Yin attributes are expansive, receptive, cool, dilated, light, vertical, and thin. The yin personality is introspective, receptive, self-contained, quiet, mellow, easy-going, reflective, sensitive, and has an expansive, spiritually oriented mind. An unbalanced yin personality may be "s.p.a.ced out," timid, ungrounded, weak-willed, and pa.s.sive. An excess of yin foods without other yang-balancing factors could cause yin imbalances in the mind and body.
Foods are also cla.s.sified by their predominant yin and yang characteristics. Foods are not all yin or yang. Each food has a combination of yin and yang elements that are complementary, existing in that food in a dynamic balance. Yin foods are predominantly alkaline-forming, but a few yin foods are acid-forming. Yang foods are predominantly acid-forming, but a few yang foods are alkaline-forming as well. The yin/yang chart on page 130 helps to visualize this. The following categories of foods are listed in the order of most yin to most yang: chemical additives, processed foods, fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, seeds, nuts, beans, grains, dairy, fish, poultry, pork, beef, eggs, miso, and sea salt or commercial table salt.
Yin alkaline-forming foods are fruits, vegetables, and honey. Seeds, nuts, and beans are acid-forming but slightly yin to neutral. The basic yang foods, such as grains and flesh foods, are acid-forming. Yang alkaline-forming foods are radishes, pickles, miso, and salt. Yin acid-forming foods are sugar, chemical drugs, soft drinks, and alcohol.
Each of these foods has its own yin and yang force and can be said to be an energy in itself that influences the mind toward more expansive or contractive tendencies. Choosing the proper balance of yin and yang food intake is relative to many different factors in a person"s life and total environment. A few of these factors are const.i.tutionally determined. For example, a const.i.tutionally hot yang person will be balanced by cooler yin foods. In the Chinese system, the organs and glands of the body are cla.s.sified by their yin or yang nature or state of imbalance. Appropriate yang or yin foods are given to help balance and heal these particular organs or glands. One"s work in the world, environmental conditions, spiritual practices, and level of awareness are all forces that affect the yin/yang balance in a person. Food is one of the main factors influencing yin/yang balance.
Sometimes when eating a very yin food, one may crave some yang foods to balance. For example, wine, which is yin, balances cheese, which is yang. Beer, which is yin, balances salty pretzels, which are yang. Alcohol, which is yin, balances meat, which is yang. If a diet is too far to one side, it may stimulate cravings of foods from the other extreme in an attempt to achieve some balance. If one eliminates one extreme yang food from the diet, sometimes it is best to eliminate an extreme yin food to maintain balance. So, if you give up beer, you may maintain the balance better if you also give up pretzels.
Our degree of spiritual awareness and transformation affects how much our mind is shifted by the yin and yang energy of foods in a somewhat different way than the other factors affecting yang and yin. In the spiritual process, because it is expansive, it is my impression that people spontaneously shift to more yin foods to support the lighter, more superconductive needs of the mind and body The mucus- and acid-forming, enzyme-less, yang grains, flesh foods, and other cooked foods tend to decrease the spiritualizing energy of the body-mind complex. The uncooked, primarily yin foods support and activate this expansion of consciousness and sensitivity to the Divine. It sometimes happens that spiritual evolution proceeds too rapidly for a person and they become too quickly expanded for comfort. They might find themselves craving yang foods to slow down the process. On the other hand, if a person"s awareness is expanded in a way that is grounded and balanced, then yang foods will not be craved. A retrospective research project of mine, on a group of 106 people involved in a spiritual program where there was no training or emphasis on diet, found that 63% of the people shifted to a more yin diet as their awareness expanded over a year"s time. It is as if the organism spontaneously shifts to a more yin diet to support the shift in expanded spiritual awareness and sensitivity. The process of eating to enhance spiritual life involves consciously choosing a diet that will support the expansion of consciousness so that we are active co-creators of the dietary change process.
As consciousness expands in a mature, balanced way, it is my observation that more and more yin foods can be eaten without developing a yin imbalance. One does not necessarily develop the symptoms of a yin imbalance such as s.p.a.ciness, lack of motivation, and poor concentration even if one eats primarily yin foods. The power of a shift toward an expanded spiritual awareness of the Divine is often a stronger force than the yin or yang energies of the foods one eats. This does not negate the general observation that the judicious use of yin or yang foods can be helpful when one feels a need to gently counterbalance certain yang or yin mental or physical states. Food is a supportive rather than determining factor in the development of spiritual awareness. Choosing a more yin diet is particularly effective for supporting the development of spiritual transformation.
Enhancing Spiritual Energy and Sensitivity with Diet.
SINCE THE BODY is A CONDENSATION of various levels of energy, it is not surprising to realize that within the body there are certain energies that one is able to experience on a subtle, yet sensory, level. For example, most people can experience s.e.xual energy shifts or variations in digestive energies. When the flow and conductivity of the spiritual energy existing within all is awakened, it can also be experienced. This Divine energy transforms the body-mind complex and enables it to withstand more intense and subtler energies involved in the process of spiritual evolution.
If subtle channels of the body are not blocked due to undisciplined habits of eating and an immoderate lifestyle, the spiritualizing energy is able to act with its full force. This is a key connection between nutrition and spiritual life. With an appropriate diet, the transforming and purifying action of the spiritual energy takes place faster and more easily than if one is not on a supportive diet. It is just that a primarily live-food, vegetarian diet enhances the awakening of, sensitivity to, and flow of the spiritualizing process of G.o.d"s grace and light.
In 1975, G.o.d"s grace awoke the spiritual energy in me. Among other aspects of grace, I received the message that I needed to understand how to eat to support the awareness of the Divine presence and to amplify the power of G.o.d"s spiritualizing energy. In an attempt to fulfill that transmission of will, since 1975 I have personally worked with several thousand people interested in developing a diet to enhance their spiritual lives. A few basic patterns have emerged. The most important observation is that spiritual energies and sensitivity to the sacred and eternal of the Divine are most enhanced by a light, vegetarian diet of live foods. The sensitivity to the Divine presence is most dulled by a diet of flesh foods. An 80% live-food, vegetarian diet seems quite sufficient for supporting the development of moral strength, ability to follow G.o.d"s will, and the activity and power of the spiritualizing energy and sensitivity. Closer to a 95% live-food diet and periodic fasting seems to distinctly accelerate this process. Juice fasting particularly seems to have a powerful effect on the awakening and activation of spiritual energy and sensitivity.
Foods have such a strong effect on the process that, when necessary, I even advise the use of certain foods to slow down the energies if people feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed by them. If slowing and dulling is requested, I first recommend 50% or more of cooked grains. This often has a moderate effect in decreasing the sensitivity and the power of the spiritualizing energy. If more slowing than that is needed, I have observed that flesh foods from one to three times a day in large quant.i.ties are a powerful numbing force. For all the reasons already mentioned in this book, I hesitate recommending the eating of flesh food, except in rare situations.
Some people come to me complaining that although they have received the grace of spiritual awakening, they have slipped back to a heavier diet, have become less disciplined in their spiritual practices and their focus on G.o.d, and feel very little spiritual energy. It has consistently impressed me that time and time again, when people switch to a lighter, high-life-force food regimen, not only does the energy flow significantly better, but they seem to become inspired to intensify their spiritual practices and devotion to G.o.d. I have observed this spiritual inspiration to be especially true for people after partic.i.p.ation in our spiritual juice fasting retreats.
To conclude, appropriate diet is a powerful aid to awaken and increase overall sensitivity, receptivity, and ability to hold G.o.d"s grace and light. I want to emphasize that one does not necessarily have to be on such a diet to feel the blessing of G.o.d"s grace and energy and to be spiritually aware. There are many who eat flesh food who receive grace and grow spiritually. My observation is simply that on a primarily living foods, vegetarian diet- the original diet that was first given to us in Genesis 1:29-it is easier. Flesh food weakens the moral will-power, weakens the clarity of mind and intellect for understanding G.o.d"s messages to us, dulls the subtle senses of spiritual receptivity to the light and grace of G.o.d, and strengthens the animal tendencies, allowing them dominance over our mental and spiritual powers. My finding is not original; it is in alignment with the teachings of Jesus in The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One (p. 36): But I do say to you: Kill neither men nor beasts, nor yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you eat living food, the same will quicken you, but if you kill your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life comes only from life and from death comes always death. And everything which kills your bodies kills your souls also. And your bodies become what your foods are, even as your spirits, likewise, become what your thoughts are.... Therefore, he who kills, kills his brother. And from him will the Earthly Mother turn away, and will pluck from him her quickening b.r.e.a.s.t.s. And he will be shunned by her angels, and Satan will have his dwelling in his body. And the flesh of the slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and whoso eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats of the body of death. For in his blood every drop of their blood turns to poison; in his breath their breath to stink.... And their death will become his death.
In my personal and clinical experience, there is an obvious connection between a healthy, vibrant body, mind, and intellect and the awareness of the light of G.o.d. In The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One (p. 20), Jesus states it clearly: I am sent to you by the Father, that I may make the light of life to shine before you. The light lightens itself and the darkness, but the darkness knows only itself, and knows not the light. I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them yet. For your eyes are used to the darkness, and the full light of the Heavenly Father would make you blind. Therefore, you cannot yet understand that which I speak to you concerning the Heavenly Father who sent me to you. Follow, therefore, first, only the Laws of your Earthly Mother, of which I have told you [vegetarian and live-food diet as one of the main laws]. And when her angels shall have cleansed and renewed your bodies and strengthened your eyes, you will be able to bear the light of our Heavenly Father.
After many years on this diet, as well as much prayer and meditation on G.o.d, I have noticed in myself and others who have followed this approach that there arises an experience of an extraordinary, exquisite, gentle flow of the Divine spirit, G.o.d"s light, and Divine sound filling the body It is a constant reminder of G.o.d"s presence and love. Although I often feel it through most of the day, many mornings the Divine presence and light are so intense I simply cannot move. I will just lie there reveling in grat.i.tude and joy for the experience of G.o.d as reflected in the mirror of my human body This is the blessing of a live-food vegetarian diet. The energy of G.o.d is extraordinary and powerful, and a live-food vegetarian diet helps to build a larger and stronger Divine tuning fork to resonate and amplify G.o.d"s grace. It is a Divine tuning fork that every one of us can build.
Hypoglycemia and the Mind.
PERHAPS THE MOST SOCIALLY SIGNIFICANT DISRUPTION of brain-mind function is caused by white sugar. Dr. Paavo Airola, the internationally famous nutritionist, naturopath, and author, estimates that the annual intake of white sugar is 125 pounds per person. One way the c.u.mulative effects of excess white sugar consumption manifest is in the form of hypoglycemia (what people commonly call "low blood sugar"). This imbalance seems to affect somewhere between 10% and 70% of the population, depending on whose statistics one uses.
Hypoglycemia, with the exception of the rare occurrence of organic hypoglycemia, is not a disease but a symptom of a generalized physiological endocrine imbalance. A malfunctioning pancreas, as shown by my hypoglycemia research reported in Hypoglycemia, A Better Approach, is not the only cause of hypoglycemia. Functional hypoglycemia may also be caused by allergies, poorly functioning adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, ovaries, or liver, or a combination of all of these organs and glands. Functional hypoglycemia is caused more from general endocrine stress; it is not just the opposite of diabetes. Other possible causes are chromium, zinc, pantothenic acid, magnesium, pota.s.sium, or pyridoxine deficiency. In rare cases, pancreatic tumors, Addison"s disease, and pituitary tumors may cause organic hypoglycemia.
Allergies are a common contributor to hypoglycemia. The allergen is often white sugar itself, but it may be any substance. The major cause of a phenomenon that affects at least 24 million people is most likely not specific vitamin deficiencies, allergies, or tumors, but a self-exploitive, stressful, overextended lifestyle and a diet high in fast foods, white sugar, and other sorts of stimulants. One could say that it is a result of living the "all- American dream" of moving faster, wanting more and more things, and living a highly compet.i.tive, aggressive lifestyle, which is out of harmony with our inner self and Mother Nature. Hypoglycemia is literally fueled by the preoccupation with convenience and fast foods.
To relieve the pain of this self-exploitation and to energize oneself for short periods, people use white sugar, megavitamins, alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee and other caffeine-containing foods. This destructive way of compensating for inner emptiness and a lack of peace is another example of trying to treat a headache caused by banging one"s head against the wall. People seem to be willing to try anything and everything to treat the headache except stop banging their heads!
A stable blood sugar is important for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system. This is because the blood glucose is the primary fuel for the neurological and brain tissues. I have observed that many meditators seem to increase their desire for sweets after beginning to meditate. It is my impression that meditation has a healing effect on the nervous system, and this healing requires more energy input in the form of glucose. The mistake many meditators make is to seek more glucose for the system by eating refined foods with excess white sugar. Unfortunately, this poor dietary choice unbalances the body toward hypoglycemia and produces irregular glucose levels in the blood. A high-complex-carbohydrate diet of soaked nuts and seeds, fruits, vegetables, and grains will supply an adequate and gradual release of glucose into the blood, unlike the ups and downs created by white sugar ingestion. I have had the experience of treating many monks and other spiritual aspirants involved in intense spiritual practices who developed hypoglycemia because they did not understand this basic idea. My clinical research has shown that when meditators with hypo-glycemia go on a diet to prevent hypoglycemia, their ability to concentrate and become steady in their meditation improves.
With meditators as well as those who do not meditate, I have found that those who move away from fast foods and other highly sugared foods tend to be more emotionally stable, awake, and aware. It is common to find that those who are suffering from emotional instability, unexplained crying spells, panic attacks, drowsiness in the late morning and mid-afternoon, low energy, and concentration lapses have some degree of hypoglycemia. Mental function seems to improve when one adopts an antihypoglycemic diet comprised of high complex carbohydrates and low protein, with no sweets, caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, or cigarette intake.
Specific Healing Qualities of Food.
THE NEXT STEP IN UNDERSTANDING the particular energy of a food is to realize that each food has specific healing qualities, which is different from a general pitta or vata or yin or yang effect. This is highlighted in Dr. Bernard Jensen"s book, Food That Heals, and in the cla.s.sical juice therapy book by Dr. N. W. Walker, Raw Vegetable Juices. Jensen"s book lists the foods and Walker"s book lists the food juices and their specific healing qualities. The juices in our spiritual juice fast retreats are used according to these healing principles. The different Chinese medical texts also give extensive lists of foods and their specific healing qualities. In both East and West, herbs are considered food, and there are hundreds of herbal books that describe the specific healing qualities of herbs. The importance and role of food in the preservation of health cannot be underestimated. Dr. Jensen quotes Dr. Victor G. Rocine, who said in 1930: If we eat wrongly, no doctor can cure us; if we eat rightly, no doctor is needed.
Rocine was among the first Western doctors to understand that particular foods have particular minerals that our bodies need more of when we have certain diseases. For example, if one had hypothyroid from an iodine deficiency, eating foods that are high in iodine, such as kelp, supplies the iodine needed to help correct the condition. Rocine also clarified that there are personality types that can be traced to the dominance of calcium, silicon, or sulphur in a person"s system.
The homeopathic system developed by Samuel Hahnemann more than two hundred years ago has shown in daily practice that when certain minerals, herbs, and other plant and animal substances are energetically amplified by way of homeopathic preparation they help to heal specific const.i.tutional types. Homeopaths have discovered that certain personalities respond to specific potentized substances. Sulphur, club moss, calcium carbonate, phosphorus, and a.r.s.enic.u.m alb.u.m are just a few of hundreds of substances that are specific remedies for different personality types and medical conditions.
The highly respected spiritual teacher Paramahansa Yogananda found that many foods affect specific characteristics of our personality. For example, in Fourteen Steps to Higher Consciousness, by J. Donald Walters, Yogananda is quoted as saying that almonds improve "self-control" and "calmness of the mind and nerves;" bananas increase "humility and calmness;" blackberries create "purity of thought;" dates help to remedy an overly critical nature by bringing out the quality of sweetness and tenderness; oranges help to banish melancholia and stimulate the brain; and raspberries enhance "kindheartedness." The Bach Flower Remedies developed by the English physician Edward Bach in the 1930s are specifically based on how flowers, trees, and herbs can "flood our natures with the particular virtue we need, and wash out from us the fault that is causing the harm." In this way, the Bach Flower Remedies heal specific emotional imbalances. The book Flower Essences, by Gurudas, goes into depth on the particular energies and specific effects that the different flowers and herbs have on the physical const.i.tution, personality, mind, and spirit of a person. The point is that in their natural living forms, food, juices, herbs, and minerals are living energies that affect us on every level of our being in very specific ways.
Effects of Overeating or Eating Acid Foods in Excess.
OVEREATING IN GENERAL, ESPECIALLY OF EXCESS PROTEIN, and eating late in the evening are two sure ways to make the mind and body go numb. The body-mind life force becomes drained because it has to divert essential energy to support the overstrained digestive system and compensate for low cellular oxygen from blood sludging and high fats.
By eating too much protein, one not only encourages bowel toxicity but often tends to become too acidic. The more acidic our system, the slower and less clear becomes our thinking process. When our blood pH moves from its normal level of 7.4 to even a slightly acid pH of 6.95, the nervous system begins to shut down, one becomes stuporous, and may slip into an acidotic coma. That is one way that excess acidity may affect the mind. If one"s pH becomes too alkaline, one may become physiologically and emotionally sensitive and irritable, or in some cases, a "s.p.a.ce" case with difficulty concentrating. A stable acid-base balance of the body is important for maintaining a stable mental state. For more on acid-base considerations, see Chapter 11.
Timing of Eating and the Mind.
PAYING ATTENTION TO THE NATURAL DIGESTIVE CYCLE is also quite important. When the digestive system is not overworked and the body is functioning well, it is easier to maintain a clear mind, which in itself enhances our desire and ability to meditate with increased clarity According to the Ayurvedic system of medicine, the time of optimal digestive power is 10 AM to 2 PM. In the Chinese system it is 7 AM to 9 AM. Eating between 1 PM and 3 PM is also a good time. Nighttime, when most people in the US customarily eat their largest meal, is a slow time for the digestive system. If a big meal is eaten after 7 PM, or less than three hours before going to sleep, undigested food often acc.u.mulates, which serves as a breeding ground for food-rotting bacteria. The food then putrefies and consequently adds toxins to the system, both from the rotting food and toxins given off by the putrefactive bacteria. In the morning, instead of awakening refreshed with a clear mind, one may feel bloated, tired, and sometimes just wretched. Because of the toxic feeling, one feels much like a clogged sewage pipe and is unable to meditate, pray, or exercise, thereby missing out on activities that are essential to maintain balanced health and spiritual growth.
Because digestion depends also on the emotional and mental peace of the eating atmosphere, some people may not feel comfortable eating the biggest meal at lunchtime and might choose to wait until returning home to a more emotionally friendly s.p.a.ce where they feel more relaxed. Though digestive energies may not be optimal at this time, there is some validity to this approach if one"s evening meal remains moderate and relatively low in protein.
When it comes to eating high-protein meals, I have observed a subtle stimulation when excess protein is eaten. According to Dr. Morter in Your Health, Your Choice, the body metabolism speeds up by about 30%. The body may keep this increased rate for 3 to 12 hours. Protein does not actually increase body energy, but stimulates it. A large protein meal, even if eaten several hours before going to sleep, can then act as a stimulant and keep one awake. This excess stimulation may also manifest as "nervous" energy with a variety of "fidgety" mannerisms. For this reason, I suggest eating any large protein meal at breakfast or lunch, depending on what time you feel your a.s.similation powers are the strongest. The Chinese recommendation of eating the biggest meal between 7 AM and 9 AM works best for me.
Discovering the dietary pattern that works best for me is an ongoing experiment linked to my evolving body-mind-spirit complex. Presently I primarily do not eat after 2:30 PM except for maybe a piece of fruit or fresh juice in the evening. Prior to this, I used to take several gla.s.ses of fresh vegetable juice in the evening, but I discovered it made me too alkaline and also overhydrated me. Remember, kaphas can easily overhydrate on even less than six gla.s.ses of fluid a day. This same amount would leave a pitta underhydrated. Jesus, in The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One (p. 38), also recommended eating only two times per day.
For I tell you truly, he who eats more than twice in a day does in him the work of Satan.
Other spiritual and/or health pract.i.tioners have had similar practices of not eating after 2 or 3 PM. For centuries, Buddhist monks have understood this and have practiced not eating anything after 2 PM. One French healer I met had discovered an ancient system in which one could eat anything one wanted until 2 PM. After that, one would not eat anything for the rest of the day and night until morning. He found that this system was very powerful in helping people regain their health and lose weight. Although this may seem to be an extreme example, it supports the importance of the timing of when one eats. For many people, two meals a day may be imbalancing, especially for fast oxidizers or parasympathetics. I have found that clients who make the evening meal their lightest meal also achieve good results.
On this system of not eating after 2:30 PM, I wake up feeling clear and energized in the morning. In the years I have been experimenting with this approach, my weight has remained the same. I especially like it because it gives my digestive system an 18-hour rest each day. Eating by this time pattern and eating so moderately that after each meal I do not feel full and can be physically active within an hour seems to be working out well for my total body-mind health. What is most profound for me about this light eating pattern is the flow of cosmic energy I feel coursing through my body. Although years of meditation is the primary cause for this, overeating (even of health foods) or late-evening eating distinctly dulls the magnificence of my awareness of this energy. It is a wonderful and spontaneous communion. During the day it feels as if joy is simply running through every cell independent of external factors. This noncausal joy is always there, of course, but light eating, with one"s larger meal at the beginning or middle of the day, seems to accentuate these ongoing feelings. Part of eating consciously is to eat in a way that maintains and supports ones consciousness.
Fasting as Part of the Diet for Enhancing Body-Mind-Spirit.
FASTING is PERHAPS THE SIMPLEST and most remarkable self-healing approach related to our food intake for rebalancing and clearing the body and mind and elevating the spirit. I call it the elixir of fasting. It is one of the greatest health benefits. Although cla.s.sically defined as complete abstinence from food and water, in a larger context it means to abstain from that which is toxic to body, mind, and spirit. Fasting is the elixir of spiritual nutrition. I base this statement on my own experiences of fasting two to four times per year for seven to ten days" duration each, my experience of one forty-day spiritual fast, a 21-day water fast, and my observation of the awesome body, mind, and spirit transformations of many people on my biannual, seven-day spiritual fasting retreats offered since 1988. Within four days of fasting, partic.i.p.ants on the retreats have shared that their concentration improves, creative thinking expands, depression lifts, insomnia stops, anxieties fade, and the mind becomes more tranquil. It is my hypothesis that when the body"s toxins have cleared from brain cells, mind-brain function greatly improves. I have also observed that a natural joy begins to make its appearance.
It is becoming more apparent to me that the toxic wastes that acc.u.mulate in our brain cells have a much more significant effect on our mental and spiritual functioning than has been previously recognized. I still am amazed on each spiritual fast to see how rapidly people"s minds clear and what a difference it makes in their spiritual capacity. The fasting retreats also accelerate the spiritualizing process in the following ways: the complete break from one"s customary social setting and routine; doing meditation, hatha yoga, and exercise; practicing the Essene communions; holding small group detox healing sessions; doing enemas; doing foot, abdominal, and head ma.s.sage; and partic.i.p.ating in group discussions where people share their feelings. People who normally have trouble meditating or praying for one half-hour find themselves going two hours at a time without difficulty. Because the conductivity of the force is so enhanced by the fasting and meditation or intense prayer, often more than 90% of the retreat partic.i.p.ants have a spiritual awakening or quickening. Fasting is a powerful part of the live-food spiritual nutrition program and an essential part of any nutritional program for spiritual life and health. The mental and physical toxic environment we live in exposes everyone to a toxic buildup that regular fasting at least two times per year helps to unload.
Body Toxins Are Real.
MANY PEOPLE THINK that the phrase "toxins in the body" is just some jargon of food faddists. Research over the last hundred years shows that these bowel toxins actually exist. Not only do they exist, but they have a tremendous negative impact on mental and physical well-being. Toxins usually come from a process called intestinal toxemia, an overgrowth of putrefactive intestinal bacteria in the small and large intestine. These toxins are then absorbed into the blood stream and from there affect both our mental and physical functioning. Intestinal toxemia is predominantly caused by an excessively high animal protein diet. Overeating, eating late at night, and/or a slowing of bowel eliminative function directly contribute to it. Constipation also contributes a lot to this bowel toxemia.
In 1933, Dr. Anthony Basler, a professor of gastroenterology, summarized his 25-year study of 5,000 cases by saying: Every physician should realize that the intestinal toxemias are the most important primary and contributing causes of many disorders and diseases of the human body Dr. H. H. Boeker, as far back as 1923, said: It is now universally conceded that autointoxication is the underlying cause of an exceptionally large group of symptom complexes.
In general, research shows that when the intestinal toxemia is removed, symptoms such as fatigue, nervousness, gastrointestinal conditions, impaired nutrition, skin manifestations, endocrine disturbances, headaches, sciatica, various forms of low back pain, allergy, eye, ear, nose, and throat congestion, and even cardiac irregularities have been healed in hundreds of cases. Excessive amounts of a chemical called indican have also been a.s.sociated with sacroiliac, upper lumbar, and thoracic subluxations that do not respond to appropriate adjustments. This is not to say that reducing intestinal bacteria is the only cure for many of these diseases, but often it is an important factor that is overlooked because we consider the toxemia of our high-protein, overeating habits to be a normal state.
Some of the main bowel toxins are ammonia, indole, indican (a conjugated indole), skatole, clostridium perfringen enterotoxin, gaunidine, phenol, and high concentrations of histamine. I have found that a simple test for indican in the urine is an easy and effective way to diagnose bowel toxemia. The liver is able to detoxify some of these toxins, but when high concentrations are reached, the liver becomes overwhelmed and these toxins saturate the blood stream. Skatole and phenol cannot even be detoxified by the liver at all.
Bowel toxins have more than just a symbolic effect on the mind and nervous system. An increased concentration of ammonia in the blood, for example, increases the cerebrospinal fluid concentration. This seems to interfere with brain metabolism in some way. The results of a high cerebrospinal ammonia are evidenced by clinical reports of neurological and mental disturbances, tremors, brain wave changes, and even coma. Eleven different research laboratories on bowel toxins have reported that schizophrenics have five times more 6-hydroxyskatole in their urine than normal people (a skatole breakdown product from bacterial putrefaction). These findings correlate with the findings of Russian researchers, who, according to Dr. Allen Cott in Fasting as a Way of Life, have had excellent success using water fasts to cure 65% of the so-called "incurable schizophrenics." It is interesting to note that one of the main causes of relapse for these "incurables" was a return to high-protein, flesh food intake, which is a diet that stimulates bacterial putrefaction and intestinal toxemia.
Intestinal toxemia not only has been a.s.sociated with severe mental symptoms such as psychosis, but with a variety of mental imbalances. As early as 1917, Drs. Satterlee and Eldridge presented 518 cases at an American Medical a.s.sociation conference that had mental symptoms which were cured by removing the intestinal toxemia. They reported symptoms of intestinal toxemia which are familiar to many people: mental sluggishness, dullness, and stupidity; loss of concentration and/or memory; mental incoordination, irritability, lack of confidence, and excessive and useless worry; exaggerated introspection, hypochondrias, and phobias; depression and melancholy; obsessions and delusions; and hallucinations, suicidal tendencies, delirium, and stupor. Senility symptoms are also common with intestinal toxemia.
Fasting is one of the best and quickest treatments for bowel toxicity I have found in my research that the urinary indican was "markedly decreased" even after a seven-day fast. Phenols, another cla.s.s of bowel toxins, have also been decreased significantly by fasting. The fasting process allows the bowels to rest and the inflammation to subside. If there are no proteins on which to feed, the putrefactive bacteria will also diminish.
For those who do not want to fast, excluding surgical intervention, a low-protein diet (20-30 grams of protein per day), along with a high-complex-carbohydrate, 80% raw-food diet, is a slower but effective cure. When connected with periodic fasting, it is even more powerful. Fats should be kept to a minimum, as heated fats especially intensify the process of intestinal toxemia. Learning to eat in a way that causes no strain on the digestive system is extremely important. This means eating in a manner in which one rises from the table feeling almost as light as when one sits down. If we eat too much or too late, there is incomplete digestion and the process of putrefaction is reinforced. Adding lactobacillus acidophilus (normal large intestine bacteria) culture to the system helps to re-populate the small and large intestine with healthy bacteria, therefore diminishing putrefactive (abnormal) bacteria. Exercise also helps to stimulate the digestive system. Although many will respond to these basic aids to digestion, in the short run one may need some digestive enzymes and/or digestion-stimulating herbs to help rest and rebuild the digestive power that has been weakened after long years of abuse.
Preview of Chapter 8.
IN THIS CHAPTER WE DISCUSS the implications of physical and mental degeneration doc.u.mented in animal and human studies. This is highlighted by the Pottenger Cat Study of raw- vs. cooked-food diets and the Price study which surveyed the results of introducing processed foods into the diets of indigenous people. A link is made between these studies" results and our current health crises, including hyperactivity and widespread drug addiction. The chapter ends with suggestions for reversing this process and the affirmation that the addictive brain can be healed.
I. Evidence for physical degeneration from poor diet A. Pottenger Cat Study B. Price study of indigenous cultures II. Results of poor pre-pregnancy and prenatal nutrition.
III. Manifestation of poor nutrition in our culture.
IV. How this degeneration process can be prevented and reversed.
Deficient Diet: A Cause of Physical and Mental Degeneration.
IAM WORKING TO DEVELOP AN INSIGHT into the effects of poor nutrition on the human organism over the generations. By nutrition, I mean the total effect of all the energetic input affecting the quality of life and energy of our human organism. This includes the health of the parents, the prenatal nutrition, the quality of the general food intake or diet, the environmental influences such as weather, amount of pesticides, herbicides, and radiation exposure, quality of education, level of emotional and spiritual development, and the ability to draw energy from the different elements of nature. Modern culture has created a ma.s.s-consciousness diet of synthetic, denatured, fast, frozen, cooked, pesticided foods high in refined carbohydrates and trans fatty acids and low in fiber. Many vegetables, fruits, and grains are grown on deficient soils. This is a deficient diet which I believe is significantly impacting the physical and mental health of our whole society on a core biological level. This chapter is an attempt to look at the effects of this diet on our ma.s.s culture. It is easier for me to select the diet for study because it is more concrete than other aspects of nutrition.
One of the most dramatic implications of the role of diet in our lives and the quality of our culture is the mental and physical degeneration related to inadequate diet. The degenerative effect of a chronically deficient diet on the physical and mental state of succeeding generations is a difficult reality to grasp. It is hard to perceive because humans have a longer generational cycle than mice or fruit flies. Too few have even asked the essential question of this chapter. Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., a leading authority on nutrition and nutritional therapy in relation to mental states, has asked the question and offered some answers. In the introduction to Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston Price, Hoffer states: "Recent intergenerational research in animals and people has shown that, on a uniformly poor diet, the offspring of each generation deteriorates more and more, and in rats this continues up to eight generations. We do not know what the final stage will be in human deterioration. I suspect that many of the people with psychiatric disorders today, the addicts, the high degree of violence, the tremendous number of depressions and tension states, and the great number of physical degenerations such as diabetes, arthritis, etc., are the modern manifestations of this continuing degeneration. I have seen no experiences which show what happens when the diet continues to get worse with time. I shudder to think of the final outcome."
The data are clear that our diet of fast, frozen, and processed food-high in refined carbohydrates like white sugar and white flour, high in pesticides, with food grown on nutrient-depleted soils-supplies a uniformly inadequate diet to Americans and most of the modern industrialized world. As you read this chapter you will see some of the data to support this statement.
Diet and Physical Degeneration.
THE PHYSICAL DEGENERATION ASPECT of poor diet is more obvious than the mental degeneration aspect. For example, Dr. Thomas Cleave, a British medical officer in World War II who later became the Surgeon-Captain of the Royal Navy, found that when Iceland"s diet became Westernized in the 1930s and sugar and refined carbohydrate consumption rose significantly, diabetes became commonplace twenty years later in the 1950s. In Africans, he found that wherever rapid dietary change was introduced with refined carbohydrates, heart disease and diabetes began to spread approximately two decades later.
In his studies, from the Kurds to Yemenites to Zulus, Cleave repeatedly found that when refined-carbohydrate foods were introduced into the diet, there was an increase in chronic disease within twenty-five years. In 1956 he wrote a paper in which he theorized that the cause of many chronic diseases was the rise of saccharine foods or sugar-related foods in the diet. Cleave made the point that the refining of carbohydrate foods in which the roughage is taken out slows the pa.s.sage of bowel contents and therefore gives rise to hemorrhoids, diverticular disease, varicose veins, colitis, ileitis, and possibly cancers of the colon and r.e.c.t.u.m. He believed that refined foods were so concentrated that there exists a sugar over-consumption, which is a.s.sociated with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Because of this, he argued that the introduction of refined carbohydrates into the diet was responsible for a large percentage of the increasing chronic degenerative diseases seen in Western industrialized nations.
The Pottenger Cat Study, done between 1932 and 1942 and reported in the book called Pottenger"s Cats by Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., M.D., is a powerful statement about the process of intergenerational degeneration. The research was done with approximately nine hundred cats. Dr. Pottenger worked in conjunction with Alvin Foord, M.D., professor of pathology at the University of Southern California and pathologist at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. This study met the most rigorous scientific standards of its time. Six hundred of the nine hundred cats had complete medical histories, and medical observations were recorded on all the cats.
The cats were kept in large outdoor pens, with all groups of cats having the same controlled conditions. Cat controls or "normals" were put on a raw-food diet including raw meat, raw milk, and cod liver oil. "Deficient" cats were those put on a deficient diet which had either cooked meat or milk, but they still received cod liver oil. Normals were born of healthy parents and kept on an optimal diet. A first-generation deficient cat was an adult cat put on the deficient diet (one that included cooked food). A second-generation deficient cat was a kitten born to a first-generation deficient female and maintained on a deficient diet after it completed nursing. Third-generation deficient cats were born of second-generation deficient cats and maintained on a deficient diet all their lives. Fourth-generation cats in this line were not available because third-generation deficient cats were unable to produce viable offspring and usually died by the age of six months.
One of the major experiments in this study involved giving control cats or "normals" a diet of two-thirds raw meat and one-third raw milk and cod liver oil. The "deficient" cats were given a diet of two-thirds cooked meat and one-third raw milk plus the same amount of cod liver oil as the normals. The comparison between the normal or raw-food cats and the deficient or cooked-meat cats was impressive. The normals were uniform in size and development without any skeletal, tissue tone, or fur changes. The calcium and phosphorus content of their bones remained consistent, and internal organs showed full development. They were resistant to infections, fleas, and parasites and showed no signs of allergies. Their mental states were friendly, with purring and predictable behavior patterns. They maintained a high level of nervous system coordination. They reproduced one h.o.m.ogeneous generation after another, all in good health. The mothers had no trouble with the birth process or nursing. The average litter was five kittens, with the average weight being one hundred nineteen grams.
In contrast, cats fed the cooked-meat diet gave birth to heterogeneous offspring with many variations in skeletal structure. By the third generation, their bones became as soft as rubber. All deficient generations of cats suffered heart problems, nearsightedness and farsightedness, underactivity or inflammation of the thyroid and bladder, arthritis and inflammation of the joints, inflammation of the nervous system with paralysis and meningitis, and infections of the kidney, bones, liver, testes, and ovaries. There was also a general decrease in the health of visceral organs. On autopsy the females had ovarian atrophy and uterine congestion, while the males showed a failure in active spermatogenesis. In the first-generation cooked-food cats, abortions ran about 25% and went up to 70% in the second generation of deficient animals. Deliveries were difficult and many females died giving birth. Mortality rates of the kittens were high. The average cooked-food kitten weight was nineteen grams less than the raw-meat-nurtured cats. Vermin and intestinal parasites became numerous. Skin lesions and allergies were frequent and got worse with each generation of deficient cats. In the third generation, the cooked-meat cats were so physiologically deficient that none survived beyond the sixth month.
In general, the calcium/phosphorus content of the bone decreased with each generation of cooked-food cats. In the first generation, the percentage of calcium in the bone was 12 to 17% and dropped to between 1 and 1.5% by the third generation of cooked-food cats. The bone phosphorus content diminished in a similar pattern. Bone structural changes among the cooked-food cats included lessening of the anterior-posterior and transverse diameters of the dental arch. There was an apparent angle of the corpus of the mandible and an apparent failure in the anterior development of the forward movement of the face. There was a lessening of the development of the frontal sinus and an increase in the angle formed by the roof of the mouth and the base of the brain. Cats on the cooked-food diet developed irregularly s.p.a.ced, uneven, crowded incisors and had a decrease in the size and regularity of their teeth with increased malocclusion. The long bones of the femur or hip decreased in diameter and increased in length. The internal bone osseous structure became coa.r.s.er with less calcium. By the third generation, the bones actually became rubber-like.
The mental status of the deficient-diet or cooked-food cats showed considerably more irritability than the normals, with much increased biting and scratching and more unpredictable behavior patterns in the females. The males became more docile with a drop in s.e.xual interest. A role reversal in the cats was observed, with the males becoming more docile and the females becoming more aggressive. Increased same-s.e.x s.e.xual activities were observed. These behaviors were not observed in the cats fed only raw foods.
When cats fed the cooked-meat diet were returned to a raw-meat diet, it took approximately four generations to regain normal health. Improvement in resistance to disease was observed in the second generation, but allergies persisted into the third generation. Most skeletal deformities lasted until the third generation and were gone by the fourth generation. Once a female cat was subjected to twelve to eighteen months of a cooked-food diet, she was never able to give birth to normal kittens.