Chapter 1-1 of Healing Foods
by Walter Last
BASIC HEALTH IMPROVEMRNT
Initially, most health
seekers are mainly concerned with overcoming a specific health problem, using a
specific method or remedy promising the quickest result. However, in the long
run and as we get older more and more health problems or diseases pop up and
become increasingly more difficult or impossible to overcome by just using a
magic bullet. This then makes the idea of serious lifestyle changes towards
natural living and holistic healing more attractive, giving us a much better
chance to become and remain healthy and fit right into old age.
I have no doubt that it is
our natural birthright to be healthy and that it is actually unnatural to have
a disease. A disease means that we or possibly our parents did not live
according to our biological, social or spiritual nature. At present most of
humanity lives in rather unnatural conditions surrounded by a minefield of
technological and chemical health hazards. Even worse is our ignorance about
the nature of these hazards that are mainly hidden from our awareness.
Therefore, in order to live
more naturally we need to become aware of the main health hazards in our
environment and learn to avoid or minimize them. We can learn from our own
experiences and from those of others and we can also develop our intuition or
ask for guidance through prayer and meditation. If in doubt about a choice try
to imagine which course of action is more natural or more in harmony with our
biological, social and spiritual nature.
The main biological
influences on our health are nutrition, exercise or how we use our body as well
as environmental factors. In addition to improving these conditions there are
numerous natural healing methods to help us in our quest. These range from
herbs and other remedies to working on muscle and bone structures and using
electro, magneto and vibrational medicine.
Become aware of the factors that cause our diseases
THE ROAD TOWARDS DISEASE
People in Western society are
rarely healthy. Real health - the perfect functioning of all parts of body and
mind - is so rare that people mistake the temporary absence of disease symptoms
for health. Formerly, people suffered mainly from violent, but short infectious
diseases; now they are afflicted with chronic degenerative diseases for a
lifetime.
The main factors causing widespread health
degeneration are as follows.
·
Unnatural nutrition: food refining, lack of 'living food' rich in vitamins, minerals and
enzymes; incorrect food combining; unsuitable diet for our metabolic type
·
Chemicalization: pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, medical drugs, food additives and
synthetic garments
- Electromagnetic pollution and radiation
· Lack of sufficient physical activity or exercise in natural, unpolluted surroundings
·
Harmful negative feelings
and emotions - and lack of positive feelings and emotions
·
Harmful mental attitudes, lack of spiritual or humanistic goals, lack of faith
·
Emotional damage during birth, childhood and adolescence, lack of positive role models
·
Inherited genes of poor and deteriorating quality
The general sequence leading to the development of poor health and
chronic diseases commonly is as follows. 'Emotional injuries' received during
birth and childhood, as well as negative attitudes and emotions experienced
during later life, block the free flow of bio-energy within the body. This
weakens the blood circulation and the glandular system, as well as the
functions of affected organs. In addition, inherited metabolic weakness and
poor nutrition as well as chemical pollution combine to cause an inefficient
use of biochemical building blocks and poor cellular energy production.
Metabolic Residues
As a result of this metabolic weakness and the
overuse of unsuitable food, toxins and metabolic residues accumulate in the
body. Toxins (toxic waste products from our chemicalized food) accumulate
mainly in the fat tissue. Metabolic residues consist of protein debris, mucus,
fatty sludge and organic acids.
·
PROTEIN DEBRIS accumulates when we eat more protein
than we metabolize. Small protein fragments clog up the basement membrane
through which nutrients move into cells and waste is being removed. Also tiny blood
capillaries and lymph channels become congested, contributing to a wide range
of degenerative diseases.
·
MUCUS: Originates from the
lactose (milk sugar) in dairy products, from gluten (in wheat products),
refined carbohydrates, egg white, molds and food allergens. Mucus has a special
affinity to mucous membranes, causing catarrh, ear and sinus problems,
respiratory diseases and malabsorption of food.
·
FATTY SLUDGE: Mainly formed
from oxidized cholesterol and polyunsaturated fatty acids, hydrogenated fats
and trans-fatty acids but also by the interaction of chlorinated water with
vegetable oils or body oils. It leads to poor circulation, senility and heart
problems by clogging the blood vessels and congesting the lymph system.
·
ORGANIC ACIDS: General overacidity
contributes to the accumulation of organic acids in the tissues and induce
inflammations and mineral deficiencies. Overacidity results from insufficient
cellular oxidation and by the formation of lactic acid after eating sweet food
or food to which we are sensitive or allergic.
Infections
Wastes accumulate wherever the blood
circulation slows down whether because of emotional blocks (muscle armoring),
injuries, or insufficient use of muscles.
Up to 30 per cent of the volume of cells in
elderly people may be filled with waste material, usually called 'old-age
pigments'. This is comparable to 30 per cent of a city or a household being
filled with refuse dumps. Just as dumps become infested with rodents and
insects, the waste accumulations in the body provide favorable breeding-grounds
for microbes and parasites.
Infections are healing efforts of the body designed
to destroy any foreign invaders in addition to reducing the heavy load of toxic
and obstructive residues (mucus) accumulated in the body. The use of drugs in
fighting these infections prevents this cleansing action and reduces our
vitality still further, while the body's immune system - its ability to defend
itself against foreign invaders - is simultaneously damaged.
If the body is still reasonably strong, it
fights these invaders and simultaneously reduces the load of stored wastes.
This is experienced as an acute (sudden and severe) infection, often in the
form of a cold or fever. However, as the body becomes weaker and the amount of
stored wastes increases the body does not fight any more. It will be content
with limiting the invasion to a certain part of the body and chronic (low-key
but long-lasting) infection results.
Finally, the immune system becomes too weak to
limit the chronic invasion and it becomes more generalized as in autoimmune
diseases, cancer and leukemia. However, it should be understood that this
'invasion' does not necessarily occur from the outside. Especially in the case
of cancer, it is more an 'uprising of germs' created by the disintegration of
diseased body cells - similar to a revolution spreading in a country with
dissatisfied inhabitants. This is the so-called cancer microbe, a
fungus-related pleomorphic organism also active in most autoimmune diseases and
AIDS.
The German cancer researcher P.G. Seeger
demonstrated in thousands of experiments that the virulence of cancer cells
depends on the nutritional status of the host. Another interesting study found
that viruses breeding in hosts that are deficient in protective nutrients, such
as selenium or vitamin E, tend to mutate and change from benign into very
virulent and lethal forms. With sufficient levels of these nutrients someone
was immune against the benign form of the virus but not against the mutated
form that came from a deficient host. Most of the influenza epidemics that
periodically sweep the world with new virulent strains originate in selenium
deficient parts of China. Furthermore, the African HIV epidemic appears to have emerged in
northern Zaire were many people are selenium deficient. The lesson from this is that
poor nutrition breeds deadly viruses.
Food Addictions and
Allergies
Parallel health deterioration, closely linked
to the weakening of the immune system, takes place with the development of
addictions and allergies. These are extremely widespread in our society.
Whenever the body is confronted with a
difficult food it enters a state of stress. The glandular system is induced to
pour adrenal hormones into the bloodstream and this may be felt as an uplifting
stimulation. Eventually, the body begins to crave this stimulation and this
leads to an addiction to that particular food. In our society, these food
cravings develop mainly for sweet and fried foods, bread, dairy products and
red meats.
After many years of using addictive food the
glandular system is markedly weakened and stronger stimulants are required. You
then become addicted to alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco or various drugs.
Eventually, even these will not achieve the desired effect or only for shorter
and shorter periods.
The body becomes chronically fatigued and
disease symptoms begin to surface evermore forcefully. Some symptoms can be
linked directly to incompletely digested foods that are absorbed through a weak
intestinal wall this is then called a food allergy. Disease symptoms develop
selectively in parts of the body with hereditary defects or in those weakened
by subsequent misuse or injured by accidents.
Problem Foods
Almost any food, if used to excess by
susceptible people, can cause allergies. However, certain foods such as rice
and vegetables rarely cause allergies while others carry a high risk of causing
them. These high-risk foods are called 'problem foods' because in addition to
allergies they frequently cause health problems in people who are not
susceptible to allergies.
People who are prone to allergies are generally
overacid with a weak sugar metabolism and hypoglycemia or diabetes, low blood
pressure, a weak immune system, permeable intestinal wall and lack of digestive
enzymes. Alkaline individuals, on the other hand, rarely have allergies.
Instead, they are insensitive to pain and skin irritants and may suffer from
chronic degenerative diseases or become victims of an unexpected heart attack
or stroke. However, the same problem foods are major contributing factors in
the development of disease of both groups.
The main problem foods in our society are:
1.
Cows' milk and its products,
also lactose added to processed foods
2.
Wheat and oats and to a
lesser extent the other gluten grains rye and barley (beer!)
3.
Sweet foods, especially
household sugar
4.
Hydrogenated fats (for
example margarine) or heated oils and fats
5.
Stimulants: overuse of
alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco and drugs
These five groups should generally be used
sparingly. Sweet and acid fruits, honey and salt are often incompatible with
people of a certain constitution or metabolic body type. Also foods that are
incompatible with our blood group often cause problems. In addition, any food
that contains pesticide residues or added synthetic food chemicals is a
potential health hazard. I do not believe in a safe limit for these chemicals,
especially as limits are set for each item individually while ignoring the
cumulative and potentizing effect of multiple chemical residues and additions.
Social and Economic Factors
With the present poor eating habits deeply
ingrained in our society and the all-out chemicalization of our lives it is
almost impossible to remain reasonably healthy - and very few people do. Almost
everyone has obvious or hidden health problems. From attending to children,
parents and grandparents of the same family I have seen how the level of health
rapidly deteriorates in the youngest generation.
This trend is also clear from
statistics and general observations for anyone who wants to see it. Statistics
showing increased life expectancy due to greatly reduced infant mortality are
irrelevant for judging the health of a population. These figures simply mean
that more babies survive the early-childhood infections, that we have better
plumbing and that more elderly people are kept artificially alive by organ
transplants or on life-support machines.
But this is not health. More relevant
statistics show that most people in Western countries suffer from chronic
diseases and that the percentage of chronically disabled people is increasing
rapidly. Arthritis, cancer and Parkinson's disease used to be diseases of old
people. Now they are affecting children and juveniles. Health authorities so
far have ignored the claims of natural medicine that it is the superior form of
treatment for chronic and medically incurable diseases. The very fact of a high
rate of chronic disease in our society attests to the inability of the medical
profession to successfully treat these diseases.
This is highlighted by the
embarrassing phenomenon of the falling death rate during doctors' strikes.
Statistics show that whenever there was a strike by doctors, the death rate in
the affected population fell dramatically. In 1976 the death rate fell by 35
per cent in Bogota, Colombia. In Los Angeles
County, California, it fell by 18 per cent during a strike in the same year,
while in Israel it fell by 50 per cent during a strike in 1973 (Mendelsohn,
R.S. Confessions of a Medical Heretic. Contemporary Books). Only once
before had there been a similar drop in the death rate in Israel and that was
during another doctors' strike 20 years earlier. After each strike the death
rate jumped again to its normal level.
During these strikes
emergency care was provided. This means the patients who lived longer during
the strikes were those with chronic diseases. They obviously benefited from a
reduced exposure to medical drugs, operations and other technological interventions.
There are an abundance of statistics, estimates and case reports of the great
number of patients who are in hospital or worse because of disease caused by
medical drugs and medical technology. One of the many books exploring this
subject in detail is Medical Nemesis by I. Illich (Pantheon Books).
Selfish Motivation
However, our medical and economic leaders do
not want to face reality. They brainwash the public into believing that the
present health situation is completely normal. Finally and most importantly,
the whole economic structure of Western civilization is based on the production
and distribution of goods and services that are contributing to poor health.
These include chemicalized agriculture and food processing, the pharmaceutical
industry, technological medicine and the petrochemical and plastic industries.
The guiding motto for industry is 'profit',
while for the consumer it is 'convenience'. The price for all to pay is the
loss of health. This situation is the natural outcome of a society based on
selfish motivation. A change for the better can only come when more and more
people realize that ultimately they harm themselves with selfish attitudes.
Learn the Principles of natural living to restore your health
THE ROAD TOWARDS HEALTH
The first and most important step in reversing
the deterioration of your health is to realize that you may have caused it
yourself. Because of ignorance and habit, we select the wrong foods; because of
laziness, we do not exercise; because of lack of self-control, we create
destructive emotions. Therefore, only the realization that poor health is the
result of a lifetime of wrong living - including the living habits of our
parents - can initiate a real change for the better.
The next step is to find guidance on the road
towards health. There is so much contradictory advice on offer that it is
utterly confusing for the aspiring health seeker. Worldwide, the healing arts
are in a state of chaos. The sterile healing monopoly of the medical
establishment is beginning to break down and multitudes of different healers
are rapidly filling the gap.
Find out by reading, listening, meditating and
experimenting which healing system is most appropriate for your own needs. Then
start a determined healing program using careful self-observation.
Measuring Health
It can be seen from the above discussion that
disease is not something that happens suddenly - for example one day you are
healthy and the next day you are sick because cancer has just been detected.
Instead, your state of health has greatly deteriorated over many decades to
only a fraction of what it might be in true health. Even suddenly appearing
infections are only possible because of a gradual deterioration of the immune
system.
Health should be measured as vitality, as the
body's ability to regenerate itself. An indication of the inherent vitality of
the body is given by the speed of wound healing or bone mending and possibly
hair and nail growth or, in a more scientific way, by the electric potential of
body cells. Sometimes radionic methods may be useful in giving an estimate of
vitality.
A reasonably objective way of measuring health
is with electro-acupuncture diagnosis. There are different systems, such as
Dermatron, Vega, Thera and others now commonly linked to computer programs.
Basically, the electrical resistance of acupuncture points on hands and feet
are measured. From this it can be seen which meridian, organ or gland is
overactive or underactive and to what degree. Suitable remedies may be selected
by introducing them into the electric circuit and observe their reaction on an
abnormal reading. Also the health of teeth and jawbone positions can be
assessed in this way. At a return visit a repeat diagnostic read-out will show
the effect of the treatment program and point to necessary modifications.
According to this yardstick, hardly anyone
living at present may be more than 90 per cent healthy, while most people in
'normal' health live at below 50 per cent of their personally attainable health
potential. When a chronic degenerative disease becomes manifest, the health
rate drops to below 10 per cent and at death, of course, it is zero.
It is meaningless to be elated about the
success of conventional medicine in greatly reducing the number of people
contracting certain infectious diseases. It is the overall number of
unhealthy people that counts. If one disease is eliminated, unhealthy people
will simply contract a different one. What is needed is a general health improvement
that will effectively reduce the total number of people becoming sick and
ultimately hinder the development of any disease.
Eventually with better genetic stock and
improved living conditions we should be able to live an active and enjoyable
life until the age of about 120 years and then quietly withdraw from the body.
This is the presently unknown 'natural death'. For most of us who have serious
inherited weaknesses and misused our body for many decades this may not be
possible to achieve. Nevertheless, better health and an enjoyable life are
possible for almost everyone. The key to success is in your mind!
The Health-Improvement
Program
The basic requirements for real healing involve
the reversal of the factors previously listed as the cause of health
degeneration. They include natural living - good nutrition, proper
breathing, sufficient physical activity, improved emotional and mental
attitudes - as well as specific procedures, uppermost of which is cleansing,
the purification of body and mind.
A fundamental aim of all healing is to provide
the body with more vitality. True healing is always a holistic process,
involving all levels of the personality - physical, bio-energetic, emotional,
mental and spiritual. A health improvement program may include the following
steps.
1.
Improve your nutrition: discover and break addictions and allergies;
avoid chemicalized, refined and other problem food; pay attention to food
combinations; select food suitable for your body type and condition; use
suitable supplements.
2.
Remove metabolic wastes and
toxins: drink plenty of
unpolluted water and use colonics, laxative foods, suitable packs; stimulate
the skin; have repeated cleansing periods.
3.
Eliminate microbes and parasites from your body
using electronic zapper, colloidal silver, oxygen therapy and herbal parasite
cure.
4.
Strengthen the body with regular exercises such as yoga, tensing and stretching or suitable
outdoors activity.
5.
Improve energy flows and work out specific problems with reflexology, acupressure, ear acupuncture,
magnet and meridian therapy, massage and homeopathy.
6.
Create natural living
conditions for yourself and your family by minimizing synthetics and plastics,
pollution and harmful radiation in your home. Frequently be in fresh air with
mild sun exposure; bathe in the sea or unpolluted streams; walk on grass
barefooted.
7.
Learn meditation and mind
control, learn to express your negative emotions
appropriately, practice generating positive feelings and emotions; love
yourself as well as your neighbor; adopt a positive or spiritual philosophy of
life. Find a worthy goal or ideal and strive to manifest it.
8.
Form or join a health or
healing group to support and heal each
other.
In addition to these self-help measures it is
advisable to seek professional or expert help for specific problems. However,
it would be self-defeating to see your health-improvement efforts as a deadly
serious matter, as a 'life-or-death' struggle. Like everything else in life
they are best conducted in a light and playful way, exploring and enjoying
yourself - even if it sometimes hurts.
True healing means growing - learning and applying the laws of nature!
Balancing
An important general principle in healing is to
aim for an overall balanced condition. Generally, every condition within our
body is the result of the interaction of two opposing forces. In oriental
philosophy there are the concepts of yin and yang. Yin is female, cold and
passive; yang is male, hot and active. In our Western thinking we see body
processes as interplay between overactive and under-active conditions, tension
and relaxation, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems.
As part of our healing, we
aim for balance not only on the biochemical level, but also in our emotions and
thinking. As an extrovert, for instance, aim to go into inwards by meditating
and learning to listen. If you are an introvert, then try to become more
outgoing and open in your relationships and social interactions. The following
table shows the general principle of opposing forces that rule our body.
Opposite
body forces
Condition
|
sympathetic nervous system
tension, contraction
aggression, extroversion
anger, fear, activity
rapid pulse and breathing
pupil dilated, mouth dry
good muscle tone, body rigid
poor digestion
overexcited, hyperactive
high blood pressure
far-sighted
overactive thyroid/adrenals
inflammation, pain
diabetes, schizophrenia
|
parasympathetic nervous system
relaxation, expansion
placidity, introversion
resentment, rest
slow pulse and breathing
pupils narrow, mouth waters
poor muscle tone, body soft
good digestion
low energy, depression
low blood pressure
near-sighted
underactive-thyroid/adrenals
debility, weakness
hypoglycemia, allergies, arthritis
|
Remedy
|
blue, indigo, purple
vegetarian diet
more potassium, magnesium,
lecithin, choline, insulin
sedation, releasing energy
magnetic south-pointing pole
deep, slow acupressure
|
red, orange, yellow
animal protein
calcium (sodium), iodine,
adrenaline, cholesterol
stimulation, giving energy
magnetic north pole
rapid, light acupressure
|
As an example on how to use
this table, if you often feel tense, fearful, aggressive, or have high blood
pressure, inflammations or pain, then blue color therapy may help, or using
more magnesium, lecithin, or apply the south-pointing pole of a magnet.
Good Nutrition – Bad Nutrition
Nutrition
was the main tool with which I helped patients overcome a wide range of
diseases claimed to be medically incurable. Unnatural nutrition is one of the
major causes of our diseases, while natural nutrition is an equally powerful
agent in curing these diseases, and rejuvenating our body.
Most
of our commonly eaten food contributes to gradual health deterioration, and the
development of chronic diseases. This is a main reason why there is such a high
incidence of chronic degenerative disease in our society.
Diet
rules are designed to guide us towards healthier eating habits. There are
different schools of nutrition, which do not always agree on the same
principles and sometimes even contradict each other, just as in politics,
religion and other areas of human endeavor. The diet rules in these pages are
based on the principles of the earlier 'nature cure' movement, but modified
according to the findings of modem clinical nutrition research and my own
experiences in overcoming diseases.
For
the successful elimination of diseases, I have found that the less ideal the
patient's diet was, the more specific the remedies, supplements, or other
therapies needed to be. Conversely, on an ideal diet, specific interventions
could be kept to a minimum. I have also noticed that the different nutritional
requirements between the various metabolic types begin to disappear when an
ideal natural diet is adopted and all can eat similar food, although in
different proportions.
Changing
our diet to an ideal natural one requires a considerable shift in eating
habits, and re-educating our taste buds. It often also requires greatly
increased time and energy for food preparation. For most of us this is not
easy. While some take to it enthusiastically, others need to be driven by the
hope to overcome a debilitating disease, and most are content to make just
minor adjustments or gradual improvements as a preventive measure or to
overcome an existing health problem. Therefore, I use a graded approach with a
high-quality diet for gradual health improvement and maintenance of good
health, and a raw-food diet for maximum healing, rejuvenation and maintenance
of optimal health into old age.
While
I have presented each diet in its pure form, most individuals will not be able
to adopt fully one or the other diet but rather move gradually towards their
dietary goal in a period of months or even years. You may also need to modify
the diet according to your special requirements, as described in the chapter on
Metabolic Types and Blood Groups. However, ultimately it is best to
learn to trust your body in telling you what it needs. If you are not addicted
to a certain food but crave it, then it is probably good for you.
We need to realize that we ourselves
can choose to a considerable degree how healthy we want to be and how long we
want to live in good health or, alternatively, which diseases we are willing to
accept for the comfort of satisfying our present taste preferences, and
maintaining potentially harmful living habits. Of course, other factors such as
our mental and emotional condition, the environment, how we use our body, have
a strong influence as well, and are covered in other articles.
Experiment!
For overall health
improvement I suggest that you experiment with as many of the methods in these
pages as you can. On the biological level these are mainly intestinal
sanitation, allergy testing and cleansing. Some idealistic individuals may
embrace these measures enthusiastically while others will try a little here and
there but generally wait until poor health launches them more determinedly into
a program of health improvement. For those, however, who want to start right
now, here is the prescription.
Many natural therapists
believe that most disease starts in the bowels or, more generally, in the
gastro-intestinal tract. This certainly is a common factor in many diseases and
requires our initial attention. Allergy testing is most important for sensitive
individuals and children with health problems.
Fasting and cleansing are
required to remove the heavy load of metabolic wastes and toxins that most of
us have stored in the body. This cleansing process often leads to unpleasant
symptoms - healing reactions, also called healing crisis - which we frequently
must endure before we can advance to a higher level of health. This is
especially the case for those with a chronic degenerative disease.
Chapter 1: BASIC HEALTH IMPROVEMENT
· The
Road Towards Disease
· The
Road Towards Health
· Intestinal
Sanitation
· Fasting
and Cleansing
· Allergy
Testing
· General
Diet Rules