The

[Guest guest]

Since the time that Pasteur discovered the

existence of bacteria, Western medicine has d

increasingly to the germ theory of disease which suggests that

human diseases are caused by germs that enter the body

through contaminated food, water, air etc. Allopathic

medicine relies totally on this theory and s

antibiotics and other drugs to kill the offending bacteria

and if that doesn't work eventually

surgery.<br><br>Pasteur himself noted it requires very specific

conditions such as temperature, PH, moisture, etc for germs

to multiply and cause trouble. We all know people

who never get sick as well as those who catch

everything that comes anywhere near them. Are the healthy

people healthy because they wash hands 10 times per day

with antibiotic soap, and eat only irradiated foods to

make sure no germs are on them? No. You can have ten

people come in contact with a person with a cold, and

maybe only one in ten catches it. The strenght of your

immune system is a far better predictor of disease than

germs, and I think most raw foodists instinctively know

this and realize the immune building power of eating

unadulterated foods.<br><br>So why am I bringing this topic up

and what relevance does it have to the raw food

movement? Well, I saw something in a major US magazine a

while back that really irritated me. Featured on the

cover was a " scientist " whose stated mission was to

seek out germs. This guy would go to public toilets,

restaurants every where he could think of and was amazed at

the number of germs we could see with his powerful

microscope. He noted that kitchen sinks were particularly

bad. And, he singled out fresh salad bars as the one

thing to avoid at restaurants if one wanted to stay

well,<br><br>Now, I don't doubt that there are germs at salad bars

just as there are germs in varying degrees almost

every where else. But what concerns me is the average

person will avoid raw foods (at least at restaurants) in

an effort to stay well.<br><br>The fact that this

sort of one-sided view tends to get a lot of media

attention, while people with truly healthy lifestyles are

labeled as health-nuts or other newly discovered

" diseases " or " syndromes " is an unfortunate aspect of the

way our media covers health issues. As Doug has said

before, " the bavarians are truly at the

gates " .<br><br>What can we do? At a minimum, be a good example to

others and let those with open minds know that what

they've been told their whole life about food and

nutrition, isn't all gospel. But we don't force this message

on anyone. Subtle is they key...