This period between Christmas and the New Year is often when people start taking a hard look at their health and decide what they want to sort out in the coming year. One of the areas coming onto the radar in recent years has been digestive disorders.
A significant increase in the number of people suffering a range of complaints affecting the digestive system can only be down to diet and lifestyle – what we’re choosing to eat, how much of it we’re eating, and how we are living life in general.
It’s a touchy subject because people don’t want to be told how to live their life. But shut away in their bedrooms and bathrooms around the planet, from mouth and throat ailments, down to the stomach with its gurgling acid, all the way through that serpentine plumbing with its bowel disorders, down to those pesky haemorrhoids, folks are not having a good time, enough said.
Some of these disorders are mild, others are extremely serious and need addressing without delay. One area that continues to be overlooked is proper intestinal/colonic health and elimination. Diseases linked with poor bowel function are extremely common and debilitating and are almost always linked to overweight, poor diet, lack of raw plant-foods, and so on.
Fancy making a change? You’ll need to be ready to do things you haven’t done before… and keep doing them! Your best friends in this worthy endeavour? Plants. Lots and lots of them. First, let’s find out where the major problems lie.
CROHN’S DISEASE (REGIONAL ENTERITIS)
Pain in the lower right abdomen, malabsorption of nutrients, low-grade fever, weight-loss, flatulence. Crohn’s is a condition where segments of the colon (large intestine) become inflamed, thickened and ulcerated. Traditional treatments will include corticosteroids, antibiotics, immunosuppressive drugs and dietary changes. Crohn’s can cause partial blockage of the large intestine, causing pain and bouts of diarrhoea. The same condition occurring in the small intestine is known as regional enteritis, the chronic form of which may also create fistulae (unnatural joinings) between adjacent loops of the intestines or between bowel tissue and the bladder, vagina or skin.
ULCERATIVE COLITIS
Inflammation of the colon lining. Symptoms are pain, with blood and/or mucus in the faeces.
LEAKY GUT SYNDROME
Where damage to the small intestine wall can increase gut permeability to undigested food particles which enter the bloodstream and begin causing ‘allergic’ reactions. Dr Leo Galland, Director of Medicine at the Foundation for Integrated Medicine, states:
“Leaky gut syndrome is a group of clinical disorders associated with increased intestinal permeability. They include inflammatory and infectious bowel diseases, chronic inflammatory arthritides, cryptogenic skin conditions like acne, psoriasis and dermatitis herpetiformis, many diseases triggered by food allergy or specific food intolerance, including eczema, urticaria, and irritable bowel syndrome, AIDS, chronic fatigue syndromes, chronic hepatitis, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis and pancreatic carcinoma. Hyper-permeability may play a primary, etiologic role in the evolution of each disease, or may be a secondary consequence of it which causes immune activation, hepatic dysfunction, and pancreatic insufficiency, creating a vicious cycle. Unless specifically investigated, the role of altered intestinal permeability in patients with leaky gut syndrome often goes unrecognised.” [1]
DIVERTICULOSIS, DIVERTICULITIS
Sacs may appear in weak sections of the intestinal tract, caused by pressure from the inner lining (pulsion diverticula) or from pressure exerted without (traction diverticula). Diverticulosis describes the passive existence of diverticula. Diverticulitis describes the condition when these sacs become perforated, inflamed or impacted.
DYSBIOSIS
The human digestive system contains over four hundred species of microflora (bacteria, yeast, fungi, protozoa, etc.) weighing over three pounds. Usually, in a properly pH-adjusted, harmonious alimentary tract, they live together in peace and balance (homeostasis). When, through our choices of food and lifestyle, we upset this balance, dysbiosis occurs, a term coined by Russian scientist Elie Metchnikoff, who maintained that toxic compounds produced by the aberrant breakdown of food by these bacteria caused many of the degenerative conditions, especially since this toxicity was carried to other parts of the body via the bloodstream and lymph.
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS)
A general condition, thought to affect over 15% of the western populations, describing generalised abdominal pain, usually accompanied by diarrhoea and constipation, which leads to dysfunctional contractions in the intestine. Officially (according to orthodox medicine, unwilling to accept its existence as a separate disorder) the cause of IBS is unknown. In reality, IBS is yet another manifestation of what happens when 21st century processed food is put through the human digestive system.
COELIAC DISEASE (MALABSORPTION SYNDROME)
A condition in which the small intestine fails to digest and absorb food. Usually due to gluten/gliaden damage, which atrophies the nutrient-absorptive villi lining of the intestine. Symptoms include stunted growth, distended abdomen and pale, frothy, foul-smelling stools.
STOMACH ULCERS, REFLUX AND HP
Pain in the stomach after eating and reflux (‘heartburn’), where hydrochloric acid is driven up the oesophagus, is often caused by excess abdominal fat distorting the ring of muscle at the base of the oesophagus – the oesophageal sphincter - a one-way valve designed to prevent this from happening. Other causes include too much acid, not enough acid, a hiatal hernia, gluten/gliaden aversion, and helicobacter pylori (HP)infection, a troublesome bacterium that can inhabit the mucus of the stomach causing ulcers in the stomach lining and, eventually, stomach cancer.
HIATAL HERNIA
The top section of the stomach displaces itself by pushing through the gap in the diaphragm. This common complaint is often symptom-free but in other cases, acid reflux is experienced due to distortion of the , which can proceed in time to ‘Barrett’s Oesophagus’, a pre-cancerous condition, and thereafter to esophageal or stomach cancer.
CHRONIC CONSTIPATION AND ITT
Many have up to eight full meals in them at any one time. The proper Intestinal Transit Time (ITT) is ideally around 24 hours. This is the length of time it takes a meal to go from mouth to anus. In many, this period is extended dramatically up to 48-72 hours because of over-consumption of low-fibre meats and grains (breads, pasta, etc.). As you know from your childhood, flour and water make great glue. Dr Dennis Vander Kraats from Australia advises:
“Generally, most of the digestive processes and absorption of beneficial nutrients occur within 12 hours after consuming the food. Therefore, the slower the ITT, the longer the spent toxic waste matter sits in the bowel, putrefying and fermenting. The bowel is a semi-permeable membrane, which means toxins that have built up in the waste matter can filter through the bowel wall and be absorbed into other tissue and the bloodstream.”
In other words, toxins are taken all over the body where the immune system will have to detoxify and eliminate the trouble. The act of the immune system clearing this mess is sometimes mistakenly remarked upon as a ‘disease process’.
Constant straining of a constipated bowel has been linked to colorectal cancer. Certainly putrefying matter caught in the colon is subjected to bile acids over an extended time, and bile acids in human colons are carcinogenic.
CHIEF CAUSES OF DIGESTIVE ANGST
“If you experience any of the following symptoms, you may be experiencing autointoxication (a process whereby you are poisoned by substances produced by your own body as a result of inadequate digestion and elimination), and therefore you might want to consider some type of internal cleansing program:
THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN Ø Little or no meat in the diet. Any meat consumed should be hormone- and pesticide-free. White meat is better than red. Avoid pork
Ø Avoid sugar, dairy, coffee and alcohol
Ø Ensure at least 80% of the diet comprises organic, plant-based foods, the majority eaten raw. This represents a new system of eating for most people but is highly effective in sorting problems in a hurry. Eat properly constituted, organic, whole, living foods. If you want hot, briefly steam your veggies, do not murder them. Remember that heat kills enzymes, vitamin C, wrecks fats and destroys around 50% of the protein content of your food. Excellent transition recipes are provided in our companion guide, Food for Thought.
Ø The ideal balance is: 80% alkali/20% acidic ash foods. Most diets today comprise 90% acid/10% alkali
Ø Avoid the foods below
Ø Hydrate the body (2 litres (4 pints) of clean, fresh water a day)
Ø Ensure half a teaspoon per day of Himalayan salt goes into the mouth. Sprinkle a few flakes on your tongue before retiring to help sleep
Ø Keep high-glycaemic fruit intake down. Eat more fruits that have low sugar-conversion, such as pears and apples
Ø Eat small meals, ensuring a) that you don’t go hungry, and b) that the body has a constant supply of nutrients
Ø Juice veggies. Learn the art. What a fantastic way to drop weight and pile in the nutrients with minimal processing deficit
Ø Take a BASIC SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM comprising ionised colloidal trace minerals, antioxidant tablets, Vit C and B complexes and essential fats. Also, Vitamin D serum concentration needs to be optimised to around 140-150 nmol/L for maximum immune function (see A GUIDE TO NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS)
Ø Peak performance exercise (to get everything moving and assist in detoxing the body in an oxygen-rich environment) (see EXERCISE). A regular walk in the early morning and last thing at night is also healthy and very invigorating
Ø Avoid stress. Your thoughts affect your biochemistry. If stressed, you need either to modify your response to the event(s) in order not to elicit a physical response, or else change your lifestyle/situation completely to avoid stress. The majority of the diseases suffered by western cultures occur because the immune system has been compromised by lifestyle factors. Diet, lack of exercise and stress are the three leading contenders
Ø Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest
Foods to avoid
Ø Pork products (bacon, sausage, hot-dogs, luncheon meat, ham, etc.) These are high in nitrites and are known homotoxins which can cause high blood urea and dikitopiprazines, which cause brain tumours and leukaemia.[2]
Ø Scavenger meats (inc. ALL shellfish and other carrion-eaters – see Leviticus 11 in the Bible). Carrion-eaters, pork and shellfish in particular, concentrate toxins of other animals in their tissues, which we then consume to our detriment. The same goes for the elimination organs of commercially raised animals, such as liver and kidney, which can be high in drug and pesticide residues
Ø Aspartame/saccharin, artificial sweeteners. These are known mental impairment problems and cancer risks.
Ø Eliminate grains in general for a period if suffering a grain-sensitive problem. Avoid refined sugar/flour/rice. SUCROSE FEEDS CANCER. Restricted amounts of wholegrain bread are OK for those who can tolerate it. Use only wholegrain rice. No sugars should be consumed other than those contained naturally in whole foods
Ø Hydrogenated & partially hydrogenated fats (margarine)
Ø Junk (processed) food, including fizzy sodas and other soft drinks containing sugar, artificial sweeteners or phosphoric acid, which are drunk out of aluminium cans
Ø Fat-free foods. Essential fats are essential!
Ø Olestra, canola, soy, etc. Avoid fake or synthetic fats. Soy, in its unfermented state (meat and milk substitute products), disrupts the hormone (endocrine) system, blocks the absorption of calcium and magnesium, and acts like estrogen in the body. Small usage of unfermented soy and fermented soy products (soy sauce and miso) is OK. For more information on soy, see Food for Thought
Ø Polluted water (chlorinated or fluoridated – see Health Wars, ‘Water Under the Bridge’)
Ø Caffeine products
Ø Alcohol products
Ø Excess refined salt. Himalayan salt is fine. It’s also a good idea to spice food with ground kelp to maintain a healthy iodine intake
Your main food intake – Take the raw challenge
The emphasis should be on a dietary intake high in plant foods, the majority eaten raw. This is undoubtedly an alien concept to those addicted to cooked, processed animal-protein-heavy diets – I make no excuses. If you want to avoid what everyone else is getting, animal products need to come down to under 5%, and the raw component of your food needs to be above 80%. Synthetic, processed fats need to go. Natural fats can come in. I can throw all the science in the world at you on the benefits of eating a majority plant-based diet in this way but if you really won’t, you will fulfil your part in the statistics which make up the Western disease scourge. Here are some points to consider by way of review:
Ø You do not need to eat animal protein to generate human protein. Animal protein cannot be directly used as human protein, it needs to be deconstructed into its component amino acids and then reconstructed using DNA/RNA transcription into the required protein peculiar to the particular task in your particular body. The animal protein we ingest is invariably cooked and thus much of its useable protein component is useless and worse, now toxic junk.
Ø To make proteins, you need amino acids. The most plentiful source of amino acids on Earth is the uncooked plant kingdom.
Ø Cow’s milk is unnecessary for human health and is potentially harmful and even dangerous to many humans. Cow’s milk is for baby cows.
Ø The ‘eat right for your blood type’ farce is based on the faulty premise of Darwinian evolution (though even evolutionist scientists have shot it out of the sky). Anyone who tells you to eat a high level of animal products ‘because you are a blood group O hunter type’ has been getting high on their own supply and not reading the scientific literature.[3]
Ø The argument is not about whether to eat animal products or not, it’s a question of degree and quality. Humans are omnivores and can eat some meat. Science has shown, however, that a cumulative consumption of animal products in excess of 10% will contribute to the Western disease profile.[4]
Ø Humans are also suffering because of an over-consumption of grain products, specifically wheat, barley, rye and oats – the gluten-predominant grains. These foods can cause serious digestive issues but are flogged off to the public as breakfast cereals and health foods because they are cheap to produce and highly profitable. Many of these products are contaminated with aspergilus moulds or fungi due to long-term storage issues.
Ø Cooked food doesn’t keep you warm in winter beyond the initial heat ingested from the cooking appliance. Tremendous internal heat, on the other hand, is generated from the consumption of real, living raw plant dietary since this is the fuel the body uses to make more of you with. You have mentally conditioned yourself to believe that cooked food nourishes and keeps you warm. Try a prolific salad on a snowy day and judge the results honestly - you will be surprised. And by the way, no-one’s saying you can’t have a cooked meal now and then or briefly steam your food if you wish. Don’t murder it.
Ø Switching to a majority plant-based diet requires a little organisation:
Ø Locate a good company which can supply organic produce to your door without you even needing to get in the car. There are many benefits to Western civilisation and this is one of them. In Britain, I use www.riverford.co.uk. Take a look at their site and see if you have an equivalent in your area/country.
Ø Familiarise yourself with the foods in the Credence UK store at www.credence.org to give you ideas on what to add to make your food special and highly nutritious.
Ø Make use of a juicer to make delicious vegetable juices. Use organic vegetable powder mixes like Nature’s Living Superfood and Credence’s Green Phytofoods to top up. I also use tropical superfood juices such as mangosteen, goji, noni and acai to boost phytonutrient payload.
Ø Avoid soy milk and meats. Unfermented soy is bad news because it is an endocrine (hormone) disrupter. For a thorough treatment of this subject, log on to www.soyonlineservice.co.nz.
Ø Visit specialty organic food stores and give them your business. Become an expert at preparing food the natural way. There are simply hundreds of organic and raw food sites specialising in promoting this way of eating. My food choices are now so wide, I view hotel menus with a mixture of disgust and withering pity whenever I’m on tour – pretty much the same emotions I level at TV celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey, whose diet has turned him into a raging, potty-mouthed incubus of the fallen order, or Nigella Lawson, Britain’s inflatable kitchen sex-Valkyrie. Listen, it’s your body, you feed it.
Conclusion
Fruit before noon on an empty stomach assists elimination. Big breakfasts thwart it. Try this regime for five days and notice how different the body feels. A diet comprising 80-85% unrefined plant dietary (unadulterated fruit and veggies) will ensure a body saturated in highly bio-available, waterborne nutrition. A body well-watered in this way can expect Appropriation, Assimilation and Elimination to work with consummate ease. High water-content foods rich in fibre will fill you for less, leave you satisfied with stabilised blood sugar, increased energy, better clarity of thought, fewer mood swings and a twinkle in your eye.
Exercise – don’t dodge this one
Research shows that those with a sedentary lifestyle are more prone to disease. A good exercise program will assist in cleansing the body and getting all the pieces toned and in proper working order. The most effective way to exercise and save time is peak performance training (see The Essential Guide to Exercise). Firstly calculate your maximum heart-rate, which is 220 less your age for females, 226 less your age for males. Next:
Aerobic: Exercise 30-40 minutes a day, ensuring to vary your heart-rate regularly between resting pulse and 70% of your maximum heart-rate. Gyms are best for this because they have a variety of equipment with heart monitors. Anyone can sit on a stationary cycle and read a magazine while they do this. Cycling, stair-climbing, hill-climbing, rowing, etc., are all ideal activities outside. Do not shirk!!
Resistance/weights: 15 minutes a day, weight/load-bearing exercise
Stretching: 10 minutes a day
Further resources
Health Wars by Phillip Day
Food for Thought by Phillip Day
Digestive Health by Phillip Day
Simple Changes by Phillip Day
The Essential Guide to Exercise by Phillip Day
Notes
[1]Galland, Leo, ‘Leaky Gut Syndrome: Breaking The Vicious Cycle’ at http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Article.asp?Id=425 [2] Food for Thought, op. cit; Biologic Therapy,“Adverse influence of pork consumption on human health”, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1983[3] For a critique on Peter D’Adamo’s work, see Wikipedia under ‘blood type diet’. [4] “Animal-based nutrients linked with higher risk of stomach and esophageal cancers”, Science Daily Magazine, 31/10/2001; “Animal fat consumption and prostate cancer: a prospective study in Hawaii”, Le Marchand L; Kolonel LN; Wilkens LR; Myers BC; Hirohata T, Epidemiology May 1994, 5 (3) p 276-82; “Animal product consumption and mortality because of all causes combined, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer in Seventh-Day Adventists”, DA Snowdon, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 48, 739-748; “A case-control study of milk-drinking and ovarian cancer risk”, Mettlin CJ, Piver MS, American Journal of Epidemiology 132(5): 871-876, 1990; “A High Ratio of Dietary Animal to Vegetable Protein Increases the Rate of Bone Loss and the Risk of Fracture in Postmenopausal Women”, Sellmeyer DE, Stone KL, Sebastian A, et al., Am J Clin Nutr. 2001;73:118-122; “A prospective study on intake of animal products and risk of prostate cancer”, Michaud DS, Cancer Causes Control 2001 Aug;12(6):557-67; “Beta-carotene and animal fats and their relationship to prostate cancer risk: a case-control study”, Mettlin C, Selenskas S, Natarajan N, Huben R, Cancer 1989;64:605-12; “Blood pressure and blood lipids among vegetarian, semi-vegetarian and non-vegetarian African Americans”, Melby CL, Toohey ML, Cedrick J, Am J Clin Nutr. 1994;59:103-109; “Bovine growth hormone: human food safety evaluation”, Juskevich JC, Science 1990 Aug 24;249(4971):875-84; “Breast cancer in Argentina: case-control study with special reference to meat eating habits”, Matos EL, Thomas DB, Sobel N, Vuoto D, Neoplasma 1991;38(3):357-66
A significant increase in the number of people suffering a range of complaints affecting the digestive system can only be down to diet and lifestyle – what we’re choosing to eat, how much of it we’re eating, and how we are living life in general.
It’s a touchy subject because people don’t want to be told how to live their life. But shut away in their bedrooms and bathrooms around the planet, from mouth and throat ailments, down to the stomach with its gurgling acid, all the way through that serpentine plumbing with its bowel disorders, down to those pesky haemorrhoids, folks are not having a good time, enough said.
Some of these disorders are mild, others are extremely serious and need addressing without delay. One area that continues to be overlooked is proper intestinal/colonic health and elimination. Diseases linked with poor bowel function are extremely common and debilitating and are almost always linked to overweight, poor diet, lack of raw plant-foods, and so on.
Fancy making a change? You’ll need to be ready to do things you haven’t done before… and keep doing them! Your best friends in this worthy endeavour? Plants. Lots and lots of them. First, let’s find out where the major problems lie.
CROHN’S DISEASE (REGIONAL ENTERITIS)
Pain in the lower right abdomen, malabsorption of nutrients, low-grade fever, weight-loss, flatulence. Crohn’s is a condition where segments of the colon (large intestine) become inflamed, thickened and ulcerated. Traditional treatments will include corticosteroids, antibiotics, immunosuppressive drugs and dietary changes. Crohn’s can cause partial blockage of the large intestine, causing pain and bouts of diarrhoea. The same condition occurring in the small intestine is known as regional enteritis, the chronic form of which may also create fistulae (unnatural joinings) between adjacent loops of the intestines or between bowel tissue and the bladder, vagina or skin.
ULCERATIVE COLITIS
Inflammation of the colon lining. Symptoms are pain, with blood and/or mucus in the faeces.
LEAKY GUT SYNDROME
Where damage to the small intestine wall can increase gut permeability to undigested food particles which enter the bloodstream and begin causing ‘allergic’ reactions. Dr Leo Galland, Director of Medicine at the Foundation for Integrated Medicine, states:
“Leaky gut syndrome is a group of clinical disorders associated with increased intestinal permeability. They include inflammatory and infectious bowel diseases, chronic inflammatory arthritides, cryptogenic skin conditions like acne, psoriasis and dermatitis herpetiformis, many diseases triggered by food allergy or specific food intolerance, including eczema, urticaria, and irritable bowel syndrome, AIDS, chronic fatigue syndromes, chronic hepatitis, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis and pancreatic carcinoma. Hyper-permeability may play a primary, etiologic role in the evolution of each disease, or may be a secondary consequence of it which causes immune activation, hepatic dysfunction, and pancreatic insufficiency, creating a vicious cycle. Unless specifically investigated, the role of altered intestinal permeability in patients with leaky gut syndrome often goes unrecognised.” [1]
DIVERTICULOSIS, DIVERTICULITIS
Sacs may appear in weak sections of the intestinal tract, caused by pressure from the inner lining (pulsion diverticula) or from pressure exerted without (traction diverticula). Diverticulosis describes the passive existence of diverticula. Diverticulitis describes the condition when these sacs become perforated, inflamed or impacted.
DYSBIOSIS
The human digestive system contains over four hundred species of microflora (bacteria, yeast, fungi, protozoa, etc.) weighing over three pounds. Usually, in a properly pH-adjusted, harmonious alimentary tract, they live together in peace and balance (homeostasis). When, through our choices of food and lifestyle, we upset this balance, dysbiosis occurs, a term coined by Russian scientist Elie Metchnikoff, who maintained that toxic compounds produced by the aberrant breakdown of food by these bacteria caused many of the degenerative conditions, especially since this toxicity was carried to other parts of the body via the bloodstream and lymph.
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS)
A general condition, thought to affect over 15% of the western populations, describing generalised abdominal pain, usually accompanied by diarrhoea and constipation, which leads to dysfunctional contractions in the intestine. Officially (according to orthodox medicine, unwilling to accept its existence as a separate disorder) the cause of IBS is unknown. In reality, IBS is yet another manifestation of what happens when 21st century processed food is put through the human digestive system.
COELIAC DISEASE (MALABSORPTION SYNDROME)
A condition in which the small intestine fails to digest and absorb food. Usually due to gluten/gliaden damage, which atrophies the nutrient-absorptive villi lining of the intestine. Symptoms include stunted growth, distended abdomen and pale, frothy, foul-smelling stools.
STOMACH ULCERS, REFLUX AND HP
Pain in the stomach after eating and reflux (‘heartburn’), where hydrochloric acid is driven up the oesophagus, is often caused by excess abdominal fat distorting the ring of muscle at the base of the oesophagus – the oesophageal sphincter - a one-way valve designed to prevent this from happening. Other causes include too much acid, not enough acid, a hiatal hernia, gluten/gliaden aversion, and helicobacter pylori (HP)infection, a troublesome bacterium that can inhabit the mucus of the stomach causing ulcers in the stomach lining and, eventually, stomach cancer.
HIATAL HERNIA
The top section of the stomach displaces itself by pushing through the gap in the diaphragm. This common complaint is often symptom-free but in other cases, acid reflux is experienced due to distortion of the , which can proceed in time to ‘Barrett’s Oesophagus’, a pre-cancerous condition, and thereafter to esophageal or stomach cancer.
CHRONIC CONSTIPATION AND ITT
Many have up to eight full meals in them at any one time. The proper Intestinal Transit Time (ITT) is ideally around 24 hours. This is the length of time it takes a meal to go from mouth to anus. In many, this period is extended dramatically up to 48-72 hours because of over-consumption of low-fibre meats and grains (breads, pasta, etc.). As you know from your childhood, flour and water make great glue. Dr Dennis Vander Kraats from Australia advises:
“Generally, most of the digestive processes and absorption of beneficial nutrients occur within 12 hours after consuming the food. Therefore, the slower the ITT, the longer the spent toxic waste matter sits in the bowel, putrefying and fermenting. The bowel is a semi-permeable membrane, which means toxins that have built up in the waste matter can filter through the bowel wall and be absorbed into other tissue and the bloodstream.”
In other words, toxins are taken all over the body where the immune system will have to detoxify and eliminate the trouble. The act of the immune system clearing this mess is sometimes mistakenly remarked upon as a ‘disease process’.
Constant straining of a constipated bowel has been linked to colorectal cancer. Certainly putrefying matter caught in the colon is subjected to bile acids over an extended time, and bile acids in human colons are carcinogenic.
CHIEF CAUSES OF DIGESTIVE ANGST
- Overweight, overweight, overweight
- Overeating, too much food at one time
- Too much fat and sugar in the diet
- Gluten/gliaden damage from wheat, barley, rye and oat products
- Bacterial and/or mycoplasmic (fungal) infections
- Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), brought on by low digestive enzyme output
- Processed diets
- Lack of proper exercise
- Terror, stress and emotional upsets
- Too much refined sugar and grains (a high percentage of western grains, stored in silos, are contaminated with aspergillus moulds)
- Too little fibre
- Clogged or damaged villi receptors in the intestine preventing inadequate nutrient absorption
- A generally acidic, anaerobic internal environment, resulting in an inadequate immune system response
- Antibiotic abuse
- General drug abuse
- Coffee, carbonated beverages and alcohol
- Poor water intake
“If you experience any of the following symptoms, you may be experiencing autointoxication (a process whereby you are poisoned by substances produced by your own body as a result of inadequate digestion and elimination), and therefore you might want to consider some type of internal cleansing program:
- Allergy or intolerance to certain foods
- Bad breath and foul-smelling gas and stools
- Constipation, diarrhoea, sluggish elimination, irregular bowel movements
- Frequent congestion, colds, viruses
- Flatulence or gas and frequent intestinal disorders
- Frequent headaches for no apparent reason
- General aches and pains that migrate from one place to another
- Intolerance to fatty foods
- Low energy; loss of vitality for no apparent reason
- Lower back pain
- Lowered resistance to infections
- Needing to sleep a long time
- Pain in your liver or gall bladder
- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), breast soreness, vaginal infections
- Skin problems, rashes, boils, pimples, acne”
THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT LIFESTYLE REGIMEN Ø Little or no meat in the diet. Any meat consumed should be hormone- and pesticide-free. White meat is better than red. Avoid pork
Ø Avoid sugar, dairy, coffee and alcohol
Ø Ensure at least 80% of the diet comprises organic, plant-based foods, the majority eaten raw. This represents a new system of eating for most people but is highly effective in sorting problems in a hurry. Eat properly constituted, organic, whole, living foods. If you want hot, briefly steam your veggies, do not murder them. Remember that heat kills enzymes, vitamin C, wrecks fats and destroys around 50% of the protein content of your food. Excellent transition recipes are provided in our companion guide, Food for Thought.
Ø The ideal balance is: 80% alkali/20% acidic ash foods. Most diets today comprise 90% acid/10% alkali
Ø Avoid the foods below
Ø Hydrate the body (2 litres (4 pints) of clean, fresh water a day)
Ø Ensure half a teaspoon per day of Himalayan salt goes into the mouth. Sprinkle a few flakes on your tongue before retiring to help sleep
Ø Keep high-glycaemic fruit intake down. Eat more fruits that have low sugar-conversion, such as pears and apples
Ø Eat small meals, ensuring a) that you don’t go hungry, and b) that the body has a constant supply of nutrients
Ø Juice veggies. Learn the art. What a fantastic way to drop weight and pile in the nutrients with minimal processing deficit
Ø Take a BASIC SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM comprising ionised colloidal trace minerals, antioxidant tablets, Vit C and B complexes and essential fats. Also, Vitamin D serum concentration needs to be optimised to around 140-150 nmol/L for maximum immune function (see A GUIDE TO NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS)
Ø Peak performance exercise (to get everything moving and assist in detoxing the body in an oxygen-rich environment) (see EXERCISE). A regular walk in the early morning and last thing at night is also healthy and very invigorating
Ø Avoid stress. Your thoughts affect your biochemistry. If stressed, you need either to modify your response to the event(s) in order not to elicit a physical response, or else change your lifestyle/situation completely to avoid stress. The majority of the diseases suffered by western cultures occur because the immune system has been compromised by lifestyle factors. Diet, lack of exercise and stress are the three leading contenders
Ø Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest
Foods to avoid
Ø Pork products (bacon, sausage, hot-dogs, luncheon meat, ham, etc.) These are high in nitrites and are known homotoxins which can cause high blood urea and dikitopiprazines, which cause brain tumours and leukaemia.[2]
Ø Scavenger meats (inc. ALL shellfish and other carrion-eaters – see Leviticus 11 in the Bible). Carrion-eaters, pork and shellfish in particular, concentrate toxins of other animals in their tissues, which we then consume to our detriment. The same goes for the elimination organs of commercially raised animals, such as liver and kidney, which can be high in drug and pesticide residues
Ø Aspartame/saccharin, artificial sweeteners. These are known mental impairment problems and cancer risks.
Ø Eliminate grains in general for a period if suffering a grain-sensitive problem. Avoid refined sugar/flour/rice. SUCROSE FEEDS CANCER. Restricted amounts of wholegrain bread are OK for those who can tolerate it. Use only wholegrain rice. No sugars should be consumed other than those contained naturally in whole foods
Ø Hydrogenated & partially hydrogenated fats (margarine)
Ø Junk (processed) food, including fizzy sodas and other soft drinks containing sugar, artificial sweeteners or phosphoric acid, which are drunk out of aluminium cans
Ø Fat-free foods. Essential fats are essential!
Ø Olestra, canola, soy, etc. Avoid fake or synthetic fats. Soy, in its unfermented state (meat and milk substitute products), disrupts the hormone (endocrine) system, blocks the absorption of calcium and magnesium, and acts like estrogen in the body. Small usage of unfermented soy and fermented soy products (soy sauce and miso) is OK. For more information on soy, see Food for Thought
Ø Polluted water (chlorinated or fluoridated – see Health Wars, ‘Water Under the Bridge’)
Ø Caffeine products
Ø Alcohol products
Ø Excess refined salt. Himalayan salt is fine. It’s also a good idea to spice food with ground kelp to maintain a healthy iodine intake
Your main food intake – Take the raw challenge
The emphasis should be on a dietary intake high in plant foods, the majority eaten raw. This is undoubtedly an alien concept to those addicted to cooked, processed animal-protein-heavy diets – I make no excuses. If you want to avoid what everyone else is getting, animal products need to come down to under 5%, and the raw component of your food needs to be above 80%. Synthetic, processed fats need to go. Natural fats can come in. I can throw all the science in the world at you on the benefits of eating a majority plant-based diet in this way but if you really won’t, you will fulfil your part in the statistics which make up the Western disease scourge. Here are some points to consider by way of review:
Ø You do not need to eat animal protein to generate human protein. Animal protein cannot be directly used as human protein, it needs to be deconstructed into its component amino acids and then reconstructed using DNA/RNA transcription into the required protein peculiar to the particular task in your particular body. The animal protein we ingest is invariably cooked and thus much of its useable protein component is useless and worse, now toxic junk.
Ø To make proteins, you need amino acids. The most plentiful source of amino acids on Earth is the uncooked plant kingdom.
Ø Cow’s milk is unnecessary for human health and is potentially harmful and even dangerous to many humans. Cow’s milk is for baby cows.
Ø The ‘eat right for your blood type’ farce is based on the faulty premise of Darwinian evolution (though even evolutionist scientists have shot it out of the sky). Anyone who tells you to eat a high level of animal products ‘because you are a blood group O hunter type’ has been getting high on their own supply and not reading the scientific literature.[3]
Ø The argument is not about whether to eat animal products or not, it’s a question of degree and quality. Humans are omnivores and can eat some meat. Science has shown, however, that a cumulative consumption of animal products in excess of 10% will contribute to the Western disease profile.[4]
Ø Humans are also suffering because of an over-consumption of grain products, specifically wheat, barley, rye and oats – the gluten-predominant grains. These foods can cause serious digestive issues but are flogged off to the public as breakfast cereals and health foods because they are cheap to produce and highly profitable. Many of these products are contaminated with aspergilus moulds or fungi due to long-term storage issues.
Ø Cooked food doesn’t keep you warm in winter beyond the initial heat ingested from the cooking appliance. Tremendous internal heat, on the other hand, is generated from the consumption of real, living raw plant dietary since this is the fuel the body uses to make more of you with. You have mentally conditioned yourself to believe that cooked food nourishes and keeps you warm. Try a prolific salad on a snowy day and judge the results honestly - you will be surprised. And by the way, no-one’s saying you can’t have a cooked meal now and then or briefly steam your food if you wish. Don’t murder it.
Ø Switching to a majority plant-based diet requires a little organisation:
Ø Locate a good company which can supply organic produce to your door without you even needing to get in the car. There are many benefits to Western civilisation and this is one of them. In Britain, I use www.riverford.co.uk. Take a look at their site and see if you have an equivalent in your area/country.
Ø Familiarise yourself with the foods in the Credence UK store at www.credence.org to give you ideas on what to add to make your food special and highly nutritious.
Ø Make use of a juicer to make delicious vegetable juices. Use organic vegetable powder mixes like Nature’s Living Superfood and Credence’s Green Phytofoods to top up. I also use tropical superfood juices such as mangosteen, goji, noni and acai to boost phytonutrient payload.
Ø Avoid soy milk and meats. Unfermented soy is bad news because it is an endocrine (hormone) disrupter. For a thorough treatment of this subject, log on to www.soyonlineservice.co.nz.
Ø Visit specialty organic food stores and give them your business. Become an expert at preparing food the natural way. There are simply hundreds of organic and raw food sites specialising in promoting this way of eating. My food choices are now so wide, I view hotel menus with a mixture of disgust and withering pity whenever I’m on tour – pretty much the same emotions I level at TV celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey, whose diet has turned him into a raging, potty-mouthed incubus of the fallen order, or Nigella Lawson, Britain’s inflatable kitchen sex-Valkyrie. Listen, it’s your body, you feed it.
Conclusion
Fruit before noon on an empty stomach assists elimination. Big breakfasts thwart it. Try this regime for five days and notice how different the body feels. A diet comprising 80-85% unrefined plant dietary (unadulterated fruit and veggies) will ensure a body saturated in highly bio-available, waterborne nutrition. A body well-watered in this way can expect Appropriation, Assimilation and Elimination to work with consummate ease. High water-content foods rich in fibre will fill you for less, leave you satisfied with stabilised blood sugar, increased energy, better clarity of thought, fewer mood swings and a twinkle in your eye.
Exercise – don’t dodge this one
Research shows that those with a sedentary lifestyle are more prone to disease. A good exercise program will assist in cleansing the body and getting all the pieces toned and in proper working order. The most effective way to exercise and save time is peak performance training (see The Essential Guide to Exercise). Firstly calculate your maximum heart-rate, which is 220 less your age for females, 226 less your age for males. Next:
Aerobic: Exercise 30-40 minutes a day, ensuring to vary your heart-rate regularly between resting pulse and 70% of your maximum heart-rate. Gyms are best for this because they have a variety of equipment with heart monitors. Anyone can sit on a stationary cycle and read a magazine while they do this. Cycling, stair-climbing, hill-climbing, rowing, etc., are all ideal activities outside. Do not shirk!!
Resistance/weights: 15 minutes a day, weight/load-bearing exercise
Stretching: 10 minutes a day
Further resources
Health Wars by Phillip Day
Food for Thought by Phillip Day
Digestive Health by Phillip Day
Simple Changes by Phillip Day
The Essential Guide to Exercise by Phillip Day
Notes
[1]Galland, Leo, ‘Leaky Gut Syndrome: Breaking The Vicious Cycle’ at http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Article.asp?Id=425 [2] Food for Thought, op. cit; Biologic Therapy,“Adverse influence of pork consumption on human health”, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1983[3] For a critique on Peter D’Adamo’s work, see Wikipedia under ‘blood type diet’. [4] “Animal-based nutrients linked with higher risk of stomach and esophageal cancers”, Science Daily Magazine, 31/10/2001; “Animal fat consumption and prostate cancer: a prospective study in Hawaii”, Le Marchand L; Kolonel LN; Wilkens LR; Myers BC; Hirohata T, Epidemiology May 1994, 5 (3) p 276-82; “Animal product consumption and mortality because of all causes combined, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer in Seventh-Day Adventists”, DA Snowdon, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 48, 739-748; “A case-control study of milk-drinking and ovarian cancer risk”, Mettlin CJ, Piver MS, American Journal of Epidemiology 132(5): 871-876, 1990; “A High Ratio of Dietary Animal to Vegetable Protein Increases the Rate of Bone Loss and the Risk of Fracture in Postmenopausal Women”, Sellmeyer DE, Stone KL, Sebastian A, et al., Am J Clin Nutr. 2001;73:118-122; “A prospective study on intake of animal products and risk of prostate cancer”, Michaud DS, Cancer Causes Control 2001 Aug;12(6):557-67; “Beta-carotene and animal fats and their relationship to prostate cancer risk: a case-control study”, Mettlin C, Selenskas S, Natarajan N, Huben R, Cancer 1989;64:605-12; “Blood pressure and blood lipids among vegetarian, semi-vegetarian and non-vegetarian African Americans”, Melby CL, Toohey ML, Cedrick J, Am J Clin Nutr. 1994;59:103-109; “Bovine growth hormone: human food safety evaluation”, Juskevich JC, Science 1990 Aug 24;249(4971):875-84; “Breast cancer in Argentina: case-control study with special reference to meat eating habits”, Matos EL, Thomas DB, Sobel N, Vuoto D, Neoplasma 1991;38(3):357-66
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