Deficiency WAS [More on FLAX for Jan - Kay]

[Guest guest]

Hi Kay, Jan and others..

 

Here's a good source for me, on these kinds of topics:

" Superior Nutrition " , by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton. (my copy is the 15th

printing, 1994; ISBN # 0-9606948-1-1

 

Quoting from the end of the introduction to this book, Shelton says:

 

" But I ask no reader to take anything in this book as truth

merely because I have put it into the book. I ask, instead,

thast my readers thijk, investigate and test and find out for

themselves whether what I say is true or false. Take no man as you

guide, Truth alone should guide you. If I speak not the truth, if I

err, if I am wrong, cast aside what I say and seek elsewhere. Mistake

not authority for truth, but make truth your authority. Usde your own

thinking power and exercise your own ability to test all things and

hold fast that which is good. "

 

I personally find it very helpful to look at these topics from another

perspective: what is really being discussed, and driven by what/whom?

In this instance what I see being discussed is in more of a general

nature about deficiency. And as soon as I see it in those terms, I

utter and " ahhhh....., yes, the ol' deficiency argument. "

 

Chapter XV of above quoted book gives an excellent base for looking

at, and talking about, deficiency.

 

" Deficiency is a lack. It means that there is something

missing. A deficiency disease is one 'due to lack of

essential constitutents in the diet, such as vitamins;' or, it is one

'due to defective metabolism.' "

 

He then goes on to comment about berrri-beri, scurvy and pellagra,

etc, and concludes his 2nd paragraph with :

" ...'deficiency diseases' are rarely due to deficient diets,

but that they are, in most instances, due to defective

metabolism. " p.97)

 

I think Kay took a grand stab at starting the conversation about

Nature/higher power " errors " - I find it highly unlikely and

improbable that humans are the only species that cannot receive

everything that they need from their correct natural dietary. On the

contrary, I find that we can, and do, get *everything* that we need

from our natural dietary, which I can best describe as " ...whole, raw,

fresh, ripe organic or better fruits, vegys, nuts and seeds.... "

 

So, for me, the 1st point, about what is the topic, and the topice is

deficiency: it's an absolute non-event. Not one worth worrying about,

*if* I eat as above. (see below for Shelton's comment on what worrying

does to us..)

 

The more I see of these " deficiency " myths, the more they all look

the same: create a " fear " , feed the fear, cure the fear. no thanks!

 

now, for the 2nd point, about who stands to benefit from such a

thought? yup, the one and only " medical myth machine " - creates

myths, and supplies diagnoses, and drugs (supplements?) to cure. I

think I've seen this model somewhere before: protein, by the meat

industry, calcium from the dairy industry, etc..etc...it's the same

story, just repackaged!

 

 

Shelton concludes the chapter thusly:

 

[ " if a few people out of a community of well-fed, healthy looking

people, living on very much the same foods from the same sources, show

evidences of deficiency, while the rest of the people of the community

enjoyed ordinary health, there must be something else than diet in the

lives of the few who showed efficiency to account for the deficiency.

If these few are failing to assimilate the minerals and vitamins and

amino acids contained in their foods, there must be causes other than

dietary to account for the failure of assimilation. These other

factors that impair the nutrition of the body are ignored by the

" biochemist. " But it should be obvious that if they fail to assimilate

the minerals and vitamins brought to them and their foods, the cause

lies, not in the foods, but in there doing other habits of living.

 

It is necessary to examine these people, to determine their personal

habits, individual environments, manner of cooking, their state of

mind, their poised or overworked a motions, they're overeating, wrong

eating, lack of sleep, their working habits, etc.. We must do this in

order that we may discover the cause of their failure of assimilation.

Worry can cause as much deficiency as wrong diet. Emotional

irritations , frustrations, inner conflicts, disappointments, grief,

anxiety, etc., are among the common causes of nutritional impairment.

Not until we have found and corrected the causes of impairment is

there a possibility of restoring normal nutrition in these patients.

 

Besides a correction of the habits of living, these people need

physical and mental rest. They may even need physiological rest

(fasting), they said they do not need a visit from the boys of the

laboratory. They do not need drugging. " ]

 

Hope this provides another way of looking at it.

 

all the best,

 

Bob

[Guest guest]

On Sep 28, 2005, at 1:07 PM, Bob Farrell wrote:

> Quoting from the end of the introduction to this book, Shelton says:

>

> " But I ask no reader to take anything in this book as truth

> merely because I have put it into the book. I ask, instead,

> thast my readers thijk, investigate and test and find out for

> themselves whether what I say is true or false. Take no man as you

> guide, Truth alone should guide you.

 

Sounds like philosophical pie in the sky -- essentially meaningless

for all practical purposes. How is an individual supposed to

investigate and test to determine the " truth " of eating flax seeds???

 

Jan