Guest guest Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 " Malnutrition of the Affluent " JoAnn Guest May 10, 2005 22:10 PDT Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 3:28 pm www.alternative-medicine-message-boards.info --- Dr. Howell makes the observation that humans are the only animals who, in their natural environment, live their lives with disease. Think about it: how many diseases are there for humans in the pathology textbooks? 500? 1000? What other animal in nature gets even 5 diseases? Why? Dr. Howell explains that humans are the only animals that eat processed foods, the only animals who subsist on " enzyme-less " food: " All wild creatures get their enzyme supplements in the raw food itself. " - Enzyme Nutrition p7 The saliva of horses and cattle doesn't even contain enzymes, like ours does. The work of digestion is largely aided by the enzymes in the grass or hay they eat. A whale that had 32 seals in its stomach was found to secrete no digestive enzymes! (Howell) Digestion took place by means of enzymes " contained " within the seals themselves. Think of the burden this removes from the whale's digestive system during his lifetime. Or more accurately, since we're the exception, think of the burden enzymeless food places on our systems. We must expend great quantities of energy producing and maintaining digestive enzymes that Dr. Howell describes as " pathologically rich. " What a waste of energy. At what a price. Over 60 years ago, France's finest surgeon noted the ill effects of commercial foods given to pedigreed dogs: " In successive generations of purebred dogs, nervousness is often observed to increase. This phenomenon occurs in subjects brought up under artificial conditions, living in comfortable kennels, and provided with choice food quite different from that of their ancestors, the shepherds, who fought and defeated the wolves.. " - Alexis Carrel, p 106 BLOOD: THE INTERNAL MILIEU Going back to the blood now, and the idea of toxicity, remember that the blood was the carrier which deposited all the undigested food debris in various locations throughout the body. But this type of debris also has observable effects on the red blood cells themselves. Undigested fats and protein in the diet commonly cause a condition known as " erythrocyte aggregation " , which is simply " clumping " of the red blood cells. This causes " circulation " problems and may be the primary cause of chronic fatigue. It stands to reason - if the blood cells are all stuck together like " globs " of motor oil, they cannot flow very easily through the blood vessels. Circulation is the only way that the body's cells can obtain " oxygen " , which they need every second. Clumping of red cells graphically decreases the amount of oxygen that is being carried to the tissues. We're not just talking about fatigue any more; lack of oxygen spells " tissue degeneration " , premature aging, and early death. Almost 100 years ago Alexis Carrel demonstrated how the longevity of cells is largely determined by two things: their " ability " to take in oxygen and nutrients and expel wastes. That's it. Longevity of cells obviously determines longevity of the body. Clumping of red cells from daily processed foods diet prevents both oxygen in and wastes out. It's not rocket science. OXYGEN AND CHOLESTEROL Those shooting pains down the legs or arms are sometimes simply the result of muscles being forced to operate without " sufficient oxygen " , screaming in protest. Again, lack of available oxygen can cause " degeneration " and " dysfunction " of any organ or system of the entire body: arteries, heart, lungs, skin, kidneys, digestion, you name it. The cholesterol crystals that precipitate out of solution in the blood because of dangerously high levels of blood cholesterol - these crystals classically lodge in joints and muscles, and cause gallstones, gout, fibromyalgia, and other types of arthritis. These and many other problems started out with a diet that lacked enzymes - a devitalized, processed diet that remained unchanged for years. How many of us in our 40s still eat the same way we did when we were teenagers? It's the road to ruin. We're just flesh and blood after all. CHRONIC FATIGUE Ever get food poisoning? Or maybe you know someone. Every single day in America 200,000 people get food poisoning, 900 of them are hospitalized, and 14 die. (Schlosser) Usually we think of food poisoning as being violently ill, throwing up, and being incapacitated for a few days, because of having gotten some bad food at a restaurant. But there's another type of food poisoning that is much more common, in fact, epidemic. This is the type of disorder the doctors and hospitals just can't quite put their finger on. The tests are all negative. But the problem just goes on and on: no energy, intermittent sharp pains in the stomach area, bad skin, bad breath, chronic low-grade allergies, constant feeling of impending disaster - like things are just 'not right.' The catch-all Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This type of food poisoning results from years of eating a diet deficient in enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. All those snacks and fast food and dairy simply can't be broken down. The body is " starving " from lack of nutrients. Holistic doctors call this phenomenon " malnutrition of the affluent " . Funny to think how someone 70 or 80 lbs. overweight can be starving, but that's exactly what's going on. Their constant hunger is a never-fulfilled craving, always hoping that some " real nutrients " will actually come down the hatch. But instead, pattern eating takes over - the sweet, soft foods, hydrogenated fats and oils, seasoned to taste with a ton of white sugar and salt. Yum-yum. Comfort foods. And that is why obese people can't lose weight – the body actually thinks that it is starving and tries to " conserve " as much of everything as possible because it's in " Survival Mode " . CHRONIC INDIGESTION - TAPING THE OIL LIGHT Gas, bloating, heartburn, stomach ache, feeling full when beginning to eat, abdominal cramping, unsatisfied hunger - these are common symptoms of " enzyme deficiency " . But most doctors treat such problems as though they were signs of drug deficiency! Perfect examples are Tagamet and Prilosec - standard drugs given for indigestion and heartburn. Now the main reason there is pain is simple: blockage. All that pizza and fries and tacos and yoghurt is devitalized food: " no enzymes " . As a result, once in the stomach, it just sits there. The stomach produces more and more acids and digestive enzymes trying to break down this overcooked, chemical-laden sludge we mistakenly refer to as food. But it can't do it. All that digestive juice sitting there unable to do its work is uncomfortable. It " burns " the stomach. On swallowing, the acid splashes back into the esophagus causing a painful condition known as " reflux esophagitis " , or heartburn, or for the really clueless - " hiatal hernia " . So first the geniuses try Tagamet, with the idea that all the excess acid needs to be absorbed. When that doesn't work, enter Prilosec. The shrewd rationale behind this brain-child is to stop all digestion by halting further production of digestive juices! Short-term, the discomfort is postponed, but what about the " underlying " cause - the sludge sitting there in the stomach? It now begins to rot (go rancid, putrefy, or ferment, depending on whether it is fat, protein or carbohydrate). Then we have intestinal " blockage " , which promotes diseases like peptic ulcer, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn's Disease, chronic colitis, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and colon cancer. This is how anti-digestive drugs like Prilosec can set the stage for a condition doctors call " auto-intoxication " . (See Chapter 9: Journey to the Center of Your Colon---www.thedoctorwithin.com) FADS AND TRENDS Dieticians and nutritionists go to all this trouble categorizing foods according to content, telling you that this food has so many mg. of calcium, that one has so much protein, or they talk about calories, or food combining, or Carbs, or eating for your blood type, or body type, or some Zone, or any number of trendy notions. But it actually matters much less what's in the food than how much of the nutrients eventually " ends up " in your cells. Don't get caught up in the Milligram Game. Or the Calorie Game. Start with the basics. If the food was never broken down in the digestive tract, well then, it went right through you. Or worse, it's still in there. It doesn't matter what we eat; it only matters what we digest. HOW FAT WAS SHE? Had to go through a revolving door in two trips? High school picture an aerial photograph? Hog farmers learned long ago that hogs get fat twice as fast if they are fed " cooked food " . Cooking destroys what? Right. Enzymes. Only two years ago, statistics on obesity indicated that about one in eight Americans was obese. The definition of obese is that a person weighs 30% more than his normal weight. In December 99, however the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta released their stats: one in three Americans is obese! For anyone who doubts these figures, empirical verification may help: go to the mall and sit on a bench in the concourse for half an hour. People get fat because they eat cooked and processed foods - enzymeless foods which cannot be " broken down " . THE BIGGIE NATION Even more than the quality of food, it's the quantity that makes fat Americans. Consider this: for normal nutrition, humans need about 25 grams of protein per day. Our average intake is 125 grams! (McDougall) As for white sugar, we consume an average of 160 pounds per person per year. How much do we need? Zero! White sugar has no food value. (Sugar: The Sweet Thief of Life- www.thedoctorwithin.com) As for fats, that's a whole story in itself. The body requires essential fat for optimum health, but only " natural fats " - like in avocadoes, raw nuts, flaxseed, coconut, and fish. These foods contain the " fat enzyme " lipase - which breaks them down. But that's not what we eat. The fats we load up on are artificial, " manmade fats " like in chips,pizza, fries, and margarine. These artificial fats are non-foods, indigestible, and are bioaccumulative. Manmade hard fats make for clogged arteries, cellulite, and spare tireage; once in the body they become rancid " trans fatty acids " . Rancid trans fatty acids are a major producer of " free radicals " . And that means aging, cell breakdown, and DNA mutation - confirmed reservations for an eventual all expense paid vacation in sunny ICU. Then look at the quantity of hard fats we take in. Maybe you've noticed in the past couple of years the push toward eating more and more. In fast food restaurants the customer is offered a regular portion of fries that is indigestible by itself. But for an extra 25¢, you can get a biggie portion, which guarantees overconsumption, and obesity. Same with soft drink sizes - white sugar overload turns to more fat. People are pushed into buying these ridiculous portions because they think they're getting a better deal. We've forgotten the universal principle: trash at a better price is still " trash " . One of the worst experiences reported by the survivors of the Bataan Death March at the end of WWII was when the American doctors would not believe the starving prisoners when they told the doctors what they had been eating in order to survive. Just to survive, we actually need very little food. For good health, obviously we need considerably more, but the point is - most of our health problems in this country result from an " excess " of food coupled with an a " lack of nutrients " . Most sick animals refuse all food until the healing power of nature (vis medicatrix naturae) has the opportunity to " excrete " the poisons. Often the greater part of the poison is undigested, rotting food which has somehow become blocked in the digestive tract. To eat in such a situation is only compounding the problem. Nature knows better. So forget about the old saw Feed a cold; Starve a fever. Starve both until the patient is hungry. Listen to the innate wisdom of the body; it's usually right. PUT IT BACK! So what's the solution? Same as the problem: enzymes. Either eat a 80% natural foods diet full of natural enzymes, or else put back into the food the enzymes that were taken out by food processing. Put back into the body the enzymes that can detox the blood and the tissues, where all this half-digested residue has taken up residence. Want to detox the system? That's your choice: whole foods or whole food enzymes. Natural whole food enzyme supplements take away nothing from the body and require that no energy be expended by the body to get rid of them after they've done their job. Natural whole-food supplements contain within them exactly what a perfect food should contain: all the enzymes necessary for complete breakdown and absorption by the body, with nothing left over. ENZYMES: MODERN BIOMEDICINE Only in the last ten years have powerful whole-food enzymes been available. Dr. Howell himself, having died in 1988, would certainly have welcomed a supplement as clean and powerful as the natural whole-food enzymes available today which could be taken along with meals and could serve to help replace the enzymes removed in food processing. Enzyme supplements are such a simple solution to a whole spectrum of health challenges, many of which are life-threatening, that they are generally not considered by mainstream practitioners. Most MDs are taught to look for the dramatic rescue, the quick-acting drug, the heroic procedure that can snatch the patient from the jaws of death, or whatever. That's more sexy; it's " real medicine. " The first problem is that most medical doctors don't even know of the " existence " of whole-food enzymes, because such supplements are too inexpensive to be sold by the pharmaceutical companies. Yet. The second problem is that medical doctors have a very limited exposure to enzymes in medical school. The only concept they usually have is what is found in Guyton's Physiology, the standard text. They learn that enzymes are " catalysts, " which means substances that cause things to happen but are themselves unchanged in the process. Dr. Howell, who was himself an MD, proved not only was this idea inaccurate, but that there was a grand and dynamic interchange between the enzymes of digestion and the enzymes of all the other life functions, which are called " enzymes of metabolism " . Less than 20 digestive enzymes have been discovered; but there may be as many as 5000 metabolic enzymes. Enzymes are in a constant state of flux and re-organization. If this were not the case, many of us would have been dead long ago, because we wouldn't have been able to " borrow " from our " metabolic enzymes " to help out our overwhelmed digestive enzymes. Interlocking adaptation: survival. There are several high quality enzyme supplements on the market today. There are also many mediocre or worthless enzymes available. How do you tell the difference? THE BEST WHOLE FOOD ENZYMES 1. are from Aspergillus, cultured in whole grain 2. contain all necessary cofactors 3. are totally bioavailable to the cells. The oldest and largest producer of enzyme supplements in the US is the National Enzyme Company. This was Dr. Howell's company. Today they produce enzymes for some 400 supplement companies. Scientists found out decades ago that Aspergillus-derived enzymes were the best supplements for humans because they were broad spectrum, and could operate in the whole range of pH which exists in the human digestive tract. Broad spectrum means the enzymes can digest fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. The best companies also add cellulase. This is the " fiber-digesting " enzyme, which allows the vitamins and minerals within fiber to be set free and made available to the bloodstream. The esophagus, the stomach, the sections of the small intestine, and the colon define a wide range of pH. That means an acid/alkaline range. Aspergillus- derived enzymes work well in all these environments. The best enzymes supplements contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals necessary as cofactors for " enzyme activity " to take place, as explained above. Without these cofactors being included, the necessary vitamins and minerals will be drawn from the body's reserves, thereby causing an overall negative effect. Remember, by themselves enzymes, vitamins, and minerals are worthless. The only way they function is in each other's presence. The final feature - bioavailability - is only emphasized by one company that I am aware of (Infinity - 1 800 572 6204). This company has also included in the formula molecules which make sure that the enzyme complexes can be absorbed at the cellular level, with no resulting metabolic residue. So not only is the food able to make it from the digestive tract into the bloodstream; it also has been broken down to simple units that can be used completely by the cells. This is what is known as a clean product - nothing left over in the blood after it does its work. Complete digestion. ENZYME THERAPY So once more, unless the patient will eat an 80% raw foods diet, he must take enzyme supplements in order to insure complete breakdown of foods and unclumped red blood cells. The trick is to find an enzyme supplement that will be absorbed easily into the bloodstream be taken up readily by the cells and leave behind no metabolic residue as a result. Holistic nutritionists have found that there are two obvious benefits to beginning a simple program of enzyme therapy: digestion blood detox When enzyme supplements are taken with a meal, most of the enzyme energy is expended in digesting that food. When enzyme supplements are taken on an empty stomach, they are absorbed into the bloodstream and work to break down undigested debris in the bloodstream, which had been clogging the blood. Both these functions are vital to optimum health. The body is the same as the cells - when wastes can't be removed, aging and breakdown occur. NAME OF THE GAME With no background in nutrition, the family physician may not be the best source of information when it comes to whole food enzymes. Why? Because the patient is taking the first step in the dangerous direction known as I Can Be Responsible for My Own Health. As Dr. Mendelsohn explained, most doctors don't support this idea, because it tends to take away their " control " of things. And if you don't think the name of the whole game is Control, just observe any TV channel with a stopwatch and tell me how long you can sit there without someone telling you to " take " some type of medication. Five minutes? Ten? Your job is to need as many drugs as possible between now and the day you die. Their job is to sell them to you. Does this have anything to do with health? Rarely. This has to do with pharmaceutical economics. Health is an entirely different topic altogether (www.thedoctorwithin.com). Most medical doctors tell patients that " diet " has very little to do with their particular disease. Ever hear of a medical doctor doing a thorough analysis of a patient's diet before diagnosing him as a diabetic and putting him on insulin for life? Of course not. This is sales and marketing. Occasionally doctors might say that diet may have contributed to a disease, but almost never will they say that diet can " cure " a disease. Curing disease comes from only one thing: drugs. GLOWING HEALTH OR MERE SURVIVAL? A human being is not a static mass of cells, but a living process. Each day we have a chance either to improve overall health, or else just to survive for another 24 hours. Each day, each meal, is an opportunity to " strengthen " the immune system, to shore up the body's reserves through nutritional choices. At any given moment in time, our health is simply the " cumulative result " of all these past choices. Three opposing forces are constantly at work, trying to control our food selection : 1. our informed brain 2. the advertising skills of the food industry 3. non-nutritive food additives whose only purpose is addicting us to certain foods by " stimulation " of the taste buds and the nervous system Eating when we're not hungry, or else just enough to get through the day, choosing the most conveniently available foods, the ones with that quick jolt of sugar, or processed fat – this will allow us to survive. But there's another option available to us - choosing foods that will detox the body, build our immunity, unclog our blood, and optimize the " quality " of life. Our ability to make rational choices based on the body's real needs rather than on the programmed urges from the food industry - this ability will determine our total health potential. Look around you. Go shopping, or to the mall. How often do you see an example of this Glowing Health, even among young people? Where is it? Or rather do you see bloated, slovenly, unhappy people with bad skin and blocked colons? Processed foods become our cells. We become processed food. Never underestimate the forces at work 24 hours a day to make us consume as much processed dairy, hydrogenated soybean oil, white sugar, and white flour as possible. We are addicted to the things that poison us. 40/20 If you've hit 40 and are still eating the way you did at 20, chances are you're aging much faster than necessary. You're wearing out, filling up. The body has exhausted its efforts to break down all those chemicals, all those preservatives, all that hydrogenated oil. Since you still take it in, it has to end up somewhere. It does - inside you. With rare exceptions, at 40 you simply can't eat the way you did at 20. Not if you're going to be healthy enough to avoid doctors and hospitals. Comfort foods? You need your comfort foods? How comfortable will you be in ICU? THE MASTER KEY The best course of action would be to eat a diet consisting of more than 80% enzyme-rich raw foods. No arguments there. But most of us simply can't resist all that conditioning and advertising, and we rationalize to ourselves how " life was meant to be lived and the hell with the rest, " etc. And that line of reasoning brings most of us to processed foods. Luckily, today we have a way at least to minimize the clogging, toxifying residues of undigested food. Everything we put in our mouths is a decision, even if it's an unconscious one. Each food choice poses two questions: - will this nourish the body? or - will this clog the body? The cumulative effect of these decisions determines whether we are toxifying or detoxifying day by day – whether we are getting sicker or better, building our immune reserves or using them up, promoting degeneration or slowing it down, moving toward life or toward death.. Aging or anti-aging. ONE SIMPLE STEP Whole food enzyme supplements can be the key to health, without changing one single other thing. Detox the blood. What's the alternative? The toxins accumulate in the blood, just like they always have. Result: allergies, autoimmune stuff, arthritis, or any type of disease that starts with a chronic low-grade inflammation of something or other. Almost sounds too simple. But that's the hallmark of the classic cure - simplicity. We're not adding anything new. We're simply replacing something that has been artificially removed by food processing: enzymes. We allow the body to find its normal equilibrium. Mainly that just means stop " poisoning " it. Unless we take in sufficient enzymes to completely break our food down, we eat too much. Year by year, we balloon up - check out the mall! Even for those of us who are not overweight, we still have a decision to make. If we insist on sticking with the modern American processed food diet, our only salvation from " digging our graves with our teeth " is this: whole food enzymes. www.thedoctorwithin.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.