga,” the most physically demanding. It is a regimented style, with each session comprising the same fixed sequence of postures performed without a break over a period of 60-90 minutes. It emphasises generating heat, rather than relaxation.
Hatha yoga isanother style that iswidely practised. Also known as “sun and moon” yoga, itemphasises both physical postures and energy centres for the purpose of cleansing and balancing, and ultimately, for attaining reunion with the totality of existence. It combines both active and passive aspects of yoga, with the emphasis on passive.
B.K.S. Iyengar is an influential teacher of the Hatha style. He teaches students to hold poses for longer than other schools of yoga would, and encourages them to experience the precise skeletal and muscular demands of each pose. Props such as belts, chairs, blocks and blankets are used to help get into and hold the poses.
Integral yoga is also widely practised. Depending on the teacher, it brings together different yoga styles, such as Kundalini (creative energy), Bhakti (devotion), Karma (service) and Raja (royal yoga, for the path of self-mastery).
Other yoga disciplines include Kriya yoga (work), Laya yoga (energy centres), Gnani yoga (the path of spiritual knowledge) and Tantric yoga (enlightenment through sexual practices and rituals).
Physically, yoga will develop strength in your muscles, by both stretching and flexing them. Itisalso an exercise inrelaxation, because you will not be able to get into many of the postures without relaxing some of the muscles involved. Over time, the mobility of your joints will improve, and your muscles will extend. Your body alignment and posture will look better, and your sense of balance will stabilise. It decreases muscular tension, helps you relax physically and mentally, improves your circulation, and assists your detoxification system.
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Most exercise programs in the Western world are oriented toward developing our visible or exterior physique. Walking, running, all sports and weight training lead to a stronger or leaner looking body. The major muscles that we present to the world are in the legs, buttocks, arms, back and shoulders. Consider however, that all the other muscles in our body are equally important and deserving of exercise. An exercise program should include muscles that we are not normally aware of using, or that we would not normally think of including in our daily regime.
One of the strengths of yoga is that there are postures that encompass all of the body, exercising, stretching, squeezing and inverting a full variety of “internal” muscles and organs. Your eyes, face, tongue, diaphragm, urinary and anus muscles have an important part to play in many postures!
When I first started yoga in my late 40’s, I could hardly touch my toes without bending my knees. Within three years, I could put the palms of my hands flat on the ground while keeping my knees straight. There were similar improvements in flexibility throughout my body. Ifeel that the “use it or lose it” principle applies with yoga just as with every other aspect of life. With the gentle, respectful and firm discipline of yoga, I expect my flexibility and joint mobility to continue to improve over the years.
Another experience I had in my first few yoga sessions was feeling nauseous. My teacher suggested Iwas not breathing deeply and fully, and that I had a tendency to hold my breath under the strain of the postures, rather than deeply breathe into them. Once I got over this hurdle, I found that the hour of deep and rhythmic breathing in a yoga session left my body refreshed and tingling all over. Itwas as ifmy body was saying, “thank you for the gift of the time and the effort in that yoga session.”
As you gain experience, yoga also becomes a meditation. Your breathing and body sensations become the centre of your attention. The clutter of activity and chatter in your mind slows, and eventually quietens. Time fades away as the yoga session becomes an experience of being.
Relaxation is an important part of the training of middle and long distance athletes. They learn to use every muscle as effectively as possible,
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which means that some muscles need to be relaxed while others are performing. A long distance runner learns to relax his or her face, jaw, neck and shoulders, and have a grace and rhythm throughout the rest of their body. People who have practised yoga for some time are experts in “selective exertion.” Each yoga posture, which they hold for a few seconds or minutes, concentrates on stretching or flexing a limited group of muscles. The rest of their body is relaxed, and their breathing is deep and refreshing.
Yoga requires that you treat your body with reverence. It provides a base from which you can develop many physical, mental and spiritual qualities. Your body becomes your temple. Yoga’s discipline, respect, humility, dedication and attention provide a foundation for personal and spiritual growth.
Yoga is not something you can learn from a book. I strongly recommend that you find a good teacher to get you started, to demonstrate the breathing and postures, to explain the philosophies, and to monitor and adjust your postures. It is important that your teacher is experienced, and that you have a good relationship. A few years ago, I had back pain (something I seldom suffer) the day after doing yoga. My teacher immediately knew the answer — I had been doing a more advanced posture before Iwas ready for it.
SEX
WE ARE SEXUAL BEINGS
onsider how your entire life is defined by whether you are male or Ge Whenyoumeetsomeone,yourfirstimpressioniswhether
they are a man or a woman. Their charisma and power is based on their sexual energy, which may be beautiful or ugly, strong or weak. Attraction or repulsion, and dominance or submission is dependent on this energy.
Sexual energy, or drive, is the basis of personal creativity and power. The most attractive, influential or charismatic people have a high level of sexual or Kundalini energy. Sexual energy has an emotional dimension, the
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love between a man and a woman. If you can refine your awareness of sexual energy, with or without a partner, you have a key to new levels of consciousness, creativity and power.
With a partner, lovemaking is a powerful healing tonic. The sharing of the human life force makes you happier, younger and healthier. Without a partner, making love with yourself is a healing, affirming exercise of your body. Remember the maxim — use itor lose it.
Sex provides all the health benefits of physical exercise. It raises the pulse, increases the rate of breathing, generates internal heat, and exercises a deep array of muscles. It reduces the tendency to eat compulsively, while raising the metabolism and burning calories. People with satisfying sex lives are less likely to be obese. They are more relaxed - love and connection are a powerful antidote to stress. People with enjoyable sex lives improve both their health and life expectancy.
If you are one of a healthy couple in a mutually monogamous heterosexual relationship, the exchange of bodily fluids is a more potent tonic than any herb or medicine according to many Taoist texts.
You can indulge in sex, right up until the end of your life. On average, most people over 60 say they are having better sex than when they were in their 40’s.!°4 Granted, they may need a little more time and stimulation to get started. However, they have a sense of freedom and confidence missing when they were younger. They are willing to shed inhibitions, experiment, and find new ways of getting pleasure. The most common problems reported by the elderly are problems with erection and lubrication, and loss of libido — in most cases, easily curable.
YOUR VOICE AND AGEING
ave you noticed how most old men have a shrill, feeble voice? Many
Ilswomenhaveaweak-soundingvoice;othersdevelopadeep, masculine voice.
Strong, young virile men speak with a deep, sexually charged voice. Women in the prime of their life have a voice that is feminine, melodious,
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alive and sexual.
Your voice reflects the sexual energy in your body. It is based on the
self-confidence, self-love and power that you project out into the world. If your voice isweak, feeble or shrill, itis asign that your sexual energy is low and physical deterioration of your body has started.
I have explained how one key to growing younger is thinking and acting younger, and refusing to take on the ageing expectations of those around you. Growing youthful means acting younger in every way. If you are a man, you can make an effort to lower your voice. Listen to yourself speak, and even better, record your voice. Then consciously make an effort to speak with depth and confidence. Most men find that their voice is weakest when they are speaking to someone who disempowers them. This can be someone who has authority over them (a boss or a parent) or a competitor. This is an important clue as to where in your life you are the most disempowered. Similarly, women may find their voice shrills or fades in certain situations.
Practise speaking with a sexually charged voice at every possible opportunity. I am not suggesting that you act or fa/k sexually, just that you let your voice represent the full creative energy within you. Exercise your voice by humming, and for men, lower your voice in steps until itisas low as you can go. As little as a few minutes of deep humming and chanting is a powerful start to the day, which will help you to hold your voice in a low pitch for the rest of the day.
TAOIST SECRETS
Taoism
Longevity is a Chinese obsession, and in ancient China the oldest people were treated with great respect and honour. The 8000-year-old tradition of Taoism is a complete philosophy of life — not a religion. Its principles include balance, simplicity, economy, honesty, fairness, individual freedom, education and regeneration.
It teaches boundless love for the universe, and all that lives in it. In this
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universe, humans are tiny, insignificant and vulnerable creatures. Energy and momentum are the sources of all life and the basis of nature. It is essential to be in harmony with these sources, otherwise we are fighting against nature and will lose. Taoism is about being flexible enough to go with the flow of nature, rather than against it.Nothing that isforced, that goes against theflow, will endure. Only when something iscomfortable and natural and flows, can itbecome a lifelong habit.
The Taoist view is that nature designed the human body to. live an average life span of about 100 years, and if you take measures to prolong your life, you can live to 150 years or more. In addition to the extra years, you can enjoy health, vitality, clarity, and equanimity. These benefits provide a base upon which to complete spiritual practices and growth, and to pass on these insights. If your sole purpose in using these practices is to enjoy extra years of sensual self-indulgence, then you are likely to be disappointed, because they require that you genuinely want them rather than force yourself.
A Taoist is relaxed, natural, and indulges in a life that is both easy and pleasant. He or she is encouraged to cultivate better taste, healthy living, and to enjoy the beauties of taste, touch, sound, smell and carnal love. Sexual love is regarded as natural and healthy.
Taoism emphasises the harmony of man and woman, and daily non- ejaculatory sexual connection, even in old age. Thousands of years ago, they understood the phrase “use it or lose it.” Our sex organs are like the other organs in our bodies — they need regular use to stay strong and healthy. Healthy organs produce the myriad of hormones and enzymes that keep our bodies fit and young. Feeling young, sexual, and wanted is important at a psychological, emotional and spiritual level as the years pass. We are fundamentally sexual beings, and whatever our age, we need to love and be loved at all levels.
Sex involves deep physical, emotional and spiritual connection. Men and women secrete many different hormones and enzymes, and the best way to get some of them is from the body of amember of the opposite sex.
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This includes saliva, breath, sweat, genital secretions, and sometimes the breasts!24. What a delightful way of taking your medicine!
Regulation ofEjaculation
One of the secrets of vital health and long life is regular, even daily exercise of our sexual organs. However, male ejaculation represents a massive loss of nutrients and energy. In contrast, female ejaculation is regarded as harmless, and her orgasms are encouraged for the health and longevity of both partners.
Semen is a highly nutritious, life filled, valuable liquid in the male body. When the average man ejaculates, he loses around 2-5 ml of semen, which contains 200-500 million sperm cells. The semen supports these sperm cells in a liquid treasure trove of minerals, trace elements, proteins, vitamins, ions, hormones, enzymes and other nutritious substances. Up to 3 mg of zinc is lost in an ejaculation.
Taoists say that the replacement of the semen lost in an ejaculation takes 25 — 40% of a man’s daily energy output. It is even more taxing on his endocrine (glandular) and immunological systems.°“ However, the greatest loss from his semen is his vital energy, life force or life essence (chi).
Another essential liquid in the body is blood. After giving a blood donation, you feel weak for several hours or longer, and they tell you not to give another donation for four months. A blood donation has some parallels to male ejaculation. Both represent a loss of nutrients and life energy through a valuable body fluid, and requires a period of recuperation.> The Taoist sages maintained that semen has 100 times the vital power of blood.°B Regard an ejaculation as similar to a blood donation — the conscious gift of a precious resource.
The loss of nutrients from an ejaculation means that your body will recoup them from wherever else they are available. Other body systems that use those nutrients will suffer. For example, nutrients that would have been used to make digestive enzymes are diverted. Unfortunately, this is
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the beginning of a vicious circle — poor digestion means that fewer nutrients are extracted from your food, which further weakens the digestive system, and so on.
The higher mind or spirit also stagnates with excessive ejaculation, and is unable to rejuvenate itself. This is why many traditional spiritual orders around the world require celibacy.
Some Taoists maintain that excessive ejaculation leads to balding. Many men who start daily, high volume ejaculation in their early teens suffer severe loss of hair, among other emaciating symptoms.
Simone de Beauvoir, in her book Old Age, describes a typical pattern of health and sexual power for a Western man. She explains how an unfortunate man by the name of Paul Leautaud broke the three basic rules of the Tao of Loving. He:
* never knew what excessive ejaculation was for his particular body
*did not understand that ejaculation and orgasm isnot the same thing
* failed to satisfy his woman
The story goes that when Leautaud was fifty years old, he met awoman whom he called “Madame” and described as “a truly passionate woman, wonderfully equipped for pleasure and exactly to my taste.” Seven years later, they still had an active sex life, but Leautaud was feeling the strain of not being able to perform as often as his unsatisfied partner would like. He now referred to his lover as “The Panther.” Taoists recognize that this reflects the emaciated state of the man, rather than the sexual appetite of the woman.
Leautaud’s solution to his problem was to cut back further on his lovemaking. He felt inadequate and weak, and his woman became even more frustrated. Two years later, he referred to her as “The Scourge.” He still loved her, but he was tired and weak. He started masturbating — the worst possible form of release in his situation. There was no harmony of Yin and Yang in his life. He was still losing his male essence, but gaining no compensating female essence. He forfeited the touch and pleasure of a naked loving woman. Leautaud described his old age as “deep sorrow.”
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Indeed, many big spending ejaculators exhibit an unconscious anger towards women. They instinctively know that women are draining them, but are trapped ina circle of pleasure without an escape. Such men will try to regain their strength, or compensate in different ways. Megavitamins, gyms, health clubs and sports are one approach. Aphrodisiacs, hormones or drugs are another. Frequently they will seek to compensate for their dwindling sexual powers and physical strength with money or political power. A spiritual path, good friends and a loving family may slow the process, but itwill continue.
Semen isan incomparable source ofnutrients and energy when retained and recirculated to your higher vital centres. You can learn to control its loss through ejaculation with many different methods. If you feel the urge toejaculatecoming,itisquiteOK tosaytoyourwoman to“Pleasekeep still” for a minute, until the urge goes, and your erection has reduced slightly. Withdrawal is another basic means of avoiding the urge to ejaculate.>© Perineum pressure?? is a beginner’s technique that lets the man maintain control of himself without involvement of his partner. Books are available® detailing exercises to control certain muscles, tendons and the fascia of the trunk, so that genital pressure spreads over the entire body and semen 1swithheld.
The younger and stronger a man is, the more frequently he can emit. AccordingtothelegendaryTaoistdoctorSunS’su-Mo,borninAD 581:“a man of twenty can have one emission every four days. A man of thirty can have one emission every eight days. A man of forty can have one emission every ten days. A man of fifty can have one emission every twenty days. A man of sixty should no longer emit. If he is exceptionally strong and healthy he can still have one emission monthly.” He also acknowledged that aman should not withhold ejaculation for too long, or he will suffer congestion and other illnesses.
The ancient Taoist text The Classic of the Elemental Maid is more generous. The anonymous author(s) say that virile young men between the ages of fifteen and twenty may ejaculate daily or even more frequently if
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they are strong. At thirty, a strong man may ejaculate daily, most men every two days. At forty, men may ejaculate every three to four days, at fifty every five to ten days, at sixty every ten to twenty days, and at seventy every thirty days — or not at all, if they are weak.
In another ancient text, The Secret Art of the Jade Chamber, Yu Fang Pi Chueh advises that men aged twenty may ejaculate once every two days, at thirty once every three days, at forty once every four days, at fifty once every five days, and at sixty not regularly at all!24. ;
Men who only ejaculate small quantities of semen are less prone to loss of nutrients and energy. A 1-2 ml ejaculation expends proportionately less than a 5-8 ml storm.
The season is also important. Taoist Liu Ching, in The Essentials of Nurturing Life, recommends, for a middle-aged man, an ejaculation once every three days in spring, once every two weeks in summer and autumn, and not at all in winter. This coincides with when the man’s sexual essence is stronger or weaker.
A man should not ejaculate prior to a sports event or any occasion in his life where he needs high energy, strength, stamina and maximum use of his faculties. However, loving non-ejaculatory sex with awoman before such an event is highly beneficial — the mixing of both yin and yang energies and essences will harmonise, balance and empower both the man and the woman.
Research by Professor Graham Giles’° found that men who ejaculated the most in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s later had 30% less prostate cancer than those who ejaculated the least. He suggested that “semen is a very potent and strong brew of lots of chemicals which, because of their biological reactivity, could be carcinogenic if left to lie around” and that “that frequent ejaculation prevented semen from building up in the ducts, where it could potentially become carcinogenic.” This argument has merit, particularly in a modern Western man who has a toxic body. Men who cleanse their bodies using the principles in Grow Youthful (living food, exercise, good breathing, plenty of water, etc) substantially reduce their
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risk of getting any type of cancer. Note that Professor Giles did not examine the benefits of non-ejaculatory sex, which is also likely to prevent build up and stagnation. Nevertheless itis areminder that men, especially healthy young men should regularly ejaculate. This isespecially important for men who have a high level of toxic accumulation.
Withholding ejaculation is something to take on slowly. Being a frequent ejaculator and then suddenly stopping could result in a feeling of discomfort or even pain around the testicles. For anewcomer, after aweek or two without ejaculation, there may be some uncomfortable pressure around the testicles. Make these changes slowly as with other recommendations inthisbook.
Benefits
Some women may initially object to non-ejaculatory sex. They instinctively know that the semen they are receiving is a powerful mix of nutrients and life force. They may also take pleasure in the feeling of ejaculation, and the knowledge (power) that they have brought their man to genital orgasm. However, the benefits of non-ejaculatory sex will soon become apparent. The strength, vitality and confidence of her man will increase. Sex will change from a few minutes of focus on the genitals to prolonged pleasure, not only in the genitals, but also throughout the body. A man who has not yet learned how to retain his semen knows instinctively that he is slowly wilting away, and subconsciously resents or fears this loss.
Most men, who simply ejaculate whenever they have sex, never become aware ofthe full power of their sexuality. You, as a man, can learn how not to ejaculate during sex, and transform the sexual energy that would have been lost in an ejaculation up into your heart, glands, brain and nervous system. Opening these energy channels up the spine and into the “Tan Tiens” (chakras) achieves a wonderful, yet different kind of full body orgasm. The sexual energy develops into a new form of power and creativity based on personal love and awareness. It is different to ordinary physical pleasure. The intensity is so great that it often leads to a spiritual
PaEW/
awakening.
A master of Tao is not anxious about ejaculation. He is free to make
love far longer and more frequently than a man who regularly ejaculates. This is like being a gourmet who can eat an indefinite amount of food! He is not concerned about ejaculating too soon, or at all. He has a huge boost in self-confidence, because issues such as premature ejaculation and impotence disappear when he knows he can achieve an erection and maintain it for a long period. He and his partner are not worried about pregnancy.
Regulating ejaculation leads to a long life. Taoists maintain that those who have practised these techniques often live for over one hundred years. Along with longevity comes radiant good health, lack of disease, sexual ability and enjoyment, emotional and spiritual health.
Sex without ejaculation stimulates precious hormonal secretions, instead of depleting them. His genital energy is transformed into creative energy. If he practises techniques which transform his sexual energy up into his chakras, his body is further replenished. With a woman lover, their energy exchange and meditation supercharge their sexual energy.
Over time, a man who retains his semen and drives its energy back up into his body will gain some extraordinary powers, such as healing and clairvoyance.®
Sexual satisfaction, and the physical, mental and spiritual health that it creates, are reflected in the lives of the lovers. The power struggle between males and females gradually diminishes, with more harmony in work, family, relationships and personal and spiritual growth. Both men and women find this to be nourishing to their core.
Female Satisfaction AccordingtotheTao,theonlytimelovemakingcanharmawoman isifit leaves her perpetually dissatisfied. This is one reason why the Tao of Loving stresses female satisfaction as a basic principle. Another is that the only way a female can satisfy a man is if she is a willing and satisfied
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participant herself. Itisonly through Yin and Yang (polarity) communion, in complete harmony, that each can fully satisfy the other, and fully benefit the other with the exchange of essences and energy.
Taoists have studied female satisfaction in detail. Jolan Chang discusses the five classic signs of female sexual satisfaction used over the millennia,?—= and has chapters on the appropriate use of thrusting and positions. Touch is also an integral and essential part of a fully satisfying sexual relationship.*
Kissing. The Taoists regard kissing as important as the genital connection. Perhaps this is why you seldom see Chinese kiss in public — to the initiated, kissing is an integral part of the sexual act. Real kissing, deep passionate connection using your mouth, lips and tongue, involves the exchange of fluids, heat and electrical energy. Kissing is an intimate connection and penetration that completes a circuit between the lover’s heads and their genitals, and harmonises the yin and yang (the female and male).
Some women can have an orgasm from erotic kissing, most find itmore gratifying and intimate than routine genital sex. You can also carry on kissing long after the genitals are exhausted.
Provided both the man and the woman enjoy kissing, they should kiss as deeply and as often as possible. Kissing is a simple, but important part of sex, with the only barriers being psychological. The challenge is to let go of any inhibitions or restrictions. The lips, tongue and mouth are highly sensitive erotic organs, analogous to the vulva and penis.
Cleanliness. Of course, itisvital that your mouth, teeth and saliva are healthy — bad breath, sores or tooth decay could make kissing unbearable. Most people, but not everyone, prefer that both they and their partner are clean before making love. I suggest that you do not use strong perfumes, and mostly use no perfumes at all. Those who smoke, drink, or eat garlic, onions or spicy foods should be considerate of their partner, and refrain from their habit if the partner does not indulge in the same.
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Tips
* Drinking 200 — 500 ml of water before sex will help sustain a firmer erection in men, and good lubrication in women.82 As emphasised throughout Grow Youthful, sufficient water is essential for peak physical performance and functioning of all bodily systems.
¢Masturbation has an important place for both men and women (especially if you don’t have a partner!) You can try sexual techniques without the pressure of needing to perform for a partner, particularly if that partner is exciting or new. For men it is good practice to come close to the point of ejaculation, and then back off.
* Try organic coconut oil as a lubricant.
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INSIDE YOUR BODY A NEWEPIDEMIC
SWEET FOODS
umans are naturally attracted towards sweet tastes. This worked well H:: ourearlyancestors,becausemostfruits,roots,nuts,grainsand leaves that are sweet are not poisonous.
Modern food processing has discovered how to extract the sweetness from many foods whilst discarding the remainder — often the most nutritious part. The taste for sweet foods is often cultivated in childhood. Sweet things are used as a reward, a special treat, or as an emotional pick-me-up.
More than half of the calories eaten by North Americans now come from refined carbohydrates and sugars.t!4 Breads, potatoes, breakfast cereals, sugars, jams, sweets, pastries, cakes, biscuits, soft drinks, sugared drinks, sports drinks, fruit juices, pasta and white rice are all examples of unnatural foods that quickly raise your blood glucose level to unhealthy highs.
These refined flours and high sugar foods and drinks are a “food” source that our digestive systems cannot cope with. Few naturally occurring foods have such high concentrations of fast-releasing sugars that make your blood glucose level rocket, and provide a rich food in your gut and blood for yeasts and unfriendly bacteria.
In the minutes after such a meal, you will feel good as your blood glucose level rises and you feel energised. Most people get this feeling after drinking a can of soft drink, eating a chocolate bar, bread, or other high GI food. Soon after, hunger pangs, low energy, and negative moods such as irritation and anxiety can set in. In the long-term, the consequences of these foods are disastrous.
You can break the habit by avoiding concentrated sweetness in the form of sugar, sweets, cakes and pastries, ice cream, soft drinks, neat fruit juice, dried fruits and desserts. Dilute your fruit juices with two parts water to one part juice, and de-program yourself back to healthier tastes.
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METABOLIC SYNDROME
erald M Reaven, an endocrinologist at Stanford University, first coined
G:.phrase“SyndromeX”inthelate‘80s.Atfirst,hethoughtit affected only a minority of the population, but more recent and widespread research indicates that two thirds of people over 25 suffer from itin varying degrees. Most people are not even aware that they have it. Other names for Syndrome X are pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a public health problem of endemic proportions, affecting both rich and poor countries. The populations of Western countries are worst affected, but this is rapidly changing as people in poor countries abandon their traditional diets for processed and refined foods. The aggressive marketing in poor countries by industries such as soft drinks, fast food, sugar, fine milled flour, sweets and processed foods means that metabolic syndrome is now an extensive problem in virtually every city in the world.
Most people suffering the initial symptoms — aches, pains, tiredness and a general feeling of malaise — pass this off as just a natural consequence of ageing. Indeed, metabolic syndrome will age you — fast.
You do not have to be showing all the symptoms of metabolic syndrome to be suffering from it. Thin people can be ill with it. It can remain hidden for years, while the sufferer looks for the cause of symptoms like chronic fatigue, an intense craving for sweets, fluid retention, and mental problems such as depression, anger, anxiety or chronic low self-esteem. Often itis not diagnosed for decades, until several serious diseases appear.
Most of your body’s cells prefer to use glucose as the fuel source for their energy. A constant and precise supply of glucose is needed in your blood to power most of life’s processes. If your blood glucose level falls, you will quickly feel tired and weak, and even fall unconscious.
Your blood glucose level goes up after you have eaten a meal. When your blood glucose level rises, your pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into your blood. In a youthful, healthy body, the insulin swiftly reduces your blood glucose level and safely stores the excess glucose as glycogen in your
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When your blood glucose level fluctuates wildly, or remains too high for long periods, your insulin loses its effectiveness. Your pancreas produces even more insulin in a desperate effort to lower your blood glucose. Eventually your cells have a feeble response to insulin’s signals. Instead of storing the glucose as glycogen, glucose remains at a high level in your blood. Your stressed pancreas secretes more and more insulin in an attempt to reduce the dangerously high blood glucose level. In the worst cases of metabolic syndrome, insulin levels can be up to 3-4 times normal levels over many years.
Insulin. Excess levels of insulin are involved in the deterioration of each of the ageing biomarkers mentioned on page 5, along with heart disease, !4 obesity,49“ and other diseases.
Insulin is one of the few hormones whose level increases as your body ages.
Protein lowers your insulin level, so it is a good idea to have a little protein with each meal. Protein stimulates the production of glucagon, which has the effect of moderating the level of insulin in your blood.
The level of fat in your diet has little effect on your insulin or glucagon levels. This suggests that limiting sugar and refined carbohydrate should be the focus of your diet. !>?
It is possible to test for your blood insulin level, but it is a tricky and expensive test. A cheap and easy test that is closely correlated to your blood insulinlevelisthefastingtriglyceride/HDL test—usuallypartofastandard cholesterol test. Virtually all type 2 diabetics have a ratio greater than 4. If your ratio is above 4, you are ageing faster than necessary, and your blood insulin level is almost certainly way too high. Seek a ratio below 2, and ideally below 1.
liver and muscles. The glycogen is immediately available when you need the energy. Ina healthy person, glucose isstored and retrieved easily. When your insulin works correctly, itkeeps your blood glucose at a constant, moderate level. This gives you sustained energy throughout the day, both physically and mentally.
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Causes of metabolic syndrome:
* Overeating. Excessively large meals result in a high level of blood glucose for extended periods.
* A high carbohydrate, sweet, refined food diet. These “foods” have high Glycemic Indexes, which result in an excessive blood glucose level for up to 3 hours after eating them.
*Prolonged stress or depression.
*Lack ofongoing exercise.
* Stimulants such as alcohol, smoking, artificial sweeteners and caffeine, which cause the (unnecessary) secretion of insulin into your blood.
* Low muscle mass. Glycogen is stored in your muscles and liver. The less muscle bulk you have, the less glycogen can be stored. Instead of storing the glucose for later use, you suffer the horrible effects of high blood glucose, wildly fluctuating hormones, and hunger pangs. The chapter on exercise discusses the types of exercise that will most effectively build up your muscle mass.
* High body fat. Excess fat often goes hand in hand with low muscle mass. ¢ Nutritional deficiency. Apart from its high Glycemic Index, the modern Western diet is deficient in Omega-3 essential fatty acids, quality proteins, “good” oils, fibre, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. Each of these deficiencies plays a part in promoting metabolic syndrome.
* Other factors which raise your blood glucose level are a low level of salt in
your body,®? alcohol (which is chemically similar to sugar), and stimulants such as caffeine in tea, coffee and soft drinks, and nicotine in cigarettes.
Consequences ofmetabolic syndrome:
* Low energy. Insulin resistance hinders the uptake of glucose by the mitochondria (power converters) in all the cells in your body. You feel tired, weak, and have low vitality and energy most of the time.
* Hormonal imbalance. Excess insulin in particular has disastrous effects on your health and longevity. Fluctuations in glucose and hormones also cause wild swings in your moods and energy level.
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* Raised blood fats. Your body gets rid of some of the excess glucose in your blood by storing it as fat. Your triglyceride and total cholesterol levels rise.49B “Good” HDL cholesterol levels fall, and “bad” LDL cholesterol levels rise. Oxidised LDL cholesterol isdeposited as plaque around veins and arteries. The risk of heart disease increases.
* Obesity. Most people suffering from metabolic syndrome tend to put on weight, and find itparticularly difficult to shed that fat. Instead of burning glucose as energy, your body tends to store it as fat. High levels of insulin “lock up” that fat, inhibiting its sustained release into your blood for energy. Your lack of energy means you tend to exercise less, which only makes the situation worse.
Ongoing high levels of insulin trigger your hypothalamus gland to produce the hormone that makes you feel hungry. Metabolic syndrome means you will often feel hungry when itisinappropriate.
*High blood pressure.
¢ Inflammation. Amyloid proteins are produced under metabolic syndrome conditions. They are found in the blockages in blood vessels that trigger heart attacks, and are also associated with inflammation. Heart and artery disease is in part an inflammatory disease.
* Depression, anxiety, irritability, loss of memory, mental decline, chronic fatigue and a low sense of self-worth.
* Degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer, eye problems and nervous diseases. You have a high probability of developing Adult Onset, or type II diabetes.
* Ageing. High levels of insulin will age you rapidly, as will the excess free radicals and all the other consequences of metabolic syndrome listed above. High blood glucose levels act as a powerful oxidant, damaging cells, causing inflammation and rapid ageing. Continual high blood glucose levels create toxic by-products called Advanced Glycosylated End products (AGEs).
Healing metabolic syndrome. The good news is that deterioration of these biomarkers is not a normal part of the ageing process. If you follow the changes to your lifestyle and diet Irecommend, your body will heal itself and
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all of these biomarkers will reverse their decline.
The most important thing to do is eat a low Glycemic index diet. The
transition may take a couple of weeks, and you may crave sugars and sweet foods during that time. If you can eliminate sugar and all foods made with sugar, and drastically cut down on foods made with flour and refined foods, then half the battle is won. After a few weeks, you will feel so much better, the cravings will go, and itwill be easy to continue.
Exercise is the second essential. Re-building your muscles and detoxifying your body is a necessary part of the healing process. Exercise sustained for at least 30 minutes, and where you breathe deeply and do not get out of breath, is the antidote to metabolic syndrome. It burns fat, helps maintain your blood glucose at a constant level, and improves your insulin sensitivity.
Relaxation (page 56) is the third essential.
Tests for metabolic syndrome. The conventional tests for diabetes do not show ifyou have metabolic syndrome. However, ifyou measure the insulin level in your blood at the same time as the glucose level, this can diagnose metabolic syndrome. Ifyour insulin ishigh, and blood glucose is moderately high two hours after consuming a measured dose of glucose, this shows insulin resistance.
Another test for metabolic syndrome measures Glycosylated haemoglobin — the extent to which your red blood cells have become “sugar coated.” This occurs when your blood glucose level is too high over a long period. Both these tests are available through your doctor.
GLYCEMIC INDEX
he Glycemic Index (GI) is a valuable guide to healthy eating because it
i... whyregular,highconsumptionofhighGIfoodsisdangerous. The GI measures how different carbohydrate foods affect your blood glucose level for up to 2 — 3 hours after eating them. The faster your blood glucose level rises after eating the food, the higher the GI.
A Glis calculated for a particular food by feeding a portion that provides
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exactly 50 grams of carbohydrates to each of a panel of volunteers. The portions of baked potatoes and dates (which have some of the highest GI values) are minute, whereas the volunteers testing watermelon (one of the lowest values) almost had to eat a bucketful. During the next three hours, the blood glucose levels of the volunteers are measured every 15 or 30 minutes, and an average is calculated. This is compared to a reference food, usually pure glucose or fine milled white bread.
Glucose is assigned a value of 100. All other foods (except maltose, with a value of 105) have values less than 100. Foods rated below 55 have a low GI, and foods above 70 are classified as high GI. Low GI foods provide energy in a slow, sustained released form. Glucose is stored and released over a longer period, and you are less likely to feel hungry during this time. High GI foods provide a quick burst of energy, but you may be hungry sooner after eating them.
A high blood glucose level raises your insulin level and exposes your body to various toxic effects. It may be simplistic to say that low GI foods are good and high GI foods are bad, but it does seem that an excessive proportion of high GI foods in your diet, especially a high carbohydrate diet, will cause illness and ageing.
What causes a food to have a low or a high GI?
* Structure. If the food is light and fluffy and made from finely milled flour, it will have a higher GI than one that is dense, compacted and coarse. If a food isswollen or expanded from heat or water, such as baked potato, ithas a greater surface area for your digestive juices to work on, and the delicate structure of the food reacts quickly. Refined foods, and light puffed up rice cakes and “diet” crisp breads have very high Gls. Light, fluffy baked potatoes have a GI of 95! By contrast, a low GI food has large, dense, heavy particles, which take longer to digest. Traditional heavy whole grain breads and al dente pasta are healthier forms of carbohydrate.
* Sugar (type and amount). Fructose, the natural sugar in most fruits and honey, has a surprisingly low GI of 20. This is one of the reasons why fruits and vegetables are excellent foods. The lactose in milk has a low value of 46.
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The GI of white table sugar is 65, in the mid to high range. Honey is 58, and maltose, produced by some sprouting grains, is 105. The ripeness ofa fruit, or the degree to which a food is souring has a significant effect on its sugar level. For example, an under-ripe banana can have a GI of 30, and the same banana when over-ripe a GI of 52. Sweet ripe bananas can be as high as 75. Remember however, that green-picked fruit can be quite harmful (page 95). *Fibre. High levels slow down your digestion, and lower the GI. Beans, nuts and grains contain a good level of fibre.
* Fat. Fatty foods have a lower GI, because fat slows the rate at which you digest starch. Put some butter on your baked potato and you lower the GI.
It is OK to eat some high GI foods, but try to mix them with low GI foods. For example, have beans or vegetables with your favourite light French bread. Choose the largest, densest, most natural form of food — long grain, basmati and brown rice has a GI of 52-58 compared to short grain, fast cooking, Japanese style white rice at 72-75.
GLYCEMIC INDEX OF SELECTED FOODS
SUGAR
Maltose 105 Glucose 100 Sucrose (white table sugar) 65 Fructose (fruit sugar)
RICE
Glutinous rice White, instant White, short grain Brown, short grain White, long grain Brown, long grain
POTATO
White Desiree, boiled Baked
Instant
French fries
Mashed
Crisps
DAIRY
Ice cream - regular fat Ice cream - low fat Soymilk
Milk chocolate
Custard
Yogurt — plain
Yogurt -flavoured, fruit
Milk skimmed 32 Milk full fat, cows 31
DRINKS
Sports drink Lucozade Sports drink Gatorade Orange soft drink (Fanta) Orange cordial
Coca Cola
Orange juice, reconstituted Carrot juice
(fresh juiced, raw) Apple juice reconstituted
BARS & SWEETS Fruit bar
Jelly beans
Breakfast bar Fibre Plus Mars Bar
Muesli bar with dried fruit Chocolate, white
SPREADS
Honey
Jam, strawberry Marmalade, orange Peanut butter Hommos
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BREAD
White 18 Bagels 72 Whole wheat 69 Rye 63 Pitta af Whole grain 40
SNACKS & CAKES
Pancake, packet mix 102 Corn thins puffed corn cakes 87 Pretzels 83 Rice cakes puffed 82 Muffin, English Wit] Pop tart chocolate 70 Crackers, wheat 67 Cake, Angel 67 Popcorn 65 Muffin, apricot 60 coconut honey
Pastry 59 Cake, banana 50 Cake sponge plain 46 Pudding instant 46 packet & milk
Muffin, apple 44 Corn chips 42
Tomato soup 38
PASTA, GRAIN, NOODLE Buckwheat 54 Spaghetti 50
Oatmeal 49 Noodles, instant 46 Pasta, boiled 45 Fettuccine, egg, cooked 32 Noodles, Mung bean 26
(Lungkow)
BREAKFAST CEREAL
Rice crispies 85 Cornflakes 80 Puffed wheat 80 Coco Pops Ta Bran Flakes 74 Crunchy nut cornflakes 72 Shredded wheat 67 Muesli - Swiss 56 Muesli — toasted 43 Porridge oat cooked 43 Muesli - gluten free 40 All Bran with fruit & oats 39 All Bran 30
DRIED FRUIT
Dates 103 Raisins 64 Figs 61 Sultanas 56 Apricot 30 Apple a)
VEGETABLES
Parsnips boiled ml
Carrots- baked till 92 caramelised
Pumpkin
Carrots — boiled
Beetroot — canned
Sweet corn — boiled
Green peas
Peas, green frozen boiled 48 Sweet potato
Carrots — raw Tomatoes
FRUIT
Banana - ripe
Kiwi fruit
Apricot — whole Peach canned in syrup Banana -just ripe Grapes green
Orange — whole
Apple -whole Strawberries
Peach
Grapefruit 22 Cherries 23
LEGUMES
Canned Kidney beans Canned Baked beans Canned Lentils
Canned Chic peas Boiled Black eyed beans Boiled Butter beans Boiled Chic peas
Boiled Black beans Boiled Kidney beans Boiled Lentils
Boiled Pearl barley Boiled dried peas Boiled soy beans
Dahl Chic pea
NUTS
Cashew, roasted
Peanuts, roasted 13
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AGEING AND TOXIN ACCUMULATION
pes baby’sbodytissueiscleanandfresh—thesmellofan
infant confirms it. As time goes by the baby’s body slowly accumulates acidic wastes and loses its newborn perfection. The body of an aged and sick person is polluted with these wastes, both within the cells and outside the cells in fat, organs, tissues, bones and fluids. You can smell them.
The process of ageing starts from the beginning of life, and takes place even if there is no pollution in your food or environment. Food digestion, metabolism and the production of energy all produce wastes. Your health and ageing reflects how completely you are able to eliminate all wastes and other toxins, and what level remains in your cells and tissues.
If you look at a piece of aged tissue under a microscope, you will see clumps oftoxic fat, un-discarded metabolic wastes, brown pigments called lipofuscin, streaks of fibre and other degeneration. In sick and old people, there is a build up of lipofuscin deposits in the brain, heart, lungs and skin. Some of the skin age-pigments referred to as liver or age-spots are composed of lipofuscin. Alzheimer patients have higher levels of lipofuscin deposits than other people do.
The major factors that cause the accumulation of these toxins are stress in its various forms, a diet high in processed foods, lack of exercise, dehydration and pollution. Other risk factors include alcohol, smoking, caffeine, excessive or refined salt, sugar, medications and drugs (both recreational and pharmaceutical).
If you can slow the build up of these toxins in your fat, skin, joints, organs, glands and all other body tissues, you will slow your rate of ageing.
Initial signs of acid waste accumulation include:
+ feeling drowsy, tired, needing excessive sleep, weakness, low energy or hyperactivity
*bad breath and awhite coated tongue, unpleasant body odour
Die:
* skin problems such as acne, eczema, psoriasis and hives
*anxiety, depression, agitation, panic attacks, dizziness, headaches
* general aches and pains, muscular and joint pains
* a feeling of nausea and malaise
*premenstrual ormenstrual cramping
* loss of libido
* strong smelling faeces / urine, dark coloured urine. Diarrhoea or constipation
Advanced or long-term signs of acid waste accumulation include the degenerative diseases listed on page 7. This book shows you how to reduce the amount of toxins getting into your body, and help you get rid of the acid waste products that have already accumulated. You can do this with a moderate, living food diet, exercise, deep breathing, relaxation, meditation, and having an accepting, playful, thankful and positive attitude to life.
TOXIN & WASTE REMOVAL
he major organs that remove toxins from your body are your liver,
iieeelungs,kidneysandskin.Cellularwaste,andwastefrombody functions, is disposed of mainly through your faeces, urine, breath and sweat. Skin flaking, hair, nails, earwax, tears, eye mucus, “morning mouth” and phlegm all remove toxins. Your kidneys remove waste salts, ammonia, uric acid and other blood toxins, while your lungs remove carbon dioxide from the carbonic acid in your blood. Your bowel movements contain only a small portion of waste products from your body functions — they are primarily the remains of food and by-products of digestion.
If any of the cleansing functions of your organs are impaired, you will suffer a build up of toxins. A lack of movement and exercise resulting from sedentary lifestyle is usually the main cause of poor elimination. Your body dumps this waste into joints, body fat, lymph nodes, colonic
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sacculations and other nooks and crannies seemingly isolated from the bloodstream.
Fat-soluble toxins that you do not eliminate will be stored in your fat, particularly around the belly, hips, breasts and heart. The epidemic of obesity we see today isa reflection of high levels of (processed) food and low levels of elimination (exercise). Toxic fat is especially difficult to get rid of, because it is the last thing your body wants to release into your bloodstream to use as a fuel. If you burn this fat off too quickly, you will feel terrible from the toxins released into your blood. Loss of this kind of fat is best done over a period of many months or longer.
The removal of the toxic acid wastes accumulated in your body requires a two-pronged attack. First, your body must be as alkaline as possible. If your body remains too acidic, it will be difficult to dislodge the acid wastes. If you manage to shift them into your bloodstream, the high levels of toxicity will be dangerous, and you will feel ill during the process. Only after your body is more alkaline should the second step take place - the physical removal of these toxins.
Fasting, exercise, good breathing, heat and bodywork are the way to remove accumulated wastes. The stimulation of your lymphatic system is important, using exercise, heat, massage and brushing. Your lymph system connects to most major organs, and moves fluids away from tissues and back into the blood. It does not have a pump like the heart to move these fluids, but instead relies on the movement of your muscles and pressure changes from your breathing to stimulate the flow of lymph fluid. This is why aerobic exercise is an essential part of detoxification (and good health). Heat dilates (expands) your blood capillaries and lymph vessels, making it easier for these wastes to move through capillaries that may have been partially blocked for years.
It is important that you drink plenty of water while exercising and detoxifying, to assist your kidneys to remove the toxins from your blood as quickly as possible.
Bear in mind that these wastes have taken years to accumulate, and
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while their removal can be quicker, it is still a long-term task. If you can dislodge and remove accumulated wastes that are ten years old, your biological age will literally be ten years younger.
Chelation. Chelates are compounds that bind with specific metals or other toxins in your body. After binding, they are safely excreted. Sodium alginate, found in various seaweeds, is the most effective chelator for pulling radioactive materials out of your body.85P Other foods with chelating agents that protect against heavy metals and environmental contaminants such as DDT, aluminium, nitrates and nitrites include bee pollen, miso, pectin (in apples and sunflower seeds), kombucha, raw coriander leaves, the phytates in dry grains and seeds, yeast, garlic and blue-green algae.
ACID BALANCE FOOD ASH
fter digestion, the food you eat leaves a residue. Some kinds of foods ANGiaanalkalineresidue,someacidic.
If a food like a lemon tastes acid, and has an acidic pH of 3.5, you might ask how it can be alkaline-forming. The answer is that its acidic taste comes from organic acids in the raw fruit that are burnt away when you digest and metabolise it. What is important are the residual minerals such as potassium and magnesium that remain in the “ash.” It is similar to burning the lemon ina fire, and then testing the ash to see what minerals are left.
These elements are acid-forming: bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, copper, phosphorus, silicon and sulphur. They react with alkaline mineral reserves in your body, and make your urine more acid. Foods and other substances that contain a high proportion of these minerals are acid- forming.
The major alkaline-forming minerals are calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, nickel and manganese. Foods, drinks and water that contain a high portion of these minerals are alkaline-forming,
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and they make your urine more alkaline.
Unfortunately, our digestive systems do not burn food as completely as
a fire would. Partly burned waste products that remain are acidic. The less healthy and efficient your digestive system, the more acid are the wastes. Your body elimination systems are concerned with getting them out — hence sweat and urine are usually acidic.
Acid by-products from your metabolism include acetic acid, lactic acid, uric acid and carbonic acid. Powerful hydrochloric, sulphuric and phosphoric acids are made from the chlorine, sulphur and phosphorus in our food. Hydrochloric acid is the centre of the digestive process. After the food has been through your stomach, these powerful acids must be neutralised, and sufficient alkaline salts are required to do this. Good health and digestion are dependent upon having strong acids in your stomach, and sufficient alkaline salts, particularly carbonates of calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium.
Acidosis is when your body fluids have a tendency to be too acid, and is the cause of many degenerative diseases. Acid wastes can appear as crystalline deposits in joints (arthritis), or as kidney and liver stones. 99.9% of people have a body that is too acid.47© The more acidic your body is, the more you are open to infection by yeasts, bacteria, mould, viruses or fungi.43-93P Not only are these microforms dangerous in themselves, but they also excrete additional toxins as they digest your body’s glucose and nutrients. Kidney and urinary tract infections and candida are common in acid environments.
Acidosis means you have excess hydrogen in your body. Your body also neutralises these hydrogen-based acids with oxygen, resulting in a constant depletion of you internal oxygen. A theme in Grow Youthful is the different ways that you can increase the level of oxygen in your body (exercise, deep breathing and fresh air).
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ALKALINE RESERVES
ach of us has reserves of alkaline minerals in our bodies, primarily
bee andcalcium.Whenweeatmoreofthesemineralsthanare needed at the time, they are stored mainly as sodium and calcium bicarbonate, and are available when required. Most of these reserves exist as a buffer that is stored in your blood plasma.
pH (potential hydrogen) is a measure of acidity or alkalinity, with 1.0 the most acidic, 7.0 neutral and 14.0 the most alkaline. Your body tissues, and in particular your blood, require a precise pH level for good health.
Ideally, your urine and saliva should have an average pH of 6.4432 Their pH can vary by the minute, depending on what you have just eaten and whether your alkaline reserves are being drawn upon.
Your blood should have amildly alkaline pH of7.365. Ifitvaries even slightly from this normal pH level, itdraws on your reserves to correct it. A fast response isrequired, because the wrong blood pH will rapidly result in illness or death. Initially, your sodium bicarbonate reserves are used. If they run out, then the calcium bicarbonate and other alkaline minerals reserves are next in line.
Calcium is essential for healthy bones, nerves, muscles, cardiovascular and kidney functions. Your body contains nearly a kilogram ofcalcium, ofwhich about 99% isinyour bones.
Calcium is one of the major elements used in maintaining your blood’s pH, and consequently the acid / alkaline balance of your entire body. Calcium works in concert with the other acid neutralisers, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese and magnesium. Your body monitors your blood’s pH and calcium levels, and ifeither ofthem falls, itquickly draws on the reserves of calcium bicarbonate in your blood plasma. If your plasma reserves are insufficient, calcium is taken from your bones.
Under long-term acid conditions, your bone density will decrease and you will suffer from osteoporosis. When you have no reserves left and calcium has to be taken from your bone structure, your spine and pelvic bones are usually the first to suffer. From 10 — 40% of the calcium may be
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leached from mature bones before the loss can be seen on an X-ray.44B Calcium intakes vary widely around the world, from a low of around 300 mg / day in India, to 400 in Hong Kong, 1000 in the USA and
Australia, and 1400 in some Scandinavian countries. Interestingly, hip fractures are higher, not lower, in those countries where people consume the most calcium.®>
These statistics show that a high calcium diet does not prevent osteoporosis and bone loss or weakening. Advertisements encouraging us to drink milk and eat dairy products are sponsored by the dairy industry, and are misleading. The degenerative diseases caused by dairy products are described on page 190. Milk today is pasteurised and homogenised, and the calcium in this unnatural form is difficult to digest. These processed dairy products are highly acid-forming, and although a cup of milk contains nearly 300 mg of calcium, the little you are able to assimilate is lost in combating the acidity it forms.
Wheat products may cause hypocalcemia (calcium deficiency) and the recommended treatment isawheat-free diet.
The best sources of calcium are leafy green vegetables, legumes, onions, seaweeds, nuts, seeds (especially sesame seeds), sardines (with bones) and eggs. The calcium in these foods is easily digested and available to your body.
Potassium is needed by your muscles, heart, endocrine and nervous systems. Potassium assists in maintaining the pH balance in your blood, in concert with sodium. The sodium / potassium ratio is a long-term determinant of heart and kidney health. A diet with lots of animal products and processed foods is high in sodium, whereas a diet high in fruits and vegetables is high in potassium. Simply eat more fruits and vegetables (especially bananas) to improve the ratio.
The best sources of potassium are fruits and vegetables, molasses, nuts and seeds, wheat germ and brown rice. Sugar, refined salt, coffee and alcohol all leach potassium from your body.
Sodium occurs in your body mainly as salt — sodium chloride. Your
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blood sodium level is maintained in a narrow range, and deviations from itcan have a catastrophic effect. Salt is lost through sweat and urine, and is replaced from your diet. Most people consume excessive salt — the only people who need to replenish it are those who sweat a lot, exercising in hot environments.
Refined table salt is apoor source of sodium. If you buy salt ensure that it is un-refined sea salt, not processed and denatured supermarket salt (page 199). The best sources of sodium include celery, okra and goat’s milk. Salty meats such as bacon, ham and corned beef are poor foods, high in refined sodium chloride. White meats such as chicken, duck, lamb and pork contain more potassium than sodium.44©
FOOD ACIDITY
typical Western diet with a large proportion of processed and fast
AS ishighlyacid-forming.Theexcessivesugarandhigh proportion of (refined) carbohydrates are primarily responsible for the severe acid effect.
Good health and longevity require a balanced diet with a slightly acid to slightly alkaline overall effect, depending on your state of health, level oftoxicity, the food that you are used to, the season, the climate and most importantly, what feels good. We all need some acid-forming foods for good health. The point to bear in mind is the net effect of your diet and lifestyle. Ifyou live a busy, stressed life in a polluted city in summer in a hot climate, then more alkaline-forming foods will help to combat all these acid effects. Conversely, in winter in a cold climate you may be inclined to eat a hot meaty broth rather than a raw salad. The extreme meat eaters among humans are the Canadian Inuit (Eskimos), who consume mostly raw meat, fish and blubber, and remain healthy and vital on their traditional yet acid-forming diet.
A diet of alkaline-forming foods is a necessary preparation for fasting, colon cleansing and detoxification. However, people who live on such diets for long periods are usually gaunt and not particularly healthy.
If you eat an acid food, you can counter its effect by eating an alkaline food. For example, ifyou have some meat, cheese, eggs or refined bread, the acid effect can be neutralised with fresh vegetables. You can offset an acid meal hours later, with a melon.
The foods with the most alkaline-forming effect on your body are raw, unprocessed, fresh, organic, wild and ripe.
Nearly all fruits are alkaline-forming. The most alkalising are lemons and melons, followed by dates, figs, limes, mangos and pawpaw (papaya). The only acid-forming fruits are tomatoes, pomegranates, cranberries, plums and prunes.
Vegetables are alkaline-forming. The strongest are asparagus, parsley, all kinds of seaweed and watercress. Potatoes are acid-forming, but less so when eaten with their skins. Vegetable oils are all neutral, with olive oil being slightly alkaline-forming. Fresh cold pressed seed oils that have never been heated are also slightly alkaline-forming. Fruit, herb and vegetable juices, fresh squeezed in a slow juicer, are alkaline-forming. Commercially produced bottled juices bought in the supermarket can be acid-forming. Most herbs are alkaline-forming. Most spices (especially ginger) are slightly alkaline-forming. Apple cider vinegar or brown rice vinegar is slightly alkaline-forming and is a good digestive aid. White household vinegar is strongly acid-forming and should be avoided, along with refined table salt.
Dried beans are mildly acid-forming, but after they are sprouted, they are mildly alkaline-forming. Fresh beans and peas are alkaline-forming, especially if they are green. Soybean products such as soymilk, tofu, tempeh and soy cheese are neutral. The fermented soy products miso and tamari are alkaline-forming, but soy sauce is acid-forming.
All grains and seeds in the form ofbreads, cereals and pastas are acid- forming. Wheat is the most acidic, possibly because its high phytate content combines with alkaline minerals and carries them out the body. If the grains have been processed by having the husks or germ removed, they become very acid-forming. Bleached, refined white flours, and fluffy
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short grain white rice are extremely acid-forming.
Amaranth, millet and quinoa are neutral. Arrowroot flour is a good
alkaline-forming substitute for other flours and thickeners.
If the grains have been sprouted before cooking, or are whole and unrefined, this reduces their acidity. Raw sprouted grains are alkaline-
forming.
Almonds, chestnuts and coconuts are slightly alkaline-forming, but
most other nuts are slightly acid-forming. Roasting them makes them more acid-forming. Soaking nuts for a few hours makes them more alkaline-forming, and much easier to digest.
All meat, fish, eggs and poultry are acid-forming. Of these, fish and shellfish are the least acid-forming, followed by organic or wild birds and small animals. Smoked, processed and cured meats such as bacon, ham, salami, lunchmeats and hot dogs are made with nitrates and nitrites that are carcinogenic. They are dead, refined salt-processed foods with little nutritional value. Pork is the most acidifying of all commercial meats. It is hard on your liver, possibly because pork fat (lard) is difficult to digest. Pork consumption, especially with alcohol, may lead to cirrhosis of the liver.
Pasteurised dairy products have an acid-forming effect in your body, even though their calcium content would suggest otherwise. Animal fats like butter or lard are neutral to slightly acid-forming.
Sugar is extremely acid-forming in spite of the fact that when you burn it,itbreaks down into carbon, water and carbon dioxide, leaving no ash. Sugar’s acidity comes from its ability to grab oxygen with the highest priority.444 Natural sugars, such as brown rice syrup, honey and dried sugar cane juice are slightly alkaline-forming. Any form of processing makes them acid-forming. Artificial sweeteners are the worst — stay away from them!
Drinks. Alcoholic drinks are extremely acid-forming. The most acid are the cheap, strong, mass produced spirits, beers and wines. Fine wines, beers and brews hand made with organic ingredients are better, but still
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very acid-forming. Tea and coffee are very acid-forming, more so ifthey are cheap brands taken with milk and sugar. Herbal coffee substitutes are slightly acid-forming.
Caffeinated or carbonated soft drinks (sodas) are the worst of all. They contain sugars or artificial sweeteners in concentration, phosphoric acid and a variety of other toxic chemicals. They leave a complex acid waste after being “digested”, and rob your body of oxygen. A typical glass of cola has a highly acid pH of 2.5. Sang Whang*4P calculates that 32 glasses of alkaline water (not even normal water!) are required to neutralise one glass of cola. Soft drinks are one of the most insidious killers in our society today.
Water has little effect on your acid-base balance unless it has an alkaline pH. Ideally, your water should contain a range of alkaline minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron and manganese as alkaline hydroxides.
ACID /ALKALINE FORMING FOODS
VERY ALKALINE
Raw, Fresh, Wild/Organic, Ripe-picked Slow-squeezed fresh fruit, vegetable and herb juices Raw vegetables (except potato), seaweeds
Fresh herbs
Raw fruit
Beans, grains and seeds -sprouted
SLIGHTLY ALKALINE
Dried herbs, herbal teas
Lightly cooked vegetables
Raw nuts
Fresh spices
Honey, natural fruit sugars
NEUTRAL
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Vegetable oils
Soybean products -soymilk, tofu, soy cheese
Beans -boiled
Roasted nuts
SLIGHTLY ACID
Whole grains, raw seeds, brown rice
Wholegrain breads, whole cereals, heavy pasta
Supermarket bottled fruitjuices -reconstituted
Fish and shellfish
Tea, coffee
Poultry
Fine wine, hand made beers
Butter, cheese, cream, milk, eggs
VERY ACID
Refined breads, cakes, biscuits, white rice, light pasta, potato
Salt (refined), white vinegar, tomato sauce, supermarket mayonnaise Red meat
White sugar, artificial sweeteners, drugs, cheap alcoholic drinks Soft drinks, both sugared and diet. Sports drinks
Processed meats
Cooked, Unripe, Sweetened, Preserved, Canned, Smoked, Dried Grown with, or contains any kind of manufactured chemicals
Old, Refined, Burned, Deep-fried, Browned
STOMACH ACIDITY
ne ofthe keys to good health is an effective digestive system. If you
O*, extractallthenourishmentyouneedfromthefoodyoueat,your body will self-repair and function at its peak. Sadly, most Western adults suffer from a tired, inefficient and sick digestive system. This is caused by years of eating dead food, overeating, the stress and pollution of our modern lives, and by other poor habits such as eating on the run, iced drinks and drinking while eating.
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Your stomach needs to be very acid. Insufficient stomach acidity leads to poor digestion, and is the root cause of many diseases. Symptoms of weak stomach acid include gas, burping and heartburn immediately after a meal. The food seems to sit in the top of your stomach and digests slowly. Indigestion, constipation, bad breath, undigested food in your stools and weak and cracked fingernails are further symptoms. In the long term, insufficient acid can lead to many degenerative diseases, including eczema, hives, asthma, food allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, “leaky gut” and chronic infections of parasites or yeasts.
One ofthe first symptoms of digestive problems ispoor production of hydrochloric acid (HCl) in your stomach. HCl breaks down the food you eat into amino acids and other components. Strong HCl breaks down your food easily, cleans up waste by-products, and kills and digests harmful bacteria, parasites and fungi. Many amino acids, vitamins and minerals depend on strong HCI for absorption, and if your stomach is not acid enough, you will be deficient in these micronutrients.
Heartburn and reflux are caused by too little acid in your stomach, not too much! If your stomach is not acid enough, food sits in your stomach for too long, and eventually the fermenting gases push some of it up, burning your throat. Do not use antacid tablets. They contain aluminium and indigestible calcium, will harm your body, and have no benefits whatever. Indigestion, poor absorption, bloating and gas are also caused by insufficient stomach acid.
For many people the cure is easy. Liquid whey is the simplest, most natural and traditionally used solution to increasing your stomach’s acidity. I take a tablespoon every day, and particularly before a meal containing protein. The whey I am referring to here is the acidic, clear liquid that remains after you make curds or cheese from milk (NOT whey powder). You can make the best whey yourself, using kefir (page 343). I know several people who have healed long-term degenerative diseases with this single remedy.
If you are unable to obtain liquid whey, try a tablespoon of apple cider
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vinegar (ACV), an EM brew (page 347), lemon juice or a teaspoon of Swedish bitters in a small glass of water half an hour before meals. In many cases, this will relieve your symptoms. ACV is particularly effective.
If your symptoms have not cleared up after a couple of months, a stronger cure is to take hydrochloric acid (HCl) or betaine hydrochloride capsules (except if you have a peptic ulcer or are taking any kind of anti- inflammatory medication). Take a capsule or tablet at the start of a meal. If there is no burning or warming in your stomach, take another a couple of minutes into the meal. Over a few days, experiment to see how many capsules ittakes to achieve the warming, and then drop back to below that level. As your stomach rights itself over weeks or longer, you will need fewer capsules.
CANDIDA
andida is a yeast, one of around 500 bacteria and fungi (flora) present
@.yourintestines.Thesenaturalgutfloramakevitamins (particularly B12), steroids and fatty acids, break down toxins, help to digest and absorb nutrients, prevent the overgrowth of yeasts, parasites and bad bacteria, and are essential for the healthy functioning of your digestive system.
Candida albicans normally reproduces slowly, in a process called budding. If your gut is healthy, there is lots of competition between the different bacteria and fungi, and the candida’s reproduction is restricted. However, if the balance of micro-organisms in your gut is upset, the candida can proliferate out of control. The usual cause is antibiotics (page 303). Other causes include sugar, insufficient stomach acidity, chronic stress, environmental toxins, and drugs such as oral contraceptives, antacids and steroids.
Antibiotics kill all the bacteria in your gut indiscriminately — the good and the bad. Candida is not a bacterium and is unharmed by the antibiotics, so suddenly ithas no competition and can reproduce rapidly.
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It changes its method of reproduction, producing tubes or rhizoids. These tubes penetrate your intestinal tissue and blood vessels, exposing your blood to yeasts and the by-products of digestion.
In these circumstances, you are likely to develop allergies to the foods you eat most frequently. Your immune system sees the partially digested proteins in your blood as invaders (antigens), and responds by forming antibodies. The more you eat the food, the stronger the sensitivity or allergy reaction. The foods that candida sufferers most commonly react to are wheat, corn, soy and dairy products.
An overgrowth of candida produces large amounts of two toxins — alcohol and acetaldehyde. The effects of alcohol are well known. It is possible for a teetotaller suffering candida to be “drunk” most of the time. Many cases of children and adults behaving as if they were drunk have cleared up after removing a candida colony. Candida can be devastating during the early stages of pregnancy, when the foetus is so susceptible to alcohol.
Acetaldehyde affects brain function, making sufferers feel fuzzyheaded and unable to think clearly. The two toxins can cause mood swings and being irrational.
Other symptoms of candida include chronic yeast or fungal infections (often in the vagina, between the toes or on the nails), digestive problems such as flatulence or irritable bowel syndrome, alternating diarrhoea / constipation, abdominal bloating, PMS, muscle and joint pains, and ongoing fatigue.
Candia thrives when there is lots of sugar in your gut. People suffering from candida have cravings for sweet foods. Typically they will have a sugar-forming meal, feel good immediately after, but suffer flagging energy an hour or two later. Again, they will reach for a chocolate bar or something sweet, and the cycle continues.
If you suffer from a candida overload, it is important to eliminate all sugar in your diet, and refined high Glycemic index foods like pastries, breads, cakes, sweets, jams, fruit juices and soft drinks. Other foods that
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promote candida include alcohol, bakers and brewers yeast, mushrooms, mouldy foods, dried fruits, wheat and corn based products, fruits (especially sweet or mouldy fruit), white vinegar, pickles, dairy products (except kefir and sour yogurt) and some soy products. Many grains are contaminated with fungi.
Foods that provide good flora to help re-establish a balance in your intestines include unsweetened natural yogurt and kefir (see page 343). Coconut oil provides lauric acid, a natural anti-fungal that suppresses candida growth. Garlic is another useful anti-fungal food. From health food shops, you can buy capsules containing olive leaf extract, grapefruit seed extract, or oregano oil. You can also buy capsules containing lactobacillus acidophilus, saccharomyces boulardii and bifidobacteria to re-establish good bacteria.
For the first few days or weeks oftreating a candida infection, you may feel worse. As the yeasts die off they release toxins quicker than your body can eliminate them, causing fatigue, aches, pains and headaches. Drink plenty of water and herbal teas. A chronic candida infection may take months to heal.
FASTING
ave you noticed how animals and children stop eating when they are
lhe Fastingisaneffectivecureformanydiseases.Theancient Greeks fasted for health and long lives, and were renowned for their robust bodies. Fasting is frequently mentioned in the bible, and Jesus often fasted, sometimes for up to forty days. Taoist and Hindu masters require their students to fast for long periods to purify their minds and bodies, particularly before introducing them to advanced precepts. Fasting is the most effective method of cleansing your body, including your blood, organs, and all bodily tissues. In this age of pervasive pollution, it is more important than ever in warding off premature ageing and degeneration of your body due to toxicity.
Fasting need not mean total abstention from all food. If you are eating
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a poor diet, high in processed, fast or restaurant foods, then a seven-day detoxification fast that includes all the major food groups can be a delight to indulge in. Such a fast would include mostly raw fruit and vegetables. Stricter fasts may include only raw, fresh and organic fruit or vegetable
juice. Fasts should always include sufficient quantities of clean, mineral- rich water.
Fasting increases your energy level in the short-term (like missing one or a few meals) because digestion requires a lot of energy. Within twenty- four hours of reducing your food intake, your body starts to break down waste matter such as dead and damaged cells, metabolic wastes, salts accumulated in joints, various cysts and lumps, cancerous cells, pollutants, and harmful microbes. Your organs and glands get a much- needed rest, during which the enzyme power that would have been used for digestion is instead available for repair, detoxification and healing.
Fasting stimulates the production of human growth hormone, which can reverse your ageing — see below.
Fasting cleanses your entire body, right down to the cellular level, and purifies your blood. Your blood delivers nutrients and oxygen to the cells in your body, and collects the metabolic wastes from them. Blood circulates all the components of your immune system — T-cells, enzymes and other factors. If your blood is functioning poorly, you will be low in energy, high in toxins, and have a weak immune system. Symptoms include acne and pimples, liver spots on your skin, foul perspiration and body odour, and bad breath.
Fasting is one of the most effective immune-system boosters. When properly conducted, fasting can cure virtually all diseases including cancer, and rebuild your immune system. Other benefits of fasting include cleansing the lymph fluids, repairing tissues and healing internal and external injuries.
Fasting has a cleansing effect on your mind, increasing your awareness and concentration. Throughout the centuries, fasting has been associated with the development of spiritual awareness.
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When you fast, the waste products released from fat are more acidic than those normally in your body are. Therefore, there is a heavy drawdown on your alkaline mineral reserves. It is important that your body is as alkaline as possible prior to fasting, and that you replace the alkaline salts lost while fasting.
Avoid fasting in the winter, and be gentle on yourself if you have a strong vata constitution.
An effective way to detoxify and balance the pH of your entire alimentary canal is to eat nothing but fresh fruit for one to five days (it is best to do this under the supervision of an experienced practitioner). Fresh fruits are even more cleansing to the digestive tract than vegetables. Preferably, select just one variety of fruit, the best choices being grapefruit, black grapes, lemon (as juice, diluted with water), watermelon or apple. It is most effective for cleansing to consume the fruit as a juice, but you can also eat itwhole.
Human growth hormone (HGH). Raising your level of HGH is an effective means of reversing several of the biomarkers of ageing, and feeling and looking younger. There are two ways you can raise your HGH level: with injections of the synthetic hormone, at great risk and expense; or by getting your own pituitary gland to make it.
Injections of synthetic HGH significantly improve skin strength and thickness and bone density. In as little as a month, it can markedly improve your lean body mass and body fat. Getting your body to make its own HGH can achieve the same effects.
Natural HGH reaches its highest level in growing children. A deficiency in childhood causes dwarfism. HGH boosts tissue and bone growth in children, assists with the uptake of amino acids and fats, and helps with tissue repair. Doctors inject itinto patients who have suffered severe soft tissue trauma or burns.
Adults have some HGH in their bodies, but the level decreases with age. People with an ageing related deficiency of HGH become flabby, frail, fat, lethargic, grumpy, tire easily, lose interest in sex, have trouble
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sleeping, concentrating, remembering things and lose their zest for life. The good news isthatthese symptoms ofHGH deficiency arereversible. The beneficial effects of synthetic HGH are not permanent. When you
stop taking it,your body reverts to itsprevious state. The risks involved in taking synthetic HGH are just too great. Cancer and complex hormonal imbalances are associated with taking this chemical. Excess bone growth (acromegaly) and carpal tunnel syndrome are also possible consequences.
The only way to get safe, natural, effective, low cost youthful levels of HGHfortherestofyourlife,withoutanysideeffects,istomakeyour own. Grow Youthful discusses each of these techniques in more detail:
¢ Fasting
¢ Weight-bearing exercise. (A study showed that strength in elderly men is not enhanced by synthetic HGH injections ifthey are also doing weight training!.4F )
* Meditation
* Diet. A low carbohydrate, moderately high protein diet is the most effective. In addition, the amino acid arginine found in raw nuts, grains and beans stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete elevated levels of HGH ¢Sufficient relaxation and sleep
*The factors that cause metabolic syndrome also inhibit the production of HGH. A high carbohydrate high Glycemic index diet, with lots of “bad” fats and a high fat to muscle ratio all reduce the level of HGH in your body. The more insulin there is in your blood, the less HGH. !4E
PARASITES
s many as 95% of us have some form of parasite in our body, ranging
AS tapewormsseveralmetreslongtotinywormsandcystslittle larger than bacteria. There are thousands of different parasites that can infect the human body, although you are unlikely to be exposed to more than a few of them while living in one place. They have different life and breeding cycles. Most are located in the gut and digestive system, but the
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majority of your soft tissues are susceptible.
Most parasites enter your body through your mouth and the food you
eat, and reside in your gut. Others enter your body through your skin. If your skin is exposed to infected soil or water, the flukes can burrow through it and start their life cycle. If parasites are left untreated, some will eventually burrow through your gut and then infect other organs in your body. Parasites that have found their way into your liver, lungs and other organs can be difficult to treat.
Strong stomach acidity (page 282) is a good protection against parasites inyour food and drink. Ifyour stomach isnot acid enough, many parasites (or their eggs) and bacteria are able to pass undamaged through your stomach and infest the remainder of your digestive tract.
Initial symptoms of parasite infection include dark rings under the eyes, and niggling intestinal disturbances such as rectal itching, bloating, excessive gas and diarrhoea. Later, you may suffer weight loss, anaemia, allergies, skin complaints and fatigue. Advanced symptoms include a wide variety of degenerative diseases.
If you are not in perfect health, it is worth taking a herbal parasitic treatment every year or two, whether you are aware of any parasite symptoms or not.
Of those herbs that may be in your pantry, raw garlic, cloves and turmeric have anti-parasitic properties. Other herbs used include green hull of black walnut, wormwood, elecampane and extract of grapefruit seed. Herbs are an excellent general, long-term, and preventative parasite treatment. However, if you have a specific infection that has been identified, and a treatment exists for that particular parasite, a tablet or injection can often prove faster and more effective.
Wash your hands before meals and food preparation (yes, grandma was right).
Pets are a source of parasites. Keep them de-wormed, and do not let your pets come into contact with your food or food preparation areas.
Some parasites are highly infectious. Ifone member ofyour family has
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pinworms, for example, all members should be treated. (Pinworms are small white worms that you can clearly see in your faeces). Sometimes a worm tablet is the fastest and most effective means of treating the whole family together. At the same time, the toilet should be thoroughly cleaned, including the door handle, light switch and flushing button. Underpants and pyjama pants should be changed. Bed sheets, pillow cases and towels should also be changed, as the eggs are laid on the outside of the anus at night while the infected person sleeps.
Dirty fingernails are acommon place where worm eggs accumulate, so children in particular should have fingernails kept short and clean.
EXCRETION
t feels great to have a soft, complete, comfortable and voluminous
aaa atleastonceeveryday.Thereasonitfeelssogoodisthatan important detoxification system in your body is working correctly. It should take less than a minute, and be a pleasant experience.
For many people in the industrialised west, defecation is not like this. There is an element of (sometimes substantial) strain to eliminate. People sit on the toilet for many minutes, sometimes even long enough to read a book! Constipation is common, and can be painful. There is often a frustrated feeling that a little bit more still needs to come.
Ifyou are constipated, you may be:
¢drinking insufficient water *eating aprocessed food diet *sitting, rather than squatting
A course of colonics (page 293) can also make a dramatic difference ifyou are frequently constipated or have difficulty going to the toilet.
It is a good idea to squat rather than sit on a toilet. Every animal squats, and most people throughout the world squat, especially those in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is mainly in the industrialised west,
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where the modern “sit up” toilet is ubiquitous, that people suffer from toilet strain and all the consequences.
When you sit on a toilet, the lower end of your descending colon is bent. To evacuate your bowels requires a major muscular effort. This straining has several nasty consequences. The force can burst the minute blood vessels around the anal sphincter, causing bleeding piles or haemorrhoids. The strain can also cause varicose veins in the legs or a distended colon. It is a lot of wasted and unpleasant effort.
When you squat, your colon is aligned with your rectum and anus, making elimination easy and effortless.
How do you squat when every toilet is of the sit up type? One option is to squat on the toilet seat. Be aware that it can be a dangerous practice, as sit-on toilets are not designed to be squatted on, and there have been some nasty accidents when bowls have broken or collapsed. Another option is to buy a “Squatters platform” — a strong U shaped unit, the same height as the toilet bowl that fits around the sides and front of your bowl.
A good exercise to heal piles or haemorrhoids is anal sphincter contraction. Several times a day, take a deep breath and contract your anus three or four times. Hold the last contraction for a few seconds, and then relax while exhaling. Repeat the sequence two or three times. This exercise greatly assists with removing stale blood from the fine network of damaged capillaries around the anus.
If you are seriously constipated, do not use commercial laxatives — they only create dependence. The diet recommended in this book will regulate your digestive system to produce stools that are neither too soft nor too hard. The vegetable part of this diet is the most important component, especially soft, watery summer vegetables. Also ensure you are drinking enough water. Psyllium seed husks are a natural laxative, and can be sprinkled on your salad, muesli etc. They are like blotting paper, so it is a good idea to soak them before use.
Urine should be colourless, straw coloured or light yellow. If it is a dark yellow, orange or even brown, you are dehydrated, and your kidneys
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are under strain working at this level of concentration.
Sweat is another of the means that your body uses to eliminate acid
toxic wastes. It is necessary and healthy that you sweat to some extent. Perspiration keeps your skin acid, killing viruses and bacteria.
COLON CLEANSING
fyou have been eating pasteurised dairy products, cooked concentrated
(eae refinedflours,andprocessedfoods,thenyoualmostcertainly have a build-up of toxic mucus waste around your lower intestine, and possibly throughout your digestive system.
Remember that the lining of your colon sloughs off every 24-48 hours (page 8). Surgeons who have examined many colons, old and young, report that the inside of your gut is usually a pinkish colour, much like the inside of your mouth. The acidic mucus accumulation is not on the inside of your colon, but rather in the surrounding area.
Children as young as five can have mucus accumulation around their colons. Most adults who have eaten this kind of diet for decades have a toxic build-up in their lower intestine and a gut that hangs out over their belt.
Symptoms include an irritable gut, and sensitivity to certain (bad) foods with pain or bloating in the lower intestine after eating them. Your colon will not be able to maintain the correct water balance in the final stage of your digestion, and you will suffer from constipation or diarrhoea. Of course, such a colon provides the base for diseases and rapid ageing.
The best way to remove this accumulated waste is with fasting (page 286), alkaline foods and a series of colonic irrigations.
You can do a colonic at a colon clinic, or in your own home. It is best to get some professional guidance before doing iton your own. Ina clinic, a session takes 45-60 minutes. Between 25 and 70 litres of warm to tepid filtered water is gravity-fed through a small tube inserted in your rectum, and is gently used to flush the entire length of your large intestine. The therapist uses massage and pressure points to work loose and eliminate
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additional waste.
A more gentle alternative to a colonic is an enema using an enema bag,
tube and tap. Between % and two litres of filtered water gently flow down the tube into the rectum and lower colon. This is a procedure you can do yourself while kneeling on the bathroom floor, with your head down on the floor. Leave the water in for a few minutes or as long as you can, beforelettingitflowoutintothetoilet. AHigginson’s syringeisasimilar device you can get at most chemists — it has a rubber bulb for the water, rather than an enema bag.
A colonic may also wash out some of your beneficial intestinal flora and valuable nutrients. Your cleaned colon will immediately begin to grow good intestinal flora again, but it is a good idea to assist their replacement with products such as yogurt, kombucha and kefir. There is a small risk of infection from improperly cleaned equipment, especially if you suffer from haemorrhoids.
Do not expect to clean your colon completely with the first visit. You will likely feel cleansed and cathartic after each colonic, but ifyou have a toxic build up around your lower and upper colon, full removal can take ten or more sessions, and may require a special diet and fasting. Powdered psyllium seed husk, herbal cleansers and Bentonite all have powerful cleansing and detoxifying abilities, and are recommended along with a juice or living food fast during a course of colonics.
Emotions and painful memories are often stored in the colon. A colonic can feel great, but it can also tap and release these emotions. If strong feelings arise during the process, stay with it and allow the release of whatever is bottled up. You may also suffer symptoms such as nausea or headaches during or after the procedure — again this is a good sign, as it indicates the release of toxins. Go gently on yourself however, ifyou feel awful ease up on the severity of the colonics and your diet.
After colonic treatment, you can expect a clearer skin, more energy, mental clarity and fewer headaches. Circulatory, immune and weight problems often improve, among other positive side effects. In the long-
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term, a toxic colon can be responsible for a wide range of degenerative diseases.
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OUTSIDE YOUR BODY
ur early ancestors spent virtually all their waking hours outside in the
(ye air,subjecttotherhythmsofthesun,themoon,andtheseasons. They were immersed in daylight, ambient temperature, the wind and the rain. They could feel the air pressure and humidity, and were aware of the coming changes in the weather.
Today most of us are living and working indoors all the time. Our houses, schools, offices, cars and shops provide artificial environments. They often have sealed windows and air conditioning, temperature control, electric lighting and high levels of noise. We live in an artificial environment.
NANO-POLLUTION
ur Stolen Future,©® published in 1996, warns that our body chemistry,
O%, particularlyourhormonalsystems,arefarmoresensitivethanhad previously been realised. Only minute quantities of some manmade chemicals — at a concentration equivalent to a single drop in several Olympic sized swimming pools — over long periods can cause cancers, infertility, and mental disorders such as hyperactivity and ADD. These symptoms also apply to wildlife. Deformities, behavioural changes affecting migration, reproductive and social activities, and sterility are but some of the affects being documented.
Exposure to small quantities of a cocktail of toxins is thought to be more detrimental than exposure to a similar quantity of a single toxin. Professors Ana Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein at Boston’s Tufts University tested for the levels at which known carcinogens would individually cause proliferation of breast cancer cells. They then made cocktails of 5 to 10 of them, each at one tenth of the dose at which they were effective individually. These cocktails were many times more powerful, producing a rapid proliferation of breast cancer cells.4° Over 500,000 new manmade chemicals have been released into the environment around the world since the end of the Second World War.
Studying the effects of different pollutants is particularly difficult
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because ofthe:
*low concentrations involved.
*complexity. Thousands of different chemicals are in the environment, many of which interact with each other.
* long time periods. The effects can take decades to manifest.
You have no hope of avoiding all pollutants, no matter where you live in the world today. Even polar bears “are highly contaminated with industrial chemicals, including PCBs, the pesticide DDT, and several other persistent man-made compounds...”©°4 You can choose to live in a city, commute in the traffic every day, or live close to industry and other forms of pollution. This is not necessarily an unreasonable choice, but be aware of the higher load of pollutants to which you will be subjected.
There are steps you can take to protect yourself. They boil down to minimising the load of pollutants entering your body, and maximising their elimination. The elimination of toxins is the basis of every chapter in Grow Youthful. Sufficient exercise, water, deep breathing, chelation and deep rest enable the ongoing removal of toxins. Living food, moderation and fasting all promote self-repair. Specific techniques using heat, massage, powerful foods and drinks, brushing and scraping have also been used for centuries.
MEDICATIONS DRUGS
fficially,thefourthmostcommon causeofdeathintheUSA isadverse QO...reactions(ADR).!4Drugsandmedicationsofallsortsare possibly the leading direct cause of death and illness in the Western world. Antidepressants, tranquilisers, beta-blockers, antihistamines, antibiotics, steroids, vaccines, oral contraceptives, over-the-counter medications and thousands of other drugs are consumed in vast quantities every day, with their users hoping for the benefits advertised.
All recreational and mind-altering drugs such as cocaine, crack, speed, heroin and marijuana also have side effects. You cannot expect good health if you are using drugs. Emotionally they provide illusion, creating
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dependence. Spiritually, they disconnect you from your essence.
The official ADR figure does not include overdoses, or cases in which the drug was administered in error. Ifyou include the errors made by doctors and
medical staff, then current medical practises become the third leading cause of death in the USA, killing 250,000 people®®. This leading cause of death is anew phenomenon thathasonlycome aboutinthelastcentury.Isuspectthis figure is too low, as it only represents the numbers admitted to by doctors, insurance companies and their representative bodies.
If250,000 Americans were killed by medications, can you imagine how many more are alive, but suffering from side effects? Isuggest that nearly all people who are taking manufactured medicines are suffering the consequences in one form or another. Often, these illnesses will seem unrelated to the medications. Millions ofpeople are sick and dying because of the drugs and medications they are taking!
On 18 July 2002 the Australian Council for Health and Safety released a news item stating that 2-3% of hospital admissions in Australia, totalling 140,000 patients, were caused by ADR. I suspect this figure is many orders of magnitude too low. Firstly, the pride of the medical profession is at stake, having to admit that a large proportion of illnesses, hospital admissions and
deaths are caused by the very medications they are prescribing! According to Dr David Lipschitz,?°4 26% of hospital admissions in the USA are due to drug related illnesses. He adds that among adults who are taking eleven or more drugs daily, the risk of adverse reactions approaches 100%.
The Western allopathic approach to treating disease is often the cause of the disease, not the cure. Drugs interact with each other and with pollutants in the environment to form complex, un-researched by-products, often in minute quantities. Sometimes these complex chemicals are unique to the particular individual, depending on the combination of drugs they are taking, foods they are eating, and pollutants to which they are exposed.
Human biochemical, electrical and energy systems are so complex that at this time science has little understanding of them. Our knowledge of hormones, enzymes, electrical and energy systems is increasing rapidly, but
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we still have little idea of the ramifications of using manufactured (unnatural) drugs and medications in our bodies. The interactions of drugs with our hormones, enzymes and with other drugs, foods and pollutants are complex, subtle and often long-term.
I firmly believe that nutrition is the key to good health. Natural micronutrients and herbs, (along with the living foods recommended in Grow Youthful) are nearly always the most effective treatment for any ailment.
Many forward-thinking doctors are getting better results with diet and supplements than with drugs. Whilst manufactured drugs have a place in the treatment of chronic diseases and life-threatening illnesses, they also have a cost. Do not take any drug lightly.
Drug Companies. The objective of drug manufacturing companies is to maximise their profits. They spend at least two and a half times more on marketing than on research.*!-!97 They have no incentive whatsoever to provide the cheapest, most effective alternative for any ailment. On the contrary, they will usually try to hide or discredit any alternative to their current, most expensive, patented drug.'°7
The pharmaceutical drug industry is based on patents and legal approvals. The granting of a patent and approval for sale for a drug or a manufacturing process provides the lifeblood for most drug companies. They will do anything to secure as many patents as possible in order to stifle their competition, and maximise their profits by selling at a high price to as many customers as possible.
IntheUSA in2004prescriptiondrugswerea$200billiondollarindustry, growing at 12% per annum and the fastest growing component in healthcare. The average annual cost of each of the fifty most commonly used drugs by the elderly was $1500.
It requires enormous capital and long testing periods before a drug is approved for sale to the public. In America, it often takes 10 years and $1 billion to get a new drug onto the market. Only a few companies have the resources to do this. The bigger and more profitable the industry, the more it can afford to lobby (bribe) politicians and decision makers to pass laws that
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benefit the industry. Usually new drugs approved for patent and sale are “me too” drugs, with a slightly altered molecule to an existing drug. In the USA, the testing required for drugs does not require that they be compared with their close cousins, with any other drugs, or with any natural or traditional medicines. It is sufficient to show that they are effective in curing a particular ailment. The fact that they may be less effective than all the alternatives is deliberately concealed. Frequently a new and less effective “me too” drug will go on sale with a new patent, a high price, and a campaign to hide or discredit the expired-patent drug itisreplacing!.°7
This is why drug companies are not interested in natural or traditional products, which are usually more effective than pharmaceuticals, and have no side effects. There are numerous examples of effective natural cures that are not used because there is no financial incentive for anyone to do so. For example, vitamin C is a cheap, effective natural antihistamine, with no side effects. Perhaps you are allergic to pollen. Next time you find yourself sneezing, try it!
Vitamin C has proved more effective than AZT in suppressing HIV in infected people.?!© AZT costs 10 to 20 times more. Nevertheless, AZT is widely promoted and used rather than vitamin C.
Colloidal silver is an effective antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral, cheap and without side effects if used correctly. It is subject to an ongoing campaign to discredit it.
Old diuretics are far more effective for treating high blood pressure than new drugs like ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers, but are seldom used.!97 There are many more examples.
Western (Allopathic) Medicine treats symptoms, not causes. The focus ison an immediate cure, rather than investigating why the problem occurred. The doctor and the allopathic medical system, rather than the patient, take responsibility for the patient’s health and care. Little emphasis is placed on self-care, personal responsibility and the interconnections that every aspect of our being has on every other aspect.
The doctor typically diagnoses a symptom, and prescribes a drug or
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medication to cure the symptom. These drugs are so powerful and dangerous that the public needs to be protected from them with laws that only allow them to be dispensed with a prescription.
Allopathic medicine provides effective treatment ifyou have an acute injury. If Iwere seriously injured ina traffic accident, or suffering a life- threatening infection, my immediate choice of treatment would be a modern hospital. Drugs can also provide a rapid cure of many infections, but often with recurrence or serious side effects (page 297).
Western medicine’s weakness isinitstreatment ofdegenerative diseases. Frequently it is completely ineffective or exacerbates the situation. Degenerative diseases always have a cause. Treating the symptoms of a disease will provide no more than temporary relief. Causes include factors such as chronic stress, negative lifestyles, dehydration, toxic environmental factors, junk food, over-eating with malnutrition, antibiotics, microwaves, water and air pollution, poor breathing and lack of exercise.
The idea that germs cause disease, proved by Louis Pasteur in the nineteenth century, provided the basis for “combat” medicine, which fights diseases with drugs. It sees ill health as a battle, rather than the final symptoms of an imbalance. Cancers are burned, irradiated or cut out, and heart disease is palliated with bypass surgery and drugs. The steroid or anti- inflammatory drugs used to treat arthritis reduce the pain, but do nothing to stop the progression of the disease. A single course of antibiotics increases the risk of subsequent infection by several times. All drugs and medications have side effects, even those you can buy over the counter. Painkillers increase the risk of headaches, decongestant cold cures increase the risk of a stroke, and even aspirin damages your digestive tract.
The root causes of most degenerative diseases are often embarrassingly simple, but nobody can make big money out of fixing them. Our allopathic medical system is geared towards treating a certain number of patients per hour, and prescribing drugs to “cure” the symptoms presented. Yes itworks, at a superficial level. The medications prescribed often produce a rapid but temporary cure or relief from the symptoms. It suits modern society — a quick
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visit to the doctor, a pill, a rapid cure. People do not want to take responsibility for their health, or think about the long-term consequences of their lifestyles.
The current system is lucrative for doctors, and suppliers of drugs and medical equipment. Most doctors budget their time in terms of minutes per patient. Drug and medicine manufacturers sell large quantities of their products on an ongoing basis. Patients are locked into the system until they die. The price of drugs and consultations steadily goes up, taking a larger and larger portion of the total economy.
Drugs are sold in standardised doses, with no allowance for patient’s individual needs. Often, drugs are tested on healthy young volunteers and doses are based on their results. In the same way that some people are heavily affected by alcohol, and others not at all, different people react to drugs in different ways. The standard dose may be effective for some people and damaging forothers.!!54
There is no financial incentive for the doctors or the drug manufacturers to change. The pride of the medical establishment is also at stake. Imagine conventional, allopathic doctors admitting that a drug or medicine should be the last, rather than first choice for most complaints. Momentum also plays a large part — a change of culture is required, which may take at least one generation of doctors. There will be a lot of resistance to changing the curricula at medical schools. A different type of person needs to be attracted into medicine — less drawn to the prestige and large incomes, more willing to spend time with patients, and with a great respect for both nature and ancient wisdom.
It would be almost impossible for a doctor or any conventional medical specialist to have written this book. Health professionals are beholden to their professional associations, which rigidly (and profitably) adhere to conventional and accepted medical practises. The average medical curriculum includes only a few days looking at food and diet. Many Western doctors graduate ignorant of the significance of living food, sufficient hydration, good breathing, healthy lifestyle, and most importantly, one’s
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mind — expectations and attitude to life.
A change of culture is also required in the general population. Many
people do not want to take responsibility for their own health, and prefer a system of doctors and fast cures — until their first serious illness. Often, the cure to an ailment is remarkably simple - the ignorance of both the doctors and the public is responsible for its continuance. In the long-term, the key to excellent health iscommon sense and self-responsibility.
ANTIBIOTICS
“The history of medicine shows us very clearly that there is a recurring tendency for different forms of treatment to become fashionable and to be used overenthusiastically, often to the exclusion ofsimpler and more effective
forms oftreatment.” Ainslie Meares.>+
Antibiotics were responsible for the elimination of many of the diseases
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as cholera, diphtheria, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, smallpox and tuberculosis. Initially penicillin was effective in curing bacterial infections. However, in the areas where it was widely used, the bacteria gradually developed a resistance to it. Larger doses were needed for longer periods.
If an infection is treated but not cured with an antibiotic, the bacteria that survive are those with the most resistance to that antibiotic. The worst possible case is where a person or animal is given low doses of an antibiotic over a long period — not sufficient to kill the bacteria, but instead providing an environment in which successive generations of the bacteria develop resistance to that antibiotic. This is happening today in several areas. Doctors have prescribed antibiotics for the most minor infections, not aware of the devastating side effects on the gut and digestive systems of their patients. Antibiotics are routinely included in poultry and stock feeds. Many chickens and cows spend their entire (and short) lives on low doses of antibiotics, because the stock feed companies have discovered that this is a cheap and effective way to keep the animals alive and apparently healthy. Italso makes
them grow faster, although the reason why this happens is not clear. Without
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the antibiotics, the animals would rapidly succumb to the poor stock food quality, crowded conditions, lack of hygiene and stress. Because of the uninhibited use of antibiotics, today there are drug-resistant strains of virtually every disease-causing bacteria.
Doctors treating remote tribal communities in Africa and other less developed parts of the world have been amazed at the effectiveness of “basic” antibiotics such as penicillin, which would have had little success in the Western world in combating the same bacteria.
Up to 2%% of your body’s weight consists of bacteria. Most of these bacteria are beneficial or even essential for your life. About 400-500 different strains of bacteria weighing up to 2 kg reside mainly in your digestive tract, and throughout your body. They play an important part in your immune system, and protect you from pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses. Bacteria are resident on all your membranes, protecting you against infection. It is essential to have bacteria on your throat, urethra, nasal passages, vaginal walls etc. They also play an essential role in your digestion — without them, you cannot break down many foods and absorb the nutrients. Bacteria also assist in the production of some vitamins.
When you take an antibiotic, you destroy most of the friendly bacteria in your body, in addition to the target pathogens. It can take six months or more to restore a balance of bacteria in your gut and throughout your body.>!P For months after taking an antibiotic, you are vulnerable to invasion by bacteria, fungi (see candida page 284) and viruses. According to Geoffrey Cannon,>> antibiotics have a connection with new diseases that are emerging. Canon and many other researchers believe it is unwise to use antibiotics, except where the infection is acute or life threatening.
The rate of infections and deaths from infectious diseases is increasing rapidly.>> In the long-term, itseems that the widespread use of antibiotics is having exactly the opposite effect to that intended. In addition, antibiotics are frequently ineffective — they don’t work against viruses or fungi, are not suitable for gut infections, and should never be used to prevent infections (such as in some acne treatments, or malaria preventatives).
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Your best defence against infection is a strong immune system based on an uncompromised bacterial population in your gut, and an acid stomach. If you succumb to an infection, use a natural cure such as colloidal silver or herbs that do not have the devastating consequences of antibiotics.
Other natural alternatives to antibiotics include beneficial bacteria (page 173) that reinforce the body’s natural defences, and overwhelm the pathogenic bacteria. You can get them as powders or capsules from your practitioner or health food store, and they are in fermented foods such as
sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, yogurt and Kombucha. Various herbs and foods are effective in fighting specific infections, without upsetting your intestinal flora. For example, garlic, ginger, grapefruit seed extract, aloe vera, vitamin C, zine and Artemisia are but a few that a naturopath may prescribe.
HOUSEHOLD POISONS
ave you just bought a new car, house, carpet, or set of furniture? Well,
labsthenextfewmonthsyouwillbeexposedtoacocktailoftoxic gases. New vehicles have a potent array of paints, plastics, vinyls, carpets, sealers and numerous other chemical agents. The best thing you can do until that “new car” smell is completely gone is leave the windows open as much as possible. Similarly, if you have new paint, carpet, floor sealers, curtains (drapes), or whatever in your house, leave the windows wide open, and get as much fresh air through the place as possible. Try to do that all the time, not just when there are poisonous gases around.
Marking pens, highlighters, artist’s paints and other stationery are an insidious source of toxins, especially those based on solvents other than water. Some pens use complex proprietary chemicals or xylene. Do not use stationery in a closed room ifyou can smell the inks or solvents.
Formaldehyde is widely used in the manufacture of chipboard, plywood and carpet, and can leach out of furniture and floors made with them for over five years after their manufacture. It is used in many household and personal care items — even some shampoos. Formaldehyde combines with the proteins in your blood. Your immune system thinks your own proteins are foreign,
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and attacks them. Formaldehyde is a strong poison with no antidote. The list of other poisons used in manufacturing household goods today numbers in the thousands.
Aluminium is widely used in food packaging, cheaper forms of cookware, deodorants, antacid medications, public water supplies and toothpaste. Ifyou have any aluminium pots, pans or cutlery (stainless steel is OK), may Isuggest that you throw them out. Ithas been clearly demonstrated that aluminium is associated with premature senility and memory loss.3!4
Aluminium isazincantagonist—inotherwords,itpreventsyourbody from taking up zinc, and disrupts the activities of this essential mineral. On the flip side, having sufficient zinc will reduce your uptake of aluminium.
Plastics can contain several thousand different chemicals, none of which the plastics industry is obliged to disclose. Some of these chemicals have strong hormone disrupting effects, particularly alkyphenols.?!® Plastic food wrapping & containers are suspect. Never heat foods in plastic, especially in a microwave oven. Plastic should not be used for the storage of food or drink, neither is cling film recommended for wrapping. Glass is the preferred storage material for all food and drink.
Washing, cleaning, polishing, insulation materials, glues, solvents, carpet, paint, dye, plastic, bleaching, deodorising, perfuming, antibacterial and thousands of other household products contain a myriad of chemicals you could not hope to be aware of. The best advice is to use as few as possible, stick to products made with natural ingredients that you understand, and ensure that you only use them in a well-ventilated area.
I recently bought a spectacle lens cleaner, which worked beautifully. On reading the writing on the can, Idiscovered itcontains isopropyl alcohol. The instructions said to use it in a well-ventilated area. I suggest only using it outside, and while wearing rubber gloves and holding itdownwind!
Carbon tetrachloride isused as the cleaning agent for dry cleaning. Itcan enter your body by being breathed in, or through your skin, and can cause chemical sensitivities. Air all dry-cleaned clothes before wearing them.
Shampoos, soaps, cleaning and shaving products, cosmetics, hair dye,
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toothpaste and mouthwash are absorbed through your skin or mouth. Ifthey are not made from natural and organic ingredients, you will be taking in a wide range of unknown toxins. Ifyou would not be willing to eat it,do not put it on your skin (that is a bit severe — I would not eat soap for example, but you get the drift).
Iwalked down to my local supermarket and picked up a container of skin cream, a stick of “natural” deodorant, a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of shampoo. Between them, they contained the following chemicals:
Sodium Lauryl and Laureth Sulphate, Paraffin (petroleum oil), Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol, Cetamacrogol, Octyl Palmitate, Cyclomethicone, Ceteth-20, Steareth-2, Glycerin, Stearyl alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl alcohol, Tocopheryl acetate, Carbomer, Potassium Sorbate, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben, Polyparaben, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Stearate, Hydrogenated Castor oil, Sodium Fluoride, Cocamide, Lauramide, Monethanolamine, Diethanolamine and Triethanolamine.
The toothpaste did not list its ingredients, with the exception of Sodium Fluoride, but itwould almost certainly have contained other chemicals.
Most of these ingredients are toxic chemicals.*© Others include collagen, bentonite, kaolin, butane, propane and talc. Some damage, dry and clog your skin, strip off the natural layer of oils, and leave itrough and pitted. Others are implicated in the development of degenerative diseases.
My advice is to read the ingredients on the container of any product before you buy it. If there are any you do not understand, or they are not listed, put itback on the shelf.
Also, question whether you need to use many of these products at all, or in the same quantities. Throughout my twenties and thirties, I suffered from a skin rash on my legs every winter. Eventually, an (enlightened) doctor, who also happened to be a naturopath, asked if Iwashed my legs with soap. “Of course”, I replied. He told me to stop using soap in my bathroom, unless there was a heavy build-up of grease or dirt that I could not wash or flannel off any other way. The rash disappeared and a bar of soap now lasts many months.
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Not just new products and furnishings are dangerous. Old carpets are a notorious source of allergens, and I know of many cases where people have ripped up the carpets in a house, sanded and sealed the floors, and transformed their health. Carpets harbour dust mites, animal dander, skin, hair and a range of other pollutants. If carpets, floors, walls or ceilings get damp or are poorly ventilated, mould or mildew can develop with severe affects on your health.
HEAVY METALS
ercury cadmium and lead are the three most common toxic heavy
INVAEee foundinthebody.Theyaresynergistic—thatis,theyassist each other. Thousands of household and industrial products such as paint, insecticides, fungicides (bathroom mildew remover) and cleaners contain heavy metals.
Cadmium is contained in superphosphate fertiliser, and we absorb cadmium from the bread made from plants grown in soils to which these fertilisers are added.7°© Cadmium also builds up in your body when you drink coffee regularly. Cadmium isan antagonist to magnesium, and inhibits the uptake of magnesium from our food.
Lead leads to a variety of degenerative diseases, and impairs memory and intelligence. Lead is an antagonist to iron — a high level of lead in your body inhibits the uptake of iron. The most common source of lead pollution is from vehicle exhausts, though the advent of low lead petrol has improved the situation since the 1980’s, when an estimated 50% of schoolchildren had lead levels high enough to impair their intelligence.©8“ High levels of lead pollution are also found in the tap water of new houses, in which copper plumbing has been joined with solder. Flush the tap for a few seconds before using it.Other sources of lead are cosmetics, paint, cigarettes and pesticides.
Mercury pollutes many seemingly harmless everyday products. It is used in some public water supplies as mercuric acid, giving tap water its sparkle. All seawater throughout the world now contains traces of mercury, with the worst areas near industry, mines, and the mouths of polluted rivers.
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Fish and seafood caught near these sources of pollution are affected, and should not be consumed, especially by pregnant women. The higher up the food chain, and the older the animals, the worse the effect. Avoid large carnivorous fish caught in polluted waters. Shellfish are also particularly adept at picking up heavy metals from the sea. The Australian coastline is relatively unpolluted compared to the rest of the world.
The silver-grey coloured mercury amalgam dental fillings that millions of people have in their teeth are one of the worst sources of mercury poisoning. These fillings constantly and slowly leach mercury into your saliva as they wear down through chewing, grinding and brushing over the years. They are so toxic that when they are removed from your mouth they are required by law to be disposed of as hazardous toxic waste (page 330).
The diseases caused by mercury are extremely variable with each individual person. Research over many decades has proven mercury to be the cause of a wide range of degenerative diseases”?.
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
n the last few decades, we have been immersed in a sea of new
| etree pollutionfromsourcessuchashouseholdandbusiness electrical supply cables, high voltage power grid cables, transformers, radio and television broadcasts, microwaves from phone company links, mobile phones, wireless computer networks and microwave ovens, and radiation from television and computer screens.
Artificial electromagnetic fields inhibit the functions of the pineal, pituitary, and other parts of the brain and impair immunity by knocking human energy systems off balance. Remember that our bodies are complex electrical-biological systems.
Constant low levels of radiation over extended periods of months or years are likely to be harmful at a cellular level. However, there has been little researchinthisarea,simplybecauseitissodifficulttocarryout.How do you measure the effects of low levels of radiation (to which most of us are exposed) over a decade or more?
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I will outline the steps you can take to minimise your exposure to radiation. Do the best that you can, within your means, and then forget about it.Fretting or worrying about a nearby cable or tower will do more harm than the radiation itself!
* Try not to spend a large portion of you time close to high voltage overhead power supply lines. Try not to live or sleep within 300-500 metres of the high voltage lines used to supply cities, towns and industrial estates (typically 100,000 — 220,000 volts). The incidence of cancer (particularly leukaemia) within this range is doubled.!!8
*Check the location of the power cables around your house. You do not want to be sleeping or spending long periods close to any cables in the walls, but particularly those that have heavy use such as supplying the electric oven or heater. People sleeping up against a wall with the house’s power distribution box immediately on the other side of the wall, have higher levels of cancer than otherwise.
* There could not be a better way of getting 220 volts close to your body for hours at a time, than an electric blanket. Do not use an electric blanket whilst you sleep. Remember that the level of radiation decreases with the cube of the distance from the source. ItisOK to use an electric blanket to warm your bed, but unplug itfrom the wall (rather than just turn itoff) before you climb in.
* The most significant new source of microwave radiation is wireless computer networks. Nearly all new notebook computers are now wireless ready — all you need is a base station to connect up to the internet. The base station is always switched on and emits microwave radiation 24 hours a day. Within 3 metres of a wireless transmitter the radiation is at a significant and dangerous level. There is little research in this area, but as the story below shows, a base station can affect your health. Your next-door neighbour may have a wireless network that could be affecting you. Internet cafés, hotels, schools, colleges, coffee shops, airports and other public and private places now offer wireless internet base stations.
I heard of a family who bought a new wireless modem base station and
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put itin the hallway of their home. In the months after setting itup, the entire family of 5 were abnormally fatigued with disturbed sleep patterns. A fit 49 year old woman with no pre-existing heart or respiratory problems developed a disruption to her heart rhythm. For 6 weeks the arrhythmia continued to the point where she was aware of it for the majority of the day. She also experienced insomnia and tightness of her upper chest. After disconnecting the wireless base station it took 3 weeks for all her symptoms to return to normal. The 18 year old daughter had an episode of extreme dizziness-lasting a whole day after close contact with the transmitter. The 22 year old son experienced vomiting and vertigo, disabling him for a day after spending 2 hours within two meters of the wireless modem. If this is how it affects a healthy family of adults over a short period of time, what will be the consequences on a cross-section of the general population?
* Microwave ovens do emit significant radiation, no matter what the oven’s manual says. If you use a microwave oven, stand well clear when you use it. Microwaves damage food by breaking down proteins, phytonutrients and enzymes. The effect is similar to cooking, but probably more detrimental (page 168).
No level of microwave radiation is safe. The greatest danger is from ongoing but low levels of radiation — exactly what the most recent sources of radiation such as wireless networking and mobile phones bathe us in. Unfortunately there is not often a clear connection between the microwave radiation and the onset of some degenerative illness. Itmay take years before the problems develop, and they will manifest in completely different degenerative illnesses in different people. Microwaves are a primary stimulator of human stress response. Passive exposure to microwave radiation triggers this stress response in even the calmest, most balanced individuals. In laboratory tests conducted on rats, exposure to microwaves at levels twenty times less than the current USA safety standards brought on sufficient stress to exhaust them, and cause a complete breakdown of their immune systems.
* Keep away from phone company mobile phone aerials. They emit a
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constant level of directional microwave radiation. The radiation decreases with the cube of your distance from the aerial. You do not want to be living or working in the path of the focus of one of these aerials.
* Mobile phones emit a significant level of microwave radiation. If you cannot avoid having one, then minimise its use. You can buy a separate aerial that you can place a meter away from your body while you are speaking, and this substantially reduces the radiation levels.
*New digital cordless phones. People have never thought of cordless phones with their limited ranges as being dangerous. However, the current digital phones operate in the multi-GHz microwave band. Many people limit their use of mobile phone but use the cordless at home for long periods, mistakenly thinking itissafe.
*Old style cathode ray tube computer monitors and television screens emit a variety of radiation. CRT computer screens are the worst offenders, because we sit close to them, and do not move for extended periods. CRTs also spray our skins, and eye surfaces with ion and microscopic particles. My advice is to get a liquid crystal computer monitor, similar to those used in notebook computers. The level of radiation and body stress emanating from an LCD screen isalmost negligible. Ifyou are stuck with an old CRT monitor, place itas far away from your body as possible.
You may feel that the only way to get away from all this radiation is to go and live in the country. However, be aware that some rural areas are worse than the cities. Check where the high voltage inter-city power lines are located, where the main radio and television broadcasting towers are, and where the communications companies have their long distance microwave aerials.
Itsounds as ifyou cannot get away from electromagnetic radiation, no matter where you live — and that is true. However, I do not mean to be alarmist. Minimise your exposure to the strongest sources of radiation, especially those where you spend long periods, and you will be OK.
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CLIMATE L.youhavelivedinseveraldifferentclimatesforanylengthoftime,you
will probably know that one of them is more agreeable to your general health than the others are. Sudden changes in the weather or very cold, hot or humid weather can make you feel tired and run down, or exacerbate any existing illnesses. High altitude, air conditioning and excessive exposure to the wind, cold or the sun can have similar effects. People with chronic fatigue and low energy, or those suffering from degenerative diseases such as arthritis, asthma and allergies often report that climatic factors have a close connection to their complaints. Warm dry weather with plenty of sunshine seems to make most people feel better, but itdoes depend on your particular body (page 15).
The seasons also directly affect our health. Winter is associated with depression and fatigue, spring with regeneration and renewal, summer with strength, growth and activity, followed by autumn with mellow pleasantry.
SUNLIGHT
or good health, we need daily exposure to gentle sunlight. Of course, too much can harm you, but do not avoid the sun — take advantage of its
health and longevity benefits.
The ideal is half to one hour of gentle natural sunlight each day. Sunlight
on your skin creates vitamin D. It is essential for optimum hormonal production, the creation of other nutrients, the health of your immune system, and to assist acid / alkaline balance in your body.4+! The healthiest sunlight is when the sun is at an angle to the horizon, rather than directly overhead. Wear as little clothing as possible, weather allowing. Between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm in the summer in most temperate to tropical countries, the sun istoo strong, and can accelerate your ageing. If you have to be outside during that time, cover your skin, wear sunglasses and stay as much as possible in the shade. The indirect sunlight you receive while standing in the shade will be sufficient for your body’s daily needs.
A lack of sunlight leads to many problems, such as anaemia, depression,
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Your pituitary gland receives light energy through your retina and optic nerve. Light also influences your pineal gland and regulates many human biorhythms, particularly sleep.
Full-spectrum light contains all the wavelengths of natural sunlight. Ordinary light bulbs have a deficient spectrum compared to sunlight. Fluorescent light and television screens are not only deficient, but also vibrate erratically. They irritate your pituitary gland and the central nervous system. Several studies have shown that when fluorescent lights were replaced with full-spectrum lights, the abnormal behaviour patterns and learning impediments exhibited by some children were corrected.
You are more likely to overdose with sunlight in the summer, closer to the equator, at high altitudes, and near reflective surfaces like snow, water and white sand. Strong or excessive sunlight damages your skin, and creates free radicals that cause further ageing. If you want proof that the sun is a major cause of skin ageing, compare the skin on the outer side of your arm with the skin under your armpit. For most people living in sunny climates, the exposed skin looks older.
Two out of three Australians will develop some type of skin cancer during their lives. Most of these cancers are not malignant, but they are still an indication of the level of sun damage that occurs to the average person’s skin. A single day of severe, blistering sunburn can cause the development of a cancer between two and twenty years later. Repeated mild burning over the years can achieve the same effect. Excessive sun causes your skin to go a little red, to feel uncomfortable with a slight stinging, dry or windblown effect, and may cause peeling after a few days in more severe cases.
Harsh sunlight can damage your eyes, clouding the clear lenses and eventually causing cataracts, macular and other retinal degeneration. A high level of free radicals from too much sun damages your immune system, making you susceptible to a wide range of infections, skin cancers and
and vitamin D deficiency. The production of the hormone melatonin is related to sunlight, and people not exposed to sufficient sunlight can suffer depression.3°4
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Sunscreens. I personally do not use sunscreens. Firstly, I do not understand the chemicals they contain, and choose not to rub them into my skin.ZineoxideisOK touseasasunblockonyourskin,butIhaveheard too many stories about the cancer-causing and health effects of other chemicals. Unfortunately, there is virtually no research in this area ~ who would ever sponsor it? The manufacturers of sunscreens would prefer to suppress this kind of information.
There are three main kinds of skin cancer: basal cell, squamous cell, and malignant melanoma. Basal cell and squamous cell cancers are common, medically minor, and not usually counted in cancer statistics. They are caused primarily by ultraviolet-B light, the short wavelength light that causes sunburn and does not penetrate the skin deeply. Most sunscreens can block the UV-B rays and help prevent sunburn and these “minor” cancers.
Ultraviolet-A radiation has a longer wavelength, and penetrates right through the outer skin down to the melanocytes, the cells that become cancerous in melanoma cases. Most sunscreens (particularly the older formulas) are not as effective at blocking itout. Melanomas are deadly, and used to be rare. In the developed world, their incidence increased dramatically in the 40 years up to 1990, though they have levelled out since then, 106
People spend more time in the sun without being burned when they use sunscreens. Unfortunately, the ultraviolet-A radiation is still penetrating their skin in a large dose, and their natural early warning system (sunburn) has been blocked by the sunscreen.
The only effective way to prevent melanomas is to cover up. Our ancestors did in the days before sunscreen, and itobviously worked because melanoma was so rare in those days. The levelling out in the rate of skin cancers in the last 15-20 years is because people (particularly those with fair skins) are getting that message.
theumatic problems, especially in older people. Herpes sufferers have long known of the association between over-exposure to sun and the outbreak of sores.
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AIR
AIR IONISATION
here are good scientific reasons to live on a mountain or near the sea, ee fromthebeauty.Peopleinsuchlocationslivelonger,*4Fanditis not only because they are often far from sources of pollution. Spend some time high up in the mountains, or walking on a beach breathing in air that has
just blown off an unpolluted ocean and you will feel rejuvenated. The “energy” in this high quality air is quite tangible. It comes from negative ions — highly active molecular fragments, each of which carries a negative charge equivalent to one electron. Ifyou breathe this air deeply and fully, itwill heal, restore and re-energise your body.
Atmospheric negative-ion energy, along with the ionic energy extracted from your food, is the basis of all life and biological energy.
Air conditioning, central heating, and sealed, unventilated rooms or buildings neutralise the negative ions in the air. Most of us have experienced the exhaustion that comes from working all day in a heated, air-conditioned or sealed building, even ifthe work has not been physically demanding. By contrast, people such as farmers who work outdoors in clean rural air, can be physically active all day and still not feel exhausted. This is mainly because of the high levels of negative ions in the clean country air.
Air molecules can be ionised with an electric charge. The sun’s rays and the electric potential between the earth and the atmosphere ionises air molecules. Negative ions are air molecules with an extra electron. They are attracted upwards, towards the clouds in the sky. Positive ions are molecules with a missing electron. They are attracted toward the ground, and dissipate into the earth. Most of the remaining ions just above the earth are negative.
Both positive and negative ions attach to pollutants or dust in the air. The positive ions, along with their contaminants, dissipate into the ground. Negative ions are attracted high up into the atmosphere.
This is nature’s way of cleaning the air. Wherever the air is weakly ionised, it is dirtier. In highly polluted urban areas, the sun’s rays do not get through strongly. The air is also ineffectively ionised in lowland areas, far
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from the sea. Pollution is a vicious circle — the more polluted is the air, the less able nature is to clean it. Polluted city air can contain about 500 positive ions for each negative ion. Clean air out in the country, by contrast, has roughly three negative ions for each positive ion.
The tissues that absorb most of the negative ion energy from the air are located in your nasal cavities. Your lungs and skin also take in this energy. The negative ions have a direct effect on your energy levels and all vital functions (immunity, digestion, circulatory and so on).
You can buy an air ioniser for your house or car. They generate negative ions, which clean the air, and are also reputed to make you feel good. The negative ions attach to pollen, dust and pollution, and then move to earth — the walls and floor of the room. More advanced models collect the dust by shooting out negative ions for about 10 seconds, and then change to a high plus voltage to attract back the negative ions, with the dust attached, into the unit’s dust collector.
I have a major reservation with air ionisers, in that many or all of them produce ozone. It is a toxic chemical that masks and eliminates odours, making the air seem fresher and cleaner. However, ozone compromises your immune system, and isoften associated with asthma and respiratory diseases. It also impairs oxygen uptake, and the production of energy in your body.
AIR POLLUTION
he air in today’s cities is heavily polluted. It is not life-giving or filled
hes healthyenergycarriedbynegativeions.Instead,itimpairs longevity and vitality.
Vehicle exhaust fumes are responsible for more than half the air pollution in both advanced and less developed countries throughout the world. Other major sources of pollution are industry, electricity generation, fires for cooking and heating, and refuse disposal. The major components of this pollution are carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides. Ozone isanother pollutant, formed inareaction
from exhaust fumes. In the high atmosphere, it protects us from the sun’s
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harmful rays, but itisatoxic substance tobreathe.
At sea level, pristine air comprises 20% oxygen. In urban areas, where
vehicles, heaters, power stations and other exhausts spew carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, the oxygen level falls to around 10%.>° Trees and other vegetation are sparse, so there is little to correct the imbalance.
Air conditioning and central heating rob the air in closed buildings of vital negative-ion energy. Air pollutants such as motor-vehicle exhaust, smoke and industrial emissions have the same effect. They fill the air with heavy positive ions that negate the activity of negative ions. Unless you compensate for such “dead” air with internal energy practises such as yoga and deep breathing, or alternatively purchase an air ioniser, your immune system will be stressed, leaving you vulnerable to fatigue and the mildest infections.
The sick building syndrome is very real. It applies to offices, homes, aeroplanes, new cars and any other environments that may be under- ventilated, over-insulated and using new or complex construction materials. This dangerous air-tightening of buildings, particularly high rises and offices, has resulted from the owners looking for greater efficiencies in heating and air conditioning systems. At the same time, thousands of new chemicals have found their way into these airtight environments. The regular cleaning and maintenance of air conditioners is critical, and an easy task to ignore. The ultimate and widely publicised peak of air conditioning neglect is Legionnaires disease. This deadly airborne infection isoften caused by dirty air conditioning systems containing water that has been allowed to stagnate. When people die from Legionnaires, this tends to get the headlines. However, stagnant or polluted air in a building seems to be accepted, because it is so difficult to make the connection between the bad air and subsequent illnesses.
If you choose to work or live in a building, a major consideration should be the quality of the air in it. Can you open the windows? Would you want to open the windows? Is itlocated downtown ina city, or near an industrial
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area or source of pollution?
Stoves, heaters and fireplaces emit carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide,
benzpyrenes and other carcinogenic hydrocarbons and particulates. It is essential that gas stoves and heaters be effectively exhausted out of the room. An un-flued gas heater will make you tired and rob you of energy. In susceptible people these heaters can cause chronic fatigue and depression.
Avoid room deodorisers and air fresheners. They merely mask odours, and add new pollutants to your immediate atmosphere.
Better ventilation can substantially reduce most indoor pollution problems. Studies comparing the health of workers in buildings with windows that can open with workers in buildings with sealed windows are quite startling. Those in the sealed window building suffered two to three times the levels of respiratory diseases and other complaints such as chronic fatigue, headaches, stuffy noses, sore throats and itchy eyes and noses.°/7
The dangers of passive smoking have been well publicised. If you are sharing a room with a smoker, you raise your risk of cancer quite substantially, and accelerate your ageing. Numerous studies have shown that passive smoking raises your risk of heart disease, lung disease and cancer. Pregnant women will give birth to lower weight babies. Children of smokers have higher levels of respiratory illnesses for many years.
OUT IN NATURE THE OCEAN
he ocean is a rich soup of minerals and vital energy. All kinds of ‘|Pam flowbackintotheseafromtherivers—itistheultimate depository. The surf continually enlivens and aerates the water. On page 152 Itellthe story of awoman who has slowed her ageing by swimming inthe cold ocean every day. Seawater, provided it is not polluted, is a boost to health and long life.
As you swim, your skin (and the odd gulp of water) is able to take in any elements that you may be lacking. This is why walking on the beach and getting your feet wet in seawater is so healthy. It is a cure for many skin
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complaints such as fungal infections like athletes foot.
Walking barefoot massages the numerous nerve endings in your feet, and
positively affects the functioning of your internal organs.
Your body is like a complex battery and walking barefoot on the beach or
on the earth grounds itand has ionising effects. The human body evolved with bare feet, not shoes.
Most oceans are also cold. A regular swim, at least once a week, but possibly daily, subjects your body to healthy stresses, and boosts your immune system and resistance to diseases. A cold environment is alkalising.
If you live far from the ocean, and cannot access it regularly, a clean, fresh mountain stream or unpolluted river is a good substitute. It is important that the water is alive and moving, not dead or stagnant. Ideally, it should have flowed over waterfalls and rapids, aerating and enlivening it.As proof that it is alive, an abundance of plant life, fish and animals should be living in that water. What is good for nature is good for you.
TREES, FOREST
Trees are an important connection with nature. They humidify, oxygenise and scent the air with their volatile oils and fragrance. They provide shade in summer, beauty throughout the year, the sound of rustling leaves, and provide a home for birds, insects and small animals.
If you choose to live in or near a forest, you will enjoy all the above benefits, and something more. Trees have an energy that science has not yet defined. Embrace and hug a mature tree — it is both grounding and energising, especially if you are barefoot, and the tree and the earth are slightly damp. Do Ihear sceptical sounds coming from your head? Try it!
VIEWS, PEACE
Have you ever thought about why panoramic views make you feel good? When you look out over the ocean, across a wide valley, at distant mountain peaksorwithyoureyesfocusedonthefardistance,itiscalming.When your eyes are completely relaxed they focus on infinity. If you live in a city, and
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think you have little opportunity to enjoy such vistas, stare at the moon or lie on your back and watch the clouds.
When our distant ancestors were located on the top of a hill, and had a good view of their surroundings, they were safer, less likely to be attacked. There is something instinctively secure about living in a house that is high up, and “in control.”
If you want to get to know the God within you, seek silence, solitude, space and nature. Yes, you can do itin the parks and viewpoints of a bustling city, but the majesty and peace of a mountain, forest or ocean make iteasier.
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MORE LONG-LIFE SECRETS ONGOING INFECTIONS
ou may be surprised to hear that most people have serious, ongoing DyGator infectionsintheirbodies.Theseinfectionsneverletup,and after months or years, their immune system becomes weakened. Few people, including most doctors, suspect that there is a strong link between chronic pathogenic infections and numerous degenerative diseases (such as heart disease and cancer)!98, 109.
Those on a high sugar, high carbohydrate, refined food diet are usually infected with candida and other yeasts. Fungal infections are found throughout the body, most commonly in the colon (see candida, page 284), the skin and nails (particularly around the feet), the urinary tract and the lungs.
The most common source of ongoing bacterial infection isyour teeth and gums. Root canals, posts, poor dental work, infected gums and decaying teeth can harbour infections (page 330). Often there is no pain, and no obvious symptoms such as bad breath or visible damage. The bacteria that cause these infections trigger an immune response that often causes inflammation and other reactions throughout the body.
Unaware doctors routinely use antibiotics to treat infections without questioning why the patient was infected in the first place. Antibiotics do have a place in treating serious or life-threatening bacterial infections. However, there is a simple, effective, cheap, natural cure for fungal and bacterial infections — colloidal silver. The diet and lifestyle recommended in Grow Youthful will prevent the onset of these infections in the first place.
COLLOIDAL SILVER POWERFUL ANTIMICROBIAL
n 1998 Iwent to India for a couple of months. July was the first month of Lemonsoon,andIenjoyedthesteamyhotweather,walkingeverywhere between bus rides. I wore open leather sandals, and my feet got wet negotiating the muddy, smelly puddles. When I got back to Australia, my
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toenails turned brown and the skin on my feet peeled with a fungal infection. The infection took years to heal, and itwas only in 2007 that the last thick, brown, soft toenail finally reverted to being clear and healthy. The cure finally came several months after I eliminated sugar from my diet, took colloidal silver, and put two drops of cheap white distilled vinegar at the base and end of the nail twice a day.
Colloidal silver (CS) is a natural and well-proved antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial liquid. Itheals or relieves an extraordinary number of infections and diseases, and helps burns and injuries to heal without scarring. Ithas no known side effects, but see RISKS below.
CS is the only antibiotic known to kill all types of bacteria, in addition to viruses and funguses. It is the only antibiotic that does not harm your body. In contrast, pharmaceutical antibiotics can damage the liver, kidneys, digestive system and many other parts of the body, and leave the colon susceptible to candida infection. Each of the pharmaceutical antibiotics will only kill a few types of germs, with some germs becoming resistant to all these antibiotics (Super Bugs). CS kills the lot.
Healers have known for thousands of years that silver prevents disease. Centuries ago, royal families could afford to use silver cutlery and crockery. This was not just for the beauty of the silverware — they enjoyed freedom from infectious diseases, unlike commoners who ate from earthenware jugs and bowls and were more frequently ill. Over the years, minute amounts of silver wore off their utensils and mixed into their food and drink, and their skin and blood developed a slight bluish tint. This is why royalty were called “blue bloods”. This condition is known as argyria. (Note: you won’t get argyria after consuming properly produced CS.)
CS first came into widespread use in the USA around 1900, and was used inmainstream medicine until 1938. Up until 1970 itwas common practise for scientists to sterilise a petri dish with a silver coin. CS has been deliberately discredited by the pharmaceutical industry because it is not patentable, can be produced independently of the industry, and is cheap to make.
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USES
CS protects against infections, diseases, contagious outbreaks and serious burn toxicity. An initial dose is about 20 ml per day at a concentration of 15 ppm — more or less, depending on the state of your immune system. When you are taking CS, you should not get colds, ‘flu or other infections. Increase the dose ifyou do, and lower itifyou seem to be protected. You may need to increase this dose by several times when treating some types of infections. Use half the adult dose for children, and a few drops for infants (preferably externally).
Do NOT swallow the CS immediately. Rather, hold itin your mouth and swirl itunder your tongue for as long as you can (several minutes). This is the best way for your body to absorb the colloidal particles.
Ifyou take the CS atthe same time as eating aprobiotic, or fermented / living food like sauerkraut or kefir, it will kill the flora and fauna in the food. For this reason I take CS at the most distant time possible from living food meals.
CS can be applied directly anywhere - to infections, burns or open wounds on your skin, fungus affected nails, and as eye, ear and nose drops. Itisparticularly effective ifa dressing isused to keep the underlying wound or infection wet with CS. Most antiseptics sting when applied to a wound, because they are damaging the surrounding tissue’s cells, but CS does no harm to the surrounding tissues.
Here is a partial list of the diseases and infections that CS has been used to treat:
acne, allergies, AIDS, appendicitis, arthritis, athletes foot, bladder infection, blepharitis, blood parasites, blood poisoning, boils, bubonic plague, burns, cancer, candida, canine parvovirus, chilblains, cholera, colitis, conjunctivitis, cystitis, dandruff, dermatitis, diarrhoea, diphtheria, dysentery, ear infections, eczema, encephalitis, fibrositis, furunculosis, gastritis, gonorrhoea, hay fever, herpes, impetigo, indigestion, influenza, keratitis, leprosy, leukaemia, lupus, lymphangitis, lyme disease, malaria, meningitis, neurasthenia, parasitic infections (their eggs are destroyed), pleurisy,
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pneumonia, pruritis, psoriasis, purulent ophthalmia, rheumatism, rhinitis, ringworm, scarlet fever, septic conditions (eyes, ears, mouth, throat), seborrhoea, septicaemia, shingles, staph and strep infections, stomach flu, syphilis, thrush (yeast infection), thyroid infections, tonsillitis, toxaemia, trachoma, trench foot, tuberculosis, typhoid, ulcerated stomach, virus (all forms), warts, whooping cough, yeast infections (females).
To treat infections of teeth or gums, hold the CS for as long as you can in your mouth — perhaps 20 minutes. Sometimes CS may not be able to get to the source of the infection inside poor dental work. The solution is to remove the source of the infection — the root canalled tooth or post.
CS has a wide range of veterinary uses, is extremely effective and cheap for swimming pool purification, and is an effective fungicide for gardening and hydroponics. Itmakes an effective and harmless underarm deodorant.
CS kills pathogens rapidly, so your body’s eliminatory systems (liver, kidneys, skin, bowels, lungs) may become temporarily overloaded. The resulting toxic overload may mean you feel quite ill— a healing crisis. Drink lots of water, litres every day. Enemas also help.
WHAT ISCS?
CS ismade from pure, distilled water and silver, using electrolysis. The word “colloidal” means that microscopic-sized solid silver particles are suspended in the water. These silver ions have a positive charge, therefore they repel each other and remain permanently suspended in the water.
CS looks like water, though itmay sometimes have a yellow tint. You can test that itcontains colloidal particles by shining a laser pointer light through itin a darkened room. You can clearly see a pencil of light through the liquid. Ifyou cannot see this pencil of light, then there are no colloidal particles and itisnot safe to use — see argyria below. Ifthe edges of this light pencil have a “sparkle”, then the colloidal particles are large. If there is less sparkle and a clear edge to the light, the particles are small and the CS is of a high quality.
The concentration of silver in the water is usually measured in parts per million (ppm). CS is typically between 3 and 100 ppm. You can measure the
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ionic portion (the strength) of the CS with a total dissolved solids (TDS) meter.
HOW ITWORKS
Scientists are not sure about how CS works. The presence of CS near any bacterium or fungus seems to disable their oxygen metabolism, and they usually die within a few minutes. They are then excreted from the body. It is possible that the colloidal particles are an oxidizing catalyst, killing the single-celled organisms with which itmakes contact. CS may also interfere with the microbe’s respiration by disabling the enzymes on which anaerobic micro-organisms depend; tie up the sulphur in the microbe, or short the electrostatic fields in the cell. With viruses, silver may cause the virus DNA or RNA to revert to being undifferentiated; itmay also repair the broken segment of DNA of a virus, making itcomplete but dysfunctional.
When you take a good quality CS, the small-sized colloidal particles are quickly absorbed through your mouth, stomach and upper colon into your bloodstream. The ionic portion of the CS turns into silver chloride and also goes into your bloodstream. The silver chloride plates out onto the colloidal particles already there, and they grow by a small amount. They are still far too small to get caught up in your tissues, and they eventually get removed by the kidneys. So colloidal silver is actually a protection against argyria (see below).
RISKS
DESTROYING YOUR DIGESTIVE BACTERIA
Your digestive system and especially the large colon contain hundreds of different types of beneficial bacteria. Can CS destroy them, similarly to when you take a course of antibiotics? (See page 303) The answer is yes, so be careful. If you drink CS in small quantities (less than a small mouthful), nearly all of itwill be absorbed through the membranes in your mouth, and particularly under your tongue. Swirl each mouthful around under your tongue, and hold itfor as long as you can, rather than swallowing. That way most of it will be absorbed before it reaches your stomach. Your small
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intestine is also very effective at absorbing CS, and for most people little will pass on to the large intestine where the majority of your beneficial bacteria reside. It will destroy microorganisms, good and bad, in your mouth, throat and stomach. In summary, ifyou gulp down a large quantity of CS, this is a realrisk.ItisalsoagoodreasonNOT touseCSasanongoingpreventative.
ARGYRIA
When you have silver salts in your bloodstream, they have a strong tendency to bind (plate) with any silver particles they meet. If you have sufficient CS particles in your blood, that is good — the salts bind with these particles. The silver particles do their job in your body and are then excreted. However, if you have no CS particles in your blood, the silver salts turn into silver molecules in your skin. The action of light on your skin is similar to the photographic process that occurs when you take a picture (with a film camera). If the level of silver salts is sufficiently low, the silver molecules are swept out of your skin by the blood flow and everything is fine. However if the level of silver salts in your blood is over some minimum level the molecules will increase in size as the salts plate out on them, growing so rapidly that they become stuck in your skin. The skin takes a permanent black or blue cast. This is called argyria, the result of taking silver compounds without any colloidal component.
This iswhy itisimportant that you only use high quality CS, and that you use itcorrectly. The CS should have a high level of fine colloidal particles.
BUYING /MAKING CS
You can buy bottles of CS in chemists and health food shops. Look for a clear liquid made from 99.98% pure (or better) silver, at a concentration of 15-20 parts per million. You can test for the existence of colloidal particles using a laser pointer (see below), and get an estimation of the concentration using a TDS meter.
Store CS in a dark place, away from electromagnetic fields. It does not matter whether it is kept cold or warm. Light can damage a CS solution, so
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it should be kept in a dark amber or cobalt blue glass bottle, in a dark cupboard. Electromagnetic fields can destroy the colloidal particles, so keep itaway from electric wiring, microwaves, radiation etc. This iswhy itshould not be stored in a refrigerator.
Itispossible to make your own CS with 1-3 nine volt batteries and some silver wire, but it is impossible to make a good quality brew of any strength using this method. Many different CS generation kits are sold on the internet. There is no control or regulation of the industry, and some kits are sold by charlatans.
If you are going to buy a CS generator, look for the following features:
Constant current circuitry. When you first start making the brew, the conductivity of the water is very low. As ionic silver is produced, the conductivity increases and the current increases exponentially. This creates two problems: firstly, the appropriate brew time for a certain ppm will vary widely depending on the initial conductivity and temperature; secondly, the high current towards the end causes an excessive increase in the particle size, making the brew less than optimum for both stability and effectiveness. Your generator must have electronic circuitry that reduces the current as the solution concentrates. It is almost impossible to produce a brew with a concentration of over 5 ppm without constant current circuitry.
Ihave seen a web site advertising a generator, and describing itas “over- current protected”. In fact, itwas a 1.5 amp transformer of the kind that you can buy at an electronics store for a few dollars. It had voltage selection from 3 to 12 volts, and no constant current circuitry whatsoever. The “over-current protection” was just a type of fuse to ensure it would not burn out. The amperage was about 1000 times higher than needed to make a good quality CS. Beware!
Stirrer. As the CS is produced, it tends to concentrate around the electrodes, and stirring or movement is necessary to prevent a build-up. Many generators have a small light bulb under the container, and the warmth from the globe creates thermal currents. This is the least expensive method, but not very effective. You can stir itby hand, as long as you won’t get bored
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having to stir it every few minutes over a period of several hours. Other generators use an aquarium bubbler or pump to agitate the water. There is some debate about whether introducing carbon dioxide and dust from the air creates silver salts. At least a bubbler is easily installed, reliable and reasonably cheap.
Mechanical stirrers are the most effective, where a motor drives a paddle, moves the electrodes, or moves a magnetic stirrer. Ensure the stirrer turns at a maximum of 30 revolutions per minute, because ifthey stir too fast there will be a build-up of salt on the electrodes and the brew will be spoiled.
Polarity reverser. During electrolysis, black silver powder builds up on the cathode, and brown silver oxide on the anode. Reversing the polarity of the current every few minutes reduces these build-ups. Ifyou do not reverse polarity during brewing, then wipe the electrodes after each use without using any soap or detergent.
Electrical current. Most units operate at 24 — 36 volts. The lower voltage units make finer, better quality small colloidal particles. The maximum amperage passing through the water should be | ma (milliamp, or
1/1000 amp). Higher amperage will create large colloidal particles.
High quality distilled water. Tap water, filtered water and spring water have too high a mineral content to make CS. Rain water is usually too polluted, though in rare cases it is borderline acceptable. Even domestic
reverse osmosis water filters usually do not produce the purity required to make CS. The best water to use is steam distilled, or high quality reverse osmosis filtered. You can buy these waters in the “household products” sections of supermarkets, general stores, and sometimes auto parts stores, or make your own with a steam distiller. You can test the purity of the water with a TDS meter — itshould have a reading of 0— 3 ppm. Ifyou use anything other than the most pure distilled water, you risk having insufficient colloids in your CS, and a high level of silver salts. Salts such as silver chloride or silver fluoride taken without colloidal silver can cause argyria.
Pure silver. High quality silver of 0.9998 purity or better should be used.
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BIOCOMPATIBLE DENTISTRY
oor dental practises are responsible for the illnesses of millions of people
[pee theworld,primarilyinrichdevelopedcountries.Theyarethe cause of many degenerative diseases for several reasons.
Firstly metals, and particularly mercury, are not compatible with your body. Mercury fillings (the silver grey or black fillings that millions of people have in their mouths) are highly toxic. Mercury amalgam fillings are responsible for many serious and apparently chronic diseases (page 330).
The amount of mercury that goes into the average mercury amalgam tooth fillingissufficient tokillyou ifitwas taken allatonce. Approximately 50% ofanamalgam fillingismercury. 25-30% issilver,andtheremainder is usually zine and tin. An amalgam filling can leak mercury vapour over many years, slowly making you sick with degenerative illnesses.
Conventional dentists have been taught that mercury is harmless in fillings. Few dentists are willing to question orthodoxy and go against the recommendations of their dental association. Therefore, you will have to search for enlightened dentists who use composite plastic instead of mercury amalgam fillings. Happily, their numbers are expanding.
Composite plastic will last for many years if the job is done correctly. They require more skill. Ifyour dentist argues that composite fillings are too weak and short-lived to use, find another dentist. Today’s composite and ceramic materials are tough and durable, and used properly they will outlast amalgam fillings and conventional dental work. They look good — usually you can’t tell that any dental work has been done. Most importantly, they don’t slowly poison your body. I personally feel that a dentist who is not capable of doing composite fillings should not be allowed to practise.
If your dentist insists on using a mercury amalgam filling, I suggest you ask him / her for a written and signed confirmation that it is safe and will not harm you. Watch their reaction!
Root canals, cavitations (see below) and tooth inserts usually harbour infections. These infections are not normally painful — you don’t know that the infection is there. Instead, they provide a low level and ongoing source
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of bacteria and their toxic by-products entering your bloodstream. Year after year, your immune system has to fight the bacteria and their toxins coming from the base of a root-canalled tooth, from the cavitation left by an improperly removed tooth, or from the gap surrounding the post and false tooth of an insert drilled into your jaw. Ifyou are young and healthy and have a strong immune system, you won’t notice this assault on your body. But if you have had such an infection for years and your immune system is weak, it can be the frustrating and perplexing cause of numerous degenerative diseases. ;
The surface of a tooth (enamel) is the hardest part. Under the enamel, most of the tooth is made up of bone-like dentine. The dentine is made up of microscopic tubules that transport nutrients from the blood supply to all parts of the tooth. When a root canal is performed, these tubules remain intact and are not sterilised. Polymorphic bacteria colonise the tubules, gradually learning to thrive without oxygen, and becoming smaller and more toxic.
Gum disease (gingivitis) and tooth decay are also correlated with these diseases. A strain of bacteria commonly found in tooth plaque has also been found in the fatty deposits that clog arteries. Tooth plaque, the sticky coat of bacteria and acids that eventually hardens into calculus or tartar, is the cause of gingivitis and tooth decay.
To slow your rate of ageing, help gain total health and save your teeth: * Eliminate sugar. If you eat no sugar or refined flour, your teeth will stop rotting (politely called dental decay). People who never have sugar from the youngest age (as in many traditional societies) keep a full and healthy set of teeth all their lives. This is the most important step you can take to stop the formation of dental plaque.
* Clean your teeth properly. You do not need to brush your teeth after every meal ifyou enjoy healthy no-sugar food and drink. Itisbetter to thoroughly clean your teeth once per day, or even every few days. Proper cleaning takes several minutes. Flossing is the most important part of cleaning your teeth.
Also brush them gently and thoroughly, up and down rather than backwards and forwards. (Brush your gums towards the top of each tooth). It is essential
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to floss your teeth every day because the rubbing of fibrous food over your teeth as you chew does not clean the area between your teeth. If you are consuming any sugar, plaque will build up in the gaps between your teeth. If you find flossing painful or your gums bleed, then your gums are likely infected. Isuggest that you gently persist with the flossing, but ifthe bleeding and pain continue, then seek the help of a biocompatible dentist.
¢Minimal dental treatment. Most conventional dental techniques (see below) lead to the death of the tooth and an ongoing source of infection or toxins in your body. Itispreferable tohave atooth (PROPERLY) removed rather than suffer a root canal, bridge or insert.
* Other factors such as hydration, diet and exercise discussed in Grow Youthful will ensure that you have sweet breath, healthy gums and minimal ongoing deterioration of your teeth.
If you are in the unfortunate position of having a painful infection or abscess deep in a tooth’s root, you are likely to agree gratefully to the root canal that most conventional dentists will recommend. Ifthe infection cannot be controlled, the better (and cheaper) solution is often the full and proper removal of the tooth. Yes, it means having a gap in your teeth. A bridge, which many dentists will suggest, will substantially shorten the life of the two surrounding teeth.
Biocompatible dentists:
*do NOT recommend mercury amalgam fillings
*do NOT recommend root canals
*do NOT recommend bridges
*doNOT recommend inserts(ametalpostdrilledintothejawbone,andused as a base for a false tooth)
* acknowledge the debilitating effect on your health and the death of your teeth from the above four procedures
* are very reluctant to do crowns, and acknowledge that a crown is the beginning of the end of a tooth. Instead, they would recommend an inlay or an onlay
*are competent with bonding, and use bonding and veneering techniques in
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preference to traditional fillings
* have experience removing mercury fillings and are aware of the toxicity of
mercury vapour when removing mercury fillings, and would use a dental dam
* have experience with performing extractions without leaving cavitations (alveolar cavitational osteopathosis) i.e. holes left from incompletely extracted teeth which never heal properly, don’t fill with bone, and remain as an ongoing source of infection, often for the rest of your life). The removal of a root-canalled tooth has a special protocol — the periodontal ligament should be removed, along with 1 mm of the bone socket, using a burr. A saline solution is used to wash out the chips.
Bernard Jerome’s book Tooth Truth? is recommended, and provides more detail and explanation.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
This traditional drink is an effective treatment for allergies, candida, arthritis, gout, acid reflux (heartburn), chronic fatigue, high cholesterol, and infections such as sore throats, sinus, ‘flu and acne. Apple cider vinegar (ACV) isTHE cure for excruciating joint and muscle pain, fatigue and chronic upper respiratory infections. It relieves insect bites and some skin allergies, and curbs excessive appetite. It improves your skin and hair, is a powerful detoxifier and is the basis for several “fountain of youth” drinks.
ACV isan alkaline forming drink, even though ittastes acid. Ithas anti- fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral properties, primarily coming from the acetic acid and malic acid in the vinegar. It is rich in organic acids (including more than a dozen different carbolic acids), vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and apple pectin.
ACV iseffectiveatstoppingmany allergies,likethosefrompollen,dust, dander and food. Take itas a daily tonic, or at the first sign of an allergy such as a sinus headache, stuffy nose or itchy watery eyes. ACV can stop an allergic reaction within hours or days, depending upon how advanced itis.
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Here isthe recipe for afountain ofyouth drink that Iuse. ¥,teaspoon ofblackstrap molasses
2 tablespoons of ACV
Y,teaspoon baking soda
a shake of cayenne pepper
Y4teaspoon turmeric powder
1glassofwarm tohotwater
Notes: the molasses is rich in minerals and a great skin purifier. However,
you may need to avoid itor substitute stevia ifyou suffer from candida or diabetes. Adjust the molasses to taste. The ACV will make your skin glow. Turmeric is an anti-oxidant herb with numerous healing properties — detoxifying, digestive, and skin enhancing. Baking soda alkalizes the formula.
You can also use ACV asa skin rinse. Itwill make your skin look younger, and helps those with eczema or psoriasis. Use two tablespoons of ACV inaglassofwateroracupofACV inyourbath.
Dosage. Mix two tablespoons (32 ml) of ACV in a 200 ml glass of water. You can take up to three glasses per day. Some people like to sip this mixture throughout the day, others drink the glass at once. Different brands of ACV vary in strength. The strongest brands can actually promote yeast infections in women and heartburn, milder brands are effective cures. Try to buy an organic, unpasteurised, milder product such as Braggs. There are many brands available, try to avoid the big “corporate” brands that are sold in supermarkets.
You may be concerned about the effect of the ACV’s acidity on your teeth. Ongoing acidity in the mouth can cause dentin sensitivity and erosion of the tooth enamel. The solution is to add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to the mix, approximately 1/4 of a teaspoon per two tablespoons of ACV, depending on the brand. The result should have a pH of between 6 and 7, according to your taste. Do not worry that the baking soda would make the ACV less effective, because the sodium bicarbonate stored in your body would do exactly the same thing soon after you drink it.
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KOMBUCHA
A DELICIOUS YOUTHING DRINK
ombucha (KT) is a piquant and natural detoxifying drink that you can ake yourself. Itscost isinsignificant, as itismade from only tea and sugar. Ithas several hundred healing properties, and isrenowned as an anti- ageing treatment and secret to retaining youthful looks. It is an effective and
natural way of removing heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. People who drink itseem to be a lot healthier and younger-looking than the rest of the population. It has powerful detoxifying and immune-enhancing qualities.
Kombucha drinkers around the world are so enthusiastic that there are literally dozens of web sites and email lists that you can subscribe to, to get a starter culture, ask questions and trade experiences. The passion and knowledge available on the internet is quite humbling. An up-to-date list of the best web sites and links is available at www.growyouthful.com.
KT is a tonic, complete therapy and preventative medicine. You can also apply ittopically as a compress, add itto your bath, make itinto an effective cream that heals leg ulcers and fungal nail infections, use it to start fermentation in food recipes, use itwith animals, and in the garden.
MAKING A BREW
You make Kombucha with sugar, tea and a culture (a symbiosis of bacteria and yeasts). Its taste can range from something similar to champagne, a refreshing light wine, to strong apple cider vinegar, depending on the amount and acidity of the starter, the fermentation time, the amount of sugar and type of tea that you use. An older, tart brew is more acidic and has a higher level of healing properties than a young, mild and slightly sweet brew.
You need not be too concerned about using sugar. In a strong, tart tea, brewed over two weeks, only 3% of the sugar remains. 97% of the sugar is consumed and converted by the culture.
KT is easy to make. First, you need a “starter” in the form of a pancake- like “mushroom”, and some live KT tea. You can get a starter from a friend
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contacts.
RECIPE
For one litre of KT you need:
60-90 grams of white or raw sugar
3-5 grams of tea leaves
100 ml of KT from a previous brew (10% required asa starter). apieceofkombucha mushroom
Boil the water and the sugar. Tap or spring water is fine, but not distilled or reverse osmosis filtered water, because the brew needs the minerals found in most water. Add the tea, and leave it to sit for at least ten minutes before removing the tealeaves or bags. I usually leave them in until it is completely cool. When your tea is at room temperature, you can pour it into your brewing bowl and add the mushroom and the starter. Itisimportant that ithas cooledcompletely—ifitisabove35°C,youcankillthestarter. Coveritwith a clean cloth that lets itbreathe. Iuse an old piece of bed-sheet, and a large elastic band to hold ittaut over the top of the bowl. Put itin a quiet place out of sunlight, where it will remain at a stable temperature between 23°C and 30°C. Use a bowl made from glass, china, enamel or glazed terracotta. Metal, lead crystal and cheap plastic are unacceptable. KT reacts strongly with any metal, and can take up toxins from some plastics. The bowl should have a wide top for good breathing.
Within a few days, a clear or translucent thin skin will start to form on the top of the liquid, and itwill smell fermented. The brewing time depends on the temperature, and your taste requirements. After 5-15 days, the new mushroom culture will be a centimetre thick, and grey, cream or peach coloured.
Before you bottle your brew, remove the mushroom culture that has formed on the top, and keep a saucer-sized piece of it for your next brew. Also keep some of the brew asa starter.
Stir up the sediment that has formed in the bottom of the bowl, and then
already brewing Kombucha, or check www.growyouthful.com for a list of
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bottle it in glass bottles, tightly capped. The sediment contains yeasts that make itfizzy. Itneeds a day or two after bottling to build up enough pressure to make a fizz. Iput itin the fridge for a few hours before serving -otherwise itgets too fizzy, overflowing and stirring up the sediment.
You may wish to pour itthrough a tea strainer before drinking it,to filter out the (harmless) stringy growths and remnants of the culture. However, if you pour itcarefully itisusually clear.
Making Kombucha has almost as many variables as does making wine. The longer itisleft,the sourer itwill become. The more starter youuse, the more acidic you make it.You can use a variety of teas such as ordinary black tea, oolong or green tea. Iprefer green tea because ithas anti-carcinogenic properties, is beneficial to the heart and blood circulation, has less caffeine and is particularly nutritious. Green tea also gives a slightly milder flavour to the brew. Generally, the finest teas make the best brew.
Normal kitchen hygiene is OK — your equipment does not need to be sterile. Mould can form if the brew is not acidic enough — usually because insufficient starter was used. It can also form because of poor hygiene or cigarette smoke. Ifthere isany mould on your culture, throw itaway, and do not risk drinking it. Other factors which can spoil a culture are sunlight, contact with metal, cigarette smoke, insufficient air, or water with no minerals in it(distilled or reverse osmosis filtered).
Do not add other ingredients to the brew. Thousands of enthusiastic brewers have experimented over the years, and keep coming back to the basic ingredients of sugar, water and tea. Do not add vitamins, preservatives, other yeasts, real mushrooms, artificial sweeteners, oxygen drops, fresh or dried fruit, coffee or anything outside the basic guidelines.
A few herbs, such as elderflower, raspberry, nettle, rosehip and hibiscus add delicious flavours and other characteristics to the brew, including the medicinal benefits of the herb. Elderflower in particular, adds a high level of fizz and sparkle to the drink, and imparts a “dry Muscat” flavour. However, Earl Grey tea, and many other herbs with aromatic oils can kill your fungus. (Earl Grey is made with bergamot, citrus oil). I suggest you do not
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experiment with herbs until you have completed several brews, and are familiar with the variables in a “normal” brew. Ensure you keep a backup, in case your brew dies.
I usually use a portion of (green) tea when making a herbal KT. Herbal Kombucha ismore expensive to make — generally, you need to use six times more herbs (by weight) than the tea you are replacing.
DRINKING KT
Remember that Kombucha is a powerful detoxifier. When you start using it, drink a small amount, and drink more water during the day. Perhaps start with 50 or 100 ml on the first day, and watch for any effects. Some people notice gas, stomach-ache, nausea, fatigue, pimples, rashes, diarrhoea, or a headache. These effects are temporary, normal, and the result of beneficial bacteria repopulating your gut, and the dislodging of toxins into your bloodstream. Additional water helps excrete these toxins through your liver and kidneys as quickly as possible. People with disease or severe toxic conditions may experience a healing crisis ifthey drink too much too soon.
There are as many ways of drinking KT as there are people who drink it. Some people have a 300 ml glass half an hour after rising in the morning. You can drink it mid-morning or mid-afternoon, or with meals. A lighter “champagne” or “wine” Kombucha makes a superb pre-meal aperitif, a stronger brew is more like a wine.
I feel that there are limits to the amount of KT you should drink. I have several friends who drink around 500 ml of KT per day, and have exceeded that quantity myself over the years. Over a period of years, large quantities can be hard on your liver, being such a potent detoxifying drink.
As a cancer treatment, and in treating specific ailments, KT has been used in quantities up to 2 litres per day, for up to 6 weeks. You can increase from your normal dose at the onset of an infection, or during stress, illness, or exposure to environmental toxins or radiation.
Children can drink Kombucha, in quantities adjusted for age or weight. You can also dilute itwith water.
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Kombucha should not be drunk during before or during pregnancy, because of the alcohol itcontains (up to 1%).
Diabetics should drink longer fermented sour teas, so that most of the sugar has been converted. Making the tea with less than 60 grams per litre will reduce many of its beneficial characteristics.
HISTORY
The earliest record of Kombucha seems to have been in 414 B.C. in Korea. It showed up in China in 221 B.C. during the Tsin Dynasty, and soon found its way into Japan, Russia and India. In Russia, itbecame established as an effective folk medicine in many rural communities.
After World War I, Russian researchers were looking at why cancer appeared to be on the increase in their country. They found that two particular areas of the country stood out like neon signs because they were almost cancer free. The people in these areas also lived longer, regardless of the fact that alcohol and tobacco consumption was higher there. They reported that the men of the region used to drink large quantities of Kombucha before their drinking bouts. This was the first modern scientific evidence that KT is indeed an immune system booster and body detoxifier. In the 1950’s itre- surfaced when Soviet doctors discovered whole communities that had apparently been protected from dangerous environmental pollution by KT.
KT became popular in Japan after World War I. Visitors to areas where the tea has been consumed for generations are surprised to see that the women are virtually unwrinkled, with few other visible signs of ageing. Samurai warriors used to keep KT cultures in field flasks, regularly topping them up with fresh tea and sugar. The tea is again widely used in Japan. Today, at least six million people around the world brew KT, and several times that number drink it.
WHAT ISKT?
The“mushroom” isajelly-likemembrane thatfloatsinanutrientsolutionof
tea and sugar exposed to oxygen. At the right temperature, it constantly
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multiplies. It first spreads over the entire surface of the tea and then it thickens. Itreproduces bya process ofcylindrical binary fission, unlike other yeasts that reproduce with spores. The membrane is a symbiosis of yeast cells and different bacteria. The principle yeast is the tropical Schizo saccharomycoses Pombe. Others varyingly include Saccharomyces Ludwigii, torula and apiculatis types, Pichia fermentans and Mycoderma. The principle bacteria include Bacterium xylinum, Bacterium gluconicum, Acetobacter ketogenum, and Acetobacteria xylinium, Brown xylinioides and Acetobacteria pasteurianum. There is some dispute as to what the KT mushroom is.Some microbiologists have argued that itisnot afungus, but a lichen. Others disagree, saying lichen is a symbiosis of algae and fungus and requires light to build chlorophyll by photosynthesis, a typical feature of algae. However, KT flourishes in the dark because it contains no algae components.
The KT culture transforms the tea into enzymes, vitamins and organic acids. The fermented mixture contains 0.5-1% alcohol, gluconic acid, glycuronic acid, L-lactic acid, acetic acid, carbonic acid, caprylic acid, citric acid, malic acid, usnic acid, vitamins Bl, B2, B3, B6 and B12 and C, folic acid, amino acids, and other substances with antibiotic, antiseptic and detoxifying characteristics.
Thekombucha culturedoesnotbreakdown thecaffeineinthetea.Ifyou want a low-caffeine kombucha, it is quite acceptable to make it with decaffeinated tea or green tea. Similarly, the oxalic acid in the tea you use remains in the KT brew. Yet another reason to use green tea, which has around one-fifth the level of oxalic acid as black tea.
BENEFITS
Most people feel better after a month of daily use, some sooner. The first improvement is usually increased energy, and better skin colour. Some serious disease conditions may take years to heal, depending on the person and many other factors. Kombucha has helped with a wide variety of acute and chronic conditions. I have read literally hundreds of enthusiastic emails
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from several KT email lists. People with difficult long-term illnesses such as arthritis, digestive disorders, high blood pressure, poor circulation, high cholesterol and cancer have finally found effective cures by using KT. Older people, many of whom doctors have been unable to help, have found relief for their ailments. In addition, Kombucha has also proved to be an effective aid for the alarming numbers of young people who are developing illnesses from poorly functioning immune systems, such as eczema, acne, allergies and chronic fatigue syndrome. KT has successfully treated a variety of cancers, sexual and menopausal problems, arthritis, rheumatism, cataracts and other cornea formations.
Metabolic Balance and Energy. Metabolic balancing is perhaps the most important function of Kombucha. This is one reason why it is not symptom specific — not always helping a specific immune-related illness, but rather targeting your weakness or imbalance. It does not affect specific organs in your body; instead, it influences your entire organism through metabolic stabilisation. You can see its strengthening effects through its influence on the liver, the blood, the digestive system, and the normalising of acidity or pH. KT invigorates and purifies the entire glandular system and metabolism. Itisan excellent preventative and maintenance tonic, increasing your energy level and protecting against or alleviating cancers.
KT will increase your stamina, and reduce muscle pain and fatigue. Some athletes requiring long endurance use it.
Pro-biotic. KT encourages the growth of beneficial bifida bacteria in your intestines, particularly those that produce lactic acid. Bifida are similar to acidophilus bacteria, the active organisms in live yoghurt. KT produces two organic acids, lactic acid and acetic acid, which accelerate this pro-biotic effect. Lactic acid is essential for healthy digestive action, and for energy production by the liver. Acetic acid is an antiseptic and inhibitor of pathogenic bacteria.
As KT is a “yeast” as well as a bacterial ferment, you may be inclined to avoid KT ifyou suffer from candida. However, Schizo saccharomycoses isa yeast that does not have spores and is therefore not in the family of candida,
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so it is antagonistic to the troublesome yeast that infects so many people. Experience shows that the yeasts found in the Kombucha culture do not stimulate the candida yeasts as they are of a different type; candida sufferers have therefore often found relief in taking Kombucha. Gluconic acid strengthens the walls of the gut, which combats yeast infections such as candida. KT helps with constipation, infectious diarrhoea, dysentery, digestion, nervous stomach, colitis, inflamed large and small intestines and ulcers.
Blood. KT has blood thinning qualities. If you prick your finger and bleed too freely, you may be drinking too much. Reduce or stop drinking ita week before surgery. Similarly, ifyou suffer from heavy periods, stop taking KT aweek beforehand.
Skin. KT improves your skin elasticity, tone and colour. It acts as a humectant (moisturiser). Most people using itreport a reduction of wrinkles, scarring, freckles, brown age spots and rashes. It has been used to treat psoriasis, eczema, acne, tropical ulcers, rashes, boils, warts, and many fungal infections like athletes foot and tinea (using creamed culture on the skin, dabbed on skin, or drinking the tea). It thickens your hair, and reduces grey hair and balding. KT speeds nail and hair growth
Detoxifier. Glycuronic acid (GA) binds toxins in your liver, and makes them water-soluble. Your kidneys then eliminate these toxins in your urine. People starting to drink KT show traces of environmental toxins such as lead andmercury intheirurine.Asadetoxifyingagent,GA hascome intoitsown today in our highly polluted world. It is one of the few agents that can cope with the poisonous products of the petroleum industry, including all the plastics, herbicides, pesticides and resins. It “kidnaps” the phenols in the liver which are then eliminated by the kidneys. Your intestines or urinary system cannot reabsorb toxins bound by GA. GA isalso abuilding block for connective tissue, cartilage, stomach lining, vitreous humour of the eye and heparin.
Another by-product of GA is glucosamine, used in the structures associated with cartilage, collagen and the fluids that lubricate the joints.
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Collagen reduces wrinkles, while arthritis sufferers have their deficient cartilage and joint fluids replenished.
Antibiotic. The antibiotic properties, primarily from the usnic acid, only develop after the 7'* or 8t* day. They also require a brewing temperature above 23°C. The acetic acid bacteria produced are strongly antagonistic to streptococci, diplococci, flexner and shigella.
Acidity Balance. Your metabolism depends on an acid-alkaline balance that constantly responds to the food that you eat, the air you breathe, and to your emotional state. Your body has a remarkable balancing system that maintains different organs at the pH level each requires for optimum health. Toxins make both cells and organs more acid. Kombucha’s acids are able to bind to many toxins, which are then flushed out through the liver and kidneys. Kombucha is a valuable restorative of liver function, and treatment for kidney and liver stones.
Mental. KT combats depression. When a KT website sent out a questionnaire to its members, 81% of over 400 respondents reported a “feeling of well being.” Usually, they noticed this improvement within the first couple of weeks after beginning to drink Kombucha Tea. Those that had been drinking itfor years still reported this benefit.
If drunk immediately before retiring to sleep, KT helps some people go to sleep, and keeps others awake. Itwould seem logical that a tart, low sugar brew would be best for insomnia. Many people who drink Kombucha have reported vivid dreams.
KEFIR
efir is a refreshing, probiotic cultured milk drink that originated in the
|eae CaucasusMountainsmanycenturiesago.Ithasathick creamy sticky consistency, tastes a little like yogurt, and has a milky, yeasty smell. Many aromatic compounds contribute to its unique flavour and distinctive pleasant aroma. Kefir has a slight natural carbonated effervescence, and contains between 0.08 - 2 % alcohol.
Unlike yogurt, kefir contains around thirty strains of bacteria and yeast,
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including /actobacillus bacteria. The culture comes in translucent balls called grains, though these grains have nothing to do with any kind of cereal. They are a complex bio-matrix structure of soluble gel-polysaccharide, organic acids, yeasts and bacteria. This polysaccharide called kefiran is made from two mono-saccharides, glucose and galactose in almost equal proportions.
Kefir grains are remarkably tough, resilient and adaptive. They stay alive when kept in a refrigerator, though freezing will destroy them. Ifyou want to consume kefir every day, keep the brew at room temperature. If you put the brew in your refrigerator, it will slow the brewing process or even “hibernate”. Keep itin a sealed container.
Kefir is unlike other dairy products, because it is easily digestible and contains little sugar (lactose), especially if you let it ferment for a longer period. The proteins in the milk are also broken down, and are virtually in a pre-digested state. I sometimes drink it on its own, as a meal in itself, and a source of protein. You can combine itwith fruit or muesli, or use itto make a smoothie. It makes a good starter for sourdough breads, cakes, and all forms of baking. If, like most people, you have a damaged digestive system, a glass of kefir is a soothing and healing product. You may find that during the hours after drinking it,your stomach feels settled and stable.
Kefir has anti-tumour properties, preventing the development of metastasis. It is an anti-inflammatory and is an excellent stimulant for your immune system. The grains produce their own antibiotics. Kefir is rich in minerals and vitamins, particularly the B group. Kefir slows the ageing process. Ithas many healing properties, helping with heart and artery disease, lowering cholesterol levels and regulating blood pressure. It assists your digestive system, healing the liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, gall bladder and stomach ulcers, and soothing your digestive and urinary tracts.
You make Kefir by placing 1-2 tablespoons of kefir grains in 1 cup (250 ml) of milk, and leaving itto ferment for 24-48 hours at a temperature of 18- 30°C (longer period at lower temperatures). You can eat itright away or store itin a glass jar, not more than % full. Put a lid on the jar, and tighten itifyou want kefir with a slight fizz. You can use pasteurised, raw milk, full cream or
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low fat milk. Traditionally it is made with raw un-homogenised milk, and that is what makes the best kefir and is by far the most nutritious and digestible.
After fermentation, fish the kefir grains out of the liquid, and use them to start your next brew. You can consume the liquid right away or store itin the refrigerator for later use.
Try not to expose kefir to metal, especially metals other than stainless steel. Do not use a metal spoon, metal sieve or metal containers. I use a plastic sieve and spoons, and glass containers. |
There is no need to wash the kefir grains between each brew - this may even damage them. Some people give their grains a “rest” in filtered water between once a week and once every few months. This rest can be 12-24 hours, and the water produced is a nourishing drink.
If you don’t want to make kefir for a month or two, cover the grains with milk or kefir in a sealed container, and put itin the fridge. When you get back the brew might be a bit cheesy and quite strong, but itshould be nourishing and the grains will resurrect when they are again in milk at room temperature.
Secondary Fermentation. This is the traditional or “no-fridge” method of storing kefir. You can bottle the liquid and store itat room temperature for up to one week. This will cause secondary fermentation, and the kefir will be fizzy. It will have higher levels of folic acid, alcohol (but less than 2%) and B group vitamins. The secondary fermentation will consume most of the remaining lactose in the kefir, making itsuitable for lactose intolerant people, or those who need to watch their sugar intake (e.g. diabetics). The longer you leave it,the sourer its taste.
Fill the bottle only *% full. Release the build-up of CO2 gas daily, and give the bottle a gentle shake at least once a day. The agitation is necessary to mix the yeast colonies back into the kefir and prevent mould developing. You can pour out kefir to use at any time, or top itup with fresh kefir made that day —as an ongoing storage method.
Kefir Grains. The kefir grains vary in size from the size of a pea to that
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of a golf ball. They can take from days to months to double in size. They are also highly nutritious, though they are a bit rubbery and have little flavour. You can search for a source on the internet, or check www.growyouthful.com, which also has links to other sites where you can read up on kefir’s history, properties, brewing and recipes.
REJUVELAC
ou can make this living, enzyme rich drink by soaking sprouted whole
NVee oatorbarleygrainsinwater.Thetasteissubtle,aliveand slightly tart. The first batch is sweet and grassy flavoured, subsequent batches become weaker and more acidic.
Drink itas a digestive aid, a detoxifier, and use itas a “starter” for other fermented foods such as raw nut and seed sauces, cheeses and essene breads. Some people use the spent grains to make essene bread.
It contains eight of the B vitamins, vitamins E and K, and a variety of proteins, dextrines, carbohydrates, phosphates, saccharines and amylases. It is rich in enzymes that assist both your digestion, and the growth of friendly bacteria such as lactobacillus bifidus. Lactobacillus produces a lactic acid that helps your colon maintain its natural, vitamin producing facility. It also helps cleanse your intestinal tract.
To make Rejuvelac, soak a cup of wheat grains (berries) overnight after washing them well and discarding any dead or discoloured seeds. Change the water 2-3 times per day. After the grains sprout, and the sprouts are about the same length as the grains, put them in a tall container and cover them (plus 25%) with spring or filtered water. Keep the container in a quiet dark place. After two days, pour off the first batch of Rejuvelac.
Add a similar amount of water to the sprouts, and pour off your second batch after another 24-48 hours. You can repeat this process 2 — 4 times, with each batch a little different, but eventually getting weak and insipid.
Warmer temperatures in summer will decrease the fermenting times by as much as a third. You can experiment with other whole grains, such as millet, oats, rice, barley, rye and buckwheat.
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EMTM (EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS)
n the early 1960’s a Japanese professor of horticulture Dr Teruo Higa!!9,
|frasesacombinationofmicroorganismsthathaveanextraordinary effect on soil, water, plants, animals and people. He named them Effective MicroorganismsTM.
There are two opposing forces in nature — the life force (syn-entropy) that organises and builds, and is responsible for wholeness, health and vitality. The opposing force (entropy) isthat of decay, destruction, pollution, sickness and ultimately death. The driving power behind both these life forces is some of the tiniest life forms known — bacteria, yeasts and fungi.
If you examine a sample of soil, you can see which of the two forces is in control. When anabiotic or regenerative types of microorganisms predominate, the plants growing in itwill be healthy, pest and disease free. The soil will steadily improve without the use of chemical fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides. If degenerative or pathogenic microorganisms dominate, the soil produces weak, sickly plants afflicted with severe pest infestation, where any growth requires the support of agricultural chemicals and artificial fertilizers.
Using EM, Dr Higo has multiplied agricultural yields many times, all without the use of artificial chemicals or fertilizers. Adding EM to degenerate soil rapidly turns itaround. Itpromotes a healthy balance of microorganisms and insects, eliminating those that previously had a harmful dominance, and converting their residues into healthy compost.
EM has a regenerative energy. Dr Higa believes they change the sub- atomic particles of whatever they are in contact with, enhancing and transforming their energy patterns.
EM ismade from between eight and 100 lactic acid bacteria, purple non- sulphur bacteria (PNSB) and yeasts, depending upon the source. The lactic acid bacteria and the yeasts are beneficial organisms widely found in fermented foods and in the GI tract of healthy humans and animals. The lactic acid bacteria include Jactobacillus plantarum, lactobacillus casei, lactobacillus fermentum, lactobacillus salivarius and lactobacillus
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delbrueckii. The yeast issaccharomyces cerevisiae. The PNSB consists of the rhodobacter capsulatus, rhodobacter sphaeroides, rhodospeudomonas
palustris and rhodospirillium families. PNSB are widely dispersed in soil, plant leaves and roots, ponds, streams, salt-water marshes, ocean shores, snow, ice, freshwater fish, aged and fermented cheeses, and rainwater.
EM eats almost anything — vegetable and animal waste products and materials of all kinds, and toxic chemical wastes. They break them down using reductive (anti-oxidant) mechanisms rather than the more common oxidative putrefying decay mechanisms used by many other organisms. PNSBs convert the waste and toxins into water, nutrients and various anti- oxidants. EM also generates beneficial amino acids, organic acids, polysaccharides and vitamins. EM can help turn any type of soil, deserts included, into good, arable land capable of producing harvests several times greater than the current yield.
When using EM in an organic garden, you do not need to compost or add animal manure in the traditional way. You simply add EM to cut weeds and grasses, which are turned into fertiliser. Other chemicals and toxins in the soil are also broken down.
Where land has previously been used for conventional chemical farming, the EM actually eats the pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals in the soil, including dangerous dioxins and PCBs. Over a period of three to four years, farmers can convert from chemical to organic farming. Pleasingly, farmers do not suffer the crop reduction usually experienced during a transition.®>
The applications for EM are widespread:
Agriculture and food production. EM is creating a new type of biological farming with increased yields, soil improvement, rehabilitation, relatively easy conversion from conventional chemical farming, and efficient farming on a small scale.
Pollution and environment. Microbes are one of the most powerful aids to detoxification. They continually mutate and adapt, and after a few years exposed to the most potent toxins, are often able to break them down.
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Bacteriologists visit old toxic waste sites and military dumps in search of new strainsofbacterialivingoffthecontaminants inthesoil.EM iseffective in breaking down toxins without the need for this initial adaptation. EM is used to reclaim polluted rivers, ponds and waterways. It is suitable for sewage treatment, consuming the harmful organisms that grow in sewage. EM breaks down the toxins responsible for serious soil and environmental pollution. EM has neutralised the radiation in the soil around parts of Chernobyl, measurably showing that plants, animals and humans do not take up radioactive particles.8> |
EM isused as an anti fungal spray inhouses, on lawns, and inagriculture. It is used as a dishwashing and cleaning agent, to remove all sorts of odours in the home and in agriculture, as an additive to baths and hot tubs, and as an effective composting and anti odour agent in eco-toilets.
Health and medical. EM acts at physical, mental and spiritual levels. The syntropic effect builds and repairs cells, improves your digestion, removes toxins, reverses the ageing process and raises your life force.
The beneficial flora in our gut does a large part of the digestion of the foods we eat. These flora are built up over our entire lives, starting with the bacteria in our mother’s milk, continuing with hands on the ground, in the mouth and everywhere else as a toddler, and persisting throughout most adult’s lives with the bacteria and fungi present on all raw natural foods and drinks.
Unfortunately, the gut flora of most modern humans is grossly unbalanced due to the sterility of the foods we eat and the water we drink. Processed foods, the chlorination of water, the widespread use of antibiotics and antimicrobials, and the obsession that many people have with cleanliness has severely damaged the balance of microorganisms inside most people. Modern humans have far too few beneficial microbes and an overabundance of less-desirable microbes that thrive in oxidizing environments. Allergies, asthma, digestive problems, immune and other degenerative diseases are the result.
The fermented and living foods recommended in Grow Youthful help
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People who drink EM products are able to more easily digest a variety of foods, and have a good level of protection from pathological bacteria. I hear of numerous cases of such people travelling in India, Indonesia and other countries where water may be tainted with raw sewage, and street vendors have no idea of modern hygiene. Westerners drinking EM products who partake of the local food and water are protected in the same way as the local inhabitants. This is in contrast to the diarrhoea and even dysentery suffered by most westerners who eat these foods.
EM is also used to brew drinks with high levels of anti-oxidants and other nutrients. Some drinks can boost the immune system, neutralise free radicals, and shift toxins out of your body.
Where to get EM products. You can purchase an EM culture from suppliers in most western countries; the quality can vary considerably. Most cultures are sold for horticulture, agriculture, animal food and care, sewage and drinking water treatment, and pollution and ecological recovery, rather than human consumption. However, many people are experimenting, brewing different drinks using EM cultures. The Grow Youthful web site www.growyouthful.com includes EM resources and links.
Some people attempt to duplicate a valid EM culture at home. Using a recipe for an EM extender, they hope to reproduce it. Unfortunately, these extender brews do not duplicate the complete range of microorganisms that were in the original EM culture — they only include those that reproduce in the conditions of that particular brew. Some ofthe cheap EM cultures sold on the internet may be brewed in this manner.
restore this balance of beneficial microorganisms. Drinking an EM brew helpswiththerestorationofyourdigestivesystem.TheEM repopulatesyour digestive system and particularly your large intestine with natural and beneficial microorganisms. People drinking EM products grow more robust and healthy. Those who are underweight manage to gain weight easily. Those who are overweight are less chronically hungry.
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SLEEP AND REST
Sc isoneofyouth’ssecrets.Ithasadirecteffectonyourvitalityand
rejuvenation. If you get regular and sufficient deep sleep, your nervous and digestive systems greatly benefit, and you will enjoy a high level of vitality and energy. You will be more likely to digest your food fully, providing a base for good health.
Sleep is the time when your body detoxifies, and your tissues repair and grow. When you sleep, and even when you rest, toxic waste products are processedandeliminatedatalllevels,fromsubcellulartobodyHeh
During sleep, your ego-driven mind takes a rest, and instead your brain processes, connects and stores the images and experiences you had during the day.
Most adults need between six and eight hours of sleep per day, and children need more. Excessive sleep is as detrimental as getting too little. With too much sleep, you will feel physically and mentally sluggish, and it can even lead to depression.
If you adopt the life changes suggested in Grow Youthful, you will need less sleep. Just a few hours of deep sleep, combined with meditation and a midday nap, can provide sufficient for optimal health. Each individual is different, so you will have to find what suits you.
Make your sleep pattern a part of your daily routine. Animals instinctively go to sleep when the sun is at the same position each day. Humans have this instinct too, but most choose to ignore it. We sleep best during the night, when the sun is down, and wake up naturally early in the morning, just before the sun rises. Virtually all long-lived disciplines and traditional ethnic groups keep to such a cycle. The Taoist masters, and people from the Hunza and Abkhazian regions enjoy superb health and many centenarians. They typically go to sleep after the sun sets, and wake before sunrise. As the hours of darkness contract and extend during winter and summer, they adjust their bedtime accordingly. The important point is that
they keep a regular routine, and do not work late into the night, long after the sun has set, only to wake late in the morning after the sun has been up for
shy)
some time.
Many cultures, particularly the Mediterraneans, have a sleep or rest in the
middle of the day. Irecommend this, especially in the summer in hot climates when the sun is strong and harsh around midday. Half an hour of sleep or a catnap in the middle of the day is worth an hour of sleep at night, so it is an efficient use of your time. Taking off that time after your lunch is part of a relaxed and natural lifestyle.
Convention has itthat older people need less sleep than younger people do. Growing children certainly need more sleep. However, older adults need as much sleep as young adults if they are operating at the same level of physical and mental fitness and activity.3°8
Sondra Ray?’4 describes how some people, particularly those who are fifty years old or more, find that they wake up at four or five in the morning. They worry that they “can’t sleep” and sometimes take sleeping pills. What isactually happening isthat they are coming into their spiritual age, and they have no sleeping problem at all. They should be working and using that time for spiritual endeavour.
You get tired after a long period of work, physical exercise, or stress. A build-up of toxic acid wastes causes the fatigue in your limbs or throughout your body. The activity generates the waste products more quickly than the disposal mechanisms can get rid of them. When you rest, the toxins are discarded faster than they are generated.
Sleeping Tips. Here are a couple of ways to ensure you quickly fall to sleep, and then have continual deep and restful sleep.
* Try not to eat for at least four hours before going to bed. Detoxifying processes use large amounts of energy during your sleep, and you do not want to sabotage them by diverting energy to your digestive system. In addition, ifyou eat soon before sleeping, your food will not be fully digested, and a slow or partial digestive process will continue while you sleep. You will wake with a full and sluggish feeling. Incompletely digested food breeds harmful bacteria, and builds up toxic waste in your intestines. Your digestion needs a rest as well as the rest of your body.
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* Sleep in a well-ventilated room. With sleep being a detoxifying process, you want the most clean, oxygen rich, ionised air possible. Ideally, sleep out in the fresh air. If you live in a polluted city or cold climate this may not be possible, but ensure that a window is open to allow fresh air in and the removal of stale air.
* The temperature in your room should be comfortable but cool for the best sleep.
* Sleep on a firm mattress, and use a small, firm, low pillow. Mostly, lie on your back with your arms stretched alongside your body. The mattress should be on the floor, or on a solid base. If you are used to a soft mattress, for the first few days of sleeping on a firm mattress you may feel muscle and spinal pain. Soft, sagging mattresses and high pillows do considerable harm to your posture and spinal alignment. In addition to back problems, spinal misalignment can affect your liver, and indirectly, your general health.
¢ Try to drink your last drink at least 30-60 minutes before going to bed. Allow enough time for liquids to pass through before you retire, so you do not have to get up during the night to urinate.
¢ Avoid caffeine and alcohol for several hours before you go to sleep. Caffeine is a stimulant, which keeps you awake, and a diuretic, which stimulates the flow of urine. Alcohol may relax you, and help you get to sleep, but it is a drug-assisted sleep that does not revitalise and cleanse your body.
* Avoid sweet foods in the evening or late afternoon. I have noticed that eating dried fruit, in particular raisins and Goji berries, keeps me awake at night.
+Experiment with when you eat your proteins. Many people find that eating proteins for breakfast or lunch is OK, whereas proteins consumed after 2-3 pm disrupts their sleep. Proteins eaten after 2-3 pm can interfere with your liver’s ability to cleanse your blood and process wastes while you are sleeping. Sleep is a time of cleansing, not protein digestion. You will have difficulty properly digesting and completely metabolising proteins consumed
less than 7-8 hours before going to sleep. Proteins are acidifying, whereas
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you will sleep better with alkaline, oxygen-rich foods for dinner. Other people find the opposite.
* Drink a small cup of sour yogurt or kefir, or a small glass of kombucha before going to bed. You will have to experiment as everybody is different. The important point is not to consume too much and impose on your digestive system. One or two spoons of yogurt or fifty ml of kombucha may be sufficient.
* Exercise has a positive effect on deep sleep. If you are fit, you will have better circulation, resulting in more efficient detoxification during your sleep. However, exercise is a stimulant, so do not exercise less than an hour before retiring.
* Do not take B vitamins late at night, as they may keep you awake.
¢Ifyou are using mineral supplements (especially calcium and magnesium), take them in the evening. They help you get a night of deep sleep.
* Taoists and yogis say that your head should face to the north for a good sleep. This aligns your body with the earth’s magnetic field.
* Take a warm bath before going to bed. The heat relaxes your muscles, which in turn relaxes your mind.
* Several herbs such as valerian, vervain, chamomile, skullcap and passiflora can assist with sleep. They are quite subtle and may need a week or two to show their effect. Discontinue their use after a few months.
BATHING, SAUNAS
eople have sought hot baths since the ancient Egyptian and Assyrian
| ea, orevenearlier.AncientRomancultureandarchitecturewas based around water and baths. In the last millennium, the Japanese, Eastern Europeans and Scandinavians have made bathing an important part of their culture. The Greeks, Germans, Eskimos, Irish, Mexicans, Mayans, North American Indians, Romans, Russians, Slavs and Turks all have a history of some form of perspiration bathing. Mineral hot springs have been popular for centuries, for relaxation and healing. Today, we expect access to hot and cold water as part of normal life.
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Humans instinctively know that bathing in water is therapeutic. Each of us spent nine months suspended in fluid before birth.
Water:
* reconnects us with that state of nirvana. Hot baths are pleasurable, relaxing and have a spiritual dimension. Sondra Ray says, “The convenient availability ofhot running water inalmost every house has done more for the spiritual evolution of our civilization than all the churches and metaphysical groups put together....°37B
* washes your skin, removing the toxins eliminated through your body’s largest organ.
* stimulates your sense of touch. Splashing water on your face or wetting your hands or any other part of your body rouses your skin and adrenal glands in a way that nothing else can.
*warm water opens your pores, relaxes your nervous system and stimulates blood circulation by dilating your blood vessels. A larger volume of blood than normal then circulates near your skin. Ifyou follow itwith ashort cold shower, it contracts your surface blood vessels and sends the warm blood
back into your deeper tissues.
Cold water closes your pores and stimulates your nervous system. The
combination of hot and cold improves your skin tone, and gives ita younger healthier appearance. If you have a warm bath or shower finished with cool water, itcan increase your peripheral blood circulation, stimulate your entire nervous system including the brain and spine, increase body metabolism and stimulate your immune system.
Cold Water has a rejuvenating effect on your skin. Splash your face with cool water twice a day, and always finish off a shower with thirty seconds of comfortably cold water. Keep this up throughout your life, and your skin will look many years younger.
Use as little soap as possible — only when you need to remove grease or intractable dirt on your skin. The idea of lathering your whole body with soap every day is harmful and wasteful. Your skin contains natural oils and
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bacteria that are beneficial. Most parts of your body need no more than water to wash. Ifyou suffer from skin inflammation, you may find that abandoning the soap will help considerably. The best kind of soap is one that does not dry your skin. It should be slightly acid, in balance with your skin, which has an acid pH. The best soaps are free from deodorants, perfumes or other additives, and are made from simple ingredients that you can understand, like olive oil, cocoa butter or glycerine.
Skin oils. If you suffer from eczema, psoriasis, hives, dermatitis or other skin inflammations, obviously you need to address the root cause. Likely causes are the thrust of this whole book. However, you can often get relief or even a cure by using oil on your skin. You will need to experiment to find which type of oil is most effective for your particular skin. Usually the cheapest and most effective for eczema is castor oil. Apply a thin layer every day, or even twice a day. Leave iton for at least an hour. Wipe itoff with a tissue or soft cloth, rather than washing itoff. Other oils that can be effective in treating skin inflammations are coconut oil and rosehip oil.
The traditional Yoga approach to bathing uses cool water only. First, you do some exercise to warm your body — a yoga session, a brisk walk, or some other activity that will raise your pulse, breathing and body temperature. You are then ready to take a shower or bathe in cool water. It should be cool, but not cold to the point where it is unpleasant. You may find over the months that you can adapt to colder water, but let this happen naturally. Rub your body vigorously with your hands, and breathe deeply. After a short wash, you can again rub yourself with your hands before drying. Dress warmly. You will feel rejuvenated and good all day.
The more modern approach to revitalising bathing does not first require you to exercise to warm your body. First, take a hot shower or bath for a few minutes. Follow it with gentle, cool water for half a minute. The idea is to cool the surface of your skin, but no deeper. Dry, dress warmly, and then spend a few minutes doing light exercise. The effect should be similar to that ofYoga bathing.
Spa baths and hot tubs offer a bathing experience in warm to hot water,
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typically under 40°C. Spas are usually made of plastic or acrylic, and are easy to clean. Tubs are typically made of wood, and have a warm look, feel and ambience. However, they are more difficult to clean, and tend to leak if allowed to dry out. Tubs and spas require good water hygiene, ideally using ultraviolet light, hydrogen peroxide, effective microorganisms (EM), colloidal silver or ozone. Unfortunately chemicals and disinfectants such as chlorine are usually used, which negate their health aspects.
Saunas, sweatlodges, hot spas, baths and tubs are all means of raising your skin temperature, dilating your blood capillaries, increasing your heart rate and having a good sweat. Sweat carries out excess salt, along with other minerals, wastes and toxins. Chemically, sweat is similar to urine. Regular sweating takes some of the load off your liver and kidneys. Saunas are an effective treatment for the removal of toxins stored in lipid tissue (your fat).12
Ensure you drink enough to replace your fluids after sweating. If you want to drink whilst in the sauna, you may achieve the best detoxifying effects by sipping a warm weak green or herbal tea.
In Finland, the sauna is an integral part of their life, providing not only physical, but also mental and spiritual cleansing. Some Finns rank the sauna in holiness with the church, and regard the sauna stove as an altar. Most homes and apartments have a sauna. The Finns alternate between dry and wet heat in their saunas. The dry heat is at a low humidity of around 10%, and a higher temperature (70°C-100°C). They then douse water on the stove or rocks, raising the humidity to 30% or more, and lowering the temperature to less than 50°C. They may have several 10-minute cycles of wet and dry, finishing each with a plunge into cold water or snow outside.
Some people prefer the dry heat; others find itcan irritate their eyes or nasal passages. You can bear higher temperatures in dry heat. Steam is more enveloping; you sweat more and really feel the heat. If you have never done a sauna before, start gently and gradually increase the temperature over the weeks.
If you remain in a hot sauna for a long period, and continually breathe
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deeply, you will raise your body temperature. This is something you should only do under experienced supervision. Normally your body will regulate its internal temperature, but over a period of an hour, it can rise considerably. This is a self-induced artificial fever. Fever is a natural body response to viral infections or toxins. It will burn waste products and eliminate them through your skin, and raise your metabolism. The increased temperature will destroy a high proportion of the viruses in your body, and inhibit the further growth of invading viruses and bacteria. Some doctors routinely try to bring down the temperature of a fever with drugs, but unless the temperature is dangerously high, this simply counters nature’s cure.
High temperatures also stimulate your glandular and immune systems. Saunas have a positive effect on simple infections, arthritis, allergies, congestion, headaches, skin disorders, insomnia and cancer.
I have witnessed sick people enter a sweatlodge and emerge much improved. They are particularly effective with viral infections, and throat and lung infections. Check with your doctor before doing a sauna and especially a sweatlodge, particularly ifyou have high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease. Young children should not be subjected to high temperatures, as their heat regulating mechanisms are not fully developed and their skin and organs are more sensitive.
A sweatlodge is based on a North American Indian tradition. The participants sit in a circle inside a tepee or tent, in which a pile of rocks in the centre of the tent has been heated beforehand. One person leads the sweatlodge, splashing water on the rocks to generate steam, also burning herbs, grasses and oils on the rocks, and leading the chanting by the group. The sweatlodge is probably the hottest of all the “sauna” traditions — the chanting is necessary to force continued deep breathing by the participants. The deep breathing and long periods in the tent (one to two hours) raises the entire body temperature, not just the skin. This has the effect of a high fever, and is immensely cleansing. On exiting the tent, a cold swim or even a cold garden hose is necessary to lower your body temperature. You also need to drink enough water to replace the lost fluids. A sweatlodge is not a gentle
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activity Ihave done ina short period.
BODYWORK
n the late 1940’s the psychiatrist Rene Spitz discovered that more than
|Feeofbabiesatorphanagesdiedintheirfirstyear,eventhoughtheyhad sufficient food, clothing, housing and medical care. They succumbed because they were denied the human essential of touch, love and communication.
The sheer pleasure of any touch and connection is a wonderful antidote to stress. A loving touch, stroke or hug is something we all need, every day. Massage, as a calming and healing form of touch, is a great stress reducer.
A skilled massage affects all aspects of your being — your body, mind and spirit — and can be deeply relaxing and transforming. Itgives you some of the benefits of exercise, and several benefits of its own. Of course, a massage is in no way a substitute for exercise, which is one of the pillars of longevity.
Massage and other forms of bodywork can help to move acid wastes that have accumulated in your body. The massaged area warms up, muscles and lymph nodes are manipulated, and movement occurs through lymph vessels. A deep massage can release a high level of wastes, causing muscle soreness. The therapist should assess the patient’s level of toxic accumulation, and decide on the level of work accordingly. It is a good idea to drink water during or after the massage, to help flush out the wastes.
Alexander Technique focuses on your posture — particularly your head, neck and spine. AShakespearean actor named Frederick Matthias Alexander, who was having trouble projecting his voice, developed itaround 1900. He could converse normally, but onstage his voice lost its power. When doctors were unable to help, he spent hours performing in front of a triple mirror, closely examining his posture. When he corrected his head, neck and spine,
practise that you do every few days; I restrict them to once every few weeks. It is also a cathartic spiritual experience — a strong meditation, a state of no- mind, and a confrontation of your deep fears. I have found sweatlodges to be the most physically, mentally and spiritually demanding and cleansing
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his acting voice took on a new power.
Today the Alexander technique is most popular among actors, singers,
dancers, musicians and other performers. It uses exercise and gentle manipulation to undo the rigidity of adult muscles and posture, and regain the physical flexibility of children. In a session, you actively participate as you are guided through a series of movements while walking, sitting, standing and talking.
Practitioners claim that itreduces back pain, eliminates learning blocks, improves posture, and assists with both awareness and relaxation.
Feldenkrais. Moshe Feldenkrais was born in Russia in 1919. He worked for the British Admiralty during World War II in nuclear radiation research and anti-submarine technology. He was also a cartographer, a mechanical engineer, an educator and a black belt in judo. Plagued by injured knees from a sports injury after the war, he studied neurophysiology, physics and neuropsychology while searching for an answer. His outcome was a complete healing, rather than the orthopaedic surgery his doctors had urged upon him.
His gentle training program improves flexibility, range of motion, coordination and function. Impressive results have been obtained with people suffering from neuromuscular disorders such as strokes, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. Older people with rigid and inflexible bodies report easier and fuller movement, and improved coordination.
Depending on your needs, your instructor guides you through a series of simple movements, repeated several times. They might ask you, “What is your right shoulder doing as you perform this movement? Is it stooping forwards, or tilting to the left?” You quickly become aware of poor posture and restrictive movements. The technique retrains, and even restructures your nervous system, bypassing damaged areas. Nervous or psychological blockages are reintegrated into new patterns of movement. You can later continue practicing the movements without the instructor. In essence, the Feldenkrais method aims to bring you to what he called functional integration — rejuvenating both your body and your psyche.
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Rolfing. This deep bodywork concentrates on your fascia — the connective tissue between your muscle and bone. Healthy fascia is moist, flexible and mobile, whereas chronic stress, toxicity and inactivity cause itto thicken, harden and lose itsmobility. This iswhat ishappening when you feel a knot in a neck or shoulder muscle.
A Rolfing program consists of ten one or two hour sessions, during which the practitioner uses deep pressure from fingers, palms and elbows to open up tense points. It is not a technique for the faint-hearted, as getting into the fascia’s knots can be temporarily painful. However, itisan effective method of releasing repressed material in parts of your body, such as stored fear, anger and resentment. A good practitioner can transform these holding patterns of bad posture and chronic pain, and bring your stored emotions to the surface. You will feel rejuvenated, both physically and psychologically. Your carriage will be more erect, and your body movements smoother and more relaxed.
Trager. Milton Trager was a doctor, acrobat, boxing trainer and follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who brought Ayurvedic medicine to America. In this approach, the practitioner rhythmically rocks, cradles, bounces and moves your body over a sixty to ninety minute session. Trager uses light touchandfinemovements tohelpyoufeelwhatitisliketomove freelyand effortlessly. This gentle approach restores your sense of balance, both physically and emotionally. As well as being deeply relaxing, itreduces pain, loosens your joints and increases their range of movement. By building new connections between the nervous system and muscles, itishelpful for people with neuromuscular disorders such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries, as well as a range of other diseases such as asthma, autism and polio.
Others. There are hundreds of different forms of bodywork available. Shiatsu is a traditional Japanese healing art that comes in many different forms. It is concerned with your body’s energy flows, so most of the work focuses on your back and neck. The practitioner uses fingers, elbows, palms, arms and even feet to stretch, press and hold your body. Regular Shiatsu
362
sessions feel great, and help to maintain your energy and relieve stress pains and nervous disorders.
Watsu is a water-based therapy, where the practitioner holds you while in a warm pool. Your body is gently manipulated and glided through a series of flowing movements. You also develop new breathing techniques and a high level of trust in the practitioner. The warm weightlessness and incredibly long periods you find yourself effortlessly holding your breath are deeply relaxing, and put you in touch with your body.
Chiropractic medicine and osteopathy focus on spinal misalignments. Acupuncture is an extensive health care system developed over 2300 years. It stimulates the nervous system, releases hormones, and works with
subtle energy channels throughout the body. It is an effective treatment for many problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia, resolving aches and pains, reducing inflammation and scar tissue, and boosting the immune system.
SKIN BRUSHING
Get yourself a natural vegetable or hog bristle brush, preferably with a long handle. You can brush virtually all your skin each day, with the exception of the most sensitive parts — your eyelids, nipples and genitals. The best time to brush is before you bath or shower, after which you can wash away the loose skin and debris dislodged by the brushing. Dry skin brushing assists with the removal of toxins from your skin by stimulating your capillaries, oil and sweat glands, and scouring dirt and dry and encrusted skin and oil. It acts as a massage for lymphatic stimulation. Moreover, it feels great! Many European doctors recommend finishing with a cold shower, starting for ten seconds, and increasing over the weeks to thirty seconds as you get used to it.Itmakes your body feel alive and tingling, and stimulates your immune system. People who have done this over the seasons say that they have fewer instances of colds and ‘flu.
An alternative is wet brushing in the shower or bath with an abrasive flannel. Your grandparents probably used a flannel when they took a wash.
363
The abrasiveness of the cloth does a far better cleaning job than your hands, lifting off dead skin flakes and opening pores.
TONGUE SCRAPING
When I wake up every morning, the first thing I do after getting out of bed isscrape my tongue. Ido itbefore cleaning my teeth, and before my saliva starts to flow.
You can use a special tongue scraper, or a spoon. Scrape it across the back, top and sides of your tongue three or four times, and spit out the thick waste accumulated during the night. You can buy or make a tongue scraper —a U shaped metal tape that you hold with two hands and pull along the length of your tongue.
You will be surprised by how much thick, mucus waste you scrape off. Whilst this is a minor part of your daily routine, the few seconds that ittakes are well worthwhile, and help with your detoxification.
364
TOP ANTI-AGEING TIPS
*Your mind has the greatest effect on your body. Thankfully and lovingly hold a picture in your imagination of the body you want.
* Banish the ageing expectations of those around you.
* Relax and enjoy your life. Getting serious about following the rules is not healthy.
* Follow your gut instincts, feelings and instantaneous first impressions. *Friends — enjoy them and spend time with them. Love them, laugh and play with them. Be generous with and thankful for your friends. Choose friends who are as positive as you are.
* Meditate. Experiment with different methods, and discover what suits you. * Do whatever you need to do to feel a sense of worth in life, that you have something to contribute to others.
¢ Live in the moment. Enjoy this minute. And the next. And the next........ * Go slowly and gently when making the changes to your life recommended in Grow Youthful. Be sensitive to your body’s needs and responses.
*Take totalresponsibility forevery aspect ofyour life—what you need todo to enjoy the life you really want.
* Do not overeat! You should never feel over-full, bloated, or wish that you had had less.
* Do load bearing (isotonic) exercise a minimum of twice a week, lifting weights or pushing against resistance.
* Walk virtually every day for at least thirty minutes. Walk everywhere you can.
* Drink at least 1.5 litres of clean, mineral-rich water every day.
*Eliminate allfoods made with sugar and flour.
¢ Eliminate “bad” oils and thrive on “good” oils.
* Food. The key words are fresh, ripe-picked, local, in season, raw, organic and free-range.
* Experiment with super foods and herbs, nature’s micronutrient supplements.
*Practise deep breathing.
365
* Doctors — look for a holistic doctor who will listen to you, take your full history, and spend time with you. Ideally, he or she should also have a background in nutrition, naturopathy and herbs. Stay clear of “production line” doctors who typically spend less than ten minutes with patients and usually write them a prescription.
* Get off drugs and medications. Usually a natural food or herb is more effective, longer lasting, and has no side effects. Of course, do this with the cooperation of your doctor — ifyou can find such an enlightened practitioner.
What I have shared with you in this book are some of my most precious insights. You may be thinking, “That all sounds great, but I'll never be able todoallthis.My bodyisnotwhatitusedtobe.”Iwantyoutoknow thatby reading Grow Youthful you have already taken the first step to an extraordinary life. As you start to practise the wisdom in this book, your worldwillchange.My lifeisinconceivablydifferenttowhatitwastenyears ago, richer and more satisfying. Ifind iteasier to accept the world as itis,and people as they are, while still having a vision of living in a higher civilisation. I hope that what I have shared with you will open the door to your becoming a new breed of human being — long lived, strong, energetically healthy, mature, indulging in the moment, and joyful.
366
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Abkhazia 2, 351 accepting 45 acesulfame 187, 202 acetaldehyde 285
acid water 91, 170 acid-forming foods 274 acidophilus 174, 286 acidosis 275
acne 94, 214, 272, 287, 304, 324, 333, 341, 342
acupuncture 53, 362
ADD 133, 296
addictions 16, 40, 59, 74, 76, 89, 102, 106
adrenaline 24, 220, 243 adverse drug reactions 297 aerobic capacity 5
aerobic exercise 220 aflatoxin 90, 129, 181
age measurements 4 age spots 271, 287, 342 ageing 4
accelerated 5, 124, 139, 264, 293, 3137319
anaerobic exercise 222 definitions 4
dehydration 205
enzymes 162
fried foods 196
herbs to slow ageing 150 is not necessary 4, 41 markers 4
meditation 56 skin 271
your voice 249
AGEs 103, 124, 264 agriculture 84, 86
AIDs 324
air conditioning 313, 316, 318
air ioniser 317
alcohol 185, 189, 206, 232, 271, 277, 280, 339, 353
Alexander technique 359
alfalfa 171
algae 145, 274, 340
alkaline water 214, 215 alkaline-forming foods 278
alkaloids 198
allergic foods 186, 203
allergies 85, 121, 129, 145, 186, 191, 200, 283, 285, 290, 313, 324, 333, 349, 358
allopathic 207, 298, 300
alpha-lipoic acid See lipoic acid aluminium 161, 203, 210, 212, 216, 306
Alzheimer’s disease 264, 271 amalgam fillings 330, 332
amino acids 118, 121, 116, 283 anaerobic exercise 222
antacid 283, 284, 306
antibiotics 94, 284, 303, 322, 344 antifungal 128, 150, 300, 323 antihistamine 200, 297, 300 anti-oxidants 96, 116, 145, 148, 154, 170, 174, 186, 203
antiseptic 324
antiviral 128, 150, 300, 323
anus 291
apnoea 245
appetite 220
apple cider vinegar 157, 279, 283,
333
arginine 119, 289
argyria 323, 327 aromatherapy 334 arteriosclerosis 95, 128, 198 arthritis 198, 275, 324
INDEX
caused by fruit juice 197 caused by nightshades 186 caused by PUFAs 129 climate 313
copper 211
dairy products 190
Omega oils 133
treated with kombucha 341
artificial sweeteners 187 asbestos 211
ascorbates 160 aspartame 187
athletes 226
Atkins diet 118
attention deficit disorder See ADD Autogenics 73
autosuggestion 76
awareness 31, 53, 62, 63, 68, 78, 242, 249, 256, 287, 360
Ayurvedic 5, 14, 104, 234, 361 bacteria 80, 172, 303, 322, 339
bad breath 268, 271, 283
bad fats 125, 138
balance 39
balding 253
barbecues 253
barefoot 320
barium 158, 161
basal metabolic rate 5
bathing 354
beans 175, 268
cooking 176
sprouted 162, 170, 281 bee pollen 145, 274
beef 102, 278
allergy 186
breast feeding 192 corned 278 feedlot 95 grain-fed 94
bellows breathing 241
berries 117, 145, 179 beta-carotene 146, 156, 160, 184 bio-availability 159 biocompatible dentistry 330 biodynamics 92
biological age 4
biological farming 348 biomarkers 5
bismuth 158
bloating 283
blood
acidity 272
cells 154, 167
cleanser 148, 285
donation 252
fats 264
glucose 23, 84, 103, 115, 152,
187, 196, 221, 227, 260, 261, 266 insulin 187, 262
oxygen level 238, 241, 318 plasma 276
pressure 5, 179, 200, 238, 243, 300
replacement 8
test 211
thickening 130, 203
thinners 132, 342 blood type 14
body fat 5
body temperature regulation 6 boiling 109
bone
acidity 276
calcium 276
density 192, 276, 288 growth 223, 288 nightshades 198 replacement 8
bone stock 146
boron 158, 161
bovine serum albumin 192
374
brain
alcohol 185
blood glucose 115, 187 calorie consumption 84 calorie restriction benefits 103 development 192
DHEA 78
EFAs 130
exercise 220 extended use 84 feeling good 28 foods 147, 152, 163 lipofuscin ageing 271 meditation 72, 79 nutritional healing 80 omega-3 126
oxygen 232, 245 radiation 309
steady blood glucose 115 thirst 205
tissue 205
breakfast cereal See cereal, breakfast breast cancer 185, 296
breathing 230
clavicular 236
diaphragmatic 237
broad acre farming 90
broccoli 93, 98, 99, 147, 166, 183, 193
bromine 274
browning fruit 92
brushing 309, 362
brussels sprouts 98, 147, 156, 167, 184
Buddhist 100
burned food 188
burns 323
butterfat 127
cabbage 98, 147, 167, 173, 184 cadmium 91, 148, 161, 189, 308, 335 caffeine 188, 201, 353
blood glucose 188, 263 inkombucha 335 insulin 261
loss of calcium 189, 276 memory 152
calcium 158, 170, 189, 191, 193, 270 274, 276, 280
deficiency 127, 189 excess copper 211
intakes 274
leached from bone 277 loss from nightshades 198 milk 190
milk fat assists 195 reserves 276 sources 276
calendar age 4 calorie restriction 102 calories 229
cancer
alcohol 185
artificial sweetener 187
attitude 45, 56
bee pollen 145
dairy products 191, 195 dehydration 205
Gui WAN, WS, Nee, WAN, WSL, Gh 195
exercise 222
fasting 286
fluorine 210
garlic 150
ginger 151
green tea 190
kombucha 335
Metabolic syndrome 261 passive smoking 319
pollution 99, 296
power cables 310
saunas 357
sun 313
>
375
wake up call 10
candida 151), 175,.275;284; 322,333 canola oil 129
carbohydrates 114
blood glucose 101, 260 diet 103, 104, 180 early agriculture 84 emotions 22
free radicals 154 Palaeolithic diet 84 satiating 124
carbon tetrachloride 306
carbonic acid 201, 272, 275, 340 carnivores 81
carotenoids 145, 156, 167, 184 carpet 305, 308
cartilage 117, 342
castor oil 307, 356
cataracts 8, 124, 149, 156, 221, 314, 341
cauliflower 98, 99, 138, 147, 178, 183, 185
celery 90, 165, 178, 184, 278
celiac disease 120
celibacy 253
cell
acidity 341
blood glucose 126, 261, 262 division 219, 221
fatdamage 139
free radicals 154
hydration 206
membranes 125, 154, 156, 167, AV YA
oxygen 28, 287
toxin 271, 287, 341, 349
Celtic salt 201
central heating 316, 318
cereal, breakfast 88, 104, 114, 142, 260
chakra 239, 245, 256
chelation 160, 274, 297 chemical farming 90, 348 chemicals
allergies 186
in food 87, 90, 102, 111, 187, 201, 281
in household goods 305, 306 pollution 209, 212, 296, 315
chewing 106, 309
Chic peas 171, 176, 270
chicken 94, 169, 278, 303
childhood obesity See Obesity, child- hood
chimpanzees 81, 194
Chinese
cooking 120, 171, 173, 198 herbs 149, 150, 151, 190 longevity 3, 250
medicine 149, 150, 234
sex 258
chiropractic medicine 362
chlorella 146
chlorine 210, 212. 214) 215, 2743 IIE SOY
chlorophyll 146, 148, 183, 340 cholera 303, 324
cholesterol 101, 120, 126, 132, 139,
LSI ASS. LOS 422 T2822 622 333, 341
choline 147
chromium 90, 158, 161
chronic fatigue 7, 313, 319, 333, 341 cigarette smoke 155, 188, 231, 263, Bay
cis fats 138
citrates 158, 160
citrus 179
civilisation 12 clairvoyance 245 clavicular breathing 236 climate 313
376
cobalt 158, 161
coconut oil 125, 146, 259, 356 cod liver oil 131
coffee 188
colas 201
colloidal minerals 148
colloidal silver 300, 322
colon 272
comfrey 157
complex carbohydrates 114 composite dental filling 330 computer screens 309, 312 computers 309
concentration 240
conception 132
confidence 54, 249
conscious 24, 59, 67, 69, 108, 233, 238, 242, 249, 287
constipation 291
control freaks 65
conventional produce 90
cooking 165
best ways 124, 165, 167, 181 burned food toxic 188 destroys enzymes 165, 167 destroys oils 167
destroys proteins 187, 124, 177 cooking oils 140
cool down 226
copper 161, 169, 181, 209, 211, 212, 274
cortisol 24, 25, 29, 78, 227, 229 cosmetics 306, 308
cottonseed oil 130
craving 16, 110, 200, 261, 285 Crohn’s disease: 75
crying 29
cyclamate 187
cysteine 166
cysts 287
dairy products 190, 344
damp 308
de Beauvoir, Simone 253 decaffeinated tea 190
deep fried food 196
degenerative diseases 7
dehydration 205
dental dam 333
dental fillings 309, 330
depression 23, 30, 75, 185, 264, 313, 351
breathing 230
exercise 220
herbs 152
Metabolic syndrome 263, 264 nutrition 23, 30, 75, 185, 264,
S353 5
dermatitis 133, 324, 356 detoxification 291, 357
breathing 230, 238, 240 diet 110, 146, 346 exercise 217
fasting 286
meditation 56, 72, 78
sleep 351
DHA 132, 147, 177
DHEA 78
diabetes 110, 227, 261, 262, 264
alcohol 185
child 7
dairy products 192
diet 100, 103, 192 Metabolic syndrome 262
diaphragmatic breathing 237 diarrhoea 272
diet
Standard American Diet (SAD) 87
Western 84, 103, 108, 114, 129, 197, 263
dieting 164, 219
digestion 106, 107, 108, 183, 225,
Bal,
228, 253, 267, 274, 346 ageing 4
bacteria 162, 304
enzymes 161, 287, 340, 346 healed with protein 118 herbs 150
kombucha 335
protein 118
supplements 157
digestive system 282 disconnection 53
diseases 7
distilled water 215, 325, 329 diverticulosis 116
drinking with meals 110 drugs 297
dry cleaning 306
duck 95, 120, 211, 278 dwarfism 288
eating
how to eat 106, 109, 112
too much 100, 102, 103, 106, 263, 364
when to eat 106, 109
with water 111
echinacea 150
eczema 7, 133, 272, 283, 324,334, 341, 356
EFA See essential fats
effective age 4
effective microorganisms 347, 357
enema 294 energy
ATP 154, 244
lack of 6, 41, 43, 53, 221, 264, DTN 33
sustained 114, 240, 294, 347 swings 84, 128, 188, 261, 263 universal 19
enzyme inhibitors 87, 169 enzymes 101, 155, 161, 170, 287, 346
EPA 132, 147, 177
erectile dysfunction 153
Eskimos 168, 278, 354
essene bread 172
essential fats 130
essential proteins 118
evolution 81
excretion 291
exercise 217, 271
aerobic 220, 271 anaerobic 222 depression 23, 220 how much? 225 insulin 262
lack of 217, 263, 264, 271, 301 muscle gain 218, 222, 228, 263 weight 223
eye degeneration 8, 32, 87, 96, 101, 111, 134, 187, 196, 198, 260 fasting 286
fat
bad 125, 127, 138
blood glucose 121
burning 118, 126, 140, 224, 230, 249, 264
cholesterol 126, 127
feeling full 126
hydrogenated 138
metabolic rate 218
overheated 140
Com Sle OSL 186, 277
7 l26n (SONG
Leni? 6.
ego 20
eicosanoids 139, 151, 154 ejaculation 252, 253
electric blanket 310
electrolysis 213, 325, 329 electromagnetic radiation 309, 312 EM See effective microorganisms emotions 22
378
oxidised 139 trans 138 used 141
fat to muscle ratio 6, 222 fear 1, 6, 22
feedlot 95, 130, 196 Feldenkrais, Moshe 360 fenugreek 117
fermented foods 85, 172
fibre 84, 86, 99, 114, 116, 180, 271 fibromyalgia 117
fight or flight 25
fillings 309, 330
filter
air316
water 212
Finland 162, 191, 357
fish 92219 SID 1255 L468 167 wLa8s 278, 280, 309
farmed 93, 130 isitfresh? 178
no ageing diet 178 oil 130
pollution 178, 309 raw 168
flavonoids 145, 156, 190 flax oil 132
flossing 331
flour
refined 86, 89, 116, 155, 260,
293"331
fluorine 210, 212, 274, 177, 185, 340, 345
folic acid 196, 346, 352
food additives 90
food allergy 186, 283
food temperature 109
formaldehyde 305
fountain ofyouth drink 333
Frank, Benjamin S. 178
free radicals 103, 126, 128, 129, 154
free-range 93
fried foods 196
fructose 88, 114, 197, 266
fruit 179, 201, 274
fruit juice 88, 114, 117, 164, 196, 206, 260, 282, 285
fungal infection 320
fungal spray 349
fungicide 325
galactose 114, 117, 344
game meat 95, 168
Garbanzo beans 171, 176
garlic 150, 184, 196, 258, 286 gelatine 117, 146
generous 52
genetic inheritance 9, 192
ghee 125, 127, 140, 196
ginger 151, 173, 279, 305
ginkgo biloba 152
ginseng 152
glucagon 262
gluconates 160
glucose 114, 266
glutamine 166
gluten 120, 169
Glycemic Index 84, 115, 265 glycogen 261
glyconutrients 116, 145, 148, 150 God 47
goitrogens 147, 167
goji berry 149
grains 180, 187, 279
green fruit 95
green grass juice 147
green juices 148
green tea 190, 337, 340 grounding 20
haemorrhoids 292, 294
hair mineral test 161
hard water 212
HDL See high density lipoprotein
379
heart 67, 69, 74, 244 alcohol 185
breathing 230, 233, 240
diet 100, 103-6, 1255 178, Lois 201, 283
disease 100, 116, 127, 141, 151, 319
exercise 25, 220, 22). 350)
heartburn 283
heavy metals 91, 146, 161, 178, 274, 308, 335
hemagglutinins 167, 171
herbicides 89
herbivores 81
herbs 150
herpes 7, 315, 324
HGH See human growth hormone high carbohydrate diet 85, 116, 263, 266, 289) 322
high protein diet 118
high-density lipoprotein 126 Himalayan salt 200
HIV 307
hives 272, 283, 356
Holosyne 79
hominid 81
homogenised milk 195
hormones 24, 50, 57, 78, 89, 94, 109,
Dy, sy, WSIS), Wav, IG AS OU. 209, 219, 243, 251,263,314 horseradish 147
Howell, Edward 163
human growth hormone 288 hunger 84, 86, 101, 103, 105, 110,
Iisa ZO0R20Snelen22on200 Hunza 2,351
hydrochloric acid 275, 283 hydrocotyle asiatica 153 hydrogen 276
hydrogen peroxide 357 hydrogenated fats 138
hyperactivity 96, 133, 271, 296 hypocalcaemia 120, 277 hypothalamus 105, 264
ieee
imagination 41 immune
deficiency 24, 87, 94, 117, 139, 287, 304
enhancement 56, 120, 128, 132, 1434515072225 3135320; 88550508362
impotence 8, 103, 257
indigestion 96, 163, 169, 175, 283, 324
infection 322
inflammation 7, 30, 74, 103, 126, 140, 145, 149, 171, 186, 194, 264, 284, 322, 356, 362
insomnia 8, 16, 30, 78, 80, 186, 311, 343, 358
insulin 260, 289
resistance 263
sensitivity 5 integrity 33
intelligence 81, 308
intuition 17, 121
iodine 81, 144, 146, 149, 274 ionised
air 353
water 205 ioniser
air 317
water 213 IQ 143
iron 81, 160, 169, 211, 274, 276, 281, 308
irritable bowel syndrome 232, 283, 285
isotonic exercise 222, 230
Japanese diet 95, 131, 168, 173, 203
juice
380
enzymes 162
fasting 286
fruit 196
fruit and vegetable 179
fruit, high Glycemic index 268 fruit, high sugar 180, 197, 204 grapefruit 197
low speed juicer 165
sugar 180, 197
supermarket 197
vegetable 179
vegetable, alkaline forming 274 wheatgrass 147
kangaroo 95
kapha 14
kefir 172, 343
kelp 117, 149, 193 kidneys 24, 272, 342 kissing 258
klamath 146
kombucha 335
lactase 190, 193
lactic acid 222
lactobacillus 175, 286, 344 lactose 114, 190, 196, 266, 345 lamb 95, 123, 278
laser 325
laughter 27
lauric acid 128, 146, 286
LDL See low density lipoprotein lead 91, 148, 161, 210, 308, 335, 342 leaky gut 283
lean body mass 6
learning disabilities 8, 78, 131, 133, 314
left-brain 29
Legionnaires disease 318
legumes 83, 107, 167, 171, 175, 184 life expectancy 9, 38, 84
lifestyle 9, 14, 154, 272
linoleic acid 130, 192
linolenic acid 130, 192 lipofuscin 271
lipoic acid 156
liver 24, 244, 271, 341 liver spots 287
living in the moment 26
loneliness 46
long-lived people 2, 250, 263, 322, Boil
low fat diet 125, 127
low salt diet 201
low-density lipoprotein 126 lycopene 156, 168, 179, 198 lymph 163, 195, 272, 287, 359 lysine 119, 166
Maca 153
macular degeneration 149, 156 magnesium 86, 90, 116, 144, 149, 158, 169, 179, 190, 199, 212, 274, 308
maitake mushrooms 148 malnutrition 103, 120, 301
maltose 114, 226
manganese 90, 116, 144, 156, 161, P|, DIE. IIKS; PASI
mantra 67
margarine 138
masturbation 259
mattress 253
meal times 109
meat 80, 81, 93, 95, 111, 118, 120, 161, 188, 278, 280
medications 297 meditation 56
active 71
object 66 melanoma 315
memory 4, 30, 152, 242, 264, 306, 308
menopause 158, 341
mental
381
age 3
decline 133, 187, 261, 294 enhancement 54, 143, 223, 228,
241, 242, 262, 294, 343, 349 mercury amalgam fillings 309, 330 metabolism 103, 228 micronutrients 143, 157
sufficient intake 143 microwave 309
migraine 153, 198, 200 mildew 308
milk 190
calcium 192
cow's 190
digestion 107
fat digests calcium 192 homogenised 195
nut 182 pasteurised 190 raw 191
sugar 191
milk — cow’s
early exposure 191
milk powder 191
mineral tonic 148
minerals 90, 93, 96, 99, 146, 148,
156, 178, 2119274; 337
miso 120, 123, 173, 203, 274, 279, 305
mobile phones 311, 312
moderation 100
molybdenum 90, 144, 158, 161, 211 money 34
monkey mind 56, 66 monounsaturated fat 128
Montignac diet 118
morning sickness 151, 207
mould 90, 129, 171, 175, 181, 275, 286, 308, 337, 345
mucus 30, 231, 293, 363
multiple sclerosis 117, 360
muscle 220
gam 217,222, 2257230
glycogen 224, 261
oe IAN, ILI, OS) a?
mass 95, 118, 218, 222, 226, 263 pain 333, 361, 362
relaxation 354
strength 5,218, 222
mushrooms 117, 148, 178
mutton 95
nails 322
naturopath 150, 157, 161, 305, 307, 365
nerves 130, 163, 192, 205, 276 networks 309
neuro-audio technology 78 neurotic 30
nightshades 198
nori 149
nose 232
notebook computers 310 nut milk 182
nut oils 130
nutritional supplements See supple- ments
nuts 181
obesity 88, 102, 164, 264
childhood 7, 94, 202, 217, 264 oil See fat
olive oil 125
omega-3 93, 129, 130, 147, 177, 182, 196, 202, 263
omega-6 130, 202
omega-3/6 ratio 133
organic produce 18, 80, 91, 112, 143,
177, 280, 287, 348 orotates 160
Osho 69 osteoporosis 276 overeating 100 overheated fats 140
382
oxalic acid 184, 190, 340
oxidants 159
oxidised fats 154
oxygen 28, 130, 152, 204, 213, 244, 2Ia5317, 320, 353
OZONE 22925 7.397)
Palaeolithic diet 83, 108, 133, 166,
192
pancreas 82, 86, 103, 153, 162, 187, 261, 344
parasympathetic nervous system 56, 243
passive smoking 319
Pasteur, Louis 301
pasteurisation 166, 191
peanut oil 129
pennywort 153
permaculture 92, 97
pesticides 89
Pfeiffer, Carl 80
pH 276, 281
pharmaceuticals 299
phosphatase 193
phosphoric acid 111, 201, 275, 281 phosphorus 193, 274
phytic acid 87, 169
phytoestrogens 116, 156, 203 phytonutrients 84, 97, 143, 151, 159, 169,175, 183; 26353117333
piles 292
pillow 353
pitta 14
plastic 138, 305, 330, 342, 357 pollution 209, 296, 347
polyunsaturated fat 129
pork 278, 280
potassium 90, 149, 158, 161, 179, 1905212) 215, 2745281
potatoes 199 power cables 310 pre-diabetes 261
processed food characteristics 87 processed meats 282 prostaglandins 129
prostate 145,168, 255
prostate cancer 168 protein 118, 123
animal 120 atstartofmeal 107 concentrated 118, 154, 293 cooking 124
deficiency 118
destroyed by heat 165 eggs 176
how much? 121
plant 119
satiating 124
soy 202
sufficiency 118
with sugar 121
protein powders 120 psoriasis 272, 325, 356 ptyalin 82, 106, 108 quinoa 115, 119, 180, 280 radiation 309
radish 96, 147, 178, 184 rainwater 216
rancid fats 129, 139, 141 rapeseed 129
raw food 11, 14, 16, 157, 163, 167 raw meat 168, 278
raw milk 191
refined flour 86
refined salt 199
reflux 283
regression 69
rejuvelac 346
rejuvenation 10, 35, 56, 110, 153, DING), PBB), PS3., HG; Soll, 35s) HE) renewal of body parts 8 resistance exercise 222 resveratrol 186
383
reverse osmosis water 215 ripe fruit 97
Rolfing 361
rosehip oil 337, 356 rubidium 158
saccharin 187, 202
salicylates 95
salmonella 174, 194
salt 14, 30, 87, 101, 148, 159, 162, Gia li Owl W2682 278.5211 sarcopenia 218
sardines 178 satiating 104 saturated fat 127 sauerkraut 173 saunas 354
sea salt 199
seafood 178
seasons 313
seaweed 149
seborrhoea 325
seeds 180
selenium 90, 96, 116, 144, 148, 151, 156, 160
self-esteem 43, 261 self-image 11, 46 self-repair 8 semen 252 Shankara 6
sheep 95
shiatsu 361
shiitake mushrooms 117, 148 sick building syndrome 318 silicone 274
silver 322
skin 342
ageing 4, 7, 118, 121, 271, 313, 322
cancer 314
inflammation 131, 133, 356 maintenance 271, 288, 294, 315,
355, 357 oils 356
rejuvenation 29, 62, 128, 146, 178, 205, 234, 287, 294, 334, 355, 362
replacement 8
sleep 10, 40, 57, 68, 189, 232, 237, 245,271,351
smoking 76, 101, 155, 231
snacking 110
soaking 85, 169
soap 355
sodas 199
sodium 158, 161, 212, 215, 274, 276 soft drinks 201
soil 347
solanums 198
Sonnenschein, Carlos 296
Soto, Ana 296
soup 146
soy
children 203
oil 130, 141, 202, 203 toxins 203
soy products 120, 202, 279 soybeans 202
sperm 130, 252
spinach 90, 98, 156, 166, 178, 184 spine 240, 355
spirit 45, 234, 245, 251, 357 spirulina 123, 146
splenda 187
sprouting 85, 169, 170 squatting 291
Standard American Diet (SAD) See diet
staple grains 180
starch 106
stationery 305 stevia 153 stock 146
384
stomach acid 282, 290 stress 24
subconscious 42 sucrose 84, 114
sugar 88, 108, 114, 124, 204, 278 sulphur 184, 229, 274, 326 sulphuric acid 275
Sun S’su-Mo 254
sunblock 315
sunburn 314
sunlight 313, 336
sunscreens 315
super foods 145
supermarkets 80, 89, 97, 111, 140, 143, 169, 180, 197, 206, 307 supplements 157
should not include 160
synthetic 159 sweat207,272,275,278,357,362 sweatlodge 357
sweet taste 260
sympathetic nervous system 243 Synchronicity Foundation 79 Syndrome X 261
syntropy 349
table salt 199
tamari 120, 203, 279
tannin 190
Tantra 72, 246
Tao 55, 250, 351
breathing 242, 244 diet 85, 110, 166, 198 herbs 152
longevity 2, 240, 351 Sex 252, 253; 256 wisdom 286, 351
TDS meter 326
tea 189, 335
teeth 330
television screens 312 tempeh 173, 305
temperature — food 109 thirst 105, 188, 205 thyroid 147, 167, 194 time management 34 titanium 158
TM See Transcendental Meditation tobacco 199, 339
tofu 202
Tolle, Eckhart 22
tomatoes 198
tongue 271 363
tongue — yogic position 241 tooth fillings 309, 330 touch 359
toxins 192, 214, 342, 348
body 120, 161, 167, 221, 271, 285
environmental 305, 307, 332 removal 25a cOmlole22 le 223, 232, 241, 244, 271, 296, 335; 399, 302
Trager, Milton 361
trans fats 138, 142, 187 Transcendental Meditation 72
trees 320
triglyceride 101, 128, 139, 221, 262 turmeric 290, 334
turnip 98, 137, 147, 167, 184 ultraviolet 357
unripe fruit 95
uranium 161
uric acid 119
urine 82, 160, 188, 201, 206, 209, DED. DYES. DLs, IS, SEIN. Sieh, Sos use itor lose it1]
used fats 141
vanadium 158
vata 15, 288
vegan 121
vegetable oils 127, 133, 139 vegetarian 14, 110, 117, 121, 180,
Br GYNATER COLLEGE LIBRARY
203
vinegar 108
virus 323
vitamiAn81,127,132,144,160, weighttraining230
170
vitamin B12 158
vitamin C 96, 160, 170, 177, 179, 300
vitamin D 193, 313
vitamin E 119
voice 249
wakame 149
walking 220, 225, 228, 316, 320 walnuts 182
warts 325
washing food 90
watching yourself 58
water 205, 259, 350
pollution 209 water filters 213, 329
wheat 277
wheatgrass juice 147
whey liquid 283
wine 111, 173, 185, 280
wireless computer networks 309 wolfberry 149
worms 289
xylene 305
xylitol 153
yeast infection See candida
yoga 245
yogurt 173, 343, 354
zine 81, 90, 96, 144, 156, 170, 190, 211, 305, 330
and soy 203
386
water ioniser 213 watsu 362 weight loss 223
==
Why do some people have vibrant health and youthful looks at 70, when others are already sick and old at 35? This easy-to-understand book shows you how to have itall - health, vitality and an exceptionally long and fulfilling life. Supported by recent scientific research, itcuts through much ofthe jargon and conflict around health and longevity. David Niven Miller writes in such a common-sense way that most of the book will seem obvious once you have read it.
Thom Rutledge, author ofEmbracing Fear
Marci Shimoff, Co-Author, Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul
Gr Karts Ullis, MD author of The Hormone Revolution We
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