Seven Basic Health Principles
1. GOOD NUTRITION
Most people do best with a Mediterranean type diet: High intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, high intake of monounsaturated fat (olive oil), and low intake of meats, especially red meats. Basic rules:
• Think about how the food was produced (quality vs. industrial grade). If it was made in a factory, don’t eat it.
• Shop around the edges of the supermarket; don’t go up & down the aisles.
• Better to eat like a Third World peasant than an Albertan cattle rancher (use light meats, sparingly).
• Brown is beautiful (i.e., 100% whole grain breads & brown rice). Puffy white bread makes puffy pale people.
• Eat like a cow or bunny rabbit (i.e., eats lots & lots & lots of veggies!)
• Lose the sweet tooth; sugar kills. (Canadians used 5 lb. sugar per person per year 160 years ago, now it is 135 lb.!)
• Some fats heal (e.g.-top quality vegetable oils). Some fats kill (processed, rancid, or heated oils; most animal fats).
2. A BASIC LEVEL OF NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTATION:• As long as we are being fed from impoverished soil, live in a polluted environment, and contend with stress, we all need supplemental vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. A few suggestions:
• A good quality, high potency vitamin/mineral (Thorne Multi-Encap, AOR Orthocore, Selekta Multi’s are brands I have been using.
• Vitamin C: 500- 1000 mg./ day, for children; 2000 to 4000 mg /dy for adults. MORE IF SICK-> (1000 mg per yr. of age, to a maximum of 10,000 mg/dy, in divided doses; less if the Vitamin C causes intestinal distress.)
• Mixed, natural Vitamin E 400 units (mixed tocopherol only, not pure alpha tocopherol) daily for adults
• Mixed, natural beta-carotene (marine source): 15 mg. daily for adults
• Essential fatty acids: Omega 3 and omega 6 should be in balance. Typical adult doses: evening primrose 1000 mg. /fish oil 2000 mg. daily.
• Calcium/magnesium supplement, especially for those avoiding milk, or older women concerned about osteoporosis. (300 mg. per day of each for children, double this for adults. Calcium/magnesium citrate is well absorbed.)
• Proanthocyanidins (from grape seed, bilberry, or pine bark) very helpful (along with Vitamin C) for colds & allergy.
3. REDUCE ALLERGIC & TOXIC LOAD
a. Rational use of drug medication -Keep drug use to a minimum- ‘Drugs are all poisons with some desirable side effects.’ Drugs suppress symptoms; they do not cure the underlying cause of disease.
b. Avoid foods to which one is sensitive (dairy and yeast are the most common hidden food allergens, corn, egg, wheat, citrus, chocolate are also common.) Hidden food sensitivity is common in people who suffer from recurrent infections, ADD, eczema, and asthma, migraines, autoimmune diseases.
c. Avoid environmental toxins (especially mould, tobacco, chemicals, heavy metals). E.g.: Filter city water. Avoid mouldy basements. Don’t use weed spray. Avoid amalgam fillings.
d. Reduce overall exposure to mycotoxins (fungal toxins): both from within the body (intestinal yeasts) and from outside the body (from the diet and in the air). Fungal toxins are a major factor in almost all chronic diseases.
4. RESTORATION OF NORMAL BOWEL ECOLOGY
The bowel is the greatest source of toxic burden that our bodies have to deal with. Toxic chemicals (produced by abnormal germs in our gut and the rotting of undigested food) are absorbed through the bowel wall and slowly cause widespread damaging effects throughout the body. To restore balance to the bowel flora:
• Normalise digestive activity (chew well; digestive enzymes &/or acid supplements may be needed)
• Add adequate fibre (psyllium husk powder 1-3 tsp. daily or flax seed powder, 1-6 tsp. daily, fresh ground)
• Re-implant friendly flora using probiotic (acidophilus) preparations, especially after any antibiotic use.
• Eliminate pathogens (bad bugs): Candida (yeast), parasites (worms & amoebae), and abnormal bacteria (e.g.- various Clostridia species) commonly contribute to imbalanced bowel flora.
5. ELIMINATE HIDDEN SOURCES OF CHRONIC INFECTION
Hidden, chronic infections can silently drag people down. Chronic, hidden dental or gum infection, chronic sinusitis, or chronic low-grade infection with ’stealth microbes’ can be a factor in chronic debilitating disease.
6. REGULAR PHYSICAL EXERCISE
Aerobic exercise is important for all ages; weight training & flexibility exercise is as important from middle age on. ( ‘Keep fit or fossilize!’)
7. EMOTIONS AND HEALTH
•Thoughts & emotions are very powerful influences on overall health. (Adrenaline, for example, is one of the most toxic substance formed in our bodies.)
•Stress & fear can paralyse the immune system. E.g.- ‘More people die of fear of smallpox than smallpox’ (Gandhi’s physician).
• Care for one’s physical health is good, but not to the exclusion of care for the soul. We are all mortal.
•A soul at rest is a healthy soul. (‘Our souls find no rest, O Lord, until they find their rest in Thee.’ - St. Augustine.)