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These short articles are easy to understand and remember. They are written
to help you to gradually change your lifestyle to one of health, so you
will actually get healthier as you get older, just as I have done. At
this time, November, 2002, I am 63 and have the health of a college athlete,
and so is my personal doctor, Dr. Tim Smith who is 60 and has a family
practice in Berkeley, CA for 30 years.
Previous Articles have given you the ways to prevent and reverse a wide
variety of diseases and conditions such as cancer, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's,
kidney stones and PMS. The common denominator of all these is our Immune
System, whose function is described in Strengthen
your Immune System to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease. In several Articles,
I have repeatedly referred to books, magazine articles and brochures which
are 15 years old or more, to emphasize that some doctors, scientists,
and other health professionals were writing about disease prevention and
reversal 15 and 20 years ago (and more). What I am writing about, and
what I am living, is not cutting-edge science. It's merely presenting,
in my own style and experience, what hundreds of writers have already
written about 15, 20 and even 30 years ago.
For example, for more information about our Immune System, I recommend
a 16 year old book: The Immune System: A Nutritional Approach,
by Louise Tenney, M.H., © 1986 by Woodland Health Books, ISBN 0-913923-29-X,
which I purchased from The Vitamin Shoppe. And I have already referred
you to excellent information on the Immune System in Dr. Stuart Berger's
1985 and 1988 books. In books such as these, we learn how to maximize
the effectiveness of our Immune Systems. We also learn about what weakens
it, such as stress, excessive iron from red meat, lack of sleep, nutritional
deficiencies from eating a lot of sugar, fats, and nitrates/nitrites (in
hot dogs and bologna), lack of exercise, and excessive protein (from eating
too much red meat).
By the way, it just occurred to me that I have not yet mentioned smoking.
This is because it is obvious to everyone in 2002 who can read that smoking
causes cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and impotence. Impotence?
Yes, impotence, just as many prescription drugs cause impotence. Why is
it that ViagraTM is selling millions
of tablets to men in their 40s and 50s? In my opinion, it's because many
of them are overweight, don't exercise regularly, and are taking a prescription
drug for high blood pressure or for high cholesterol. But then, the ViagraTM
causes headaches or nausea in some of them and their doctor gives them
a drug to combat that side-effect. And in some of them, that causes bleeding
ulcers, so they begin to take a drug to stop that. And down the spiral
of sickness they go, adding one side-effect after another. Impotence is
also a common result of excessive alcohol consumption, besides brain deterioration.
Dear readers, I want to encourage you to stay out of this downward spiral
of drugs, and if you're in it now, that you can get out of it if you will
consult with a nutritionally oriented doctor. You can enjoy health again.
Now for some further explanation of the Immune System's functions. The
methods of prevention and reversal of the common diseases are all the
same, since they all depend on the proper functioning of our Immune System.
I purposely use the word "proper" here, rather than saying our Immune
System must be "strong" or "operating at maximal strength" because the
results of a healthy lifestyle apparently include reversal of auto-immune
diseases, as described in various books, magazines and Internet sites
which I recommend.
A good description of the Immune System's functioning is available through
Dr. Ray Strand's Internet site http://www.bionutrition.org.
He states the same principles of disease reversal that are expounded in
all my Articles: good nutrition, regular exercise, and the right supplements.
A case in point is Multiple Sclerosis (MS), which he says affects ¼ million
people in this country alone. He states: "MS is an autoimmune disease.
This means that the body is essentially attacking itself." He continues
to explain that he was taught in Medical School that autoimmune diseases
are caused by an over-active Immune System. Chemical treatment is for
suppressing the Immune System, but causes serious side-effects. [side-effects
of prescription drugs ... does this sound familiar from previous Articles?]
Dr. Strand explains that a correctly functioning Immune System distinguishes
"self" from "non-self" so it attacks bacteria, viruses, mutant cells,
and chemical toxins because it recognizes them as "non-self", and it does
not attack "self". But autoimmune diseases occur when the Immune System
become confused, so it fails to distinguish "self" from "non-self" and
attacks various parts of the body, causing disease, such as arthritis,
ulcerative colitis, lupus, and MS. He describes himself as a specialist
in Nutritional Medicine and describes a case history of reversal of MS
in a young woman that was so severe when treatment began that she was
bedridden.
Please refer to Most
Fibromyalsia is Reversable for another testimony of MS reversal by
diet and exercise in the Back to the Garden newsletter.
Here are some more books written by nutritionally-oriented medical doctors,
which are available from the Internet sitehttp://www.unitogether.com
in their bookstore:
- What your doctor doesn't know about nutritional medicine may be
killing you by Dr. Ray Strand.
- How to get kids to eat great & love it by Dr. Christine Wood.
- The Wisdom of menopause by Dr. Christine Northrup.
The following books are available through many Internet booksellers,
including The Vitamin Shoppe, referred to in previous Articles:
- Alternative Medicine - Arthritis #BK2387
- Cure for All Cancers #BK1695
- Alternative Medicine - allergy free #BK2388
- The Arthritis Cure #BK1806
- The Wisdom of Menopause #BK2491.
I have not read these books but I am confident that if you read 5 or
6 of them, that it will clear to you, as it is to me, that most diseases
can be prevented and reversed by proper nutrition, moderate exercise,
and the right supplements.
I have already referred to Dr. Stuart M. Berger and his superb 1988 book:
What Your Doctor Didn't Learn in Medical School, in which there
are numerous testimonies of disease reversals by the same trio of lifestyle
changes that other doctors and medical professionals teach their patients,
but he was having these successes in the mid-80s, which was 17 and 18
years ago. These methods are not scientific breakthroughs. They are not
cutting-edge technology. They're the same aspects of lifestyle which were
advised in cancer brochures of 16 and 17 years ago
I have another excellent book in front of me which I recommend, written
by a nutritionally-oriented medical doctor, Dr. Rex Russell, What the
Bible says about healthy living. ©1996 Regal Books, Ventura, CA, ISBN
0-8307-1858-3. Chapter 2 presents a good teaching on how to avoid heart
disease, cancer and diabetes. Again, it depends on one's lifestyle. This
is a recommended book for everyone who wants to know what the Bible says
about healthy living (and how to do it).
For more information on how to minimize the problems of menopause, see
pages 457-472 of Dr. Tim Smith's book Renewal referred to in Most
Alzheimer's can Be Prevented, and to a book he refers to by Dr. John
R. Lee, What your doctor may not tell you about menopause which
is available from Hallelujah Acres, #370. It's also available from The
Vitamin Shoppe as #BK1785; they also have Natural Woman, Natural Menopause
#BK1988 and Women's Health 1, #BK1991. Another informative book
for both men and women is The Yeast Connection Handbook, #BK1681.
Dr. Donald Colbert covers the topics of menopause (pages 145-146) and
PMS (pages 159-161) in his book referred to in Popeye
Had Kidney Stones.
Before looking at reversing arthritis, I want to tell you about Kegel
Exercises. These are simple and easy pelvic exercises for women, to reverse
urinary incontinence, and a great way to enhance marital relations, especially
for women who have had children. Many women don't know about them. Please
take my recommendation to learn about them on the Internet, in your library,
or from your gynecologist. Your BEST source is in the excellent books:
The Act of Marriage by Tim & Beverly LaHaye, Zondervan Publ. ISBN
0-310-21177-8 and 0-310-21200-6 and The Act of Marriage After 40,
ISBN 0-310-23114-0. I have both of these books in front of me as I write
this. Or go to http://www.google.com
or http://www.yahoo.com
and enter "kegel exercises" in quotation marks in the search box. This
will enhance your marital relations and greatly improve the quality of
your life. You'll be so delighted about Kegel Exercises that you'll want
to tell others!
Now to arthritis, another common disease that is reversible. To see how
easy it is to reverse arthritis, see Most
Fibromyalgia is Reveresable and pages 95-96, 214, and 441-442 in Dr.
Tim Smith's book, and do a search for arthritis in the Testimonies section
of the Hallelujah Acres site: http://www.hacres.com.
There is also excellent information in Dr. Donald Colbert's book (pages
65-67 and 175-179) for both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The
Vitamin Shoppe has a book: The Arthritis Cure #BK1806, plus three
on osteoporosis, one of which is Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis
#BK2400 by a nutritionally oriented medical doctor, Dr. Alan R. Gaby.
I described an excellent report in Consumer Reports magazine titled: Joint
Remedies. And the book Foods That Harm - Foods That Heal has
good information on pages 31-32 including a testimony of arthritis reversal
(called "remission"). Page 252 has a good article on weight loss and pages
360-361 has one on healthy vegetarian food.
Even back in the early 1980s, Dr. Stuart Berger was reversing arthritis
in his patients. He described reversal of a case of crippling arthritis
in his 1985 book, on pages 22-25. His patient was a woman in her 30s whose
occupation was custom-making clothing, which required constant use of
her hands. She was troubled by pain and stiffness and her traditional
doctor prescribed drugs to ease the pain and inflammation, but the pains
just got worse. Dr. Berger discovered that she was overweight, did not
exercise, and ate a lot of junk food. He advised her how to change her
lifestyle and in three weeks (3) she called him on the phone to exclaim
excitedly: "The pain in my hand has completely disappeared. I'm back working
with no problem at all!" She came in for a checkup after two months, and
Dr. Berger hardly recognized her as the slim, energetic woman who proclaimed
loudly: "Here I was, all those years, keeping myself fat and sick, just
by eating wrong!" This exemplifies again how much good sense it makes
to live a healthy lifestyle.
I just want to mention two important nutritional supplements, Vitamin
E and selenium, before going on to the last and most important Article
in this series. I have already referred you to what Dr. Wes Ashford says
about preventing Alzheimer's Disease in his TOP TEN. The 7th
one is to take Vitamin E. But Vitamin E's benefits go far beyond helping
to prevent brain deterioration because it plays a key role in many metabolic
functions including proper heart functioning and in destroying harmful
free-radicals (thereby preserving eyesight and reducing cancer risk).
The Life Extension Foundation magazine (October, 2002, page 25)
reviewed a book released by the Mayo Clinic: Mayo Clinic on Vision
and Eye Health, from the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and
Research, May, 2002. The Mayo Clinic refers to research that indicates
that taking Vitamin E and other vitamins and minerals decreases the risk
of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in people over 60. This disease
causes blindness in the central part of the visual field (where the macula
is) so it interferes with seeing colors, with driving and with reading.
This, dear readers, is just another example of a preventable disease.
The author of the Life Extension article (http://www.lef.org)
says that the authors of the book stated: "Here was positive proof of
the role dietary supplements can play in preserving your eyesight." In
addition, I highly recommend the article on Vitamin E in the same October,
2002 issue of the Life Extension magazine, on pages 39-42.
Oh, now that's interesting ... I just saw another important article on
page 24 of the same magazine titled: "Vitamin intake may be the answer
to esophageal cancers." The author refers to studies at Yale University
and to three cancer journals which demonstrate dramatic reductions of
cancer risks from taking certain common nutritional supplements, such
as Vitamin C, A and others. And he refers to an article in a cancer prevention
journal in which the scientists state that people with niacin and phosphorous
deficiencies have more than double the risk of having esophageal cancer
than persons with adequate amounts of these. And they talk about these
actually being "biomarkers" for predicting this type of cancer. Does the
term "biomarker" sound familiar? I referred to what Dr. Tim Smith says
in his book about DHEA being a biomarker (predictor) of breast cancer
and heart attacks. And there are dozens of such biomarkers.
Now to selenium. This was first brought to my attention in 1997 in a
health article in a local newspaper titled: The Great Mineral Malaise
[illness] and What It's Doing to Our Athletes. This was written by
a biologist, Paul Klangas, in West of Twin Peaks Observer, San
Francisco, CA, September, 1997. He opened the article by referring to
a 22 year old ballerina who was walking quietly on a street in San Francisco
on June 30, 1997. She died of a heart attack while walking. The 17 year
old son of a friend died of a heart attack during basketball practice
that same year. In 1991, boxing champion Evander Holyfield was removed
from that sport because of a bad heart. His doctor prescribed mineral
supplements including selenium, and in 10 months, Holyfield's heart was
back to normal. Does this sound familiar from previous Articles? "disease
reversal." His EKG tests and his doctors showed clearly that his heart
was, indeed, again strong enough to resume his boxing career and the Boxing
Commission let him return (something they had never done before).
This article continues by referring to a report from the Center for Disease
Control, in Atlanta, GA, which stated that over 100,000 athletes under
30 die each year of heart attacks and strokes.
How can this happen to apparently healthy athletes? The answer is a deficiency
of selenium because they lose a lot of this mineral in perspiration and
don't replace it by food or supplements. Selenium is necessary for
proper heart and brain function. But eating food that is usually rich
in this mineral is not the answer because many parts of this country have
soil that has been depleted of selenium (and hundreds of other nutrients)
as I see on a map of the United States in front of me, in an article The
Selenium Surprise, pages 8 & 9 of the Nutrition Action Newsletter,
Jan./Feb., 1997. I have 7 other articles in front of me that talk about
the benefits of eating adequate amounts of selenium, such as preventing
several types of cancer, adult & teenage heart attacks, arthritis, poisoning
by toxic metals such as mercury and cadmium, lead poisoning from vehicle
exhaust fumes, chromosome damage in white blood cells, environmental toxins,
and free radical damage to the eyes. This mineral is another "biomarker",
according to an article titled: Selenium and Cancer, on page 18
of the Life Extension Foundation magazine, February, 2001. They
refer to a report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The author writes that previous studies have shown that people with low
blood levels of selenium have higher rates of cancer and that taking selenium
supplements reduces cancer incidence. And this study showed that people
with the highest levels of selenium had the least cancer of the esophagus
(by 44%) and of the stomach (by 53%). I think we're all getting the picture
of how important selenium is for our health.
I'd like to point out here that tuna fish has selenium, but we don't
want to eat tuna more than once each week because of its high mercury
content (children under 7 should not eat tuna at all because they are
particularly susceptible to mercury poisoning). Consumer Reports
has good investigative articles on mercury in tuna as well as frequent
contamination of canned tuna with parts of bugs.
In Dr. Tim Smith's book, already referred to several times, he has an
excellent section on the importance of selenium on pages 189 - 190. He
also talks about its being a "biomarker" in that people with cancer have
much lower levels of this mineral than healthy people. Furthermore, people
who live in areas where they eat crops grown in selenium-deficient soil
such as Lima, Ohio have much higher cancer rates than people who live
in areas where the soil is rich in selenium, such as Rapid City, North
Dakota. In fact, he states that this city has the lowest cancer rate of
all U.S. cities. See how all this information is coming together? It all
makes such good sense.
And speaking of mercury poisoning, Dr. Tim Smith says: "Obtaining an
optimum amount of selenium from diet alone is difficult, if not impossible.
You'd have to eat 20 ounces of fish, the best source of this mineral,
every day to get enough. Supplements are preferable anyway, because all
that fish would put you at very high risk of saturated fat, microorganism
contamination, mercury poisoning, and other chemical toxicity." His advice:
Get selenium as part of a supplement program.
I highly recommend that you read ALL of his book.
Dear readers, what I bring to you is a lot of scientific information
and it all makes such good sense, and it works for many people. This is
very good news indeed, that you CAN be healthy and your life CAN be worth
living.
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