Foods Are Drugs

“Let food be your medicine.”
Hippocrates, Father of Modern Medicine

What is a chemical? And what is a chemical imbalance?

A chemical is a substance used in or produced by a chemical process. Life processes require chemicals. Pharmaceutical drugs are chemicals – yet so are foods.

When seeds sprout and plants grow, they begin pulling, dancing, tearing apart, and rearranging ingredients from the air, sunshine and earth. They are tiny, living, chemical factories. The resulting products of plant factories are a vast array of chemicals. People used to eat foods that were locally grown, without pesticides or poisonous fertilizers, and in season.

Our bodies are also chemical factories. They take food, water, sunshine and other substances and work hard to make healthy bodies and minds. To make healthy bodies and minds, they need to have the right ingredients – ingredients that nature generously and wisely provides.

But what happens when the foods we eat have been highly processed and/or genetically altered? What happens when we eat foods in combinations that are not well balanced? What happens when we eat foods that were grown far away, picked when they were not yet ripe, foods that were preserved with poisons and radiation?

How far from natural can we go before we get sick? Can we learn to feed ourselves in ways that will eliminate the need for illness, dis-ease and pharmaceutical drugs? Yes!

Once we know the key, we can choose our mode and our moods by consciously choosing foods that support the quality of life we desire. We can use foods to help us wake up in the morning. We can use foods to help us sleep soundly at night. We can use foods to help us become more mentally sharp, more emotionally aware, more socially assertive, and more able to perform physical tasks.

There’s a lot of talk about chemical imbalances in the medical community, but doctors do not ask many questions of patients, such as, “What did you eat for breakfast this morning?” “What are your favorite things to eat for a snack?” “Tell me what you usually have for dinner.” “What are your primary activities?”

When it comes to real healing, it’s pretty much a do-it-yourself job. You learn to ask yourself those important questions. You learn to wisely choose what you feed yourself and your family. Here are a few understandings to help you begin to manage your health and happiness.

The following information is compliments of Robert Gray, author of “The Colon Health Handbook”, which he asked me to not publish it until he had published it. He unfortunately died in a hit and run accident many years ago, so it is in his honor and with great respect for him and his work that I share this information with you now.

Air foods for mental alertness at work and school

Foods that grow in trees support mental activity. They help us wake up and get going in the morning. They are sweet, wet, cool and wash the waste out of our bodies. Eating fruits from trees first thing in the morning is like taking a shower on the inside. They make you feel clean and fresh and ready to greet the day.

Air foods are “uppers”. Too little of the air foods and you are mentally dull, bored and boring. Too much makes you feel weak, giddy, silly, goofy, “fruity,” “nutty,” “spacey,” forgetful.

Fire foods for social activities, competitiveness

Foods that grow on vines and stalks, foods you can reach straight out and pick, standing up, are foods that support social exchange. They are good for sales meetings, parties. Notice that most fire foods can be made into alcoholic beverages. Examples are: barley, wheat, grapes. Most of the world’s population makes rice the mainstay of their daily diet and they stay quite healthy.

Fire foods infuse you with enthusiasm. Too little of the fire foods and you may feel shy and retiring. Too many and you are overly aggressive.

Water foods feed the emotions

Emotions need to flow, like water. To have a relaxing day, you might go out on a lake and float on a raft or go to the ocean and watch the waves come in and go out. If you want to feel calm and peaceful, plan to eat water foods daily. If you are going to be working with a therapist in a healing session, you might want to eat lots of water food – like watermelon – the day before.

Water foods are foods that grow in the water and close to the ground, such as winter squash, melons, strawberries, pineapple, sea veggies, and dark green leafy vegetables. Most animals make greens a large part of their diets. To be healthy in body and mind, humans would do well to eat lots of greens too.

“But where do we get our protein?” I hear you ask. “Where do cows get their protein?” I respond. Chlorophyll is the key to radiant health.

The chemical structure of a molecule of chlorophyll is nearly identical to the chemical structure of a molecule of hemoglobin. In hemoglobin, the central atom is iron; in chlorophyll, the central atom is magnesium.

Water foods soothe; they help you sleep well. A nice large salad at dinner time will make you sleep like a baby. Too many water foods and you may feel overwhelmed on the feeling level.

Earth foods support physical movement at home and work, sleep

When you need to do something physical and practical like wash the car, vacuum the floor, or just move your body from one place to another, try a dose of earth food, a nice big glass of carrot juice or a hit of ginger in your smoothie, garlic in your salad. Root vegetables bring you back to a grounded, practical place. A baked potato in the evening will help you sleep.

Too few earth foods and you just plain don’t get things done. Too many earth foods and you feel like the proverbial couch potato. Examples of earth foods are – naturally – potatoes, carrots, beets, garlic, ginger, onions, peanuts.

Essential minerals for good mental & physical health

This is how upside down our food and drug industries have become… If someone is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, they are also prescribed lithium, a naturally occurring mineral found in seawater. Plain, simple, dehydrated sea salt contains lithium. Bi-polar disorder is actually a lithium deficiency, similar to scurvy being a Vitamin C deficiency and pellagra being a B Vitamin deficiency. If we had been raised with naturally dried sea salt on our tables, rather than white sparkly free-flowing table salt, we would all have plenty of lithium in our bodies and no one would need lithium supplements in pharmaceutical drugs.

It is unknown how many other diseases might also be simple mineral deficiencies caused by the depleted, processed salt that pours easily from most salt shakers. The salt Americans typically use — sodium chloride with a little iodine added — is a byproduct of the mining industry, not a complete food. Where do the minerals go that were mined out of our salt? Ironically, they are sold to pharmaceutical companies which then make drugs with dangerous side effects.

Be safe — use only unrefined, naturally dried, sea salt. It’s moist, sticky, and a bit yellow or grey; not dry and sparkling white. You can get it in bulk at most health food stores. It costs more and it is worth it. Baths with unrefined sea salt allow your body to absorb salt at its own comfortable pace. You can put a few trace mineral drops in your drinking water for a smooth, refreshing drink, blessed with nature’s electrolytes.

Last but not least…

Eat as much of your food as possible raw, organic, locally grown and in season. Avoid white flour, white sugar, white salt. Packaged foods, manufactured in American factories can be hazardous to your health.

Prevent cancer

Don’t wait until you get cancer and try to heal from it, for once you have it, you have a long way to go to reverse it. Instead, prevent cancer now. You can wait until you get scurvy to eat your citrus fruits, or you can have a little citrus each cay and prevent scurvy.

Cancer is caused by a vitamin B17, aka “laetrile” deficiency. Do your research and you will find that every effective cancer remedy has a bitter flavor. Apricot kernels are VERY bitter, but the good news is that laetrile is in every seed, nut and green – not just apricot kernels… and seeds, nuts, beans, grains and greens can be quite tasty. In Europe they make a brew called Swedish Bitters that they take daily as a health tonic. It is made primarily of dark, green, leafy, bitter herbs. You can buy it in the USA, or something similar.

I read the book “Laetrile, Nature’s Answer to Cancer” when I was young and since then, I’ve always chewed the seeds of my apples, pears, lemons, etc. I love to chew on fruit seeds; eating a piece of fruit seems incomplete without the seeds. I have learned to enjoy the tiny bite of the bitter flavor.

We have a cancer epidemic in the United States and the standard American diet focuses primarily on the sweet, sour and salty flavors. Raw seeds, nuts and greens are often missing in most American’s diets. We don’t need much bitter, but we do need a little.

Which do Doctors Fear Most? Cancer, a Cancer Cure, or the AMA?

I once knew a doctor who was an oncologist (cancer specialist), a professor and a researcher. We were walking on the beach in San Francisco and I asked him to tell me about his cancer research.

“Wonderful!” I said, “You will find it!”

How did I know that, he asked me.

“Because it’s laetrile,” I said.

He stopped in midstride and stared into the sky. He was speechless for several minutes.  Then, his eyes still wide, he said slowly, ‘They’ll destroy me!’

I asked him several times “Who? Who will destroy you?’

And when he finally answered, he said, “The AMA… The American Medical Association will destroy me.”

This man also tested garlic at my request and found it too kills cancer cells. But soon after our talk, he changed fields and went into a whole new line of medicine, became quite successful in that field. His name was still on the list of scientists at the A brilliant man who recognized the politics involved.

Full disclosure: I have a dog in this fight.

My mother had one round of chemo, then a second round “just in case”. The second round weakened her heart to the point of death (a small-print but not insignificant side effect). I wished my friend had gone through with his research.

As a grand finale to our talk, my friend explained that he had been on the committee at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that had outlawed laetrile. He said the head of the committee came into the room where everyone was seated around a table, put his finger in the dish of laetrile in the center of the table, lifted it to his mouth, tasted it and spit it out.

“Cyanide!” he said. And that was it. No discussion, no testing. Just unanimous consensus due to his little bit of drama. Nature makes cyanide, indeed. It is in all seeds and nuts and greens and everything that is bitter.

Nature’s cyanide doesn’t poison, but keeps cell division in check. Tests for cancer and for pregnancy both test for that same substance. The Doctors Krebs explained that our bodies need the bitter flavor and yet most americans avoid bitters. Is cancer a “bitter flavor deficiency” disease?

A popular product in Europe is “Swedish Bitters”. What I have noticed is that all cancer “cures” are based on a bitter herb. Since I read Laetrile: Nature’s Answer to Cancer, I have eaten lots of apple seeds & lemon seeds. I eat lots of salads with greens & herbs from my garden. And I always put garlic in the salad dressing.

Bodies are simple machines. Cars need certain kinds of gasoline and oils and other fluids. Bodies work very well on simple ingredients. They are detrimentally challenged by modern “foods” and drugs.

Aspartame – food or foe?

The body craves sweets and we all enjoy our apple a day. But when the body was formed out of the dust of the earth, there were no grocery stores with shelves of manufactured products that pass for food.

Just because something fits in your mouth and can be swallowed, does not make it “food”. Food is something nature grows, that supports health and life. Aspartame is a “food additive”, made by scientists in laboratories. “Food additives” do not support health and life and aspartame is not a food.

There are alternatives to artificial sweeteners. Do an internet search for “stevia”. You can grow a stevia plant in your garden or house and use leaves in your tea or smoothies. Stevia is also sold in powdered form and in flavored drops. There are many healthy sweeteners. Sugar or honey are superior to artificial sweeteners. Fructose — especially “high fructose corn syrup” apparently also has problems. Research.

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World is an excellent movie. Also, here is some information from Dr. Mercola on the very real dangers of aspartame. When your health is involved, do not be shy to ask questions… your health, happiness, and maybe even your life, depend on your discernment. If a profit motive is part of the equation, ask even more questions. Always find the healthiest alternative to anything that threatens your health. The book Sugar Blues by William Dufty is a must-read for anyone who still thinks sugar is their friend.

Another VBAC birth at home

(CNN) — On Thursday, December 2, as Aneka sat at home nine months pregnant, the phone rang.

It was her obstetrician wanting to know where the heck she was. Did Aneka forget that today was the day for her cesarean section? How could she have forgotten?

No, Aneka hadn’t forgotten. She hadn’t shown up intentionally.

“She told me, ‘You’re being irresponsible. Your baby could die. You could die,’” Aneka recalls. Then the doctor hung up.

Aneka (she doesn’t want her last name used) had already resolved to not have a C-section, even though the doctor told her it was absolutely necessary. She wasn’t going to be opened up surgically, no matter what her doctor said, no matter what any doctor said.

In some online communities, Aneka is a hero who defied the obstetrical establishment and gave birth her way. To many doctors, however, she’s a risk-taker who put her and her baby in peril by giving birth at home.  Read more at http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/16/ep.vbac.birth.at.home/index.html?hpt=C2

Your body’s cravings

Yearning for sweets is a natural bodily hunger.
Primates in nature eat half fruit and half greens.
Fruit is a natural sweet that we were designed to indulge in.

But balancing “modern” foods is more challenging…

When you eat something dry, you then want something wet…
When you eat something salty, you wants something sweet…
When you eat too much sweet, you then want something bitter…
Hence:

chips & dip
donuts & coffee
beer & pretzels

Most people drink bitter coffee with something sweet.

Bitter cacao needs sweetness to make it palatable.

Yin-yang, teeter-totter, The body is always balancing.

Eat less salt and you will crave less sugar.
Eat more fruit and refined sugars will be less appealing.

When all the taste buds are satisfied, then you will have fewer cravings.
This is why green smoothies work best when you include:

fruit (sweet)
greens (bitter)
maybe a little lemon rind (sour)
ginger (pungent)
a grain of salt

i sometimes — not always, but if my body says to — add a little grated apple to my mega salad, or a little sweet liquid like honey. It’s why honey-mustard dressing is so satisfying —

sweet honey (or any other sweetener)
sour lemon juice (or vinegar or sauerkraut)
salt
pungent mustard
all on bitter greens

It works!!!

Staying on good food

How do you do it? my friends ask. “How do you avoid sugar?”

My secret is to eat as much fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruit in the morning as I want, until my sweet tooth is fully satisfied, so I won’t fall prey to craving sweets. If I do later “need” a sweet, I will make a mixture of seeds or nuts or seed or nut butter plus dates, raw organic cacao or vanilla or cinnamon… or I might simply have an apple.

The important thing, I think, is to make sure your body has the nutrients it needs, so I avoid anything devoid of nutrients: white flour, white sugar, white salt.

Green smoothies are a wonderful way to satisfy the sweet tooth, get digestive enzymes and also feed your body what it needs — fresh, raw fruit and lots of vital nutrients from greens. Just whiz fruit, water, kale, parsley or spinach plus maybe a little fresh ginger. Your delicious drink tastes like fruit but you have just ingested a healthy dose of greens.

I also make sure to eat a huge, wonderful salad daily with lots of dark colors: green, red, blue, yellow. Lately I’ve been making sure I have something fermented in my salad too… either seed cheese or homemade sauerkraut, to provide extra digestive enzymes.

When I feel a need for something more complicated, I make raw bread from sprouted buckwheat, flax seeds, carrots & other veggies plus herbs and fennel seed. I form it into little rounds about 5 or 6″ across. Then, anything I put on it — olives, tomato, pesto, seed cheese — tastes good enough to me, that I call it pizza!

A guest once said that my raw pizza was the best pizza she had ever eaten!

How to Indulge Yourself in a Healthier Way

Feeling deprived, sets up a craving for “comfort foods” that ultimately make you feel even more unhealthy and uncomfortable.  So rather than deprive yourself of unhealthy foods, I recommend indulging in healthy foods.

Hints that have helped me avoid the deprivation trap.

1) The more flavors I put in my salads and smoothies — sweet, salty, sour, bitter, pungent (hot, spicy) — the more satisfying my food is and the less I crave things that are not good for me. (See Miracle foods made easy.)

2) If I find myself craving something that isn’t good for me (chocolate, corn chips, cheese or anything else), I intentionally overdose on it. I eat as much of it as I possibly can at one sitting. Once I’ve had a stomach ache from too much, it turns me off instead of on. Do not try this if you are diabetic.

3) Yet craving indicates things I legitimately need, so I analyze what is attractive about the foods I crave. White sugar by the spoonful is not interesting, flour by itself is not interesting, so that is not what I want. What is interesting in a candy bar or a cookie or a cake is the fruit or the nuts or the raw cacao or vanilla… so I make a dish of the good items minus the sugar. (See Staying on good food.) Chips are interesting due to the crunch, the oil & salt, so I learned to use a high quality olive oil generously on my salad. With a dehydrator I can make vegetable chips with flax that rival or trump commercial chips… or just eat a carrot! I make a simple sunflower seed cheese and it satisfies me as much or more than a cheese from the deli counter. (See Love cheese — but can’t digest it?)

I use plenty of my favorite seasonings and spices…

Never, never, never, ever allow yourself to feel deprived. Avoid bad foods by indulging in the flavors and textures you love safely, by choosing healthy alternatives.

Raw oatmeal-raisin-apple cookies

Everybody needs a cookie once in a while!

Equipment needed…

  • measuring cups & spoons
  • blender
  • dehydrator & teflex sheets
  • bowl
  • large spoon
  • ice cream scoop (optional)

I use all organic ingredients…

2 large Fuji apples
1/2 cup water
2 or more teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
4 dates
pinch of Celtic salt

Blend until liquified.
Pour mix into bowl and add:

1.5 cups soaked, drained walnuts
1.5 cups raisins
1.5 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup finely chopped Fuji apple
.5 cup ground flax seeds

Mix all together.
Scoop onto non-stick dehydrator sheets and shape into lumpy cookies.

Dehydrate at 115 or lower for as long as it takes to get cookies to the dryness you prefer. I usually dehydrate them for 8 to 12 hours.

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I hope you will enjoy these cookies. They are wonderfully chewy. And the little apple chips give them a special ‘hit’ of sweetness.

Helping you heal yourself – body, mind, spirit